September reading: Smith, Starnino, Wood, Blume, Fazlul & Maguire

Look who is excited about September's LitLive!!!!

September's LitLive features six fantastic writers -- novelists, poets, anthologists -- from near and far, reading from a diverse array of work. This month's reading is hosted by Graham Crawford of Hamilton HIStory + HERitage. 

Here is some information about our readers and hosts. And, we wonder, will Stephen Harper attend? Will even a single Mountie? Who knows, but we're sure that this season will be another convivial, inspiring, engaging, and welcoming year of readings.

7:30 pm Sunday, September 8

Artword Artbar
15 Colbourne Street, Hamilton
(west off James Street Norht, one block south of Barton)

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Brad Smith was born and raised in southern Ontario. He has worked as a farmer, signalman, insulator, truck driver, bartender, schoolteacher, maintenance mechanic, roofer, and carpenter. He lives in a eighty-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie. His novel, One-Eyed Jacks was nominated for the Dashiell Hammett Prize.

Carmine Starnino is a poet, essayist, critic and editor of Signal Editions (an imprint of Véhicule Press). His first poetry collection, The New World, was nominated for the 1997 QSPELL A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and the 1997 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. His second collection, Credo, won the 2001 Canadian Authors’ Association Prize for Poetry and the 2001 David McKeen Award for Poetry. His recent publications include With English Subtitles (GP, 2004), Lover’s Quarrel on criticism of Canadian poetry, and an anthology called The New Canon. He lives in Montreal.

Heather J Wood was born and raised in Montreal and now makes her home in Toronto. She is the author of the coming of age novel Fortune Cookie, and of Roll With It, a teen-oriented novel about roller derby. Heather is a writer, editor & copywriter who wears many hats, including that of Artistic Director of the Rowers Reading Series, Moosemeat Writing Group organizer and Managing Editor of the Best Canada Poetry series.

Lil Blume is a Hamilton-area writer who, together with Ellen Jaffe, has created three Hamilton festivals of Jewish writing.  Letters and Pictures from the Old Suitcase was the theme of the 2012 literary festival and this anthology was created to accompany the festival. Lil’s poetry and short fiction have been published in local publications, such as Kairos and Hammered Out. She was also one of the first community columnists for the Hamilton Spectator.   Her writing workshops and retreats have been described as “transformative.” Lil's reading will be from the recent anthology, which features writing inspired by letters, pictures, or objects passed down from another era, and sometimes discovered in old suitcases.

Safia Fazlul of Bangladeshi background, was raised in Scandinavia and now lives in Toronto, where she attends the University of Toronto. When she was eighteen she found work as a “phone girl” for a high-end escort agency, an experience that inspired her novel, The Harem.

Shannon Maguire is a Northern Ontario grrrl who has long made Toronto home. She studied playwrighting at the National Theatre School of Canada, holds a degree in English and Drama from York University (Glendon College) and is working on her MFA in Creative Writing through the University of Guelph. She also co-cultivates AvantGarden, a new reading series which foregrounds innovative text and sound based performance by women. Her poetry and work for theatre has appeared in various places including: Nightwood Theatre's 4x4 Off Road Festival and Write-From-The-Hip, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, Gulch: An Assemblage of Poetry and Prose (Tightrope, 2009) and is forthcoming online in EOAGH: A Journal Of The Arts. She won the FuitLupz Award (Supporting Our Youth) for emerging queer playwright in 1999. Her latest book Fur(l) Parachute is published by Book Thug.

Our host for tonight is Graham Crawford of Hamilton HIStory + HERitage. Hamilton HIStory + HERitage is a unique exhibition and meeting space combining historical content (architectural, social and cultural) and new technology (mini-computers and flat screen monitors) to share the story of Hamilton. We are dedicated to celebrating the lives of the men and women who have helped to shape the city of Hamilton.