Writers Off the Page: From the TIFA Archives – Details, episodes & analysis

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 International Festival of Authors. Thanks to TIFA for allowing us access to their archives for this series. Find out more about the Festival and its annual festival along with many other activities at FestivalOfAuthors.ca.

Click here check out Season One of Writers Off the Page where you'll be able to listen to all 26 episodes featuring some of the 20th century's most beloved writers, including Umberto Eco, Susan Sontag, Nikki Giovanni, Grace Paley and more.

Works by Hilary Mantel in Toronto Public Library's collection:

An Experiment in Love (print edition) (ebook)
Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall Trilogy, Book One) (print edition) (ebook) (audiobook)
Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall Trilogy, Book Two) (print edition, ebook, audiobook) 
The Mirror and the Light (Wolf Hall Trilogy, Book Three) (print edition) ebook) (audiobook)
A Change of Climate (print edition) (ebook)
Vacant Possession (print edition) (ebook)
A Place of Greater Safety (print edition) (ebook)
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (print edition)

Other Related Books or Materials in our collections:

The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan (print edition) (ebook) (audiobook)
Stalin's Daughter : the Extraordinary and Tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan
(print edition) (ebook) (audiobook)
Wolf Hall - Masterpiece Theatre's 2015 movie adaptation (DVD)

About the Host

Randy Boyagoda is a novelist and professor of English at the University of Toronto, where he serves as advisor on civil discourse and vice-dean undergraduate, in the Faculty of Arts and Science. He has written seven books, including four novels. His work has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize and named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year and New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice selection. He regularly contributes essays, opinions and reviews to publications including the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Financial Times of London, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Globe and Mail, and appears frequently on CBC Radio. A former president of PEN Canada, Boyagoda lives in Toronto with his wife and their four daughters.

Music is by Yuka

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Works by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose

Foucault’s Pendulum

The Prague Cemetery

On the Shoulders of Giants

Other Related Books or Materials

Signs and Secrets: the Worlds of Umberto Eco (2013 documentary)

Always Narrating: The Making and Unmaking of Umberto Eco (link opens a 2020 Los Angeles Review of Book article)

The Man Who Loved Books: Interview with Umberto Eco (link opens a 2020 Counterpunch article)

Umberto Eco, The Art of Fiction, No. 197 (link opens a 2008 Paris Review article)

Umberto Eco, 84, Best-selling Academic Who Navigated Two Words (link opens a 2016 New York Times obituary)

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About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

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) and available at home to anyone with a current Toronto Library card. 

Read: Why are wait times on ebooks or audiobooks sometimes so long?

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Books by Lee Maracle

Memory Serves (ebook)

My Conversations with Canadians (ebook)

Celia’s Song (ebook)

Hope Matters (ebook)

Other Related Books or Materials

‘We Have the Same Language, But Definitely Different Rules’: An Interview with Lee Maracle (link opens a Hazlitt article)

High-schooler Catricia Hiebert reads the poem “War” by Lee Maracle for Les Voix des poésie competition (link opens a Youtube video)

Activist Lee Maracle On Why Every Question Is Worth Answering (Even If It's Racist) (link opens a Chatelaine article)

Lee Maracle Reflects on her Legacy as One of Canada's Most Influential Indigenous Writers  (link opens a CBC site)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

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) and available at home to anyone with a current Toronto Library card. 

Read: Why are wait times on ebooks or audiobooks sometimes so long?

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Works by Austin Clarke

Nine Men Who Laughed

‘Membering (ebook)

The Origin of Waves: a Novel (ebook)

Choosing His Coffin: the Best Stories of Austin Clarke (ebook)

Where the Sun Shines Best (ebook)

The Polished Hoe (audiobook)

Love and Sweet Food: a Culinary Memoir

Other Related Books or Materials

Austin Clarke: Essays on his Work by Camille Isaacs

The Passions of Austin Clarke by Donna Bailey Nurse (link opens an article from The Walrus from Jun 2016)

Remembering Author Austin Clarke by Andrea Baillie (ink opens McLean’s article from Jun 2016)

Austin Clarke: a Frank and Thoughtful Critic (link opens CBC Archives interview from 1963)

Austin Clarke (link opens a 1969 photo by Boris Sprimo from TPL’s Special Collections of the Toronto Star Archives; all of Clarke’s images from the Toronto Star Archives can be found here)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

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) and available at home to anyone with a current Toronto Library card. 

