Our 2022/2023 Season
Junction Reads continues with our accessible online events.
We have fewer authors this season but we are so excited with the books we get to read and talk about. There are short stories, novels and memoir and we hope you’ll join us.
Check out our Event Videos 2022-2023 page to watch our recent events.
On April 16, Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust award-winning author Nicholas Herring joins us to chat about his novel, SOME HELLISH, from Goose Lane Editions.
“Herring is a hapless lobster fisher lost in an unexceptional life, bored of thinking the same old thoughts. One December day, following a hunch, he cuts a hole in the living room floor and installs a hoist, altering the course of everything in his life. His wife Euna leaves with their children. He buries the family dog in a frozen grave on Christmas Eve. He and his friend Gerry crash his truck into a field, only to be rescued by a passing group of Tibetan monks.” Everything changes when Herring is lost at sea for days.
April 27th, Marta Balcewicz joins me on Instagram Live to chat about her novel, BIG SHADOW from @bookhugpress
On May 31st, I will post a conversation with Lauren Carter about writing her collection of short stories, PLACES LIKE THESE also from @bookhugpress
Our writers’ series, where I get to sit and chat with authors about writing their books. I love talking about writing, hearing how writers face and overcome the obstacles of writing something great with only the spark of an idea: something readers will not want to put down, a book people will want to talk about. The First Thirty is where we talk about writing, and how authors shape those first pages to be a welcome to the reader; to include the hook that makes a reader want to keep reading, and to give us the characters we either want to love or really hate. Or maybe something else entirely.
On Sunday June 4, Brooke Lockyer joins us with her newly released 90s-era Southern Ontario Gothic from Nightwood Editions.
“In the small town of Burr, Ontario, thirteen-year-old Jane yearns to reunite with her recently deceased father and fantasizes about tunnelling through the earth to his coffin. This leads her to bond with local eccentric Ernest, who is still reeling from the long-ago drowning of his little sister. Jane’s mother, Meredith, escapes into wildness, enacting the past on the abandoned bed that she finds in the middle of the forest, until her daughter’s disappearance spurs her into action.”
On June 11, we will talk about writing and Canadian publishing with Patricia Westerhof. The Canadian Guide to Creative Writing and Publishing from Dundurn Press is a must-have for writers.
“How do you get your writing published in Canada? What are the industry standards for publishable work and how do you reach them? This lively, practical guide shows you how to think more creatively, cultivate a strong writing voice, and make your sentences powerful. It explains the elements of style and offers writing prompts to help you apply what you learn. It gives strategies for finding critique partners and beta readers and for getting useful feedback before you send your drafts to agents or editors. The chapters are packed with up-to-date information about the publishing industry, including how to find an agent, how to submit manuscripts to literary journals, how to query independent presses, and how to apply for writing grants. The Canadian Guide to Creative Writing & Publishing confidently leads you through the process of polishing your writing and finding an audience for your work.”
Please, always consider purchasing your books directly from small presses or at your local independent book store. Check out our list of independent book shops in Toronto. Most deliver and all are happy to do over the phone shopping.
Why not subscribe to our YouTube Channel? You can watch all of the videos from past events.
Are you following us on Social Media? Hope so. You can find the authors there too!
Junction Reads 
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