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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251105T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251105T210000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20250916T202047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251023T133428Z
UID:36687-1762369200-1762376400@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Precarious: Toronto Launch!
DESCRIPTION:Join us in celebrating the Toronto launch of Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers by Marcello Di Cintio. Marcello will be in conversation with Zoë Newman and Vannina Sztainbok. The event is presented by Another Story Bookshop\, Talking Precarity Podcast\, and Biblioasis; and sponsored by the Workers Action Centre. \nThe launch will take place on Wednesday\, November 5 at 7PM. The event is free\, and you can RSVP on Eventbrite. \nMore details here. \nGrab a copy of Precarious here! \nABOUT PRECARIOUS \nA series of profiles of foreign workers illuminates the precarity of global systems of migrant labor and the vulnerability of their most disenfranchised agents. \nIn 2023\, after weeks of investigation\, United Nations Special Rapporteur Tomoyo Obokata came to a scathing conclusion: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program is “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” Workers complained of excessive hours and unpaid overtime; of being forced to perform dangerous tasks or ones not specified in their contracts; of being physically abused\, intimidated\, and sexually harassed; and of overcrowded\, unsanitary living conditions that deprived them of their privacy and dignity. \nIn Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers\, Marcello Di Cintio ranges across the country speaking to those who have come from elsewhere to till our fields\, bathe our elderly\, and serve us our Double Doubles\, uncovering stories of tremendous perseverance\, resilience\, and humanity\, but also of precarity and vulnerability. He shows that vast swathes of our economy depend on the work of people we don’t see\, while expanding our awareness of what migrant work now entails\, and revealing that our mistreatment of the most vulnerable among us diminishes our own dignity. \nABOUT MARCELLO DI CINTIO \nMarcello Di Cintio is the author of six books\, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades\, Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense\, and Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers. He has also written for the Globe and Mail\, The Walrus\, The International New York Times\, and Canadian Geographic\, among others. He lives in Calgary.
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/precarious-calgary-launch/
LOCATION:Workers Action Centre\, 720 Spadina Avenue\, Toronto\, ON\, M5S 2T9\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/precarious-toronto.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251106T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251106T200000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20250924T173750Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251023T141447Z
UID:36757-1762453800-1762459200@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Mélikah Abdelmoumen in Conversation with Madeleine Thien
DESCRIPTION:Toronto friends! Mélikah Abdelmoumen\, author of Baldwin\, Styron\, and Me (trans. by Catherine Khordoc) will be in conversation with Madeleine Thien and Vinh Nguyen at Queen Books. The event\, “Migration\, Friendships\, and the Politics of Writing” will be hosted by Thy Phu\, and is sponsored by the Critical Refugee and Migration Studies Network of Canada. \nThe conversation will take place on Thursday\, November 6 at 6:30PM. \nDetails here. \nGrab Baldwin\, Styron\, and Me here! \nABOUT BALDWIN\, STYRON\, AND ME \nAn unlikely literary friendship from the past sheds light on the radicalization of public debate around identity\, race\, and censorship. \nIn 1961\, James Baldwin spent several months in William Styron’s guest house. The two wrote during the day\, then spent evenings confiding in each other and talking about race in America. During one of those conversations\, Baldwin is said to have convinced his friend to write\, in first person\, the story of the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. The Confessions of Nat Turner was published to critical acclaim\, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1968\, and also creating outrage in part of the African American community. \nDecades later\, the controversy around cultural appropriation\, identity\, and the rights and responsibilities of the writer still resonates. In Baldwin\, Styron\, and Me\, Mélikah Abdelmoumen considers the writers’ surprising yet vital friendship from her standpoint as a racialized woman torn by the often unidimensional versions of her identity put forth by today’s politics and media. Considering questions of identity\, race\, equity\, and the often contentious public debates about these topics\, Abdelmoumen works to create a space where the answers are found by first learning how to listen—even in disagreement. \nABOUT MELIKAH ABDELMOUMEN \nMélikah Abdelmoumen was born in Chicoutimi in 1972. She lived in Lyon\, France\, from 2005 to 2017. She holds a PhD in literary studies from the Université de Montréal and has published many articles\, short stories\, novels\, and essays\, including Les désastrées (2013)\, Douze ans en France (2018)\, and Petite-Ville (2024). She worked as an editor with the Groupe Ville-Marie Littérature in Montreal until 2021. She was the editor-in-chief of Lettres québécoises\, a Québec literary magazine\, from 2021 to 2024. Baldwin\, Styron\, and Me is her tenth book (and the first to be translated).
