Friends of NHT!

Congratulations to Zoe Whittall!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Aug 31st 2010

Now that fall is sneaking towards us (hard to believe in today's 33° heat, but still...) it's time to start thinking about all those literary awards out there. One of our favourites is the ReLit Awards (short for Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, Relighting Literature) which are awarded to the best novel, book of poetry and book of short fiction published by Canadian independent literary publishers.

Well, the ReLit Awards 2010 shortlist was announced today and it includes former S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence (2007 & 2008) Zoe Whittall for her novel Holding Still For As Long As Possible! Our heartfelt congratulations are going out to Zoe today!

Congratulations also to Moez Surani, S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence in 2007 who was on the ReLit longlist for his book of poetry, Reticent Bodies.

Keep reading for the full 2010 ReLit Awards shortlist...

Book sale alert!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Aug 12th 2010

Attention all book lovers! It has been brought to our attention that friend of NHT! and all-around amazing organization Literature for Life will be hosting a book sale this weekend — Sunday, August 15 to be exact. There will be over 1000 titles available crossing all genres (plenty of children's books and some YA as well) and ALL of these books will cost only $1.00 each! Not only will there be great books at great prices, but you'll get a lovely warm fuzzy feeling in your heart knowing you're helping out an important and inspiring organization.

Literature for Life runs programs that assist young mothers at-risk in developing literacy, social and leadership skills in a suportive environment through reading and writing. These skills are crucial in building better lives, families and communities for their participants. We've worked with Literature for Life in the past and think they're pretty amazing.

So make sure you drop by and pick up a few books for a few bucks. See you there!

For all the nitty-gritty details, keep reading...

Looking for some summer reading ideas?

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jul 20th 2010

If you're looking for some great new books to fill up your summer you HAVE to check out the Toronto Public Library's Word Out 2010 Teen Summer Reading Project! Every week throughout the summer, Word Out is picking three books — one fiction, one non-fiction and one graphic novel to recommend to youth readers.

To find out more about this awesome program and learn about ways you can win prizes, keep reading!

The Scream Literary Festival celebrates youth writers this Sunday!

Posted by Hilary Fair on Jul 7th 2010

Hear this, friends: the Scream Literary Festival is officially on!

2010's instalment of the highly anticipated annual festival kicked off last night with an evening of poetry by avant-garde writers Steve McCaffery and David Antin. These guys set the stage for all the literary adventures to come: this year's Scream Festival, subtitled Literature's Agents Provocateurs, promises to stimulate Toronto's word enthusiasts with a week-long celebration of the rascals (and radicals) of the literary world.

Missed McCaffery and Antin? Not to worry: from now until next Monday, July 12, the Scream will host a packed series of evening and weekend events throughout the city.

The best part? Everyone's invited — writing by city youth will be featured in a special event on Sunday, July 11, beginning at 4pm.

For more information on YOUTHTUBE: USER (RE)GENERATED CONTENT, see below the fold!

Calling all young writers!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jun 4th 2010

Are you a writer between 15 and 24 who loves to read or perform your work?! If so, you HAVE to check out The Scream Literary Festival - an annual chance to hear readings by amazing writers and participate in the literary scene in Toronto!

The Scream's theme this summer is Agents Provocateurs - so get ready to stir things up!

The Scream runs from July 6-12 this year and on the evening of July 11 there is a special youth-specific event, and you can submit your work now! The organizers are putting together a video presentation of young writers reading their own original work, so you can either record your own video and send it in, or they'll come to you with professional video equipment.

This is a pretty amazing opportunity - so keep reading after the jump for all the details about how to submit. Use your voices this summer!

A call-out to the curious: the home of NHT! opens its doors

Posted by Hilary Fair on May 28th 2010

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 ...

Poetry for sale!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on May 25th 2010

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!

Congratulations to Michael DeForge!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on May 10th 2010

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...

TCAF 2010 Comes to Town!

Posted by Becky Russell on May 7th 2010

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…

Thanks for all the Support at The Barracuda Launch

Posted by Jennifer de Visser on Apr 3rd 2010

We just wanted to take a quick minute and thank all of the wonderful people who came out to The Barracuda Launch this Wednesday, March 31st. It was a packed house as students, writers, teachers, administration, family and community members came together to celebrate the success of the S.W.A.T. students from 2009.

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