I first met Marina Endicott at the unveiling of the 2010 Canada Reads during my stint as online guest host of the CBC Book Club. We clicked immediately. She's easy with a laugh, tells a great story and is a gracious conversationalist. So, it was a pleasure to go another round with this grand dame in a hotel room overlooking the Toronto harbour while she's in town for the 2011 International Festival of Authors.

Grab a cuppa, because we yammer on for about twenty (glorious and action-packed) minutes. Topics covered include: youthful self-awareness, family theatre productions, The Partridge Family and the "matter" of literary awards. It all ends with a rousing melodramatic reading from Marina's latest novel The Little Shadows (Doubleday Canada), a particular treat because it's a passage she's never performed in front of an audience.

We begin our scene mid-conversation. Two women appear to be discussing death and dragonflies. Let's listen in, shall we?

Marina Endicott has several appearances left on her IFOA schedule. See below for all details.

Thursday, October 27, 8:00 p.m.
Fleck, A Verse Comedy
The IFOA hosts a reading of Fleck, A Verse Comedy featuring Linwood Barclay, Alan Bissett, Marina Endicott, Jim Fleck, Brian Francis, Rodge Glass, C.C. Humphreys, Helen Humphreys, Kirstin Innes, Prue Leith, Stuart MacBride, Margaret MacMillan, Denise Mina, Andrew Pyper, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Emma Ruby-Sachs, Zoë Strachan, Meaghan Strimas, Miriam Toews, Simon Toyne, and Guy Vanderhaeghe. John Macfarlane hosts.

Saturday, October 29, 4:00 p.m.
Reading: Bissett, Endicott, Thammavongsa
Alan Bissett, Marina Endicott, and Souvankham Thammavongsa read from their latest works. James Grainger hosts.

Sunday, October 30, 12:00 p.m.
Round Table: Secrets and Sins
In life there is no one truth, this reality leads to the inevitability of secrets. Authors Marina Endicott, Nicole Lundrigan, Riel Nason, and Miriam Toews discuss the choices their characters make and why a sinful action for one may be salvation for another. Susan G. Cole hosts.

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Actor, director, playwright, editor, and author Marina Endicott's previous novel, Good to a Fault, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, Canada and the Caribbean, and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her first novel, Open Arms, was shortlisted for the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Endicott presents The Little Shadows, which follows the story of three sisters in the world of vaudeville before and during the First World War.