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Sabrina Gschwandtner
Sabrina Gschwandtner is an artist, writer and curator whose work bridges the fields of conceptual art, handcraft, activism and social history. Her artwork combines photographic and textile media in videos and installations that document or provoke participation, tactility, political discourse and slowness. Sabrina is the recent recipient of an International Artist's Studio Program residency in Sweden. She will reside and make new work in Stockholm from late April to early July, 2009. While she's there, Sabrina will also serve as Broken Pencil's indie artist in residence, blogging about art, craft and everything in between.
featured story
State of the craft economy
The handmade aesthetic is hitting home with mainstream audiences. A combination of recession and buy-local environmental awareness is getting more and more people interested in craft. It looks like a good climate for craft and DIY culture. But is it?
...
by Lindsay Gibb - read more
also in this issue
State of the craft economy
Meet the Champ: Indie Writers' Deathmatch results
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featured excerpt
I Tend to the Tail End
The girls I work with over the summer in The Bay’s Ladies Accessories Department decide that they want to have a “wild” night. They think it’s a good idea to take me out with them.
I know I am headed for trouble. One of these blonde, casual-wear, nubile braindeads is my floor manager. I like h...
from Porny Stories - read more
featured zine review
You CanÕt Hide an Elephant in an Omelet: Omelet Reviews
What a neat concept this zine offers: essays and stories about omelettes and cuisine from around the world. This particular issue offers experiences from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Part restaurant review, part tour guide; this zine offers pure ent...
June zine of the month - read more
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latest additions
[MONTREAL] Join me at WordCamp Montreal!
I first heard about WordCamp Montreal a couple of days ago, and although I do use WordPress on Button Tapper, my personal blog and to run my online magazine, Black Heart, I wasn't sure whether or not I should attend. After all, it sounded way over my head, tech-wise, and as geeky as I'd like to think I am, I wasn't sure I could handle two days worth of presentations on creating websites with WordPress, tweaking designs and code, and otherwise not absorbing information that has nothing to do with my purpose in life, which is writing (as opposed to building websites). And although $30 definitely isn't a lot of money for a two-day conference (in fact, it's seriously cheap, especially if you're a student, as it's only $25), I also don't like to waste my time and money on things that won't benefit me. However, my friend
Laura Roberts
july 2, 2009
Rare and Raw...and Old
A night of queer and kinky cinema might sound fairly commonplace as far as screenings in Toronto go, but Kelly McCray and Steph Rogerson are offering it up with an irresistible twist: Tomorrow night, McCray and Rogerson, in conjunction with InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, are hosting just such a movie night Ð but all the films were made between 1914 and 1950. At a time of heavy censorship and media control, these controversial films served as inspiration for artists such as Andy Warhol and Jean Cocteau. We're guessing they'll be pretty inspirational to you, too. "Window Teasers" will run tonight (July 1) and tomorrow (July 2), InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, 9 Ossington Avenue after dark. The films run Thursday night from 8pm until 10pm.
Clara Lavery
july 1, 2009
Toronto Fringe: Dracula in a Time of Climate Change
If you're planning on hitting the Toronto Fringe Festival this year, be sure to check out Dracula in a Time of Climate Change. One of the smash hits of the Montreal Fringe Festival, this show is sure to suck... your blood! And leaving you screaming for more! Here's the dealio: With rivers rising, ice caps melting and blood becoming ever more toxic, Dracula is faced with a dilemma: if the humans he feeds on go extinct, what happens to vampires? A play about love, bloodsucking, the perils of activism and the end of the world. Written and directed by Matt Jones, with live music by the Transylvanian Blooddrinking Orchestra and featuring Montreal's sexy zombshells, the Dead Doll Dancers, this is a show that's not to be missed! Showtimes are as follows: Fri July 3 - 10pm Sun July 5 - 6:30pm Mon July 6 - 2pm Tue July 7 - 4pm Wed July 8 - 8pm Fri July 10 - 12pm Sat July 11 - 9:30pm All tickets are available for onlye $10, and you can reserve seats by calling 416-966-10...
Laura Roberts
june 29, 2009
Living not staying
Sometime in the weeks between my last post and today, I started to feel like I live here in Stockholm. I developed favorite restaurants, shortcuts and people. My husband arrived and started working, so when I come home he's there video editing just like in Brooklyn. The sun came out, and stayed, and the weather is just perfect. It's hard to imagine going home. There are things I'll be happy to be see in New York again - Mexican food, Thai food, my bathub, and DIY craft stores. For a country so steeped in traditional craft, with such a wealth of interesting contemporary, conceptual craft practitioners, writers and curators, there really is a void of stores/fairs/gathering spots for crafting. What they do really well here is the very, very old craft establishments that still hold lots of promise- like a 130+ old store in Sodermalm that only sells ribbons. Amazing place. There's also a yarn store that's also over 100 years old. There's a long tradition ...
