Small press/magazine fair comes to Toronto

Micro magazines are showcasing in Toronto for the second year on June 22. The Minizine Fair sponsored by Broken Pencil as part of NXNE will be held at 25 Gould Street (Ryerson) all afternoon. It will feature 18 publishers, from the long-established Couch House Books (operating as a printer/publisher since 1965) to the new and exciting Little Brother Magazine (a bi-annual start-up in 2013 whose authors have already garnered awards).

The show is eclectic; an award-winning, Montreal based magazine  that comments on arts, sciences, daily and social life; a not-for-profit artist collective and boutique press that publishes artist books, poetry, and fiction collections; a university student press ; and poetry and book presses.

commentary across the arts, sciences, daily and social life – See more at: http://maisonneuve.org/about/#sthash.VKMmIKZn.dpuf

commentary across the arts, sciences, daily and social life – See more at: http://maisonneuve.org/about/#sthash.VKMmIKZn.dpuf

NXNE (North by Northeast Festivals and Conference) is a ten-day festival of music, film, comedy, and art, in Toronto, held this year from June 13 to June 22. It showcases, screenings, panels, parties, installations, and more, including the mini-zine fair.

Toronto-based Broken Pencil Magazine “is a print magazine published four times a year…devoted exclusively to underground culture and the independent arts.” It was founded in 1995.

Founded in 1995 and based in Toronto, Canada, Broken Pencil is a print magazine published four times a year. It is one of the few magazines in the world devoted exclusively to underground culture and the independent arts. – See more at: http://www.brokenpencil.com/about#sthash.9wQ3AAYk.dpuf

Founded in 1995 and based in Toronto, Canada, Broken Pencil is a print magazine published four times a year. It is one of the few magazines in the world devoted exclusively to underground culture and the independent arts. – See more at: http://www.brokenpencil.com/about#sthash.9wQ3AAYk.dpuf

Founded in 1995 and based in Toronto, Canada, Broken Pencil is a print magazine published four times a year. It is one of the few magazines in the world devoted exclusively to underground culture and the independent arts. – See more at: http://www.brokenpencil.com/about#sthash.9wQ3AAYk.dpuf

The opening and closing times for the small press fair are a little confusing: Broken Pencil’s page says 11 a.m.-4p.m.; Blog TO lists it in the NXNE events as running from 2 until 6. Jonathan Valelly, associate editor at Broken Pencil lists the times as 2:30 to 6 on a Facebook page.

In any case, it should be an interesting visit. It’s near the Ryerson campus ice skating rink, across from Balzac’s coffee.

Poetry session in ROM

Here’s an interesting experience for all of you poets out there; Inkslingers is offering Rhymes at the ROM, a day of poetry workshopping held at Ontario’s premier museum on Sept. 21.

To quote from their site: The Royal Ontario Museum is a gorgeous storehouse of anthropological, geological, and paleontological information and artefacts…Poets will be given prompts and exercises and encouragement throughout the day designed to help you engage with the bones of your material and your craft.

At the end of the day, workshop members will head to a local restaurant for an optional reading inspired by their day at the museum.

The workshop is planned for Sat. Sept 21, runs 10:30 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.  Cost for the day is $70 and includes museum entry fee, all workshop activities and a free drink at the reading afterward. To register, go to their site at:  http://inkslingers.ca/inkslingers/rhymes-at-the-rom/?fb_source=pubv1

Inkslingers is the brainchild of James Dewar and Susan Reynolds. Both are published authors who offer regular writing workshops through their Inkslingers business.

Writers supply breakfast entertainment

At its July 20 meeting, Writers & Editors Network (WEN) will offer a variety of readings from its members at its monthly breakfast meeting. The readings are an annual event, the last meeting before their summer break, and, according to event coordinator John Ambury, it’s a very popular show. You will hear short fiction, non-fiction, novel & book excerpts, and poetry. Authors are restricted to five minutes each, so its a high volume, fast paced event.

