Category Archives: NOW HEAR THIS! News

Hope to see you at the DESCANT/NHT! Winter Party!

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NOW HEAR THIS! and Descant are celebrating the holidays in style with our second annual Holiday Extravaganza. The festivities take place Wednesday, December 8 at the Free Times Cafe, Toronto, 7- 10 P.M.

All the cards are out for this party! There will be free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, plus we’ll be having our ever-exciting book raffle. And to switch it up, we’ll be ushering in an evening of special musical guests.

Come out and support NOW HEAR THIS! and Descant at the year-end bash. What else could you ask for this holiday season?

Please R.S.V.P. at the Facebook event page by clicking click here

See you there!

HEAR/HEAR Reading Series – Wednesday August 11

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Free Times Cafe (320 College Street, west of Spadina)

Doors at 6:30PM; Readings at 7PM
FREE/ALL AGES

Featuring Readings by:
Devon CODE
Colin FRIZZELL
Paul VERMEERSCH

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Following the outstanding success of HEAR/HEAR #7, we’re getting ready to do it all again!

On Wednesday, August 11, NOW HEAR THIS! will be hosting an evening of readings and late summer celebration at the Free Times Cafe (320 College street). Taking the stage this time will be Writers-in-Residence Devon Code and Colin Frizzell, along with NHT! alumnus Paul Vermeersch. To learn more about these talented writers, just click on their names!

The HEAR/HEAR Reading Series is our way of saying thank you to the amazing Writers-in-Residence who have worked so hard to promote literacy and creativity in Toronto schools — not to mention, it’s a great way for you to experience new, experimental, and downright fantastic writing! Be sure to come out and support the people who have made the S.W.A.T. Program such a success.

We hope to see you there! Readings start at 7 — show up a little earlier for dinner and drinks from the Free Times’ menu.

For more information, check out the NHT! website.

HEAR/HEAR Reading Series – Wed Jun 09!

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HEAR/HEAR Reading Series

Wednesday, June 09 (doors at 6:30pm, readings at 7pm)

@ The Free Times Cafe (320 College St.)

Featured Readings by:
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Elisabeth de Mariaffi
Angela Szczepaniak
Natalie Zina Walschots

Next week, join Descant and NOW HEAR THIS! for a celebration of literacy and fantastic writing!

This year’s second installment of the HEAR/HEAR Reading Series is happening on Wednesday, June 09 at the Free Times Cafe (320 College St). This FREE, ALL AGES event will showcase talented local authors who have been working to promote literacy and creativity to the youth of Toronto through their involvement with NOW HEAR THIS!

Featured readers at this event will be Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Angela Szczepaniak and Natalie Zina Walschots. All three of these talented writers served as Writers-in-Residence with NOW HEAR THIS!’s Students, Writers and Teaches (S.W.A.T.) program; you can learn more about them and their experiences with S.W.A.T. by clicking on their names!

These writers have worked hard to make S.W.A.T. a success — help us to support them back by coming out to hear them read from their fantastic new works! Show up early for dinner and drinks from the Free Times Cafe’s menu — and stay for a special door prize give-away sponsored by This Ain’t the Rosedale Library.

MORE INFO:
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nowhearthis.ca

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You’ve heard us talk about NOW HEAR THIS!, the literacy outreach program administered by the Descant Arts & Letters Foundation, before. The program connects professional authors with community groups, students and aspiring writers in order to promote Canadian literature and encourage self-expression, critical thinking and empowerment through literacy education.

All throughout the fourth year of the S.W.A.T. (Students, Writers and Teachers) Creative Residencies Program (which has been running in TCDSB classrooms from February to May), NHT! has been interviewing their writers-in-residence team to give us a chance to get to know their talented writers.

Below, we’ve pulled the interview links from the NHT! blog to share with you here: just click on the names to read up on the inspirations and events that led these writers to NHT! today:

Devon Code

Desi Di Nardo

Colin Frizzell

Larry Frolick

Adrienne Gruber

Nic Labriola

Elisabeth de Mariaffi

Rebecca Rosenblum

Angela Szczepaniak

Julia Tausch

Aaron Tucker

Natalie Zina Walschots

To find out more information on Now Hear This! The official website is linked here —

http://www.nowhearthis.ca/

HEAR/HEAR Reading Series – Wed Apr 21!

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HEAR/HEAR Reading Series

Wednesday, April 21 (doors at 6:30pm, readings at 7pm)

@ The Free Times Cafe (320 College St.)

Descant excitedly invites you to HEAR/HEAR Reading Series! For its first installment of the year, NOW HEAR THIS! Toronto’s arts-based literacy organization is bringing the community together for an ALL AGES Reading Series to celebrate writers getting involved with youth and encourage the support of local authors right here in Toronto.

