Noisemakers 2000: Bookish bish-bash

>> Blue Metropolis hopes to unify the literary scene

by ADAM GOLLNER

Ah Montreal, the city of a million festivals. Making an impression with a new festival is a daunting task. Getting people interested in books (yawn) and lazy-eyed authors is even harder. However, with its debut last April, Blue Metropolis, Montreal's International Literary Festival, has proven that this city is the perfect place for a bookish bish-bash.

According to festival director Linda Leith, Montreal has been in need of a unifying literary event for a while now. "There have always been a number of significant writers coming out of Montreal, like Gabrielle Roy, Mavis Gallant and Leonard Cohen, but there have never been any literary events of international stature for writers and the public alike," she says. The multilingual festival features a cosmopolitan chowder of writers and poets from around the world.

"The festival's goal is to let the public know what writers are doing in French, English and other languages," says Leith. With highlights like the unique "translation slam," as well as shindigs with Russell Banks (author of The Sweet Hereafter) and Evelyn Lau, Blue Metropolis' successful 1999 coming-out party has given the city a shot at becoming a major literary artery.

Some of the events lined up for this year's edition of the festival include a mysterious "Soiree Noire" as well as a "Plunge Into Underwater Literature." A comic event organized in cahoots with Drawn and Quarterly will mark their 10th anniversary. Michael Ondaatje, William H. Gass, and a dozen other authors are already confirmed. Notorious gonzo knave Hunter S. Thompson might even make an appearance.

"Someone once asked Sir Edmund Hillary why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. His answer was 'because it's there,'" says Leith regarding the festival's origins. "The Blue Metropolis is a city that's open to many possibilities. A city of the imagination, a city that you'd like to live in. A utopia." l

Blue Metropolis, April 5-9, 2000. Hotel des Gouverneurs, Place Dupuis, 1415 St-Hubert