| You may remember, long ago, reading in this space about a WordFest event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Talonbooks. Well, if you are holding this paper on publication day, Thursday, October 16, then you are in luck. Because you can still make it – the event is today! It’s at 4 p.m.! Go straight to McNally Robinson Booksellers for readings by Jeff Derksen, M.A.C. Farrant, Tomson Highway, John Murrell and Fred Reed. Celebrate a tenacious small publisher, hear some good writing and enjoy the celebratory reception.
If you have only come across this paper after the weekend has already passed and WordFest is over for another year, don’t despair. Good readings and book talk continue to abound even after the festival caravan has passed.
For example, on Monday you can hear Dr. Adrienne Kertzer speaking on Imre Kersetz, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature. Her talk is entitled "What Were You to Make of All This?: Imre Kersetz and Holocaust Literature." Dr. Kertzer has written about what it means to read literature as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She’s a dynamic speaker. Her talk is at the Nickle Arts Museum on Monday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. It’s free and there’s a reception afterward.
Then, on Tuesday, October 21, Jack Hodgins makes the trip from Victoria to read from Distance, his new novel. That’s at Pages on Kensington at 7:30 p.m. and is, as always, free.
From an even greater distance comes Sikeena Karmalil to read on Wednesday, October 22. Karmalil directs a human rights agency in Uzbekistan and somehow also managed to write her first novel, A House by the Sea. She reads at Pages as well, at 7:30 p.m.
The next evening, Thursday, October 23, the Kensington bookseller inaugurates a whole new thing – readings at the Kensington Riverside Inn (1126 Memorial Drive N.W.). They’re still free, and the hotel offers more room than Pages can provide upstairs at its store. Nevertheless, Pages asks that you pick up a free ticket in advance for the kick-off event, which is the launch of Brian Brennan’s Boondoggles, Bonanzas and Other Alberta Stories. Tickets can be found at Pages. This time there’s no reception as such, but the reading does feature free refreshments, and there’s parking for a toonie beneath the Kensington Gate condo building.
Another annual literary highlight is coming up on Wednesday, October 29. If you want to be there for Alberta Theatre Projects’ 2003 Bob Edwards Luncheon, featuring Jane Urquhart, call 294-7475 for tickets or go to ATPLive.com for more information. |
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