Sabrina Gschwandtner
june 29, 2009
State of the craft economy
If you haven't picked up the Spring issue of BP yet, please do so before it's off the shelves at the end of July. Here's a feature on the economy for crafters from that issue: The handmade aesthetic is hitting home with mainstream audiences. A combination of recession and buy-local environmental awareness is getting more and more people interested in craft. It looks like a good climate for craft and DIY culture. But is it?
Lindsay Gibb
june 28, 2009
NYC zine fest
This weekend the NYC zine fest will be held at the Brooklyn Lyceum in New York, with a mission to “circulate and promote independent, homemade, self-published, and small publications, […] to support and expand the network of creators who self-publish zines in and outside of the NYC metro area.” The intention of the festival is to foster participation and celebrate the spirit of DIY culture. The festival boasts numerous participants and includes several workshops such as “A Century of Self Publishing: Zine and Mini-comic History 1900-present” and “Stitched on the Spine: Bookbinding for Zinemakers.” There is also a screening of “$100 and a T-Shirt,” a documentary about zines in the Northwest put out by Microcosm, both nights of the festival as well as a raffle. The festival, likes zines themselves, looks very much to be a labour of love. The festival is from 12-7 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday and admission is free. If, like me, you're not in the NYC area and can't attend the ...
Grace Evans
june 23, 2009
Ottawa Small Press Book Fair
On June 20 the semi-annual Ottawa Small Press Book Fair is taking place at Jack Purcell Community Centre from 12-5 pm. The fair takes place twice a year since its conception in 1994 by rob mclennen and James Spyker. Admission to the fair is free, and once inside the doors one might expect to see exhibiters showing their various novels, cookbooks, posters, t-shirts, comics, magazines and poetry. If you're keen, there is a pre-fair reading on Friday, June 19 at the Carleton Tavern, hosted by rob mclennen. The reading begins at 7:30 and features Gillian Sze, Nick McArthur, Laurie Fuhr, Jon Paul Fiorentino and Cameron Anstee. For more on either of these events: Book fair information. Pre-fair reading information.
Grace Evans
june 19, 2009
Steel Bananas looking for submissions
The literary arts webzine Steel Bananas is looking for submissions for its upcoming anothology of writing on the theme of fragmentation. Editors Karen Correia Da Silva, Sarah Beaudin and Curran Folkers are calling for submissions of poetry and prose from both burgeoning young writers and established literary figures. Submissions are due July 15th and will be selected on the basis of formal and thematic originality. Submissions can be sent to themeissue@steelbananas.com and inquiries can be directed to karends@tightropebooks.com.
Lindsay Gibb
june 18, 2009
Methinks You Should Submit Your Zines
Perhaps you can’t get time off work; or maybe you really dislike sitting for long periods of time; or possibly you’re just kind of shy. Whatever your reason for not selling your wares at zine fairs, your worries are over! Methinks Presents, who brings Toronto the Project 165 gallery in Kensington Market, is organizing a traveling art show. The show includes a zine component, and your work can be a part of it (even if you can’t). If you have multiple copies of your zine and you’d like to see them distributed across Eastern Canada, email methinkspresents@gmail.com for details. If there are copies leftover by the end of the tour, fear not: Any remaining zines will be divided and shared between Project 165 and the Toronto Zine Library. Further information can be found at http://www.methinkspresents.org
Clara Lavery
june 17, 2009
The Book is Dead! Long Live the Book!
The self-reported “oldest and strangest” of Toronto literary festivals, The Scream, is joining forces with Eye Weekly and the University of Toronto to hold what will surely be the deadliest (pun reluctantly intended) of poetry contests. While the rules of the contest are rather open (as long as you don’t compose your work using comic sans - a move that will justifiably result in immediate disqualification), contestants must submit two creative poems based on the theme “The Book is Dead,” reflecting The Scream’s focus this year on book culture (and the demise thereof). The lucky contestant who digs the best grave for the book will have the honour of presenting their poem on July 2nd at Die Scream Die!, the festival’s opening night revue. Contest closes June 26th at noon. Click the "link" below for more details.
Clara Lavery
june 14, 2009
Toronto Small Press Fair - BP Will Be There Too!
