@N@f@N@ presents...Poetry Night

Saturday January 31, 8pm (party until 2am) please come by @N@f@N@, 193A Augusta Ave, Kensington Market, for a very special poetry night featuring

Alannah Myles (Black Velvet, yes, that Alannah Myles)
Joshua Bartholomew
Bruce Hunter
Robert Priest
Deanna Prall
Daniela Godina
Myna Wallin
Carla Hartsfield
Jason Walters
Holden Levack
Tom Fischer
Nik Beat with members of Tyranny of Love

$10 for 12 poets PLUS:
Non-alcoholic refreshments
AND
Vegan catering by Miss Cora's Kitchen

A very special event and very very limited seating capacity. Please email nikbeatmb@yahoo.com 416-698-6188
or call Anand 416-835-0061

Go to ONOFONO's Facebook page for more info: http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=37801859865

@N@f@N@ presents...Breath and Motion - Life Drawing

Date:	Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Time:	6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	@N@f@N@ - 193 A Augusta Ave
City/Town:	Toronto, ON

Contact Info

Email:

lifedrawingsession@gmail.com

Description

This is a weekly, drop in, uninstructed life drawing session, beginning Tuesday February 3 and running every Tuesday thereafter from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m.

Please bring anything you require to draw comfortably without an easel, whether it be a sketch book or drawing board to prop on your lap.

It will be a full two hours of drawing with just a few short breaks. The first hour will consist of short poses ranging from 1 to 10 minutes. The second hour will be one or two longer poses. There will be tea and snacks available for your enjoyment!

The cost is a minimum donation of $11 for the evening.

Come enjoy an inviting, relaxed, creative, and artistically inspiring environment with one of Toronto's best, most popular models. Seasoned artist? Come check out the hottest new life drawing session in town. Never drawn before? Come play and get your creative juices flowing!

Proceeds go towards the launch of Picking Stones Productions.

Go to ONOFONO's Facebook page for more info: http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=37801859865

South Asian Heritage Day at the ROM

February 21, 2009

Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery

Join the Friends of South Asia Committee at the Royal Ontario Museum for South Asian Heritage Day on February 21, 2009, a special celebration of the diversity, heritage, history, and culture of South Asia while commemorating the first year anniversary of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery'
Come and feast your senses on a special day of South Asian programming at the ROM featuring fun and interactive children's activities, performances by Sampradaya Dance Creations, Swar Sadhana Music School, and Punjabi Virsa Arts and Culture Academy! A taste of delectable South Asian cuisine will also be on offer at the Food Studio.
All this in addition to the magnificent exhibits ROM has currently on offer, including the Nature of Diamonds, Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC), Light & Stone: Gems from the Collection of Michael Scott, and the ever popular Dinosaur Gallery. More details can be found in the attachment.Buy Your Tickets OnlineUse promo code "SAFUN" before February 21, 2009 to access discounted prices as follows: * Adults $18 (regular $22), Children $11.50 (regular $15), Seniors (65+) / Students (with ID) $14.00 (regular $19): https://websales.omniticket.com/rom/index.cfm * Discounted FSA family membership $169 (regular $189). Please select "Family Membership" in the first screen and "Friends of "South Asia in the second screen: http://www.rom.on.ca/members/index.php?function=client&action=join

Barack Obama's Reading List

• The Bible
• “Parting the Waters,” Taylor Branch
• “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Gandhi’s autobiography
• “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin
• “The Golden Notebook,” Doris Lessing
• Lincoln’s collected writings
• “Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville
• “Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison
• Works of Reinhold Niebuhr
• “Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson
• Shakespeare’s tragedies

Diaspora Dialogues Upcoming Events

Poetry, Prosecco and Pasta
Diaspora Dialogues adds sizzling romantic poetry to Toronto’s WinterCity Festival!

This February at Toronto’s WinterCity Festival, come in from the cold and let Diaspora Dialogues warm you up with a delectable selection of poets reading in English, Italian and French over a delicious three-course meal.

On Thursday February 5 and Thursday February 12, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, Jacob Scheier, Rishma Dunlop, Desi Di Nardo, and Dionne Brand will indulge you with readings and conversation that flow between the three languages. Not to worry if you speak only one – you will be seduced by the universal language of poetry. Passionate words for your soul, and sustenance for your belly – how better to wile away a chilly winter’s night?

