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indie artist in residence

Sarah Evans

In the last dozen years Sarah Evans has worked on several DIY projects and innumerable zines. In the spring of 2005 Sarah and Sonia Edworthy dreamt up the Anchor Archive Regional Zine Project, now known as the Anchor Social Centre. It was started as a zine library in their living room, since after years of teaching workshops, distroing zines, and holding zine fairs, they knew that Halifax needed a multi-purpose DIY space. Three years later the project has taken over the entire house, including a summertime artist/zinemaker/writer-in-residence program, popular education workshops and events, and lots more. Sarah has also participated in a book called DIY in HFX, documenting do-it-yourself community and projects in Halifax, and more recently, a book of poems by women in prison in Nova Scotia, called Words Without Walls.

featured story

That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore

There was a time when comedy was challenging and it took people out of their comfort zones. Chandler Levack examines what the next generation of comedians have to look forward to.

In her review of Ben Stiller Hollywood exploitation comedy Tropic Thunder, which notably co-stars Robert Downey Jr...

also in this issue

"Don't call me funny." Why our funniest writers want to be taken seriously.

Shock comedy: Anyone left to provoke?

Broken Sesame Scene: Zine tells all about Canada's indie darlings.

Plan to get crazy: Katie Crown and the new generation of comic wunderkinds.

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featured excerpt

Twenty-two.

Breakups always begin with a vague feeling of irritation. This little itch you feel the need to scratch with snarky comments and eye-rolling.

I’m irritated you forgot to pick up cream for the coffee.
I’m irritated that you broke my favourite mug.
I’m irritated that you forgot to t...

featured zine review

Sunflower Skins

You don’t need a have a penchant for murder, dismemberment or the goo of guts and gore to to-tally love this scene, but it wouldn’t hurt if you do.

Sunflower Skins is a morbid little zine that tells stories of a more unearthly and shocking natur...

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Broken Pencil accepts internship applications

Six-month, unpaid editorial internships available. Smart and indie-minded upstarts needed for: content scouting, writing for pencil sharpener section, copy editing, correspondence, and general office duties. Send CV and writing sample to intern@brokenpencil.com. For more information, check our internship page.

latest additions

The Beyond Human Masquerade

Lickety Split smut zine is celebrating its 7th issue with The Beyond Human Masquerade, a "weird xxx masked ball." The event will take place on Friday, November 21st, at 9pm at La Sala Rossa (Montreal). $10 at the door gets you a copy of Issue 7, plus access to performances by Parlovr, Coulees and Nightwood. The Dead Doll Dancers will be doing some routines as well. Click on the link for details.

 

Deathmatch taunt video by BP's own NGM: click "read more" if you dare

 

Toronto Zine Library bash

The Toronto Zine Library is announcing new Friday night hours, and in celebration of these additional hours the folks at TZL are having a party. The Zine Party and Fundraiser will take place Friday, Nov 28 in the library which is located upstairs at the Tranzac (292 Brunswick Ave). The zine library invites zine creators and fans to come out, read some zines, enjoy a bake sale, drink beer and listen to music.

 

New story in Online Fiction Section!

Check out Broken Pencil's all-new Featured Online Exclusive Fiction: Heartbreak for Dummies by Ashley Little!

 

Carpenter and Holton at This Is Not A Reading Series

On Monday, November 17, at 7pm, This Is Not A Reading Series will celebrate the publication of Emily Holton's Dear Canada Council/Our Starland and J.R. Carpenter's Words the Dog Knows. Join the authors at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. W., Toronto) for readings, interviews, animation, music, and drinks! Click on the link for more information.

 

The Best Canadian Poetry in English

On November 11th, Tightrope Books is launching The Best Canadian Poetry, a new anthology of fifty of the best Canadian poems published in 2007. According to the editors, Stephanie Bolster and Molly Peacock, The Best Canadian Poetry will be an "opportunity to promote Canadian poets and poetry from across the country." The event will take place at Revival (783 College Street West, Toronto) at 7pm, and will feature readings by poets Jim Nason, Dani Couture, Sadiqa de Meier, Michael Lista, Al Moritz, David Seymour, and more. Premier Canadian Jazz Musician, Fern Lindzon, will be performing. Click on the link for details about the anthology.

