Events and Publications

100,000 Poets for Change – Sunday, September 24th, 4 p.m., Free Times Cafe

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

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 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.

Poet Painters – November 23, 2022

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, 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, September 14, 2022

Brockton Writers Series – Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.

As we adapt with current pandemic regulations, we’re happy to announce our event will be hosted in-person at the Glad Day Bookshop, located at 499 Church St., Toronto, starting in September! We will also live stream the event on the Brockton Writers Series YouTube channel!
Guest Speaker: Kathy Friedman on “Writing & Survival: Some Tips for Mad, Sad, and Neurodiverse Folks”
Readers:
Oubah Osman
Jennifer Hosein
Kimia Eslah
Farzana Doctor
The reading is PWYC (suggested $3-$5) and features a Q&A with the writers afterward. Books are available for sale.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support.
 
Genealogies: online reading – July 13th, 7 p.m.

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.

Lost Launches IV, June 28th, 7 p.m.

The Lost Launches Poetry Readings – Tuesday, June 28, 2022, 7 p.m.

Toronto Poet Laureate Al Moritz, the City of Toronto, The Art Bar and the League of Canadian Poets are teaming up to create a series of book launches to celebrate the Toronto poets and poetry collections that were published throughout the pandemic. This series aims to highlight the work of these poets and their works, which were not celebrated in person as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 
Join us on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 7pm at Clinton’s to celebrate the second event in this incredible series.
This will be a free event.
Poet Kate Marshall Flaherty will be our MC for the evening.
Location: Clinton’s (693 Boor W. south-west corner of Clinton and Bloor near Christie) Toronto, Ontario
Lost Launches at the Art Bar, Clinton’s Bar on Tuesday, June 28th

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.

I am so excited to be a part of this in person poetry launch series!
 
Toronto Poet Laureate Al Moritz, the City of Toronto, The Art bar and the League of Canadian Poets are teaming up to create a series of book launches to celebrate the Toronto poets and poetry collections that were published throughout the pandemic. This series aims to highlight the work of these poets and their works, which were not celebrated in person as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 
This will be our largest lineup in the series and you won’t want to miss it!
Join us on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 7pm at Clinton’s to celebrate the second event in this incredible series.
This will be a free event.
Featuring: Sue Chenette, Pat Connors , Robert Colman, Jennifer Hosein, Marvyne Jenoff, Martin Jones, Grace Lau, Laura K McRae, Ruth Panofsky, Mary Rykov, Rasiqra Revulva, Dani Spinosa and Kate Sutherland
Poet Kate Marshall Flaherty will be our MC for the evening.
Location: Clinton’s (693 Boor W. south-west corner of Clinton and Bloor near Christie) Toronto, Ontario
Minstrels and Bards reading – April 26, 2022

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!

 

Five Poets – March 9th, 2022

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

ARC POETRY MAGAZINE book review by Kate Rogers – January, 2022

Book review by Kate Rogers

Jennifer Hosein’s A Map of Rain Days is “an unflinching evocation of the physical and emotional violence men can do to women under the pretext of love,” writes reviewer Kate Rogers, as well as “love for her mother and daughter [that] shines through even the bleakest of her poems.”
Read the full review on the Arc website; click on the image for the link.