Diaspora Dialogues

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Chipping Off Chilled Rhymes

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Roaming Poets: E-reader Journal Seeks Submission

The formalist poetry review The Rotary Dial is accepting submissions for October and beyond. With an allowance of submitting 10 poems per year, they look for works that rhyme but does not contain too many verse. Some styles they accept are blank verse and syllabic verse. They do not accept free verse poetry. Being a mix of Canadian and international poetry, The Rotary Dial contains works that vary in content and emotion. If you’re not enticed already, they publish every month to Kindle with their choice of twelve poems.

Deadline: Open
Guidelines: Click here
Read some of their exquisite works (and they are exquisite) here

Author’s Spotlight: Eva Stachniak—Evergreen Author

Eva Stachniak will be reading from and discussing her book The Winter Palace, which is also on the shortlist for the Ontario Library Association’s Book of the Year. Placing her readers in St. Petersburg, Russia, Stachniak transforms The Winter Palace, the home of the Russian monarchs, into a living and breathing setting. It’s always a pleasure to listen to these established authors share their own insights in their works.

When: August 27; from 7:00 pm—8:00 pm
Where: Runnymede TPL branch: Program Room; 2718 Bloor Street West

Dripping with Paints and Puns

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Succulent Submissions: Horror Stories About Art School

Art breeds art. It’s only natural. So don’t be too surprised to hear that a new magazine, Art School Horror Stories is seeking submissions for their first volume. And, well, they’re looking for stories based on art school and art class. Fact or fiction, comedic or horrific; bring together any and all experiences you have. Reminisce about the adventure of staying up all night to finish painting an abstraction atop a clay tortoise shell. Narrate the embarrassment of doing your first ink-printing, and having no idea what your design is supposed to be. Write it from the viewpoint of the ink!

Deadline: October 31, 2013
Submission fee: $10 (US)
For more information: Click here.

Author’s Spotlight: The Importance of Being a Jester in the 21st Century

As the effervescence of these bright summer days cascade towards the end of July, it is only natural to desire the maintenance of the happy tune. Author Harrison Wheeler reads from his new book, Jesters Incognito, a fast-paced novel reflecting on a similarly speedy nation. As Wheeler discusses the imperative presence of creativity and mental health for teens and young adults, we see the need of a comedic tone in the modern stream of life—fictional or not.

When: August 15; from 6:00 pm—7:30 pm
Where: Kennedy/Eglinton TPL branch; Liberty Square Plaza, 2380 Eglinton Avenue East

Igniting Used Matches

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Digesting the Web: Lesson Learned

Look through all your old diaries, journals, photo albums, text messages, and letters. The Hilt online magazine is looking for non-fiction poetry, short stories, and essays for their upcoming issue. Sometimes taking a break and strolling into your own memoirs is just what you need to get the summer days lighting your words. All submissions are to be between 500 and 1500 words. If you are more the artistic type, then they are also accepting submitted artwork, so long as you include a statement regarding your piece between 750 and 1000 words. So time to sit back or lie down, close your eyes and think back to some of your happiest, saddest, most passionate and most contemplative memories.

Deadline: August 16, 2013
For more information: Click here

Snow and Rain and Sun and Leaves: Seasonal Writing

As the season hits its impending change, the wind also brings with it the opportunity to submit to the Tendril Literary Magazine. They ask for poems, short fiction, prose poetry, and “anything in between” to include in their Fall issue. With a preference for the unusual, don’t expect the words to fall with pounding raindrops. Try to look at any pieces you’ve written so far, and take everything—your form, your diction, your thematic focus—and spin them round and round until they’re ready to spew out your most awkward and beautiful thoughts.

Deadline: September 1, 2013
For more information: Click here

From Script to Stage: Play Reading

Paraphrasing the energetic James Brown, “Get up offa that thing andact till you feel better”. The library is hosting play readings from 7:00 p.m.—8:30 p.m. every Tuesday at Yorkville Art Gallery. Everyone that attends takes part and reads along, so everyone has a chance to participate in reading the selected play.

