C.A. Logan Author

On Sunday, September 29, I had the great honour of taking part at Toronto’s annual book fair, The Word On The Street. I shared the Canadian Authors Association table with authors Jeffrey Neil Kippel and Mindy Heather Blackstien (The Ridiculous), Laura Nashman (Dogs of Toronto) and Elvira Cordileone (Elvie, Girl Under Glass). Sunday was warmer and sunnier than Saturday and despite trying to hide under the tent, I got a good end-of-summer tan. The crowds were also warm and animated, and it felt that — just maybe — we are all over that nasty pandemic isolationism.

Word On The Street (WOTS) has always been one of my favourite events, starting from way back when it closed part of Queen Street West. It’s always free to attend and wander amongst the sales tables and reading stages. I have acquired shelves of books at WOTS over the years. Now the festival runs along the east side of Queen’s Park Circle up to the Royal Ontario Museum. This year was extra special because it was the first year that I brought my own book to the festival. The book, of course, is The Irish Within Us, which proved to be a big hit with the crowd. I enjoyed the conversations with readers who chatted about Irishness, fairies and family trees. I left with a much lighter load of books than I had brought in.

Dozens of potential new Canadian Authors Association members also signed up for the mailing list. This is where I make the pitch that the association provides effective tools and resources for all Canadian writers at any stage of their writing journey. Check out our website, canadianauthors.org for more information.

A great big thank you to my cousins, Barry and Micky, visiting from the UK for the first time, who spent the afternoon walking up and down Queen’s Park Circle with a stack of my promotion cards. Now, Barry will tell you it was all down to Micky, and despite her English accent, she convinced several Irish descendants to wander over for a chat and a look at the book. Micky was also interviewed for an article about the festival. I’m on media watch to find that.

I wish I had a picture of Barry and Micky in action. They drove dozens of interested readers to our Canadian Authors’ table. I don’t have that photo because I was busy at the table. But isn’t it fitting that a book about cousins working together should sell well because of cousins pitching in to help!?! So, instead, here are our photos from the night before:

That’s a wrap for this year’s Word On The Street, but if you missed it, as a reader or as a writer, watch out for next year’s edition. I plan to be there. It’s a Toronto tradition, and it’s the most fun a booklover can have — at least until that first Snow Day, when there’s nothing to do but enjoy a steaming drink and a stack of TBRs.

Carole