The Lives of Writers

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In “The Lives of Writers” Eleanor Wachtel will illuminate the relationship between writers, their work and their audience.  She’ll discuss the appetite for literary biography and how greater knowledge of the life of the writer may affect the reader’s appreciation of their work; how writers reveal themselves in their writing; and the self-proclaimed image of the writer as an outsider, on the margins of society.

Eleanor Wachtel earned a reputation as one of the world’s best literary interviewers during her more than 30 years as host of Writers & Company on CBC Radio. Five books of her interviews have been published, including Random Illuminations, a collection of reflections, correspondence and conversations with Carol Shields which won the Independent Publisher Book Award; Original Minds; and most recently, The Best of Writers & Company.  She also co-founded and hosted CBC’s Wachtel on the Arts, featuring conversations with filmmakers, composers, architects, artists, etc., as well as the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) popular Books on Film series for more than a decade.  She has received numerous accolades for her contributions to Canadian cultural life: nine honourary degrees and Officer of the Order of Canada.