 

The Dusty Owl Workshop Series

It's not easy to get a writing career going in Canada and if you like so many, are interested in finding out how to become a paid writer or poet, The Dusty Owl Workshop Series wants to be your guide. On Saturday November 8 @1pm head over to the Heartwood House /Au Coeur De La Vie. Representatives from the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council of the Arts and St John Publicity and Marketing, will be speaking to writers about a potential life of grants and publishing. Seats are limited to fifteen people, so writers will be able to have all their questions answered. Where: Heartwood House -153 Chapel Street, Ottawa ON When: Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 1pm to 5pm Admission is 15dollars (includes a package of grant applications to be reviewed before the workshop) Tickets Available at Octopus Books or from Sean Zio sean_zio@riseup.net

 

The Toronto Small Press Affair

Two women wearing feather hats walk onto a stage. They stop abruptly in front of the microphones and start to chant...Luciano Iacobelli Loves you, Luciano Iacobelli Loves you, Luciano Iacobelli Loves you. Stop me if you've heard this one before. The two women I speak of were the lovely and gracious hostesses of the November 1st Toronto Small Book Fairs, Toronto Small Press Affair, Cathy Petch and Myna Wallin... (Click on "Read More" to read on!)

 

Broken Pencil's Second Annual Indie Writers Deathmatch!!

The Deathmatch is back! Enter your story now and fight it out in front of the whole world to win publication and fabulous prizes! Check it out at brokenpencil.com/deathmatch

 

Canzine 2008

The staff at Broken Pencil is still recovering from Canzine, our annual zine fair and festival of alternative culture that took place last Sunday at the Gladstone Hotel. It was an incredible day! Roughly 170 vendors showed up to sell their wares, and around 1000 people came to browse. The comedy show and readings were hilarious, and Faisal Qamar won the 1-2 Punch with his pitch about his book on how to survive in Canada on $10 an hour. Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers, and to everyone who came to check out the event. See you next year! (The picture is from Open Book Toronto - click on the link to read their review and to see more pictures.)

 

Zine fairs forever!

We are coming up on two big zine fairs tomorrow - Canzine in Toronto and the Zine and Record Fair in Halifax. I've been madly list-making and email-sending for the last few weeks, getting everything ready for the fair here. I have a special fondness for zine fairs, which is why I love to put them on in Halifax every fall. When I was in high school, some of my first trips to visit fellow zinemaker penpals were from Ottawa (where I lived) to Toronto for Canzine. I took the train then many subways and busses to Pickering or Mississauga, staying in suburban houses where my friends lived with their parents. We were always up late cutting and pasting, coallating madly to get our latest zines done for the fair. It was also a chance to talk about zines for hours at time, gossip about mutual friends or zinemakers we didn't know, and generally nerd out. My friends in high school didn't make zines, I had a separate part of my list that was mostly lived through the mail, but would once in...

 

Countdown to Canzine

Mike Spry is the author of Jack (Snare Books) and does a bunch of stuff in Montreal for the literary organized crime units. We recently asked him some questions to see what sort of fellow he is. They are, by and large, questions about being funny. It's all a big thematic parade of ha ha here at Broken Pencil, as we gear up, count down and do some sit ups to get ready for the HILARITY! (PLEASE NOTE: Broken Pencil GUARANTEES MIKE SPRY'S NEW BOOK WILL BE ON SALE AT CANZINE - YOU JUST HAVE TO ASK FOR IT.)

 

The NY Art Book Fair

Printed Matter's Annual NY Art Book Fair will be taking place this weekend at Phillips de Pury & Company in NYC (450 West 15th Street at 10th Avenue, 3rd Floor). Over 140 vendors will be selling contemporary art books, art catalogs, art periodicals, and zines. There are a lot of readings, workshops, performances, and signings going on as well. Admission is free! See the link for details.

