Most days, the last thing I feel like doing is reading. Every day, we read documents with painstaking attention to detail, stare at a computer screen until our eyes cross and generally interact with the written word way more than most. To unwind, I’d usually rather hit a movie theatre and watch the latest fluffpiece from the makers of Legally Blonde or crack open a bottle of wine than read…gasp…a book! Read something else? Something more? For FUN?!?
Lately, though, things have changed. Though I was totally unable to grasp this concept during law school, I’ve since remembered that there is no replacement for curling up on a comfy couch and relaxing with a good book. (Okay, maybe there is also a glass of wine involved.)
I’m on the hunt for a great new read; I just finished Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes and literally could not put it down. As luck would have it, I can prowl around the Toronto edition of The Word On The Street this Sunday and hopefully score some new material. The Word On The Street is a national book and magazine festival that will be taking over Queen’s Park from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It features everything from a massive kid-friendly set of events on KidStreet, a whole section dedicated to food and cooking and booths manned by every type of publisher, from indie zines to small presses and major book publishers.
Perhaps most exciting of all are the live appearances by authors. The institutional Toronto literati fixture Margaret Atwood will be at the festival, as well as lesser-known authors like one of my favourites, Lauren Kirshner. Atwood is launching her new novel, The Year of the Flood, and will be appearing on the Scotiabank Bestsellers Stage for a Q&A session at 3 p.m., and Kirshner will be at the Great Books Marquee from 5:00-5:30 p.m.
Other events not to be missed:
- Top financial experts await us at the Money Matters tent where they will offer us free advice on how to cope with the ongoing financial crisis.
- The Proud Voices Tent offers a look into queer writers and their writing, including two panel discussions.
- A stop at the booth for Mabel’s Fables Bookstore, the best children’s bookstore in Toronto, hands down.
Leanne is an associate at Heenan Blaikie LLP. She spends her free time indulging in art, film, music and literature and swears that culture tastes better than chocolate. Her column will appear every Friday here on lawandstyle.ca.
Photo by John Patrick Robichaud