October 3rd, 2009

Event City

I usually have perhaps one or two standing-at-the-front-of-the-room experiences per month, but I have three this week, and I suppose it won’t be long before I start snapping my fingers for drinks and talking about the difficulties of “my art.” Or maybe not…

After the very fun Writers’ Trust presentation on Wednesday, on Thursday I got to go do a little reading and workshop with the teen writers’ group at North York Public Library, who are so very amazing (as is their leader, Susan Kernohan) that I didn’t have to do all that much of the talking, actually, just sit back and listen to the discussion about why art theory doesn’t help, while Dickens is a must, how inspiration starts, and what to major in in university. Pretty amazing.

And then tomorrow, I’ll be doing a reading for the Draft reading series. Here be the deets:

Sunday October 4th, 2009, 4 – 6 p.m.

The Blue Moon Pub, 725 Queen St. E. (That’s just East of Broadview on the South side.)

Including new work by:

Amy Jones
Lina Medaglia
Sachiko Murakami
Rebecca Rosenblum
Roz Spafford

There will be an open mike. Seven readers, three minutes each. Please arrive at the beginning of the reading to sign up. With the $5 admission fee you get a copy of Draft, a limited-edition publication available only at these readings. For info: draftreadings@gmail.com or 416 433-4170

I am stoked to hear all the other artists on the bill, including the fabulous story-writer Amy Jones (who I have never seen in person!) But I am a little terrified to myself be reading in draft form, something I’ve done only once before. Even that other time, it was a reasonably polished draft, as opposed to this story, which I only started work on a week ago Thursday. Oh dear. This’ll be something different, anyway.

Next week, I think I’ll stop standing at the front of the room and go to other people’s events for a while. Perhaps you would like to, too??

Tuesday October 6–Marta Chudolinska does a signing of her graphic novel, Back + Forth at Ben McNally Books.

Wednesday October 7–It’s the first anniversary (approximately) party for Pivot at the Press Club, and Emily Schultz, Spencer Gordon, Ken Babstock, and Meaghan Strimas take to the stage to celebrate. I am of the opinion that a night at Pivot is *always* a good bet, but this one might even be extra good.

Friday October 9–A non-lit event–the acapella groupCadence live at the Annex. Should be a whole new experience for me, and I hear nothing but good things.

And then we’re into the weekend, and can safely abandon cultural consumption for turkey consumption. I don’t know about you, but I intend to spend the entire weekend hugging people and eating sweet potatoes… But that’s *next* weekend, so I guess this means I should get back to work now.

Hope to see you at one (or more) of the above!

There’s nothing I can do for you you can’t do for yourself
RR