Toronto independent bookstores say sales and customer interest in Anne Carson’s books jumped after the Canadian poet won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.
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Independent bookseller Claire Foster says she arrived at Toronto’s Type Books on Thursday morning with Carson titles ready, after learning the Canadian poet had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Foster, who manages the Queen Street West location, said Carson “has been a mainstay of our poetry shelves” for about 20 years. She described arranging books in front of the cash register and “built a shrine” to the Toronto-born writer as she expected the announcement to spark customer curiosity.
Foster said the store plans to order additional copies in the coming weeks and place them prominently so customers can “easily findable and recognizable” titles by Carson.
Indigo spokesperson Madi Downey said “Autobiography of Red” was Type Books’ top-selling Carson-related book online by midday, and that “Anne Carson” was their top-searched term, up 2,272 per cent from the day before. Downey also said Carson’s book “Nox,” priced at $83.95, had sold “quite a few” units.
At Ben McNally Books in Toronto, store operator Rupert McNally said he arrived early Thursday to order as many Carson works as possible. He said two minutes after the doors opened at 10 a.m., two customers came in asking about Carson.
McNally said a Canadian winning the Nobel Prize in Literature is a “huge boon” and pointed to a “huge jump in sales” of Carson books, as well as sales of titles that include introductions by Carson.
Foster and McNally both described Carson as a major literary figure with a wide range of work. Foster said Carson’s translations were especially meaningful to her, noting that when she is not working at the bookstore she translates works from French.
Carson’s background referenced in the report includes her work as a poet, essayist, classical scholar and translator, and a bibliography spanning more than 20 books across poetry, essays, plays, libretti and translations of ancient Greek texts. Her verse novel “Autobiography of Red” reimagines the Greek myth of Heracles killing the winged monster Geryon, and “Men in the Off Hours” won the inaugural Griffin Poetry Prize in 2001. “The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos” received the T.S. Eliot Prize.
Foster said she is excited the Nobel could encourage readers to explore Carson’s back catalogue, adding that the prize is “a great occasion to think backwards” across decades of work.
She also said the Nobel makes Carson’s influence “huge” for Canadian reading and appreciation, and that she hopes Type Books can act as a place for people to “come to” discover the author’s work.
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