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Tag: Toronto

Michael Cho at Type Books May 23rd

by Dan
Art & Photography + Events + Graphica / May 10, 2012

Toronto-based illustrator and hometown hero Michael Cho will be signing copies of his new book Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes 6pm–8pm on May 23rd at Type Books on Queen Street West near Trinity Bellwoods Park. TYPE will also be featuring a gallery show of selected work from the book. 

Michael began creating drawings of the back alleys near his Toronto home in 2008. Collected together in this book, the work speaks to the beauty of the urban landscape: sometimes gritty and citified, sometimes unexpectedly pastoral, but always beautifully rendered. Michael is a brilliant draftsman, and Back Alleys shines with loving attention to detail – from expletive-filled graffiti splayed across backyard fences to the graceful twists of power lines over a bend in the road. 

Last weekend, Michael joined a host of other super-talented cartoonists – including Kate Beaton, Guy Delisle and Tom Gauld to name a few – signing books at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival at the Toronto Reference Library. Unsurprisingly (in retrospect!) Backalleys was in big demand and we sold out of the book in no time at all, so make sure you come by early on the 23rd if you are want to get your hands on a copy! 

Michael Cho
Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes 
Book signing featuring a gallery show of selected work

@ TYPE Books
883 Queen Street West, Toronto
May 23rd, 6pm - 8pm
Typebooks.ca  

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Hark! A Vagrant wins Doug Wright Award

by Dan
Graphica / May 07, 2012

It was the Toronto Comics Art Festival at the weekend, and the brilliant Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton won the award for Best Book at the 8th Doug Wright Awards, hosted by Geoff Pevere, which took place on Saturday night at the Art Gallery of Ontario. 

Founded in 2004, the annual Doug Wright Awards recognize the best and brightest in English-language comics and graphic novels published in the previous year in Canada. 

This years winners were decided by a jury comprised of visual artist Shary Boyle, cartoonist John Martz and book artist and professor George Walker.

Speaking on behalf of the jury, Shary Boyle praised Kate’s book. “The world of comics can be a sequestered and dusty place,” she said. “As the comic community bemoans its shrinking readership and dying forms, Beaton rises up and throws open the doors to a whole new audience—welcoming one and all with her generous vision and sense of sophisticated, inclusive playfulness.” 

Amen to that! 

Other winners included Ethan Rilly for Pope Hats #2 (Doug Wright Spotlight Award aka "The Nipper") Michael Comeau for Hellberta (Pigskin Peters Award for experimental or avant-garde comics).

Congratulations all. 

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Jo Walton at Bakka Phoenix February 25th

by Dan
Events + Fiction + Science Fiction and Fantasy / February 16, 2012

Among Others by Jo Walton was one of my favourite books last year. The voice of estranged teenager Mor — a lone twin in a new and austere private school — and her struggle to find some kind redemption through books makes for compelling reading. It is a haunting and unashamedly brainy novel.

I have been busy recommending left, right, and centre and so I'm really happy that Jo will be celebrating the release of the paperback edition of Among Others at Bakka Phoenix Books in my hometown Toronto at 3pm on Saturday February 25th. If you've read the book already, you won't want to miss it. And if you haven't, well, what are you waiting for...?

Jo Walton / Among Others
3pm Saturday, February 25th 2012
BAKKA PHOENIX 
84 Harbord Street,
Toronto
Tel: 416-963-9993 

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Kate Beaton Bonanza

by Dan
Graphica / November 01, 2011

Well, after much excitement IFOA 2011 came to close this weekend in Toronto. As a parent to a pair of little monkeys I didn't make it to a lot of events this year sadly, but I was fortunate enough to meet the brilliant Seth and Dan Clowes and then tag along with superstar cartoonist and all-around charmer Kate Beaton who was speaking at the festival this past weekend. 

Having already established a dedicated audience for her comics online and with the beautiful new hardcover book Hark! A Vagrant sitting pretty on the New York Times bestseller list for Graphic Books, Kate was very much in demand. 

Not only did The National Post and NOW magazine review the book, Kate also stopped by the CBC to chat with Jian Ghomeshi and the folks from The Hour. As you can see from the photos, we had a lot of fun — even if Kate was a little disappointed not to meet Canada's Official Boyfriend in person!   

