With TRB Live I’m going to be posting monthly roundups of literary events you might enjoy. Get in touch with me (@kathmcleod) or the TRB (@TorontoReview) on Twitter if you’d like to suggest an event to include next month.
Toronto
The Coach House Books Fall Launch ushers in autumn with the launch of six new books: Lisa Robertson’s 3 Summers, Jordan Scott’s Night & Ox, and Laura Broadbent’s In on the Great Joke, Dominique Fortier’s The Island of Books (translated by Rhonda Mullins), Maxime Bock’s Baloney (translated by Pablo Strauss) and André Alexis’s treasure hunt through the streets of Toronto, The Hidden Keys. Find these books on October 6 at 7pm, StudioBar (824 Dundas Street West, Toronto).
The Pivot Reading Series happens twice this month at The Steady Café (1051 Bloor St West) 8pm, PYWC. On October 5, readers are John Wall Barger, Joe Denham, Susan Perly and Kevin Spenst—and on October 19 readers are Amber McMillan, Nathaniel G. Moore and Vincent Pagé.
The HIJ House Reading Series returns with a reading by all fiction—and all Giller-nominated—writers: Andre Alexis, Gary Barwin and Alissa York. Join HIJ for the afternoon reading on Saturday October 2, 2pm at BookThug’s HQ (260 Ryding Ave, Toronto).
All Friday nights this month, dub poet Lillian Allen guest curates programs of poetry, music and spoken word at AGO Friday Nights. October 7, 14 and 21. Allen takes stage for a performance with her band on the final Friday night of October 28. Free with AGO admission.
Lillian Allen’s curation of AGO Friday Nights is part of the AGO’s series of new commissions and performances presented in conjunction with Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971 – 1989. Featured artists include Michael Snow, Joanne Tod, the Clichettes, Duke Redbird, Barbara Astman, Robin Collyer, Robert Houle, Carol Conde, Carl Beveridge, June Clarke, Ato Seitu, and Lillian Allen. Curated by Wanda Nanibush, assistant curator of Canadian and Indigenous art, this exhibit unearths lost waterways—tributaries—and uncovers forgotten stories—tributes—of the city’s revolutionary past.
Across Canada
At the Vancouver Writers Festival, poets Liz Howard, Roberto Ascalon, Christopher Merrill, Sharon Olds, Soraya Peerbaye, and Billy Ramsell read at The Poetry Bash. Hosted by Vancouver’s poet laureate Rachel Rose, the Poetry Bash happens on October 22, 8pm, at Performance Works ($26.)
In Montreal, Concordia University’s reading series Writers Read kicks off the year with Don McKay and Jeramy Dodds on Friday October 7, 7pm (Room MB 2.130, 1450 Rue Guy). The Writers Read series continues with two more poetry readings this month: Phinder Dulai reads on Tuesday October 11 at 7pm (Room LB 6.646, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W) and Lisa Robertson and Laura Broadbent read on Friday October 21, 7pm (York Amphitheatre, EV 1.605, 1515 Rue St. Catherine).
The Fall 2016 lineup of Ottawa Writers Fest (October 20-25) includes stellar panels such as The Ever Present Past with Stephen Henighan, Ann Y. K. Choi, and Madeleine Thien and Respect with Vivek Shraya, Zoe Whitall and Ivan Coyote.
And scholars and writers bring the west coast to St. Catharines with the Centre for Canadian Studies (Brock University) conference, The Concept of Vancouver.