Literazzi

Young Mothers Journal Launch at Humewood House

Toronto's own Association for Research on Mothering celebrated the release of the Young Mothers journal at Humewood House's Open House on September 24. A number of former Humewood residents have pieces in the journal so it was a fitting place for the launch.

Andrea O'Reilly introduces the Young Mothers Journal :

Lynn reading from "Essence, Lynn and Arika Speak:"

Journal cover artist by artist Amanda Decoteau:

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The Word on The Word on the Street

This weekend was a big one on Toronto's literary calendar. Queen's Park Circle was taken over by authors, book sellers, publishers and, most importantly, avid readers for The Word on the Street festival. We got there just as they were setting up.

By 1:00pm, the place was jammed.

I picked up one of the fabulous tote bags, which makes the Anya Hindmarch carryall look so yesterday.

(I do not know what the bags are made of. They feel a lot like the Loblaws bags so I'm assuming they are environmentally-friendly. Given the attention spent to ensuring the festival was as green as it could be, and given that David Suzuki seemed to be hiding around every corner, I'm assuming that the bags are not made out of the inside of bunny ears or some such thing.)

I wish I had the time to take in all of the writers' workshops on offer but alas the only session I was able to take in was session on book reviews in the Toronto Star Tent featuring The Star's very talented book reviews editor Dan Smith* (to whom I submitted my book review for The Other Mother**) and Quill And Quire's very talented reviews editor Nathan Whitlock*. I learned all sorts of things about the world of book reviews. And based on the crush of people waiting for the session to follow, I also learned that the Kielburger brothers have groupies.

I wandered over to the Harper Collins tent to see if the Dish Entertains publicist was there and noticed that they were giving out these bags:

How awesome is that? Torontonians were walking around carrying bags emblazoned with the cover of my pal Andi Buchanan's*** new book, The Daring Book for Girls, which is being released at the end of October.

All in all, it was a satisfying day.

xoxo

Book Girl****

Key:

* indicates shameless flattery
** indicates shameless self-promotion
*** indicates shameless name-dropping
**** indicates obvious homage to Gossip Girl in attempt to get picked up by Google.

 




 

A real Dish

Last Wednesday night, Toronto's literati and food aficionados celebrated the launch of Trish Magwood's Dish Entertains. The event was held at Trish's own dish cooking studios on Dupont. Word has it, the conversation was sparkling and the food divine.

Because books are the new black

At Toronto Literati, we want to bring glamour back to reading. We want to return to those Halcyon days of old where writers were treated like the rock stars they are. From Canada's literary stars to the queens of chick lit, from poets to celebrity chefs to politicians, we want to celebrate the people who write the books we love.

We want a book peeking out of every Birkin. We want the standard red carpet question to become "who are you reading?" We will not rest until books are the new black.

Over the next little while we will be offering you glimpses into A-list book parties, literary festivals, and author readings. We are also lining up some chats with amazing authors.

In Toronto, we are so lucky to have access to so many writers and to the International Festival of Authors, which every year attracts the world's most prominent writers (how excited are we that J. K. Rowling is coming to our fair city to read from the final Harry Potter on October 23. Tickets are not for sale but available only through random draw via Raincoast Books. How glam is that?") so let's get out there and celebrate our books.

Welcome

Welcome to Literazzi: The place to find out what is happening in Toronto's literary scene. From photos from author readings, to feedback about workshops, to book reviews, we will be bringing people and books together.