On June 13, 2009, from 9 to 5 p.m., up to 80 small-to medium-sized presses from the Greater Toronto Area assemble to show you their best, and BP got a chance to talk to Colin Carberry, co-organizer of this year's fair for a quick disection of what a first-time attender can expect this Saturday at the Toronto Reference Library, the new home of the fair. "The first-time observer at the Toronto Small Press Fair will be immediately impressed by the notion that the small press community in Toronto is alive and kicking, and that the production of high-quality, attractively packaged texts showcasing a diverse array of emerging, mid-career and established local authors for the consumption of the general public will continue, probably indefinitely. This person will quickly come to realize that those same small presses and their respective authors, along with a healthy number of producers of high-quality arts and crafts, are passionate about their work, many having dedicated a significant ...
Broken Pencil
june 11, 2009
[MONTREAL] Fringe Festival runs from June 11-21
Montreal's annual St-Ambroise Fringe Festival kicks off tomorrow night with an opening night party featuring the United Steel Workers of Montreal and Lake of Stew. Free entry to this outdoor event happening at Parc des Amériques and starting at 7 PM. If you're asking “What the heck is a Fringe Festival?”, mosey on over to their websitea, where you'll find plenty of information on what the Fringe is about, how to Fringe, and where to get tickets to all the shenanigans. Or drop by the beer tent between June 11 and 21 for tons of free musical events, food, and arts and crafts for sale.
Laura Roberts
june 10, 2009
Raining in Stockholm
It's been raining for days, and it's supposed to continue for another week. It's started to get dreary around here, but at least we have sunlight until 1am. That and a few cultural events of note are helping to keep me out of the Art Hotel, where I am living. My exhibition "Watch & See" opens tonight in Gustavsbergs. http://www.gustavsbergskonsthall.se/Utstallningar01_ENG.html Many people are still out of town, in Venice for the Biennale or in Basel for the big art fair, so I doubt it will be a packed opening. The Svenska Dagbladet did run a piece about the opening in today's paper, so maybe that will entice a few people. The article in the paper included a photo of me that was taken by Faythe Levine when she came to my studio to interview me for her film "Handmade Nation." (http://indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com/) Note to all readers: when you make an appointment to be filmed, make sure you do not arrive to the scheduled shoot hung over. I look absolutely terrible in t...
Sabrina Gschwandtner
june 10, 2009
[MONTREAL] On Bodies CD launch this Friday
Sexy Montreal band On Bodies is launching their first CD this Friday, June 5. "The After EP" is an independently produced album featuring keyboard and vocals by Mark Ambrose Harris, bass and vocals by Sheena Hoszko, and drums by Brian Fauteux. From their press release, you should know that "Together, this tight triad plays an angular mix of post-punk and dark pop that is as much about the body as it is the soul." The group's musical influences include Joy Division, Sleater-Kinney, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, and Diamanda Galás. So, if you're in Montreal this Friday, head on over to The Green Room (5386 St-Laurent) for a kick-ass launch party, also starring Sick Friend and DJ Faggotron.
Laura Roberts
june 4, 2009
Lazy does not equal "indie"
In a previous editorial I explained how some people have come to equate the word indie with laziness. Well, just in time for this past weekend's Maker Faire in the San Fran Bay area, art, technology and philosophy group monochrom delivered a t-shirt telling the DIY community to pull up its socks. Click the link below to order yours and tell your crafty friends to get to work.
Lindsay Gibb
june 1, 2009
Blogging
I've moved into a new apartment with steady(ish) internet access, but have been working so much in my studio that I haven't had time to get online. Today I opened up my dusty computer and read tons of emails about the upcoming Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn. It's one of the best DIY craft fairs out there, so if you haven't been, I highly recommend it. All the details are at: www.renegadecraft.com Feeling sad to miss it, I went to my crafty friends blogs to check in on them and see what they're doing. Cal Patch is teaching sewing and embroidery classes and taking care of baby guinea hens: http://hodgepodgefarm.blogspot.com/ Lisa Anne Auerbach is planting seeds: http://stealthissweater.blogspot.com/ Rachael Matthews is facilitating the completion of UFOs (abandoned, unfinished knitting projects): http://prickyourfinger.blogspot.com What have you been doing?
Sabrina Gschwandtner
may 30, 2009
Ferno House launches For Crying Out Loud
Ferno House is a brand new publishing house based in Toronto, Ontario, committed to designing and printing hand-made, beautiful chapbooks and full-length collections of fiction and poetry. They are launching their first title For Crying Out Loud on Friday May 29th, 2009, from 7 PM to 10 PM at The Arbor Room, Hart House 7 Hart House Circle, on the University of Toronto campus. The book will be selling for $12. There is no cover. This is a fully licensed event. All contributors to the publication will be reading to celebrate this unique release. George Elliott Clarke, Laura Maija Clarke, Spencer Gordon, Alex Grigorescu, Andrew MacDonald Jeff Parker, Wendy Prieto, Jonathan Simpson, Catriona Wright.
