Barrett and Welsh, unit 301
You are invited to the 22nd session of The Tartan Turban Secret Readings curated by Hannah Brown and featuring Hannah herself, Faith Arkorful, Sofia Mostaghimi, Jess Taylor and Sanchari Sur.
Born in Hastings County, Hannah Brown currently lives in Toronto's Beach community. She has two degrees in film from York University and won awards for her screenplays. After happily teaching English and film at the college and collegiate levels, she recently returned to writing full time, with work published in several North American literary journals. Her short story "On Any Windy Day" published in Superstition Review is used by translator Emily Wilson's grad students, and her short story "The Happiness" was (parenthetical) magazine's entry for the 2016 Journey Awards. Her debut novel Look After Her had its launch at the Ben McNally bookstore, and will be available soon online and in stores. She will be reading for the Pivot, Bright Lit, Big City, and Draft series in Toronto, and in November be reading in Halifax at the Central Library. She has accepted an invitation to participate in the Leeds UK International Festival.
Sofia Mostaghimi is a Toronto-based fiction writer, teacher, and editor. Her work has appeared in The Fiddlehead (forthcoming), Journey Prize Stories 30, The Unpublished City Anthology, The Puritan, Joyland Magazine, and as a digital short for Platypus Press, among others. She is currently working on completing her first novel.
Faith Arkorful has had her work published in GUTS Magazine, Peach Magazine, PRISM International, Hobart, without/pretend The Puritan, and Canthius Magazine, amongst other places. She was a semi-finalist in the 2019 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest. Faith was born in Toronto, where she still resides.
Jess Taylor is a Toronto writer and poet. Her second collection Just Pervs was released by Book*hug in Canada this Fall. Recently a short story from that collection Two Sex Addicts Fall in Love was long-listed for The Journey Prize and included in The Journey Prize Anthology 30. The title story from her first collection Pauls (BookThug, 2015) Paul, received the 2013 Gold Fiction National Magazine Award. Jess believes that collaboration and helping other writers is an important part of her writing practice and continues to organize events in the community. She is currently working on a novel Play and a continuation of her life poem Never Stop.
Sanchari Sur (she/they) was a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow, and a 2019 recipient of a Banff Centre residency (with Electric Literature). Their work can be found in The Unpublished City (2017), PRISM international, Humber Literary Review, Room, Arc Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a doctoral candidate in English at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the curator/co-founder of Balderdash Reading Series (est. Jan 2017).
To book a seat (it's free), visit our Eventbrite page at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tartan-turban-secret-readings-22-tickets-75760729381
For updated information and author headshots, follow our Facebook group and our Facebook event page.
Open mic:
Anyone attending is welcome to read or perform (if you are a musician) in our open mic sessions. If you are a writer or musician who would like to perform in the open mic session, we ask that you listen in to at least one session to get the flavour of the evening and join in on your next visit. To participate in TTSR #22, please contact Hannah Brown, the evening's curator, beforehand. This allows her to line up readers and manage the evening efficiently. You may also contact series curators Gavin or Mayank.
The ambience at our readings is intimate, extremely informal and very supportive. Readers are given 4 minutes in total, including a brief introduction to themselves and their work. They may read any form of creative writing (fiction/poetry/drama/screenplay) – or a work of reportage or creative non-fiction. The Tartan Turban Secret Readings is not a lecture or motivational speaking series, so no academic or self-help works, please.
There are detailed open mic guidelines posted here in our FB group.
Open mic readers who have published works they would like to offer for sale are free to mention it on finishing their readings.
About The Tartan Turban Secret Readings: Barrett and Welsh hosts a (not so) “secret" reading series on its rather lovely open-air office rooftop deck while it's warm, and in its large open concept studio space in colder weather.
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings feature poetry, drama and prose readings that celebrate Canadian multicultural writing created by multicultural, minority and BIPoC writers. The idea is to provide a platform for BIPoC writers who have very few such platforms. At the same time, all writers who want to celebrate Canada’s multiculturalism, literary diversity and indigenous heritage, and have talent to share, are welcomed.
Curators change from reading to reading. If you would like to read or curate, contact Gavin Barrett or Mayank Bhatt, who are co-curators for the series.
The sessions are often photographed, filmed or streamed on FB/YouTube live. Please be aware that by attending this event, you agree to be photographed and/or filmed and give permission to use your likeness in promotional and/or marketing materials.
Seating: For those wishing to attend, please note that our indoor space can comfortably accommodate no more than 35 people (including our features).
Refreshments: Barrett and Welsh does provide complimentary drinks and light snacks. But in keeping with the community-centric spirit of the series, we encourage attendees to bring and/or share their beverages and snacks. Please carry your own drinking cups/glasses, as we avoid the use of disposables unless they are biodegradable. Filtered water is available to all.
Entry: Please arrive before seven and encourage your guests to do the same. If they arrive later, they may need to text one of us to let them in. Contact info will be posted on the door; we’ll swing by in 10 min intervals (sorry!)
Accessibility: Barrett and Welsh’s offices are at the top of an office building that was once a large townhouse, so there are a couple of steep flights of stairs to get in. If you (or any guests) have mobility challenges, please be aware that you may need a helping hand up the stairs, as there is no elevator. Please let us know if we can be of assistance.
Want to receive updates on the next reading? Follow our FB group for updates on the next session and the link to the Eventbrite registration page for each reading. (we do ask that you register if you plan to attend). You can also sign up for our email list here.