On July 27 of this year, 75-year-old Antonio Batista was found guilty of making death threats against his Mississauga city councillor for writing and distributing around his neighbourhood a poem which concluded with the following passage:We are going to dig a pothole about six feet and 3 feet wide and 5 feet deep to hide her body and God will take care of Her Soul, but we cannot forgive her for doing nothing. She......

Tonight, The Fifteenth Annual Scream Literary Festival launches its six-day festival with readings by Dennis Lee and Souvankham Thammavongsa at The Gladstone Ballroom. Performances by George Elliot Clarke, and robots belonging to Shapour Shahidi are also promised, and it sounds like audience members are invited to make art with weird, old science textbooks. This year's festival “considers the strange alchemy of poetry and science, through readings, panels, and performances.” On July 9th, the festival......

If last week’s key word on the literary scene was “big,” as in prizes, galas, festivals, sold-out readings, visiting writers, and BookExpo, we get back to normal-ish this week. In fact, we’ve not had such a low-key stretch since March. Fear not. The Scream Literary Festival is adding more information to their website every week. On July 3rd, the festival kicks off with readings by Dennis Lee and Souvankham Thammavongsa, films by Shapour Shahidi, and......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. • The big story this week was the arrest of six kids for the murder of a 17-year-old boy in the Flemingdon Park area. On July 15, 2006, the victim was stripped and assaulted over several hours by a group of people outside a housing complex on Grenoble Drive, finally succumbing to......

It started like most conflicts on Stillepost, Toronto’s message board for the more melodramatic members of its indie music scene. On July 7, “torontoindie.com” posted: “Who wants an interview? Please respond with an email: lidia@torontoindie.com. Subject title: (band name) interview”. A mere fifteen minutes later, torontoindie.com (born Lidia) seems to have planted the seed for conflict herself with a reply to her own post: “First I get blasted for not enough interviews. Now nothing?......

If you’ve ever felt like meeting, greeting, and/or verbally accosting a Torontoist writer, here’s your chance: Torontoist is throwing a party! On July 15, we’ll all be getting down and getting back up at The Embassy (223 Augusta Ave) in Kensington Market. We’ve yet to flesh out the specifics, but rest assured there will be some flashy DJ’s and important-looking socialites. Also, multicoloured Torontoist pins! Keep it locked down on this very website for further......