WORD ON THE STREET TORONTO: WHICH WORD DO WE WANT

The book or the reading of the book.

The word or the discussion of the book.

The book fair or the literary event

Collette and I have attended the Toronto version of Word on the Street for may years, many years. I remember when it was held on Queen St W, down by Much Music. It's been held at Queen's Park Circle for several years now and generally the location suits it well

There is more space in the Circle (a park basically) to accomadate tents for readings, author signings, presentations etc. And therein is a bit of a problem. I appreciate that Word is a place for all things literary, you can probably find an author you like and hear them read, there are many performances aimed at kids, from books for said kids. There have always been booths where authors give you the chance to talk to them and discuss their work

That is the Literary Event part of Word on the Street and even if  don't always participate, I appreciate it. And I have been able to connect with authors and their work who otherwise may have remained a mystery to me

But there is another part to the festival; the book fair part of it. Collette and I used to pack several bags with us and pack them up, stuffing them with dozens of books got for extremely low prices. Big book stores and publishers would come and offer up hardcovers for a few bucks a pop; a great way to try books and authors unknown to you with very little risk

That part of Word on the Street has almost vanished. None of the big books stores bring their wares or if they do, they bring very little. Only one publisher brought deeply discounted books and not surprisingly, it was the most popular booth there

Word has always had a focus on kids, Collette used to stock her classroom with books for the year. Well, now it's hard to find a good selection of adult books and for all the kids books, most of them were only 10 or 20 % off .. which Collette can often find on Amazon

This year we barely filled one pack with books. I got some good deals on some graphic novels, Collette found a few things for her nieces and nephews but not much for her classroom; the prices matched what she could order through the Board with no need to transport. I ventured into the one cheap publisher book and came away with a few 3 dollar books but I swear I have bruises from the experiences

So the Literary Event lives and that's great. But the Book Fair is dying, so our annual fall trip to Word may well be expiring as well

At any rate, here's a little video