Author M.G. Vassanji, shown at the Giller Prize ceremony in 2003, will participate in the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. Author M.G. Vassanji, shown at the Giller Prize ceremony in 2003, will participate in the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. (Canadian Press)

Montreal's Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival has announced an ambitious program that includes readings and interviews with Canadian writers such as Margaret MacMillan, Giles Blunt, Nino Ricci and M.G. Vassanji.

The guest of honour is British novelist A.S. Byatt, who is receiving the Grand Prix for lifetime achievement at the festival, to run April 22 to 26.

Byatt is also launching her latest novel, The Children's Book and a French translation of her first published title, The Shadow of the Sun.

There will be additional launches for first-time novelist Jon Paul Fiorentino's comic graphic novel Stripmalling and an English translation of Montreal writer Nicole Brossard's La Capture De Sombre.

International guests include Stéphane Audeguy of France, Johannes Auer of Germany, a group of Hungarian writers, including Krisztina Tóth and János Lackfi, and Israeli literary stars A.B. Yehoshua and Meir Shalev.

The festival also includes a taste of Italian writing with Strega Prize recipient Domenico Starnone and several events devoted to Latin American writers, including first-time appearances by Sergio Ramirez of Nicaragua and Pablo de Santis of Argentina.

The annual Blue Metropolis Arab Literary Prize will be awarded to Syrian-born short story writer Zakaria Tamer, an author of children's stories.

The lineup also features:

  • Quebec writers such as Ann Charney, Louise Penny, Monique Polak and Carmine Starnino.
  • A focus on freedom of expression involving human rights activist Marek Halter, exiled Iranian cartoonist Nikahang Kowsar and MacMillan, who wrote Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World and will speak about censorship in China.
  • A look at the lives of extraordinary Montrealers including Norman Bethune, Mordecai Richler; and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
  • Dutch writer and evolutionary biologist Tijs Goldschmidt speaking to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.