Welcome to the 44th session of The Tartan Turban Secret Readings, featuring Khashayar Mohammadi, Priya Ramsingh, Bunmi Oyinsan and Pratap Reddy, curated by Gavin Barrett.
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.
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.
Featured writers
Priya Ramsingh is a writer and photographer. She is the author of two novels, The Elevator published by Palimpsest Press in 2024, and Brown Girl in the Room, published by Tightrope Books in 2017. Her short story, Pies for Lunch, was shortlisted for best short fiction in 2021 by The Caribbean Writer, an annual literary journal published by the University of the Virgin Islands. She is a former reporter and diversity columnist for Metroland Media and continues to write op-eds for the Toronto Star. In her spare time, Priya is a wildlife photographer and naturalist. Priya was born in Trinidad and Tobago and now lives in Toronto. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Carleton University, a Business Communications Certificate from Ryerson University and a French Certificate from Humber College.
Khashayar (Kess) Mohammadi (They/Them) is deeply invested in the power of the small press. From Kess’s website: Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (They/Them) is a queer, Iranian born, Toronto-based Poet, Writer and Translator. They were shortlisted for the 2021 Austin Clarke Prize in poetry and are the winner of the Vallum Poetry Prize 2021 and the author of five poetry chapbooks. Their debut poetry collection, Me, You, Then Snow, came out with Gordon Hill Press in 2021. Kess is a prolific writer, with two books planned for release in 2025.
Born in Lagos, Dr. Bunmi Oyinsan now lives in Bowmanville, Ontario. From novels to scripts for radio, television, and the theatre, she has contributed to both the nonfiction and fiction canons of African literature. She is the writer, producer, and presenter for the Sankofa Pan African Series, which has over 100K subscribers and over 5 million views, is a winner of the Matatu Prize for her YA novel Fabulous Four and has been nominated for THEMA’s Best Film Script. Her novel Three Women was nominated for the Flora Nwapa Prize for Women’s Literature in 2006. Bunmi’s latest novel, A Ladder of Bones, will be published by Guernica Editions on October 31, 2025. It explores the shadow cast by colonization and neocolonialism and asks: What does it mean to be whole after history has broken you? What does healing look like across generations? A Ladder of Bones is now available for pre-order.
An underwriter by day and a writer by night, Pratap Reddy immigrated to Canada from India in 2002. The challenges he encountered as a new immigrant to Canada spurred him to weave tales of fiction about the immigrant experience. The manuscript of that collection Weather Permitting & Other Stories was selected by Diaspora Dialogues for their mentoring program and Guernica Editions published the book in 2016. Pratap completed a creative writing course from the Humber School for Writers and a program on writing short fiction from Chang School of Metropolitan University. His other published books include the novel Ramya’s Treasure (2018), Shards of Verse (2024) a book of poems, and his latest Remaindered People & Other Stories (2025), which focuses on hitherto unexplored aspects of immigration. He is currently working on his next novel, Praful’s Errands, which is set in India.
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 #44, please contact series curator Gavin Barrett. This allows us 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 