Blue Metropolis Festival to Feature Renowned Authors in Montreal
The 2025 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival in Montreal is set to bring together some of the world’s most celebrated authors, including Salman Rushdie, Anne Michaels, and Madeleine Thien. According to a report by CBC, the festival will run in-person from April 24-27, with online events starting mid-April, and will feature a diverse range of authors and readers from around the world.
This year’s theme, "Time, the Tree, the Page," will be explored through a variety of events and discussions. As noted by CBC, former Writers & Company host, Eleanor Wachtel, will host a new interview series, which will include a discussion with Canadian author Madeleine Thien. This is a role reversal of the final original episode of Writers & Company, where Thien interviewed Wachtel.
Salman Rushdie to Receive Grand Prize
Salman Rushdie, the acclaimed author of Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight’s Children, will be a highlight of the festival. As reported by CBC, Rushdie is set to receive the 2025 Blue Metropolis Grand Prize and will be interviewed by Wachtel on April 26, following a special conversation with Simon Sebag Montefiore on history, dreams, and imagination. Rushdie’s fiction has brought him great acclaim, with novels such as Shame, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Victory City.
Rushdie has a collection of novellas and short stories coming out this fall, The Eleventh Hour, which is his first published fiction since being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized in 2022. As CBC reported, in February, the 77-year-old Rushdie returned to the area and testified in the trial against his assailant, Hadi Matar, who was found guilty of assault and attempted murder.
Anne Michaels to Take Part in Festival Events
Anne Michaels, a poet and author based in Toronto, will also be featured at the festival. According to CBC, Michaels will take part in two events on April 26, including a panel on the art of translation and a conversation with Rachel Eliza Griffiths on the theme of "Is the time of art and fiction the same as human time?" Michaels has previously won major literary awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.
Michaels won the 2024 Giller Prize for her novel Held, which was widely praised by critics. As noted by CBC, before taking home last year’s prize, she was shortlisted for the Giller Prize twice: in 1996 for Fugitive Pieces and in 2009 for The Winter Vault.
Madeleine Thien to Discuss Latest Book
Madeleine Thien, a short story writer and novelist, will also be featured at the festival. According to CBC, Thien’s interview with Wachtel will be to discuss her latest book, The Book of Records, which is set to come out May 6, 2025. Thien is the author of the novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Thien’s debut novel, Certainty, published in 2006, won the Amazon First Novel Award and was a Globe and Mail Best Book. As reported by CBC, Thien is also the author of Dogs at the Perimeter, which was a Globe and Mail Best Book, and the children’s book The Chinese Violin.
Other Authors to Attend the Festival
Other authors set to attend the festival include Niigaan Sinclair, Stephen Graham Jones, Peter Wohlleben, and Alice Irene Whittaker. According to CBC, Whittaker has been longlisted for all three CBC Literary Prizes and was on the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist, the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist, and the CBC Short Story Prize longlist in 2012.
The CBC Poetry Prize is open now until June 1, with the winner receiving $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and their work will be published on CBC Books.
Registration and Full Program
Registration for the events and the full program can be found on the Blue Metropolis website. With a diverse range of authors and events, the 2025 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival is set to be a highlight of the literary calendar. As reported by CBC, the festival promises to bring together authors and readers from around the world, exploring the themes of "Time, the Tree, the Page."
