It’s Wednesday, May 8, which means that tonight, at full of beans Coffee House & Roastery at 7:00pm, four great Canadian writers visit the Brockton Writers Series:
AND, come early (6:30), to meet other writers and our special networking guest, Michael Schellenberg from the Ontario Arts Council, who will answer your questions about provincial granting programs!
See you there!
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This week, in advance of her performance at the next BWS, we invited Mahlikah to give a us a little teaser and to say a few words about her work. Enjoy!
I wrote “Serpent’s Skin” as an ode to healing and the reclamation of the femininity; its strength, passion, endurance, fire. And the power of transformation, self-idenity… “Loving the skin you are in,” and not allowing society to define who you are and how you flow. My favourite line from the poem is: “How do I love thee/Let me count the ways/By lovin’ myself first/For a trillion, zillion dayz/Crawlin’ on my belly/Makin’ trails of my Herstory; my Herstory/U can’t box me! You can’t box me! Oh nooo!/”
In this video of a live performance of “Serpent’s Skin” filmed in March 2011 at Trane Studios, I am accompanied by the Acoustic Soul Tuesdays Band, and Jef Kearns is featured on flute. “Serpent’s Skin” is the title track from the 2011 AngelHeartRiverwalker Project EP. Produced at Notlam Studio. Musical Composition for this track was by Isaac Llacuachaqui.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQO26dhrmLk&list=FLgkqD0m1OJ2kbmgtPQHVA0g&index=15
For more info about Mahlikah Awe:ri, a drum talk poetic rapologist of African-American/Mohawk (Kahnawá:ke) & Mi’kmaw (Bear River) heritage with Nova Scotian roots who is also the front woman for popular Toronto hip hop band Red Slam, check out her Sonicbids EPK, where you can find more poems, photos and great press reviews. You can also book her for shows.
Mahlikah Awe:ri visits the Brockton Writers Series May 8, 2013 – full of beans Coffee House & Roastery, 1348 Dundas St. W., Toronto (7pm, PWYC) – along with Andy Sinclair, Elizabeth Ruth and Moez Surani.
Watch this space for more with each of our readers in the month leading up to the event!
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Spring’s finally arrived! Emerge from hibernation and enjoy readings by:
Andy Sinclair, Mahlikah Awe:ri, Elizabeth Ruth and Moez Surani!
Wednesday, May 8, 6:30-8:30pm
full of beans Coffee House & Roastery – 1348 Dundas St. W., Toronto
Networking begins at 6:30 with special guest Michael Schellenberg, Literature Officer at the Ontario Arts Council, who will be taking your questions about provincial granting programs.
Readings at 7:00.
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support.
READERS:
Andy Sinclair has contributed to various publications including fab, Dragnet, The United Church Observer and The Globe and Mail. He won The Moose & Pussy‘s Short Story Contest in 2011 and has taught creative writing at Five Oaks Retreat Centre. He is also a flight attendant and a yoga instructor-in-training.
Mahlikah Awe:ri is a Toronto-based drum talk poetic rapologist of Afro-Native heritage/Mohawk (Kahnawá:ke) & Mi’kmaw (Bear River), with Nova Scotian roots. She is a founding member of Red Slam Collective, a live hip hop-fusion band of diverse indigenous artists, and Coordinator for their 4 Direction urban arts-based projects across Ontario. She is an OAC Aboriginal Artist in the Schools, and Manager of Training & Resource Development for Daniels Centre of Learning, Regent Park. In 2011 she released the EP Serpent’s Skin, and is currently published in two literary anthologies.
Elizabeth Ruth is the author of the newly-published novel, Matadora. Her first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada Best First Novel Award, and the Toronto Book Award, and her second, Smoke, was a One Book, One Community selection. Elizabeth is also the editor of the anthology, Bent On Writing, and the author of a forthcoming novella for adults with low literacy, entitled Love You To Death. For more info, please visit www.elizabethruth.com.
Moez Surani‘s writing has been published across Canada and abroad and has won a Chalmers Arts Fellowship, the Kingston Literary Award and The Antigonish Review’s poetry prize. He has published two poetry collections, Reticent Bodies and Floating Life.
