Events and Publications
100,000 Poets for Change – Sunday, September 24th, 4 p.m., Free Times Cafe
100,000 Poets for Change, Toronto Edition – Sunday, September 24th, 2023 at 4 pm, Free Times Cafe
Our collective runs this event as a fundraiser for Shannen’s Dream. Named in loving memory of Shannen Koostachin, Shannen’s Dream is about making sure that First Nations children and youth have the same education opportunities as others but in ways that respect their language and culture.
The event is hosted by Pat Connors who will share poetry for change along with Brenda Clews, Jeannine M. Pitas, Charles C. Smith, Dane Swan, Georgia Wilder and myself.
Hope you can join us at Free Times Cafe, 320 College St., Toronto.
You can find out more about Shannen’s Dream and donate via the link/button to the right.
Tartan Turban Secret Readings #39, August 24th, 2023
The Tartan Turban Secret Readings, August 24th, 2023
This promises to be a fabulous evening of poetry curated by Patrick Connors, featuring Stedmond Pardy, Brenda Clews, Paul Edward Costa, Saghi Ghahraman and myself. Register for in person or livestream via the Eventbrite link.
FOUR WOMEN, FOUR VOICES poetry reading and art show, July 30, 2023
FOUR WOMEN, FOUR VOICES
Hello poets, poetry lovers, artists, art lovers! Join us on Sunday, July 30th from 12:30 to 4:30 pm in the Living Room at the Tranzac Club for four unique women’s voices – Clara Blackwood, Brenda Clews, Jennifer Hosein and Archna Sahni. There will be a small art show with paintings by Clara, Brenda and Jennifer. The art show begins at 12:30 pm and readings begin at 2:00 pm. Archna will show her poetry film “Love Poem for Toronto,” her spiritual autobiography, as part of her reading. It promises to be an exciting afternoon! And yes, we will have free refreshments.
Spring Forward online poetry reading, March 22, 2023, 7 p.m.
Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio presents A Poetry Reading for International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023
A Poetry Reading for International Women’s Day
Listen to poets Clara Blackwood, Brenda Clews, Archna Sahni and myself read and discuss our work with host extraordinaire Michael Anthony Ingram.
Poet Painters – November 23, 2022
Painter Poets 2022
Painter Poets is an online reading on Wednesday, November 23 from 7 – 9 pm. Register via Eventbrite.
Painter Poets features Jennifer Hosein reading poems with her paintings, Allan Briesmaster, who will read poetry while showing a slideshow of Holly Briesmaster’s paintings, Brenda Clews reading poems on her late brother’s, Raymond Clews’, paintings, Carole Giangrande, who will show her fabulous bird photographs and read poems, and Ellen Chang Richardson, who writes startling and insightful poetry about contemporary art.
This event is supported by the League of Canadian Poets and the
Ontario Arts Council.
100,000 Poets for Change, September 17, 2022
100,000 Poets for Change Toronto event, September 17, 2022
100,000 Poets for Change is happening on Saturday, September 17th at Hirut Cafe. Dinner is at 7 and readings start at 8.
This is a benefit for Shannen’s Dream.
Readers are Robert Priest, Jennifer Hosein, Charles C. Smith, Brenda Clews, Jeannine Pitas, Georgia Wilder.
Brockton Writers Series, September 14, 2022
Brockton Writers Series – Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.
Oubah Osman
Jennifer Hosein
Kimia Eslah
Farzana Doctor

Genealogies: online reading – July 13th, 7 p.m.
Genealogies
Please join Allan Weiss and Jennifer Hosein for a free online reading, Genealogies, on Wednesday, July 13th at 7 p.m. Registration is required. The event is funded by The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Allan Weiss is a Toronto fiction writer and Professor of English and Humanities at York University. He the author of three story cycles: Living Room (2001), Making the Rounds (2016), and most recently Telescope (2019). Other short stories, both realist and fantastic, have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Wascana Review, On Spec, and the Tesseracts anthology series. His next story, “A Tartan of Many Colours,” will appear soon in the anthology Other Covenants: Alternate Histories of the Jewish People.
Jennifer Hosein is a Tiohtià:ke/Montreal-born writer, visual artist and educator of Trinidadian and South Asian ancestry residing in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her debut collection of poetry, A Map of Rain Days, published by Guernica Editions in 2020, was longlisted for the League of Canadian Poets 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her poems, short fiction, creative non-fiction, and a play have been published in The Fiddlehead, The Quarantine Review, Event, Rubicon, Makara, and more as well as translated into Hungarian for the anthology Crystal Garden/Kristálykert. Her artwork has appeared on book covers, in magazines, and in solo and group exhibitions in Toronto; it is also featured on the cover of A Map of Rain Days.
Lost Launches IV, June 28th, 7 p.m.
The Lost Launches Poetry Readings – Tuesday, June 28, 2022, 7 p.m.
Lost Launches at the Art Bar, Clinton’s Bar on Tuesday, June 28th
The Lost Launches Poetry Readings – Tuesday, June 28, 2022, 7 p.m.
Minstrels and Bards reading – April 26, 2022
Minstrels & Bards – Tuesday, April 26 at 7:15 p.m.
On April 26th, join poet Stedmond Pardy, musician Steve Paul Simms, Allan Weiss, John Oughton, Emmanuelle, and myself at the Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Ave., Toronto) for the first in person Minstrels & Bards event since 2020. I’m so excited to read in person for the first time since my book, A Map of Rain Days, was published in 2020 during the pandemic. Hope you can join us!
The Quarantine Review – Issue 11, March 22, 2022
It’s an honour to have my poem, “Country,” and painting in Issue 11 of The Quarantine Review.
Five Poets reading – March 9, 2022
Five Poets – March 9, 2020
What a night! Poets Ellen Chang-Richardson, Tyler Pennock, Charlie Petch, Andrea Thompson and I shared poems, music and art. I also hosted. You can watch the video here.
Five Poets – March 9th, 2022
Five Poets
I am thrilled to be hosting and reading on March 9 with the fabulous poets Ellen Chang-Richarson, Tyler Pennock, Charlie Petch, and Andrea Thompson! It’s going to be a great night! This is a free online event. Please register via the link provided. Thank you to the league of Canadian Poets for their support.
ARC POETRY MAGAZINE book review by Kate Rogers – January, 2022
Book review by Kate Rogers
The Fiddlehead BIPOC Solidarities Issue – January, 2022
Creative nonfiction in The Fiddlehead magazine
Big news! The BIPOC Solidarities Issue is finally here! My piece of creative nonfiction “Fabric” is on page 13.
The Quarantine Review Holiday Issue – December 28, 2021
So happy to have my poem, “Six A.M.,” published in The Quarantine Review, alongside my painting, “Winter City.”