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Culture Hawker Chronicles: Patrick Grant and Kops Records
In this series, Trevor Abes gets to know the people behind the counter at Toronto’s music stores, book shops, and art galleries. Patrick Grant has his hustles. He’s been the general manager at Kops Records going on four years and he sings lead in Patrick Grant and the FleshVignettes, an indie rock sextet with soul and funk influences. He…
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Beginning With a Diminished Thing: Marilynne Robinson’s When I Was a Child I Read Books
Reviewed in this essay: Marilynne Robinson’s When I Was a Child I Read Books (2012). Part social and cultural critique, theological dialogue, and literary exegesis, When I Was a Child I Read Books is comprised of ten short essays Marilynne Robinson refashioned from lecture tours and lessons over the past decade. Long-time readers of her work…
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Be kind to your librarian, send a telegram, and sue Lady Gaga: Bookishness for June 24, 2013
How not to be a dick to a librarian “Don’t tell us you can ‘just Google it’ or find everything you need to know on the Interwebs. We hate that.” Still alive STOP The telegram industry is – well, maybe not booming, but certainly still kicking. (Image via.) Not born that way? French artist Orlan sues Lady…
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Khaled Hosseini in Toronto: Author discusses Afghanistan, inspiration, and Afghan-American guilt
And the Mountains Echoed needed no introduction to the audience at Indigo’s Bay and Bloor location. Copies of the book were flying off the shelves only minutes before the author, Khaled Hosseini, arrived for a Q&A with the bookstore chain’s CEO, Heather Reisman. The Afghan-American physician-turned-writer was articulate and had a strong stage presence. He…
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Literary Celebrity, Question of Art, and Canoe Nation: New Books of Note
Much-anticipated, curious, or simply thrilling, here are some new and notable books out this month. Margaret Atwood and the Labour of Literary Celebrity (University of Toronto Press) by Lorraine York — York’s in-depth study examines the process by which a “literary celebrity” is created, specifically considering renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood and her team of…
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Fringe, Florence, and the Female Eye: T.O. Events for June 20-July 4, 2013
Book Self-Publishing: Production, Marketing, and Distribution is a crash course for writers looking to bypass the traditional trade publishing route. Learn about design, E-books, ISBN registration, and the legal avenues available to protect written works. 6:30-8:15 PM. June 24. Brentwood Library. Free. The 2013 Fringe Festival is a theatrical spectacular that stages 148 performances ranging from…
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CanLit Canon Review #14: Donald Creighton’s John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician
In an attempt to make himself a better Canadian, Craig MacBride is reading and reviewing books that shed fascinating light on Canada’s history. Of all the books I’ve read as part of this project, John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician has most improved me as a Canadian. Published in 1952, this book explores Canada’s beginnings…
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Atwood’s BookTweetables No. 1
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Hipsterizing the Louvre, drawing Mansbridge, and ruling over Legoland: Bookishness for June 17, 2013
This could mean many things. New research out of U of T shows that reading literary fiction makes us more comfortable with ambiguity. Hipsters take over the Louvre Leo Caillard reimagines classic statues as contemporary hipsters. Meet Toronto’s Legolord Legoland is his kingdom. Restaurants where you’d be better off without a date …the better to focus…
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Story Planet: A Bloor Street haven for young writers
In Bloordale Village you might come across a shop that seems to be an ordinary coffee shop, but which is actually a lounge for space travellers called the Intergalactic Travel Authority. Here you can order a black hole coffee or a Venus cappuccino. What goes on behind the spaceship portal is supernatural; it’s Story Planet’s…
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Portrait of a Record Store: She Said Boom! Roncesvalles
She Said Boom! takes its indelible name from the first song on Toronto post-punk band Fifth Column’s All-Time Queen of the World. It has two locations (393 Roncesvalles Ave and 372 College St), under separate but amicable ownership, that serve two very different communities. The College store is close to Kensington Market and the University…
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Diary: The Banff Centre’s Indigenous Writers Program
Opportunities knock at your door when you least expect them, and when they do, they can knock you right off your feet and make you ask yourself-is this really happening to me? I applied for the Aboriginal Emerging Writer Program in 2011 through the Canada Council for the Arts. When I received confirmation in the…