The organization has been operating for a number of years, and members & guests certainly get their money’s worth; speakers at the monthly meetings have been lawyers specializing in publishing contracts, publishers defining what they look for in a potential best seller, agents discussing their clients’ success, writers talking about the unique aspects of self-publishing, and award-winning authors telling all about how they crafted their work. WEN also has a fabulous breakfast buffet.

If you plan to drop by to listen to some unique stories and poems, WEN’s meeting will start at 10 a.m., in the banquet hall of the Canadiana Restaurant, in Toronto’s Six Points Plaza at 5230 Dundas Street W. Cost for non-members is $20. Contact the breakfast coordinator ahead of time to ensure you get a seat and enough food; Anna Stitski-Gemza at 905-272-1478 or by e-mail: breakfasts@wenetwork.ca.

IOWI launches two new books

On Saturday, July 13, at 2:00pm IOWI, a small press owned by Cheryl Antao-Xavier, is holding a book launch at the Courtney Park Library. The authors are Susan Munro reading from her now book of poetry, Ravings of a Lunatic Saint and Brandon Pitts reading parts of his new play, Killcreek.

Susan published her first book of poetry, Coil, last year. Lynn Tait of the Ontario Poetry Society recently wrote the following about Susan’s new collection: ” Munro has managed to blend, religion, metaphysics, mysticism with wit and humour.  Susan’s forte is her smaller poems with great last lines that tend to end on a clever note and/or are often insightful.”

In addition to his new play, Brandon has other publications to his credit, including a mystery, A Puzzle of Murders published by Bookland Press in 2011, and a collection of poems called Pressure to Sing. Another play of his, One Night, was performed at the 2012 Fringe Festival.

Located at 730 Courtneypark Dr. W. in Mississauga, the Courtneypark Library is a great venue for a book launch with plenty of room and it’s a cool place to spend a hot summer afternoon.

If you plan to attend, pop over to the event page on Facebook and let Cheryl know: https://www.facebook.com/events/262662630525737/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

Poetry prose and provincial grants, tonight in Toronto

Two readings are to take place in West End Toronto tonight (Wed. May 8), one at Q-Space , the other at Full of Beans Coffee House.

Q-Space, starting at 7:30, will feature four poets,  A.F. Moritz, Luciano Iacobelli, Claudio Gaudio, and Ned Mcfarlane. All are extensively published. (Iacobelli is a founding partner of Quatro Books and the proprietor of Q-Space.)

The Brockton Writers Series at Full of Beans starts at 6:30 with a networking session,then provides offerings from author Andy Sinclair, Red Slam Collective poet Mahlikah Awe:ri, novelist Elizabeth Ruth and internationally published poet Moez Surani. The series also features a special guest, Michael Schellenberg who is a Literature Officer at the Ontario Arts Council. Michael will chat with the audience about provincial grant programs. Readings are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Q-Space is located at 382 College St. (7:30 start)

Full of Beans Coffee House and Roastery is at 1348 Dundas St. W., also in Toronto. (6:30 start, readings from 7)

Neither event charges a fee for the entertainment but they both welcome  free will offerings. Attend and be generous — especially if you like what you hear.

Simcoe County writers meet

In honour of National Poetry Month, the Writers’ Community of Simcoe County (WCSC) is featuring writer Barrie Dempster at their Apr. 21 meeting. Barrie’s topic is Giving the Muse Office Hours. He’ll discuss a variety of ways of going deeper into the writing and appreciation of poetry.

Barrie has published 16 books and been nominated twice for the Governor General’s Award. His collection, The Burning Alphabet, won the Canadian Authors’ Association Chalmers Award for Poetry in 2005. He is also Acquisitions Editor for Brick Books. Brick Books is a small, London Ont. publisher that deals exclusively in poetry. They have been in operation for nearly 40 years.

WCSC meets on the third Sunday of the month (Apr. 21 this month) from 11:30a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Lions Gate Banquet Hall, 386 Blake St. in Barrie.

Cost for non-members is $25. Here is the link for Brunch information and to register: http://simcoewriters.ca/simcoe/lunch-reservation/

Poetry Month: readings and slams in Mississauga

With Poetry month in high gear, a welter of events are happening, including two coming up in Mississauga.

