A literary journey to Toronto

Adventures in and around Toronto Public Library

Loyal readers,

I spent a wonderful week in Toronto in June and wanted to write about it. The city has the world’s largest library system, beautiful parks and an endless amount of bookworms. I saw them everywhere: the elderly Canadians who savor spending their evenings in book events, attending readings and signings each week, asking thoughtful questions and buying generous amounts of books.

A fire alarm interrupted my first full day in downtown Toronto where I stayed in a 51-storey, 800-suite residential tower at 44 Charles Street. It was 8 am and I was working on my novel when the indoor speakers ordered all residents to clear the building. In the fire escape, I met a bearded, handsome, half-sleeping man who stayed in the adjacent room. He turned out to be Justin Ling, my interviewer for the Public Library event.

The sirens, Justin said a few minutes later, reminded him of sirens in Ukraine where he covered Putin’s murderous siege of the country.

Our event was lovely, as you can watch here:

After the event, I kept returning to The Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, the premiere event space for Toronto Public Library's cultural programming located on the second floor of the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street).

Sergio Elmir, the cultural and special event programmer of the library, generously showed me around the building which celebrated Pride Month with a selection of wonderful books — including Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story.

I spent the next day lost in White’s inimitable prose. In the evening I had the good fortune to watch Tommy Orange in conversation with Elamin Abdelmahmoud in The Bram and Bluma Appel Salon. I placed my signed copy of There There in my tote before I went to sleep.

The next day, the new episode of On the Frontlines of Democracy, featuring my conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia, dropped and I listened to it in my hotel room. In the episode I discuss populism and the rise of Erdogan, the similarities between militant secularism and Islamic extremism, and the resurgence of the once-dormant Turkish left. I would love to hear your thoughts on our conversation and please listen to previous episodes of the show, including this excellent one featuring Maria Popova on Ukraine and Russia.

I spent most of my time in Toronto taking pictures. You can see them on my Flickr.

After my return to Istanbul, I finished There There and loved it. A few days later, a DHL courier brought copies of my book’s paperback edition. It was lovely to finally have them here.

As ever, you can support my work by buying my books.

I’ll be back with a newsletter later in the month, celebrating the anniversary of this Substack and sharing two new pieces I’ve been working on during the past months.

Until next time,

— Kaya