Surprise! A DRAFT pop-up reading May 28th
We hope you can join us for a spring pop-up reading
Thursday, May 28th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
St. Matthew’s Clubhouse (East End Arts)
450 Broadview Ave.
Eighteen writers will be sharing their works-in-progress. See the list below.
FEE: Pass-the-hat — all proceeds divided among the readers. If you can spare the money for a donation, please bring cash. If not, just bring yourself. All are welcome. Please scroll down for access information.
To register:
https://forms.gle/iQ5prGzjBqYyqS5e7
SCHEDULE
Doors open at 6:45
READING BEGINS 7:00 P.M.
Thank you and welcome
SET ONE – 7:10 to 7:30
Laure Baudot
Marusya Bociurkiw
Allan Briesmaster
Hardish K. Dhaliwal
MINI BREAK
SET TWO – 7:35 to 8:00
Terri Favro
Caitlin Galway
Emily Gillespie
Roger Greenwald
Judy Holm
LONGER BREAK
SET 3 — 8:15 to 8:40
Maria Meindl
Ursula Pflug
Nicholas Power
Kamila Rina
Noreen Shanahan
MINI BREAK
SET 4 — 8:45 to 9:00
Josée Sigouin
Sheila Stewart
Jessica Westhead
Bänoo Zan
St. Matthew’s Clubhouse has a ramp and one accessible washroom. The room is well-lit and there will be a sound system. There are pictures of the space here. The building is located on the edge of Riverdale Park in case anyone needs a few moments of quiet. Please feel free to mask if you like. We will air out the space during breaks, weather permitting.
SEEDS festival wrap-up and pictures
This is a modified version of the remarks Maria Meindl made to open the festival on February 21.
First, some big thank-yous.
Sincere thanks to all who took part in our Seeds Festival. The INKspire fellowship program was a truly INspiring partner for this year’s festival, with a special shout-out to Frank Ong and Vivian Zhi, who head up the program. INKspire took on the social media work for the festival, rented the space and provided a feast on the day of live presentations. Our poster was designed by INKspire fellow Yulia Gulyaeva, and fellows Hana Greenberg, Samantha Ti, Yulia Gulyaeva, Sandini Kodikara and Angela Zhang took part in the planning stages.
Hardish K. Dhaliwal is our treasurer and treasured collective member, Rolf Meindl has been present as an immense support, tech and otherwise. A big thanks, also to Aviva Gale-Buncell for getting us through Sunday’s logistics. Another big thanks goes out to Priya Ramsingh, who took photographs on Sunday. Please scroll down to see them, or check them out on the Draft facebook page.
Now I’d like to say a few things about the inspiration for the festival.
We had 49 people doing brief readings over the course of the weekend. The idea of these brief readings arrived several years ago in response to a personal concern I have about the way things are going in literature and the arts generally. There are so many people wanting to write, signing up for programs and workshops. That’s great, I’m all for it, but opportunities and resources are not keeping pace. This is a great community; people support each other, but the feeling of scarcity isn’t good for anyone’s creativity. I think we need deep change, a whole new paradigm, to be truly inclusive of the range of voices out there, and I have no idea what that paradigm, (or paradigms) might look like.
But here’s where the numbers come in. If we have more writers, we have more people who make it their business to put into the world what’s never been there before. On the SEEDS weekend, instead of offering coaching on how people can fit into the increasingly narrow literary world, we set aside times for both audience members and presenters just to talk about ideas, create alliances and collaborations, find like-minded people. Here was the question we invited everyone to contemplate:
How can we make more space for ourselves and each other?
We didn’t solve everything in one weekend but we did … sow some seeds. And we’ll keep talking.
Spreading the word for the festival.
Quite a few folks, myself included, are retreating from social media these days – and I for one have noticed that it’s harder to find out about events like this one than it used to be. For a while there were newspaper listings and list-servs, and then suddenly there was Twitter and there was Instagram and there was facebook. Individuals and small series came to depend on social media to get the word out for their events. Another goal of this weekend was to nurture webs of communication not necessarily instead of social media, but alongside it.
We decided to rely on our email list and word of mouth to get the word out. INKspire also donated the support of their communications team. We used a mixture of channels, with a heavy emphasis on word-of-mouth, and we had a full house for both days. It can be done!
I hope we continue to build and strengthen these networks going forward.
And finally, the pictures.
Many thanks to our wonderful colleague Priya Ramsingh for taking photographs of the live Draft event at East End Arts, February 22.
Here is a slideshow.
Draft is back! Join us for the Seeds festival, February 21 & 22, 2026
Whether travelling, germinating or lying dormant, seeds embody possibility. On the weekend of February 21-22, 2026, the Draft Reading Series will invite writers to meditate on the metaphorical and physical seeds that animate their lives. We will host almost fifty emerging and established writers, sharing new and unpublished work on the theme of Seeds. Scroll down to the bottom of this message for a full list and schedule.
DATES AND TIMES
Saturday, February 21: 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on ZOOM
Sunday, February 22 : 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. IN PERSON: St. Matthew Clubhouse, 450 Broadview, Toronto.
WHO’S READING?
See the list below.
Watch this space for more information, and/or register for the festival to receive updates.
HOW DO I REGISTER?
Registration for the festival is closed. Please email us to join a waiting list. Attendance is free!
OTHER EXCITING ACTIVITIES THAT WEEKEND
The festival will include scheduled readings as well as “cross-pollination” sessions for community building. Instead of offering advice on how to fit into a crowded marketplace, we invite participants to find ways of making more space, for themselves and each other. Presenters and audience members are welcome to participate. We will host breakout rooms in our Zoom sessions and designate an area of the St. Matthew’s clubhouse venue for people to gather if they are looking for members of a writing group. Our mix-and-mingle sessions will be a good place to meet collaborators to set up publishing ventures, help each other with promotion, or just share ideas and brainstorm. We look forward to spreading the seeds of community. The sessions are listed in the schedule.
At our live session on Sunday, we will hold a Town Hall moderated by Bänoo Zan on censorship of political writing. She has also created a list of good sources of information regarding Iran.
EXCITING COLLABORATION
We are honoured this year to be joined by five fellows from the INKspire Writer Fellowship Program. It’s a free, year-long program designed to support and develop emerging women writers (aged 18-24). This program offers a structured opportunity to gain hands-on publishing experience, build a professional writing portfolio, and engage with Toronto’s literary community through mentorship, workshops, and collaborative projects.
VENUE AND ACCESS
We’ll be hosting the live festival day at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, the home of East End Arts. We have been collaborating for years with this wonderful organization, which hosts a variety of programs serving east Toronto communities. The facility includes an access ramp, power doors and one accessible washroom. The venue is located on the edge of a park, allowing time out in nature for anyone who needs a break from the stimulation of the event. The venue is bright, and we have a good sound system. Celiac-safe, nut and shellfish options will be available for lunch, as well as vegan and vegetarian options. No pork will be served.
QUESTIONS?
Please contact us: draftreadings at gmail
SCHEDULE
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21 ON ZOOM
11 to 12:30
Introductory remarks
READINGS BY
Sonja Boon
Ellen Chang-Richardson
Carol Duncan
MA|DE
Rebecca Rosenblum
Niloufar-Lily Soltani
Gordon Taylor
H. Nigel Thomas
Fereshteh Molavi
1:00 to 2:00
Community-building session #1
— Finding people to join a writing group
— Mix and mingle
2:30 to 4 p.m.
READINGS BY
Christopher Canniff
Arundhati Dhara
Kyraan Gabourel
Nora Gold
Cornelia Hoogland
Yolande House
Marcia Johnson
Diana Manole
Christine Mazumdar
Saeideh Mohajer
Pamela Mordecai
Veronique Synnott
4:30 to 5:30
— Finding people to join a writing group
— Mix and mingle
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 22 IN PERSON
11 to 12 p.m.
Opening Remarks
READINGS BY INKSPIRE FELLOWS
Hana Greenberg
Samantha Ti
Yulia Gulyaeva
Sandini Kodikara
Angela Zhang
Vivian Zhi
12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
— Finding people to join a writing group
— Mix and mingle
2:00 to 3:30
READINGS BY
Hannah Brown
Jacquie Buncel
Kern Carter
Hardish K. Dhaliwal
Puneet Dutt
Salma Hussain
Hannah Lee
Brooke Lockyer
Karen Mulhallen
Priya Ramsingh
3:30 to 4:30
Bänoo Zan
Reading segues into Community-building session #4
This will be a Town-Hall style discussion. You are invited to bring your questions, concerns and personal stories regarding censorship of political writing. You’re also welcome to be there just to listen and learn.
4:30 to 6:00
READINGS BY
Leah Bobet
Terri Favro and Ron Edding
Carole Giangrande
Roger Greenwald
Judy Holm
Lesley Krueger
Maria Meindl
Noreen Shanahan
Chyx Xyng
Draft Pop-up May 7th, 2025 in Toronto
The Draft Reading Series is at it again … offering a space for writers to share new and unpublished work with a sympathetic audience. Look below the picture for the amazing lineup and other details.
Please join us for a pop-up reading in Toronto’s Noonan’s Pub, 141 Danforth. starting at 7:00 p.m. Payment is pass-the-hat with all proceeds going to the authors.
There will be something for everyone. Please look below the picture for a full schedule.
Many thanks to Ron Edding for creating this beautiful image to celebrate the event.
Who’s reading?
7: 00 to 7:30 Introductions and SET 1
Gail Benick
Leah Bobet
Marusya Bociurkiw
Allan Briesmaster
Kadir Buvan
Mini-break
7:35 to 8:00 Set 2
Hardish K. Dhaliwal
Carol Duncan
Terri Favro/Ron Edding
Alison Gadsby
Emily Gillespie
Mini-break
8:05 to 8:30 Set 3
Judy Holm
Salma Hussain
Marcia Johnson
Aparna Kaji Shah
Lesley Krueger
8:30 TO 8:50 LONGER BREAK
8:50 to 9:15 Set 4
Hannah Lee
Brooke Lockyer
Diana Manole
Daniel Perry
Carrie Schiffler
Mini-break
9:20 to 9:50 Set 5
Josée Sigouin
Elana Wolff
Bänoo Zan
Maria Meindl
We’re aware some people will be coming and going during the evening, and that’s why we need to stay on track with the time. Please use the breaks to make entrances and exits.
Accessibility:
Noonan’s pub is at ground level, and washrooms are on the ground floor. For anyone who needs a wheel-chair accessible washroom, three local businesses have partnered with us to offer their facilities. We’re very happy to provide more information at draftreadings at gmail dot com
Open mic for Draft Season 19: An Archive of Care
For the only time in almost twenty years of programming, we actually recorded a reading!
This was the open mic at the very end of our marvellous weekend festival: An Archive of Care, November 22-24, 2024.
The video below shows emerging and established writers sharing work-in-progress on the topic of Care.
Here’s the lineup with approximate timings
4:00 SET 1
Viola Tian, Kate Duncan, Priya Ramsingh, Penny Winestock, Lynn Tait
19:00 SET 2
Hannah Brown, Yolande House, Justin Ancheta, Kadir Buvan, Melanie Margel
30:00 SET 3
Ornella Mutonji (NOT RECORDED), Hannah Lee (NOT RECORDED), Saroo Sharda , Rachel Fulford, Carrie Schiffler
51:00 SET 4
Alexia Cousineau, Carol Duncan (NO RECORDING), Samantha Jones, Hardish K. Dhaliwal
Big thanks to Toronto Arts Council and our generous audiences for supporting this event.
An Archive of Care, November 22-24, 2024
The the image depicts the trunk and roots of a tree.
Many thanks to Ron Edding for this beautiful flyer design.
DRAFT READING SERIES PRESENTS:
An Archive of Care
November 22-24, 2024
Entirely on Zoom.
What traces does care leave behind? Texts, images, scars, tears, belly-laughs, rituals, memories? For its 19th season, the Draft reading series has condensed our programming into a single weekend. Curators Kern Carter, Therese Estacion and Tyler Pennock have invited a stunning collection of authors to commemorate acts of care: giving and receiving, chosen or imposed, private, public or something in between.
Over the course of a weekend (November 22 to 24, 2024) we will host six readings, including 30+ participants, with more news still to come.
The final reading of the weekend (Sunday, November 24th) will be an open mic with contributions from audience members and participants. A condensed version of the schedule is below. A detailed version is available here.
