Jay's List (What's Goin' On?) — February '25
What's happening in the Montreal lit scene this month?
Ah, February. A popular misconception says it’s the month with the highest suicide rate, which is apparently not true, so I guess we’re all in the clear. Are you excited to brace the bitter Montreal cold to go out and show up to fucking poetry readings of all things? I know I’m not!
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.
2 FEBRUARY (SUN)
ACCENT: VOL. 107 — NONSENSE
What: Popular biweekly bilingual open mic. The theme this week is “nonsense.” Click here for the event link.
Where: La Marche à côté.
When: 7pm until 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, along with special guests Rebecca Reedman and Sheryl Halpern.
How Much: Free.
4 FEBRUARY (TUES)
JRG “NO UKELELES” OPEN MIC
What: A new open mic series dedicated to the very namesake of this list, the late and great Jay Ryan Gobuty. You can do anything so long as it’s not stand-up or acoustic guitar music. It’s not a Discordia event but we’ll be there hawking zines and be looking to poach talent.
Where: L’hemisphere gauche.
When: 8pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, with special guests Gwen Aube & Jenna Jarvis.
How Much: Free.
6 FEBRUARY (THURS)
QUIST, ISSUE #1
What: The launch of a local mag for young writers.
Where: Librarie Pulp Books & Cafe.
When: 7pm.
Who: Eve L., Alec Barin, Jessica Bakar, Snowside, Sarah Cunningham, Yon, CASM, Victoria Barrow-Sterngast, and Anastasia Kiknadze.
How much: Free.
7 FEBRUARY (FRI)
MCSWAY WORKSHOP: TELLING HISTORIES
What: McSway is back with their semi-regular workshop series—this time the theme is “telling histories.”
Where: Yellow door (3625 Rue Alymer)
When: 5:30pm until 6:30pm.
Who: You, potentially.
How much: Free.
11 FEBRUARY (TUES)
MCSWAY OPEN MIC
What: Just a few days after their workshop, here they are with an open mic. Maybe you can workshop something and then read it? It also says this is featuring the “fall snaps launch” (idk what that means).
Where: Bar Milton-Parc.
When: 6pm.
Who: You, potentially.
How much: Free.
12 FEBRUARY (WED)
DAWSON POETRY CLUB’S GENERAL MEETING
What: Are you a Dawson student? I happen to know a lot of Dawson English profs so I know how many of you are illiterate. But if you’re not, hey, come to this I guess. Welcome to CanLit, kids. We’ll all be sure to haze you. The IG post is here.
Where: Discord, actually. I have to ethically clarify that I do not condone doing anything on Discord.
When: 7pm.
Who: You, if you’re a Dawson student.
How Much: Free.
13 FEBRUARY (THURS)
LAUNCH: NO FAULT: A MEMOIR OF ROMANCE AND DIVORCE BY HALEY MLOTEK
What: Haley Mlotek got divorced and now you can read all about it. That’s what I gathered from the title.
Where: Librarie Pulp Books & Cafe.
When: 7pm until 8:30pm.
Who: Haley Mlotek, in conversation with Durga Chew-Bose.
How much: Free, but RSVP here.
CHIMERA OPEN MIC
What: Open mic, five minute sets, because it’s the Valentine Day’s season works about ♥LOVE♥ are encouraged. Bookstore will be opened if you feel like buying anything. Event link here.
Where: Phoenix Books.
When: 7pm until 9pm.
Who: You, boss?
How much: Free.
BCRC POETRY CLUB
What: Are you too not-a-CEGEP-student to go to yesterday’s general meeting of the Dawson Poetry Club and you want to go to a poetry club, and also you’re Black? Well thankfully we’ve got you covered here (also this thing goes weekly, so it’s every Thurs). Check the IG posting here.
Where: Online.
When: 6:30pm until 7:30pm.
Who: You if you’re Black and over 18.
How Much: Free. Register here.
15 FEBRUARY (SAT)
PASTICHE
What: The first event by a lit event series whose name, or so their promo material tells us, is a reference to Fred Jameson’s theories. …Are the people in charge of Pastiche aware that Jameson did not think that pastiche was a “good” thing? If you go to this event, please ask them.
Where: 5295 Ave du Parc.
When: 7pm.
Who: Someone whose IG handle is @_mk.hb_ and jazz by Mafuba (anyone else noticing a lot of poetry-set-to-music events lately?).
How Much: PWYC, with tickets available here.
16 FEBRUARY (SUN)
LAUNCH: AMATEUR AND DRENCHED BY ROSE M. ARIE
What: Touting to birth the “#diarypoem,” the book promises to be salacious and horny simply by having the title it has. Will it live up to these expectations? Tune in and find out. See the IG post by clicking here.
Where: Brasserie Beaubien.
When: 9pm.
