| Every autumn there’s that one week when the trees, all at once, turn into what a poet once called "bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang." One week, nice autumn leaves. A couple of windy days later – whoomph, leaf piles on the ground. We’re not quite there yet with the leaf-tree situation. But this week does appear to be that other week that signals fall’s arrival. The week when, whoomph – piles of readings and literary events appear all at once. Go ahead, jump in and revel in it.
The Pages on Kensington reading series is back with Antanas Sileika, reading from his novel Woman in Bronze, a love story set in Eastern Europe and the Paris of the 1920s. The same night, David Albahari reads from his new book Götz and Meyer, in which soldierly duty entangles two ordinary men in anti-Semitic violence in Serbia. That’s Friday, September 17.
Still at Pages, on Tuesday, September 21, Calgary’s Vivian Hansen reads from poems in which Jack the Ripper’s victims speak, and Shree Ghatage reads from her novel Brahma's Dream. The very next night, Wednesday, September 22, Bruce Allen Powe reads from Aldershot 1945, a murder mystery involving Canadian soldiers at the close of the Second World War. (Yes, you do remember Powe as the author of the novel-turned-play The Aberhart Summer.) That same night, Tyler Trafford also reads from his novel The Story of Blue Eye. The Pages readings all begin at 7:30 p.m.
It’s just as busy at McNally Robinson this week, with Margaret Macpherson launching her debut story collection Perilous Departures on Thursday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. Then, on Friday, September 17 at 7 p.m., Calgary poets Beth Everest, Susan McMaster and Richard Stevenson read recent work. Next day, ex-Calgarian James Martin rides back into town wearing his editor hat. He’s here to share the work of Eye Opener Bob Edwards, now back in print in the volume Irresponsible Freaks, Highball Guzzlers and Unabashed Grafters, a collection which he, Martin, has edited. First Martin reads, then historian Harry Sanders leads a guided walking tour of Bob Edwards’ Calgary. This event, on Saturday, September 18 at 7 p.m., is just the tip of the BobFest iceberg.
BobFest, que est-ce que c’est? It’s "the first week-long celebration of the spirit of Bob Edwards in contemporary Calgary," according to its instigators at Brindle and Glass Publishing, and it takes place from September 17 to 20. At the Calgary Public Library, you can spend the afternoon of Sunday, September 19 hearing all about the independent-minded newspaperman, from local writers and others. That runs from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Meeting Room No. 1 of the W.R. Castell Central Library. Make a donation at the door and the funds go to the Calgary Public Library Foundation. Then, on Monday, September 20, Allan Fotheringham speaks at 7:30 p.m. in the John Dutton Theatre at the W.R. Castell. Tickets for this event are $10. Proceeds also benefit the CPL Foundation. For info on the CPL events, call 260-2785. For all the BobFest details, see www.bobfest.ca.
Getting back to McNally Robinson, next Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m., Larissa Lai celebrates the re-publication of her novel When Fox is a Thousand, which won the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1995. Arsenal Pulp Press has published the new edition.
As promised, a few more WordFest details. An interesting participant in this year’s program is neither a poet, playwright, or novelist. He’s editor Patrick Crean, publisher at Thomas Allen, who has worked with Natalee Caple, Austin Clarke, Matt Cohen, Barbara Gowdy and Greg Hollingshead, among others.
And what about writing for kids? Norbert creator Richard Scrimger will read, as will writer and illustrator Carolyn Fisher. Several francophone writers for children, many of whom write for adults as well, will also appear. Among them are Laurent Chabin, author of Malouréne et la fontaine magique, Dominique Demers, host of the kids’ reading TV program Dominique raconte, Sophie Bérubé (Le chef-d’oeuvre de Lombrie) and Maryse Pelletier (Une vie en Éclats).
WordFest’s printed schedules are now available at bookstores, or see www.wordfest.com for even more details. |
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