Nathaniel G. Moore
may 23, 2009
Schultz's Circuit
A Broken Pencil online exclusive interview... Emily Schultz has been a small press and independent publishing fixture for as long as the community can remember. She's worked at numerous small magazines (including this one), edited with multiple book publishers, and even turned her living room into an art exhibition space. With a book of poetry, a short story collection, and a widely celebrated novel under her belt, her latest Heaven is Small marks a big league jump for Schultz that could translate into wide mainstream appeal. Author Stacey May Fowles chatted via email with Schultz about the trials and tribulations of being a writer imbedded in the biz, how online is changing the way we interact with the written word, and her love for one Gordon Small. Stacey May Fowles: It's hard to read Heaven is Small and not immediately connect it to your diverse personal experience in publishing, specifically your (brief) stint at Harlequin, but also at other...
Stacey May Fowles
may 17, 2009
yarn girl
Today David Shrigley (www.davidshrigley.com), a Glasgow- based artist who is also here in Stockholm like me on a IASPIS (www.iaspis.com) residency, told me he wanted to show me one of his recent drawings. He said it had yarn and bobbins in it. Then he said, "oh wait or do you hate that? Do you not want to be known as the yarn girl and have people showing you all kinds of things related to yarn and sewing all the time?" "I mean," he went on, "I hate it when people send me links to drawings that look my drawings, I don't like other drawings that look like my drawings." He showed me his yarn drawing anyway. It's true that I get a lot of emails from friends of friends or distant relatives or people I have never met who send me links to articles or blogs or videos that are somehow yarn-related. Occasionally it's annoying, yes, but usually I like it. Today Judi Werthein (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4445342.stm), another IASPIS artist-in-res...
Sabrina Gschwandtner
may 18, 2009
no internet
I've been internet-less for a while. At first it was a great vacation, and I loved being unlocateable, but then I felt disconnected and miserable. When I was finally able to go back online today I binged on gmail, Facebook, Etsy, and Skype, and now my eyes hurt and I miss home and my friends. I have discovered some great things in Stockholm while wandering the streets without a cell phone, most importantly OLD TOUCH which is an amazing and aptly named antique store filled with wonderful buttons, beautiful lace, choice clothes and other old timey remnants for super reasonable prices. I bought a lace handkerchief, a picture frame and a small beaded bag for a project I'm working on. It's an art piece for people to touch but not look at. It's going pretty well except I have to keep reminding myself that colors and patterns don't matter because no one will see them.
Sabrina Gschwandtner
april 28, 2009
ABC No Rio Zine Library
New York's ABC No Rio Zine Library made a fun video that serves as mini a black-and-white tour of the facility set to music. ABC No Rio is an arts and activism collective that maintains a space in New York City's Lower East Side that contains a printshop, darkroom, computer centre as well as the zine library. Click through to watch the video and read more about the library.
Lindsay Gibb
may 14, 2009
Hal Niedzviecki's The Peep Diaries in Toronto next week - plus contest!
Hi everyone, I'd like to invite you to join me (Hal Niedzviecki, bp founder and fiction editor) at the Toronto launch of my new book The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors. The event is Tuesday May 19th at the Gladstone Hotel. 7pm start in association with This is Not a Reading Series. I'll be doing a multimedia presentation based on ideas from the book. Also a couple of contests: Contest 1: describe or post a link on my fan page (www.facebook.com/pages/Hal-Niedzviecki/27650132043?ref=ts) to something that exemplifies PEEP and win a couples massage with live music courtesy of www.rhythmspa.ca with a $250 value! Contest ends Mon. May 18. The winner will be announced at the Toronto launch. Contest 2: send me a PEEP tweet (twitter.com/halpen). The top 3 tweets will win Broken Pencil prize packs (sub, tshirt, pins) plus a copy of my novel The Program! Winners will also be announced at the Toronto launch. If you're not in Toronto do not despair: i'm coming ...
Hal Niedzviecki
may 13, 2009
Spring Small Press Fairs A Go-Go
Tis the season for small press fairs here in Ontario. On June 13, 2009, up to 80 small- to medium-sized presses will gather in the atrium of the Toronto Reference Library to sell their books, chapbooks, graphic novels, audio-books, magazines and comics, and a wide array of high-quality arts & crafts for the Toronto Small Press Book Fair. Look for Broken Pencil to be amongst the throngs of patrons at the Toronto fair's brand new digs, while over in Ottawa, rob mclennan's tireless small press efforts will not be outdone on June 20, 2009 in room 203 of the Jack Purcell Community Centre for the spring edition of Ottawa's Small Press Book Fair. For information on getting a table in Ottawa, contact rob at az421@freenet.carleton.ca and for more on the Toronto fair, visit the link below.
