I.F.O.A. Day the First - Part Three

In which our heroines Zesty and Ragdoll have their day finished by good chatter.

Ragdoll and I ate our French fries and mulled, over books, life, work and dreams.

Then we were off to our last session of the day, an interview with Sarah Waters, author of The Night Watch [I discussed this book in Part One].

The interview was in the Brigantine Room at York Quay and it was rather nice. It was set up with tables and candles with rows of chairs in the back. My only complaint is that these chairs are made of hard plastic and are one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever had to sit on. We also had to endure these same chairs for the roundtable.

Surely Harbourfront Centre can do better than this crap? Surely.

Her Cuteness, [Ms. Waters] arrived. She and her interviewer, the awesome Susan G. Cole, were introduced by Ibi Kaslik, author of Skinny.

Note to moderators and interviewers everywhere. If you want to do a great job, take a cue from Ms. Cole. She had obviously done her homework and asked some pointed and thought provoking questions. She touched on topics such as the overt sexuality [lesbian and otherwise] in Waters' books, the creative process. Ms. Waters' own "out" status as a lesbian and her fixation with the Victorian period to name just a few. Ms. Water's answers were very interesting and despite the all too tall man who sat in front of me and made rumbling coughing sounds throughout the talk, the session was over before we knew it.

[And by the way, I'm just observing the coughing. I know the poor fellow couldn't help it and I hope he's getting over something as opposed to coming down.]

It was a fabulous end to what was overall, an excellent first outing at the I.F.O.A. The rain had even stopped by the time we were leaving. Go figure.