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A Toronto Reading Series 4/19/2016 3:55:17 PM
A reading series called Authors at Harbourfront Centre is one event that gets me out and about. Two subway rides and a fifteen minutes walk from Union Station brings me to York Quay and the recreational and artistic venues on Toronto's waterfront. I've been going to readings there for more than fifteen years.
Before moving to Toronto almost nine years ago, I'd attend the International Festival of Authors, which Authors at Harbourfront puts on, if I happened to be in town in October. I have especially fond memories of going to the Festival with my father, who would fly to Toronto from Albany, where he lived near my sister and her family, and I would drive down from Sudbury, where I worked. I remember we saw together the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the English writer D. M. Thomas, and the Canadian Mordecai Richler.
I've seen other notable writers at the Harbourfornt series, some just starting out, and established authors I've never heard of -- all with recent books to promote.
I have particularly strong recollections of two reading/interviews with writers most authorities would place at the top of their profession -- A. S. Byatt and Orhan Pamuk. They've both created a substantial body of work that is widely appreciated. Both have had plenty of experience talking with groups of people and both had commanding presences that drew the audience into their thought-worlds.
Thinking back on those reading/interviews, I remembered a distinction the Canadian novelist Morley Callaghan made. Merely talented people often make others envious. "You can't possibly achieve all that I've done." They drive us into ourselves.
The great ones, the geniuses, open themselves and their abilities and have a way of sharing their gifts with others. They inspire ordinary people to do their best.
Just as interesting are writers new to me who for a few minutes bring the audience unfamiliar characters, situations, and locales and fresh outlooks on life. A young English story-teller described in a quirky, humorous way a train ride she once took. Another writer based stories on flaws in well-known novels -- such as a scene near the beginning of Great Expectations: how could Abel Magwich swim wearing a leg iron? A Canadian described traveling through Northern Ontario with his wife. A Toronto poet past the age of sixty lovingly portrayed incidents from his long and fruitful marriage.
This Wednesday, I heard Sebastian Barry read from his latest novel and answer questions put to him by Eleanor Wachtel, a well-known Canadian literary personality. Barry talked about his family in Ireland, his love for the US, where he set more than one work of fiction along with his criticisms of the country and his reflections on the war in Viet Nam. He was always interesting and rose to eloquence when he spoke of human freedom as respect for others and said that things inside us and nearby us are more important than politics and that we are all members of the same family. I didn't agree with everything he had to say, but one remark stays with me -- that what he called "a thread of grief" runs through life. He was not a triumphalist, then, always boasting about victory and looking for another.
For anyone interested in such things, Authors at Harbourfront brings an array of opinions and talents and points of view. You can find much more about their programs at http://www.readings.org/.
