After a gradual warmup, Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival heads into the heart of its very deep lineup Thursday. Before the deluge, then, here is a selection, by no means complete, of some of the most enticing events. Unless otherwise specified, all of them happen at Hôtel 10, 10 Sherbrooke St. W. Prospective attendees are strongly advised to check ahead regarding ticket availability for the paid events, some of which may already be sold out. As for the free events, a word to the wise: get there early.
A Renaissance of Fiction (April 16, 12:30 p.m., Salle St-Laurent, $10), hosted by Jeanette Kelly, boasts an interesting premise, given that it implies a time when Irish literature has been in anything less than rude health. Writers Christine Dwyer Hickey (The Lives of Women), Paul Lynch (The Black Snow) and Anakana Schofield are sure to provide provocative takes. Vancouver-resident Irish transplant Schofield is as engaging a talker as she is a challenging writer – her Martin John might be the most formally innovative work ever to get close to a Giller win.
Any event with her is worth seeing, so try also to get to Freaks, Geeks and Miscreants: The Outsider in Fiction Presented by Quebec Writers’ Federation, featuring Schofield, Neil Smith and Daniel Allen Cox (April 15, 9 p.m., Salle St-Laurent, $10) and London, New York, Mexico, Shanghai (April 16, 7 p.m., Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard Ave. W., free admission) with Schofield, Mexican Valeria Luiselli and former Montrealer Taras Grescoe talking with Carmine Starnino about representing cities in literature.
The Emerald Isle also gets its due with the two-hour Walking Tour of Irish Montreal (April 16, starting at 10:30 a.m. at Centaur Theatre, 453 St-François-Xavier St., $15). Our city’s Irish heritage, though rich, isn’t always as readily visible as that of some other groups, so a tour like this one is especially welcome.
Former Blue Met head Linda Leith’s literary house – named .ll. – has maintained a high standard across all genres since launching in 2010. Check out the latest batch, including titles by Jack Hannan, Elaine Kalman Naves and Peter Kirby, at a group launch on April 15 at 6 p.m. in Espace Godin. Admission is free. Equally worthy of your time, and also free, is DC Books Spring Launch (April 14, 7:30 p.m., Salle Jardin), featuring Robert Sandiford, Tom Abray, Jason Camlot, Larissa Andrusyshyn and Greg Santos. Trivia buffs take note: DC was the house that first brought Heather O’Neill to the world’s attention.
This time at Blue Met, Eleanor Wachtel will be the one answering – not asking – questions.
Among the most popular and lively events at every Blue Met are the ones that treat writing as a kind of spectator sport. One of those this year is Rapid-Fire Readings, Ricochet Writing: 25 Authors Write Before Your Very Eyes (April 16, 7 p.m., Espace Godin, $5). A wide-ranging lineup including QWF first book-award winner Anita Anand will create a joint narrative on the fly. (Full disclosure: your reporter will be a participant.)
Eleanor Wachtel has been doing what she does so well, and for so long, that we could get lulled into taking her for granted. A fine corrective to that possibility has arrived in the form of The Best of Writers & Company (Biblioasis, 356 pp, $22.95), a new anthology gathering fifteen full-length interviews with an almost embarrassingly stellar list of writers. You’d be hard-pressed to find a book of comparable scope anywhere. In a case of the tables being turned, Montreal writer Will Aitken (seek out his novel Realia, it’s a lost gem) interviews Wachtel onstage for an hour at The Other Side of The Mic (April 15, 5:30 p.m., Salle St-Laurent, $10).
Wachtel will, of course, be a part of the festival’s marquee event, interviewing Grand Prix recipient Anne Carson. (April 16, 4 p.m., Grande Bibliothèque, 475 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E., $15) That one’s a no-brainer, but equally enticing is a rare opportunity to see Carson in a more intimate setting: Reading By Anne Carson, Douglas Babington, Jay Parini & Derek Webster (April 15, 8 p.m., Espace Godin, free admission). This is the equivalent of seeing Dylan in a bar, folks. Miss it and you’ll be kicking yourself.
Thomas King’s reputation extends even further than his contemporary classic novels Green Grass, Running Water and Medicine River. His 2013 manifesto The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America self-evidently should be on every school history course list in the country. Joseph Boyden has done as much as any other writer to bring native narratives, both contemporary and historical, to a mass readership. King and Boyden together onstage promises to make for a memorable evening, so don’t miss the bilingual event Les histoires font de ce que nous sommes: Stories Are All We Are: Thomas King & Joseph Boyden (April 16, 6 p.m., Musée d’art contemporaine, 185 Ste-Catherine St. W., $15).
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong time for an event featuring Eleanor Wachtel interviewing Anne Carson. It is at 4 p.m. on April 16.