Watch this space for more on each of these four writers in the month leading up to the event!
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Kill your winter blahs with fabulous readings and performances by:
Banoo Zan, Sunny Drake, Loren Edizel and Jim Bartley!
Wednesday, March 6, 6:30pm – 8:30pm.
Networking begins at 6:30 with Farzana Doctor (fresh off her India tour) chatting about “5 tips for book touring”. http://www.farzanadoctor.com
Readings at 7:00pm. Full of Beans Cafe, 1348 Dundas St W Toronto
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support.
BIOS:
Loren Edizel was born in Izmir, Turkey and has lived in Canada most of her life. Adrift, a novel longlisted for the ReLit awards, was published by Tsar Books in 2011. The Ghosts of Smyrna will be published later this year. She currently lives in Toronto.
Jim Bartley is a playwright and novelist. His work has been produced across Canada in theatres and on radio. His first novel, Drina Bridge, was published in 2006. For 15 years he has been “First Fiction” book columnist for The Globe and Mail. He serves on the board of Pink Triangle Press, the Canadian LGBT media group (Xtra Magazine/xtra.ca. Jim’s second novel is currently in submission though his agent.
Bänoo Zan landed in Canada in 2010. In her country of origin, Iran, she used to teach English Literature at universities. Her poetry has appeared in magazines and anthologies in Iran, Canada, U.K., U. S., Israel, etc. She hosts Queen Gallery Poetry Night in Toronto. She believes that her politics is her poetry.
Sunny Drake is a transgendered queer pansy theatre maker and performer. He lives his creative escapades and airs his embarrassing and tender internal world on stage. He’s performed in theatres, festivals, living-rooms, streets, deserts, schools, universities, basements, backyards & conferences in Australia, the USA and Canada.www.sunnydrake.com
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Start your New Year right with magnificent readings by:
Liam Card, Lillian Necakov Avalos, Kamal Al-Solaylee & Bianca Lakoseljac!
Wednesday, January 9, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30pm (facilitated by May Lui). Our special guest is Matt Adams from Between the Lines.
Full of Beans Cafe, 1348 Dundas Street West, Toronto
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale. Everyone welcome.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support.
BIOS:
Bianca Lakoseljac is the author of: Summer of the Dancing Bear, a novel about the rite of passage of a fourteen year old girl befriended by a gypsy clan; Bridge in the Rain, a collection of stories linked by an inscription on a bench in Toronto’s High Park; and Memoirs of a Praying Mantis, a collection of poetry. She has judged national contests for the Writers Union of Canada and Canadian Authors Association, among others. Bianca taught communications at Ryerson University and Humber College and is Past President of the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto branch.
Liam Card was born and raised in Paisley, Ontario. In both 1998 and 1999, Liam was a member of the Canadian National Jr. Track & Field Team. While on a full track scholarship at both universities, Liam studied creative writing at the University of Iowa, and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, graduating with a BA in Communication Studies from UNC. Liam lives in Toronto with his wife Kelda and daughter, Elodie.
Lillian Necakov has been writing and publishing for over 30 years. She is the author of Sickbed of Dogs, Wolsak and Wynn, 1989, Polaroids, Coach House Books, 1997, Hat Trick, Exile Editions, 1998, The Bone Broker, Mansfield Press, 2007 and Hooligans, Mansfield Press 2011. During the 80’s she sold her books on the streets of Toronto. Lillian runs the Boneshaker Reading Series.
Kamal Al-Solaylee, an assistant professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, was previously a distinguished writer at Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail. Al-Solaylee also worked at Report on Business magazine and has written features and reviews for the Toronto Star, National Post, The Walrus, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, EYE WEEKLY, Literary Review of Canada and ELLE Canada. Al-Solaylee holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham and has taught at the University of Waterloo and York University. Al-Solaylee lives in Toronto.
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Come celebrate our third anniversary with November’s fabulous line-up:
Brandon Pitts, Gein Wong, Kateri Lanthier and Shari Lapena!
Wednesday, November 14, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30pm (facilitated by May Lui). Our special guest is Christine Cowley, self-publishing expert. Come with your self-publishing questions!
