at Barrett and Welsh featuring Kate Cayley, Maheen Hyder, Derek Mascarenhas, Rasiqra Revulva reading on the theme of beginnings and endings.
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 #15 please contact Mark Sampson the evening's curator — beforehand as this will allow him to line up readers and manage the evening efficiently.
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 which may be any form of creative writing (fiction/poetry/drama/screenplay) – or a work of reportage or creative non-fiction. This is not a lecture or motivational speaking series, so no academic or self-help works, please.
There are detailed open mic guidelines posted 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.
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 minority writers who have very few such platforms while welcoming all writers who want to celebrate Canada’s multiculturalism, diversity and indigenous heritage, and have talent to share.
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. Readings may eventually be collected in an anthology, so ideally everyone reads some unpublished work.
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).
About the series co-curators: Mayank Bhatt's first novel Belief was published late last year by MG Vassanji’s Mawenzi House press. The novel explores youth radicalisation and alienation, and the impact of terrorism on a family in the context of the failure of immigration and settlement framework in Canada.
Mayank Bhatt immigrated to Toronto in 2008 from Mumbai (Bombay), where he worked as a journalist. His short stories have been published in TOK 5: Writing the New Toronto and Canadian Voices II. In Canada, he has worked as a security guard, as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce and as an organizer for the Festive of South Asian Literature and Art. He lives in Toronto with his family.
Mayank co-curates the Tartan Turban Secret Readings with Gavin Barrett. Gavin Barrett is a poet and creative entrepreneur. His poetry has been published in Ranjit Hoskote’s anthology of 14 contemporary Indian poets, Reasons for Belonging (Penguin India); the journal of Pen India; The Folio; The Independent; The Toronto South Asian Review; and Poeisis – the journal of the Bombay Poetry Circle of which he was a founding member.