People attend the Word On The Street book festival in Toronto in this 2011 handout photo. Fall and spring are the main seasons for book festivals across Canada. Some festivals draw big-name Canadian authors as well as novelists, poets and nonfiction writers from other countries while others give local writers and publishers a chance to raise their profile. In either case, it's a great chance for the public to meet authors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Drew StewartDrew Stewart/The Canadian Press
Turns out you're quite a character.
At this year's Word on the Street festival, readers will pay for the opportunity to be interviewed, appraised and written about by distinguished authors. The resulting "literary portraits," available at Booth 179, will be witty thumbnail write-ups, the verbal version of sketches by street artists.
Confirmed authors include Stuart McLean, Pasha Malla, Dave Bidini, Elizabeth Ruth and Katrina Onstad – who is not known for pulling her punches. Children's author Manjusha Pawagi will also be on hand, writing with kid gloves, we would like to think.
Is it right for these writers to make these snap judgments? Maybe yes, maybe no. But these quick-take characterizations are a delicious response from any writer who has had their slaved-over book judged by its cover.
Word on The Street, Sept. 23, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free. Queen's Park Circle, http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto.
Brad Wheeler