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support.
BIOS:
SHARI Lapena’s first novel, Things Go Flying, was shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award. She won the Globe and Mail’s Great Toronto Literary Project contest, and was shortlisted for the 2006 CBC Literary Awards. Her second novel, Happiness Economics, was published in September, 2011 and was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. She was recently named one of CBC Books’ Writers to Watch, 2012. She lives in Toronto and is currently at work on her third novel.
KATERI Lanthier has a BA and MA in English from the University of Toronto. She has worked as an editor in educational publishing and is a freelance writer specializing in design, architecture and fine art. Her poetry has been published in literary journals and magazines in Canada, the United States, and England, including Descant, Grain, Matrix, The Antigonish Review, Saturday Night, Quarry, Writing Women, London Magazine, The Toronto Quarterly, www.levelerpoetry.com and www.lyrelyre.com. Reporting from Night, her first poetry collection, was published by Iguana Books in December 2011. She is currently at work on a novel set in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood.
Prolific novelist, poet, lyricist, and playwright, BRANDON PITTS is the author of the poetry collection, Pressure to Sing (IOWI), the novel, Puzzle of Murders (Bookland Press) and the play, ONE NIGHT, performed at the 2012 Toronto Fringe festival. In 2011, he was selected for inclusion in the prestigious Diaspora Dialogues as an Emerging Voice.
GEIN Wong is an interdisciplinary playwright, director, composer, poet and video artist whose works focus on obvious things like gender, class and race, as well as things a little less obvious like gender, class and race. She is a member of the Canadian Stage Company’s 2012 Director and Designer program, as well as the HERE Arts Centre Residency Program in New York City. Gein was short listed for the 2010 Ontario KM Hunter Award in Theatre and is featured in Diaspora Dialogues’ 2010 commemorative book of past artists and works. She is Artistic Director of the interdisciplinary performance company, Eventual Ashes, co-founder/Artistic Director of the Toronto and Vancouver based community arts organisation Asian Arts Freedom School, and a co-owner of the Glad Day Bookstore, Canada’s oldest queer bookstore.
We’re back in September with a fabulous line-up featuring
Patricia Westerhof, Benjamin Hackman, Leslie Shimotakahara and James FitzGerald!
Wednesday, September 12, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30-7:00pm with special guest speaker Sheila Barry, Co-publisher of Groundwood Books.
NOTE OUR LOCATION (we moved recently): Full of Beans Coffee House and Roastery: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-of-beans-Coffee-House-Roastery/174023849301137
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale. Everyone welcome.
BIOS:
Patricia Westerhof is the author of Catch Me When I Fall , a collection of linked stories about a Dutch-Canadian community, and co-author of The Writer’s Craft, a textbook on creative writing. Her novel The Dove in Bathurst Station, set in Toronto’s west-end neighbourhoods, subway stations and drainpipes, will be published in 2013. Her stories also appear in the anthology Trees Running Backwards, and in Room, The Feathertale Review and The Dalhousie Review. She lives in Toronto, where she teaches English and creative writing.
Benjamin Hackman is a poet, lyricist, and performer. His poetry has most recently appeared in Canadian Literature, the Literary Review of Canada, and the Maple Tree Literary Supplement. He is currently at work on his first collection, entitled, The Benjy Poems, an excerpt of which was awarded the Ted Plantos Memorial Award from the Ontario Poetry Society. He lives and writes in his hometown, Toronto, with his partner and his cat.
Leslie Shimotakahara is a writer and recovering academic, who wanted to be simply a writer from before the time she could read. Hard-pressed to answer her parents’ question of how she would support herself as a writer, Leslie got drawn into the labyrinthine study of literature, completing her B.A. from McGill, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Modern American Literature from Brown. Her memoir The Reading List: Literature, Love and Back Again (Variety Crossing Press, 2011) is her first book, chronicling her escape from the Ivory Tower. She is currently completing a historical novel.
James FitzGerald is a Toronto-born journalist and author. His first book, “Old Boys: The Powerful Legacy of Upper Canada College”, was a controversial inside look at the attitudes and values of Canada’s ruling class families. Revelations of the sexual abuse of boys at the school, first published in the book, led to the conviction of three former teachers and a successful multi-million dollar class action suit against UCC in 2002.
