The Toronto Poetry Map is currently unavailable due to a technical issue with the site. We apologize for any inconvenience. Updated May 16, 2023. We launched the Toronto Poetry Map at the start of April to mark National Poetry Month, and I've been pleased by both the media interest and the social media traffic. […]
Oh no! It's the official end of Word Out 2011! As always, thanks to: Participating authors throughout the summer Toronto Public Library staff Most especially, all the participating teens throughout the summer who commented, blogged and otherwise helped turn this into such a literate space So let's roll the credits (our usual stupid web trick) and say […]
Alan H. posting here on behalf of my colleague Helena D., who's currently AFK IRL, but found time before saying "BBL" to provide some discussion of this week's fiction selection, Revolution: Revolution is about a lot of things – murder, grief, absent paren’ts, mental illness, the French Revolution, and acting. It is also about music. […]
Colleague JM checks in below with some details about this week's nonfiction selection: If you are looking to diversify your reading palate this summer, I would strongly recommend Picture This by Lynda Barry. In this artfully constructed graphic novel, Barry uses a number of mediums to bring people back to the days when creating artwork […]
Alan H. posting here on behalf of my colleague Helena D., who's currently AFK IRL, but found time before saying "BBL" to provide some discussion of this week's graphic novel selection, Arisa Vol 1: I've always loved a good story about sisters. Not having a sister but always having wanted one, I can't help feeling […]
Alan H. posting here on behalf of my colleague Helena D., who's currently AFK IRL, but found time before saying "BBL" to provide some discussion of this week's nonfiction selection, I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced: Far too often, women and girls are victims of violence and exploitation. Nujood Ali was a victim. When […]
I'm working my way through A Dance With Dragons - over 1000 pages of epic fantasy goodness that I've been waiting about six years for. The whole series it's parts of, A Song of Ice and Fire, has gotten a big boost of exposure lately due to the successful first season of HBO TV series. I've […]
Happy several days after Canada Day! Let's talk Canadian favourites. One of my Canadian favourites is the fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay. Ysabel is novel he wrote several years ago featuring teen protagonists, but I first began reading his "adult" novels as a teen–I won't say how many years ago, but some of you were […]
We've made it to the big time! Toronto Public Library's Children and Youth Advocate, Lisa Heggum, was interviewed last week on CBC Radio about Word Out, along with some enthusiastic teens. You can check it out below. Lisa Heggum talks to CBC Radio about Word Out
Want to make a video book review but not sure how to get started? The library is running several free video-making workshops in July at a few different branches, in collaboration with Pro-Tech Media Lab and Delisle Youth Services.