The Big Book of Pop Culture: A How-To Guide for Young Artists
Hal Niedzviecki
Illustrated by Marc Ngui
(Annick Press)

With this book, Broken Pencil Magazine publisher and fiction editor Hal Niedzviecki has created a thorough, informative and easy-to-use guide to why indie matters. Specifically geared to young people poised to make change, this fun foray into all things independent lets readers know exactly how they can (and why they should) make their own culture in an increasingly corporate world. This book features all the dirt on DIY, inviting readers to use modern media to make zines, comics, websites, movies, music and more.

As informative as it is entertaining, the book features interviews with young culture-makers, the dos and don’ts of DIY, resources and realistic how-tos. It’s a must read for anyone ready to make their own mark on our cultural landscape.

There’s some science fiction workshop events upcoming at the Toronto Public Library that have some really fantastic female artists and writers involved. Definitely worth checking out if you have an interest in sci fi and fantasy! Click here for more details.

Tuesday, April 29, 7 p.m.
HOWTO write and publish genre fiction
A panel discussion with local authors Jim Munroe, Emily Pohl-Weary, Kristyn Dunnion and Paul Hong
Location: Eatonville Library, 430 Burnhamthorpe Rd.

Thursday, May 8, 5 p.m.
Learn about making a graphic novel with Emily Pohl-Weary and Willow Dawson, creators of Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate
Location: Centennial Library, 578 Finch Ave. W.

Monday, May 26, 7 p.m.
Noted feminists, poets and SF authors Candas Jane Dorsey, Paula Johanson, Sandra Kasturi and Phyllis Gotlieb read from and discuss their poetry. Q&A and book-signing to follow.
Location: Oakwood Village Library, 341 Oakwood Ave.

Diaspora Dialogues invites submissions to its annual publishing/mentoring program. Open to emerging Toronto-area writers of short stories, creative nonfiction, plays, and poems. Settings of works must include the Greater Toronto Area.

Approximately 15 writers will be chosen and each assigned (free of charge) to an established writer or dramaturge in a mentoring capacity. Selection of finished pieces will be published in the annual Diaspora Dialogues anthology, TOK: Writing the New Toronto. Deadline: May 9, 2008.

More information here.

I’ve written before about how amazing d’bi.young.anitafrika is. See for yourself:

From Open Book Toronto:

d’bi.young.anitafrika is the author of Art On Black (Women’s Press, 2005) and blood.claat (Playwrights Canada Press, 2007). Her most recent is book, rivers… and other blackness… between us (Canadian Scholars Press, 2007). In this video, d’bi.young “talks about growing up working class in Jamaica, and taking ownership, through her work, of who she is….” The video, directed by Frances-Anne Solomon, is from LiteratureAlive.ca.

This week is officially the last week to get your submissions in for our Shameless Anthology (set for publication with Tightrope Books in spring 2009. We’re still on the hunt for great content, so if you haven’t already done so, send us your best work and make sure it’s postmarked for Friday!

More details are here if you need them.

WAM afterparty photo by roniweb.

Your anthology editors.

I have to give a shout-out to the lovely women at Octopus Books. I did a reading there over the weekend with (the fantastic) Zoe Whittall and the book geek in me was blown away over what a great little bookstore it is. If you’re in Ottawa, it’s certainly worth a visit—they specialize in books on Feminist Politics, Political Action, Race Issues, Environmental Politics, and so much more. You can find them at 116 Third Ave.

Reading in the bookstore.

(more inside…)

If you’re in Ottawa this weekend please join the fabulous Zoe Whittall and I for the Female First Fiction Series (April 12).

First Female Fiction Series
Featuring Zoe Whittall (Bottle Rocket Hearts)
Stacey May Fowles (Be Good)
Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Octopus Books - 116 Third Ave - Ottawa, ON
613 233 2589 - Email: octopus@octopusbooks.ca

More event details here.

The fabulous Julie Wilson, of Toronto’s Seen Reading Blog fame, has featured Shameless Magazine, Issue 11 as her latest entry!

For more on Julie WIlson and the Seen Reading Blog, click here.

Been writing for a while and serious about your poetry? Close to finishing a book length manuscript? Then check this out: