Get on over to the east end tonight for Exile Editions' Spring Reading. New books will bloom this eve, and others will be ripe for picking throughout spring and summer. Exile Editorial Board Member Chris Doda gives us the layout for tonight’s garden of authors: Priscila Uppal's Ontological Necessities, her fifth book of poetry with Exile, has been shortlisted for the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize. It deals predominantly with the absurdity of the 21st century......

Past Griffin Award recipient Christian Bök once stated, "The Griffin is the poetry award that can drastically change a poet’s life." Christian isn't exaggerating: the $100,000 prize, shared by two winners, is one of the largest poetry awards in the world. In a 2000 speech, Scott Griffin, founder of The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, explained, "the poetry prize had to be of sufficient size to make a statement that declared that poets......

Award-winning Toronto author (and emergency physician) Vincent Lam will give his first public reading since winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize this Wednesday as Diaspora Dialogues teams up with the Harbourfront Centre’s International Reading series. Diaspora Dialogues, which is about to enter its third year, is joining forces with Harbourfront's International Readings series to host a slew of events in 2007, including a mini-festival in June right before Book Expo. While the chance to hear Vincent......