Kingston WritersFest is proving to be one of the top literary festivals in Canada. This year, the festival ran from September 22-25, and attendance topped 4,000, with an audience that included local, national and international guest. Open Book editors Grace O'Connell and Clelia Scala travelled to the Limestone City to take in the weekend's festivities. We saw many wonderful readings and had dozens of marvelous conversations. We'd like to share with you a few of the festival highlights.
Saturday, September 24: Literary Debuts with Laurie Lewis, Martha Schabas and Alexi Zentner
Representing three different points of entry to the writer's life, the three debut authors on the panel opened the session by treating the crowd to a reading, all with the poise of old hands. The following discussion focused on the question, posed by moderator and festival producer Barbara Bell, "is it ever too early or too late to begin as a writer?"
Covering everything from MFA programs to how late is too late to stay at the bar, the three writers were united in their assertion that talent and work ethic trump any detail found on a driver's license when it comes to predicting literary success. Alexi Zentner got an appreciative laugh from the packed room with his summation that "there's no too early or too late if you're willing to put your ass in the chair and do the work."
Laurie Lewis entertained the crowd with stories of her young life in New York amongst the writers who made up her author mother's social group, including Dorothy Parker, and Martha Schabas received a spontaneous flurry of applause while speaking about the patriarchal assumptions interrogated in her novel, Various Positions.
Zentner summed up the feeling of the room, noting that focus on the writing above all else is most important. "There's a difference," he said, "between wanting to write and wanting to be a writer." — Grace O'Connell
Saturday, September 24: Thrillers with Andrew Pyper and Timothy Taylor
The main topic of discussion here was genre-bending; both Andrew Pyper and Timothy Taylor occupy the no man's land of the literary pageturner — as Taylor put it, "skating at the margin".
The authors had the crowd hooked while they joked and traded opinions about how to make a book interesting without straying into the realm of formulaic writing. "Are we bending genres," Taylor asked, "Or are we just doing what literature should do?"
The discussion also addressed the crisis of declining readership amongst young boys and asked the question of whether the excitement of genre writing, combined with the quality of literary fiction, could be one possible solution to draw boys back to books. "It's about broadening expectations of what a serious novel is," said Pyper.
If the readings that opened the session were anything to judge by, both authors have managed to strike the perfect balance they were discussing — even the brief sections read were instantly gripping. Another very well-attended event, Thrillers boasted several festival authors in the audience, including Diane Schoemperlen, Martha Schabas and Vincent Lam, as well as Wayne Grady, who introduced Pyper and Taylor. — Grace O'Connell
Saturday, September 24: Chatting with Andrew Pyper and Diane Schoemperlen
I had the chance to sit briefly with guest authors Andrew Pyper and Diane Schoemperlen and chat about the success and excitement of Kingston WritersFest.
Schoemperlen, a longtime resident of Kingston and part of the vibrant Kingston literary scene, noted the positive environment for local authors: "It is a real community, not just a number of writers who live in the same city." Regarding the festival, she said it has been enthusiastically embraced by the community and is now an anticipated event each year. Said Schoemperlen: "I always end up feeling inspired; it's a good shot in the arm."
Pyper, new to the city, had some time to explore Kingston around the festival, and appreciated its qualities from the point of view of a writer whose books utilize elements of suspense. "It feels like a very haunted place, in the best sense. There's a gothic quality to it." Impressed by the festival, Pyper praised the organizers, saying "It's a testimony to a lot of hard work... What determines a festival's success is the people."
Both writers agreed that the festival is growing at an amazing rate and is a great experience for the writers. Schoemperlen ended by joking, "Next year they're going to have to hold it at the K-Rock Centre." — Grace O'Connell
Top photo: Martha Schabas, Kingston WriterFest's Artistic Director, Merilyn Simonds, and Vincent Lam at Kingston WritersFest. Photo by Open Book.
Middle photo: Andrew Pyper. Photo by Open Book.
Bottom Photo: Diane Schoemperlen and Andrew Pyper. Photo by Open Book.
Read Part One and Part Two of our coverage of Kingston WritersFest. Check back tomorrow for Part Four.
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