 

Countdown to Canzine

Claudia Dey offers her insights into the squishy question of humour and writing in the 21st century. It's all a part of the comedic fun going down this Sunday at Gladstone Hotel. (BP notes: Broken Pencil magazine does not guarantee the appearance of Claudia Dey at Canzine with the exception of interviews in the new copy of the magazine on sale the day of Canzine). Click on "Read More" for the interview.

 

YIMBY

The third annual YIMBY or Yes, In My Backyard Festival will take place on October 25th at the Gladstone Hotel. Politicians, neighbourhood groups and citizens will be gathering from 11am-5pm to share ideas about community development in Toronto. We caught up with YIMBY producer, Magda Olszanowski, to discuss the history and mandate of the festival. Click on "Read More" for the interview!

 

Countdown to Canzine

Many of our performers and participants will be multi-tasking at Canzine 2008. Joe Biel from Microcosm Publishing is running a workshop and a table, Stacey May Fowles is reading and working on behalf of Shameless Magazine, and Spencer Butt, a Toronto-based spoken word artist, is performing at the comedy show and selling his zines. Broken Pencil wanted to hear more about how Spencer juggles comedy, written poetry, and spoken word. Click on "Read More" for the interview, and catch his performance at 2pm this Sunday!

 

Countdown to Canzine

Toronto's Elyse Friedman will be part of the stellar literary line-up of funny CanLit bards this coming Sunday (26th) at the Gladstone when Canzine infests the legendary hotel. But just what makes someone as talented as Elyse giggle? Why don't you read this amazing and insightful interview, which a leading research company put together exclusively for Broken Pencil's website! As you will soon read, Elyse is pretty very very funny and we love her a lot. Her two latest books are a book of fiction and a poetry collection (Long Story Short, and Know Your Monkey). Let's take a look at the interview now...

 

Butcher's Block and We Will Be Fish

Deanna Fong's Butcher's Block and Jp King's We Will Be Fish will launch at Librarie Drawn & Quarterly (211 Bernard Ave. West, Montreal) on October 21st at 8pm. Both poets will read from their work, and there will be snacks, drinks, and Korean courting tunes! The Toronto launch will take place at Freedom Clothing Collective (939 Bloor St. West) on October 24th at 8pm. Click on the link for details.

 

Volunteering at Canzine

Broken Pencil is looking for volunteers to help out at Canzine on October 26th. We need people to help us set up in the morning and people to work shifts at the door throughout the day. Volunteers get a free one-year subscription to the magazine and free admission to the festival - a giant zine fair, readings, a comedy show, art rooms, a film room, a workshop, and more! (And possibly some coffee and pizza, or something.) Email canzine@brokenpencil.com if you are interested, and click on the link for details on the line-up.

 

Countdown to Canzine

As if 150 zines weren't enough of a reason to swing by the Gladstone for an afternoon, this year's Canzine is going to be funny. Possibly even hilarious. We have fantastic comedians like Pat Thornton, Katie Crown, Anand Rajaram, Devon Hyland, Stefanie Drummond, Kayla Lorette, Alana Johnston and Kathleen Phillips, not to mention some of the funniest writers in Canada reading from their work. Click "Read More" to check out Pat Thornton's bio, and mark down October 26th on your calendar for the best in Canadian literature, comedy, art and underground press.

 

Pivot Reading Series

When the I.V. Lounge closed its doors earlier this year, the city lost one of its greatest literary reading series. So now with new blood, the torch is passed, and the Pivot Reading Series is born, fronted by a new host in Carey Toane. She is very enthusiastic and dedicated to making the Pivot Reading Series a great addition to Toronto's booming literary scene. We here at Broken Pencil hope all the best for the new series, and urge you to come out and support the readers and Carey. The series home opener is Wednesday October 15, and will feature this exciting line-up of talent: Alex Boyd, Paul Vermeersch, Leigh Nash and Rebecca Rosenblum. The event starts at 8pm at The Press Club, located at 850 Dundas Street West.

