Jay's List (What's Goin' On?) — March '25
What's happening in the Montreal lit scene this month?
Ah, March, you know what that means, Montrealers: blissfully just two more months of winter, up until what will surely be a blizzard on May 1st just as a final Quebec-Weather-Fuck-You for all the Parisian and Anglo Vancouverite gentrifying vampires, and then we can all go back to covertly pissing all over the trees and bushes of Parc La Fontaine.
As always, if we’re missing something, or you want your event included, please message @discordia.review on Instagram to propose an inclusion.
This list will expand as items are added.
2 MARCH (SUN)
ACCENT OPEN MIC:
What: Popular biweekly bilingual open mic. The theme this week is “propaganda.” Click here for the event link.
Where: La Marche à côté.
When: 7pm until 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, along with special guests Cassandra Pegg and Kim Poirier.
How Much: Free.
5 MARCH (WEDS)
WRITERS READ: ALUMNI PANEL & READING
What: A reading by some grad students at Concordia, but also a professional panel with some Concordia alumni.1
Where: Concordia University’s 4th Space.
When: 11am until 3pm.
Who: It’s a mystery~~~~
How Much: Free.
6 MARCH (THURS)
JRG “NO UKELELES” OPEN MIC
What: An 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 Eva Crocker and kurichka.
How Much: Free.
NDQ POETRY NIGHT
What: Kinda says it all in the title, don’t it? Aside from that it’s bilingual.
Where: NDQ, stupid!
When: 9pm.
Who: Colette Coseret and Maëlle Roma are your hosts, and idk who’s reading, it was chosen by basis of application.
How Much: PWYC.
8 MARCH (SAT)
yolk POP-UP @ TIME OUT MARKET
What: yolk magazine staffers will be typing out poems on demand on a typewriter, free of charge. If you’ve ever wanted to bully local literature people, do not miss this chance.
Where: Time Out Market.
When: 12pm to 7pm.
Who: Various yolkels.
How Much: PWYC.
10 MARCH (MON)
LATE FEES III
What: Coffee house at a bookstore with an all-ladies lineup of performers. Also matcha.
Where: Librarie De Stiil.
When: 7:15pm.
Who: Savanna Leigh, Noémie Kaiser, and Grace Clark.
How Much: You need tickets, which you can get here. None shall be at the door.2
11 MARCH (TUES)
BOOK BAR
What: Saint-Henri’s Saint-Henri Books brings a book popup to Mile End’s Le Plongeoir resto-bar. The IG post says “You know da drill” but, being a rube, I actually don’t—presumably you get to fall in love with a book while drinking and then realize you can’t afford it?
Where: Le Plongeoir.
When: 6:00 until 9:00 pm.
Who: N/A I guess? You?
How Much: Free.
12 MARCH (WEDS)
MONTREAL REVIEW OF BOOKS: SPRING LAUNCH
What: Damn these self-descriptive event titles!3
Where: Hotel 10.
When: 6pm.
Who: Leila Marshy, Rachel McCrum, and Oana Avasilichioaei.
How Much: Free.
13 MARCH (THURS)
JOURNAL SAFAR #8: TONGUES LAUNCH
What: Local launch for Beirut-based design and visual culture print mag; first I’m hearing of it, but looks like a very cool product.
Where: Nouveau Palais.
When: 7:30pm to 9:30pm.
Who: Some of the city’s best dressed I imagine.
How Much: Free.
14 MARCH (FRI)
ARTMATTERS FESTIVAL: written/unwritten VERNISSAGE
What: Nine artists debut work that “explores the poetic in its myriad forms,” while you explore the snack and wine offerings.4
Where: Ada X (4001 Rue Berri, #201).
When: 6pm to 9pm. (Exhibition 03/11 to 03/21, 10am to 5pm.)
Who: Alexia Paz Escobar, Amelia Palidwor, Baird Duncan, Dahlia Waller, Izzy Walker-Sherman, Kiva Smith, Lina Sarhani, Lulu Guequierre, Zoe Carter.
How Much: Free.
16 MARCH (SUN)
ACCENT OPEN MIC
What: Popular biweekly bilingual open mic. The theme this week, now that we are safely away from Valentine’s Day, is “romance.” Click here for the event link.
Where: La Marche à côté.
When: 7pm until 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, along with special guests Nyla Matuk and Kyarra Ross.
How Much: Free.
18 MARCH (TUES)
POETRY IN CLAY
What: I usually don’t put workshops on this list but I’m making an exception for this one—for eight weeks weekly starting this day, “Poetry in Clay” will “combine ceramic hand-building with poetry and ekphrasis.” I have no idea what the fuck that will entail but it’s probably worth checking out. IG post is here.
Where: The Commons Studio.
When: 6pm until 8pm.
Who: You, if you’re interested. And *ahem* if you have the money, because the cost is…
How Much: $350 (+$20 materials).
20 MARCH (THURS)
POETRY MATTERS PRESENTS ground field figure
What: 2016 Griffin Prize-winner Liz Howard chats with fellow poet and critic Sarah Dowling, who’s launching a new book that shows that “recumbent figures saturate the literary arts of the present and respond to the proliferation of contemporary forms of grounding”—or, put more simply, that there are a lot of people lying down in books.
Where: Rocket Science Room (204-170 Jean Talon O [Atlas Building]).
When: 5pm until 7pm.
Who: Liz Howard & Sarah Dowling.
How Much: FB event says it’s “an opportunity to reflect on the grounds of poetic making with an award-winning poet” which normally people spend thousands on, but this event is free.