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/melikah-abdelmoumen-in-conversation-with-madeleine-thien/
LOCATION:Queen Books\, 914 Queen St E\, Toronto\, ON\, M4M 1J5\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Abdelmoumen_QueenBooks.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251106T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251106T220000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20250924T185740Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251015T200920Z
UID:36771-1762459200-1762466400@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Dust: More Lives of the Poets (with Guitars): Toronto Launch!
DESCRIPTION:Toronto friends\, join us for the launch of Ray Robertson’s Dust: More Lives of the Poets (with Guitars)! Ray will be reading from his new book\, followed by a performance from Toronto-based musical duo Staig and Billings. The event will be moderated by Alan Zweig. \nThe launch will take place at The Mezz on Thursday\, November 6 at 7PM. \nPreorder Dust here! \nABOUT DUST: MORE LIVES OF THE POETS (WITH GUITARS) \n“Robertson offers the whole picture\, warts and all. In doing so\, he honors the music of artists who have enriched his life—and opens the door for his readers to experience the same magic.”—Blues Blast Magazine \nIn Dust: More Lives of the Poets (with Guitars)\, Ray Robertson digs deep\, offering up an eclectic gathering of a dozen biographical and critical portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most innovative\, influential\, and fascinating musicians. From rock to folk\, blues to gospel\, country to the unclassifiable; from the famous\, to the forgotten\, to the barely known\, Ray Robertson combines a novelist’s eye for dramatic detail with an unapologetic fanboy’s obsession with the lives and lasting artistic achievements of twelve of his musical heroes. \nABOUT RAY ROBERTSON \nRay Robertson is the author of nine novels\, six collections of non-fiction\, and a book of poetry. His work has been translated into several languages. He contributed liner notes to three Grateful Dead archival releases: Dave’s Picks #45\, the Here Comes Sunshine 1973 boxed set\, and the From the Mars Hotel 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Born and raised in Chatham\, Ontario\, he lives in Toronto.
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/dust-more-lives-of-the-poets-with-guitars-toronto-launch/
LOCATION:The Mezz\, 1546 Queen St W\, Toronto\, ON\, M6R 1A6\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Reading
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Rays-Toronto-Launch.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251117T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251117T200000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20251008T202733Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T202733Z
UID:36920-1763404200-1763409600@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Voices of Resistance: Toronto Launch
DESCRIPTION:Toronto friends\, don’t miss the launch of Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide by Batool Abu Akleen\, Sondos Sabra\, Nahil Mohana\, and Ala’a Obaid. The book will be co-launching with Leila Marshy’s Razing Palestine in this event hosted by Samira Mohyeddin. Books will be for sale and signing from Another Story. \nThe double launch is free to attend and will take place at It’s Ok* Studios on Monday\, November 17 at 6:30PM. \nMore details here. \nOrder a copy of Voices of Resistance here! \nABOUT VOICES OF RESISTANCE \nFor two years\, the world has witnessed image after devastating image of Israel’s genocide in Gaza: videos\, photos\, and Instagram reels showing blanket bombardment\, cities in ruin\, and entire families pulled from the rubble of their homes. Such enormity can be difficult to process\, but behind each image lie ordinary lives full of hope\, love\, and community. \nIn these diaries\, four Gazan women—Batool Abu Akleen\, Sondos Sabra\, Nahil Mohana\, and Ala’a Obaid—offer first-hand accounts of Israeli airstrikes\, forced displacement\, and engineered famine. These atrocities are documented alongside the everyday resilience of Palestinians: from the neighbour who fashions an ashtray from the shrapnel of an Israeli missile\, to the street vendor who donates his last egg for a child’s birthday cake\, to the community of displaced people who pool their resources to stage a traditional wedding. Even when homeless\, under fire\, forced to bury loved ones\, or thrown at the mercy of a devastated health system\, the writers of these diaries never abandon their humanity\, their individuality\, or their belief in the future of Gaza. \nAll proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to the writers and their families.  \nABOUT THE AUTHORS \nBatool Abu Akleen is a twenty-year-old Palestinian poet and translator\, born and raised in Gaza City. She is a student of English Literature and Translation at the Islamic University of Gaza. At the age of fifteen\, Abu Akleen won the Parjeel Poetry Prize for her poem ‘I Did Not Steal the Cloud’\, which was also translated and published as part of the anthology Di acqua e di tempo. Her poem ‘I Want a Grave’ was published in Penguin’s Letters from Gaza (2025). She was the 2024 Poet-in-Residence with Modern Poetry in Translation\, for whom she collected and translated Sea Shells: An Anthology of Emerging Poets from Gaza (edited by Cristina Viti). Her poem ‘Gunpowder’ was among the winners of The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2025. Her debut bilingual poetry collection 48Kg was published by Tenement Press in June 2025. Extracts from her diaries have been performed by Leila Herandi at the Belgrade Theatre\, Coventry. \nNahil Mohana is the author of the novel No Men Allowed\, the short story collection Life in a Square Metre and six plays including High Pressure\, which received the 2008 Abdul Mohsin Al-Qattan Prize; Ghoson\, which received the 2008 Children’s Culture Award; and Lipstick\, which was produced by the Royal Court Theatre\, London. Her writing has appeared in AGNI Online\, Literary Hub\, and The Washington Post. Extracts from her diaries have been performed by Maxine Peake at the Barbican Theatre\, London\, and Julie-Yara Atz at the Belgrade Theatre\, Coventry. \nAla’a Obaid is a writer and a mother of three children. She has held a number of positions in various NGOs and cultural institutions in Gaza\, including Education Officer\, Creative Writing Teacher and Culture Centre Coordinator. Ala’a co-authored the books Writing Behind the Lines and Disturbing Flashbacks\, both of which document the experiences of Palestinians living through the current genocide. She has published several articles in The New Arab. Excerpts from her diaries have been performed by Hind Shoufani at the Barbican Theatre\, London\, and by Zarah Sultana MP at the Belgrade Theatre\, Coventry. \nSondos Sabra\, 25\, holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the Islamic University of Gaza and is a founding member of the Shaghaf Youth Initiative\, which organises discussions of literary works. She is a translator and writer. Her writing has appeared in Mondoweiss\, The New Statesman\, and ArabLit Quarterly. Extracts from her diaries have been performed by Yusra Warsama at the Barbican Theatre\, London\, and Sama Rantisi at the Belgrade Theatre\, Coventry. Her piece ‘We Kill Terrorism’ was read by Maxine Peake to a crowd of 15\,000 protesters outside the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/voices-of-resistance-toronto-launch/
LOCATION:It’s Ok* Studios\, 468 Queen Street W\, Toronto\, ON\, M5V 2B2\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/VoR_launch.jpeg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251119T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251119T200000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20251015T201634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251119T145814Z
UID:36924-1763577000-1763582400@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Best Canadian Poetry: Toronto Launch
