25th Annual International Festival of Authors

For 10 days in October, more than 100 of the world's most famous and profound writers will descend on Toronto, where festival attendees have the opportunity to rub elbows with their favorite authors and attend book readings and signings. The 25^th annual International Festival of Authors, October 20-30, is the main attraction of the Harbourfront Reading Series, a world-renowned year-round literary program.

The combination of quality authors from around the world with an enthusiastic North American crowd in a participatory setting makes the International Festival of Authors a can't-miss event, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, is "...the book world's version of baseball's All-Star Game." Time Magazine reviewed the festival, saying "Toronto's ambitiously international Harbourfront Reading Series, which brings authors before a live audience, succeeds on a scale unheard of in the U.S."

Festival activities occur continuously at several venues and stages over the 10-day period, and include onstage interviews between authors and local personalities and journalists, lectures, tributes, readings by authors from their most recent works, and of course, book signings after each event. For the first time in 2004, the festival will introduce roundtable discussions to foster meaningful and in-depth literary conversations between authors and readers.

Other highlights for 2004 include the awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize, $10,000 Canadian, to an author who has made a substantial contribution to literature; the announcement of the Timothy Findley/William Whitehead Scholarship recipient, which covers a promising student's tuition to Humber School of Writers; the Young IFOA & Step into Stories, where children's authors present their works to their audience and then answer questions; and the special focus for this year, SUPERDANISH: Newfangled Danish Culture, in which eight Danish writers will read from their works for the first time outside of Europe.

Writers for 2004 include Russell Banks, David Bezmogis, Anita Desai, Marilynne Robinson, Helen Humphreys, A.C. Kennedy, Bharati Mukherjee and many more.

The Harbourfront Reading Series began as a small event in 1974, but has grown to epic proportions as it celebrates its silver anniversary this year. Since its humble beginnings 25 years ago, the Series has hosted over 4,000 published authors, 13 of which are Nobel Laureates.

For anyone who loves to read, the International Festival of Authors in Toronto will not disappoint, as some of the world's best writers mix and mingle with the crowds and share their insights into their writing. This is the perfect setting in which readers are encouraged to ask those questions they have always wanted to ask, from the authors themselves, and then get an autograph too!