Jay's List (What's Goin' On?) — December '24

What's happening in the Montreal lit scene this month?

Sorry about the obvious blog hold up everybody. Turns out 3-4 blog posts a week is hard to maintain during law school finals. That being said, I’m very appreciative of the little following the blog’s got, and hitting 1k readers a month was a big (albeit small in the grand scheme of the “content mills”) achievement for me. A big thank you to my regulars. Also, a big thank you to my staffers for helping me get this Jay’s List together this month while I’ve been so busy.

Now to your regularly-scheduled lit scene event schedule for this month. As always, I approve of none of it, as I think reading is decadence and recommend illiteracy.

As always, if we’re missing something, or you want your event included, please message @discordia.review on Instagram to propose an inclusion. The list will expand as items are added.

4 DECEMBER (WEDS)

BRICK & WRITERS READ
What: Brick is celebrating its latest issue by doing an event with Writers Read. How is this any different from launching without Writers Read, considering that most launches already, one imagines, have writers read? I’m not really sure. Because Sina Queyras will be there?
Where: Concordia’s York Ampitheatre, EV building, 1.605. You uhh may want to ask a Concordia staff or student for directions. The name of our collective started out as an anti-Concordia reference but also none of us have been students there for years so we can’t help you here.
When: 7pm.
Who: Brick editor Madeleine Thien, Brick publisher Laurie D. Graham, contributors Lucy Ives¹ and Kyo Maclear, and a discussion curated by Sina Queyras.
How Much: Free.

5 DECEMBER (THURS)

NOUVEAU POEM 4
What: Nouveau Poem is back at Nouveau Palais again! The name has gone back to making sense!
Where: Nouveau Palais!!!
When: 9pm.
Who: Joshua Chris Bouchard (Discordia alumnus who we also have a zine from you can see here), Alana Dunlop, Jean-Guy Forget, Nuria Isabel, Hannah Karpinski, and Chloe Latour.
How Much: Free.

6 DECEMBER (FRI)

HOLIDAY GLÖGG PARTY
What: This sounds very cute, and I’m partial because The Word is my favourite bookstore in the entire city, possibly tied with Encore. I used to live on the same block and would go about once a day, and Stephanie Bolster even got my wife and I a gift card for The Word as a wedding gift and it was probably the best gift we received. Anyhow—Google tells me that “glögg” is some kind of Swedish mulled wine, so I suppose we’ll be drinking that.
Where: The Word bookstore.
When: 5pm.
Who: Adrian & Family et al.
How Much: I believe it is free. As for the glögg, I’m unsure. Don’t YOU want to support a local legend?

7 DECEMBER (SAT) & 8 DECEMBER (SUN)

READ QUEBEC BOOK FAIR
What: Oh joy! A celebration of literature from here in Quebec! There’s a lot of events involved, including ones for kids, check them out here.
Where: Casa D’Italia.
When: Various events from noon until 7pm on the 7th, and from noon to 5pm on the 8th.
Who: Read Quebec.
How Much: Free, and there’s wine and snacks.

9 DECEMBER (MON)

LECTURES LOGOS READINGS
What: A reading, followed by an open mic with space for just eight readers so arrive early.
Where: 2741 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest.
When: 7pm until 9pm.
Who: Yara El-Ghabdan, Yvonne Sam, Rodrigo Sandoval, Claire Sherwood, Sayaka Araniva-Yanez, and Russell Fraalich, plus whoever has the balls for the open mic.
How Much: Free.

14 DECEMBER (SAT)

THE PIT: WINTER ISSUE LAUNCH
What: New issue of The Pit is launching. Self-explanatory.
Where: 4710 Rue Saint-Ambroise, unit 343 (Avenue Public).
When: 5pm.
Who: The Pit-crew. Har har har. I don’t know who’s reading yet, wasn’t on the poster, but probably people who got published in this issue. Music by Everly Lux and a SPECIAL GUEST. I LOVE SURPRISES!!!
How Much: $20 at the door or e-transfered to thepitperiodical AT gmail DOT com.

POEMS AND DUMPLINGS
What: As self-explanatory as it gets. Although there will also be music. And divinations?
Where: Cafe Nocturne.
When: 7pm until 9pm..
Who: K. Prevallet, Andrew Whiteman, and Micah Flavin
How Much: Free, but RSVP at thepoetryclinic AT gmail DOT com.

15 DECEMBER (SUN)

ACCENT OPEN MIC, VOL. 105: DEAD POETS SOCIETY
What: The bi-weekly Accent open mic holding its fifth annual… [groan] no, I can’t type that name impartially. Accent alumni will be reading their favourite poems from their favourite dead poets (which we at Discordia approve of obviously because we host Poetreoke). It’s their last event of the year and should make for a good time and basically be a more fun and literary version of Spotify Wrapped. Unsure if there’s still an open mic attached. Then they’re likely breaking for Christ’s Birth, so you’re shit out of luck until January 19th if you don’t go to this one.
Where: Bar La Marche À Côté.
When: 8pm until 11pm.
Who: April L. Ford, Carlos A. Pittella, Dakota Phillips, Hillary Muller, Lena Slanisky, Lou Vani, Matthew Bettino, Patrick O’Reilly, Rose Maloukis, Sahand Farivar, and Wanda Warerman, hosted by the Cactus crew.
How Much: Free, but it’s always polite to RSVP, which you can do here.

MORE TO COME, LIST UPDATES REGULARLY

In memory of Jay Gobuty, who was Outrageous.

1. Just something I couldn’t help commenting on, and I don’t think this is Ives’ fault, but the event touts her as “internationally-renowned,” which is… I think a descriptor that is doing a lot of legwork here and putting a pretty unfair set of expectations onto a writer, and may just mean “has a Wikipedia page.” I generally think that if a writer is “internationally-renowned” then their reputation speaks for themselves and nobody has to declare it. But what do I know.