THIS WEEK IN TORONTO - NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5

1) A Tribute to Nelson Mandela

Suhanna Meharchand, Andrew Moodie, and M.G. Vassanji read from Mandela’s new memoir, Conversations with Myself.

When: Tuesday November 30, 7pm
Where: Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St (2nd floor)

2) Theatre Direct presents Binti's Journey

A young African girl seeks her grandmother after losing her family to HIV/AIDS

Price: $20 December 1 (World AIDS Day), $10-15 December 4

Where: Wychwood Theatre, 601 Christie Street
When: Wednesday December 1, 7pm
Saturday December 4, 4pm and 7pm

3) Book Launch - Walk Myself Home: An Anthology to End Violence Against Women

Walk Myself Home is an anthology of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and oral interviews that chronicles the ways women experience gendered violence. Edited by Andrea Routley, it contains contributions from both emerging and award-winning authors such as Kate Braid, Yasuko Thanh and Susan Musgrave. Walk Myself Home makes a powerful statement. These women break the silence.

When: Thursday December 2, 7-9pm
Where: Toronto Women's Bookstore, 73 Harbord St

4) Theatre Passe Muraille presents Anusree Roy's Roshni

When: Ongoing, 7:30pm
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue

LYNDA ALLISON: Diaspora Dialogues Emerging Artist in Fiction 2010

I love learning and sharing, and find that writing provides the opportunity to do both. After delving in to explore the causes of tough issues and seeking out solutions, I find myself challenged to write about them. Approaching the issues from various points of view helps me gain perspective. It is my desire to write stories that reveal the difficult places people find themselves in, discover how they got there and share their hopeful futures.

Since I find it difficult to write in isolation, I enjoy writing in community. I suppose that is why Write-Up, my part-time business, is about creating communities in which writers can flourish.

When I am not teaching or writing, I am raising up inter-generational teams who hang out with at risk children, teens and their families. Together we enjoy meals, create art, play sports, explore stories and share life.

I learned of Diaspora Dialogues’ mentorship program through the e-announcements of the Writers’ Community of Durham Region and submitted a short story that explores how a young teen finds herself pregnant and living on the street in Toronto. I was surprised to discover that I had been accepted and paired with mentor, Karen Connolly, a fiction writer who coached me through several revisions. I appreciate the time she spent giving my story a careful reading and providing thoughtful feedback. I trust that what I have learned in the process will help me poignantly share stories that help us gain an understanding into who we are and who we can be.

THIS WEEK IN TORONTO - NOVEMBER 22-28

1) A Drag Cabaret - My Baby's Got a Secret

My Baby's Got a Secret is an 8-week Asian Arts Freedom School Drag, Music, Dance and Theatre Program for youth of colour held at the 519 and at fu-GEN Theatre Company.

Cost: $5-10 Sliding Scale. No one turned away at the door because of lack of funds.

When: Tuesday November 23, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Tallulah's Cabaret, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St

2) Book Lauch of First Wives Club by Lee Maracle

join us for the launch of Lee Maracle's new book

When: Wednesday November 24, 1-2:30pm
Where: Toronto Women's Bookstore, 73 Harbord St

3) How to Attend the Salman Rushdie Event

Salman Rushdie discusses his new book, Luka and the Fire of Life, with author and professor Randy Boyagoda.

When: Wednesday November 24, 7pm
Where: Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St (2nd floor)

4) TSAR Fall Book Launch

Celebrating the 2010 release of A Cycle of the Moon (Uma Parameswaran), Bleeding Light (Sheniz Janmohamed), Echoes from the Other Land (Ava Homa), Jewels and Other Stories (Dawn Promislow), Lives: Whole and Otherwise (H Nigel Thomas), To Love a Palestinian Woman (Ehab Lotayef)

With readings by: Sheniz Janmohamed, Ava Homa, Dawn Promislow (a former DD Emerging Artist in Fiction), and H Nigel Thomas.

When: Wednesday November 24, Doors Open at 7pm
Where: The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W

5) Theatre Passe Muraille presents Anusree Roy's Roshni

Roy plunges us headlong into the story of two fearless youths who work as beggars in a Calcutta train station. As they shine shoes, pick pockets and beg, Chumki dreams of the gift of sight, while King Kumar dreams of stardom.

When: Wednesday November 24 - Ongoing, 7:30pm
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue

RABINDRANATH MAHARAJ: Diaspora Dialogues Mentor in Fiction 2010

In the early 1990s Maharaj immigrated to Canada, and in 1993, he completed a second M.A. at the University of New Brunswick. In 1994 he moved to the town of Ajax, in Ontario’s Durham Region, where he taught high school for a number of years. In 1998, Maharaj, along with three other Durham Region writers, founded and co-edited the literary magazine LICHEN. Since then he has, among other posts, been a Writer in Residence at the Toronto Reference Library, a mentor for young writers with Diaspora Dialogues, and more recently an instructor with both the Humber School for Writers and the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Apart from his novels and collections of short stories, he has published in various literary journals and anthologies; written reviews and articles for The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and others; and written the play Malcolm and Alvin for CBC Radio.

