Got another does of creative inspiration last night when I attended a reading at the annual International Festival of Authors (IFOA) at Harbourfront Centre, in the Brigantine Room (or “the Brig” as my pal Kerri MacDonald and I like to call it).
It was an international roster of authors at this reading too: Russell Banks (USA), Anne Enright (Ireland), Erin Morgenstern (USA) and Olive Senior (Canada/Jamaica) – hosted by Rachael Giese, senior editor at The Walrus. In fact, The Walrus was the host for all of last night’s readings – dubbed An Evening with The Walrus. The authors read in alphabetical order, with two each reading before and after the intermission.
Banks read from his novel Lost Memory of Skin, the story of a young man living on the fringes of society, struggling to make a life for himself after being released from jail, and bearing the label and ankle bracelet of a convicted sex offender. Anne Enright’s The Forgotten Waltz follows Gina through life and love – and the ensuing catastrophes that come with desire and longing. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, takes the reader on a magical journey into a mysterious circus that operates only from sundown to sunup. And Olive Senior’s novel Dancing Lessons tells the story of a woman writing her life after she’s been moved into a retirement home, which she hates – past and present woven onto the page.
As I heard each author read, I felt like a kid at story time – except, in this case, I was in a room full of grown-ups, hearing grown-up stories.
IFOA is on until Sunday, October 30 – for more info and tickets, visit their website: http://www.readings.org/?q=ifoa
life with more cowbell 
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