Is literature a dying art form? This year’s Scream Literary Festival posed that question with its ironically-toned “The Book Is Dead” theme.

The large turnout at last night’s Scream in High Park mainstage show seemed to imply “no”. However, Scream T-shirts were outselling books at the merch table, according to host Misha Glouberman. And the high percentage of the audience who left during the second intermission suggests that four hours is too long to sit through a series of readings.

Not that the crowd was bored. It alternated between laughter and silent attention while listening to some of Canada’s most acclaimed writers.

Highlights of the clear (but chilly) evening out in the park included quick-rhyming slam poet Wakefield Brewster, bestselling thriller novelist Andrew Pyper, veteran sound poet Paul Dutton and Windsor-based poet Susan Holbrook.

Brewster, who hails from Toronto but now lives in Calgary, stepped out in a dapper suit complete with bowler hat, cane and matching tie and handkerchief. His second SiHP appearance rocked the crowd with recent poems “Airborne” and “Irresistibility”, before launching into old favourites like “The Rhythm Method” and “Perceptions”.

Local author Pyper read from his recent book, The Killing Circle, about a TV columnist who steals another writer’s novel idea. An excellent storyteller with an articulate, expressive voice, Pyper scored laughs with an excerpt that satirized the phoniness of awards galas.

Holbrook got laughter for comic poems that played with language in clever ways, including one about inserting a tampon and another composed entirely of clichés.

Dutton, a member of legendary performance-poetry troupe The Four Horsemen from 1970 to 1988, shared the stage with Icelandic poet Eiríkur. The pair blew the audience away with a musical set of stuttering, alliterative sound poetry.

Ryan Kamstra, leader of indie rock band Tomboyfriend, also had a helper. Evan Monday, clad in a cop uniform with tight short pants, held an umbrella over Kamstra as he read from his poetry collections. (The reference was unclear to me. Michael Jackson, or the Village People?)

Glouberman kept the show moving with wisecracks between readers. He pointed out that Scream volunteers were available to accompany people leaving the area after dark. “And their only qualification to protect you is that they like poetry,” he quipped.

SiHP also featured fiction by Shani Mooto, Lisa Foad and Adam Sol, and poetry by Margaret Christakos, Peter Culley, Oana Avasilichioaei and Griffin nominee Jeramy Dodds.