Thursday, November 29, 2012

November Reading

Sam Bernstein reading from her memoir



Sam

Writer Andrew Borkowski

Andrew
Poet Sonia DiPlacido
Sonia
Writer Garry Dwyer Joyce
Andrew and Garry
Bianca Lakoseljac
Bianca
Emcee & co-organizer Giovanna Riccio
NSNIG&F friends Christine Elias & Danielle Richardson
KD Miller and friend
Giovanna, writer Diane Bracuk and Andrew
Danielle and emcee/co-organizer Michelle Alfano

Thursday, November 1, 2012

November Reading


Samantha Bernstein's memoir, Here We Are Among the Living, was published by Tightrope Books in June 2012. She is in the fourth year of an English Ph.D. at York University; her writing has appeared in various places, including Exile, The Fiddlehead and Numero Cinq. Here We Are Among the Living is available in bookstores, on Amazon, and through Tightrope Books. tightropebooks.com

Andrew Borkowski’s debut collection of short stories, Copernicus Avenue, was published by Cormorant Books in 2011. He studied Journalism and English Literature at Carleton University. Over his thirty-year career, he has published articles in the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Forum, Quill & Quire, TV Guide, and the Los Angeles Times, and contributed as an editor to titles published by John Wiley and Sons Canada, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Pearson Canada and D&M Publishers. His short fiction has appeared in Grain, The New Quarterly, and in Storyteller. His story “Twelve Versions of Lech,” was nominated for the 2007 Writer’s Trust/McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize and published in Journey Prize Stories 19.

Sonia Di Placido is a writer, performer, and artist currently completing the Creative Writing, Optional Residency MFA Program, with the University of British Columbia. She is also a graduate of the Ryerson University Theatre School and holds an Hons. BA in Humanities from York University. She has worked as a Supernumerary with the Canadian Opera Company, is a member of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers and The League of Canadian Poets. Sonia has published profile pieces, creative non-fiction, and poems in literary journals and anthologies. 

Garret Dwyer-Joyce was born and educated in Dublin, fled to Canada to escape the rain only to find himself knee-deep in snow. However, he fell in love - with a woman, not the snow - and stayed. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Fiddlehead, Descant and Foreign Affairs. He lives in Toronto and works as a documentary producer with CTV's W5.

Bianca Lakoseljac is the author of three books: Summer of the Dancing Bear (Guernica Editions, 2012) a novel about the rite of passage of a fourteen year old girl befriended by a gypsy clan; Bridge in the Rain (Guernica Editions, 2010), a collection of stories linked by an inscription on a bench in Toronto’s High Park; and, Memoirs of a Praying Mantis, a collection of poetry. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies such as the Inanna Publication and Education, York University; and Central European Association for Canadian Studies. Bianca taught communication courses at Ryerson University and Humber College. She is Past President of the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto branch, and has judged various national literary competitions. 

Nyla Matuk is the author of the chapbook, Oneiric, published in 2009. Her poems have appeared in Maisonneuve, The Walrus, Canadian Notes and Queries, ARC Poetry, the Literary Review of Canada, and The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2012.  Her first full-length collection, Sumptuary Laws, was published in Fall 2012 with Signal Editions/Véhicule Press. She was nominated twice in 2012 for The Walrus Poetry Prize.

Emcees: 
Michelle Alfano is a co-organizer of the (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends Reading Series and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her novella Made Up of Arias (Blaurock Press) won the 2010 Bressani Prize for Short Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up of Arias is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in major literary publications. She was featured in a documentary on the passengers of the Saturnia that was featured on OMNI-TV and at the Moving Images Film Festival. She is currently at work at a new novel entitled Vita’s Prospects. 

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria and immigrated to Canada as a child. Her poems have appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals and anthologies. Her work has been translated into Romanian and a number of her poems are being translated into Italian for an upcoming anthology to be published in Italy. She is the author of Vittorio (Lyricalmyrical Press) and Strong Bread (Quattro Books).

Friday, October 5, 2012

October 2012

Terri Favro, author of The Proxy Bride, begins the night ...

