Blue Met 2014: check out these off-beat events!

Check out some of these off-beat events at Blue Met 2014:

Wu Ming-yi's amazing novel

Translating Catastrophe: Environmental Writing and The Man with the Compound Eyes: one of the most interesting and innovative books I read this year in preparing for the Festival was Taiwanese writer, Wu Ming-yi's book The Man with the Compound Eyes. The book is fascinating, set in contemporary Taiwan but with echoes to folklore and more traditional storytelling. Wu is very interested in showing us the state of the environment in East Asia and Taiwan but he does it with such elegance and innovation. I read this book on a plane and I was riveted for hours to my seat. Wu will be here with his translator (and an excellent translator: I read lots of translated fiction and am often surprised at bad translations, but Darryl Sterk has a bright future ahead of him) and Yan Liang from Radio-Canada International. This event is on Saturday, May 3 at 5:30 pm at Hotel 10. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased here.

Zombies and Vampires: this will be fun. Two writers and academics will discuss the prevalence of zombies and vampires in popular culture. Why are we so fascinated with the dead/undead in movies, tv and comic books? What do these tropes say about the fears of our culture? And are they ironic portrayals meant to assuage our fears or is something else going on? This is a coffee event so the $7 ticket includes free coffee. Special bonus: Michael Enright of CBC will be at the event to add his opinion on the topic (following on a popular edition of his show recently about zombies). Tickets to this coffee event can be purchased here and the event is schedules for Saturday, May 3 at 11:30am.

Two crime writing events of note! Italian crime-writer Carlo Lucarelli writes fascinating historical crime thrillers set in Italy just after WWII. His De Luca trilogy has been highly successful and personally since crime novels often work as kinds of travelogues (as in books which introduce a country or city to a reader), I love the fact that his works are often set in the past, as if the past itself were a kind of country he is opening up to us. In the past our Italian crime events have always sold out so I'm expecting nothing less here. The other crime event is with Austrian writer, Wolf Haas, whose series has also been highly successful. Set in contemporary Austria, his novels featuring Simon Brenner are fast-paced and funny. The Crimes of Carlo Lucarelli is scheduled for Saturday, May 3 at 2:30pm at Hotel 10 and is hosted by Marianna Simeone. The Resurrection of the Bone Man is also hosted by Marianna but is scheduled for Thursday, May 1 at 5:30pm. Italian writer Carlo Lucarelli's event tickets ($10) can be bought here. And Austrian writer Wolf Haas' event tickets ($7)  can be purchased here.

One other note: all our meal events are sold out! That means no more seats left for Breakfast with Marguerite Duras (in French) nor for An Ironic Shakespeare Breakfast.

Taiwanese writer Wu Ming-yi