What are the Tartan Turban Secret Readings?
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings are a warm, intimate and now not-so-secret reading series hosted at the offices of Toronto advertising and design agency Barrett and Welsh.
What happens at the Tartan Turban Secret Readings?
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings celebrate and support writing by IBPOC Canadian writers with a special focus on those who self-identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour, who have few such platforms. At the same time, all writers who want to celebrate Canada’s multiculturalism, diversity and indigenous heritage, and have talent to share are warmly welcomed. Please feel free to bring any of your friends of every minority, whether “visible” or not. Non-minorities are warmly welcomed too.
Readings primarily feature poetry, drama and prose and are sometimes interspersed with musical performances, again with a focus on multicultural/minority/IBPOC musicians or traditions. Sessions are usually photographed, filmed and live-streamed on FB/YouTube.
Each reading is curated by a different curator. Curators have included George Elliott Clarke, Bänoo Zan, Terri Favro, Sang Kim, Koom Kankesan, Arif Anwar, Nedra Rodrigo, Hannah Brown, charles c smith, Gavin Barrett and Mayank Bhatt.
Curators arrange for the evening’s featured readers, supply their bios, set the order of readings, are MCs for the majority of the evening, introduce the features, organize the open mic, and source/vet open mic readers. It is customary for curators (if they are writers) to join the line-up of features and read from their own work.
Is there an open mic session at the Tartan Turban Secret Readings?
Yes. This is an essential part of the evening. While our featured readers tend to be established, published writers, each evening also provides two or three open mic opportunities where emerging and established writers can read. The ambience at our readings is intimate, extremely informal and very supportive. To read or curate, contact series curator Gavin Barrett or each evening’s curator for more information on the format of the readings and the open mic guidelines. Feel free to suggest or bring along others you think might be ideal as curators, participants or happy listeners.
When do the Tartan Turban Secret Readings take place?
Readings ideally take place every 3rd or 4th Thursday or Friday in the month, but this varies depending on what is convenient for featured readers and curators.
Where are the readings?
Barrett and Welsh hosts the readings at their offices in the Beach, in east end Toronto. The readings take place on the open-air rooftop deck when weather permits and online at other times. The address is Suite 301, 577 Kingston Road, Toronto, M4E 1R3.
How much does it cost to attend?
The venue is donated free of cost, so the readings are free to all attending. Occasionally we are able to obtain funding from Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets but this is not always the case. So our audience is encouraged to support our featured writers and the talent they so generously share without payment by buying signed copies of their works at the reading or by making a donation to one of their charities. If you would like to make a donation to The Tartan Turban Secret Readings, simply add your contribution to the donation jar at the venue or please contact Gavin Barrett. All donations will be used to compensate writers.
How do I buy books?
Our audience is asked to buy directly from each of the writers present and to pay only in cash. Please carry some change along.
Should I bring anything when I come to the reading?
Barrett and Welsh provides complimentary refreshments and light snacks. However, in keeping with the series’ community-centric spirit, we encourage attendees to bring and share their own beverages and snacks. As a sustainability-focused certified B Corp, Barrett and Welsh strives to provide chinaware and glassware rather than single-use plastic, but it doesn’t hurt to carry your own reusable drinking cup or glass in case we run out.
How do I attend?
Simply follow the Tartan Turban Secret Readings Facebook group for updates on the next session and the link to the Lu.Ma registration page for each reading. (We do ask that you register if you plan to attend). Signing up for a reading puts you on our email list, so you’ll get invitations to future sessions.
Is the venue accessible?
Barrett and Welsh donates its beautiful open-concept office space as a venue for the readings, but the offices are on the top floor of an old townhouse that was converted, pre-AODA, into the more modern office building it is today. Unfortunately, this means the office is not wheelchair-accessible as there is no elevator and the stairs are fairly steep. We do our best to accommodate anyone with mobility needs, but this is mainly limited to helping them up the stairs or carrying assistive devices up for them. If anyone attending is hearing impaired, and lets us know in advance, we can arrange for the pieces being read by the featured writers (if they assent) to be projected. We also live-stream each reading to make each session accessible for audience members who cannot be present in person.
Why “Tartan Turban”?
The Barrett and Welsh logo is a tartan turban, a symbol of the Indian and Scottish roots of its founders and of the agency’s mission to use communications to create access and inclusion for minorities. As an ad agency and as a certified B Corp that focuses on inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism and sustainable development, our raison d’être for the series was to put Barrett and Welsh’s plentiful office space to use after-hours in a way that benefits the minority communities we serve, the creative community we belong to and the physical community in which we are located, in Toronto’s east end.
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings 