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Torontoist Reads: Literary Events This Week
The week starts off with another instalment of Pussy Pen, an evening of readings and performance focusing on women, trans, and queer perspectives. It takes place at Tango and Crews, 508 Church St, beginning at 8pm. Free.
Tuesday’s Wildsound script reading series features Face to Face, a TV pilot script written by Christina Ray and Mark De Angelis. The event is moderated by Pamela Sinha. It starts at 7pm at the Stealth Lounge, 22 Cumberland. It costs $4.
That same evening, This Is Not A Reading Series presents Mark Kingwell and Seth: Shaken, Not Stirred. It’s the launch party of their new book, Classic Cocktails: A Modern Shake. If you’ve been following Kingwell’s cocktail column in Toro over the years you know you’re in for a treat. Seth (pictured) provided illustrators to the book. Happy hour starts at 7:30 and is free (admission, not drinks.)
The same night, the Art Bar poetry series featured Steven Michael Berzersky, Daphne Marlatt, and Susanne Buffam. It takes place at the Victory Café, 581 Markham, starting at 8pm, and is free.
On Wednesday, food critic Cecily Ross reads from her book Love in the Time of Cholesterol. It’s starts at 7pm and takes place that the North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge. It’s free.
That same night, LIFT hosts a reading of the film script Blood, Blood, and More Blood by filmmaker Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Paris Je T’aime). Starts at 7pm and takes place at Xpace, 303 Augusta. PWYC.
The second This Is Not A Reading Series event of the week takes place on Wednesday, as well. Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) and Ivan E. Coyote (Bow Grip) and in conversation with Zoe Whittall, with special guest Elvira Kurt. It’s at the Gladstone at starts at 7:30pm. Free.
On Thursday, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, 73 Harbord St., presents an evening of readings of women poets Ann Carson, Pamela Mordecai, and Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes. It’s free, and starts at 7pm.
Also on Thursday, Toronto WordStage celebrates its 10th instalment with readings by Barry Dempster, Luciano Iacobelli, Lara Solnicki, and Ricardo Sternberg. It takes place at Cervejaria, 842 College, and the readings start at 7:30. It’s free.
The big event this week is the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. It runs from October 11 through to the 14th at various venues around the city. There’s too much going on to list it all, but the third annual festival will include daily workshops, nightly poetry slams featuring poets such as Shane Koyczan, Lillian Allen, and Robert Priest. Check out the website for all the details.
On Friday, the I.V. Lounge presents Jacob Sheier (Three Seasons in Hell to Hear the Good Singing), John Barlow (the ufos of south toronto), and Susan Helwig (Pink Purse Girl). It takes place at the I.V. Lounge – 326 Dundas St. W. – starting at 8pm and is free.
Finally, on Saturday, those fine purveyors of speculative fiction, graphic novels, and fantasy lit, Bakka-Phoenix Books (697 Queen W) will host a joint book launch for Canadian science-fiction writers Karl Schroeder and Peter Watts. It’s free.