(photo: Frances Raud)

The Toronto Public Library has chosen Steven Galloway’s 2008 novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo (Knopf Canada), as this year’s One Book community read. The book revolves around the true story of Vedran Smailović, a former cellist in the Sarajevo String Quartet, who played Albinoni’s Adagio in the same square for 22 days in honour of 22 victims killed there during a mortar attack.

One Book is an annual initiative that encourages Torontonians to read and discuss a single title. The program is part of the TPL’s annual Keep Toronto Reading Festival, which takes place in April.

As part of the festival, the Toronto Reference Library’s Bram and Bluma Appel Salon will host several related events, including an evening with Toronto Symphony Orchestra principal cellist Joseph Johnson and poet Ann Shin (April 2); a talk with historian Margaret MacMillan, Munk School of Global Affairs director Janice Stein, and diplomat Paul Heinbecker (April 7); a discussion about turning facts into fiction with authors Greg Hollingshead, Helen Humphreys, and Nino Ricci (April 15); and a book club meeting with Galloway (April 28). A full list of events will be announced March 10.

Galloway’s new novel, a fictionalized retelling of Harry Houdini’s life and death called The Confabulist, comes out in April with Knopf Canada. An excerpt is available for download from the TPL’s website.