Where: Yorkville Art Gallery; 22 Yorkville Avenue
Upcoming dates: July 23, July 30, August 6, August 13, August 20, August 27
For more information: Call 416-393-7660

Cooling Down a Heated Start

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“WARNING! HEAT ALERT!” With the cool days seemingly coming to an end, everyone will have to find ways to cool down. Some believe that training the mind can help cool down the body, so let’s train our mind with plenty of writing exercises, contests, and presentations by authors and other professional writers.

Summer Syntax: Use Your Words: Summer Workshops for Emerging Writers

Starting off the summer lineup is Dalton Higgins, author, award-winning journalist, and one of Canada’s foremost experts on hip-hop and digital culture. These workshops are here to help all you writers enhance your creative expression. Regardless of your typical genre, this Summer Syntax series is here to help you cool off from the current heat-wave alerts. This workshop is for ages 16-30, and is for anyone seeking to release yourself into your words.

When: July 13, 2013; 2:00 pm—4:30 pm
Where: Toronto Reference Library TPL branch: Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium; 789 Yonge Street
Registration: Call (416)-397-5970 or contact Ken Sparling atksparling@torontopubliclibrary.ca

Paid to Print: Winston Collins/Descant Prize

Descant magazine—a quarterly literary journal devoted to poetry, prose, essays, memoirs and art—is offering a prize of $1000 and honorarium, for the Best Canadian Poem. The prize is in memory of writer and teacher of literature, Winston Collins. The poem is to be at most 100 lines with an entry fee of $30 (includes tax & one-year subscription). Use the money to buy some new pens for your summer-scribbling, or a really nice air conditioner. For more information about the contest, please follow the link listed below.

Contest deadline: October 12, 2013
Entry fee: $30 (includes tax and subscription)
For more information: Click here

Shorter than the Average Word-Guru

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Canada’s Got Talent: 2014 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest

Ready to put your writing alongside that of Canada’s greats? Quattro Books is accepting submissions from Canadian writers new and old, between 20,000 and 40,000 words. These “post-national literature” seekers are ONLY looking for literary fiction, no genre fiction (i.e. sci-fi, romance, etc.). So prop your pens and get writing, because you will have to make your writing stand out amongst all of Canada. They are looking for writing that exemplifies the diversified culture in Canada. Just as the beaten down advice says, throw a special piece of yourself in each piece of writing.

Deadline: August 1, 2013
Entry fee: $15
For more info: Click here
For more information about Quattro: Click here

Paid to Print: Alice Munro Writers & Readers Festival

Alice Munro is a prestige Canadian author and winner of Man Booker International Prize. Seeking to give writers the means to develop their writing, the Alice Munro Festival of Writing is accepting short fiction submissions for their upcoming event. With a limit of 5,000 words and a first prize of $500, you do the math. Spur your words for your own creative desires and be rewarded $10 a word! But don’t just send in your own works, the festival will be running later on in the year and will be hosting workshops and readings of many spectacular authors.

Event date: September 27-29, 2013
Contest deadline: August 1st
Specifications: Teen (age 13-19) and Adult, both with $500 first prize
Entry fee: $25 (adult) and $10 (teen)
For more information: Click here

Spotlighting Moneybags

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Author’s Spotlight: Damian Barr’s Maggie & Me

We return to the Author’s Spotlight series with Damian Barr’s Maggie & Me, an inspirational memoir of Barr’s time growing up in Thatcher’s Britain. Maggie Thatcher survived the 1984 IRA bombing in Brighton. Barr uses Thatcher as a model to endure the hardship of “growing up gay in a straight world.” Other of his works have appeared in the Times, the Guardian, the Independent, and hopefully, this latest cover will appeal to you and appear in your hands.

When: June 11, 2013; from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm
Where: Lillian H. Smith TPL branch; 239 College Street

Contests to Cross: Vallum Contemporary Poetry

Montreal magazine Vallum: new international poetics is looking for submissions to their 2013 Poetry Award. They invite new and unpublished poetry, on any topic, and will accept up to 3 poems per person. With a $20 entrance fee paid either via cheque or paypal, they are offering two cash prices for 1st and 2nd place, each of these two selections will be published online and in print. Honourable mentions will also be published.

Deadline: July15, 2013 (postmarked)
Prizes: 1st Place—$750, 2nd Place—$500, plus honourable mentions
For more info: Click here

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