On Wednesday, April 21st at 7pm NOW HEAR THIS! will be showcasing their extremely talented Writers-in-Residence. Featured writers include: Andrew Daley, Adrienne Gruber, Rebecca Rosenblum and Julia Tausch who will be sharing their evening with the community reading exciting new works. This event will be held at The Free Times Cafe located at 320 College St. A comfortable new dig for the HEAR/HEAR readings; the cafe promotes music and art in a cozy atmosphere for friends and artists to share their passions.

Help us celebrate with NHT! and start the new season in support of their upcoming projects and literacy program. Feel free to come a little early for dinner and drinks! Also featuring a special door prize give-away sponsored by This Ain’t the Rosedale Library, you won’t want to miss out – we know Descant won’t!
Please visit:
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nowhearthis.ca
hear-hear.ca

NOW HEAR THIS! The Barracuda Launch

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010 / 7-9pm
The Gardiner Museum, Terrace Room (111 Queen’s Park, Toronto)
FREE

Descant is excited to announce that our outreach program, NOW HEAR THIS!, will be launching it’s newest anthology, The Barracuda! This 2-colour, book-length anthology contains the best student writing from NHT!’s 2009 S.W.A.T. (Students, Writers & Teachers) creative writing workshops, which partner professional Toronto writers with youth around the city. The Barracuda showcases student written stories, poems and personal essays, along with creative pieces from S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence Andrew Daley, Desi Di Nardo, Larry Frolick, Rebecca Rosenblum, Jenny Sampirisi, Julia Tausch and Aaron Tucker. Gorgeous illustrations therein are provided by Toronto artist/cartoonist Marc Ngui.

This launch promises to be NHT!‘s biggest event of the year, featuring readings by students and S.W.A.T. Writers-in-Residence, food, and friends. Be sure you don’t miss it!

RSVP to the Facebook event HERE!

Last Minute Gift Ideas from DESCANT!

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Season’s Greetings, friends of Descant.

It’s the time of year when gift-giving is on everyone’s mind and Descant is pleased to bring you some last minute ideas to help satisfy the tastes of everyone on your list. Visit our Special Merchandise Paypal page now: http://www.descant.ca/purchase.html

Want to share the good stuff Descant has done in 2009? Our 4-issue Holiday Gift Bundle includes the four most recent issues of Descant — a $60 value — for only $25.

We also offer 2009 releases by several key Descant-eers: editor-in-chief Karen Mulhallen’s  Acquainted with Absence. Selected Poems is available for $26; managing editor Mark Laliberte’s latest poetry chapbook, Suture Series Fragment A: It looked like rain. is available for $6; Descant co-editor Michelle Alfano’s Made Up of Arias is available for $21.

Finally, you can stock up on products from Descant’s outreach project, NOW HEAR THIS!, such as our brand new NHT! t-shirt for $22, or The Armadillo, our 2008 NHT! anthology of student writing for $15.

Shipping costs are already included in the sale price of all the products featured in our store; order by December 11 (within Canada) to ensure delivery by Christmas!

From all of us at Descant, we wish you a wonderful holiday season!

NOW HEAR THIS!: you’re invited to a Holiday Celebration Extravaganza

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Mark your mid-week calendars! DESCANT invites you to make merry with us this Wednesday, December 9 at the Free Times Cafe.  Join us for a Holiday Celebration Extravaganza hosted by our NOW HEAR THIS! office and enjoy a unique twist on the NHT! reading series.

Warm up with food and drink (on us!), and settle in for an evening of performances that will blend the literary with the musical. Two of our WRITE ON! writers (aka Juno Award winning singer-songwriter, Joseph Maviglia, and  Chris Eaton – the lead vocalist, guitar and banjo player for Rock Plaza Central) will take the stage, instruments in hand, to set their words to music and demonstrate the spectrum of their skills.

This is also your chance to check out the latest projects emerging from the NHT! office (think buttons, t-shirts and more!) and to put yourself in the running for free books, generously donated by This Ain’t The Rosedale Library.

Help us celebrate the end of 2009 and a very successful season for the NHT! program – we look forward to seeing you there!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 / 7pm-9pm
The Free Times Cafe
320 College Street

Hear/Hear #4 next week!

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Wednesday, October 21st
Free Times Cafe
Doors open @ 6pm, readings @ 7pm
FREE!

Join NOW HEAR THIS! at the Free Times Cafe for another set of readings by our Writers-in-Residence. This time, Desi Di Nardo, Larry Frolick, and Mary-Lou Zeitoun will share their new work with an audience of all ages. Check out a sampling of Hear/Hear#3 on the NHT! podcast. Continue reading

NOW HEAR THIS! Presents the HEAR/HEAR Reading Series, Part Three

Descants outreach program, NOW HEAR THIS!, is proud to introduce the third installment of the HEAR/HEAR reading series. The event takes place on Wednesday, August 19th, at the Free Times Cafe (320 College Street, 2 blocks west of Spadina). This FREE, ALL-AGES show will begin at 6 p.m.

This month’s lineup features NHT! Writers-in-Residence Rebecca Rosenblum, Mariko Tamaki, Andrew Daley, and Colin Frizzell.

We hope you’ll join us.

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