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HEAR/HEAR 14!

Posted by Whitney French on Oct 4th 2011

October 12th is the night of our fourteenth HEAR/HEAR Reading Series and you are all invited. Featured at the Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave), HEAR/HEAR 14 is proud to showcase work from our talented S.W.A.T. writers: Roseanne Carrara, Colin Frizzell and Elisabeth de Mariaffi. We'll be giving away wonderful books and an exclusive NHT! t-shirt in our HEAR/HEAR raffle plus we'll be selling our student anthologies: The Armadillo, The Barracuda and The Capybara that evening too! If you popped by to see NOW HEAR THIS! at Word on the Street or read about it on our blog, you may have noticed our spectacular poetry board. If you missed on the fun, come on over to HEAR/HEAR 14 and try your hand at some spontaneous poetry writing!

Grab a sweater, grab a friend and come out to HEAR/HEAR 14! Enjoy performances from talented Toronto writers and make some friends along the way.

So the deets:

HEAR/HEAR 14
October 12 at 6:30 pm
at The Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave.)

Be sure to check out photos from HEAR/HEAR 13, the reading series devoted to our WRITE ON! program, here. For more information about HEAR/HEAR 14 and our reading series in general, click here. RSVP on Facebook, here!

See you there!

Word on the Street 2011 Recap!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Sep 26th 2011

Yesterday (September 25) was the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto (and Vancouver, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Kitchener and Halifax) and NOW HEAR THIS! was happy to spend it in the warm sunshine at Queen's Park sharing our love of creative writing with the rest of the city! If you weren't able to make it out to our booth, never fear — we've got all your highlights here!

After last year's experiment in collaborative writing with typewriters, we decided to try a new project this year: a velcro poetry board! Visitors of all ages enjoyed adding to and reshaping poems on the board over the course of the day, and we've got pictures of some of our favourite creations after the jump. We were also giving out free copies of The Armadillo and The Barracuda, our past anthologies as well as selling copies of The Capybara for only $5 each! Anyone coming by our table could also pick up free buttons and stickers and enter our raffle (raffle winners are announced after the jump, too).

We had a fantastic time meeting new friends and talking about our programming with them. We had visits from S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence Ibi Kaslik, Emma Roberts, Devon Code, Roseanne Carrara and Nic Labriola who were able to talk about their experiences with NHT! programs. All-in-all, it was a pretty awesome day!

Make sure you follow the jump to see some pictures of the event, or you can head over to our latest photo album on Facebook!

Word on the Street Toronto is this Sunday!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Sep 21st 2011

We are now only four days away from Word on the Street 2011 in Toronto and we're getting pretty excited! Word on the Street will be taking place on Sunday, September 25th from 11 am to 6 pm. NOW HEAR THIS! will be at booth LL2 all day, so make sure you stop by and say hello to Rachel, Whitney and Nicole from the NHT! office! If you do, you may be able to rub shoulders with some of our S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence who'll be stopping by throughout the day. The schedule of writer visits to our booth is...

12:00-12:30 — Ibi Kaslik, author of The Angel Riots and Skinny

1:00-1:30 — Emma Cale Roberts, author of many short stories, film/television scripts and plays

2:30-3:00 — Devon Code, author of In A Mist and winner of the 2010 Journey Prize winner for his story "Uncle Oscar"

3:30-4:00 — Roseanne Carrara, author of the poetry collection A Newer Wilderness

4:30-5:00 — Nic Labriola, author of the poetry collection Naming the Mannequins

Not only will these amazing authors be around to answer questions, meet their adoring public and supervise some poetry construction, but they'll also be donating some of their books for a free raffle! So make sure you come by to enter your name to win a copy of one of their books!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! NHT! is also going to be handing out FREE copies of our first two student-written anthologies The Armadillo and The Barracuda! We'll also be selling limited edition t-shirts and copies of our most recent anthology The Capybara for $5 each. What a steal!

