It’s poised to become a battle worthy of a novel.Literary icon Margaret Atwood has accepted an invitation from Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina to tour the city’s newly renovated central library. The invitation is a tongue-in-cheek jab at the Rob Ford administration’s refusal to take closing libraries off Toronto’s list of potential cost-cutters.
Atwood, a vocal critic of Councillor Doug Ford’s contention that libraries, festival funding and arts grants are fair game for the budget axe, suggested last week that “contempt for creative people” could drive activity to cities like Hamilton.
“No one in Canada could possibly have missed your recent encounter in Toronto,” Bratina writes in his letter to Atwood, a copy of which was obtained by the Star. “It inspired us here in Hamilton to express to you our support for Canadian literature and culture, and our concern that someone of your stature as a Canadian cultural icon would be confronted with even the vaguest notion of obscurity or anonymity.”