Curator: Stedmond Pardy. Featuring Mbonisi Zikhali, Michelle Hillyard, Kirby, David Bateman and Daniel Maluka.
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings are variously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the League of Canadian Poets and The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Date, time and venue
Our featured writers will be performing on-site and in person between 7–10 pm at 577 Kingston Road Suite #301 Toronto, ON M4E 1R3. The in-person event will be live-streamed and recorded to provide access. A link will be provided to attendees who register for the live stream.
We do ask that you register if you plan to attend. Tickets are free and reserving a spot helps us track numbers and access funding. Book your free tickets now via Eventbrite! Reserving a spot helps us track numbers and can help our writers get their grants.
Curator
Curator
Stedmond Pardy is a self-educated poet of Caribbean Canadian (St. Kitts / Nevis & Newfoundland) ancestry. He has performed his work on the radio and on stages around Canada & Washington State. His first book the pleasures of this planet aren’t enough was released by Mosaic Press in 2021 & his second, beached whales will be released in winter 2024.
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Featured writers
Mbonisi Zikhali was born in Makokoba, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. His spoken word/storytelling name is Zomkhonto, which happens to be his bloodline’s totem. He is an arts educator, youth mentor, qualified community services worker, grassroots community organizer and mental wellness advocate. He considers himself an afro-empath, and is driven to ensure that people find joy and healing in the power of words and story-telling. A recent publication he has appeared in is Colossus: Body – An Anthology of the Self by Colossus Press (San Francisco, California 2023) which defends the rights of women to have autonomy over their bodies. His work was also recently showcased at the World Poetry Slam Championships’ spoken word video presentations (September 26-30, 2022) in Brussels, Belgium. In March this year he performed at the Youth Justice Summit in Toronto, which was organized to shed light on the plight of black youth in Canada’s correctional system. He sits on the board of directors for Literary Arts Windsor (Canada).
Michelle Hillyard is an award-winning poet, the workshop coordinator of the Mississauga Writers Group, and co-director of the Art Bar Poetry Series. As a spoken word poet, she’s performed across Canada and the US, sharing stages with poets such as George Elliot Clarke, Lillian Allen and Saul Williams. To this day, she remains grateful, yet confused about how this has happened. If she’s not writing, making something awkward, or posting memes on the internet, it’s probably because she’s been distracted yet again by a fascinating bug. She will always, and she means always, want to see a picture of your dog
KIRBY’s work includes She (KFB, 2024), Last Licks (Anstruther Press, 2024), Behold (2023), a stage adaption of Poetry is Queer (Palimpsest Press, 2021), What Do You Want to Be Called? (Anstruther Press, 2020), & This Is Where I Get Of (Permanent Sleep Press, 2019). Their column, “The First Time” is a regular feature at Send My Love To Anyone. They are the publisher at knife | fork | book kirbyshe.com
David Bateman is a novelist, arts journalist, and performance poet whose work has been presented internationally. He has taught creative writing at various post-secondary institutions across the country. His four collections of poetry were published by Frontenac House Press (Calgary) from 2005 to 2014. His collaborative long poem with Hiromi Goto (Frontenac House Press) was shortlisted for the Relit Award in 2010, and his first collection of poetry, Invisible Foreground, was nominated for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award in 2006. His first novel, DR SAD, published by University of Calgary Press in 2020, was a finalist in the LGBTQ+ INDIE Awards. A Mad Bent Diva, a collection of short stories and creative non-fiction, was published by Hidden Brook Press (Brighton, Ontario) in 2017. He is currently working on a collection of poems entitled By the Gender Neutral Washroom I Sat Down and Wept.
Daniel Maluka is a Toronto-based artist and writer hailing from South Africa. His work takes an Afrocentric approach while incorporating surrealist elements to bring what lurks in the deep recesses of the mind into the forefront of his work. his first book of poetry, Unwashed, will be released by Mawenzi House soon.
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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 #43, please contact series curator Gavin or TTSR43 curator Stedmond Pardy. This allows them to line up readers and manage the evening in a way that respects each writer’s work.
The ambience at our readings is intimate, extremely informal and very supportive. Open mic readers are given 4 minutes in total, including a brief introduction to themselves and their work. 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 these upon finishing their readings.
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings 