August 12-22, 2009
This theatre project memorializes the devastating events surrounding the arrival of 38,000 Irish immigrants to Toronto during the potato famine of 1847. Eireann Quay, Aug 12-22.
Event News
Gothic Toronto: Writing the City Macabre
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Come hear some of Toronto’s best authors as they wield their poisoned pens over different areas of our city. Luminato and Diaspora Dialogues have commissioned six celebrated local authors to paint Toronto a ghoulish hue . . . The Music Gallery hosts national best-seller Ann-Marie MacDonald; Michelle Wan, fresh from her latest novel, 2008’s A Twist of Orchids; heralded First Nations author Cherie Dimaline; Caribbean-born and Toronto-raised Nalo Hopkinson; acclaimed award-winning author Andrew Pyper; and emerging writer Tasleem Thawar. A limited-edition collection of the six tales with an introduction by Margaret Atwood is available for purchase exclusively at the reading. Hosted by Liisa Ladouceur. 7:30 p.m, The Music Gallery in St. George the Martyr Church.
Diaspora Dialogues at Union Station
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
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.).