His books have been shortlisted for The Commonwealth Writer’s Prize (twice); The Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award; and Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

THIS WEEK IN TORONTO - NOVEMBER 15-21

1) Asian Arts Freedom School - with Sharanpal Rupai & Proma Tagore

* be/longings * queerloving * cultures * identities * sisterhood * struggle * strength * defiance *

Don't miss this special guest workshop with poets Sharanpal Ruprai and Proma Tagore (Proma who is only in the city for a short amount of time) for a poetry reading and workshop.

When: Tomorrow November 16, 6-8:30pm
Where: Kapisanan (in the basement), 167 August Avenue

2) Book Launch: DOCTORED by Sky Curtis

Many women are sexually abused by their doctors. Doctored is a moving true story about the devastating impact of this abuse of power. It is a first-person account of one woman’s steely determination to recover and to find justice.

When: Thursday November 18, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: Toronto Women's Bookstore, 73 Harbord St, at Spadina

TARA BEAGAN: Diaspora Dialogues Mentor in Drama 2010

Tara Beagan is a proud halfbreed of Ntlakapamux (Thompson River Salish) and Irish Canadian heritage. She was a playwright in residence at Native Earth Performing Arts for the 2009/2010 season with her play, free as injuns, and she now works at NEPA as an Artistic Associate.

Tara’s debut play, Thy Neighbour’s Wife, was produced by UnSpun Theatre in 2004, and garnered three Dora Award nominations. Beagan won for New Play, becoming the first female First Nations playwright to take home a Dora. Ensuing plays include Dreary and Izzy, (Native Earth at the Factory Studio Theatre. In print, Playwright’s Canada Press.) Here, Boy! (halfbreed productions at the 28th Rhubarb! Festival) and the Crate Productions collective, The Fort at York. This expansive, site-specific piece marked Beagan’s directorial debut (she was one of two directors). Beagan was the head writer alongside fourteen other actor/collaborators. Tara has worked on the Playwrights Units at Tarragon Theatre and Nightwood.

Quilchena (halfbreed productions) which Beagan also directed, debuted in 2007. That same year, Beagan was named, in NOW Magazine, as one of the Top Ten Theatre Artists. Beagan further developed Quilchena during her playwright residency at Cahoots Theatre Projects in 2007/2008, and at the 2009 CrossCurrents Festival.

Foundlings (writer/director) is a mixed-media, interactive piece. Other short plays include the Caravan Farm Theatre commission, BLUEBEARD’S WI7E, TransCanada, (Native Earth at Harbourfront), and the topical Anatomy of an Indian, at the 8th Wrecking Ball, which starred Lorne Cardinal and was directed by Weyni Mengesha.

Beagan’s Miss Julie: Sheh’mah – a radical new adaptation of Strindberg’s play – brought fledgling company KICK Theatre tearing onto the Toronto theatre scene in ‘08. The production ultimately earned five Dora Award nominations.

Tara is one of four commissioned playwrights on the Theatrefront serial theatrical project, The Mill. The thesis for the series is that “Canada is a haunted house.” Her piece, The Woods, debuted this March at the Young Centre in Toronto, and returns in rep with all four plays in January 2011.

Tara is honoured to work as a workshop facilitator for youth, a playwriting instructor for First Nations theatre students, and a mentor for emerging First Nations artists. She also works as an actor, director and producer.

THIS WEEK IN TORONTO - NOVEMBER 8-14

1) Asian Arts Freedom School - This Bridge Called My Baby

This writing/arts based workshop is dedicated to the child within us: our childhood experiences, memories, dreams and struggles.

When: Tomorrow November 9, 6-8:30pm
Where: Kapisanan (in the basmement), 167 August Avenue

2) Star Talks

Margaret Trudeau in conversation with Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt on her new memoir, Changing My Mind.