Broken Pencil
may 11, 2009
Verb Noire
Writers (and readers) take note! A brand new small press, Verb Noire, will be officially launching on May 25th at WisCon, the annual SciFi Feminist Convention in Madison, WI. Founded by Jamie Nesbitt Golden and Mikki Kendall - "two crazy women with a love of books," - Verb Noire will focus on genre fiction centered around culturally marginalized main characters, particularly Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer (GLBTQ) and minority characters. Kendall and Nesbitt Golden's mandate is "to celebrate the works of talented, underrepresented authors and deliver them to a readership that demands more." According to Nesbitt Golden, this means "injecting some much-needed diversity into genre fiction. Heroes and heroines who REALLY come from all walks of life." The press will be launching with the release of River's Daughter by Tasha Campbell, which Nesbitt Golden describes as: "a dark coming of age piece with a magical twist." More information on Verb Noire, its submission g...
Sam Linton
may 11, 2009
Conundrum Hits Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Our Montreal friends Conundrum Press will be at TCAF in all their glory, selling books and hosting signings at the Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. The press will be launching Ian Sullivan Cant’s Papercut Heart and Michael J. Hind’s The Undertaking as well. Stars include: Jillian Tamaki, Shary Boyle, Emily Holton, Kerry Byrne, Michael Hind, Howard Chackowicz and others. The festival runs May 9-10. For complete listings of all participants please visit the link below.
Broken Pencil
may 2, 2009
Craftivism
I've made it to Stockholm. Flying still seems like a miracle. Especially when the plane is outfitted with cameras that will show you the view below and in front of the plane- the whole trip, from take-off to landing. I've mostly stayed within 20 blocks of where I'm staying, but so far the city is clean, sunny and beautiful. I have terrible jet lag and have been staying up all night. When the spotty internet connection fails in my room and I get cut off from YouTube, I turn to "RE:FORM: Contemporary Swedish Crafts," edited by Hanna Ljungstrom and Ulf Beckman. The book includes essays on Swedish craft today, and lots of images of craft work. My favorite project is a pair of earrings that can double as earplugs, made by Peter Andersson. There seems, in this book at least, to be a movement in contemporary Swedish craft towards ambiguity, surrealism, and disorientation. Yet there is still respect for utility. Or as Emma Olsson, one essayist, writes: "Li...
Sabrina Gschwandtner
april 28, 2009
Thug Life: Fledgling avant-garde press brings substance to the TorLit turf war
Trying to find a copy of Michael V. Smith and David Ellingsen's experimental work Body of Text in any typical Toronto bookstore is much like asking a kinesiology major at a university kegger whether or not he's read Ulysses. You enter into it with all the hope you can muster, somehow knowing that the outcome will be painfully disappointing. Despite the inherently obscure nature of experimental and conceptual writing in Canada, one small press in Toronto is focusing all its efforts on keeping the avant-garde in print, and expanding the audience for innovative writing. BookThug, brainchild of Jay MillAr-poet, publisher, editor and familiar face in the Canadian experimental poetry community-has been contributing to the conservation and distribution of experimental poetry and fiction for over six years. Putting out nearly a dozen publications annually since its inception in 2003, BookThug is anticipating a busy 2009, with over 30 separate issues slated for release. With a lin...
Karen Correia Da Silva
april 25, 2009
Finishing and starting
Today I packed up one residency to start two more- one that will take me across the ocean to Stockholm, and another that will happen here. From January until today, I worked in the Museum of Arts and Design's Open Studios once a week for three and a half months. The space had an incredible view of Columbus Circle and Central Park. When I began in January, the ground was spotted with snow, the little circular park around the marble statue of Columbus was empty, and the park was barren. I often stood by the studio window and watched traffic going around and around and around the circular park outside. Traffic is fascinating in the way the ocean is- it has movement and variation but a kind of changeless quality too. Museum visitors would stand with me and speak about what Columbus Circle was like before the Time Warner building, before the Trump Tower, and before the museum. I had a hard time picturing it. Today as I was boxing up my materials, I was stunned to see how the tiny ...
Sabrina Gschwandtner
april 23, 2009
An Indie Recession
Broken Pencil will be running exclusive online features to accompany each issue of the magazine. Click through to read Laura Trethewey's profiles of independent creators across the country - including Louis Rastelli, Kait Kucy & Tracy Stefanucci - who are struggling with economic pressures.
