International Reading Association

I spent Monday night and all day Tuesday at the International Reading Association conference, which this year was in Toronto, a massive (11,000 people) convention of educators and librarians involved with reading and literacy.

Monday night, May 14, 2007, Tor YA publisher Kathleen Doherty took Carolyn and me, Charles de Lint, graphic-novel author Tim Eldred, Tor publicist Dot Lin, Tor YA editor Susan Chang, and librarian Jennifer Montgomery out to dinner at Ruth's Chris steakhouse.

Left to right: Jennifer Montgomery, Susan Chang, Robert J. Sawyer, Carolyn Clink, Dot Lin, Tim Eldred:



And the other side of the table, Kathleen Doherty and Charles de Lint:




Tor sponsors the International Reading Association's "Science Fiction / Fantasy / Graphic Novel Special Interest Group," now in its second year; the chair is Jennifer Montgomery. At the SIG's meeting on Tuesday morning, May 15, 2007, the guest speakers were (in order) the authors Charles de Lint, Robert J. Sawyer, Jane Yolen, Tim Eldred, and Jessica Day George. Everyone who came to the SIG got this goodie bag, with free copies of books by all of us (in my case, it was Hominids):



There was a great crowd:



Robert J. Sawyer speaks passionately about the need for science-fiction support -- nay, evangelism! -- on the part of teachers and librarians:



Tor had a great booth at the International Reading Association tradeshow:



How do I know it was a great booth? Look at all these books by me!



I spent a lot of Tuesday afternoon helping Dot Lin (left) and Susan Chang man the booth (although we all escaped, along with Kathleen, Tim, and Jennifer, for a terrific lunch out):



Meanwhile, over at the Fitzhenry & Whiteside booth, there was a great display of the books I edit for their Robert J. Sawyer Books line, along with the anthologies Julie E. Czerneda did for them:



The evening was a dinner party at Crush Wine Bar -- hosted by Tor for a group of 35! Carolyn and I sat at a long table with Sylvia Fenn of H.B. Fenn and Company, Tor's wonderful Canadian distributor, and others -- and I have to say the steak here was better than the one at Ruth's Chris! It was a terrific evening, lasting from 6:30 to 10:30. Kathleen Doherty was amazing, and made sure everyone had a fabulous time.

Here's the special menu:

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site