On the very last day of February, we were thrilled to welcome the inimitable Paul Auster to Montreal. Over 700 eager fans filled the Rialto Theatre for an evening opened by Rebecca, our director of special sales. She introduced the author to an audience who needed no introduction, before welcoming Paul to the stage.

Paul started the evening welcoming the crowd in French (to great applause), and by calling the Rialto the "most unusual and beautiful place" in which he had ever read. Presenting eight pages of his new novel 4 3 2 1, Paul told the story of Archibald Isaac Ferguson, a boy whose life unfolds in four simultaneous but independent fictional paths. The different trajectories weave together a portrait of familial tensions, multi-faceted love, sex, basketball, and writing.  


In conversation with Jared Bland, vice-president of Penguin Random House Canada, the two then discussed their twenty-year friendship, the autobiographical details of Paul's new book, his approach to writing ("the novel is written by two people: the writer and the reader in cooperation"), and his inability to read "real literature" (accompanied with an anecdote about how he would cut school to go to the movies).


All in all, the evening was a rousing success! Books totally sold out, and everyone left very satisfied. Come back anytime Paul!