Laura Trethewey
april 23, 2009
Tightrope Books and Canadian Poetry Month
Come check out our friend at Tightrope Books as the celebrate Canadian Poetry Month Some of tonight's readers include 2009 Griffin nominated Toronto poet A.F. Moritz, as well as Jim Nason and Bill Howell from Toronto, Leanne Averbach from Vancouver, and Anne Compton from New Brunswick. Wednesday, April 22nd 6:30pm - 8:00pm Chapters Festival Hall 142 John St. (Richmond and John).
Broken Pencil
april 22, 2009
Award Season
Broken Pencil and a few of our friends have recently been nominated for a few magazine awards. In particular, Utne Reader, a digest of alternative media and culture, has nominated Broken Pencil in their Utne Independent Press Awards in the Arts Coverage category, while Ryan Bigge received a nod from the National Magazine Awards in the Essay category for his article "I'm Feeling Unlucky: Independent Culture in the Google Era" from issue 38 of Broken Pencil. Also nominated for NMAs were our friends Worn Fashion Journal for best magazine cover and Spacing for best single issue, portrait photography and magazine of the year. Click "link" below to see all the Utne Independent Press Award nominees.
Lindsay Gibb
april 22, 2009
Indeeparture!
Hi all. Thanks for putting up with my odes to tricoloured cookies. My time at Broken Pencil is up. I know this because all my pencils have suddenly fused themselves back together again. One has even jumped into my hand and is now beseeching me to leave my computer and make haste for an all-inclusive in my notebook. So this is g'bye. It's been fun, and if you ever want to hear me wax weird about breakfast, I do so erratically at SarahL.com. Thanks also to BP for inviting me!
sarahL
april 22, 2009
Little Scream Micro Festival of Major Fun
"I have lots and lots of songs because I've been playing for years and years and years." So says Little Scream a.k.a. infamous Montreal pixie Laurel Sprengelmeyer, who will be the formidable opening act for a slew of shows for Bell Orchestre this week in what one could call a micro-tour. "I don't even know who organized it, but i guess Belle Orchestra," says the enigmatic Sprengelmeyer on the phone from Montreal. So here's the scoop: making quick work of mid-April, critically lauded Little Scream makes stops in Quebec City (Friday April 17th) at Theatre Petit Champlain (also playing Colin Stetson), Saturday, April 18th Ottawa, ON - First Baptist Church (also playing Colin Stetson) and Sunday, April 19th Montreal, QC - La Tulipe (also playing Colin Stetson). Sprengelmeyer, who took the name Little Scream last summer (2008) for a fringe show for her solo material, took a bit of a breather from the project, "I couldn't scream for a while," muses Sprengelmeyer. This past January ...
Nathaniel George Moore
april 17, 2009
Blingee is Beauty
It's a ballsy statement but I'm going to go ahead and throw it out there: Blingee Art is the art for our time. It mixes animation, bad clip art, neon, and social commentary in the service of art that is as goofy as it is beautiful. While some read Best Week Ever for the latest Zac Efron effrontery, I visit said site on Blingee Fridays, where one can oggle MOMA-worthy GIFs of Blingee Beauty. Where else can you see Angela Landsbury glittered up as Paul McCartney? Where else can you see Angela Landsbury at all, for that matter? Oh yes, Broadway. Too far for me at present though, which is why, given my ballsy assertion of sentences yore, I'll go out on yet another limb (I have four so it's really not that much of a hardship) and say there really ought to be more Murder She Wrote in syndication. This show, about a nosy detectess in a small, idyllic Maine town, has one of the greatest ...
sarahL
april 16, 2009
"A Painful Place": An interview with Michael Blouin
A new feature here at the Broken Pencil's website is original content, articles and interviews from your favourite independent creators. Recently, online and print corespondent Spencer Gordon caught up with poet and novelist Mike Blouin to discuss his writing process and his new novel Chase & Haven (Coach House, 2008). Blouin is also the author of the poetry collection I'm not going to lie to you (Pedlar, 2007). He resides in Oxford Mills, a rural community near Ottawa. Look for a review of Chase & Haven in issue 43 of Broken Pencil.
Spencer Gordon
april 14, 2009
LITPOP AWARDS
Last year, Pop Montreal and Matrix Magazine teamed up to establish an innovative and exciting new literary competition, looking for the most unique and original literary voices in Canada. And we're doing it all over again this year. So if you're an emerging poet or short story writer or a just some dude with a crazy knack for stringing a few words together well, won't you think of asking Heather O'Neill or a. Rawlings their opinion? You could wind up as Canada's newest literary darling, have your work published in Matrix, and come to Pop '09 for a night in your honour. Just send your work in for consideration this spring. Both poetry and prose winners will receive a round-trip ticket to Pop Montreal from September 30th till October 4th, 2009, a VIP pass to the Pop Montreal Festival, free accommodation, fall publication in Matrix Magazine with full honorarium, and presentation at a special Matrix Litpop event during the festival. The contest will open on April 1st and close ...
