IFOA gives some love every year to a specific genre not automatically associated with prestige literary festivals. Previously, mysteries and thrillers got the focus, bringing new fans to the event, and last year the spotlight was on graphic novels.
The 2012 edition has a special program entitled Fantastic: Science, Speculative Fiction And Fantasy, featuring some of the best writers of tales that take readers on a futuristic voyage.
In addition to Robert J. Sawyer (see Sound bites, page 44), who made Quill & Quire’s list of the 30 most influential people in CanLit, and UK star China Miéville (see review, page 49), the program presents Cory Doctorow, NOW cover boy and an expert in imagining our digital future, Hiromi Goto, who explores inner turmoil in her new book, Darkest Light, and Chinese writer Chan Koonchung, who puts a political spin on the genre in his book The Fat Years, about the search for an entire month erased from Chinese history.
Also appearing: Ned Beauman, Stuart Clark, Deborah Harkness, Max Layton, Andri Snær Magnason, Pasha Malla, China Miéville, Corey Redekop, Olga Slavnikova and Robin Sloan.
