Thursday, December 28, 2017

Events Events Events!

So apparently there is no rest for the wicked. I've got three big events coming up in the month of January that I want to tell you about, so if you live in these cities and you're free to come out, please do! They promise to be loads of fun.

Event the first
I will be back reading at the Pivot Reading Series here in Toronto next Wednesday, January 3rd starting at 8 pm. I have a special place in my heart for Pivot, as its where I met my wife, Rebecca Rosenblum, as well as a number of other friends in the Toronto literary scene. Wednesday's event will happen in the Tiki Room at the Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, and I will share the stage with Kate Sutherland, Ralph Kolewe, and Jessica Westhead. See the Facebook information here.

Event the second
I've mentioned this one before, but just a reminder that I'll be reading at the Planet Earth Poetry reading series with fellow poet Wendy McGrath at Hillside Coffee and Tea, 1633 Hillside Ave in Victoria, BC on Friday, January 19, starting at 7:30 pm. This will be my first time visiting the lovely city of Victoria, and I'm looking forward to getting out there and having a blast at this long-running reading series.

Event the third
Back in Toronto, Rebecca and I will have another joint reading together, this time on Monday, January 22 at the S. Walter Stewart branch of the Toronto Public Library, 170 Memorial Park Avenue, Toronto, starting at 6:30. RR and I are always up for doing a reading together and look forward to sharing our work with readers and talking about what it's like being married to a fellow writer. See the event page on the TPL website for more details.


Monday, December 18, 2017

My review of Kinnoull Hill, by Jamie Tennant

... is now posted at the Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine website. This novel, published last year by Palimpsest Press, is about an unsavoury record executive who finds himself stranded in small-town Scotland and discovers redemption with the help a thousand-year-old goblin. It's loads of fun. As I put it in the review:

The Captain of Kinnoull Hill earns its cred across a number of vectors: it is at once a passionate love letter to the world of popular music a la Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, a perfectly believable foray into the realm of the supernatural, and a riotously executed example of literary humour.

The novel was also recently shortlisted for the Hamilton Literary Awards in the fiction category, for which I was on the jury. It's a great read and definitely worth checking it out.



Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Upcoming reading: The Common Reading Series at the Belljar

Hey hey, Toronto: RR and I have one last reading of 2017 together. This time we'll be sharing a stage with Cornelia Hoogland at the Common Reading Series at the Belljar Bar/Cafe on December 11. Here are the particulars:

Where: The Belljar Bar/Cafe, 2072 Dundas West, Toronto.
When: Monday, December 11, 2017.
What time: 8 pm
Cost: Pay what you can.
See the Facebook event page here.

This will mark my thirteenth event for 2017 (oof!) and it promises to be an evening of great readings and a lot of fun. Please come out if you can!

M.