A cultural platform for exploring critical ideas of our time through art and dialogue.

The Koffler's Books & Ideas series presents the launch of Joseph Kertes' new novel, Last Impressions, in conversation with author Terry Fallis.

Award-winning fiction writer Joseph Kertes’ Last Impressions is a deeply moving yet comic novel that revels in the energy of its extraordinary characters. At the centre is Zoltan Beck, an aging Jewish-Canadian patriarch who has done his best to hide the trauma of his refugee past from his beloved children. Set in both mid-20th century Hungary and contemporary Toronto, Last Impressions is a story of lost love and newfound connections, of a father and his sons desperately reaching out to bridge an ever-widening gap... even as their time together ebbs away.

In conversation with award-winning writer and humourist Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road, and Albatross.

LISTEN TO THE TALK ON SOUNDCLOUD:

Joseph Kertes was born in Hungary, but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. Kertes founded Humber College’s creative writing and comedy programs. He was until recently Humber’s Dean of Creative and Performing Arts and is a recipient of numerous awards for teaching and innovation. His first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Boardwalk, his second novel, and two children’s books, The Gift and The Red Corduroy Shirt, met with critical acclaim. His novel, Gratitude, won a Canadian National Jewish Book Award and the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. Kertes’s last novel was called The Afterlife of Stars. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. He won the Harbourfront Festival Prize 2017.

Terry Fallis is a two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and the award-winning author of seven national bestselling novels, including his latest, Albatross, all published by McClelland & Stewart. The Best Laid Plans was the winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour in 2008, and CBC’s Canada Reads in 2011. It was adapted as a six-part CBC-Television miniseries, as well as a stage musical. The High Road was a Leacock Medal finalist in 2011. Up and Down was the winner of the 2013 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award, and was a finalist for the 2013 Leacock Medal. His fourth novel, No Relation, was released in May 2014, debuted on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list, and won the 2015 Leacock Medal. His fifth, Poles Apart, hit bookstores in October 2015, was a Globe and Mail bestseller and was a finalist for the 2016 Leacock Medal. One Brother Shy was released in May 2017 and became an instant bestseller. His seventh novel, Albatross, was a number one national bestseller a week after it was published and remained on the bestsellers list for months. The Canadian Booksellers Association named Terry Fallis the winner of the 2013 Libris Award as Author of the Year.

ABOUT BOOKS & IDEAS
Koffler Centre of the Arts’ Books & Ideas series spotlights provocative writers, artists and thinkers, celebrating literary excellence and fostering critical dialogue through compelling book launches, author talks and on-stage interviews. With a thematic focus on counter-narratives, the series features books that employ fiction, memoir, and photography as tools of resistance.

The 2020 Books & Ideas series foreground authors and books that explore the complexities of gender, race, sexuality and the diasporic experience. Full details on upcoming 2020 series are coming soon.

Books & Ideas presented in partnership with Ben McNally Books. With generous support from Dorothy Shoichet & Family, the Estate of Joseph Koenig, the Koffler Family Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and CIBC Wood Gundy.

Joseph Kertes photo credit: Marco Lappano.

RELATED EVENT: JOSEPH KERTES CONVERSATION CIRCLE
Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | 7:30 PM
Holy Blossom Temple, 1950 Bathurst St

The Centre for Contemporary Jewish Literature at Holy Blossom Temple and The Koffler Centre of the Arts present Fiction as Memoir: An Intimate Book Launch for Last Impressions by Joseph Kertes.

Please note: this event is only open to 25 people, and the first 25 to register will be accepted. For more information, click here.

Joseph Kertes & Terry Fallis

Photos

Joseph Kertes & Terry Fallis

Photos

Madhur Anand & Ali Kazimi