WHAT: Poetry, Prosecco & Pasta
WHEN: Thursday, February 5, 7 pm (Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, Jacob Scheier, Rishma Dunlop)
Thursday, February 12, 7 pm (Desi Di Nardo, Rishma Dunlop, Dionne Brand)
WHERE: Grano Restaurant, 2035 Yonge Street (just north of Davisville)
COST: $35 per ticket (includes meal and readings)

For event information or media inquiries, contact Julia Chan:
416-944-1101 x 277 or julia@diasporadialogues.com

To buy tickets, contact Roberto at Grano Restaurant:
416-440-1986 or rdm@grano.ca

Toronto's WinterCity Festival is a signature event produced by the City of Toronto.

***
Biographies

Dionne Brand is a poet, novelist and essayist. Her nine volumes of poetry include Land to Light On, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Poetry and the Trillium Award for Literature. Brand’s thirsty was nominated for the Trillium Prize for Literature, the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Toronto Book Award, and won the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry. Her poetry has been translated into Italian and French. Her 2006 volume of poetry, Inventory was nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Pat Lowther Award for poetry and the Trillium Award for Literature. Her last novel, What We All Long For, was published to great acclaim in Canada, Italy and Germany and won the 2006 Toronto Book Award. Her fiction includes the acclaimed novel In Another Place Not Here (a 1998 New York Times notable book), Sans Souci and Other Stories, and At the Full and Change of the Moon (a Los Angeles Times Notable Book of the Year). Her works of non-fiction include Bread Out Of Stone and A Map to the Door of No Return. In 2006, Brand received the Harbourfront Festival Award. Dionne Brand is also a Professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph.

Pier Giorgio Di Cicco is the author of twenty volumes of poetry and a book of manifestos on creative cities. He was Goggio Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto in 2004 and in that year was appointed Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto. Since then he has become a major speaker and thinker on creative economies and has informed municipal policy on federal and provincial levels. He is an urban consultant and Curator of the Toronto Museum Project and Global Center for Cities and a recipient of a 2007 Canadian Urban Institute Urban Leadership Award. He is on the design team of BMI/Pace Architects/Planners, Principal of The Municipal Mind Consultancy, and an ordained Roman Catholic Priest.

Desi Di Nardo is a poet and author in Toronto whose work has been published in numerous North American and international journals. Her poetry has been performed in Canada's National Arts Centre, featured in Poetry on the Way on the Toronto Transit Commission, selected by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and displayed in the Official Residences of Canada. Di Nardo's poems have also been presented in schools across the country and translated into foreign languages. Her book of poetry is titled The Plural of Some Things. Visit www.desidinardo.com.

Winner of the Emily Dickinson Prize for poetry in 2003, Rishma Dunlop is a Canadian poet, playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. She is the author of four books of poetry: White Album (2008), Metropolis (2005), Reading Like a Girl (2004), and The Body of My Garden (2002). Books as editor include: White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (2007), and Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets (2004). Her radio drama, “The Raj Kumari’s Lullaby,” was produced by CBC Radio. Dunlop’s translations of poems by Cuban poet Maria Elena Cruz Varela are forthcoming in 2009 in an anthology titled Twenty Canadian Poets Take on the World. Her work in progress is a book of translations of the love poems of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. She is a professor of English and Creative Writing at York University.

Jacob Scheier's debut collection More to Keep us Warm (ECW Press) won the 2008 Governor General's Award for English language poetry. His poems have also appeared in several literary journals. Scheier is the former editor of existere, York University's journal of Arts and Literature. He is also a regular contributor to NOW magazine in Toronto and The Indypendent, a progressive New York City newspaper. Scheier is currently living in New York City, working on a collection of poems about his radical Jewish-American heritage.

Articles of interest

The New York Times: 100 Notable Books of 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/books/review/100Notable-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

The New York Times: Young Muslims Build a Subculture on an Underground Book

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/us/23muslim.html

And some humour, forwarded by Bob McArthur, a member of the Diaspora Dialogues advisory council

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901u/reblock-yourself

How Do You Diaspora?

My name is Janice Goveas and I was mentored in Diaspora Dialogues program two years ago as an emerging playwright. I also work in fiction. I moderate the Diaspora Dialogues Facebook group and this blog.

This is how I diaspora-

1. My father is from Pakistan.
2. My mother is from India.
3. I was born in Bahrain, but I don't speak Arabic.
4. The name I use is the name I was given at birth: English first name, Portuguese last name.
5. English is my first language.
6. I have an MA in Spanish Lit, speak Spanish fluently and 'pass' for Latina as often as I can.
7. I also speak French fluently.
8. I speak no South Asian language fluently.
9. I am a total foodie and have no loyalty to any cuisine.
10. I secretly believe that anyone who knows anything about history would rather be descended from India than any other civilization on earth.
11. I have lived in Bahrain, Pakistan, Canada, Spain, Colombia and the United States.
12. I feel most at home when I am by the ocean. Any ocean. Almost anywhere.

How do you diaspora?