Spencer Gordon reads 4 October!

 We're excited to announce the kickoff event for our 2024-25 series!

Spencer Gordon will read for us on Friday 4 October at 4:30pm, in SJ2 1002. 

Hope you can join us! And please spread the word. The reading is free and all are welcome. 

Photo credit: Danita Hosking

Spencer Gordon is the author of three books: a collection of 'dramatic monologues,' A Horse at the Window (House of Anansi Press, June 2024); the poetry collection Cruise Missile Liberals (Nightwood Editions, 2017); and the short story collection Cosmo (Coach House Books). He invented the literary magazine The Puritan (now Ex-Puritan) and ran it for a decade. He's taught writing at OCAD University, George Brown College, Humber College, and the University of Toronto, and now works as a Principal Associate at Blueprint, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to solving public policy challenges. He currently lives in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Spencer notes, "as with my last book, any potential royalty-related money is going to FredVictor.org, a charity that fosters long-lasting and positive change in the lives of homeless and low-income people living in Toronto. (Also, Fred Victor's Bethlehem United shelter is the only long-term shelter in Toronto that allows pets to accompany their owners!) So, know that picking up a copy of A Horse at the Window also supports a worthwhile organization."

Chris Banks reads 1 March!

 To end our series this year, we're pleased to present a reading by poet Chris Banks. 

Please join us on Friday 1 March at 4:30pm in SJ2 1002.

The reading is free and all are welcome! Please spread the word!

 

Chris Banks is a Canadian poet and author of seven collections of poems, most recently Alternator from Nightwood Editions (Fall 2023). His first full-length collection, Bonfires, was awarded the Jack Chalmers Award for poetry by the Canadian Authors’ Association in 2004. Bonfires was also a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry in Canada.  His poetry has appeared in The New Quarterly, Arc Magazine, The Antigonish Review, Event, The Malahat Review, American Poetry Journal, and Prism International, among other publications. He lives and writes in Kitchener, Ontario.

Kimia Eslah reads 2 February!

For our first event for Winter term, we are thrilled to invite Kimia Eslah to read for us!

Please join us on Friday 2 February at 4:30pm in SJ2 1002.

The reading is free and all are welcome. Hope to see you there! Please spread the word. 

 

Photo credit: Andrew S. Cant

Kimia Eslah writes novels about urbanites, underdogs, and the Iranian diaspora. 

CBC Books, Ms. Magazine, and The Miramichi Reader have praised her work. Her latest novel, Enough, is a corporate drama about three women of colour who challenge the old boys' club at Toronto City Hall. 

Before she wrote social justice novels, Kimia designed courses. After that, just to shake things up, she made a kid. Then she did a bunch of laundry. She now writes full-time.

Kimia is a feminist writer and a Queer woman of colour. Visit www.kimiaeslah.com.

Kimia pens a monthly newsletter about being dominated by cats, and other meaningful life realizations. To subscribe, send a message to author@kimiaeslah.com. 

Bernadette Rule reads 17 November!

For our second event this Fall term, we're delighted to welcome Bernadette Rule to read for us! 

Please join us on Friday 17 November at 4:30pm in SJ2 1002. 

The reading is free and all are welcome. Please spread the word! 

Photo credit: Carys Ryan carysryanphotography.ca

Bernadette Rule's 9th book of poetry, forthcoming from Paradise North Press, is The Window Washer of Chartres. Among other awards, she has received two Short Works Prizes, one for poetry and one for creative nonfiction, as well as the 2017 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Writing. Rule’s first novel, a creative nonfiction book entitled Dark Fire (Ironing Board Press/lulu.com) was released in the spring of 2021. The Arithmetic of Color, her second creative nonfiction novel, is also based on true events from the 1920s in her hometown of Mayfield in Graves County, Kentucky. www.bernadetterule.ca

Darlene Madott reads 27 October!

Announcing our first reader for 2023-24: we're very happy to be kicking off this year's series with a reading from Darlene Madott! 

Please join us on Friday 27 October at 4:30pm in SJ2 1002.

Hope to see you there! The reading is free and all are welcome, so please spread the word.

 

Photo credit: Eric Fefferman

 

 About Darlene Madott:

"A Toronto-based lawyer who practised for over three decades, I have authored nine books, including Winners and Losers (GUERNICA, 2021), Dying Times (EXILE, 2021), Making Olives and Other Family Secrets (Ripasso) (LONGBRIDGE BOOKS, 2014), Stations of the Heart (EXILE, 2012), and Joy, Joy, Why Do I Sing? (WOMEN’S PRESS, 2004). I have twice won the Bressani Literary Award and have been shortlisted for the Gloria Vanderbilt sponsored Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Award three times, as well as being a frequent finalist in Accenti Magazine competitions. My short fiction has been widely anthologized, including anthologies arising out of the International Conferences of the Short Story in English, alongside internationally acclaimed authors. Author Guy Vanderhaeghe described my short stories as “haunting meditations by a fine artist blessed with a scrupulous intelligence.” Caterina Edwards: “Madott’s short stories remind me of why I love the genre. They need to be read and reread. So many left me breathless in admiration.” My fiction has also been translated and published into Italian. For more about me and my books, kindly visit: www.DarleneMadott.com."