Writers Off the Page: From the TIFA Archives
A monthly series produced and curated by Toronto Public Library (TPL), celebrating the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA). Episodes feature recorded on-stage interviews, readings or panel discussions with some of the 20th century's best-known writers and thinkers. Hosted by novelist, Randy Boyagoda.
- Update frequency
- every 20 days
- Average duration
- 32 minutes
- Episodes
- 32
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Seamus Heaney: Death of a Naturalist
In this captivating episode of Writers Off the Page: From the TIFA Archives, step back in time to 1990 Toronto and immerse yourself in the lyrical world of Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. The…
Carlos Fuentes: From Illusion to Reality
This conversation between Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes and Bob Rae, recorded in 2000, offers a time capsule of North American relations at a pivotal moment. The interview captures Fuentes just after…
Ursula Le Guin: Don't Push the River
In October of 2000, Ursula K. Le Guin sat down with CBC's Marilyn Powell to discuss her novel, The Telling. Listening to their conversation now feels like opening a time capsule – one that paradoxica…
Saul Bellow: Wires not Roots
EPISODE SUMMARY
Listening to this 1988 conversation between Nobel-prize winning American writer, Saul Bellow, and former Canadian Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, we possess the advantage of hinds…
Jamaica Kincaid: Brothers, Mothers and Antigua
The best kinds of conversations should meander and detour, trip over delicate areas, double down when a point must be emphatically asserted. After all, the ostensible subject of this 1997 on-stage ch…
Mario Vargas Llosa: Literature Can Help People Live
In 1988, when Mario Vargas Llosa sat down on a Toronto stage with Adrienne Clarkson, he hadn't yet won his Nobel Prize for Literature (that came in 2010) so he wasn't yet a "central" figure in the wo…
Hilary Mantel: Experiments in Love
This audio recording of Hilary Mantel in conversation with Rosemary Sullivan was recorded on stage at Harbourfront Reading Series in 1997. It is used with the kind permission of the Toronto Internati…
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
Works by Umberto Eco
Other Related Books or Materials
Signs and Secrets: the Worlds of Umberto Eco (2013 documentary…
Austin Clarke: Sometimes, A Motherless Child
Works by Austin Clarke
They Never Told Me and Other Stories
Other Related Books or Materials
Odetta’s 1960 recording of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” (link open…
Doris Lessing: Homage to the New Man
Works by Doris Lessing
The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels
The Grass is Singing (ebook)
Other Related Books or Materials
Doris Lessing: A Biography by Carole K…
Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus
Works by Angela Carter
The Bloody Chamber, Wise Children, Fireworks
Writers Talk: Angela Carter with Lisa Appignanesi (evideo)
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (ebook)
…
Luisa Valenzuela: Love of Animals
Works by Luisa Valenzuela
The Lizard’s Tail (print book)
The Wanderer by Luisa Valenzuela, translated by Marguerite Feitlowitz (link opens a short story from The Brooklyn Rail's InTranslation)
Richard Wagamese: A Quality of Light
Works by Richard Wagamese
A Quality of Light (ebook)
One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet (all formats)
One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet (audiobook)
Starlight (ebook)
Ot…
John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany
Works by John Irving
The World According to Garp (book in various formats)
The World According to Gary (1982 film starring Robin Williams, Glenn Close and John Lithgow)
Bruce Chatwin: The Songlines
Note: given the current temporary closure of TPL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made our best efforts to offer suggestions below for materials which are part our online collections (indicated)…
Lee Maracle: The Raven
Note: given the current temporary closure of TPL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made our best efforts to offer suggestions below for materials which are part our online collections (indicated)…
Austin Clarke: Doing Right
Note: given the current temporary closure of TPL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made our best efforts to offer suggestions below for materials which are part our online collections (indicated)…
Gloria Naylor: Mama Day
Note: Given the current temporary closure of TPL due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made our best efforts to offer suggestions below for materials which are part our online collections (indicated)…
Nikki Giovanni: Road Tripping
Works by Nikki Giovanni
The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1969 - 1998
Rosa (a short video)
Rosa (a kids biography)
Other Related Books or Materials