Get Out of the House!

Toronto Poetry Slam event!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jul 28th 2010

Looking for some praiseworthy poetry performances in Toronto next week? Look no further than the SPEAKout Poetry Summer Slam — being held at the Royal Ontario Museum on Friday, August 6th!

This event is a poetry slam — a competition for poets to perform their work for an audience. After all poets have performed, a winner will be declared. This slam has no pre-selected theme but will definitely feature some powerful readings by poets including Boonaa Mohammed and The Narcicyst.

SPEAKout aims to create art that entertains "with a purpose." They also "support local artists and encourage real talent by providing a platform from which they can gain access to a wider audience; fostering & cultivating the poetic tradition in Canada by providing exposure as well as financial support."

Keep reading to learn more about the Summer Slam and how you can attend!

HEAR/HEAR Reading TONIGHT at Free Times Cafe

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jun 9th 2010

Faithful blog readers, don't forget to show your lovely faces at tonight's HEAR/HEAR Reading Series event! Doors open at 6:30 at the Free Times Cafe (320 College St.) and readings begin at 7.

Our fantastic readers for the night are Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Angela Szczepaniak and Natalie Zina Walschots! Don't miss their beautiful words!

Tonight's reading is a free-to-attend, all-ages event, so come on out and join us. See you there!

For more info about the event, click on read more!

The Luminato Festival presents a teen writing workshop!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jun 7th 2010

Here's one more reason to look forward to the fantastic Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity. Luminato will be hosting all kinds of cultural events around Toronto from June 11-20 this year. If you head over to Luminato's website, you can explore all the events ranging from opera productions, dance performances, film screenings and (our favourites) literary events.

One of these literary events is a Teen Writing Workshop being held at the Toronto Reference Library on Thursday June 17 from 5:30-7 pm. Writer Michael Winter will co-facilitate the evening with Chris Reed, the artistic director of the Small Print reading series. The description of the workshop describes the purpose as to "help teen writers explore personal connections to their neighbourhoods through their unique voices." We think this sounds pretty awesome (and it's free), so we're recommending you check it out!

Space is limited, so make sure you register - find out how after the jump!

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!

Don't miss The Barracuda Launch - this week!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Mar 29th 2010

This Wednesday night you have a chance to see a battery of barracudas at The Gardiner Museum in Toronto — well beyond their natural habitat.

In fact, NOW HEAR THIS! is launching hundreds of copies of The Barracuda (our second anthology of writing produced by student participants in the S.W.A.T. program) into the wild to be enjoyed by all you voracious readers roaming our great city. So why don't you join us and see what a Barracuda looks like up close?

What: NOW HEAR THIS! launches The Barracuda: an anthology of student writing.
Where: The Gardiner Museum, 3rd floor / 111 Queen's Park / Subway Station: Museum
Who: There will be readings by student contributors Erick Thibeault Orsi, Michael Rodriguez, Ofelia Scarcelli and Carleen Veloso as well as 2009 writers-in-residence Desi Di Nardo and Colin Frizzell!

Not to mention fantastic food, discounted books, a beautiful view of Toronto and great friends of NHT!. All this and it's a FREE EVENT! So come on out to celebrate with us and bring your friends and family — it's going to be a great night!

It's not to late to RSVP by emailing Rachel or checking out the Facebook event.

We'll see you there... right?

If you need more information before you make your decision, keep reading after the jump!

Bits & Bobs

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Mar 22nd 2010

As you probably already know, NOW HEAR THIS!'s S.W.A.T. writers-in-residence are pretty awesome. But not only do they teach Toronto teens writing tips, they're also über-talented writers and readers who do great things all over the city!

Our first example of this amazing literary domination is Natalie Zina Walschots - she's going to be a featured reader at the Pivot at the Press Club reading series this week! So check out this event on Wednesday, March 24th at 8 p.m. at the Press Club (850 Dundas St. W). Natalie's going to be reading with Greg Gerke and Ken Sparling, but I think we all know who the real star of the night is going to be...

You can learn more about the event at the Pivot website or on Facebook.

... but wait, there's more exciting news items about NOW HEAR THIS!'s fabulous line-up of writers (specifically Rebecca Rosenblum, Elisabeth de Mariaffi and Aaron Tucker) after the jump!

Get your dancing shoes on!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Jan 15th 2010

You've probably read somewhere on this site that NOW HEAR THIS! is the literacy outreach arm of the Descant Arts & Letters Foundation — but what the heck is that? Well, they create an amazing quarterly magazine called Descant, which publishes new Canadian poetry, prose and art. The most recent issue is Descant 147: Dance and it's being launched in Toronto on Thursday, January 28th — and you're invited!

This issue contains fantastic poetry, fiction, essays, interviews and photographs all relating to the overall theme of dance and the launch event is not going to be any different! Along with readings by authors Vickie Fagan, Johanna Householder and Andrew Smith, there will be performances by former dancers (and current DESCANT co-editors) Nadia Szilvassy, Alex Maeve Campbell and Mary Newberry, as well as Tom Brouillette. As if that weren't enough, there will also be special screenings of films by Danny Grossman and Vickie Fagan playing throughout the evening.

This beautiful and aesthetically stimulating event is Descant's first of 2010 — so come out and show your support of great literature and the power of dance!

Keep reading to find out the details of the Descant 147 launch...

Kicking Off Youth Week!!

Posted by Katie Franklin on May 1st 2009

While May 1st tends to bring out May Day sensibilities, a different type of bacchanalia is kicking off today.

Have You Heard? Hear/Hear Reading Series Launch a Success!

Posted by Katie Franklin on Apr 24th 2009

On Tuesday April 21st, literary lads and lasses descended upon The Smiling Buddha Bar on College St to take part in a truly spectacular evening. The first Hear/Hear Reading Series not only showcased the amazing talents of three of our writers-in-residence: Devon Code, Desi Di Nardo and Julia Tausch, but also created a great opportunity for the community to get together to enjoy new work by exciting Canadian writers. We thank everyone who made it out and especially to our writers - the evening was

Monthly NHT! Blog archives

Tags