Panel from Emily Pohl-Weary and Willow Dawson's Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate #4, courtesy of Willow Dawson. Ten weeks of fantastic, free writing workshops have just been announced as part of the Parkdale Street Writers program. Coordinated by the multi-talented poet, YA author, and Kiss Machine founder Emily Pohl-Weary, the workshops start April 1 and are led by some kick-ass local writers and artists, including Mariko Tamaki, Willow Dawson, and Kristyn Dunnion. You don’t have......

The amount of events this week are bursting at the seams. Keep Toronto Reading is kicking it into full gear this month with various readings across library branches, Lit Lunches, and various One Book events. There are just too many to list here. Visit the KTR calendar to see all event details and plan out your literary excursions. And if you have any kids, you can join Gisèle from TVOKids for various library tours, as......

Next Monday, February 4, Keep Toronto Reading will launch its One Book program at the Toronto Reference Library. There will be performances by Soprano Mary Lou Fallis, who will sing popular songs from the 1850s, and Ross Manson who will perform two dramatic readings from Consolation. The event will be hosted by Tina Srebotnjak, who will interview Michael Redhill, author of Consolation. You can check out all One Book events here. As part of Keep......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Michael Redhill’s had a big year. His novel Consolation, in addition to being nominated for the Man Booker Prize......

The Toronto Public Library is an undeniably important public space in this city. Beyond offering a sanctuary for quiet study and learning, library branches provide after-school programming for youth as well as settlement information and language resources for newcomers. It’s little wonder that this fall, even as he was threatening budget cuts, David Miller remarked: "Our libraries are where people become Torontonians." Striving to remain relevant and innovative, the public library constantly introduces new programs,......

Are you tired of study sessions completely uninterrupted by YouTube clips? Have you resorted to reading books and periodicals rather than maintaining a constant vigil over your Facebook profile? If this behaviour sounds familiar to you, and you live near one of these locations (that is Agincourt, Albion, Albert Campbell, Bridlewood, Centennial, Eatonville, Flemingdon Park, Gerrard/Ashdale, Lillian H. Smith, Mimico, Morningside, North York Central, Parkdale, Parliament, Richview, Riverdale, Toronto Reference, Woodside Square, and York......

Photo by EIFF. Next week on October 17th, the International Festival of Authors will kick off its 28th year since its inception in 1980 at the Premiere Dance Theatre (207 Queens Quay West). Incorporating some of the best contemporary world literature, the festival is comprised of eleven days and nights of readings, interviews, round-table discussions, lectures, and book signings—not to mention special event readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize and Governor General’s Literary Awards finalists.......

Originally published by Viking Press in 1957, Jack Kerouac's On the Road has been wearing holes in the back pockets and floppy canvas knapsacks of gaggles of come-find-yourself road trippers and college-aged who-am-I types ever since. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of its publication, Wednesday night will see the Gladstone play host to something of a symposium on the life and legacy of their main man, Kerouac. Authors Ray Robertson and David Creighton will......

Cost containment measures designed to save 1.2 million dollars by year-end were recently announced by the Toronto Public Library. Included in these measures is the cancellation of Sunday service at sixteen branches for the remainder of the year. Torontoist feels now may be a good time to visit your local branch and pay any overdue fines. Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Stage Struck: 100 Years At The Royal Alex, a free exhibition commemorating the Royal Alexandra Theatre's centennial, opened yesterday at the Toronto Reference Library. Torontoist was at the opening to oggle at the rare playbills, posters and other paraphernalia that would make any theatre geek weak in the knees. Organized by the Toronto Public Library, the Stage Struck exhibit features photos, design sketches, scripts and souvenir books that highlight the long history of the......

Vancouver Central Public Library photo by lindn. Bad Buildings has always looked around this town of ours and bemoaned its lack of architectural cojones. For the most part, our buildings are safe, functional and dull (Four Seasons Centre, we're looking at you). Now and again, though, we've been graced (or cursed) with real bursts of boldness—risky designs that challenge the monotone drabness that pervades our built environment. The question is, though, is it enough......

The Toronto Public Library is the only good thing to have come from amalgamation. One of the worst things to have come from amalgamation, on the other hand, is City Council's insistence that everything that it doesn't do is a result of not being able to afford to do it, and that everything that it does do is a result of not being able to afford not to do it. Last Wednesday morning, June......

There are things that go on in this city at night that are far weirder than the leather-clad teenagers on Queen West. Did you know that vampires stalk High Park? Or that Toronto Police Services crossed into another dimension to investigate a suspicious death? No? Then you should check out Karen Bennett’s Fantastic Toronto project. Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing drew our attention to Bennett's labour of love. Bennett, a writer, photographer, panelist, and......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

From the million-record-selling stadium band to that guy who used to sell cassettes on Queen Street, Torontoist readers share their stories of the city's lost-but-not-forgotten musical acts. Today's Revisited review comes from Cameron Gordon. Superior Cackling Hen Bourbon Tabernacle Choir Yonder Records/Sony No band epitomized the communal spirit of early 1990’s Toronto more so than the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. Their seasonal blend of soul, rock and funk made them a top live draw during that......

