Categories
News

New Toronto Small Press Group Co-Organizers Announced

Details in press release below:

Dear TSPG community,

Thank you all for your help in creating a wonderful Spring TSPG Book Fair at the Toronto Reference Library. In our first e-mail, we said we would be working to the best of our abilities on your behalf, and judging by the highly supportive and positive feedback we received in the days and weeks after, we believe we succeeded in our objectives: by obtaining the best possible venue, we significantly raised the profile of the fair; funding from the TAC was reinstated, while OAC funding was continued; we also took the unprecedented step of adding an international component to the fair; seventeen of Toronto’s finest writers read from their work; and by accommodating 95 exhibitors in one space, we set a TSPG record. In addition to this, we showcased two highly successful off-site TSPG reading events at Ben McNally Books and Ireland Park.

We thoroughly enjoyed co-organizing the fair, but due to the fact we will be relocating to Mexico, we have decided to hand stewardship of the Toronto Small Press Group along to Sang Kim and Lisa Pasold. We did not take this decision lightly, but throughout an extended dinner meeting/interview, during which both displayed an impressive knowledge of small press matters, we became convinced that Sang and Lisa will do a great job in co-organizing the Fair.

Both Lisa Pasold and Sang Kim are published authors from the small press (see bios below). They bring a wealth of administrative and management expertise from a variety of industries. They are thrilled to be organizing the Fair and will continue to foster an inclusive culture while bringing artistic leadership and strategic vision to the organization.

SANG KIM:

Sang Kim has published two books, Ballad Of A Karaoke Cowboy (2007) and A Dream Called Laundry (2006), both by KCLF Press. Austin Clarke has written in the introduction to “A Dream Called Laundry”: “It is the voice, the posture, the majestic stature that makes it the successful entry onto the Canadian literary stage that it is.” His works have been produced, translated, and taught in two languages.

His novel, Driftwood Avenue, about a group of boys coming-of-age in the Jane-Finch housing projects during the late ’80s will be launched in late 2010; he is currently working on Letters To A Young Worker, reflections on aligning Money/Meaning and Work/Love for youth preparing to enter the workplace.

His literary and professional work has been profiled or reviewed in The Toronto Star; Globe and Mail; National Post; Toronto Life; Halifax Chronicle-Herald and has also been interviewed on CBC Television.

He is the founder and President of Bridge Canada, an industry-leading job placement company and training centre for international students based in Canada.

LISA PASOLD:

Lisa Pasold’s first book of poetry, Weave, appeared in 2004 from Frontenac House in Calgary. Stephen Osborne in Geist magazine called the book “quite simply a masterpiece: there is more in these eighty odd pages than in most novels.” Her second book of poetry from Frontenac, A Bad Year for Journalists, appeared in 2006; The Globe and Mail called this poetry collection “critical, darkly funny and painstakingly lyrical.”

Her literary work has appeared in magazines such as Fence, Exile, and New American Writing. Her poetry is included in anthologies from presses such as Short Fuse and littlefishcartpress. And she has spent many interesting hours making chapbooks on a variety of kitchen tables from Vancouver to Paris, France.

As a journalist, Lisa’s work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Chicago Tribune, Fence, The Calgary Herald, New York Living, and Time Out. She has also worked as a correspondent for Billboard Magazine.

In 2006, she taught Creative Writing at the American University in Paris; she has also led workshops in writing family history & memoir in France and in Canada. In 2007, Lisa spent three months in the Yukon, at the Berton House Writer’s Retreat in Dawson City. She is now based in Toronto and writes a blog called “elsewhere” (http://lisapasold.blogspot.com/). Her first novel, Rats of Las Vegas, is appearing with Enfield & Wizenty in September 2009.

Kind Regards,

Veronica Garza Flores & Colin Carberry

Categories
In The Newspapers

Dave Bidini – Interview with Writer/Musician

bidini

Photo (from First Chapter ) of Dave Bidini, with Bobby Orr button, Hockey Canada tuque and short lived mustache.

The Toronto Star has a great profile on writer/musician Dave Bidini, check it out here.

Categories
Literary Tour Photography

A literary walk through Toronto’s Annex

Greg Gatenby’s ‘Toronto, A Literary Guide’ published in 1999 is a thick book that provides a tour of residences and places in Toronto that have a literary connection.  This March, Stephen Cain, writing in Open Book Toronto,  told about a walking tour of the Annex area that he and another person designed using Gatenby’s book and updating to add more features. On a visit to Toronto last week I used both the book and Cain’s article to guide me on a wander through the Annex.

B. P. Nichol Lane off Huron Street south of Bloor.

Matt Cohen Park

Matt Cohen Park at the corner of Spadina and Bloor

Matt Cohen Plaque

Plaque in Matt Cohen Park

Gwendolyn MacEwen park

Gwendolyn MacEwen Park at Walmer and Lowther is a memorial to the poet

Macewen Bust

A bust of the poet and a portion of one of her poems.

Brunswick Avenue

Brunswick Avenue, a popular street for writers to reside.

Dooney\'s Cafe

Dooney’s Cafe at 511 Bloor , until recently a popular spot for writers to gather and the inspiration for the online site Dooneys Cafe, however, the owner sold the restaurant and is now in the process of opening a new spot The Alex Live at 296 Brunswick Avenue which Max Fawcett in the current issue of Toronto Life is touting as the new spot for writers to hang out.

The Alex Live

The Alex Live

Categories
Canadian Festival

Canadian Writers’ Festivals

Fall is the season for the big Canadian Writers’ Festivals so here’s a list of what’s coming up. Today’s the last day for the Winnipeg Festival so you’ll have to start making plans for next year but there’s a lot more upcoming in October. Vancouver hosts the Writers & Readers event October 21-26 at the lovely Granville Island site. Calgary and Banff, as always, co-host Wordfest from October 14 – 19. Take a quick trip north from Calgary to Edmonton and take in the International Literary Festival there October 16-19.  In Ottawa from October 18-27 you can take in literary events at their International Writers Festival. Toronto puts on their event at Harbourfront where you can attend the International Festival of Authors October 22 – November 1. Lesser known events are the Surrey International Writers Conference October 23-26. Surrey is located just outside Vancouver so you can take in two festivals in the same area at the same time. For all you adventure types, armchair and otherwise, don’t forget the Banff Mountain Book Festival November 1-9, held in conjunction with a film festival. If that’s not enough start marking your calendar for next spring and the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival April 22-26, 2009.