11:15 - 11:45 :: Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

Ben Tomlin was an only child for thirteen years. Then his parents brought home a baby chimpanzee. In science you can control the subject, but what happens when the subject becomes part of the family?

Learn more about Kenneth Oppel - Adopt this Author

12:00 - 12:45 :: Witness to a City by David Miller

Since becoming mayor of Toronto in 2003, David Miller has met thousands of citizens from all walks of life. He has heard remarkable stories of how many people in Toornto have come together to overcome loss and hardship, discover their own power, and act for the greater public good. Witness to a City contains some of the most inspirational and powerful of these stories to articulate his vision of Toronto: a twenty-first century city that shows the world how different cultures can live, work, and dream together as one community.

Learn more about David Miller

1:00 - 1:45 :: Mr Shakespeare's Bastard by Richard B Wright

In a quiet manor house in Oxfordshire, an ailing housekeeper by the name of Arlene Ward feels that she must now confess the great secret that has shaped her life: she is the illegitimate daughter of William Shakespeare, England's most famous playwright. And so unfolds the intriguing stories of the lovely Elizabeth, who allows herself to be seduced by a struggling young writer from Stratford, and her plain but clever daughter, who must live with the consequences.

Learn more about Richard B Wright

2:00 - 3:00 :: We are our History - The Art of Writing Historical Non-fiction

If history is a puzzle, then the historian is a child at play. As readers of historical non-fiction we consume the seamless finished product but how many of us ever really consider the art of putting the pieces together? Howdid the unique vision of the historian bring this topic to life? Where did he/she find enough pieces to make the story whole? Which pieces were chosen and which were discarded?

Join Charlotte Gray, Tim Cook and Elizabeth Abbott as they read from their latest books and discuss the art of historical non-fiction writing.

4:00 - 5:00 :: Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

Destiny can take many shapes. For Henry, a writer struggling to finish a book about the holocaust, and living in a new city with his pregnant wife, it arrives in the form of a puzzling envelope from a stranger. The envelope contains a story by Flaubert in which many animals are killed, together with a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil. And a note signed 'Henry', with an address in the same city. From the moment Henry finds that address, and steps into a taxidermist's shop, a place not like anywhere he has ever been, he understands that his life cannot remain the same. Now the strange dramatic world of Beatrice and Virgil, a donkey and a monkey, starts to expand. How does their conversation relate to his own creative impasse? Has he somehow become another player on the bizarre stage his namesake has invented?

With the imaginative reach and spirit that helped Life of Pi delight over five million readers around the world, Beatrice and Virgil asks profound questions about violence, kindness, and the power of stories to change us.

Learn more about Yann Martel