What are the challenges of our times? Over 100 invited guests answer the call

Richard Van Camp

Richard Van Camp, recipient of the First Peoples Literary Prize is an internationally renowned storyteller and bestselling author of 24 books in just about every genre.

From April 24 to May 2 the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival will open its virtual doors for the spring 2021 program, including the TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival. Over one hundred national and international invitees will tackle the thought-provoking theme: the challenges of our times. There will be over fifty multilingual (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic) free panels, debates and interviews—complete with fresh points of view on subjects that interest a diverse range of readers and thinkers.

Blue Metropolis is one of the largest literary festivals in North America. For over 20 years, over several days in Montreal, it brings together writers from a number of countries, offering onstage interviews, roundtable discussions, talks, master classes, and reading and writing workshops, all for the pleasure of readers. Each year, the festival is structured around several major themes, demonstrating a commitment to social issues and a keen interest for literature in its infinite variety.

David Grossman

David Grossman is the author of numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker and has been translated into more than forty languages.

Scheduled events include:

  • Writers of a wounded Lebanon
  • Souleymane Bachir Diagne: Africa and the West; pacified memories?
  • David Grossman: Trenchant Witness
  • Who are we? Where are we coming from? Indigenous voices of the moment
  • Life in SLOW motion: the world around the corner
  • Do writers ever really die? Mathieu Lindon on Hervé Guibert
  • Javier Cercas: The novel in search of the past/Palabras que profundizan el pasado
  • All people share the same rights
  • A teen author’s take on loving and supporting a sibling with autism

Authors to charm youngsters 4 to 12

The TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival, now a year-round celebration, offers a family-friendly line-up. International Children’s Book Day is April 2. For programming and information: www.bluemetropolis.org/youth/

The complete festival program is available at: www.bluemetropolis.org/2021festival/