James’ latest book, “What Disturbs Our Blood”, a multi-layered exploration of madness and high achievement in his prominent Toronto medical family, won the 2010 Writers’ Trust Prize For Non-Fiction. The book grew out of a 2002 Toronto Life article that won a National Magazine Award.
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July’s BWS features readings by Nalo Hopkinson, Heather Birrell, Suzanne Andrew, Perparim Kapllani and S.R. Davis. The Dundas West BIA is our fabulous co-sponsor!
Wednesday, July 4, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30pm (facilitated by May Lui)
NOTE OUR LOCATION (we moved recently): Full of Beans Coffee House and Roastery:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-of-beans-Coffee-House-Roastery/174023849301137
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale. Everyone welcome.
BIOS:
S.R Davis is an emerging writer from Toronto. Her novel, Pretty Piece of Flesh is the response to two teenagers. One was one of her high school students who asked what it was like to have been alive when Kurt Cobain was alive. The other spoke up to the best piece of advice she ever heard about writing: write the book you wish a younger you had found. That teenager demanded a book about a gay kid who ends up happy despite learning the unpopular truth that loving someone isn’t enough to fix him.
Suzanne Alyssa Andrew is a Toronto-based writer. She grew up on Vancouver Island and has also lived in Ottawa. She writes for digital media, including websites, games, interactive documentaries and cross-platform television projects. Her work has also appeared in print publications including Taddle Creek, The Toronto Star and Broken Pencil. Her novel is an action-adventure love story that races across Canada from Vancouver Island to Toronto and back again.
Perparim Kapllani is a Canadian citizen of Albanian origin. He was a professional journalist in his native country Albania for 7 years and began writing literary fiction – years ago. He has four books published in Albania and two in Canada. His English-language play Queen Teuta of Illyria was published in a book in 2008 by In Our Words Inc., Ontario. His collection of short stories “Beyond the Edge” was published in 2010 by the same publishing house. His novel “The Last Will” is the third book in English, will be published soon. In May 2008, he established a pizza joint, the Corporation of Albany Pizza, which is located right beside No Frills. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife and son.
Heather Birrell is the author of two story collections, Mad Hope (Coach House, 2012) and I know you are but what am I? (Coach House, 2004). Her work has been honoured with the Journey Prize for short fiction and the Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction, and has been short- listed for both National and Western Magazine Awards. Birrell’s stories have appeared in many North American journals and anthologies, including The New Quarterly, Descant, PRISM international, Hobart, and Toronto Noir. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Toronto, where she teaches high school English. Find out more at www.heatherbirrell.com
Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican science fiction and fantasy writer and editor who lives in Riverside, California. Her novels (Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, The Salt Roads, The New Moon’s Arms) and short stories such as those in her collection Skin Folk often draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.
Hopkinson has edited two fiction anthologies (Whispers From the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction and Mojo: Conjure Stories). She was the co-editor with Uppinder Mehan for the anthology So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of the Future, and with Geoff Ryman for Tesseracts 9.
Hopkinson defended George Elliott Clarke’s novel Whylah Falls on the CBC’s Canada Reads 2002. She was the curator of Six Impossible Things, an audio series of Canadian fantastical fiction on CBC Radio One.
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June is Queer Night at BWS and features readings by Ari Belathar, Shawn Syms, Vivek Shraya and Liz Bugg!
Wednesday, June 6, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30pm (special guest:Nita Pronovost, Senior Editor, Doubleday Canada Publishing Group)
NOTE OUR LOCATION (we moved recently): Full of Beans Coffee House and Roastery:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-of-beans-Coffee-House-Roastery/174023849301137
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale. Everyone welcome.
BIOS:
SHAWN SYMS has written about sexuality, gender, culture and politics for 25 years. His journalism has been appeared in numerous publications and his fiction can be read in Joyland Magazine, Little Fiction, PRISM international, and the anthologies Boys of Summer and The Journey Prize Stories 21.
