What Is Imagination?: Lockwood, Batuman, Heti and Riley

Join four of today's premiere literary artists as they explore the role of the imagination in contemporary literature.

The novels of Patricia Lockwood, Elif Batuman, Sheila Heti and Gwendoline Riley each take a different approach to the relationship between imaginative and real-life elements. Some have been classified as autofiction, while others are products of so-called "pure imagination". So when does a piece of writing become fiction? What is proper admixture of observation and imagination? What is the imagination, anyway?

In this once-in-a-lifetime gathering of talent, Lockwood, Batuman, Heti, and Riley discuss some of the fundamental questions of art-making, and expose the innermost nature of their creative processes.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Patricia Lockwood is the bestselling author of No One Is Talking About This, a novel which was a finalist for the Booker Prize, and a memoir, Priestdaddy, which won the Thurber Prize and was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review. She is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, and her essays and reviews appear regularly in The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Elif Batuman's first novel, The Idiot, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and for the Women's Prize. The sequel, Either/Or, was published in 2022. She is also the author of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010, and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford.

Sheila Heti is the author of eleven books, most recently Alphabetical Diaries, a novel which was named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and a New York Times Critic Top Book of the Year. Her novels include Pure Colour, Motherhood, and How Should a Person Be?, and her books have been translated into twenty-four languages

Gwendoline Riley is the author of My Phantoms, which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize; First Love, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; and Cold Water, which won the Betty Trask Award. In 2018, the Times Literary Supplement named her one of the twenty best British and Irish novelists working today. Her forthcoming novel, The Palm House, will be published in April 2026.

PLAN YOUR VISIT:

Location: Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), 2nd floor

Time: Doors open 6:00pm, Event starts 7:00pm.

Tickets: Free registration required.

Ticket policy: We oversell these events to make sure that the greatest number of people have an opportunity to attend. Tickets are guaranteed until 6:45pm or until capacity is reached. Any remaining space will be opened up to the rush line beginning at 6:45pm. Seating first come, first served. Tickets do not guarantee seats.

Bar: Beer/wine available for purchase (debit/credit only).

Accessibility: TPL is committed to accessibility. If you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation for this event, please contact [email protected] or 416-393-7099 at least three weeks prior to the event.

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This event is part of our signature Salon Series, where we host local and international authors, artists and thinkers in conversation about their new books and big ideas.

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Host or Publisher Toronto Public Library