It's June, and while the weather is lovely outside, so are allergies, mosquitoes, ticks, poison ivy and stinging nettle, so why not come into the library where it's air conditioned and enjoy some interesting arts programming? The Hip: More than a Band Acclaimed musical journalist Michael Barclay on the first print biography of The Tragically […]
Ramadan begins this year on Thursday May 17, 2018 (the date varies and is flexible depending on the lunar calendar and moon sighting). This reminded me that I wanted to revisit the Aga Khan Museum and in preparation for that, and with an eye to Ramadan, I thought I would write a blog on Islamic […]
You may know that May is the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival in Toronto? The Arts Department of the Toronto Reference Library is hosting a exhibit called Reality by Allan Cullen, photographer and disability activist, up on the 5th floor during the month of May as part of the Open Exhibitions under the Contact Photography Festival. […]
The fifth floor of the Toronto Reference Library has two separate departments, Arts and also Special Collections in the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre. On several Saturdays in May both departments will be hosting "Discover Talks" which last for 30 minutes each from 2-2:30 p.m. for Special Collections and from 2:30-3 p.m. for […]
The 5th floor of the Toronto Reference Library has two separate departments, Arts and also Special Collections in the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre. On several Saturdays in April both departments will be doing "Discover Talks" which last for 30 minutes each from 2-2:30 for Special Collections and from 2:30-3:00 for Arts. These […]
Toronto Public Library is proud to support the Art and Truth: AGO Creative Minds at Massey Hall event that is happening on April 4th, 2018. Moderated by CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti, internationally celebrated writer Salman Rushdie, provocative performance artist Andrea Fraser, award-winning filmmaker Charles Officer and JUNO-nominated musician Iskwé take to the stage to debate […]
A glass of wine, a loaf of bread and a stack of good books on Toronto. What more could a librarian want? The other day this new and visually stunning book, Lost Toronto, came into the library and I thought to myself why not write a blog about Toronto's architectural history? So I did. Lost […]
This winter, artists Elena Soní and Vanessa Barnett worked with women from the community to draw, paint, print, embroider and share their stories. This is what they created and it's now on display on the 3rd floor of the Toronto Reference Library. The exhibit will be on display from March 5 to April 5, 2018 and […]
The City of Toronto's Urban Hens pilot program begins today. Residents in four wards in Toronto can now keep hens in their backyards as part of the new Urban HensTO pilot program. This program, which allows Torontonians to keep up to four hens for the purposes of enjoyment and egg production, runs until March 2, […]
Sonja Bata, elegant, sophisticated, passionate, knowledgeable, generous, shoe collector extraordinaire, astute in business matters and also a philanthropist has just died. Sonja Bata with Terry Fox sneaker, Toronto Star photo 1987 Swiss born she was married to Czech shoe magnate Tomas J Bat̕a. WWII and the post war communists forced the Bata's to leave […]