Books@Torontoist continues its ongoing investigation of the local live lit scene with a profile of the Rowers Pub Reading Series, a monthly event hosted by the Harbord House Gastro Pub (150 Harbord Street), formerly the Rowers Pub & Grill. Editor James Grainger spoke with co-organizer Catherine Graham about the history and the future of the popular reading series.
Books@Torontoist: When did the series start and how often does it run?
Catherine Graham: The series started October 3rd, 2007, with Molly Peacock, George Elliott Clarke, and Trevor Cole on the bill. It runs the first Monday of the month and starts at 7:30 pm, upstairs at Harbord House, 150 Harbord Street, and runs from October to June. We are grateful to John Oakes, the owner of Harbord House, and his great staff for their ongoing support of the series. We’re also thankful for the support of The Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council of the Arts, The Toronto Arts Council, The Writers’ Union of Canada, The League of Canadian Poets, and Tightrope Books.
Books: Poetry or prose? New authors or established?
CG: The readers for our monthly series include both poets and fiction writers, new authors and established, though mainly established. We solicit our features, have no open mic portion, and our readers are paid.
Books: What did you (and your co-organizers) have in mind when the series was started? Did you feel there was something in the local lit scene that needed to be filled in with a new series?
CG: The idea for the series began when poets Ned Hagerman and Ian Burgham, two regulars at the Rowers Pub & Grill (now Harbord House), started talking and came to the conclusion: wouldn’t it be great to establish a reading series that would include some of the finest poets/fiction writers living in Canada and hold it in this venue? Ned, having worked with poet David Clink on the Atkinson Reading Series at York University, a series with a 25-year history, invited David to come on board. Then came Halli Villegas, poet/writer and publisher of Tightrope Books, and finally, myself. The five of us ran the series for the first two years and now Heather Wood helps out too.
Books: How has the series met your initial expectations? Has the series changed since it started?
CG: The series has had a great run and we are excited about the year’s line up. Since 2008 our December readers have been contributors from The Best Canadian Poetry in English, the annual anthology published by Tightrope Books. We plan to continue this yearly tradition.
Books: Tell us a little something about tonight’s authors.
CG: We have a combination of new and established authors tonight. Sonja Greckol launched her first book, Gravity and Flight, with Innana Press last spring. She coordinates poetry for Women and Environments International Magazine and served on the National Council of the League of Canadian Poets. Jacob Scheier, a Toronto-born poet and journalist who’s currently living in New York City, launched his first book of poetry in 2008, More to Keep us Warm. It won the Governor General’s Award. Our third author, Michael Winter, is the most established. The author of five works of fiction including This All Happened, The Big Why and The Architects are Here, he’s the recipient of the Notable Author Award from the Writer’s Trust. We look forward to hearing all of them read!
For more info please visit: www.rowerspubreadingseries.com
