-
Joe Sacco on Comics as Journalism
On March 17, 2011, renowned comic artist and author Joe Sacco spoke in the University of Toronto Arts Council 2011 Speakers in the Arts Series on “Comics as Journalism.” [audio:joesacco.mp3]
-
Nook Collective: Illustration Office Meeting, Oct. 12
Our friend Julia Breckenreid over at Nook Collective suggests you illustrators and others might like this event: Illustration Office Meeting 156 Augusta Avenue 7pm – Wednesday, October 12th 2011 RSVP to admin@nookcollective.com
-
Tapestry at Theatre Passe Muraille: Mangoes, cows, and other operatic arias fresh from the factory-floor
The brown-brick Theatre Passe Muraille is a far cry from the polished maple and clean-glass lines of the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre. A historic brass plaque at the door informs you as you come in that the theatre just east of Queen and Bathurst streets was once a stable and bakery, and something of…
-
Sina Queyras & the Coach House Fall Launch: Books Take to the Dance Floor
Tonight at 8pm, Toronto’s Coach House Press launches its fall titles at The Dance Cave (529 Bloor Street West). Will there be dancing? Rumours abound of song requests and dance cards, but before any kicking up of heels the writers themselves will be taking to the dance floor to read from their new books: Sina…
-
City WIDEN: Social Fabric, a TRB event at the Textile Museum
Presented by The Toronto Review of Books in affiliation with www.widentoronto.com, City WIDEN (Workshops for Interest, Discussion, Exchange, & Novelty) gathers three people with different backgrounds to give short, ten- to fifteen-minute presentations on a common theme. The first event in the series, City WIDEN: Social Fabric, is a co-production with The Textile Museum of…
-
Bookishness: Week of October 4th, 2011
-“Imagine: you’re better than James Joyce; you end up like Miles Kington.” So says Guardian columnist Ian Sansom, reflecting on Flann O’Brien’s understated literary legacy. October 5th marks the 100th anniversary of the Irish comic author’s birth — celebrate with a bicycle ride and a re-read of At Swim-Two-Birds. –iBooker: Visitors to Apple’s iBookstore (included…
-
JM Coetzee & Paul Auster: Some Words on the Public Reading of Their Correspondence
A woman in the row behind me yawned, but I didn’t quite know how to respond to the Kingston WritersFest reading that Thursday night by JM Coetzee and Paul Auster at the Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario. I was star-struck. And beat, having driven to Kingston for the event. The authors eschewed conversation and based…
-
Recommended Reading: On Occupy Wall Street
As the two and a half week old occupation of Wall Street continues to gain steam and media attention, a similar protest is rumoured to be coming to Bay Street in Toronto. There have already been hundreds of arrests in New York, an excessive use of police force, and divisive and confusing media coverage of…
-
Camilla Gibb’s letter to Dawit Isaac, imprisoned Eritrean Journalist
Camilla Gibb read this letter on September 23rd, 2011, at PEN Canada‘s commemorative event, “The Other Side of Silence – Speaking out for Eritrea’s Imprisoned Journalists.” Dear Dawit, I wonder if sometimes, you feel that imagination is all you have left. And if you do, Dawit, if you even have the strength to let yourself…
-
PEN Canada and Eritrea’s Imprisoned Journalists: The Unbearable Power of Speaking
The tenth anniversary of the imprisonment of twenty Eritrean journalists on Friday, September 23rd 2011, might have passed unremarked and in silence had it not been for the efforts of PEN Canada and Ryerson University. PEN Programs and Communications Coordinator Brendan De Caires chose the most pertinent and yet unexpected words of Salman Rushdie to…
-
Q&A: Ray Robertson, author of Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live
In the lead-up to the announcement of the winner of the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize, The Toronto Review of Books will feature Q&As with each of the five finalists. Up first is Ray Robertson, whose book Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live is an exploration of what makes life worth living. After publishing his…
-
Gleick’s The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood: “When Information is Cheap, Attention is Expensive”
Written by Pulitzer short-lister and National Book Award-finalist James Gleick, The Information sets out to offer an informative information history. Beginning in a pre-literate world when any “information” vanished as soon as it appeared, Gleick presents an account of talking drums in Africa, a widely misunderstood but incredibly advanced mode of communication. Gleick then moves…