Writers Festival Update
Dear Friends:The Fall season certainly got off to an amazing start with two huge events – Nick Cave on Thursday and Margaret Atwood on Tuesday. Not only were the crowds huge, and the audience feedback has been glowing. Both events were also big hits with the authors.
Nick Cave said in an interview on Friday: “Last night (at the Ottawa Writers Festival) was I think the best one of those onstage question-and-answer things I’ve done. I really loved it. … it was the most enjoyable one I’ve done, for sure.”
And today on Margaret Atwood’s Blog she says: “At Ottawa’s St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts and Humanities, I took one look at the stunning backdrop created by designer Thea Yeatman out of old plastic bags, duct tape and string, and thought: Yes! Artists really can make more out of less, and something out of nothing. In doing so, they unify communities and inspire them.”
The special pre-Festival preview events at Saint Brigid’s continue with two events on Monday:
1. September 28th @ 7:00 PM:
LITTLE BROTHER WITH CORY DOCTOROW
Hosted by Kate Heartfield
“A wonderful, important book … I’d recommend Little Brother over pretty much any book I’ve read this year.” -Neil Gaiman
Marcus (AKA w1n5t0n) is taking back the world, one hacked game console at a time … Have you ever felt like the technology you love could be used against you? Or that the government is watching you .. a little too closely? Have you ever felt like you just had to skip school? Do you hate bullies? Have you ever felt the call to fight back- and that the fight was waaaay bigger than just you? Join Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, for a look at what could happen when security and individual freedom clash, and how one tech-savvy teenager fights back.
2. September 28th @ 8:30 PM
GREEN METROPOLIS WITH DAVID OWEN
Hosted by Neil Wilson
Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability…
David Owen, a staff writer for The New Yorker whose interests include global ecology, has examined numerous communities across America and discovered one that strikes him as a model of environmental efficiency. That community is New York City, and in Green Metropolis, Owen tdiscusses what green-conscious citizens can learn from Gotham’s example. This promises to be a hugely important event for all of us who want to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
I’ll be back in touch again next week with more on Karen Armstrong, Tim Flannery and our other preview events.
I hope to see you on Monday!
All the best,
Sean
Nick Cave on his new novel
Jordan Zivitz, The Gazette
Nick Cave’s fans aren’t quick to blush. They’ve been acclimatized by three decades of ferocious visions from the revered singer-songwriter’s haunted head, primarily through the often beautiful, often brutal catharsis of the Bad Seeds. But even Cave’s most hardened acolytes may be startled by some of the protagonist’s exploits in The Death of Bunny Munro (HarperCollins, $29.99).
The hallucinatory tale of a sexaholic beauty-product salesman’s downward spiral, Cave’s second novel (and his first in 20 years) is a gleefully profane read. Still, Cave has always woven together language from the gutter and the heavens, and isn’t about to stop.
“I don’t want to read anything that doesn’t have a heart and some substance to it,” Cave told The Gazette in Ottawa on Friday, at the end of a week of North American promotion that included a Toronto bookstore appearance and an evening at Ottawa’s Writers Festival.
Full story: Nick Cave on his new novel
