Catalog 161, Y-Z
185. International Festival of Authors Promotional Posters. 1989-2002. Promotional posters for the annual Toronto literary festival, which each year since 1980 brought together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Each of these posters was designed by a leading artist of the day and is one of only a handful of copies signed by all or most of the year's participants. After the posters for the early years failed to produce a significant revenue stream for the festival, the promoter limited production to a very small number, to be given to the sponsors and signed by as many of the participants as possible. In practice that meant that typically there were five or fewer copies of each of these posters that were signed by the writers appearing at the festival. Participants in the festival came from all over the world, and included young and relatively unknown writers as well as some of the most famous and esteemed writers of the time, including various Nobel Prize winners, and winners of virtually every other major literary award around the world -- Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, Governor General's Awards, Booker Prizes, etc. We don't know of any copies of these posters coming on the market previously. These come from the collection of the promoter of the festival himself, Greg Gatenby -- his own retained copies. All are framed (dimensions given are the size of the poster); fine unless otherwise noted, and sold separately:
A. 1989. Approximately 48 signatures. Signed by: Bharati Mukherjee, Nobuo Kojima, Jamaica Kincaid, Julian Barnes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Susan Fromberg Schaffer, William Jay Smith, Mordecai Richler, Joan Chase, Murray Bail, Deirdre Bair, Alice Wexler, Thomas McGuane, Desmond Hogan, Martin Amis, Hella Haasse, Alice Adams, Norman Sherry, Gabriele Eckart, Hans Joachim Schadlich, Friedrich Christian Delius, Caryl Churchill, W.P. Kinsella, Roy Heath, Nissam Ezekiel, Ruth Rendell, Kjartan Flogstad, Michael Coren, Pia Tafdrup, Louise DeSalvo, Hugo Loetscher, and others. 18 1/2" x 25 1/2".
B. 1993. Designed by General Idea, a collective of three Canadian artists, two of whom died of AIDS in 1994. Approximately 61 signatures. Signed by: Paulo Coelho, William Vollmann, Jane Urquhart, Bobbie Ann Mason, Bharati Mukherjee, Aidan Mathews, Peter Levi, Marilyn Davis, Carol Shields, Ruth Rendell, Mavis Gallant, Barry Callaghan, Rose Tremain, Peter Mayle, Walter Abish, Robert Stone, Priscilla Juvelis, Paul Auster, Barry Unsworth, Rosa Lixsom, Vikram Seth, Austin Clarke, Bapsi Sidhwa, Joan Riley, Yves Beauchemin, James Mackey, Daniel Mark Epstein, and others. 17" x 22".
C. 1994. Designed and signed by Michael Wilcox. Approximately 86 signatures. Signed by: Malcolm Bradbury, Jayne Anne Phillips, Aidan Higgins, Julian Barnes, Adrienne Rich, Alison Lurie, W.P. Kinsella, Derek Walcott, John Crowley, E.L. Doctorow, Mordecai Richler, D.M. Thomas, Deborah Baker, Ursula K. LeGuin, Elspeth Cameron, Joan Hedrick, Paul Quarrington, Brian Moore, Judith Skelton Grant, Benny Anderson, Michael Shelden, Richard Perceval Graves, Jonathan Keates, Diane Schoemperlen, Joan Mellen, Martin Seymour-Smith, and others. Small lower corner crease. 17" x 23".
D. 1995. Designed by Joanne Tod. Approximately 61 signatures. Signed by: Bret Easton Ellis, Richard Ford, Joanna Trollope, Mordecai Richler, James Hoffman, Alina Reyes, Sunetra Gupta, Peter Fallon, Janice Galloway, Thomas Kenneally, Kaye Gibbons, Karen Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Lee Settle, James Mackay, Thom Jones, Grace Paley, Barbara Gowdy, Deirdre Bair, Orhan Pamuk, Mariko Hayashi, Victoria Glendinning, Ann Beattie, Jim Crace, Rohinton Mistry, Arthur Hailey, Kate Pullinger, George Fletcher, Dennis Brutus, Hanan al-Shaykah, Michel Deguy, Dorothy Parker, and others. 18" x 24".
E. 1996. Designed by Arnaldo Pomodoro. Approximately 70 signatures. Signed by: Nicholas Shakespeare, William Gibson, William Kotzwinkle, Kathy Acker, Sherman Alexie, W.P. Kinsella, Lynne Reid Banks, Louis Begley, Marie-Claire Blais, Isabel Colegate, William Gass, Matt Cohen, Maeve Binchy, Hershel Parker, Mavis Gallant, Janette Turner Hospital, Susan Sontag, Tobias Wolff, D.M. Thomas, Kazuo Ishiguro, Timothy Findley, Lawrence Block, Al Purdy, Paul Quarrington, Ruth Rendell, Joan Mellon, Nicholas Jose, Oksana Zabuzhko, Lorna Crozier, and others. 17" x 24".
F. 1997. Designed by Richard Artschwager. Approximately 54 signatures. Signed by: Robert Stone, Barry Lopez, Richard Ford, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, Colm Toibin, Bharati Mukherjee, Jamaica Kincaid, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Michael Turner, Jane Urquhart, Mavis Gallant, Ann Beattie, Nino Ricci, James Reaney, and others. 17" x 23".
G. 1998. Designed by Sandro Chia. Approximately 51 signatures. Signed by: Rose Tremain, Tim O'Brien, Ho Anh Thai, Jay McInerney, Mary Gaitskill, Alice Munro, Edwidge Danticat, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Holmes, Robert Coover, Geoff Nicholson, Leon Rooke, Timothy Findley, Farley Mowat, Susan Minot, Colin Wilson, Herta Muller, Jack Hodgsins, Greg Hollinghead, Yves Beauchemin, Howard Norman, Patricia Melo, and others. 17" x 23".
H. 1999. Designed by David Blackwood. Approximately 53 signatures. Signed by: Tom Nolan, Jay Parini, Tom Keneally, Alistair Macleod, Claire Messud, Carol Shields, Lawrence Scott, Susan Jill Levine, Annie Dillard, Barbara Trapido, William Least Heat Moon, Marge Piercy, Grace Paley, Victoria Glendinning, Sara Paretsky, Mark Strand, Nancy Huston, Wayne Johnston, Roch Carrier, Roger McDonald, Charlotte Gray, and others. 16 1/2" x 23 3/4".
I. 2000. Designed by Per Kirkeby. Approximately 64 signatures. Signed by: J.K. Rowling, Ha Jin, Ursula K. LeGuin, John Banville, Jane Urquhart, Susan Sontag, Jayne Anne Phillips, Guy Vanderhaeghe, W.P. Kinsella, Mordecai Richler, Philip Levine, Joanna Trollope, Lawrence Norfolk, Marie-Claire Blais, Aleksander Hemon, Patrick Toner, Margaret Atwood, Anne Michaels, Francine Prose, Farley Mowat, Candace Bushnell, Spider Robinson, Jeffrey Meyers, Elisabeth Harvor, Elizabeth Hay, and others. 18" x 24".
J. 2002. Designed by Beverly Pepper. Approximately 55 signatures. Signed by: Colm Toibin, Michael Faber, Joanna Trollope, Janice Galloway, Tim O'Brien, Pagan Kennedy, Victoria Glendinning, Maxine Kingston, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Alan Powers, Alistair Macleod, Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Conroy, Laura Restrepo, Jim Harrison, Umberto Eco, Farley Mowat, Nino Ricci, Molly Peacock, Katherine Govier, June Jordan, Andrew Pyper, and others. 17" x 28".