And, following last year's fun typing creations on typewriters, we've come up with another fun, creative activity for anyone stopping by our booth to participate in! If you're curious, we've got a sneak peek of what we've been working on after the jump! So remember, booth LL2 on Literacy Lane anytime on Sunday. See you then!

WRITE ON! at Parkdale!

Posted by Whitney French on Jul 5th 2011

WRITE ON! Workshops has worked closely with the Parkdale Activity Recreational Centre on two amazing poetry workshops. The first workshop took place in April and was facilitated by Desi Di Nardo. Desi lead the group into a discussion about ranting: to speak or write in an angry or fierce manner. Together, the group brainstormed issues that made them angry and with Desi's guidance they wrote a 'rant' and had the opportunity to read his or her piece aloud.

The second poetry workshop was facilitated by Elisabeth de Mariaffi in June. Elisabeth explored the idea of writing about place, and the theme "Where we're from" was the focus of the workshop. By pinpointing specific details about a neighbour or hometown, participants wrote a group poem about Parkdale and then an individual poem about where they come from, both geographically and culturally.

WRITE ON! offers creative writing workshops to various organizations, schools and community centres through out Toronto. Many of the workshops are easily customized to fit within the needs of the specific organization. This year NOW HEAR THIS! is offering 5 exciting workshops:

   •   Graphic Novel: Beyond the Comic
   •   Life Writing: Myth, Memoir and Autobiography
   •   The Media is the Message: Understanding Media Texts
   •   The Song is the Poem: Writing with(out) Sound
   •   Grief and Loss: Writing Creatively about Bereavement

If you are interested in having a WRITE ON! Workshop in your school or organization, feel free to contact Whitney French at whitney[at]nowhearthis.ca for more details.

WRITE ON! at Bereaved Families Ontario

Posted by Whitney French on Jun 30th 2011

In the beginning of June, WRITE ON! Workshops hosted a creative writing workshop at Bereaved Families Ontario: Toronto. Facilitator Jacob Scheier lead the group in discussions of their personal experience about the loss of a loved one. Members explored various types of grief that spans across personalities, situations and cultures and began applying these discussions to writing.

Jacob Scheier challenged individuals to write through their grief, not only as a therapeutic tool but as a way of understanding how other authors depict loss. By exploring various writing techniques, the group considered how different genres and methods alter one's interpretation of bereavement.

WRITE ON! offers youth-oriented creative writing workshops to various organizations, schools and community centres through out Toronto. Many of the workshops are easily customized to fit within the needs of the specific organization. This year NOW HEAR THIS! is offering 5 exciting workshops:

   •   Graphic Novel: Beyond the Comic
   •   Life Writing: Myth, Memoir and Autobiography
   •   The Media is the Message: Understanding Media Texts
   •   The Song is the Poem: Writing with(out) Sound
   •   Grief and Loss: Writing Creatively about Bereavement

If you are interested in having a WRITE ON! Workshop in your school or organization, feel free to contact Whitney French at whitney[at]nowhearthis.ca for more details.

Check out the Charming Capybara Launch!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Mar 28th 2011

What a book! Last week NOW HEAR THIS! celebrated the launch of our third anthology of writing by student participants in the S.W.A.T. Program: The Capybara!

At left you can see NHT! Staffers Rachel Hopwood, S.W.A.T. Program Coordinator, Whitney French, Special Projects Coordinator, and former Program Manager Mark Laliberte (who also did layout and design on The Capybara)!

The launch was held on Wednesday, March 23rd at the Gardiner Museum from 6-8pm.