Broken Pencil
april 14, 2009
THE NOMADESK WRITER'S RESIDENCY
The Nomadesk Writer's Residency is a site-specific-residency in Montreal, Canada. It is an experiment in nomadic authorship and writing in public space. The residency intends to expose the writer's secret craft to the public, while simultaneously providing the writer with portable solitude. The Nomadesk is a traveling cart/writer's studio available for short-term residencies in both pre-chosen and requested locations in parts of Montreal. Residents are invited to write for one 30/60 minute slot. A small portable library is avalable for inspirational reading material. Currently Available Sites in April: Marie Anne Parkette (St. Laurent + Marie Anne) - April 17th - 10 - 1pm Parc Lafontaine - April 19th - 12 - 3pm The CCA - April 18th - 1:30 - 4:30 pm The FOFA Gallery - April 18th - 5 - 7pm The Nomadesk is currently accepting suggested sites during the following days: April 17, 18, 19, during hours not mentioned above. The Application Process...
Broken Pencil
april 11, 2009
Broken Pencil readers get a deal at the Images Festival!
There are only three days left of the Images Festival (April 2-11) here in Toronto, and our readers are getting special treatment. The festival is offering their 16mm Membership to Broken Pencil readers at $75 (25% discount for students normally) for the remainder of the festival. The Membership covers Live Events and On Screen screenings for you, and additional vouchers to bring a friend to selected events. Available online at http://www.imagesfestival.com/store and the Advance Box Office at each venue. Just mention the 'Broken Pencil offer.' Click on the link for more information about the festival and its programming.
Broken Pencil
april 8, 2009
Overqualified
This Tuesday, April the 7th, Canadian Indie-cult staple Joey Comeau will be releasing his new book, Overqualified, in Toronto's own Kensington Market. Overqualified, a collection of Comeau's offputting, often intense, often overly-earnest, sometimes even threatening cover letters for wildly varying jobs threaded together in a semi-textual narrative about his brother's involvement in a car crash, has been long anticipated since Comeau first started posting his cover letters online. The launch will take place from 8pm at Number Six Nassau street, a hard-to-find back-alley nook even by Kensington Market standards, so space may be limited (I’m guessing "standing room only"). As if Mr. Comeau isn't enough of a draw, the launch should also feature the talents of Kate Beaton, Emily Horne, Derek McCormack and Ryan North, in what promises to be a memorable evening of book-launchery.
Sam Linton
april 6, 2009
Taddle Creek is Looking for Out-of-Towners
While Taddle Creek usually only accepts entries from residents of Toronto, the magazine is looking beyond its boundary guidelines for its upcoming Out-of-Towner issue. So, writers from anywhere in the world, have a look at the website for more details. Also, has everyone heard about Taddle Creek's Protégé Internship? It sounds incredible. Here is a preview: "More than just a literary magazine internship, Taddle Creek’s program offers a well-rounded education in every area of the magazine industry. ... The successful protégé applicant will be given the opportunity to speak to approximately two dozen industry professionals, representing more than twenty magazines (large, medium, and small), publishing houses, educational institutions, and other organizations." Both Hal (Broken Pencil founder and fiction editor) and Nathaniel (BP assistant editor) will be involved in the training of the protégé! Again, see the link for more information.
Broken Pencil
april 3, 2009
Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2
Alex Wrekk is putting out a new edition of her book Stolen Sharpie Revolution! The how-to guidebook for zinesters has been rewritten and expanded to 144 pages. All of the listings for zine resources and distros have been updated, and it has new sections on zines in academia, zine festivals, and zine-related Internet resources. Visit her website for more information or to pre-order a copy. She also sells custom-made buttons and organic coffee.
Broken Pencil
april 1, 2009
Buying Cigarettes for the Dog
Tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 1st), Stuart Ross will be launching his book of short fiction, Buying Cigarettes for the Dog. The event takes place at Clinton's Tavern at 7:30pm, and special guests Heather Hogan and Steve Venright will be reading as well. Although he has been a prolific writer of poetry, this is Ross's first book of fiction in over a decade. Broken Pencil caught up with him to ask him a few questions about the new collection. Click on "read more" for the interview...
Norah Franklin
march 31, 2009
The Robin Becker Chapbook Prize
Seven Kitchens Press is looking for submissions for the 2009 Robin Becker Chapbook Prize for an original, unpublished poetry manuscript in English by a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered or Queer writer. The prize is $100 and 25 copies of the chapbook, and the deadline is May 1st. Visit the website for details! (The picture included here features the cover of Judith Barrington's Lost Lands, the chapbook that took the prize last year.)
