Jay's List (What's Goin' On?) — August '26
What's happening in the Montreal lit scene this month?
Allegedly summer ends on September 21 this year. But psychologically, the season 86.3% of people spend all year waiting for is half over. If your personal resolution was to “spend a lot of time inside listening to people talk,” the sand is hurtling through the hourglass with hideous ferocity. We’ve done our best to facilitate your self-destruction with this list of upcoming Anglophone Literary Events in Montreal. God help your soul.
As always, if we’re missing something, or you want your event included, please message @discordia.review on Instagram to propose an inclusion. Doing so in advance if you already know what’s up next month is even better.
2 AUGUST (SUN)
ACCENT OPEN MIC
What: Popular twice monthly bilingual open mic. Vol. 142 is on the theme of “Romance” and features well-regarded Ottawa minimalist Cameron Anstee and local man-about-the-scene Kalden Rangdrol Dhatsenpa.1 (Computer, play “Romance is Boring” by Los Campesinos!)
Where: Bar le Record (7622 rue Saint-Hubert).
When: 8 to 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, plus Cameron and Kalden.
How Much: Free. (Link)
4 AUGUST (TUES)
JRG LITERARY OPEN MIC
What: Rollicking monthly open mic with an absurdist edge, this time featuring franco-anglo-glosso-gramophone artist Dolce Saint-Arnold and conceptual artist-cum-novelist Michael Eddy.
Where: L’hémisphère gauche (221 Rue Beaubien E).
When: 8:30pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, plus Dolce and Michael.
How Much: PWYC. (Link)
5 AUGUST (WEDS)
TILLIE WALDEN: CHARITY AND SYLVIA LAUNCH
What: Eisner-winning Vermont-based cartoonist Walden drops by D&Q to launch her latest.
Where: Librarie Drawn & Quarterly (176 rue Bernard O).
When: 7pm.
Who: Tillie Walden, in conversation with Sina Queyras.
How much: Free. (Link)
PETER DUBÉ: HOVERING WORLD & AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA DOUBLE LAUNCH
What: A reissue of two early works by the veteran Montreal author, presented by the Violet Hour queer book club.
Where: Argo (1841-A Rue Sainte-Catherine O).
When: 7pm.
Who: I already said!
How much: Free, but RSVP recommended. (Link)
6 AUGUST (THURS)
BLACKOUT #1 LAUNCH PARTY
What: 41 mags is too many? According to the editors of this new journal, 41 mags is three many… wait, no, I’ve changed the wrong bit there, something about 42 mags. Anyway this one’s for BIPOC people.
Where: Tessri Duniya Theatre. (251 ave des Pins O.)
When: Doors 6pm, open mic 7:30pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, plus some features from the first ish.
How Much: $12.06 (Link).
7 AUGUST (FRI)
THE OPEN BOOK MIC
What: Not a lit specific open mic (music and comedy are also permitted) so I’m not going to repeat this listing four times here, but know that it repeats every Friday till every angel gets its wings.
Where: Café Eevee (1251 Rue St-Zotique E).
When: 7 to 9pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls.
How Much: Free. (Link)
8 AUGUST (SAT)
THE PAGE #8 LAUNCH
What: It says something about This Economy and These People (art scene anglos, such as myself) that the launch of an issue on “hedonism” is a picnic in which people are invited to bring dep snacks to an outdoor potluck. If nothing else, given that this free MTL-and-London one-sheeter is largely distributed via a cafe and a pizza joint in Little Italy, I hope they’ve gone all-in on the concept: let the kids learn about felching and Brassard pussy via a word search! Let the front page splash be a sounding how-to. L.A.Y.L.A.H.
Where: Somewhere in Parc Jarry.
When: 6pm.
Who: Whoever.
How much: Free. (Link)
ONE LONG ONE AT CARMINE’S ROOM
What: Highly irregular reading series One Long One once again stocks the wastes of Villeray. They bring a lineup full of double-barreled names to a small gallery where artist Cindy Hill is exhibiting works.
Where: Carmine’s Room (7615 rue Berri).
When: 7pm.
Who: Ruth Webber-Juggoo, Fatine-Violette Sabiri, Michael Pace, Pascha Marrow, Emily Zuberec, and Rosemary Flutur.
How much: Free. (Link)
13 AUGUST (THURS)
CHIMERA OPEN MIC
What: NDG rise up. Your open mic is here.
Where: Librairie Phoenix (5928 rue Sherbrooke O).
When: Signups open at 6, show is from 7 to 9pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls.
How Much: Free. (Link)
16 AUGUST (SUN)
ACCENT OPEN MIC
What: Popular twice monthly bilingual open mic—theme and acts TBD as of press time. (Computer, play “Into the Great Wide Open” by Tom Petty.)
Where: Bar le Record (7622 rue Saint-Hubert).
When: 8 to 10pm.
Who: Whoever has the balls, and then some.
How Much: Free. (Link TK)
19 AUGUST (WEDS)
HIDDEN TEXT BRAND ACTIVATION THING
What: Can’t announce it yet, but we happened to overhear something about a “happening” at De Stiil booksellers later this month. Keep an ear out—and if you do drop by, remember you can snap up copies of Fellow Travellers No. 2 and No. 3, as well as Phil Hall’s The Hobo from the shop’s august shelves.
Where: De Stiil Booksellers (351 Duluth Ave E).
When: 3pm.
Who: Wouldn’t you like to know.
How much: Free.
23 AUGUST (SUN)
LEFT-WING BOOK SALE
What: Local leftist presses and booksellers gather for one of their occasional sales, this time over in Pointe Saint-Charles.
Where: Bâtiment 7 (1900 Rue le Ber).
When: 12 to 5pm.
Who: Various presses.
How Much: Free. (Event link)
And looking ahead to August…
We’ll get there when we get there.
In memory of Jay Gobuty, who was Outrageous.
IN OTHER LOCAL ARTS NEWS
This town ain't big enough for *34* lit mags
I was talking shop with a writer friend the other night when the topic of how many active English-language literary mags we have here in Montreal came up. I figured it must be at least 20, an already bonkers number for a town this size, but as we started naming them off (and soliciting some help from friends) we ended up with a list of 34. 34!
Kalden also has a zine with Discordia, natch.