The 35th Annual IFOA Festival is now underway! In 2006, IFOA introduced its travelling programme, IFOA Ontario, which brings IFOA literary events to numerous cities throughout Ontario, presented by a consortium of organizations across the province known collectively as Lit on Tour.
Participating author Ann-Marie MacDonald's latest novel, Adult Onset (Knopf Canada), is a story of love, motherhood and family set in Toronto. Ann-Marie will be appearing this evening as part of IFOA Burlington/Hamilton in partnership with Bryan Prince Bookseller and A Different Drummer Books.
Today, Ann-Marie speaks with Open Book about the joy of engaging with readers, "Alice Munro country" and transitioning between being an actor and a writer.
Open Book:
Tell us about what you’ll be reading at this year’s festival.
Ann-Marie MacDonald:
I will be reading from my new book, Adult Onset.
OB:
Have you attended IFOA in the past? If so, what is your favourite memory? If not, what are you most looking forward to?
AMM:
Yes, I have. The best part about any book festival is meeting the audience. That’s always my favourite, engaging with readers is the best.
OB:
Tell us about a favourite spot or area in Ontario.
AMM:
I love the farm country around Stratford and St. Mary’s. That’s Alice Munro country, that part of Ontario.
OB:
How do you manage the shift between being a solitary writer and a public reader? Is there a learning curve?
AMM:
I engaged on my learning curve many years ago because I trained as an actor at National Theatre School, and I have been an actor for many years. In fact, that’s how I started out, as an actor, and I’ve evolved into a writer. I started out as an actor who sometimes writes and I’ve become a writer who sometimes acts. So for me, the two have always gone together. I’m lucky that way, it’s combined my two métiers, my two crafts.
OB:
What is your favourite part about going on tour with a book?
AMM:
At the risk of sounding tedious, I really would say it is meeting readers because writing a book is such a solitary pursuit, and a book isn’t finished until it’s in the hands of readers and until it’s in the minds and hearts of readers. And then, it’s finished. There is nothing more gratifying for me than to read aloud to readers and then engage with them. Often there’s a Q & A, there’s some kind of discussion, and at a book signing, I always feel very privileged to meet some of the people who are reading my book, and to actually have a personal exchange with them. That means a great deal to me. That’s the high point and I never tire of it.
OB:
What are you reading right now?
AMM:
I just finished The Orenda by Joseph Boyden, which I loved. I’m in the middle of MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. Then, beckoning and tantalizing me is Emma Donoghue’s Frog Music. I think they’re all winners.
Ann-Marie MacDonald is an internationally bestselling author, actor, playwright and broadcaster. Her debut novel, Fall on Your Knees, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and has been translated into 19 languages. Her second novel, The Way the Crow Flies, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a Lambda Literary Award.
For more information about Adult Onset please visit the Knopf Canada website.
Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
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