Eyewear's Big Night In Toronto With George E. Clarke!

Illicit Sonnets--a poetic evening with George Elliott Clarke

August 21, 2013

Doors open at 7:30 pm, event starts at 8 pm

The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom

1214 Queen Street West

M6J 1J6, TORONTO CANADA

$5 entrance fee or FREE with purchase of the book

Acclaimed NOW journalist and essayist Susan G. Cole interviews Toronto Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke.

Director Diana Manole stages a theatrical performance of Illicit Sonnets, Clarke's new erotic poetry with choreography and music selections by Keith Macfarlane featuring Payge Mildebrath.

Toronto Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke is a fierce, funny, polemical and sensual poet, librettist, essayist and Canadian literature professor. His latest book of poetry Illicit Sonnets is a deeply erotic work, which confronts ageism and race relations head on. Discussing the work and Clarke's political and artistic sensibility is Susan G. Cole.

Accompanying this talk will be a 30 minute staged performance highlighting the beauty of Illicit Sonnets. Theatre director, writer and academic Diana Manole will stage a combination of dance and readings from Clarke's work with performers Keith Macfarlane and Payge Mildebrath.

This evening with George Elliott Clarke is the inaugural event of This Is Not A Reading Series (TINARS), a literary programme celebrating its 10th anniversary this season. Marc Glassman, the Artistic Director of TINARS says, "Our mandate remains the same, to investigate the creative process of writers: who they are and why they make their work."

Media contact: Marc Glassman 647-267-9475

Comments

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I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise...

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