SOLILOQUIES OPEN MIC
What: Local Concordia student rag is running an open mic. Weirdly, they suggest signing up for a slot via their website, which feels a bit like when a restaurant swaps out their physical menu for a QR code. Loose theme of “spring,” for those who observe.
Where: Barbossa (3956A St. Laurent)
When: 7pm until 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls.
How Much: Free.
MARIA SCHAMIS TURNER BOOK LAUNCH
What: Launching The Life and Design of Frédéric Le ShoeShoe, a book of collages attributed to a (presumably fictional?) fashion designer.
Where: Librairie De Stiil.
When: 7pm.
Who: Maria Schamis Turner, interviewed by Neil Smith.
How Much: Free.
22 MARCH (SAT)
SPRING FLING
What: Bring books to swap, DIY flower arranging station, have a coffee and eat some snacks. All for the low low price of… [jump down four lines]
Where: Bar Darling.
When: 3pm until 5pm.
Who: Dine & Dish + Prose and Cons Reads
How Much: …$54.99. Good googly moogly! Ticket sales close March 15.
STIMULANT VOL. 2 LAUNCH
What: Get ready to fucking rail some extremely adulterated literary molly, or so the strobing graphic on the Stimulant website suggests to me. Issue 2 launch feat. some musicians listed below. Dress for the club (night or chess).
Where: St. Kevin’s Parish. (5600 Chem. de la Cote-des-Neiges)
When: 7:30pm until 12am.
Who: Music from Fleeting Colours, Inodi, Art Grey, Omar Atias; possibly some readers?
How Much: $15. Tickets here.
23 MARCH (SUN)
“IMPROMPTU POETRY EVENT” w/ CARLOS SOTO-ROMÁN
What: Not the name of a series but a description of a happening, poet Carlos Soto-Román is visiting from Santiago and the Rocket Scientists decided to host him for a chat about his work.
Where: Rocket Science Room (204-170 Jean Talon O [Atlas Building]).
When: 5:30pm until 7:30pm.
Who: Carlos Soto-Román, in conversation with Michael Nardone.
How Much: Free (event link).
25 MARCH (TUES)
DEVOTIONAL FORENSICS LAUNCH
What: Goose Lane’s icehouse poetry imprint launches the debut collection from Joseph Kidney, a US-based poet who has recently been hoovering up Canadian small mag prizes (most notably Arc’s $5,000 Poem of the Year). He’ll be backed up by local Domenica Martinello.
Where: Le Port du tete. (269 Ave. Mont-Royal Est)
When: 3pm until 5pm.
Who: Joseph Kidney and Domenica Martinello
How Much: Free.
27 MARCH (THURS)
LITERARY TRIVIA NIGHT
What: Did you know the famous gold medallion Irving Layton wore during his “Hawaiian Style” period was made out of chocolate? That’s probably not true, but yolk is presenting an evening of actual trivia on the subject of Montreal lit. Teams 2 to 6, be there or be elsewhere!
Where: Co-Op Bar Milton Parc.
When: 7:30pm.
Who: Hosted by Owen Maxwell.
How Much: Free, though allegedly a sign-up form will be made available a few days in advance.
28 MARCH (FRI)
SOAPBOX LIT
What: The poets, I’m sure, will be fine, but the poster says OPEN BAR? Do they know what OPEN BAR means? Are they prepared for what OPEN BAR could unleash?
Where: 129 Ave Van Horne.
When: 7:30pm.
Who: Jeremy Audet, Laura Mota-Juang, Tara McGowan-Ross, & Braedan Houtman.
How Much: $27, so prepare to throw some elbows and double-fist to make sure you get your money’s worth.
BAD POETRY & BAR NIGHT
What: The poets, I’m sure, will be terrible, but the poster says BAR? Aaand that’s all I’ve got for that bit, but this night seems funny: go read your own bad poems, or bad poems by famous writers, then go drink.
Where: Concordia Library LB-646.
When: 7pm to 9pm.
Who: Jeremy Audet, Laura Mota-Juang, Tara McGowan-Ross, & Braedan Houtman.
How Much: Free, but must RSVP with host Michael Gillis (email in the link above) by 03/27.
31 MARCH (MON)
HEADLIGHT 25
What: A gala celebrating 50 years of Concordia (why not smash a few windows on your way through campus for us?) and (roughly) 25 years of the student-focused Headlight anthology. There’ll be food, drink, and six readers.
Where: JMSB Reading Room at Concordia. (1450 Rue Guy, Room 9D)
When: 6:30pm to 9:30pm.
Who: Sarah Burgoyne, Aaron Kreuter, Neil Smith, Misha Solomon, Gillian Sze, and Josh Knelman.
How Much: Free, but sign-up extremely required.
And looking ahead to April…
The calendar is already filling up for next month. We’ll have more details in the April list, but keep an eye out for Gwen Aube’s Pulp Necrosis chapbook launch (April 1); a double-helping of the JRG Open Mic (April 3 & April 29); McGill Arts Collective’s “Battle of the Arts” (April 3); an Accent Open Mic-promoted Lantern mag launch (April 6); the launch of You Crushed It, an English translation of Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard’s novel (April 10); another yolk house reading (April 10); the third edition of Eva Crocker’s apartment Lamp Lit series (April 24)… and much more to come, I’m sure.
Yes, my more regular readers know my opinions on too much professionalization in the creative writing industry already.
I once got in to see Angela Davis without ticket by simply being a nuisance to the door people—so what’s stopping you? Take life by the balls!
(Although it’s also in partnership with Blue Metropolis)
Note to vernissage caterers: Calling out broke artists for coming back for too many refills is class traitorship.