When: Wednesday November 10, 7pm
Where: Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St

3) Off Bathurst Theatre District Marathon

2pm: Stretching and swag at Tarragon Theatre
2:30pm: Performance of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking"
4pm: Head down Bathurst St to Theatre Passe Muraille
4:30pm: Performance of Andrew Kushnir's "The Middle Place"
6pm: Sprint to Epicure Cafe & Grill for Prix Fixe Dinner
7:30pm: Final Dash to Factory Theatre
8pm: Performance of Ken Gass's "Bethune Imagined"
10pm: Rehydration in Factory Lounge

Tickets on sale now for only $90!
Available through T.O tix or 416-596-8220

When: Saturday November 13, 2-10pm
Where:
Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave, 1 block north of Dupont St, 2 east of Bathurst
Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, north of Queen St W, east of Bathurst
Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St

4) Project Humanity Presents The Middle Place

When: Ongoing - Saturday November 13, 10pm
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, north of Queen St W, east of Bathurst

MARTIN MORDECAI: Diaspora Dialogues Mentor in Fiction 2010

by Janice Goveas

Early into a conversation with Martin Mordecai (pictured with a young fan), one of Diaspora Dialogues' four mentors in fiction for 2010, it becomes understandable why his debut novel, Blue Mountain Trouble (Toronto: Scholastic Canada, 2009), has been so remarked on for its magical realism and the cadence of its language. A reviewer for the Quill & Quire, for example, comments on his surprise at finding himself interested in a children's book that mixes adventure with magical realism, and says this: "Most delicious of all in this plum pudding of a book is the language. For some young Canadian readers the diction and cadence of this story will be as comfortable and familiar as an old boot. For the rest of us, Mordecai, without resorting to explanations or a glossary, teaches us how to hear and understand."

The reason this is understandable is because, early into a conversation with him, Mordecai confesses to two passions: music and reading, especially the writing of Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, whose work is most noted for its magical realism.

Mordecai recalls agreeing with a literary critique in which the critic argued that there were only two books that absolutely had to be read: Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and the King James Bible.

As for music, Mordecai has had a life-long love of genres like classical, jazz, and 60's and 70's rock, but enjoys almost all other types of music except for some dance hall and much of rap. He believes, however, that a love of music transcends genre because "good songs get into you and bad songs irritate you."

Blue Mountain Trouble, incidentally, began as a bedtime story he created for his younger son, the youngest of his three children, who is now a struggling writer in his thirties. Mordecai hopes his son will consider applying to the Diaspora Dialogues mentorship program in the near future.

Over his lifetime, Mordecai has worked in newspapers, radio and television. His intriguing observation about television is that it is "the great wasted technology of the twentieth century" having not lived up to its potential to deliver quality work, unlike film, a medium created around the same time. Mordecai also spent twelve years in the diplomatic service for his birth country, Jamaica, much of it in England. He remarks on the delightful coincidence of the daughter of his one of his former diplomatic colleagues being one of his mentees in the Diaspora Dialogues' program.

THIS WEEK IN TORONTO - NOVEMBER 1-7

1) Brockton Writers Series #13

Readings and performances by: Nehal El-Hadi, Carole Giangrande, Jules Lewis, and May Lui

Open mic sign up is 6:55pm. There will be three 5 minute slots.

When: Tomorrow November 2nd, 7-9pm
Where: St. Anne’s Church, 270 Gladstone

2) Dangerous Mammals Tour: Ivan Coyote & S. Bear Bergman

Come and celebrate the co-launch of S. Bear Bergman’s Butch Is A Noun and Ivan Coyote’s Missed Her, both hot off the presses at Arsenal Pulp Press.

tickets sliding scale $10-$20

When: Thursday, November 4, 8-10:30pm
Where: Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street

3) Heart in Hand Theatre Presents The Commune - Excerpt Reading/Workshop

Written by Martha Schabas
Featuring Jessica Huras, Kiran Friesen, Nika Mistruzzi & Claudia Yiu
Directed by Esther Jun

Tickets for November 4th are $30 and include food and open bar.
Tickets for November 5th are $10 and there will be a cash bar.

When: Thursday November 4 & Friday November 5, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Wylde Project Studio, 215-52 St Lawrence St (Near King & River)

4) Latin-Afro-South Asian Festival

The Latin-Afro-South Asian Festival is a 3-day contemporary multi-disciplinary arts festival that shows the fusion between the different cultures and roots of the Latin American, African and South Asian artists involved and the influence of the multicultural society where they work and reside.

Cover: $5

When: Friday November 5, 8pm
Where: Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W

5) Anand (bliss, peace, happiness) Plays Toronto!

Yasmin Virani gets ready to close the North American tour of her successful one-woman play, Anand (bliss, peace, happiness), by performing her last show in Toronto.

Tickets are $15

When: Saturday November 6, 8-9:30pm
Where: The Second City Training Center, 70 Peter Street

6) Godot Art Productions Presents Homeland

When: Ongoing - Saturday November 6
Tuesday - Saturday 8pm
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, north of Queen St W, east of Bathurst

7) Project Humanity Presents The Middle Place

When: Ongoing - Saturday November 13, 10pm
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave, north of Queen St W, east of Bathurst