The Brockton Writers Series is a monthly literary series that welcomes established and emerging writers and the people who love to read their work. I have the pleasure of curating it!
This month we are excited to bring to the mic Elisha Lim, Caleb Cohen, Laurie Leclair and Dawn Promislow.
Wednesday February 2, 7-9, at the beautiful and historic St. Anne’s Church, 270 Gladstone Ave, just north of Dundas, in Toronto.
The event is free, but we pass a hat ($3-$5, pwyc suggested donation) to pay the writers. Books for sale. Drinks available by donation to the Jeremiah Community at St. Anne’s church, who provide us with refreshments and the space.
More about the writers:
DAWN Promislow’s debut collection, Jewels and Other Stories, was published by TSAR in October 2010. She has been published in Saturday Night, Maple Tree Literary Supplement (www.mtls.ca) and TOK: Writing the New Toronto Book 5 . One of the stories in Jewels was shortlisted for UK-based Wasafiri’s New Writing Prize 2009. She is the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council Works in Progress grant. Born and raised in South Africa, she has lived in Toronto since 1987.
LAURIE Leclair was born in Tecumseh, Ontario and moved to Toronto to pursue graduate studies at York University. She has worked as an archaeologist and historian and now runs a small research firm specializing in aboriginal treaty rights and resource use. Her main influences as a creative writer are E. F. Benson and David Sedaris. She lives in Parkdale with her husband Richard and their son Daniel. You can read more of her material on Exquisite Corpse, a blog devoted to serial writing she keeps with two other middle-aged Torontonians @ http://drinkthenewwine.blogspot.com/.
CALEB Cohen is a recovering academic who currently works at Another Story Bookshop where he sells books instead of writing them. Caleb comes from a family of truck drivers and has spent much of his life on the road, collecting stories and perfecting the art of motion sickness. He recently took a risk and withdrew from grad school to focus on his childhood desire to be an author. This is his first reading and he’s incredibly nervous. Wish him luck.
ELISHA Lim is the author of 100 Butches which is a genderbending comic with a cult following including queer luminaries like Allison Bechdel (Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For) and Michelle Tea (Rent Girl, Rose of No Man’s Land). Elisha’s comics have been featured in queer magazines like Diva UK, afterellen.com <http://afterellen.com/> , Curve US, LOTL Australia, Xtra Canada, and nomorepotlucks, and the 100 Butches toured in the spring with the legendary Sister Spit caravan through 28 North American cities. Elisha’s looking forward to collaborating on a new graphic novel with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and to being Allyson Mitchell’s first guest artist at the Feminist Art Gallery, or FAG.
Note to writers: Writers’ networking session starts at 6:30pm. All emerging and established writers welcome to chat about publishing, promotion, craft–anything about the writing life. The session will be facilitated by a writer.
Open mic sign up is at 6:55pm. There are three 5 minute slots.
Limited parking available–choose spots labelled “St. Anne’s Church” or street parking.