McLuhan Then, Now, Next

The International Festival of Authors kicked off last night and Marshall McLuhan is front and centre this year, the centenary of his birth. McLuhan 100, the umbrella organization steering the anniversary celebrations is hosting interviews/readings with U.S. author and educator Clay Shirky (Fleck Dance Theatre, October 21, 8 pm), American journalist Brooke Gladstone (Studio Theatre, October 22, 4 pm) and artist/author Douglas Coupland (Studio Theatre, October 26, 8 pm) at Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West).

Things really heat up November 7 – 10 with Then/Now/Next the first international McLuhan conference and festival featuring 100 leading thinkers and speakers from around the world, 300 art installations, concerts and screenings and the promise of “explosive and insightful debates.” See the full conference schedule here.

The Gladstone Hotel gets in on the act November 8 – 13 with Signals from the Dew Line: Art and Poetry in the Global Village. The party gets started November 8 with an opening reception from 7 – 10 pm.

McLuhan graphic by Christel LeBlanc courtesy of Gladstone Hotel

Maharaj Wins Toronto Book Award

Rabindranath Maharaj’s The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Knopf Canada ) captured the 2011 Toronto Book Award October 13 at the Toronto Reference Library gala. Established by Toronto City Council in 1974, the Toronto Book Awards honour authors of books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto. Maharaj takes the top prize of $11,000 while the other shortlisted authors — James FitzGerald for his memoir What Disturbs Our Blood (Random House Canada), James King for his novel Étienne’s Alphabet (Cormorant Books Inc.), Nicholas Ruddock for his novel The Parabolist (Doubleday Canada) and Alissa York for her novel Fauna (Random House Canada) — each receive $1,000. Jurors noted that Maharaj’s book about the experiences of a Trinidadian immigrant to Canada, “creates a complex, witty and hopeful portrait of an imaginative youth determined to forge his own path in multicultural Toronto.”

Minister Unveils McLuhan Plaque

The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources (MP for Eglinton-Lawrence), right, was at the University of Toronto this morning to unveil a plaque commemorating the national historic significance of Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan’s son Michael, left, was among the approximately 100 guests who gathered to remember his father’s innovative work, which probed the influence of the printed word on society. As the plaque notes, “The concepts of the ‘global village’ and ‘the medium is the message’ made McLuhan one of the most celebrated scholars in the Western world.”

UofT is planning a major refurbishment of McLuhan’s Coach House; Open File has the story.

Photo Lilie Zendel

Eyes on India Literary Panel

India conjures up images of spirituality and yoga, palaces and poverty, festivals and food, and, of course, music and bollywood!  According to Sylvia Fraser, India is a jewel box. Many drawers, many cabinets.

Masala! Mehndi! Masti! and MyBindi.com proudly present “Eyes on India”, a special literary panel featuring Sylvia Fraser, Mariellen Ward and Katherine Matthews – all writers of non-Indian origin – who have been captivated by India.

The panel, which will be moderated by Syerah Virani, will explore how and why India beckoned these individuals and how it sustains them even as they live their lives in Canada.  We will examine the privileges and the prejudices that a “Firangi” can experience and how our panelists engage with the Indian diaspora and with the mainstream as self-appointed ambassadors for the beauty and love of all that is India.

WHERE/WHEN: Eyes on India at Lakeside Terrace, Harbourfront Centre,  Saturday, August 20, 7:30 – 8:30 pm; free admission.

Exile on Markham Road

I wonder if everyone who meets Rosemary Sullivan for the first time feels like they’ve known her for years. That’s certainly how I felt yesterday when I visited her at her home in Riverdale to talk about being the first poet to be honoured as part of the Poetry is Public is Poetry project. On Monday, three lines of Sullivan’s poem Exile, set in bronze, will be unveiled at the entrance of the newly renovated Cedarbrae Public Library on Markham Road in Scarborough.

a man packed a country
in a suitcase with his shoes
and left

The snippet was chosen by Toronto’s Poet Laureate Dionne Brand with input from an advisory committee; Poetry is Public is Poetry will be Brand’s legacy project, the goal of which is to help transform Toronto’s public realm into an illuminating forum for the written word. The initiative is being realized by City of Toronto’s Cultural Services and Transportation Services working in close co-operation with the Toronto Public Library and the Toronto Public Library Foundation.

Sullivan is delighted with Brand’s choice: “I think they’re exactly the right words,” she said. “I think it’s particularly appropriate for the neighbourhood. The line encapsulates exile and immigration, and for it to be there on Markham Road, I think is great.” READ MORE