IFOA Ontario Partners Interview Series, with Lenore Langs

As part of our IFOA: Ontario series, Open Book is thrilled to be hosting interviews with several IFOA: Ontario partners in addition to our author interviews. Partners include booksellers, libraries, literary organizations and more.

Today we talk with Lenore Langs, the Chair of Bookfest Windsor, a festival which will host more than 40 authors in 2011 alone, including Michael Crummey and Alistair MacLeod.

Open Book:

To what aspect of IFOA Ontario are you most looking forward?

Lenore Langs:

I am looking forward to the excitement of being in the IFOA partnership. Here in Windsor, we often feel that we are unknown by the rest of Ontario. It is as though Ontario stops somewhere around London. We are delighted that IFOA Ontario distributes promotional material across the province, and that we are one of the groups that is listed. I also look forward to meeting the authors that IFOA will bring to Windsor.

OB:

Tell us about a favourite spot or area in Ontario.

LL:

Every summer for many years, we have camped at Pinery Provincial Park, one of our favourite parks. We love the nature trails, the peace and tranquility, the beautiful beaches and the chance to see many kinds of wildlife: herons, turtles, little brown bats, deer and, this year, a flock of wild turkeys that sauntered across our campsite.

OB:

What were some of your early experiences with public readings?

LL:

My first involvement with a public reading in which I was a reader involved panic. The first time I read my own work in public, I was afraid people might throw tomatoes. However, no one did, and over the years I have come to enjoy sharing my work. The early experiences with presenting public readings also involved a learning curve. Authors come with their own personalities and quirks, and the presenter has to learn to be a good supporter.

In the beginning, there were the microphones that squeaked or shrilled or didn't work, the audiences that didn't show up, the readers who had the flu or a dental emergency and had to cancel. However, there have always been great satisfactions, and the pleasure of meeting wonderful writers and introducing them to Windsor audiences. We've learned how important it is to have good tech people in our working group! Also, we've learned how important it is to have a good sense of humour.

OB:

Tell us about a favourite book set in Ontario.

LL:

It's almost impossible to choose just one. So many good books are set in Ontario: Giles Blunts' mysteries, Maureen Jennings 19th century mysteries, books by Jane Urquhart. I'm especially fond of The Day the Falls Stood Still, by Cathy Marie Buchanan. I like the way she places a fictional story with a hint of the supernatural in a historical situation in Niagara Falls. Her characters and descriptions are memorable.

OB:

What is the best thing about your city?

LL:

The best thing about Windsor is the people. We may have been down in Windsor, but we've never been out. We always "rise to fight again." It's a city where people work together, to support one another. We have a thriving arts community: theatre, literature, visual arts, music, graphic arts. Our symphony is wonderful. Our waterfront is also a "best" thing. The entire waterfront is a park, with flower gardens and a sculpture garden.

OB:

What are you reading right now?

LL:

I generally have a couple of books going. Right now I'm reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, A Woman Among Warlords, Queen of Hearts and Help Me, Jacques Cousteau. You can tell that housekeeping isn't high on my agenda!

Lenore Langs has taught creative and expository writing at the University Of Windsor. She is co-publisher (with Laurie Smith) of Cranberry Tree Press. She is Chairperson of BookFest Windsor. Her poetry has been published in literary journals in the United States and Canada. Her other interests centre around environmental issues. She is a sometime "Raging Granny" and is a member of "The Gaia Women of the Great Lakes Basin."