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Toronto, January 2012: a Poem
For JP Here is a curbed and censored winter— its skies are blank as paper. So instead we read the sidewalks sanded bone-white by a wind made fast and loose on northern highways. They draw chalk lines over crabgrass relapsed since November. “Never mind,” they say, “This is no bardsung city of love, just the…
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The World in Microcosm in a Basement Under Toronto Street: On Open Air Books and Maps
In this essay, John Zada visits Open Air Books and Maps, located at 25 Toronto St, Toronto, ON M5C 2R1. For decades a small indie bookstore has been operating, virtually in secret, beneath the corporate hustle of Toronto’s downtown core. Open Air Books and Maps, a quirky and somewhat clandestine establishment is located in a…
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Bookishness: Week of March 12, 2012
Keep calm and watch this video You’ve seen it everywhere: mugs, notebooks, and, of course, posters. Keep Calm and Carry On. But where did it come from? Sure – England, the war, but there’s more – including one of the most charming book shops I’ve ever seen. The story of Keep Calm and Carry On. (And…
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Bookishness: Week of March 5, 2012
A fantastic flying film I’m sure I wasn’t the only one cheering last week’s Academy Award winner for short animated film despite knowing nothing more than its title: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Having now watched the film (available on YouTube), I can confirm that the content lives up to any expectations generated…
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TRB Podcast: Diana Taylor on “Taking to the Streets: Mass Mobilization Online and Off”
On January 18th, the Distinguished Lecture Series, sponsored by the TransCanada Institute / School of English and Theatre Studies (University of Guelph), presented Dr. Diana Taylor’s lecture entitled “Taking to the Streets: Mass Mobilization Online and Off.” Listen here:[audio:taylor.mp3] As Taylor asks in the abstract for her talk, “What options for political and economic justice…
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CanLit Canon Review #4: Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapdelaine
In an attempt to make himself a better Canadian, Craig MacBride is reading and reviewing the books that shaped this country. Maria Chapdelaine, written by Louis Hémon and translated from French by W. H. Blake, is the book we all should have read in high school instead of Pride and Prejudice. While both novels deal…