I think I counted about 250 people at Saint Brigid's tonight to see Anne Michaels. That's the biggest fiction audience I've seen since... Michael Ondaatje?
I really enjoyed getting a chance to hear her tonight. It's always nice when someone who is a beautiful writer can also read their own work well. (I also think that the sound is getting better and better at Saint Brigid's, as the sound guys get used to the space - I was sitting way at the back and she came through clear as a bell.)
I know I've read a couple of articles that made it seem like she would be a bit of a ... prickly interview, but I think maybe the interviewers may have contributed as much to any awkwardness as she might have. At least, she certainly didn't seem as standoffish as some of the reviews have made her out to be.
And wow - hard to believe the Festival starts next Wednesday. I'm going to have to get busy deciding on the Al Purdy poem I'm going to read at the Al Purdy fundraiser on the 21st - and then it's full swing into the Festival, with the Earth Day vernissage kicking the whole thing off at 5:30 PM on Wednesday. Deep breath before the plunge, folks. I will attempt to write stuff during the Festival, but you know how it is. The Writers Festival's Discussion Board has a couple of Festival bloggers who will also be posting things, and I may sign myself up to do that as well. Assuming I'll get a couple of moments to blog as things are tearing along.
