The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) in 2022 returns to in-person activities at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre from Sept. 22 to Oct. 2, following a virtual festival in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I started my role in 2020, we had no idea what was about to happen to our world. What we have been reminded of through this time in history is that as human beings we have an intrinsic need to tell and share stories, and to come together as a community,” said TIFA director Roland Gulliver in a statement.
Canada’s longest-running literary festival and an annual celebration of books, authors, and readers TIFA typically brings thousands of attendees to venues across Toronto. For 11 days, audiences can meet and hear from Canadian and international authors, including Dionne Brand, Tomson Highway, Ian McEwan, Marian Keyes, Ben Macintyre, Ali Hassan, and Margaret Atwood.
Building on the past two years of virtual events, including programmings such as “in-conversation” author chats, performances, and masterclasses, TIFA 2022 will feature a range of similar events as well as TIFA Kids, its youth, and children’s programming.
Taking place both indoors and outdoors at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, the festival will complement live programming, with online digital content and activities.
The new look offered by the outdoor spaces will enhance the festival’s experience for audiences and authors, opening up new creative opportunities for festival programs and activities.
Back in June, TIFA launched the inaugural Motive Crime & Mystery Festival, its first in-person literary event since 2020 focusing on crime and mystery writing featuring authors such as Thomas King, Shari Lapena, and Kathy Reichs, Motive took place this past spring at Harbourfront Centre and setting the tone for what festival programming can look like, with mixed indoor, outdoor and virtual events.
“We’ve been able to create a framework of what [TIFA] is,” Gulliver reported saying. “It’s really exciting now to finally be bringing people together for 11 days. We’re celebrating books and stories and building on all the different kinds of learnings we’ve had over the past few years.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa in conversation with Citizen Lab founder Ronald Deibert on the topic of defending the freedom of expression and human rights would be featured at the festival.
Introduced by Margaret Atwood, the event would be moderated by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC Radio’s IDEAS.
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