A smaller, tighter festival but one of the best in years: that was the consensus among Rover writers who covered a slew of events at the 11th Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival. Organizers said attendance at the five-day event grew by 5% this year to 16,900 people, despite fewer events and a reduced budget. The theme was “words that matter,” a serious idea befitting anxious times.
Festivities wound up yesterday with a closing panel discussion featuring prominent Canadian writers talking about their mini-biographies of extraordinary Montrealers.
British novelist and literary critic A.S. Byatt. Byatt, winner of the 2009 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix, drew a full houses, as did Montreal broadcaster satirical writer Jonathan Goldstein, historian Margaret MacMillan, Israeli writers A.B. Yehoshua and Meir Shalev, John Ralston Saul, and a panel of South Asian writers including Rana Bose, Saleema Nawaz, Tariq Ali and M.G. Vassanji.
Writers at this year’s Festival came from Belgium, France, Morocco, Guatemala, Argentina, Nicaragua, Hungary, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, United States of America, Israel and Syria, and included Canadian writers originally from Iran, Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Haiti, Poland and Pakistan.
Next year’s festival will take place from April 21 to 25.
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I volunteered at the festival for the first time this year. The volunteer bureau was well-run by Ana and her assistant, Maya. It was so rewarding for me to be around famous authors from Montreal and abroad.
I heard A.B, Yeshua interviewed by Eleanor Wachtel, A.S. Byatt interviewed in French and the closing session with the four authors and the editor of the mini-biographies. They were all excellent and informative. I was very moved by each author’s sincerity and passion for writing. I was quite excited to speak to them, get their autograhs on my books, and take photos of me and them together. I found that all of them were down-to-earth and friendly.
I hope to volunteer again next year and to attend some sessions.
Carol Katz, Montreal