It was all a bit of a whirlwind (especially as Kate was feeling a little under the weather on Saturday), but before she jetted off, Kate managed to fit in candid interview with the Toronto Star:

“I think that anybody who inadvertently starts a blog or a comic online will give a piece of themselves because they can’t believe someone’s reading it. There’s no institution, you are just yourself. You can’t help but be a personality. I had to learn over time how much of myself I wanted to give over and how much I wanted to hold onto. Like when I changed the name of the site from my name too Hark A Vagrant. It used to be katebeaton.com but I got rid of that because I didn’t want to be the focus of the comic. I wanted the comic to be.”

And Kate is still on the road for a few more days. Tonight, she is in Montreal at Librairie D+Q (the event starts at 7pm), and tomorrow, Kate will be at Strange Adventures in Halifax (also starting from 7pm). Catch her while you can! 

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Louise Penny A Trick of the Light Tour Dates

by Dan
Events + Fiction / August 22, 2011

The latest Chief Inspector Gamache mystery A Trick of the Light is released next week, and author Louise Penny will be reading from the novel at bookstores across Canada in August and September. 

Here are the dates for your agenda:

Saturday August 27th 2011 / Knowlton 
Brome Lake Books at 2:00pm (ticketed)

Monday August 29th 2011 / Toronto  
Sleuth of Baker Street at 6:00pm

Sept 13th—14th / One Book, One Island / PEI 
Tues: Charlottetown PE Confederation Centre Public Library at 2:00pm 
Weds: Summerside PE Bibliothèque publique J-Henri-Blanchard at 2:00pm
Weds: Montague PE Montague Rotary Library at 7:00pm

Sunday September 18th, 2011 / Montreal, Quebec
Chapters Centre-ville at 2:00pm  

Sept 20th—22nd / One Book, One Community / Kitchener-Waterloo 
Tues:  Kitchener, Victoria Park Pavilion (time TBC)
Weds: New Hamburg, Waterloo Oxford District Secondary School (time TBC)
Weds: Waterloo, First United Church (time TBC)
Thurs: Cambridge, (details TBC)

Saturday September 24th, 2011 / Victoria 
Bolen Books at 7:00pm

Sunday September 25th, 2011 / Vancouver 
Chapters on Granville at 2:00pm 

Tuesday September 27th, 2011 / Winnipeg 
McNally Robinson Grant Park at 8:00pm

Thursday October 6th / Montreal
Paragraphe Books (Details TBC)

You can follow Louise on her blog and on Facebook for news and updates about her books and the tour.  

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TCAF Photo Diary

by Dan
Graphica / May 19, 2011

If you missed the excitement of Toronto Comics Art Festival (TCAF) a couple of weekends ago, never fear! The awesome online art magazine that is Squidface & The Meddler documented the event with a slew of photographs by talented Toronto photographer Sam Javanrouh.   

It was the 6th gathering of the annual arts festival founded by The Beguiling's Peter Birkemoe and Chris Butcher and it was bigger than ever this year with artists, writers, publishers and fans from all over Canada and abroad attending.

Needless to say the folks from Drawn + Quarterly were out in force and Javanrouh snapped these great shots of pals Chester Brown, author of Paying For It, and Seth, whose new book The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists is published this fall, working away at the D+Q table:

More of Javanrouh's photos of TCAF — including snaps of Adrian Tomine (Scenes From An Impending Marriage), Chris Ware (The Acme Novelty Library #20) and Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) — can be seen at Squidface & The Meddler, and you can see new pics by Sam every day at his Toronto photoblog Daily Dose of Imagery. 

(Special thx to Sam Javanrouh and Mike and Jes at Squidface and The Meddler for letting use these pics). 

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Paying For It

by Dan
Graphica / May 02, 2011

Chester Brown's controversial new book Paying For It — both a contemporary defence of prostitution and a memoir of his personal experiences — is out this week, and the Toronto author was profiled in both the Globe and Mail and the National Post this weekend. Brad Mackay also reviewed the book for the Globe:

As is the case in most of his other autobiographical comics, Brown sets himself up as the target of the jokes. Joe Matt, a good friend and recurring character in Brown’s work, gets the lion’s share of the yucks here. I especially liked Matt’s reaction after he learns Brown has visited a prostitute: “This is disturbing, but it’s also good gossip.”

