For every prestigious award shows there will be people who complain that the prize is rigged. The Gillers, Canada's most prestigious literary award, is no stranger to this. In its 13 year history the prize has been criticized for its bias towards larger publishers, to Ontario authors and any number of other shortcomings. Geist magazine columnist Stephen Henighan throws another log angrily onto that fire with his latest missive that accuses the prize of a......

Ok, so the city is in the grip of full-blown festival mania. Red carpets, Gala screenings, and celebrity sightings are all great, but so are poetry readings, right? Right? Anyone??? Tonight at 8pm, head north to Zemra Lounge – 778 St. Clair W. – for this month’s installment of the Diamond Cherry reading series. Stephen Humphries and former director of the Art Bar, Allan Briesmster (The Other Seasons), will be reading. It’s free, and you......

Torontoist has heard that end of year lists are generally tedious and irrelevant. Torontoist acknowledges the point. But Torontoist also only burst on the scene a couple of months ago and would like to take this moment to salute nine plays we liked in 2004. They weren’t necessarily the best plays, per se, but we liked them is all. The Handmaid’s Tale (Canadian Opera Company) You can call it an opera if you so desire,......

The Tarragon Theatre’s got a couple of winners on its stages right now. In the Mainspace, David S. Young’s adaptation of Alistair MacLeod’s epic novel No Great Mischief is playing to well-deserved sold-out houses. Even on a Tuesday night this Torontoist theatregoer and his fake date had trouble finding seats next to each other, so do arrive early if you want a good placement. The reviews haven’t been very kind to the show about the......