What's On at the Library

Photo by Clive Sewell

On April 28, over 400 readers from across the city gathered in the Appel Salon to hear Steven Galloway, author of the library’s One Book community read, The Cellist of Sarajevo, talk about his novel. The event, which was the finale of the Keep Toronto Reading Festival, was hosted by Chatelaine Books Editor, Laurie Grassi.

Grassi began by asking Galloway a crucial question that haunts many Canadians at this time of year: Had he filed his taxes? The answer was “not yet.” But he was close.

Galloway revealed that the inspiration for The Cellist of Sarajevo began back around 1992 when he saw a photo of a cellist, Vedran Smailović, playing his instrument in the war-torn streets of Sarajevo. Over the next ten years, it was an image Galloway carried around in his mind. He wondered about the cellist’s actions. Was risking your life in the name of art an act of foolishness or the greatest possible expression of humanity? He decided it was the latter.

In approaching the writing of the novel, Galloway said he wanted to create a book that dealt with war, but he wanted to approach it differently. He said that whenever he read books about war, they usually focused on the soldiers and rarely on the civilians. This desire for difference also led to his decision to make Arrow, the sniper in the novel, a female character. 

As Grassi pointed out, the book is also an examination of hatred, particularly with Arrow. When asked to elaborate on this, Galloway said that Arrow’s fundamental question is this:  Will she allow the hatred that other people have towards her to dictate her own hatred? Her answer comes in the form of a revelation at the end of the book – a revelation that stirred many questions from the audience.

Galloway also spoke about the illusion of civilization and its fragility. “We think civilization is roads and bridges. We think that a library is civilization. But it’s what happens inside the library that is civilization.”

Galloway’s new novel, The Confabulist, is out April 29.

Grassi also announced the winning book club in our "Dinner with Steven Galloway" contest. Congratulations to the NT Book Council, who will be dining with Steven on Friday, May 2 on the 54th floor of the TD Tower.

Written by: Brian Francis