Stephen King to open Festival of Authors

The Kings are coming! The Kings are coming!

PEN Canada has announced that celebrated novelist Stephen King and his writer son, Owen King, will headline the opening night of the 34^th International Festival of Authors on October 24 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

In his only scheduled Canadian event, Stephen will join Owen and moderator Louise Penny, an award-winning mystery writer, in a discussion of the writing life. Proceeds from the event, at $100 a ticket, will assist PEN in its work on behalf of literary freedom in Canada and abroad.

“We are thrilled that Stephen and Owen King are supporting the work of PEN,” said PEN Canada president Charlie Foran. “The evening promises to be a rare glimpse of an intimate father-son conversation about life and art.”

A native of Portland, Maine, Stephen King has become one of the world’s most successful writers, with more than 50 books published over a 39-year career. Son Owen is the author of Double Feature: A Novel and We’re All in This Together: A Novella and Stories. His writing has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Guernica, One Story, and Prairie Schooner, among other publications.

Tickets for the general public go on sale Thursday, and are available either by phone from the Harbourfront Centre box office or online at the Festival website.

Administered by Authors at Harbourfront Centre, this year’s 34^th annual IFOA takes place from October 24 to November 3, 2013.

PEN Canada is a nonpartisan organization of writers that works with others to defend freedom of expression as a basic human right, at home and abroad. PEN Canada promotes literature, fights censorship, helps free persecuted writers from prison, and assists writers living in exile in Canada.

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Celebrated author kicks off annual Festival

A reminder that Giller Prize winning author Rohinton Mistry takes to the stage tonight with host Charlie Foran, PEN Canada president, and the CBC’s Eleanor Wachtel for the opening night of the International Festival of Authors.

Proceeds from the evening at the Harbourfront Centre’s Fleck Dance Theatre will go to PEN Canada.

The recipient of the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Mistry is the author of three novels: Such a Long Journey, A Fine Balance and Family Matters, all short-listed for the Booker Prize, and a collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag. His fiction, which has been published in 30 languages, has won the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

The annual Festival runs until October 28, bringing together some of the world’s best writers of contemporary literature for readings, interviews, lectures, round table discussions, and public book signings.

Highlights include readings by finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General’s Literary Awards and Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, as well as the awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize.