CBC Radio’s Writers & Company   celebrated its 20th anniversary at the International Festival of Authors with the taping of a special panel discussion moderated by Eleanor Wachtel, host of the show since its inception in 1990.

Eleanor Wachtel

Over the years, her in-depth interviews with such celebrated authors as Amos Oz, Saul Bellow, Jonathan Franzen, Doris Lessing and Oliver Sacks have garnered Wachtel, 63, a loyal following.

Some of these listeners had an opportunity to pay tribute to her at the Writers & Company 20th anniversary event. English author Margaret Drabble, who was on the panel, brought the audience to its feet when she introduced Wachtel: “One of the highlights of coming to Canada is the hope of seeing Eleanor again,” she told the 450 people who packed the Fleck Dance Theatre.

“In an age of dumbing down, Eleanor lifts us up. She is serious, but never solemn. She makes us laugh and she makes us think.”

The standing ovation that followed continued even as the Writers & Company theme song began to play. Wachtel, visibly embarrassed, restarted the music, editing out most of the applause for the Oct. 31 broadcast.

Musing about this event in a recent interview at CBC headquarters, Wachtel said she was moved by the show of appreciation. “I wasn’t expecting a standing a ovation…

“I was very touched by what Margaret said and that she came [from London] especially for that event.”

Festivities for the 20th anniversary continued in December when Wachtel shared the stage with Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library was filled to capacity for the interview. But on this occasion, the roles were reversed and it was Ondaatje who asked the questions. “I think we were both a little tense,” Wachtel told The CJN.

But in a two-hour interview heavily infused with goodwill and humour, the tension was not detectable from the audience’s standpoint. Wachtel noted that Ondaatje encouraged her to write, and he pointed out that she belonged in the interviewee hot seat.

Wachtel has published four books of interviews: Writers &Company (Knopf Canada,1993), More Writers & Company (Knopf Canada,1996), Original Minds (HarperCollins, 2003) and Random Illuminations: Conversations with Carol Shields (Goose Lane Editions, 2007) and she has contributed to several literary anthologies.

She has also reaped many honours. She said she was “totally thrilled” to be named a member of the Order of Canada in 2005, “especially since I don’t know how it happened.”

Her eight honorary degrees were also a surprise. “It just feels like something of a blessing from heaven.”

It’s all pretty impressive, especially for a journalism school dropout. Wachtel is virtually self-trained. She learned to do the hour-long interviews on the job, but she stresses that the research and preparation are a team effort.

The Montreal native – she grew up in Snowdon – is the youngest of three. She said she was raised in a home where education and reading were valued. She recalled “schlepping to the library by streetcar and bus” with her mother, but she traces her interest in literature to the influence of her intellectually precocious friends in high school.

Wachtel majored in English literature at university, and by happenstance, she did an art column for the McGill Daily. “One year, someone from high school remembered that I was interested in books.”

However, the experience did not jumpstart a career in journalism.“I was a late starter. It took me a long time to know what I wanted to do,” Wachtel said.

In the mid-’70s, she began freelancing for magazines and radio. “I liked doing both, but the rhythm of radio suited me better.”

CBC offered Wachtel a full-time radio job in Toronto as an arts commentator in 1987. “It was only a one-year contract,” she laughed. “And here it is 23 years later.”

She’s held multiple positions, including a 12-year stint hosting The Arts Tonight, while doing Writers & Company. She also does Wachtel on the Arts, a monthly arts program.

Wachtel said she’s proud to have interviewed so many Nobel laureates, “many before they won” the coveted literary prize.

There have been many other career coups. For instance, after 17 years of trying, she scored an interview with American novelist Philip Roth. She described him as “surprisingly genial.”

She said a highlight of the 2010 season was a three-hour meeting with English spy novelist John le Carré at his home on a remote coast in Cornwall. She recounted how he capped the afternoon with a celebratory bottle of champagne. “That was a first.”

And so was experiencing a major earthquake. Last February, Wachtel arrived in Chile hours before the earthquake struck. “I never really doubted that I would be able to do my interviews. But my interviewees were rather surprised to hear from me.”

Looking back over the last 20 years, Wachtel said she’s privileged to be doing work that she loves so much. “I feel extremely lucky. I have the best job in the world.”

Writers and Company airs on Sundays and Tuesdays at 3 p.m., and its weekly podcast is free. For more information go to ­cbc.ca/writersandcompany.