On Thurs., April 26, 19 poets are scheduled to read at the Poetry Celebration at Courtneypark Library. Readers will include members of the League of Canadian Poets, Canadian Federation Poets and Ontario Poetry Society. (For a list of readers, check the last paragraph of this blog.)

The evening also features Come and Dance, a reading/music/dance piece that debuted on Rogers TV last year, and A Chinese Nightingale, a poem with music.

“We will also spotlight an exciting poetry slam session from Limelight (a Mississauga Youth Group),” says Anna Yin, an award-winning poet who is co-hosting the event with Cheryl Xavier and Heather Brissenden.

The evening of entertainment is free so mark your calendar for April 26, from 6:30p.m., and go out to this verbal/visual feast. It’s at the Courtney Park Library, 730 Courtneypark Drive W. in Mississauga.

The second event, on Fri., April 27, is a Teen Poetry Slam in the Noel Ryan Auditorium. Starting at 7 p.m., it features artists ages 13-19. The event is co-hosted by Mississauga Central Library and  Teen Advisory Group.  

Here’s their take on what you can expect at the slam:  All styles are welcome and encouraged: a cappella, hip-hop, theatrical monologues, literary, poetry, sound poetry, dubs poetry, rants, haikus, power raps, and more. Slams are all about energy and the rapport between poet and listener. Audience participation is encouraged.

Noel Ryan Auditorium is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. in Mississauga. For more information on the slam contact: readers.library@mississauga.ca

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The presenters at Courtney Park include: Norman Cristofoli, Brandon Pitts, Cheryl Antao-Xavier, Anna Yin, Max Layton, Matt Miller, Dina Ripsman Eylon, Patrick Connors, Zohra Zoberi, Saskia Van Tetering, Trevor Trower, Jan McIntyre, Terry Barker, Pratap Reddy, Jim Scott, Tom Scott, Mary Ellen Koroscil, D.S. Martin and Susan Munro.  At a quick glance, I know many of them are published in either magazines or books. Some are also published fiction writers.

$20,000 poetry contest

For all you english poets, the Montreal International Poetry Prize is up for grabs. Details are at the bottom of this article but I thought you might want to know a bit about the prize before entering.

The Montreal International Poetry Prize is a not-for-profit grassroots organization “committed to encouraging the creation of original works of poetry, to building cross-national readership and to exploring the world’s Englishes.” Its stated goal “is to turn the traditional patronage model on its head, and deliver a major annual poetry prize funded directly by poets themselves.”

The prize is funded through an original anonymous donation of $50,000.  Its continued funding is through other donations, the purchase of its Prize Anthology ($18 for the 2011 edition), and the price of entering the contest.

An interesting angle to this competition is that the entry fee differs from country to country. Here’s their explanation:

The Montreal Prize is meant to be a truly global effort and so we’ve tried to take account of the fact that some countries are richer than others. In order to be as objective as we can in the allocation of the different fees, we’ve used the UN Human Development Index to distinguish between developed and developing nations.

Here are the rules:

• You have to have reached the age of majority in your country (in Canada that’s either 18 or 19)
• the poem must be original, yours, and simultaneous submissions are not eligible
• no more than 40 lines long (title doesn’t count)
• Early bird deadline is March 31, final deadline is May 15. (you get discounts for early entries)
• In Canada, the cost of your first entry is $25 or $20 if you enter before Mar 31. Each subsequent entry costs you $10. (On-line entries only. You have to create an account to enter — http://www.montrealprize.com/app/submit/enter)
• You can enter multiple times and it is possible to have more than one of your poems chosen for publication
• Through blind judging, a group of editors picks the best 50 entries to be published in the anthology. A final judge chooses the best one of the 50 to win the $20,000 grand prize.

For more information, or if you have questions about the contest go to:  http://montrealprize.com/competition/judging-process/

You can roam around their site, use their FAQ page or check out the credentials of the final judge and the editorial board.