Terri
Poet Whitney French reading from 3 Cities
Whitney
Author Darlene Madott
Darlene, fresh from her launch of Stations of the Heart
Poet David Day 

David
KD Miller reading from the chilling collection The Other Voice
 KD Miller
Rob Fujimoto, NSNIG&F designer & Christine Elias, NSNIG&F supporter
Dom Capilongo, poet & short story writer
Dom reading from Subtitles
The fresh new releases of 2012


NSNIG&F co-organizer & emcee Giovanna Riccio
NSNIG&F co-organizer & emcee Michelle Alfano



Poets Luc Iacobelli and Dom Capilongo





Saturday, September 1, 2012

October Reading



Domenico Capilongo lives in Toronto. His first book of poetry, I thought elvis was Italian was short-listed for the 2010 Bressani Literary Award.  His second book of jazz-inspired poetry, hold the note, was long-listed for the 2010 ReLit Award. His first book of short stories, Subtitles, is published this fall with Guernica Editions. 

David Day is a poet and author who has published 40 books of poetry, ecology, history, fantasy, mythology and fiction. His first book of poems was published in 1975. Day has been published in magazines and newspapers worldwide. He has also been a magazine editor, a columnist for the Daily Mail and Punch, a scriptwriter for television, a playwright for theatre, and a dramaturge for the Royal Birmingham Ballet. His books have won numerous literary awards and been selected as "Books of the Year" by Time Magazine, New Scientist, Parents Magazine and the Observer. David Day's books have sold over 4 million copies and have been translated into twenty languages. 


The daughter of Italian immigrants to the Niagara peninsula, Terri Favro's fiction and non-fiction have been published in Prism, Geist, Riddle Fence, Accenti and More Magazine, among others. Shortlisted three times for the CBC Literary Awards, Terri was a Diaspora Dialogues Emerging Toronto Writer in 2011 and her work has been anthologized in TOK: Writing the New Toronto Vol. 6 and Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians. Her graphic novel, Bella and the Loyalist Heroine, was published this year by Grey Borders. Her first novella, The Proxy Bride, was co-winner of the 2012 Ken Klonsky Novella Award and has just been launched by Quattro Books, available at http://www.quattrobooks.ca/quattro-fiction/the-proxy-bride.


Whitney French is a writer, educator and literacy advocate. She writes poetry and short fiction and facilitates creative writing workshops for children, young offenders, teenage mothers and adults with mental disorders across Toronto. Her first collection of poetry 3 Cities, released April 2012, explores her experiences living in three Canadian cities: Bradford, Toronto and Montreal. 


K.D. Miller’s short stories have been nominated for the Journey Prize, published widely in Canadian magazines and broadcast by CBC.  Her first collection, A Litany in Time of Plague, was critically praised in 1994. Her second collection, Give Me Your Answer, was short-listed for the inaugural Upper Canada Brewing Company’s Writer’s Craft Award and named by the Toronto Star as one of the ten best books of 1999. Holy Writ, a series of personal essays, followed in 2001. Her first novel, Brown Dwarf (Biblioasis, 2010). Her latest book of stories, The Other Voice (Stonebunny Press, 2011). She is presently at work on another collection, All Saints, to be published in 2014 by Biblioasis. K.D. Miller has participated in numerous book launches, public readings and literary events throughout Ontario. She has appeared as a keynote speaker and has chaired panel discussions at literary conferences. She has experience mentoring emerging writers, evaluating manuscripts and teaching creative writing courses and workshops. K.D. Miller lives in Toronto. View her website at www.dawnwriter.com. 


Susan Swan was unable to read due to illness. In her place Darlene Madott read.


Darlene Madott is a Toronto lawyer and author. Her most recent collection of interconnected stories is Stations of the Heart (Exile Editions) launched in the Fall 2012. The title story of Making Olives and Other Family Secrets (Longbridge Books 2008) won the Bressani Literary Award, 2008. Darlene has read in New York, at the John Calandra Institute, Queen's College/CUNY, conference entitled "The Land of Our Return" (April, 2009), from a story "On Leave Takings and Monuments", previously published in Accenti magazine. Her stories have been anthologized in Italian Canadian Voices (Mosaic Press, 2006, ed. Caroline di Giovanni), and More Sweet Lemons (Longbridge, 2010).