To register, please use this form:
https://forms.gle/Fc8o9oXJZz2pf1HV7
Having trouble? Please contact us at draftreadings at gmail dot com
We welcome your donations by e-transfer at draftseriescollective at gmail dot com
Suggested amount: $10-$30.
If times are tight for you, please attend as our honoured guest.
We are grateful for the support of the Toronto Arts Council and our generous audiences.
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
DAY 1
Friday November 22
7 TO 9 P.M. E.S.T.
Curated by Tyler Pennock
Readings by Britta B., Qurat Dar, Yasmin Said, Tyler Pennock, and Veronique Synnott
DAY 2
Saturday November 23
1:30 TO 3:30 P.M. E.S.T.
A pop-reading by members of the Draft community. Brief readings by:
Leah Bobet, Hardish K. Dhaliwal, Carol Duncan, Kyraan Gabourel
Marcia Johnson, Jill Jorgenson, Brooke Lockyer, Christine Mazumdar,
Miranda Newman, Nicholas Power, Kamila Rina, Lana Starchuck
Thom Vernon, Myna Wallin, Kathleen Whelan Jia Qing Wilson-Yang, Maria Meindl
Here’s a detailed schedule with exact times.
4 TO 6 P.M. E.S.T.
Curated by Kern Carter
Readings by Kern Carter, George Elliott Clarke, Nadia Hohn, Khwahish Khan, Hanna Komar, and Brandon Reid
7 TO 9 P.M. E.S.T.
Readings by Ronna Bloom, Arundhati Dhara, Louie Leyson, and Tolu Oloruntoba
DAY 3
Sunday November 24
1:30 TO 3:30 P.M. E.S.T.
Curated by Therese Estacion
Readings by, Latif Askia Ba, Jody Chan, Therese Estacion, Kyla Jamieson, and Fareh Malik
4 to 6 P.M. E.S.T.
Open mic
Readings by any participants and audience members who want to share new work.
Announcing: Season 19 of Draft
What traces does care leave behind?
Texts, images, scars, tears, belly-laughs, rituals, memories?
For its 19th season, the Draft reading series invites participants to commemorate acts of care, giving and receiving, chosen or imposed, private, public or something in between.
This year, we’re condensing our season into a festival, November 22 to 24, 2024. In collaboration with curators Kern Carter, Therese Estacion, and Tyler Pennock and we will be hosting a series of readings in the course of the weekend. The festival will be presented virtually, so you can enjoy it from wherever you are.
The full lineup will be announced soon, along with ticket-sale information and news about how to participate.
Our very popular “pop-up” readings will also continue throughout the coming year. Stay tuned.
A big thanks to the Toronto Arts Council for funding the festival!
Well, that was amazing. May 6 recap
Draft presented an amazing evening of sharing works-in-progress!
And the virtual book table is still open.
Please join us Monday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom for a spring pop-up reading
Draft is alive and well and planning something fun. Join us for a Zoom pop-up reading, a Spring extravaganza with 21 writers sharing work-in-progress.
Monday, May 6th from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Please register on eventbrite. All proceeds go to the writers.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/879665251447?aff=oddtdtcreator
This is going to be an epic reading. We’d love it if you could stay for the whole thing, but life is full and we understand that not everyone can.
If you need to sign in and out, please do so in the breaks between sets.
Look forward to seeing you there!
HOUR #1 : 6 :30 to 7:20
HOUR #2: 7:30 to 8:20
HOUR #3: 8:30-9:20
Don’t miss the last edition of Draft for 2023
Please join us at 3 p.m. EST. Sunday, November 26 2023 for a wonderful afternoon of work-in-progress curated by Lillian Allen.
This is the fourth in our Mixed Tongues season featuring work-in-progress which contemplates language(s). Mixed Tongues will be a hybrid, lexical, aural experience that builds bridges between Canada’s multilingual literary communities. Our goal is to stretch our minds and hearts by hearing other perspectives and various iterations of human expression.
The authors are Lillian Allen (curator), Kyo D’Assassin, Kandace Walker, Blaine Thornton and Jennifer Kasiama. For more information, see below.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council as well as to our generous audiences, for funding this reading.
EVEN THOUGH THE EVENT IS TITLED “ONLINE” THIS IS A HYBRID READING
Please register here.
