welcome to
common readings
2019
May 27th, 2019
JOHN NYMAN
KERN CARTER
CLAIRE KELLY
Doors: 7pm
Pay-what-You-Can
Come for the Words and the Wine!
JOHN NYMAN's debut poetry collection, Players (Palimpsest Press), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2017. John is also the author of the manifesto chapbook Slogan, Substance, Dream: keywords for a responsible poetry (Anstruther Press) as well as several works of visual, conceptual, and erasure poetry (Instagram @selected.works). John recently completed a PhD in Theory and Criticism at Western University.
KERN CARTER is a 2x author of a novella Thoughts of a Fractured Soul and his most recent novel titled Beauty Scars. His CRY blog touches on the emotional struggle faced by writers and other creatives. His goal is to inspire readers and impress his fellow writers.
CLAIRE KELLY's first full-length collection, Maunder, is available from Palimpsest Press. Her poems have appeared in journals across Canada, with work recently in or upcoming in Grain, QWERTY Magazine, The Antigonish Review, and Prairie Fire. She lives and writes in Edmonton on Treaty 6 territory. Her second book of poetry, One Thing – Then Another, was released in April 2019 with ECW Press.
April 29th, 2019
MARY GERMAINE
JULIE BRUCK
KATHRYN MOCKLER
MARY GERMAINE studied philosophy at Memorial University of Newfoundland before moving back to Toronto for an MA in Creative Writing at U of T. Her thesis, Congratulations, Rhododendrons, is about love. Her poems on this and other matters can be found in Riddle Fence, Augur, and the Walrus. Mary also maintains a wildly popular instagram account, @ecigarefills, which you can check out.
KATHRYN MOCKLER is the author of four books of poetry and six short films. She has a collection of stories forthcoming with Book*hug in 2021. She is the Canada Editor of Joyland: a hub for short fiction, and she teaches creative writing at Western University and runs private creative writing workshops.
JULIE BRUCK is a Canadian poet and writer who has lived in San Francisco since 1997. Her newest collection of poems is How to Avoid Huge Ships (Brick Books, 2018). Her third book, Monkey Ranch (Brick Books, 2012) received Canada’s Governor General’s Award for poetry. Recent work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Southampton Review, Plume Poetry, Poetry Daily, and The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, and The Malahat Review. Julie teaches at The Writing Salon in San Francisco, and also offers private workshops. She can often be found in Golden Gate Park, watching one lone wild turkey chase his own reflection in the wheel rims of parked luxury cars. http://www.juliebruck.com/
March 25th, 2019
JM FRANCHETEAU
TERESE MASON PIERRE
PAUL VERMEERSCH
JM FRANCHETEAU's work appears in Rattle, Grain, Bad Dog Review and Arc, and he's the author of Heart & Mouth & Deed & Life (Anstruther, 2018).
TERESE MASON PIERRE is a writer, editor and organizer based in Toronto. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Hart House Review, The Brasilia Review, Verdancies Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue and Train Poetry Journal, among others. She has been a submissions curator and editor of the Toronto Public Library's Young Voices Magazine, and she is currently the poetry editor of Augur Magazine, a Canadian speculative and surrealism literature and art magazine. Terese is also a co-host of Shab-e She'r, and a co-organizer of Slant, both poetry reading series in Toronto. She loves the library and cats.
PAUL VERMEERSCH is a poet, multimedia artist, professor, and editor. He is the author of six poetry collections, including the Trillium–award nominated The Reinvention of the Human Hand (M&S, 2010). His latest book of poetry is Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy (ECW, 2018). He is the creator of Buckrider Books, the poetry and fiction imprint of Wolsak & Wynn. His next book, Shared Universe: New & Selected Poems 1995 - 2020, will be published next year by ECW Press. He lives in Toronto.
February 25th, 2019
KHASHAYAR MOHAMMADI
FAWN PARKER
JIM JOHNSTONE
Come for the Words and the Wine!
KHASHAYAR MOHAMMADI is an Iranian-born writer/translator based in Toronto. He is the Host of knife I fork I book's Chapbook club and the author of Chapbooks 'Moe's Skin' with ZED PRESS 2018 and 'Dear Kestrel" with knife I fork I book fall 2019. His poems have also appeared in Poetry is Dead, BAD NUDES, Half a Grapefruit Magazine and elsewhere.
FAWN PARKER is a writer and editor based in Toronto. She is co-founder of BAD NUDES Magazine and its sister press BAD BOOKS. She is the author of Looking Good and Having a Good Time (Metatron Press), Weak Spot (Anstruther), and Set-Point (ARP Books). Fawn is a current MA candidate in the field of creative writing at the University of Toronto, and edits fiction for carte blanche.
JIM JOHNSTONE is a Toronto-based poet, editor, and critic. He's the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The Chemical Life (2017) and Dog Ear (2014). He also curates the Anstruther Books imprint at Palimpsest Press where he published The Next Wave: An Anthology of 21st Canadian Poetry in 2018.
Janurary 28th, 2019
CODY CAETANO
MARGEAUX FELDMAN
TREVOR CORKUM
CODY ALEXANDER JOSEPH CAETANO is an Anishinaabe and Portuguese writer. Cody is finishing his MA in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where he facilitates workshops, serves as the co-editor (‘echo-lo-chief’) for Echolocation literary journal, and is at work on a nonfiction manuscript under the mentorship of Sto:lo writer Lee Maracle.
MARGEAUX FELDMAN is a writer and educator living in Toronto, where she’s finishing her PhD in English Literature and Sexual Diversity Studies at U of T. She’s also one of the founders of Sick Theories and is the curator of Unruly Bodies: A Night of Storytelling. Her writing has appeared in The Vault, Minola Review, The Puritan, GUTS Magazine, and in various zines across the city. She’s currently at work on a memoir entitled The Bed of Sickness: Essays on Care.
TREVOR CORKUM's novel The Electric Boy is set to debut with Doubleday Canada. An award-winning writer, educator, scholar, and editor, he has facilitated workshops and lectured across Canada and around the world. His fiction, essays, journalism and reviews appear regularly in periodicals such as the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail and his work has been recognized with nominations for the Journey Prize, a National Magazine Award for Fiction, a Western Magazine Award for Personal Journalism, the CBC Short Story Prize, and the CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize. Trevor was the 2017 Writer-in-Residence at Lester B. Pearson United World College and a 2017 Writer-in-Residence on the Canada C3 expedition. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and an MA in Adult Education and Community Development from the University of Toronto. A current PhD student in Adult Education at the University of Toronto, his research uses narrative and storytelling to explore notions of home, belonging, and identity in a globalized world. He divides his time between Toronto and the south shore of Prince Edward Island.