 

City of Craft @ The Boat- Oct 16

October 16 sees the Boat hosting “Sticky Fingers”, a silent auction fundraising event in support of City of Craft 2008. City of Craft encourages community outreach through creative workshops, and will be held later on December 13 http:// cityofcraft.com Bid on everything from ceramics to illustrations from the likes of local artists Kate Jackson, Julie Moon and others. The night will also include performances by Gravity Wave, Southern Charles, Vowls and PDF Format. If you are anxious to preview the work, Project 165 gallery at 165 August, will be showing auction items until the 15th. October 16, 2008, doors 7:30, auction 7:30pm - 10:30pm @The Boat, 158 Augusta Ave. Toronto PWYC, suggested donation $5

 

Countdown to Canzine

So we're big Katie Crown fans at Broken Pencil. We can't tell you how pleased we are with her as host of this year's comedy segment at Canzine. How much do we love Katie? We still have the stuff she stuck up her nose in our office in a bag ready for ebay...Interns! Anyway we thought we'd give you a sneak peak at why we love her so very much. But you get to meet her (wristband policy in affect) at Canzine on the 26th of October. Click on "Read More" for the interview, and click on the link for Katie Crown's short video, "Wintertime," on Youtube.

 

Coach House Books's Fall Launch

Coach House Books's Fall Launch will take place at 8pm on October 9th at Stones Place (1255 Queen St. West, Toronto). Publications being released include Mike Hoolboom's The Steve Machine, Michael Blouin's Chase in Haven, Margaret Christakos' What Stirs, Jeramy Dodds's Crabwise to the Hounds, Kyle Buckley's The Laundromat Essay, and Darren O'Donnell's [boxhead]. Most of the writers will be at the launch to read from and celebrate their work. Click on the link for more details!

 

Dora Borealis

Dora Borealis by Daccia Bloomfield will launch this Wednesday. Author of the New York Times bestseller "Stuff White People Like," Christian Lander recently wrote of Daccia's debut novel, "The Toronto of Findley and Davies is long gone. I've been waiting my entire life for a book to reflect the Toronto that I know and love. This is that book." Join the Toronto literati and ECW Press as they launch Dora Borealis on Wednesday October 8th at 8pm at The Ossington (just north of Queen on the West side of Ossington). Visit Daccia's blog for details.

 

Countdown to Canzine

Canzine 2008 is only 24 days away. The theme of the event is comedy, so, alongside hilarious readings, art rooms, and our giant zine fair, we will be putting on a comedy show. Katie Crown will be hosting, and Anand Rajaram, Kathleen Phillips, Alana Johnston, Kayla Lorette, Pat Thornton, Devon Hyland, and Stefanie Drummond will be performing. Broken Pencil caught up with Devon and Stefanie to talk about their plans for their collaborative performance. Click "Read More" for our little interview, and come see them at Canzine! (October 26th, 1-7pm, at the Gladstone Hotel.)

 

New story in Online Fiction Section!

We haven't forgotten about the Online Fiction Section, and neither should you. Just posted: "The Masthead" by Andrew Hicks, another Broken Pencil Online Exclusive story. Check it out!

 

upArt 2008 at The Gladstone

The Gladstone is hosting an art fair this weekend, at a time when the city will be a buzz with appreciation for the arts. Co-curated by Chris Mitchell and Jade Rude, upArt 2008 contains installation pieces to reflect the diversity in contemporary art. upArt Room 213, The Gladstone Hotel 1214 Queen St W, Toronto Opening Reception Friday Oct 3 7-11pm Exhibition Hours: Fri Oct 3 12pm-11pm Sat Oct 4 12pm-12am(free admission from 7-12 as part of Nuit Blanche) Sun Oct 5 12pm-5pm Entry is $7.00 w/catalogue

 

Boredom Fighters

What is "graphic poetry"? Does it combine words and images in a manner unlike its more familiar cousin, the graphic novel? Find out at the Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue this Thursday, October 2nd, at 7:30pm when Paola Poletto and Jake Kennedy launch their graphic poetry book Boredom Fighters. Plus Sean Stanley and Kristi-Ly Green have collaborated on a graphic novel, Etcetera and Otherwise, and that’s getting launched as well!. BP recently caught up with Paola to discuss her new book.

