Boy, those writers sure can blab.
Toronto journalist and host Rachel Geise had it easy last night, as she facilitated a round table with Kevin Berry (There Are Little Kingdoms), Emma Donoghue (Room) and Joshua Ferris (The Unnamed) at the International Festival of Authors.
The trio were voluble and terribly entertaining.
The topic was one of those non-themes the IFOA committee comes up with – Contemporary Contemplations – but these writers would have waxed eloquent on just about any subject matter.
At one point, for example, when asked whether the writers start working on another book while they’re supposed to meeting a deadline for another, Donoghue went into a hilarious ramble about how she can’t help herself but do that, and it gives her the feeling that she’s having an affair.
In response to a question about the state of fiction in the new millenium, Berry – with a fabulous Irish lilt he used to talk at length and at great effect – described how he’d been assured by a fellow writer, “Don’t worry, the novel will be at your funeral.” But when he started quoting Phillip Roth about how it’s over for fiction, Ferris stepped in to say, “Don’t believe Phillip Roth. He isn’t exactly in an optimistic phase.”
That was typical Ferris who, though not quite as blabby as the two Irish scribes (Donoghue lives in London, Ontario, but was born in Ireland), he was a terrific foil who could answer questions in a kind of shorthand. When Geise asked how a writer know whether what he’s writing is actually working, Ferris deadpanned, “Writers experience one of two feelings: it’s working, it’s not working.”
Have to say, in spite of this terrific event, that the energy was a little low at the festival. Ben McNally, who was selling books for the festival at the festival hub, said opening night was a dud and I can’t say the joint was crawling with book lovers on day two.
Also found it interesting that the women beside me who were live tweeting were told to turn off their phones. I kind of liked that. Though a round table isn’t a move that can be disrupted by lights flashing throughout the theatre, it felt like IFOA organizers wanted audience members to pay attention. You gotta wonder, on the other hand: they did pay to get in, so if the light isn’t disruptive to the conversation, should audience members not be permitted to tweet?