A limited number of tickets are available for those who wish to attend in person at the St. Matthew Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Ave. Those who register for the in-person event will also receive the Zoom link. If you feel unwell, please attend on Zoom.
For the sake of accessibility, masks are strongly encouraged at the in-person event. Tap-water is available for you to fill your own water-bottle if you bring one. Thank you so much for helping make Draft a welcoming space for everyone!
The 7th Poet Laureate of Toronto, Lillian Allen is a professor of creative writing at Ontario College of Art and Design University. An activist and lecturer, she is also a two-time JUNO Award winner and trailblazer in the field of spoken word and dub poetry, Allen artistically explores the aesthetics of old and new sounds in music to create her distinctive leading edge brand of Canadian reggae with new world sounds in her poetry recordings. Her powerful reggae dub poetry/spoken word recordings include her latest single Woken & Unbroken (2018) and her album ANXIETY (2012), among many others.
Allen’s debut book of poetry, Rhythm An’ Hardtimes became a Canadian best seller, blazing new trails for poetic expression and opened up the form. Her latest collection Make the World New: The Poetry of Lillian Allen, was published in Spring 2021 as part of the Laurier Poetry Series. Her other collections, Women Do This Everyday and Psychic Unrest are studied across the educational spectrum. Her writings for young people include three books: Why Me, If You See Truth, and Nothing But a Hero.
Allen, who grew up in Jamaica, moved with her family as a teenager, studying in New York and Toronto. Founder of the Toronto International Dub Poetry Festival and a variety of cultural organizations such as Fresh Arts that empower youth, Allen has spent over three decades writing, publishing, performing and doing workshop presentations of her work to audiences around the globe.
Kyraan Gabourel/Kyo D’Assassin is an Entrepreneur, author and Spokenword Poet (1991). He is the co-author of the book + DVD, ‘We Gat Sonting Fu Seh’ (2013) and has won numerous national poetry contests. Gabourel has participated in international poetry festivals and readings such as: II Encuentro de Poesia de San Salvador (2020) in El Salvador, XIII Encuentro Internacional Poesia Migrantes (2020) in Mexico, XV and XVII Festival Internacional de Poesía de Quetzaltenango (FIPQ, 2019 & 2021) in Guatemala and III Festival Internacional de Poesía Los Confines (FIPLC, 2019) in Honduras.
He has been featured in the art e-magazine series, Voces Insurgentes (2021) and Revista Kametsa (2021) and has also published in various anthologies in Belize and internationally. Kyraan is the co-owner of Kyo’s Internet, Stationery, and Books. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Galen University. He resides in Belize City where he is currently working on his forthcoming anthology of poems.
Jennifer Kasiama (she/her) is a contemporary poet/writer currently enrolled in the Creative Writing Program at OCADU. The themes that frequent her work are healing, beauty, and aesthetics, with an emphasis on carving out space for Black communities. Jennifer wants to dedicate her practice to uplifting herself and the people around her and hopes she accomplishes that through her work. Jennifer’s poetry was featured in Dreams in Vantablack, a poetry series that is currently streaming on CBC Gem. The project features Black youth poets and artists expressing themselves through words and animation. She was also a participant in the Brickyard Mentorship program as a youth poet in 2021-2022. Her work has also been featured in publications such as NarCity Media and Puritan Magazine.
Blaine Thornton (they/them) is a non-binary community-based writer from Sudbury, Ontario. Their book, Here’s To Letting Go, was awarded the 2023 OCAD U Medal for Creative Writing. They are interested in how writing can be used as a tool for self-healing and creating vibrant artistic spaces for people to experiment in. During their degree, Blaine was the Managing Editor for the first edition of Pulse Literary Journal, and co-host of Friday Night on the Mic. They facilitate workshops surrounding how writing can be used to heal.
Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and poet of Jamaican-Canadian, Saltwater Geechee and Welsh heritage.She writes fiction, poetry and non-fiction, and creates moving image and installation works. She is the author of Kaleido, published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. Her debut collection Cowboy was published by CHEERIO in 2023. In 2021, she was the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and the winner of The White Review Poet’s Prize. In 2019, she won the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize. Kandace Siobhan Walker’s ‘Everything I Will Give You‘ can be viewed on the Parthian Books YouTube channel and ‘Notes on Dreaming as Praxis‘ can be viewed on Peak Cymru.