Devyani’s book picks
Of course selling books is the bread and butter of any book or literary festival and Luminato still manages to sell books at every single event. “Audiences are hungry for time with the authors as well as getting their books signed. I don't think that hunger for the physical artifact will go away. What I am looking forward to developing is more of a presence on digital platforms, such as Kobo.”
Living in Montreal, I always feel a bit overwhelmed in Toronto, particularly the writing community and events there. I suppose part of that comes from the strictly segregated writing communities of Montreal where language dictates and limits the size of our communities. It seems that writers could easily get lost in Toronto, fall through the cracks there in the huge metropolis. Not so, Saltzman says, “I think the Toronto writing scene is vibrant. I like the mix between established and up and coming authors. Organizations like The Writers Trust and even the Toronto Public Library system do bring writers together through their initiatives and programming, as do the festivals. There is definitely a sense of community.”
Saltzman grew up in Toronto. Her father's parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia, and her film-making mother moved to Toronto from India in 1973. She very much feels like a child of Toronto and this ability to live in the city but have roots elsewhere is what she loves about Toronto (and one unique aspect to it, perhaps). “That's also what I love about our literature, not only as a city, but as a country. The only thing I could do without is the length of our winters!”
Devyani’s book picks
There are so many books I love. That said, there are a few I revisit that have always meant something to me. Jean Rhys' work has always haunted me. I love Wide Sargasso Sea and Voyage in the Dark. Naipaul's House For Mr. Biswas was one of the first novels I read, and also deeply evocative. All three books have this beautiful outsider perspective - an Indian boy in Trinidad, a white Dominican girl in London. They are all beautiful reads and consistently move me.
DEVYANI SALTZMAN - Toronto and the Arts: Luminato’s Literary Curator Talks Books
by Gregory McCormick
I have a relationship with Devyani Saltzman that seems like a uniquely modern one: we’ve met in Toronto and a couple of times in Montreal. We’ve exchanged maybe a hundred emails. We’ve shared a drink in a hotel bar in Montreal; we have mutual friends. But we don’t really know each other well. She’s the kind of person I know strictly through work though I’ve always had the sense that we would get along famously if we knew each other in a more personal context.
As the Curator of Literary Programming at Luminato, Toronto’s famous and booming arts and creativity festival, Saltzman has a keen eye and stellar taste when it comes to literature. An avid fan of Amitav Ghosh, who won our Blue Metropolis 2011 Grand Prize, she spoke of his work as though she knew it intimately. Part of this is her connection to India, naturally (both her family and her own 2009 book are absorbed with India and its literature). But much of it simply reflects her huge appetite for innovative and interesting literary stylists.
Saltzman joined Luminato after finishing her first book, Shooting Water. When Luminato’s founding Artistic Director, Chris Lorway, asked if she wanted to be a key programming member charged with building the festival’s literary programme, she jumped at the chance. As a writer herself, she really enjoys balancing her writing work with all the ins and outs of programming a large and influential festival like Luminato. As of 2007, Saltzman became the in-house curator and 2012 will be her fifth festival.
Given all the changes in the publishing industry and the rapid ways that readers read, Saltzman doesn’t feel that her approach to programming has been changed too much, “Although the emergence of e-reading has made its way into the festival program. Two years ago we partnered with The Atlantic magazine on their summer fiction issue. As part of our partnership, the editors joined us for a discussion on e-reading and the future of publishing. It was a great discussion.”