The event was a huge success, despite old man winter’s final attempt to snow us under and discourage anyone from venturing outside. Over 100 people traipsed through the blizzard from all over Toronto to be in attendance. In fact, it was standing room only! Program Coordinator Rachel Hopwood MC’d the evening’s program, which included short speeches by Teresa Paoli of the Toronto Catholic District School Board and Karen Mulhallen, editor-in-chief of Descant and president of the Descant Arts & Letters Foundation. Two writers-in-residence, Natalie Zina Walschots and Devon Code spoke about their experiences with the program and read from some of their work. And, most importantly, seven S.W.A.T. students read their newly-published work for a rapt audience! Many thanks were voiced, including a huge ‘thank you’ to the Ontario Trillium Foundation who provide the funding that makes the initiative possible. Gourmet fries and crudités by Jamie Kennedy Kitchens were enjoyed by all.

We thank everyone for coming out to support the program and the students, and for enjoying the evening with us! Follow the jump to see some more photos from the event!

Sneak Peek of The Capybara

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Mar 21st 2011

It's a book! The Capybara will be officially launched this Wednesday, March 23rd at the Gardiner Museum. But if you can't wait until then, we're giving you the first sneak peek at the pages here on the blog!

The Capybara features writing by 65 high school students who participated in our S.W.A.T. program in the 2009-10 school year. This collection of writing contains plenty of emotion, power, intelligence and laughter in its poetry and prose selections. The words within its pages are authentic to the modern youth perspective and stand up to those issues affecting teens in this city every day. The anthology also contains 10 stunning illustrations by local artist Michael DeForge.

We are proud to be presenting the work of these talented young writers to the world this week and we welcome you to join us in celebrating their acheivements at our launch party. The event is free and guests of all ages are welcome. You can find out all the necessary information here or on our Facebook event.

Keep going past the jump to see a few pages from the interior of The Capybara!

Thanks to all who made it to the NHT!/Descant Holiday Party!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Dec 9th 2010

Last night was the second annual NOW HEAR THIS! & Descant Holiday Party Extravaganza!

Writers, staff and friends of NHT! let loose for a night of delicious food, drink and some amazing musical performances at HEAR/HEAR's home, The Free Times Cafe. Special Projects Coordinator Whitney French hosted the night and was in charge of our regular book raffle, which also included one of our ultra-fabulous NHT! t-shirts! Along with four happy raffle winners, everyone enjoyed a giveaway of Descant issue 136.

We'll have a podcast and more pictures available soon on the HEAR/HEAR website, but for now check out a select few after the jump!

Holiday HEAR/HEAR: Wed Dec 8!

Posted by Whitney French on Dec 6th 2010

The NOW HEAR THIS! Holiday Party took place Wednesday December 8. Our NHT! team threw a festive shindig at the Free Times Cafe serving up some tasty treats and delicious drinks plus giving-up books for raffle. Presents all around!

And unlike previous HEAR/HEAR events this year, we showcased musical talents instead of literary ones. Special guest musicians included Toronto’s own Stone Broke Buskers and the ever-soulful Whitney Messam.

The second annual NHT! Holiday Party was sure to be a blast. And in the spirit of holiday festivities, we’ve launched photos and a podcast from last year’s holiday party. Last year, NOW HEAR THIS! friend Jack Breakfast and S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence in 2007 and 2008, and current WRITE ON! Writer, Joseph Maviglia performed for our event.

Click here to for the holiday flashback and be sure to check out hear-hear.ca for photos and podcast of the year’s HEAR/HEAR Readings!

Word on the Street Highlights!

Posted by Rachel Hopwood on Sep 29th 2010

If you missed coming over to the NHT! table at Sunday's Word on the Street festival in Toronto, fear not! We're going to fill you in on all the details!

We had beautiful weather all day with only a little bit of cloud cover late in the afternoon. It was a bit cool out, but really perfect for walking around and taking in all the amazing exhibits, readings, talks and sales taking place along Queen's Park.

The NHT! table featured free buttons, stickers and candy as well as t-shirts and copies of The Armadillo and The Barracuda for sale. We also had a raffle for copies of books by our amazing S.W.A.T. writers, visits from some of the authors, and typewriters on which you could add a line or two to an ongoing story (on one machine) or poem (on the other).

Keep reading for the winners of the raffle and to see more photos of our table at the event!

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