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Works by Gloria Naylor

The Women of Brewster Place (ebook)

The Novels of Gloria Naylor: Mama Day, Linden Hills, Bailey’s Café (ebook)

Mama Day (print book)

The Women of Brewster Place (DVD of 1989 mini-series starring Oprah Winfrey and Cicely Tyson)

Bailey’s Café (print book)

Other Related Books or Materials

New York Times Obituary of Gloria Naylor (link opens NYT article from Oct 2016)

Unsolved Problems: Rachel Harper on Gloria Naylor  (link opens Los Angeles Review of Books article from Mar 2017)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.
 

Works by Nikki Giovanni

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1969 - 1998

The Sun Is So Quiet: Poems

Rosa  (a short video)

Rosa (a kids biography)

I Am Loved 

Other Related Books or Materials

Nikki Giovanni: In her Revolutionary Dream (link opens Los Angeles Review of Book article)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Works by Grace Paley

Later the Same Day

Just As I Thought

A Grace Paley Reader

The Little Disturbances of Man

Other Related Books or Materials

Grace Paley, the Saint of Seeing by George Saunders (link opens a New Yorker article)

Grace Paley’s Crowded World (link opens article in The Nation)

The Value of Not Understanding Everything: Grace Paley’s Advice to Aspiring Writers (link opens Brain Pickings article)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Works by Nikki Giovanni

A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, 1969-1998

Lincoln and Douglass: an American Friendship

Bicycles: Love Poems

Rosa

Vacation Time: Poems for Children

Nikki Giovanni: “Martin Had Faith in People” (link opens article from The Atlantic)

About Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni: a Literary Biography

Poet Nikki Giovanni on the Darker Side of Her Life (link opens an NPR article)

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Works by Larry Kramer

The American People: Volume 1: The Search for My Heart

The American People: Volume 2: The Brutality of Fact: a Novel

The Normal Heart

The Destiny of Me: a Play in Three Acts

Larry Kramer: What Pride Means to Me (link opens Salon.com article from June, 2019)

About Larry Kramer

We Must Love One Another or Die: the Life and Legacies of Larry Kramer

Larry Kramer: In Love & Anger (2015 documentary)

Other Related Books or Materials

The Normal Heart (2014 film starring Matthew Bomer)

Larry Kramer is Still the Angriest Man in the World (link opens an Interview Magazine article from Dec 2019)

Books by or About June Callwood
Trial Without End: A Shocking Story of Women and AIDS

It’s All About Kindness: Remembering June Callwood

About June Callwood

June Callwood, often dubbed, “Canada’s Conscience,” was a journalist who wrote over 2,000 articles in her career, spanning six decades. Her work as a social activist made her a champion of free speech and intellectual freedom and she was the founder or co-founder or many Canadian charities including Casey House (Canada’s first hospice for those suffering from AIDS) and Jessie’s, the June Callwood Centre for Young Women. She also founded the Toronto Public Library’s annual lecture series, the June Callwood Lecture, which honours each year an activist who provides a platform for the exploration and discussion of contemporary social justice issues. Recent lecturers have included Albert Woodfox, Ahmad Danny Ramadan and Clara Hughes.

Born in 1924 in Chatham, Ontario, Callwood died, in Toronto, in 2007, leaving a legacy as one of Canada’s most important champions of social justice.

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Works by Gwendolyn Brooks

The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks

Selected Poems

Gwendolyn Brooks (Poetry Foundation article)

Other Related Books or Materials

Gwendolyn Brooks

Conversations with Gwendolyn Brooks

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

The Importance of Being Ordinary (New Republic article from July 2017)

Jane Addams: Spirit in Action

On Gwendolyn Brooks’ Birthday, a Statue of the Powerful Poet (Chicago Tribune article from June 2018)

A Short History of South Africa

About the Host

Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017.

Music is by Yuka

From the Archives

Writers Off the Page: 40 Years of TIFA is the first series associated with the Toronto Public Library’s multi-year digital initiative, From the Archives, which presents curated and digitized audio, video and other content from some of Canada’s biggest cultural institutions and organizations.

Thanks to the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) for allowing TPL access to their archives to feature some of the best-known writers in the world from moments in the past. Thanks as well to Library and Archives Canada for generously allowing TPL access to these archives.

Audio and transcript used with the permission of the Brooks Estate.