DESCRIPTION:Come on out for a night of poetry and fun\, as we celebrate the launch of Best Canadian Poetry 2026! Series editor Anita Lahey\, along with several local poets featured in the anthology—Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi\, Steve McOrmond\, Emily Kedar\, Richard Greene\, Susan Glickman\, Ronna Bloom\, and Puneet Dutt—will be reading from their work at Queen Books. Copies will be available for sale and signing. \nThe launch will take place on Wednesday\, November 19 at 6:30PM. \nGrab a copy of Best Canadian Poetry 2026 here! \nCheck out the full set of Essays\, Stories\, and Poetry here! \nABOUT BEST CANADIAN POETRY 2026 \nSelected by editor Mary Dalton\, the 2026 edition of Best Canadian Poetry showcases the best Canadian poetry writing published in the past year. \nFeaturing introductions by Mary Dalton and series editor Anita Lahey\, Best Canadian Poetry 2026 offers a collection of brief but impactful glimpses into our current literary landscape\, that expands our worldview and continues in the series tradition of asking: What constitutes a great poem? \nFeaturing: \nJohn Wall Barger • Ronna Bloom • Nicholas Bradley • Petra Chambers • Carolina Corcoran • Kayla Czaga • Danielle Devereaux • Irina Dumitrescu • Puneet Dutt • Darrell Epp • Susan Glickman • Ariel Gordon • Jennifer Gossoo • Sue Goyette • Richard Greene • Glenn Hayes • Henry Heavyshield • Dave Hickey • Nancy Huggett • Kevin Irie • Emily Kedar • Conor Kerr • Evelyn Lau • Sylvia Legris • Steve McOrmond • Estlin McPhee • M.W. Miller • Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi • George Moore • Paul Moorehead • A.F. Moritz • Megan Morrison • Erín Moure • Cassandra Myers • Shane Neilson • Nofel • David O’Meara • John O’Neill • Michael Ondaatje • Craig Francis Power • John Reibetanz • Ozayr Saloojee • Vivek Sharma • Sue Sinclair • Karen Solie • Misha Solomon • Susan White • Erin Wilson • Jaeyun Yoo • Patricia Young
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/best-canadian-poetry-toronto-launch/
LOCATION:Queen Books\, 914 Queen St E\, Toronto\, ON\, M4M 1J5\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Reading
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/BCP26-Queen-Books.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251126T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251126T210000
DTSTAMP:20260409T223249
CREATED:20251017T190012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251119T145604Z
UID:36994-1764183600-1764190800@www.biblioasis.com
SUMMARY:Best Canadian Stories: Toronto Launch
DESCRIPTION:Toronto friends: come on out for a night of short fiction\, as we celebrate the launch of Best Canadian Stories 2026! Guest editor Zsuzsi Gartner\, along with several writers featured in the anthology\, will be reading from their work. Copies will be available for sale and signing courtesy of Queen Books. \nThe launch will take place on Wednesday\, November 26 at 7PM. \nGrab a copy of Best Canadian Stories 2026 here! \nCheck out the full set of Essays\, Stories\, and Poetry here! \nABOUT BEST CANADIAN STORIES 2026 \n“Combines both emerging and established voices for a fascinating glimpse at the most exciting short fiction coming out of this country.”—Open Book \nSelected and introduced by Zsuzsi Gartner\, Best Canadian Stories 2026 provides a distinctive sample of the best Canadian short fiction published over the previous year. Geminis are recruited to fight a war in space; an awkward Christmas dinner escalates around the roadkill main course; an interactive fiction game set in early Quebec becomes devastating and unnervingly strange for the player. These fifteen stories draw together an expressive range of characters and narratives\, and appeal to both longstanding readers and those looking for an entry point into Canadian literature. \nFeaturing: \nShashi Bhat • Julie Bouchard\, translated by Arielle Aaronson • Randy Boyagoda • Grant Buday • Petra Chambers • Sophie Crocker • Bill Gaston • Evan J • Aaron Kreuter • Alex Leslie • Erin MacNair • D.F. McCourt • Rishi Midha • Kaitlin Ruether • Margaret Sweatman
URL:https://www.biblioasis.com/event/best-canadian-stories-2026-toronto-launch/
LOCATION:Queen Books\, 914 Queen St E\, Toronto\, ON\, M4M 1J5\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Reading
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.biblioasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TO-BCS-Launch.jpg
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