Tomorrow kick-starts the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s annual National Wildlife Week. Proclaimed in 1947, the festival is about reminding us humans that we must maintain a sustainable ecosystem to preserve what little wildlife we have left. This year’s theme is Canada’s North. It seems like every small city, town, and county in Ontario will be recognizing NWW, but shamefully not Toronto. Because wildlife doesn’t matter in our urban centre, right? To celebrate squirrels and polar......

Playing at the Tranzac this evening is Harry and the Potters, a band that inspired a new genre of music called Wizard Rock. While brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge started playing their Harry Potter-inspired songs just to friends, they developed a massive fan base online and began touring around North America. Pitchfork named their appearance at the New York Public Library one of the top live shows of 2005, and now there are over......

March 8th marks International Women's Day each year, though it's sadly not yet a national holiday in Canada, as it is in a few countries. But official holiday or not, there are still a tonne of events happening in Toronto to mark the occasion. Here are some of Torontoist's best bets for celebrating feminism this week: Today The National Film Board and Amnesty International present a free screening of Killer's Paradise, a documentary about the......

We here at Torontoist don't usually condone the consumption of mind-altering substances. However, when we find a remixed version of a TVO anti-drug video that is the equivalent of seven hits of acid, we just have to share. Back in the winter of 2000, two film students discovered the 1984 film in the archives of the Boston Public Library. John-Paul Bouchard and Joe Kowalski re-edited the movie and threw in some new audio tracks and......

Next time you visit the library, take a look at the carpeting and furniture. Does it make you want to linger with a good book or run through the checkout as fast as possible? The Toronto Reference Library, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in November, was breaking itself in when today's ad appeared. Judging from the number of people seen sleeping there, the carpet colours may be too easy on some readers' eyes. Architect Raymond......

The urban sprawl in Toronto is a continual point of debate on Torontoist (see, for instance, our interview with Brad Lamb), but tomorrow you will get a chance to share your opinions on the matter outside of our sullied comment threads. On Monday, 7pm to 9pm at the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library, fourth year students from Ryerson University will present their study of gentrification in Parkdale, followed by a moderated panel......

It's 1:42 a.m. You're finally finished replying to e-mails.You settle down to continue that novel that you've been writing for, what, six, seven years now? But now you have a headache. The faucet is dripping and you can't concentrate. You eye the "To File" pile of papers on your desk and figure it wont hurt to make the stack smaller. By the time you're finished, it's pushing 3 a.m. and you didn't write a single......

In an effort to provide better service to its customers, the Toronto Public Library has changed the hours of operation for most of its 99 branches. The new hours, which can be found on the TPL website, are effective as of today. Most of the larger branches are now open at 9AM, while some community branches have had a significant change in the hours they are open, so be sure to check the new hours......

We realize that we probably talk about Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, way too much. So we're not going to talk about his free show on Saturday night at North York Central Library, also featuring The Creeping Nobodies, Hank, Ninja High School, and Bob Wiseman. Nope, not a word. Instead, what we do want to tell you about is the Toronto Public Library's stellar new local CD selection - the whole reason that the......

We're not sure why the Open Library (the Internet Archive's book collection) picked this volume, but we're intrigued. The eBook, Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto, has sketches of the town of York from 1792-1833 and Toronto from 1834-1898. A stamp from the inside of the book shows that it's actually from the collection of the Toronto Public Library. Many of these landmarks, churches, buildings and streets are obviously unrecognizable now but the more things change......

Here we go. The biggest week of the year for book lovers, the International Festival of Authors, is upon us. Torontoist will have extensive coverage of this year’s IFOA. For now, here are a few non-IFOA events taking place this week. Monday Tonight, you have the choice of heading over to the Smiling Buddha Bar – 961 College – for this week’s Freedom Readings, starting at 6pm (and free) or checking out Margaret MacMillan......

Excuse me for the lateness of this week’s listing. I’m still on Nuit Blanche time. And yes, I made it until 7am. This is an absolutely fantastic week for word nerds. And check this – if one of your friends is more into sports, you can bring them to a literary event disguised as a boxing match. For a boxing fan like me, it doesn't get any better. Tomorrow at noon, there’s a special launch......

Earlier this week in the concert listings, we briefly told you of the upcoming free shows that the Toronto Public Library were holding. Now that the full details have been released, here's the low-down. To celebrate the recent acquisition of a new local music collection, the Toronto Public Library is throwing two live shows in October. The hope is that this initiative will engage young people into using library services. Judging by the diverse......

This fall is shaping up to be a busy one, as everyone and their dog seems to be touring right now. If you haven't spent all of your OSAP money yet, might want to stash away a few pennies for some concert tix. However, if you've already blown your student loan on cheap beer and (even cheaper) Ikea furniture, take comfort in the fact that you can visit your local public library to catch......

Back in the day, kids used to tell their parents that they'd be at the library studying when actually they were going to go spray paint “AC/DC Rules” on the wall of their high school or sit in a parking lot and smoke controlled substances. It’s harder to get away with that nowadays, of course, because the folks know that you can download all the misinformation in the world off the internet, so why......