Broken Pencil
march 27, 2009
Hal on The Agenda!
Broken Pencil founder and fiction editor Hal Niedzviecki will be on TVO's The Agenda tonight at 8pm discussing "Niche Identities: From Punk to Politics." It is part three of the TVO special series "Belong or Bust: Where Do I Fit In?"
Norah Franklin
march 25, 2009
PIVOT READING SERIES MARCH 25 EDITION
On Wednesday, March 25, 2009, in the night time, seemingly 1409 Toronto writers have readings. Organizers are even bringing in ringers from other cities to compete on prestigious lit stages. Why? Because it's one of those rare off-janitorial nights in my life when I'm actually doing something. That something is The Pivot Reading Series, one of the city's greatest venues, who dares to have myself, Jim and Eva at the same time, same night and well gosh darn it, we would love to see you at the Pivot Reading Series that there night y'all. Of course, I should mention other shows on that night: the land of a thousand poets at the Harbourfront (20 poets under 35) and you have to pay to see that (and it's all poets). That's like an all sports channel or an all cooking network. There's also Stacey May Fowles, who is great, reading at the Draft reading series, but that is very far east. Across the street Georgia Webber is having a fund raiser for her gangLion zine journal. So, I think you...
Nathaniel G. Moore
march 25, 2009
Neo Neapolitan
I was at a conference last week where the caterers served a neapolitan cookie. It reignited a neapolitan obsession I've spent the last five years trying to quell. I'd once wanted to deck out my apartment in a neapolitan color scheme, wear only neapoli colours and eat only, well, neapolitan things. Sanity prevailed and I abandoned the beige, brown and pink, but I still hold fast to the idea that neapolitan ice cream, done well, represents all that is right in the world. You get a slice of three perfect flavours in three lovely colours. No difficult decisions, no denial, no cone. The cookie, fuzzy phone photograph notwithstanding, was delicious. My tablemates thought me a bit weird. What do cookies have to do with indie art? Not much, I'll concede (though I think a large format photo of a neapolitan cookie would look beautiful on my mantle), but I have been making a lot of films about food in recent days. In fact, this weekend I shot a short about a baguette race, so if you saw som...
sarahL
march 24, 2009
Broken Pencil in the Ryerson Review of Journalism
In "Size Matters," Jenelle DaSilva-Rupchand suggests that small magazines may have a better chance of surviving the economic downturn than their larger counterparts. "They are accustomed to pinching pennies," she writes, "so hard economic times are nothing new." Furthermore, many of these magazines "cater to specific audiences ignored by larger publications," thus creating a community of loyal readers. She cites Broken Pencil and its focus on the independent arts as an example! Click on the link for the full article.
Norah Franklin
march 24, 2009
gangLion comics
gangLion is a new comics zine that features work created through collaboration and/or polished through group editing. Georgia Webber and David Missio started the project in an attempt to give rise to an environment where artists could help each other take risks and see ideas through to completion. So far, they have had a lot of success, and the list of gangLion contributors continues to grow. With Issue Two on its way, Webber and Missio are busy fundraising. This Wednesday, March 25th, at 7:30pm, they are hosting BINGO and a vegan bake sale at Magpie (831 Dundas West, Toronto). BINGO is 50 cents a round or $5 for 12 rounds, and there will be awesome prizes like gift cards for Saving Grace, Sonic Boom, the Beguiling, Queen Video, and more! Wednesday, April 8th, they are having a Talent Show at The Smiling Buddha (961 College St.). Georgia Webber took time away from her event planning to answer some questions about gangLion. Click on "read more" for the interview!
Broken Pencil
march 23, 2009
BP in Buffalo
Tomorrow (Saturday March 21) BP editor Lindsay Gibb and BP publisher/fiction editor Hal Niedzviecki will be in Buffalo selling mags and books and checking out the Buffalo Small Press Fair. So if you're in the mood, come by and check it out. We'll have special deals for all our American friends! Here's the when, where: The 2009 Buffalo Small Press Book Fair takes place on Saturday, March 21, 2009 from noon to 6pm. The event will be held at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Porter Hall, located at 453 Porter Avenue in Buffalo, NY. (See below for map and directions.) The book fair is a one day event that brings booksellers, authors, bookmakers, zinesters, small presses, artists, poets, and regional cultural workers together in a venue where they can share ideas and peddle their wares. Tables will be available at the event where people can showcase and sell their work. Poetry readings, performances, discussions, and related lectures are also scheduled to go on throughout ...
Hal Niedzviecki
friday march 20, 2009