Hosting at its finest

Heather Eaton, an apparent last minute choice of hosts for the Big Idea #1 series, was delightfully brilliant. It did help to have some equally talented guests on stage: Tim Ward, Tom Harpur, and Anne Hines. They all were faced with the (simple?) question Is God a Man? Their answers varied and there were some disagreements but the concensus was that the concept of assigning gender was too limiting. It was an interesting reading that I initially feared would be too esoteric for enjoyment but found Eaton's insightful questions and deft remarks engaging.
You can catch Tim Ward tonight at 7pm. The first Writing Life, tonight, presents Madeleine Thien, Anar Ali and Ami McKay @ 8:30pm.

The evening started, however, with the suave Scott Griffin making his debut at the Ottawa International Writers Festival as an author. You would think it was a politician in a media scrum with the cameras and lights tightly following him as he shook hands in the audience. I had seen him earlier in the day at the media photo op at the Rockcliffe Airport in his Cessna 180. I was this close to getting a ride in the plane with him but due to time constraints it was a no-go. It was a pleasure making his acquaintance of his wife, Krystyne who signed my book, "from the co-pilot...who flies by her man!"