NHT! Blog May 2010

Over the course of NOW HEAR THIS!'s 10-week Students, Writers and Teachers (S.W.A.T.) program from February to May of this year, we posted interviews with each of our twelve fantastic writers-in-residence.
 
In these interviews our writers dish on what their favourite books were when they were in high school, how their writing process works, and they give some advice to all you aspiring young writers out there. All twelve of these writers are amazing people who manage to balance helping Toronto teens unlock their literary talents with their own professional writing careers. We should definitely be listening to what they have to tell us.
 
If you missed any of these interviews over the past few months, just click on "read more" to find links to all twelve!

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Do you ever wander around this town, checking out all of Toronto's awesome buildings (old and new), wondering what's inside?

Each year (since 2000) the city of Toronto makes a grand gesture to public curiosity through Doors Open Toronto. 2010's event happens this weekend and it will offer Toronto residents (and visitors) two days of FREE access to tons of otherwise-private city buildings.

This is your chance to get inside 150 of the hidden gems (and/or incredibly conspicuous spaces!) previously left to your imagaination. A very special feature: this year's line-up includes the George Brown House, the beautiful home of the NHT! headquarters. On Sunday, May 30, between 10 am and 5 pm, take a self-guided tour of the former home of an important Father of Confederation (and our current digs).

Find out more below the fold ...

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We've mentioned the super-cool group Toronto Poetry Vendors on the NHT! blog before, but we didn't go into a lot of detail. Since that post in March, TPV have installed the first of their awesome poetry vending machines at our favourite bookstore This Ain't The Rosedale Library (and we're not just mentioning this because This Aint... are friends of NHT! and sponsors of the book give-aways at the HEAR/HEAR Reading Series). And they're currently preparing to launch their third machine tomorrow night!
 
The third TPV vending machine will be located at Toronto coffee shop Ezra's Pound (238 Dupont St.) and if you head over there around 7:00 pm tomorrow (Wednesday, May 26th) you'll be able to see some fabulous contributors dropping in a toonie and reading their work. Readers at the event include 2009 S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence Jenny Sampirisi and Paul Vermeersch, 2010 S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence (and upcoming HEAR/HEAR reader) Elisabeth de Mariaffi as well as other amazing Toronto poets Kevin Connolly, Andrew Faulkner, Jacob McArthur Mooney, Stuart Ross, Meaghan Strimas and Carey Toane.
 
Toronto Poetry Vendors is the brainchild of poets Elisabeth de Mariaffi and Carey Toane. The machines are refurbished gum vending machines that now hold broadsides that are individually packaged in bright colours. If you slip your toonie in you'll get a piece of poetry written by one of TPV's ten fantastic contributors — and you never know whose work will come out of the machine; you may just discover work by a poet you didn't know before!
 
For more information about Toronto Poetry Vendors and the locations of  all three of their poetry vending machines, keep reading after the jump!

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The fabulous Rebecca Rosenblum (a 2010 S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence with NOW HEAR THIS!) has just had a brand new chapbook published with Frog Hollow Press and we couldn't be more excited! The book is called Road Trips, and Rebecca describes it this way on her blog:

"the two stories in this book are called 'From an Eastern University' and 'The Least of Love.' Both are road trip stories (natch), concerning people who know each other well (roommates in one, a couple in the other) trapped in a car together—really, that scenario is bound to be a story one way or another."

Keep reading for more information about Road Trips!

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 NOW HEAR THIS! is excited to announce the second installment of its HEAR/HEAR Reading Series for 2010! 
  
Every two months for the remainder of the year, we'll gather at  The Free Times Cafe to celebrate new writing by the NHT!  Writers-in-Residence. Join us on June 9th and show your support for three local authors that brought their talents and enthusiasm to classrooms across the Toronto Catholic District School Board for ten weeks this spring.
 
Find out more below the fold ...

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Ever wanted to express your undying love for The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood? Or maybe Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business? Or perhaps you’re more partial to the experimental side of Canlit, favouring works by Anne Carson, Dionne Brand and the like. Whatever your taste, Stephen Patrick Clare and Trevor J. Adams want to know about your favourite Canadian books of all time—ten of them, that is.
 
Find out more below the fold…

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Our most hearty and heart-felt congratulations are going out today to Michael DeForge who (it was announced this weekend) has won the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent!
 
The Doug Wright Awards are a non-profit organization formed in 2004 to honour the lasting legacy of the late, great Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright (1917-1983), whose strip Doug Wright's Family ran in newspapers in Canada and around the world from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. Founded in 2004, the annual awards recognize the best and brightest in English-language comics and graphic novels published in the previous calendar year. The awards were given out on Saturday night as part of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
 
Michael DeForge has worked with NOW HEAR THIS! to design our awesome t-shirts, our new logo and a series of posters for our HEAR/HEAR Reading Series. The judges definitely got it right with this choice! If you'd like to buy a limited-edition t-shirt designed by award-winner Michael DeForge, you can head over to our online store.
 
And if you'd like to see some more of Michael DeForge's work, check out his website or follow the jump...
 

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We're sad to say that this week marks the end of the winter 2010 edition of NOW HEAR THIS!'s superfantastic Students, Writers and Teachers program. We've had twelve amazing Writers-in-Residence working their brains out at twelve different TCDSB schools across Toronto to help high school students tap into their creative sides.
 
But we can't get too choked up about the end of S.W.A.T. because we're already looking ahead to the publication of The Capybara, our third anthology that will contain all the best student writing from 2010's talented crop of S.W.A.T. students! If YOU are a student participating in S.W.A.T. 2010, remember: you have ONE MORE WEEK to submit your work to be considered for publication. So keep writing 'till the last minute, ladies and gents, and if you can't remember how to submit your best stuff, we've got some instructions for you after the jump...

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Here at NOW HEAR THIS!, we consider it our sworn duty to spread the word about notable literary events taking place in Toronto, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t say something about one of the most unique lit events of the year: the 2010 Toronto Comic Arts Festival starts tomorrow—that’s right, tomorrow—at the Toronto Reference Library.

More about this amazing event after the jump…

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Over the course of the winter 2010 edition of S.W.A.T., we're posting brief interviews with each of our participating Writers-in-Residence. We want to give all of you a chance to get to know the amazing people who work so hard to make the S.W.A.T. program a success!
 
Today we present the last (but not least) of our twelve writer interviews — with the nifty Natalie Zina Walschots!
 
Natalie's first book of poetry, Thumbscrews, was published by Snare Books in 2007. Her newest manuscript, Supervillains, is nearly complete. Her work has recently appeared in Rampike, A4, Open Letter, Misunderstandings Magazine, Last Supper, ditch and dANDelion. She has served as the Managing Editor of both filling Station and dANDelion magazines. She also co-curated the Flywheel reading series from 2005 to 2008. Natalie completed her MA in English/Creative Writing at the University of Calgary. She currently serves as a board member for Toronto's Draft reading series. She is also a part of the collective behind Small Print, a workshop and reading series for young writers. Her current base of operations is located in Toronto. She lives in a menagerie with several humans, three cats, and a dog. Natalie Zina Walschots is the S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence for St. Mary's.
 
And... you can get to know Natalie Zina Walschots in person this Friday in Ottawa where she'll be reading at the A B Series. Make sure you go check it out if you're in the capital city this week!
 
Our Q & A with Natalie Zina Walschots… after the jump!

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