LIZ BUGG was born in Saskatchewan and moved to Toronto via England and Victoria. She spent many years acting and teaching high school English, Drama and Music. Her first novel, Red Rover, published in 2010 by Insomniac Press, began as a way to fill the time during summer holidays, but eventually became much more. Margaret Cannon of the Globe and Mail called it “a slick debut,” and The Golden Crown Literary Society recognized it with a Debut Author Award. Oranges and Lemons, Liz’s second book in The Calli Barnow Series was published in April of 2012 and continues to follow the adventures of Toronto’s lesbian P.I.
VIVEK SHRAYA is a Toronto-based multimedia artist, working in the mediums of music, performance, literature and film. Vivek also creates and delivers workshops and guest lectures about writing, art, gender, sexuality and homophobia, and currently facilitates the Supporting Our Youth Pink Ink writing program for queer, transgender, Two-Spirit and questioning youth writers. God Loves Hair, his first collection of short stories, was a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist. He is currently working on his next book. His new short film, What I LOVE about being QUEER, will premiere in Toronto in June, followed by its festival debut at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival in August.
KRISTYN DUNNION was raised in a one-stoplight town in Southern Ontario and escaped. She writes novels, short stories, metal power anthems, and performs live art when words fail her. Her recent short story collection The Dirt Chronicles is shortlisted for a Lambda Lit award. Notable novels include Missing Matthew, Mosh Pit, and Big Big Sky. Kristyn has books for sale and in true punk / DIY tradition will consider swapping for art, booze, and feminine hygiene products. http://www.kristyndunnion.com
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May’s BWS features readings by Alec Butler, Anne Fleming, Donna Kirk and Doyali Farah Islam!
Wednesday, May 2, 7pm-8:30pm, with writers’ networking at 6:30pm (special guest: Will Huffman from the Toronto Arts Council).
NEW LOCATION THIS MONTH! Full of Beans Coffee House and Roastery: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-of-beans-Coffee-House-Roastery/174023849301137
PWYC (suggested $3-$5). Q&A. Books and treats available for sale. Everyone welcome.
BIOS:
DONNA KIRK’S literary non-fiction narrative, Finding Matthew, will be published in fall 2012 by BPS Books of Toronto and New York. Donna’s articles on the advancement, welfare, and mental health issues of persons with developmental disabilities have been published in Ars Medica, Toronto; Fission – Science with a Twist, McMaster University; Canadian Voices Volume Two; and various newspapers in the United States. Donna is working on a blog for people with disabilities, their families and friends, encouraging them to share their experiences and knowledge. Tonight Donna will read the final chapter of Finding Matthew.
ALEC BUTLER is an award-winning playwright and film maker, his published play “Black Friday” was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Alec’s animated video trilogy about growing up 2Spirit called “Misadventures of Pussy Boy” has screened at numerous queer film festivals, “Trans Cabaret” premiered at the Trigger Festival in 2010, “My Friend Brindley” was recently launched at University of Toronto’s “Trans Film Screening Series”. Alec is working on “Rough Paradise” a novella about growing up trans in a rough working class hood and “Radical Paradise” a self published chapbook of poems and theatre monologues.
DOYALI FARAH ISLAM is the first-place winner of Contemporary Verse 2’s 35th Anniversary Contest, and her poems appear in Grain Magazine (38.2), amongst other places. Yusuf and the Lotus Flower (BuschekBooks, Oct. 2011) is her first collection of poetry – a collection which Griffin Poetry Prize winner Sylvia Legris marks as “the debut of an extraordinary poet” and which Governor General’s Award winner George Elliott Clarke marks as a “fine debut”. For upcoming readings, reviews and interviews, as well as ordering information, please visit www.doyalifarahislam.com andwww.buschekbooks.com. Join Islam’s Facebook page for Yusuf and the Lotus Flower at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yusuf-and-the-Lotus-Flower/184516408297608.
ANNE FLEMING grew up in Toronto, lodged for a time in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, where she played for the St. Clements Winter Suns hockey team and hosted the Leaping Lesbian radio show on CKMS FM, and now divides her time
between Vancouver and BC’s Okanagan Valley, where she teaches creative writing at UBC’s Kelowna campus.
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