 

Shuck book launch, Montreal

Daniel Allen Cox's new novel, the critically acclaimed Shuck, has having its official Montreal launch this Friday, October 3 at the downtown Chapters (located at 1171 Ste-Catherine West) from 7-9 pm. Hosted by saucy librarian Ms. Julie, Cox's book launch promises to be a kinky, fun event filled with Mad Libs, eccentric giveaways and maybe even a reading! For a quick review of the book, check out Black Heart Magazine's Review Tuesday, by yours truly, or sneak a peek at Quill & Quire's thoughts.

 

Pedlar Nuit at the Victory Cafe

Pedlar Press gets a jumpstart on Nuit Blanche this Wednesday Night with a star-studded line up reading that will go into the wee hours of early Thursday! Pedlar Nuit at the Victory Cafe is on October 1 at 7:30 p.m. The Pedlar Press authors reading are: Roo Borson, Stan Dragland, Brian Henderson, Maureen Scott Harris, Broken Pencils’ own Nathaniel G. Moore, Joanne Page, Stan Rogal and the Toronto debut of Sara Tilley, author of Skin Room! The Victory Cafe is located in the heart of the annex at 581 Markham Street.

 

Broken Pencil at Toronto's Word on the Street

Most of the BP team will be at Word on the Street on Sunday. Word on the Street is a giant festival of books and magazines and readings held every year in downtown Toronto in and around Queen's Park. BP will have a booth there so drop by. We're gonna be hawking a truly impressive subscription deal you can't get anywhere else. We'll also be handing out hot off the press Canzine fliers and posters and otherwise just hanging out and chatting and meeting people. I'm going to be there all day and selling a bunch of my books too! So come by and say hi to Hal and the rest of the team.

 

I love Skillshare Workshops

Since the start of July, Keeley and I have been organizing weekly Skillshare Workshops at Roberts Street. A lovely little bit of help from the province means that we can pay the instructors, buy supplies, and pay ourselves a little bit too. It’s worked out really well since we’ve been holding these types of hands-on workshops for years, and having a succinct series is so much more manageable than organizing endless one-off workshops. I went to a skillshare conference in Boston in 2007 (http://www.bostonskillshare.org/) but we also figured organizing a series is much more useful and less stressful than an action-packed weekend. Every time I get back from a workshop I think about writing something about it for this blog. Hannah Neurotica expertly led us through examples of zine formats made out of one piece of paper, and we happily cut and pasted and drew small zines together. We packed fifteen people into the tiny kitchen for a jam-making workshop taught by Jill Ratcliffe, and eve...

 

Vote for Fear of Fighting

On election day, October 14th, after you vote you can watch Stacey May Fowles, Marlena Zuber and Mariko Tamaki discuss the creative process of making a graphic novel. For the release of Fear of Fighting, written by Fowles and illustrated by Zuber, the two will be meeting with Tamaki at the Gladstone Hotel to talk about the making of their respective projects. Fear of Fighting is the story of Marnie, a broken-hearted young woman living in Toronto. The prose and pictures illustrate the contrast between the character's inner dialogue and the madness of her daily life. Excerpts from Fear of Fighting will appear in the comedy issue of Broken Pencil, due out in October.

 

Taddle Creek's Hallowe'en Issue and Launch

Taddle Creek's Hallowe'en issue will be available next week, and it sounds like it's going to be a great read. Derek McCormack is the guest editor, Seth has designed the front and back covers, and Mysterion the Mind Reader is profiled. The issue features fiction and poetry by Emily Pohl-Weary, Emily Schultz, Brett Alexander Savory, and more! The launch party is on October 22nd at 8pm at the Cadillac Lounge (1296 Queen Street West, Toronto). Tony Burgess, Joey Comeau, and Zoe Whittall will be reading, and Mysterion will be performing. Hallowe'en costumes are strongly encouraged. See the website for details and previews.

