Photos of trey anthony, Dawn Whitwell, and Gein Fence courtesy of Get Your Lit Out. Dear readers: please help give an author a chance to get married on the midway at this year’s Calgary Stampede. Really! While living in Toronto, Scarborough-raised Natalee Caple wrote many fine books, among them The Plight of Happy People in an Ordinary World (Anansi), and Mackerel Sky (Thomas Allen). We are sad we’ve lost her to Calgary, but thrilled......

For live music junkies, the week between Christmas and New Year's can offer very little in terms of quality shows. The folks at The Drake Hotel are trying to remedy the situation with their What's In The Box? week of shows. Running from the 26th to the 30th, the Drake Underground and Lounge are featuring the best acts from 2006. Each day is five dollars and features five bands, leading to a nice "5 Bands......

No time…Must get back down to Harbourfront…IFOA in full swing…Here are some other literary events taking place this week…. Monday The Test Reading Series returns on Monday night, 7:30pm, with readings from Rob Read (that could be the best name for a writer I’ve ever heard) and Souvankham Thammavongsa. This night is also doubling for the launch of the new issue of Carousel, one of the best lit mags in the country – Mark Laliberte......

We'd like to box the Rivoli for their anti-peanut allergy stance, but tonight a couple of writers do the boxing for us, by way of The Box Salon. Golda Fried will read from her newly thatched and hatched Coach House press title. And Claudia Dey, Paige Gratland, Karen Hines, and Greg Hollingshead will also be on hand to read, and eat things that may or may not contain peanuts, but even if they do not......