“I’d rather have a book that sells one copy that no one else will sell, than to stock several best sellers you can get anywhere,” says Ben McNally, owner of Ben McNally Books in Toronto. “One of the greatest benefits of life is finding things that one is not looking for.”

Ben McNally knows books and he knows readers. He’s been putting the two together in intriguing and sometimes surprising ways since 1970, most recently at his beautiful Bay Street store, and in the fabulously successful Books and Brunch series that he runs in partnership with The Globe and Mail at the King Edward Hotel.

Ben’s warmth and genuine enthusiasm for books have made him a favourite with Canadian authors and readers. He’s been in a happy long-term relationship with Kingston WritersFest readers at our Book Lovers’ Lunch event since 2009 and continues to please the crowd as he reveals a discerning selection of the season’s best books.

Ben is past president of Project Bookmark Canada, a charitable organization that erects plaques bearing excerpts from Canadian books in the locations that inspired the writing. Ben is married to Lynn Thomson, author of Birding With Yeats: A Mother’s Memoir.

Ben is supported by Author Patron Jo-Anne Lachapelle-Beyak.

Website: www.benmcnallybooks.com

Appearing in: 13. Book Lovers Lunch

Past Festival Appearances

2021: 15. Book Lovers’ Banquet
2019: 20. Book Lovers’ Lunch
2018: Book Lovers’ Lunch
2017: 18. Book Lovers’ Lunch, 29. Finding Truth in Fair Verona: Juliet, Shakespeare, & Love
2016: 18. Book Lovers’ Lunch, 31. Aristocrats, Scoundrels, Painters & Prospectors: Canadian Historical Fiction
2015: 18. Book Lovers’ Lunch
2014 – 2012 -2011