 

BP at Kazoo Festival Zine Fair in Guelph Saturday

Hey everyone, BP will be at the kazoo festival in Guelph on Saturday Sept. 19 from 10 to 3. BP founder and fiction editor Hal Niedzviecki (that's me!) will be doing a talk at 1:30 on the subject of the past, present and future of the underground. BP wil have a table with special subscription deals, books, tshirts, etc. Also performing will be Richard Laviolette & the Oil Spills The Magic Harri Palm & Molly Kurvink + zine fair in the square featuring contributions from local zine makers, Broken Pencil, and Carousel. + Car Free Day Celebrations: free bike repair workshops & information about alternative transportion initiatives @ St. Georges Square 10am - 3pm | All Ages | FREE

 

Bitch's readers to the rescue

Bitch magazine recently put out a call to readers to help bail them out as they were in danger of folding due to lack of funds. The plea was posted on September 14th and already they've managed to raise the US$40,000 they needed to put out the next issue, due out in December. Even though the scare for Bitch is past, the story is a familiar one these days. When Punk Planet ceased publishing in the summer of 2007, it was one of the biggest blows to the independent publishing community, not to mention to its many loyal readers. Other small magazines have suffered much the same fate. Clamor died in 2006, No Compromise in 2005, Herbi...

 

Atwater Poetry Project

The Atwater Poetry Project is a monthly reading series that takes place at the Atwater Library in Montreal. This fall, Maxianne Berger, Peter Dale Scott, Camille Martin, Jean-Marc Desgent, and Mark Goldstein will be reading. It's a really nice space for a poetry reading, so visit the website to check out the schedule and details.

 

Chester Brown runs for office?

Independent illustrator and cartoonist Chester Brown is attempting to run for office in Ontario. Brown, best known for his graphic novel Louis Riel and Yummy Fur, is hoping to run for MPP of Trinity-Spadina in the upcoming provincial election for the Libertarian Party. In order to get on the ballot, Brown needs 100 signatures from eligible voters. The Beguiling (601 Markham Street, Toronto) will have a nomination form at their front counter until the end of the week. Stop by and sign it if you want to see the best campaign signs ever around town.

 

1-2 Punch at Canzine

As many of you already know, we here at Broken Pencil are preparing for our annual festival, Canzine (Oct. 26th, 1-7pm, at the Gladstone). This year, the theme is comedy, and we are working on a new event called the 1-2 Punch that should be a lot of fun for both participants and audience members. This is how it works: live on our mainstage, you get two minutes to pitch your book idea to our panel of judges. They get one minute each to tell you why you'll never get published in a million billion years, or why they want to see your manuscript in their in-box ASAP! Guest judges are ECW Press editor Michael Holmes, Literary Agent Samantha Haywood, and writer Hal Niedzviecki. Participants must register in advance, so email canzine@brokenpencil.com if you are interested.

 

Disguises launches LP in three secret locations

Toronto noise artists Disguises are launching their new LP Post-Mortem Depression in three secret locations throughout Toronto tonight! When you purchase a ticket you will receive a map with times and locations (in case you get lost or have to play catch up) and instructions. The evening includes performances in non-traditional locations and walking tours. The only clue we have to the theme behind the whole event is "Stockholm Syndrome."...? To figure out what's going on go to 193 Dowling at no later then 9pm. Other acts include Lambsbread, Bottom Feeder, R.O.M.I.N.S. and King Greyskullz.

 

The Small Press Affair

This year, the Toronto Small Press Group's fall fair is going to be an evening event with readings and music. It will take place on November 1st, from 6-11pm, at the Tranzac (292 Brunswick). Visit the website to find out how to register.