Many of Ontario's most passionate and dedicated readers live in communities spread across the province, so the International Festival of Authors (IFOA), now in its 33rd year, is taking its show on the road to bring its exciting program of literary events to 14 locations throughout Ontario. From October 16th to November 2nd, outstanding authors from Canada and across the world will visit Barrie, Brantford, Burlington, Hamilton, Markham, Midland, Parry Sound, Picton, Orillia, Owen Sound, Thunder Bay, Uxbridge, Windsor and Woodstock.
Today Open Book catches up with Tim Bowling, who will be reading in Owen Sound on Thursday, October 25, along with fellow finalists for the 2012 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Tamas Dobozy, Rawi Hage and Alix Ohlin. Tim earned his nomination for this prestigious prize for his new novel, The Tinsmith (Brindle & Glass Publishing).
For more information about IFOA Ontario: Owen Sound, visit our Events Page.
Open Book:
Tell us about what you’ll be reading at this year’s IFOA Ontario festival.
Tim Bowling:
I’ll be reading an excerpt from my novel, The Tinsmith. It’s never easy to choose an excerpt from a novel to read aloud, so I’m still mulling over the possibilities! In general, though, the novel deals with slavery, business ethics and other forms of morality, moving from the battlegrounds of the American Civil War to the fishing grounds of the Fraser River. Though I am a funny fellow and have written comic scenes, The Tinsmith is a dark book with a rather pell-mell narrative pacing. I’ll try to highlight some of that dark and tense propulsion!
OB:
What are you most looking forward to about reading in the town of your IFOA Ontario event?
TB:
One of the perks of being a writer is getting invited to see different parts of the country. I’m from the west, and I live in the west, so any opportunity to visit a town in Ontario is a rare boon for me. Heck, my mom was born in Toronto in 1926, so I’m always just thrilled to walk around the streets where she grew up. To venture farther afield from there is a bonus.
OB:
How do you manage the shift between being solitary writer and a public reader?
TB:
With remarkable grace and aplomb! But seriously, the shift is sometimes disorienting, and it takes some getting used to. But I’ve been giving public readings for many years now, and I quite enjoy them. Besides, I have three kids; I’m never a solitary writer!
OB:
What is one luxury you allow yourself when you go "on tour" with a book?
TB:
Visiting used and antiquarian bookstores. And dining out.
OB:
What book (aside from your own) will you have with you in your bag while you travel to the location of your IFOA Ontario reading?
TB:
A biography of Buster Keaton.
Visit litontour.com for more details about IFOA Ontario.
Tim Bowling is the author of 10 collections of poetry, four novels, and two works of non-fiction. His works include the poetry collection Tenderman (Nightwood Editions), winner of the 2012 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and In the Suicide's Library: A Book Lover's Journey (Gaspereau Press), a work of non-fiction. Bowling's writing has earned him a Canadian Authors Association Award, two Governor General's Literary Award nominations, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and five Alberta Book Awards. Partially set in 1862 during the Battle of Antietam, Bowling's The Tinsmith (Brindle & Glass) tells the story of a Union Army surgeon deeply affected by a mysterious soldier who, 20 years after their first meeting, disappears.
For more information about The Tinsmith please visit the Brindle & Glass website.
Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
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