Of course, the art is as idiosyncratic as ever. Brown forgoes the six-panel grid and turns down the cross-hatching that he used in Louis Riel for a small, rectangular eight-panel layout inspired in part by the comics of Carl Barks. These oblong panels house some of the year’s most effective cartooning, capable of lending dignity to even the most awkward sex scenes.

You can also read reviews in The Walrus magazine, and at the Comics Reporter and Robot 6. 

Chester will be at the Toronto Comics Art Festival this coming weekend and at the Vancouver Public Library on May 18th. 

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The Next Day Book Launch, May 3rd, Toronto

by Dan
Events + Graphica / April 19, 2011

The new book from Pop Sandbox, the award-winning company behind the controversial KENK: A Graphic Portrait, is a groundbreaking comic called The Next Day. 

Constructed from intimate interviews with four survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts, it is both poetic and profound meditation on life, the decision to end it, and what comes after...   

The book is launching on May 3rd, 2011 with a free discussion with the entire creative team behind the book — including indie-comics star John Porcellino —hosted by This Is Not A Reading Series. 

The hour-long discussion will be followed by a reception, and will also mark the opening of an exhibition of original artwork from The Next Day, as well as animations, soundscapes, projections and more from the upcoming interactive experience at the NFB Mediatheque in Toronto through late May.

BOOK LAUNCH & EXHIBITION OPENING
Co-Presented by: The National Film Board, TVO, TINARS, Hot Docs, TCAF, The Canadian Mental Health Association, Raincoast Books and The Toronto Animated Image Society: 

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque
150 John St. (at Richmond St. W), Toronto
Doors open at 7:00; Event starts at 7:30
Admission is FREE
 

 

The Next Day will be available in Canadian bookstores and comic shops in early May. You can also catch the creative team at the Toronto Comics Art Festival May 7th and 8th at the Drawn & Quarterly store in Montreal May 10th. 

The Next Day was developed simultaneously as a separate interactive animated documentary online, in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada and in association with TVO as part of the NFB-TVO Calling Card Program.

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Chester Brown Tour Dates

by Dan
Current Affairs + Graphica / April 13, 2011

Chester Brown's controversial new book Paying For It is published later this month and Chester will be on the road to launch it in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in May: 

TORONTO: Sunday, May 1st at Goodhandy's with Sasha
TORONTO: Saturday & Sunday, May 7th–8th at TCAF
MONTREAL: Saturday, May 14th at Librairie D+Q
VANCOUVER:Wednesday, May 18th at Vancouver Public Library with Lucky's
 

In Paying For It, Chester Brown calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but a vocal proponent of one of the world's most hot-button topics—prostitution.

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Lonely Planet Comes To The Aid Of Stranded Traveler’s With Free City Guide iPhone Apps

by Crystal
Environment + News + Travel + Vancouver / February 02, 2011

Lonely Planet is once again coming to the aid of travelers stranded across Canada and the US do to snowstorms! For 72 hours Lonely Planet is offering 14 of it's iPhone City Guide apps for free.

“We recognize that travelers are stuck all over the country due to these recent storms and will need access to our content”, said John Boris, Lonely Planet’s Managing Director. “Thus, we made all our USand CanadianiPhoneCityGuide apps free so that regardless of whether they are stuck in a blizzard or on the beach, they can easily download the practical information and recommendations we provide straight onto their phone”. 

The 14 guides will be free in the iTunes App Store from 5pmPST on Tuesday, February 1^st to 5pmPST Friday, February 4^th 2011.

 

The cities available are:

·         San Francisco

·         New York City

·         Boston

·         Washington DC

·         Chicago

·         Seattle

·         New Orleans

·         Vancouver

·         Las Vegas

·         Miami

·         Toronto

·         Los Angeles

·         Montreal

·         Fort Myers & Sanibel

 

Lonely Planet has a history of helping stranded travelers, having offered their EuropeaniPhoneCityGuide apps free during the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull and again during the Christmas snowstorms. This is the first time they’ve offered their US or Canadian city guides for free.

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