Results tagged “readings”

Cory Doctorow possesses a strange kind of celebrity. He's famous, but not so famous that you could offhandedly mention him to a stranger on the street and reasonably expect the person to be familiar with Doctorow's life and work. For other notable people, this situation might connote a kind of ignominious C- or D-List celebrity, but not for Doctorow. In his case, it might be more accurate to say that he is extremely, A-List famous, but only among the subset of the population that uses and understands the internet. This would explain why he was able, last night, to pack the third floor of the Lillian H. Smith public library tighter than a college bar. That's right. Cory Doctorow: as appealing to nerdy people as beer is to students.

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Today's Events

Book season is well and firmly upon us. Like the changing colours of the leaves and the rediscovery of the scarves in the back of your closet, the sudden surge of literary prizes and the annual return of the International Festival of Authors signal that autumn is decidedly here. And it makes sense, really: what better way to combat the chill than with a pile of books that keep you safely indoors?

Finally! We've been to a few disappointing Luminato displays of late, and a few disappointing "marquee" literary events, and so it is with great pleasure and relief that we can report that last week, both fiction lovers and Luminato-goers got exactly what they've been craving: well-executed programming that was as warm and inviting as it was ambitious. World Voices in Fiction brought four of the brightest new luminaries in contemporary fiction to the Al Green theatre Thursday night, to read from and discuss their recent works, and did so in a most satisfying fashion. The authors were brilliant and also, happily, comfortable in front of an audience. The space was welcoming and the pace relaxed, just right for a reading on a lazy summer night. (Organizers of all literary events take note: acoustics matter. So do lighting and sightlines. Please book your venues accordingly.) In short, it was just what a book-ish night should be.

Book readings are, in a certain way, transgressive. In bridging the usual remove between author and audience, and in reinstantiating the written word as performance, they breach the boundaries which usually govern our experience as readers. Book readings rely on that transgressive quality for their success: a good book reading is one in which listeners feel genuinely connected to the author they are hearing, and in which the performance conveys something more than whatever is contained in the written work alone.

This upcoming weekend is the inaugural Open House Festival, the Globe and Mail's new celebration of books and the people who write them. We have a bit of a thing for words and wordsmiths around here, and so will be attending in force to report on how the festival fares in its first year out. Organizers have pulled together an all-star line-up and kept ticket prices for most events reasonable ($15 for McInerney, Rakoff, Toews, and Trillin is a pretty sweet deal), so with any luck this will turn out to be the first installment of a new annual tradition.

Does your Canadianness matter to you? And what does it even mean to be Canadian? The old joke, of course, is that Canada is NotTheUnitedStates, that we define ourselves as America's inverse, or perhaps her kinder, gentler cousin, but have no substantive notion of what our identity is absent that contrast. On the other hand, lots of us vehemently reject that trope, arguing that Canada does have a distinct sense of itself. Just what that identity consists in though (Multiculturalism? Socialized medicine, or a broader concern for social welfare? Our climate and geography? The sheer course of historical events?) isn't always entirely clear.

Earlier this month, beloved Canadian book blog Bookninja asked its readers if they felt top literary novelists faced unfortunate book rebranding "to meet the purchasing habits of an embiggened sector of stupid readers." A cover contest was proposed by founding editor George Murray, where readers were asked to create and submit their own wildly inappropriate covers for literary classics, and general bookish hilarity ensued.

Just when you really thought you'd seen it all, Keep Six Contemporary curator Rafi Ghanaghounian brings us Explicit Fantastic. The brand new author series (accompanied by a recently opened art show) brings some A-list writers out of the bars and Brigantine Room and into the—wait for it—laundromat. Tonight, Hollywood Coin Lounge (180 Ossington Avenue) will play host to some scribes aiming to unload some dirty words. The idea behind the ongoing series is to bring NSFW literature into functioning laundries, creating an ongoing forum for Toronto talent to share "their most explicit sexual ink" and "pleasuring word efforts" with you. There's no cover, but you are asked to bring a couple of loads of dirty laundry to do while you enjoy the reading. Tonight's event starts at 7 p.m. and offers Greg Kearney, Tamai Kobayashi, Dwayne Morgan, Angela Rawlings, Steve Venright, and Zoe Whittall. Explicit Fantastic the reading is also accompanied by Explicit Fantastic the exhibition, housed at Keep Six Contemporary (938 Bathurst Street). The show, which runs until November 30, also explores sex and sexuality in contemporary culture with works by a variety of practicing contemporary artists, including Bruce La Bruce, Shary Boyle, Thrush Holmes, Kelsey Brookes, Richard Kern, CUM, Dan Witz, TILT, Junko Mizuno, Rikki Kasso, Allyson Mitchell, and Tomori Nagamoto.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Photo by Jen Cooper.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Torontoist rounds up the city's literary news, including book deals, events, local sales, author happenings, and insider information from the book industry.