Harbourfront’s International Festival of Authors puts the muse back in amusement park as it travels to the Canadian National Exhibition. See Nino and fellow author Steven Heighton brave death-defying leaps of imagination and suspensions of disbelief as they read from their recent works. 3 PM Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at the CNE’s Direct Energy Centre. Stick around until 5:30 and catch Linwood Barclay and Louise Penny as well. Hosted by Bert Archer.
Trillium Stars at the EBar
Guelph’s The BookShelf hosts a grab-bag literary night in which Trillium Award winners and nominees past and present combine a teaser for September’s Eden Mills Literary Festival with a tribute to one of the festival’s stalwarts, the late Paul Quarrington. Nino joins Alexandra Leggat, Susan Holbrook and Cordelia Strube. 7 PM on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 in The BookShelf’s EBar, 41 Quebec Street, Guelph, Ontario. 519-821-3311.
Sunshine Coast
The Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt, B.C. is Canada’s longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers and one of the best venues for getting up close and personal with writers who are often so dazzled by the fresh air and sunshine that they forget to hide out in the hospitality suite. This year’s participants include Bonnie Burnard, Ian Brown, and Brian Brett, and that’s just the Bs. Further up the alphabet you’ll find, among others, Karen Connelly, Lawrence Hill, Jack Hodgins, Annabel Lyon, Shani Mootoo, Joan Thomas, and Jack Whyte.
Come to the festival writers love, and not just because of the stunning setting, the huge audiences, the great hosting, the stomach-churning ride up from Vancouver in a six-seater seaplane, or the chance for a five-star meal at the nearby Blue Heron Inn courtesy of a well-heeled patron of the arts. (Nino is currently taking offers.) What they love above all is that they get a whole hour on stage, all to themselves, to do WHATEVER THEY WANT. Talk about trust.
Nino’s hour begins at 8:30 PM on Friday, August 13th, in the Rockwood Centre (though there is no telling where it will end).
Stephen Leacock Festival
The 2010 Stephen Leacock Summer Festival finishes off with the Paul Quarrington Levee, with readings by Joe Kertes, Antanas Sileika, Kim Moritsugu, and Nino Ricci, a screening of Paul Quarrington: Life in Music, and a live performance by Paul’s band Porkbelly Futures. Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 2 PM, on the grounds of the Leacock Museum overlooking beautiful Lake Couchiching. Afterwards join Paul’s lifelong friend Dan Hill in concert at the Orillia Opera House at 8 PM.
Check out the Leacock Museum web site for a series of video tributes to Paul Quarrington produced by BookShorts.
Big Night at the Green Barn
Harvard Book Store
Harvard Book Store hosts Nino Ricci on the publication of the Other Press edition of The Origin of Species as part of its Spring Author Event Series. Come watch Nino hobnob with Harvard types and talk at excessive length about the Darwinian underpinnings of his novel. 7 PM on Monday, 10 May at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Tel. 617.661.1424.
Extraordinary Canadians at the ROM
John Ralston Saul hosts Andrew Cohen, Douglas Coupland, Nino Ricci and Jane Urquhart in conversation about Canadian identity, political intrigue, unintentional suicide, and whether the medium truly is the message, as Penguin Canada launches another season in its Extraordinary Canadians series. Wednesday, April 28 at 7 PM at the Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto. Level 1B, Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre. Tel. 416-586-5797.
Frye Festival @ Moncton, New Brunswick
Nino returns to Moncton’s annual Frye Festival for several days of fun and hot colloquy in Canada’s most bilingual city.
Thursday, 22 April at 8:00 PM – Soirée Frye
Christian Bök
Gracia Couturier
Christiane Duchesne
Nino Ricci
Musical Guests: Julie Doiron and Guillaume Arsenault
Followed by a community reception to meet the authors.
~Capitol Theatre~
Friday, 23 April at 12:00 noon
Roundtable: Writing Lives and Afterlives
Daniel Poliquin
Nino Ricci
Noah Richler
Maryse Rouy
~Moncton City Hall~
Friday, 23 April at 8:00 PM
An Evening of Canadian Lit with Annabel Lyon,
Linden MacIntyre and Nino Ricci
Host: Noah Richler
~Jeanne-de-Valois, Université de Moncton~
Nino Ricci launches U.S. edition of The Origin of Species in New York
McNally Jackson Books of New York (52 Prince St., between Lafayette & Mulberry; tel. 212.274.1160) hosts the launch of the Other Press edition of The Origin of Species. 7 PM on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010. There will be a reading from the novel, hopefully mercifully brief.
Get more information from McNally Jackson or check out the listing in Time Out.
Boston Athenaeum
Nino Ricci speaks about his novel The Origin of Species at the storied Boston Athenaeum, 10 1/2 Beacon St., Boston, from 12 to 1 PM.
Founded in 1807 under the motto Literarum fructus dulces, sweet are the fruits of letters, the Boston Athenaeum is located in historic Beacon Hill just off the Boston Common. Nino Ricci’s lecture is open to the public.
Nino Ricci @ University of Massachusetts Boston
Nino Ricci talks about and reads from his award-winning novel The Origin of Species, recently released in the U.S. by Other Press. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 9:30 AM in the Bookstore at the University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125. Tel: 617.287.5000. Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, University of Massachusetts Boston.
CITE Conference, Appleby College
Nino Ricci joins Lawrence Hill for Appleby College’s CITE Conference and helps launch the inCITE anthology of student writing. Saturday, April 10, 2010, at Appleby College, 540 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville, Ontario. Nino speaks at 12:30.