Saturday, May 23 & Sunday, May 24, 2009
We take over Union Station for Doors Open! Join us for two days of readings, performances, and some spontaneous surprises where you least expect them . . . 10:30 am—4:00 pm, Union Station
Event News
Friday Nights with Diaspora Dialogues
Fridays, April 17, 24 and May 1, 2009
Diaspora Dialogues returns with its popular Friday night series of free readings and performances. Sample a captivating cross-section of our city’s writers, performers and artistic forms, including fiction, poetry, spoken word, theatre and music. Featuring Anthony De Sa, Michelle Da Cruz, Leah Jane Esau, Lorna Goodison, Cesar Polvorosa Jr, Nino Ricci, Priscila Uppal, Sherri Vanderveen and many, many more. 7:00 p.m, Palmerston Branch.
Launch of TOK: Writing the New City, Book 4
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Hosted by CBC’s Matt Galloway, the launch will feature fiction writers Antanas Sileika, Gul Joya Jafri, Sandra Tam, and Sabrina Ramnanan; and poets Ken Babstock and Marge Lam. The writers will read selections from the book and discuss the process of capturing their particular takes on the city. Copies of the brand-new book will be available, followed by a very special musical jam performance by LAQR—a group of Toronto musicians curated by LAL’s Rosina Kazi especially for the launch, including Santosh Naidu, Matt Maaskant, Nuno Gervasio, Ian de Souza and Kazi. Doors open at 7:00 p.m, Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen Street West.
Toronto’s 175th Anniversary
Friday, March 6, 2009
Happy birthday, Toronto! Diaspora Dialogues has asked three spoken word poets to reflect on the city’s ongoing transformations from their personal perspectives. Please join us for the unveiling of a brand new cycle of poems by Lillian Allen, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Archer Pechawis commissioned by Diaspora Dialogues and donated to the City as a birthday present. Full reading at City Hall Library (12:00 p.m.); short excerpt at Opening Ceremonies in the City Hall rotunda (5:00 p.m.).
Cross Sections
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Join Diaspora Dialogues and Hart House for the words, images and sounds of some of UofT’s most exciting artists. Selected from a Diaspora Dialogues open call for submissions, emerging writers Annette Gagliano, Fan Li, Catronia Wright and playwright Maureen Gualtieri will present new work they’ve been developing. Also on tap that evening will be Karen Connelly, University College’s Barker Fairley Visiting Fellow in Canadian Culture, and Lee Maracle, writer-in-residence for First Nations House and Visiting Scholar in the Aboriginal Studies and English Department. After the readings, DJ urbansteve takes the stage, so sit back, relax, and enjoy. 7:30 p.m, Arbor Room, Hart House.
Poetry, Prosecco, and Pasta
Thursday, February 5 & 12, 2009
Spend a chilly winter’s night with Diaspora Dialogues during Toronto’s WinterCity Festival. Over a leisurely multicourse meal of warm pasta, bubbly prosecco and Romance language poetry, a diverse selection of Toronto poets will seduce you with readings of their work in English, French and Italian.
Featuring Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, Rishma Dunlop, Jacob Scheier, Desi Di Nardo and Dionne Brand.
7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $35
Grano Restaurant
2035 Yonge Street (at Eglinton)
For more information, contact Diaspora Dialogues at 416-944-1101 x 277.
To reserve tickets, contact Grano at 416-440-1986 or rdm@grano.ca.