Eat, Read and Discuss: Amor Towles Tweet Up

As I’ve said before, what’s a Toronto visit without an Indigo event? This time my trip home coincided with another Indigo tweet up at the classy downtown French restaurant Biff’s Bistro. I was one of four winners selected to have dinner with the bestselling author Amor Towles, who was in town for the International Festival of Authors.

Amor Towles’ debut novel Rules of Civility (2011) has been well received by critics whose praise matches my impression of him. Rules of Civility‘s 1930s New York setting led the tweet up attendees to discuss history, including commentary about how students learn about previous decades through textbook summaries, often leading us to generalize how people lived in the past.

Grey nails for dinner in Biff’s Grey Room

The tweet up was organized by Indigo’s events team and Penguin Group (Canada), Amor’s publisher. Amor sat in the middle of the table, making it easier for everyone to ask him questions. Amor primarily works in investments in New York, so his stories about writing the manuscript and approving the final content while juggling a full-time job on Wall Street was interesting to hear about.

Although the earlier topics of conversation were directly linked to books, such as Kobos, reviews and book clubs, I enjoyed when the discussion shifted to marketing. It was nice to talk about word of mouth marketing as it relates to publishing and learn about how often the avid readers at the table make decisions based on friends’ recommendations.

Our tweet up happened shortly after J. K. Rowling released A Casual Vacancy, so of course Harry Potter was discussed, as were other phenomenons like Twilight. Hearing middle school teacher @mrsmonnandez’s perspective on Twilight was most compelling because she shared how Stephenie Meyer’s writing abilities compares to tweens’. Let’s hope that writing teachers encourage students to read Stephen King’s tips early on so young authors’ inspiration isn’t limited to vampire stories.

Autographed copy of Rules of Civility

Whereas the meal lives on only in our memories and stomachs, the ultimate souvenir of the evening was a paperback copy of Rules of Civility inscribed with a personalized autograph. With a small group at the table and no line-up, it was a unique book signing that didn’t require post-it notes as most Indigo signings do. Ironically, Lisa who represented @indigogreenroom is often responsible for distributing said post-its, but on Saturday, she was ‘one of us’, and equally delighted to have a signed copy.

With Amor Towles

I was in the city for less than 48 hours and this dinner was definitely the highlight, followed by flipping through back issues of Chatelaine for a school project.

If you’ve read Rules of Civility, share your reaction to it in the comments. No spoilers please!