You are invited to come and celebrate with us for the Launch of DESCANT 153: Exploring Descant in Past, Present, and Future.
Featured readers for the evening include:
bill bissett
K.V. Skene
Pasha Malla
Steven Heighton
Barbara Schott
and many others.
So come out and enjoy some light food and a cash bar. Tickets are only $10
Time: Wednesday, June 29th ~ 7:30pm
Location: Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON)
Many years ago, Descant discussed an issue centered on Toronto’s buried waterways. We began with Taddle Creek, and then Garrison Creek, a 12,000-year-old stream that was “buried” beneath the city’s downtown streets nearly a century ago, but which can still be glimpsed, whether trickling beneath a sewer grate or rushing through the city’s imagination. Toronto’s creeks are the progenitors of The Hidden City, an issue dedicated to that which escapes first notice in the world’s myriad urban landscapes. From buried rivers to underground habitats to the city’s silent/silenced citizens to the city transformed by darkness, we want your best creative work on the creatures, geographies, and societies that elude our surface experience. What do we cover over? What escapes us? What have we forgotten or missed? The Hidden City wants you to show us the unexamined corners of the world’s living cities.
Posted in Call For Submissions, General
In Indian cooking, masala is a delicate and savoury fusion of spices that changes from region to region. So the peoples of India, scattered throughout the world today, display a fusion of cultures and histories. Descant is looking for the stories of the Indian Diaspora, its triumphs and its tragedies. Essays, poems, fictions, memoirs, and art work which show the ways in which the Indian peoples connect with one another worldwide and also differentiate themselves from and yet are still linked to modern India.
Submission deadline for this issue: August 15th 2012
Posted in Call For Submissions, General
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Descant extends a warm welcome to Jacob Scheier, a new member of the NHT! family.
A Toronto poet and journalist, Jacob’s debut poetry collection, More to Keep us Warm (ECW Press, 2007), won the 2008 Governor General’s Award. The book was also named amongst 2008’s “best in verse” by The Winnipeg Free Press and has received praise from Canadian Literature, Matrix and Prairie Fire.
Jacob’s poems have appeared in several periodicals in North America, including Geist and Descant, as well as being aired on CBC radio and adapted for a modern dance performance at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto. He has read his poems at venues across North America, including the International Festival of Authors in Toronto and the Word for Word poetry series at Bryant Park in New York City, and he is the Former co-editor-in-chief of existere, York University’s journal of art and literature. His articles and editorials frequently appear in Toronto’s NOW Magazine, and in 2009 he co-won a New York Community Media Alliance award for best feature article in an independent publication. Currently, Jacob teaches the innovative course “Writing Creatively About Grief” at Ryerson’s University’s Chang School of Continuing Education.
Jacob is the newest member of NHT!’s administrative team, where he is focusing on fund-raising and community outreach for the WRITE ON! Workshops Program. He is also one of the latest writer-in-residences for Descant’s S.W.A.T program.
For further information about Jacob, click here: http://www.jacobscheier.com/index.html
Posted in General
This free event is open to the general public and we encourage the entire Descant community to attend! Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres
will be served and a cash bar available.
Descant will present the 2011 Winston Collins Prize for Best Canadian Poem, celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. The prize commemorates the life of Winston Collins, a writer and enthusiastic teacher of literature at the universities of Cincinnati, Princeton and Toronto. The annual prize perpetuates his remarkable talent for encouraging self-expression through writing. The winner receives $1,000 in prize money, and two honourary mentions receive $250 each. They will be chosen by this year’s judges, writers Heather O’Neill and Michael Winters, from 100 submissions that Descant received from poets across Canada.
Please come join us in celebrating this exciting event! Readings and the presentation of the Collins Prize winner and runners-up will be featured.
For more information about the prize and event, visit:
http://descant.ca/contest.html
Come join us for the Descant 151/Winter Reader Launch!
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011/ 7:30pm
Supermarket
268 Augusta Ave., Toronto
Descant is proud to announce the arrival of its winter 2010 issue, Descant 151/ Winter Reader, an eclectic ensemble of intriguing memoirs, a discerning essay, witty poetry, captivating fiction, and amazing artwork from some new and established talent in and outside of Canada. Held at Supermarket in Kensington Market, the night will be filled with food and drink, as well as readings from our D151 contributors: Giovanna Riccio, Linda Woolven, R. Brian Rigg and Elisabeth de Mariaffi.
Winter is a mixed season. Themes tend to vary from happy holidays with the warmth of loved ones gathered and fires roaring, to snow and ice, short days and long nights, and death. Poems like “Christmas Cacti” by Joan Crate and “Night” by Linda Woolven explore the various colours of winter, from the grays and silvers outside to the reds and golds inside. This season is also a time to reflect. With the lack of sunlight and warmth, it is only natural we are reminded of death. Touching memoirs by Brian Fawcett and William Kaplan reflect on Decembers past, the people they have lost, and what those people meant to them. But not all is dark and dreary: the approaching New Year brings hope for the future and the feeling of a fresh start. In this issue of Descant, we are reminded that it is just as important to look back as it is to look forward.
Don’t miss this important event!
You can catch a sneak preview of D151: Winter Reader, on our website.
Attention writers: the deadline for our two upcoming themed issues — BOSNIA, BETWEEN LOSS AND RECOVERY and RENOVATIONS — is March 15, 2011. We are requesting submissions of unpublished fiction, poetry, essays and photography.
BOSNIA, BETWEEN LOSS AND RECOVERY, will be released in Fall 2012 as Descant 158, under the supervision of our wonderful guest editor, Amila Buturovic.
RENOVATIONS, with the guidance of guest editors Scott McIntyre and Rebecca Payne, will be the 159th issue of Descant. It is planned for release in the Winter of 2012.
For submission guidelines, visit: descant.ca/submit.html
Any question about submissions can be directed to: info@descant.ca
Posted in Call For Submissions, General
It’s been a full year for Descant Managing Editor and Designer Mark Laliberte.
Earlier in the year, his book project BRICKBRICKBRICK was released by BookThug (click HERE for info); and now, Koyama Press has just released GREY SUPREME 1, the first issue in his new series. A full-colour, print-based “project platform”, GREY SUPREME is a way to collect Laliberte’s various experiments with image, text and hybrid forms. Exploration is a key to the series, which is intended to appear on a yearly basis: a different visual strategy will be employed for every new work — roughly 2 per issue — presented as open-ended studies.
For a sneak peek, click HERE
To visit his personal website, click HERE
Posted in Authors, Descant News, General, New Releases
The team at Descant has been working hard to assemble our Winter Reader (Issue 151), the publication of which we are awaiting with anticipation. While there are many integral players at Descant, today we’d like to introduce Kathleen Painter, the issue’s production editor. To learn more about Kathleen, read on!
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DESCANT: What brought you to Descant? What is your role at the magazine?
Kathleen: I’m currently working as the Production Editor for Descant’s Winter Reader, Issue 151. I had discovered Descant a few years back when there was a themed call for their Cats issue (I’m a big cat person). I was just starting out in the Publishing program at Ryerson at that time. Two years later I finished at Ryerson and began looking for internships. When I saw Descant was hiring, I knew I had to put my name in the hat.
D: When you’re not helping out on new issues of Descant, how do you fill your time? Tell us a little about yourself.
K: Well, at this stage in my life, I’m really focused on getting industry experience in Publishing. I knew going into this internship at Descant that it would only be four months so lately I’ve been spending my time looking for work to do when my time is done at Descant. When I’m in need of a break from that I like to seek out new places to go to in the city or events – anything to get me up on my feet and out of the house.
D: Tell us about your creative life. Any current or forthcoming projects?
K: I’m currently volunteering on another editorial project for my local Parish. It’s the church’s 60th anniversary next year and we’re putting together a booklet on the church’s history. I’m in charge of editing and layout. I get to use all the skills I’m learning at this internship. The booklet will be ready for print by next summer.
D: Could you share with us a little about your creative process?
K: Lots of read-throughs! I tend to zoom in and out a lot. I’ll make editorial changes then step back and read through the whole paragraph again and make sure everything makes sense and flows nicely as an entire body of work and not just on a sentence-by-sentence level.
D: What would be your ideal theme for a future issue of Descant?
K: I think a themed issue about Toronto would be great; about all the niche places that aren’t regular tourist traps. I like how our city is made up of various neighborhoods such as Kensington Market, Chinatown, Little Italy, Cabbagetown, Forest Hill, etc., and stories that feature these not-so-well-known streets and corners of the city would be fun to read.
D: What kind of submissions would you like to see more of coming in to the journal?
K: With this issue I’m working on, we have three memoir pieces which I’ve really enjoyed reading. I’d love to see more of those.
D: What are you reading/ watching/ listening to at the moment? Tell us about it.
K: I’m always watching animation shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy and South Park. I love anything with satire. I can’t stand most reality shows or dramas. But when I get sick of TV I love turning to a good book. I mainly read fiction. I’ve read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged twice now, but I also love Victorian murder mystery/thrillers like The Meaning of Night, or long journey/road trip stories like Life of Pi. As for my music choices, I’ve never defined myself as a listener of a particular genre; I like almost any kind of music.
D: Which blogs or websites are you faithful to these days? What’s the appeal?
K: Actually, I’m quite unfaithful when it comes to blogs and websites (shhh, don’t tell the others!). I like discovering and exploring new things on the web. I do refer often to ‘blogto’ for Toronto hotspots and happenings. I also frequent ‘surfthechannel.com’ for TV shows and movies to watch. And I’m always reading up on books at Chapters/Indigo or amazon.ca.
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For more on Descant 151: Winter Reader, check out the sneak preview: here
Posted in General
Tomorrow night is Nuit Blanche!
On Saturday, October 2 from sunset until sunrise, downtown Toronto will be transformed by artists. Chart a course for yourself to take in contemporary art across the city — and be sure to include this as a stop on your list: False Kraftwerk, a multi-layered, experimental performance art piece courtesy of Descant‘s own Managing Editor, Mark Laliberte!
Click here for more details about False Kraftwerk!
To plan the rest of your night, you can visit the Nuit Blanche website.
