The International Festival of Authors begins

Ontario-wide event offers up a few queer bits


The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) starts today, Oct 16, and runs until Nov 2, but you won’t see much evidence of it in Toronto until this coming weekend. Most of the early events take place outside Toronto at various Ontario locales.

The first Toronto event, the annual PEN Canada Benefit, is Oct 18.

Below are some authors and events of note for queer audiences:

Nora Young, a CBC radio host, will read from her new book, The Virtual Self, on the afternoon of Oct 20. Young will share the stage with Jian Ghomeshi Oct 20 for a group interview conducted by Sook-Yin Lee. Lee gained experience with group work with her role in the movie Shortbus.

Author Kamal Al-Solaylee, who has been nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for his book Intolerable, will be joined by other nominees on Oct 21 in an event moderated by Rachel Giese.

Emma Donoghue will read from her new collection of short stories, Astray, on Oct 28 and take part in a panel discussion on Oct 27.

Below is a recent interview with Kamal Al-Solaylee and an interview with Emma Donoghue and Colm Tóibin from 2008.

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