From the Q&Q archives: Ondaatje on a subway and other literary portraits

This week, Quillblog went back to March 1984, and discovered an article about Q&Q‘s collection of literary portraits, which had been recently purchased by the National Library of Canada.

The 72 photographs, some of which were commissioned by publishers, others which were shot for an exhibition at Toronto’s Harbourfront Community Gallery, featured the work of Arnaud Maggs, Paul Orenstein, and John Reeves. Subjects included a “bare-chested, starkly direct” Irving Layton, Graeme Gibson, Northrop Frye, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies, Susan Musgrave, and a rather intense Michael Ondaatje riding a Toronto subway.

The collection is available for loan to libraries and other educational institutions.