Who: Alex Trithart, Annie, Mie Beers, Salesforce Child, Shelby, and The Last Male Poet, with visuals by Aphex Redditor.
How Much: Free?
ACCENT: VOL. 108 — EROS
What: Also drenched, also amateur, but not Amateur and Drenched. Second February installment of the popular open mic show. Click here for the event link.
Where: La Marche à côté.
When: 7pm until 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, along with special guests Sabrina Papandrea and Jesse Eckerlin.
How Much: Free.
18 FEBRUARY (TUES)
TURBO HAUS OPEN MIC
What: Technically not a “poetry” event but I asked them what was allowed and it looks like technically yes you could do poetry.
Where: Turbo Haus!!!!
When: Sign up is at 8pm, but they say to come for 7pm.
Who: You, if you got the cajones. Is that how you spell that?
How Much: Free, but you’re forcing the bar staff to listen to your poetry so tip well.
19 FEBRUARY (WED)
LAUNCH: YOU DON’T GET OUT MUCH BY JESSICA BEBENEK
What: Our pal Jessica Bebenek is launching a new zine about living with chronic pain in the middle of the afternoon (!); it is being streamed on her IG though, so you might be able to watch it during your smoke break from the rubber bullshit factory.
Where: Centre for Expanded Poetics (Concordia LB 681).
When: 2 p.m.
Who: Jessica Bebenek. I already said that.
How Much: Free.
20 FEBRUARY (THURS)
DOING STUFF WITH POEMS
What: Survivors of two poetry workshops with Misha Solomon based out of Verdun’s Pulp Books assemble for a gauntlet of bite-sized readings (there are like 20 I can’t believe I have to type all these names.)
Where: Librairie Pulp Books.
When: 7pm.
Who: Autumn Banks, Brooke Bastien, Edith Garcia, Eugene Abrams, Gabrielle Tardif, Hector MacDonald, Heidi Colonnese, Jade Palmer, Julie Triganne, Lorenzo Carrara, Madelaine Caritas Longman, Natasha Lalonde, Philip Gareau, Rebecca Reedman, and Tania Schiliro.
How Much: Free.
SCATTERBRAIN MAGAZINE & DUTY FRIP: 2ND ANNIVERSARY
What: Celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Scatterbrain Magazine! Or maybe Duty Frip! Or maybe and probably both! There’s gonna be live printing and exclusive merch, BRING A T-SHIRT TO GET PRINTED! There’s also cake, and also you get 15% off dinner with proof of online ticket purchase.
Where: Bar L’Ideal.
When: 9pm to 1am.
Who: Performances by Inprosperous, Moth’s Frog, Sobaka, Lane Ellis, and Frankii.
How Much: $13, and you can buy them here.
22 FEBRUARY (SAT)
SQUID #1
What: The launch of SQUID’s first issue, a magazine of lit and arts. There will be a reading but also artist tables and some kind of collective art project for those interested.
Where: Cafe Rond-Point.
When: 6:30pm.
Who: Didn’t say on the post I saw.
How Much: Free.
MIC’D UP: BLACK HISTORY MONTH EDITION
What: Night 31 of the well-established spoken word series that based on its IG kinda seems like it’s half just people singing a capella? You could probably play a ukelele here. Anyway, this one’s an open mic.
Where: Afromusée.
When: 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Who: Whoever has the balls (and $20).
How Much: $20.
LEFT-WING BOOK SALE
What: I don’t know how much more there is to explain than that.
Where: Coop Agenda.
When: 12pm-5pm.
Who: Books and booksellers!
How Much: Free. Aside from the books you’ll buy,
27 FEBRUARY (THURS)
NOUVEAU POEM 5
What: The latest Nouveau Poem! They’re back to not being at Nouveau Palais, so the name is back to being inaccurate again. This one also sadly breaks the streak of their events featuring Discordians, but maybe we can grandfather one of these guys in.
Where: Bar Star Bar.
When: 8pm.
Who: Jessica Ward, Annah-Lauren Bloom, Fintan Calpin, Nicole Riziya Fong, and “Matteo Ciambella” (I’m not being arch by including those scare quotes, they were on the poster).
How Much: Free.
BOOKS IN TRANSLATION BOOK CLUB
What: Argo’s book club for books in translation, this time around they’re reading Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina.
Where: Argo Books.
When: 7pm.
Who: You and Ingeborg Bachmann.
How Much: Free.
28 FEBRUARY (FRI)
WRITERS’ ROOM #3
What: BYOB writers meetup, no readings, no activities, just a surprisingly literal room with writers in it. See the IG post here.
Where: Dépanneur Café.
When: 7pm until 11pm.
Who: You? Various other elbow-rubbers?
How Much: Free.
MORE TO COME. LIST IS UPDATED OFTEN.In memory of Jay Gobuty, who was Outrageous.