November 2003 - Nr. 11
Word On The Street
Picture: Author Lucille de Saint-Andre, displays her T-shirt and book, "Bye-Bye-Baden-Baden," at Word On The Street
by Lucille de Saint-Andre
In
brilliant October sunshine thousands of Torontonians walked, talked, browsed
through books, greeted friends, snacked and listened to authors reading in
the tents along Queen Street West. It was the annual fall literary festival,
The Word On The Street, which marks the end of the summer and leads into a
fall season full of new literary adventures.
Organizers estimated the ever increasing crowds at more than 170,000 along Queen Street and worried where to put them next year if the trend continues. Queen Street was closed off to traffic from University Avenue West to Spadina Avenue. At times the crowds around the book stalls were so thick that strolling along was nearly impossible and people queued up in long lines in the coffee shops and at food stalls dispensing tempting morsels of Indian, Japanese and Chinese cooking. But there was ample choice with more than 250 book and magazine exhibitors, 11 reading stages trod by authors and storytellers.
Many books were half priced and people eagerly stocked up on their Christmas presents. There was also action along the streets by authors selling or giving away their books including free copies of the Qur’an and groups trying to attract membership in their organization such as (US) Democrats Abroad Canada. I remember one year when a busy Buddhist Sect was working earnestly to recruit new members from its booth.
KidStreet featured 20 leading kids publishers, magazines and booksellers plus two entertainment stages--The Canadian Children’s Authors Stage and TVOKids Stage.
In The Writers’ Block were literary organizations including PEN Canada, The Writers’ Union of Canada, Periodical Writers Association of Canada and Crime Writers of Canada.
Penguin sold paperbacks for $2. One of the biggest line-ups was Mirvish Production half-price tickets of The Lion King. The Sprint booth was signing up cell phone subscribers at a fast clip.
Laden with books, pamphlets, applications and new addresses, people went home after a sunny afternoon well spent.
The Word On The Street fairs took place the same day in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax and Kitchener.
