Ignatieff, Pamuk join Toronto authors festival

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk will rub shoulders with crime writer Kathy Reichs and graphic artist Seth at this year's International Festival of Authors in Toronto.

IFOA, scheduled for Oct. 21-31, announced 44 prominent authors for the 2009 festival on Wednesday.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who could becaught up in an election campaign by this fall,will be among the guests.

His memoir, True Patriot Love: Four Generations in Search of Canada, was published earlier this year.

It tells the story of his mother's family, the Grants, who over three generations conducted a spirited argument about what Canada was and what it should be.

Pamuk, the Turkish writer who has been tried in his native country over his outspoken views on Turkish history, is to read from his newest work, The Museum of Innocence.

Seth is the pen name of Gregory Gallant, the Canadian graphic artist known for comics such as Palooka-Ville. The festival also has drawn New Yorker graphic artist R.O. Blechman.

Other guests include:

• Garrison Keillor, creator of A Prairie Home Companion.
• Man Booker nominee Sarah Hall, author of How to Paint a Dead Man.
• International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award-winner Michael Thomas, author of Man Gone Down.

Reichs, the Quebec forensic anthropologist who writes about crime and is consultant to the TV series Bones, also has a new book, 206 Bones.

Fellow crime writers include France's Eric Laurrent, making his English-language debut, Ireland's Michael Connelly and Scotland's Ian Rankin.

Paul Quarrington, the Toronto musician, playwright and author of The Ravine, is scheduled to appear. Quarrington is suffering from cancer buthas several writing projects in the works.

Children's works include a new Toronto-set graphic novel from Kean Soo and a reading by Canadian Children's Literature Award nominee Nicola Campbell.

The festivaltakes placeat Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.