2011 Festival

Relive the memories of your favourite Festival events with our audio archives. We will be posting audio from a 2011 Festival event each week leading up to the 2012 Festival and you can also look forward to a blog post from Hal sharing his thoughts, memories and stories from each event...

"In the lead up to the Festival last year, all I had to do was mention the name "Kate Beaton" to anyone under the age of 30 and they would say 'Kate Beaton is coming the Festival OMG!' And when she came she took the town by storm. Helen Oyeyemi first came to the Festival when she was 19 years old. She is just 25 with three novels under her belt and last year was her third visit to the Festival. We put both of them in the skilled hands of Bill Richardson and lead them to revealing insight after revealing insight, with some humour thrown in for good measure."

To listen to Conversations with Bill, click here. 

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Relive the memories of your favourite Festival events with our audio archives. We will be posting audio from a 2011 Festival event each week leading up to the 2012 Festival and you can also look forward to a blog post from Hal sharing his thoughts, memories and stories from each event...

"It was truly a gift that we were able to present some of the best writers in Canada, who have written fiction about the Canadian west, at the Festival last year. Guy Vanderhaeghe and Rudy Wiebe have helped shape our understanding of Canadian western history through their work. Marina Endicott and Pauline Holdstock have turned their attention to the west more recently, but their insight and vivid depictions of very different eras are evident in this excellent discussion. Our Wild West is very different from the place mythologized by our neighbours to the south".

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Friday afternoon. A quick break for lunch before pressing on to the Revue Stage for Event #44. I repair to a cozy little eatery not terribly far from the venue called Chez Nous for an excellent bowl of chili and an incomparable square of Torta Rustica. Love that Fontina cheese.

Having absorbed the lesson of the morning I elect to leave the car and walk back to the island. It’s solid rain now in October town. Johnston Street is like a tableau out of the Floating World–land of a thousand umbrellas. People seem in a hurry to get where they’re going.

I shake out my umbrella and enter the theatre. Haven’t been in here before. It’s a fine, small, intimate setting, a stage and a semi-circle of seating up shallow risers. It’s not quite a sell out but a good crowd is on hand at show time.

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Friday morning.  I rise at the unconscionable hour of nine a.m. for a return engagement at the Waterfront Theatre.  Running late as usual so decide to drive even though it’s just a ten minute walk to the island.  I think, oh yeah, bound to be pretty quiet down there this time of day, parking, which often is, won’t be a problem.  Maybe a few tumbleweeds of rain blowing down Cartwright Street but yeah, we got this whole thing under control.  Wrong.  The joint is crawling with traffic.  Now I’m thinking, a bit frantically, “What did you expect?  What did you expect?”  I circle round in a crush of cars and pedestrians and veer off to check out my secret parking place.  Luck is with me and it’s empty.  I snug in and get to the theatre.  Things are in fact running a bit late.  It’s not a sell-out, but close.

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     Thursday night at the Waterfront Theatre.  I’m twenty minutes early but the place is already nearly full.  You encounter very few people who have any interest in literature but that’s not going to be a problem tonight or this week on Granville Island.  I overhear someone say, “One of my daughter’s friends, she’s fifteen.  She’s going to five events.”  I think, good for you, daughter’s friend.  I overhear someone else.  “Wayne Johnston.  Wayne Johnston.  I love him!”  And someone else:  “I’m not a mystery reader, but I was intrigued!”

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Imagine an island in the middle of a city...

Now picture a place moulded by a fascinating history, buzzing with a colourful artistic community. A living, breathing urban oasis filled with fine waterfront restaurants, theatres, galleries, studios, unique shops, cafes and the most spectacular fresh food market you’ve ever seen.

Granville Island is the setting for our fabulous Festival, here are some recommendations for what to do around this urban oasis, from October 18-23:

1. Grab a snack from the Public Market. With gorgeous artisan bread from Terra Breads and La Baguette et L'Echalote, assorted cheeses and olives from Duso's Italian Foods and Zara's Italian Deli, and comforting soup from the Stock Market, you will be fit for a picnic on a crisp fall day. If you're looking for something sweeter, pick up a decadent piece of fudge from Olde World Fudge, or a donut from Lee's and a warming cup of tea from the Granville Island Tea Company. Take your snacks and bundle up outside, with musicians performing around the Island, you're sure to be entertained.

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Event 10: The Dish

Doug Gibson is one of the best storytellers I have ever met. Combine that
with his close friendship and working relationships with Robertson Davies,
Alice Munro, Alistair MacLeod, W.O. Mitchell and many more and you have the
makings for an entertaining evening event.

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The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked 2011 Festival authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are…

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To be rid of old vendettas and peevish, competitive impulses.

What does your ideal day look like?
Sitting on the porch with my son and then going out to dinner with my wife.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Eating nightly in restaurants.

What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost?
My office at U of T.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Irrational hatreds and a desire for revenge.

What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood?
Bad smells and depressing sounds.

Do you take comfort in darkness or light?
Darkness

Do you remember your dreams?
Yes

How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly?Usually they come in the shower or the bathroom with the sound of running water so I try and keep paper nearby.

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The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked 2011 Festival authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are…

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The ocean within walking distance.

What does your ideal day look like?
Balanced--a little bit of creative work, a little bit of domestic puttering, a little bit of exercise, getting a couple of tedious chores accomplished so I can feel virtuous, bike ride, a bit of mental stimulation via books or (yes) TV, a good dinner at the end of the day, maybe some sex somewhere in there.

What is your greatest extravagance?
I pay good money for good bras.

What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost?
My wedding ring.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
A kneejerk avoidance of conflict.

What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood?
Scary dolls with the secret potential to come alive.

Do you take comfort in darkness or light?
Light.

Do you remember your dreams?
Vividly.

How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly?
They mostly just sit fermenting in my head and pop up when I have need of them.

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