I’m participating in two fab Toronto Public Library events in the next couple weeks… They’re part of a Canada Council sponsored Heritage Series spotlighting speculative literature in Canada. (more…)

A few weeks ago, I was asked to say a few words at the Toronto launch for Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s graphic novel Skim (published by Groundwood Books). Since the comic started its life as a 24-page Kiss Machine Presents mini-book, I was around for the story’s conception.

The book’s so wonderful I thought I’d post the speech I made here, on my blog…

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Amy Sherman-Palladino, the genius creator of the Gilmore Girls, one of my all-time fav shows (seriously, it’s up there with Buffy and Flight of the Conchords) has a new show. The Return of Jezebel James is a 1/2 hour comedy about a book editor named Sarah (played by Parker Posey) who coerces her sister into carrying her baby, because it’s the one thing Sarah can’t do for herself.

People who know me will understand how excited I was to hear that the main character is played by the fab Ms. Posey, star of Party Girl. Posey makes any movie she’s ever been in at the very least watchable, regardless of how bad everyone else is (case in point the horrendous Brosnan vehicle Laws of Attraction). I made Sugar Jones, the wannabe filmmaker protagonist of first my novel A Girl Like Sugar (which, incidentally, has been optioned by producer Kerry Young to turn into a feature film), semi-obsessed with her. (more…)

I’m coordinating this 10-week writing program for 16-24-year-olds at the Parkdale Library. Please pass on the word to any young people who might be interested… To participate, they don’t have to be great writers, they just need to have fun! –E

For immediate release:

Do you keep a blog? Constantly update your Facebook page? Love to read? Write super-long e-mails? Make up stories and poems in your head? Live in the west-end of Toronto? Why not join the Parkdale Street Writers!

Every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:30 pm
Starts April 1st and ends June 3rd, 2008
Parkdale Library’s basement auditorium
(1303 Queen Street W, Toronto)

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Written by Emily Pohl-Weary
Illustrated by Willow Dawson

Continuing the story where issues #1, #2, and #3 left off, the final chapter of Violet’s saga is now available! Will she, Elsa Bonnet, Jack Rackham and the rest of the crew find the treasure of the Devil’s Throat?

Preview Issue #4
Check out the first four inside pages:

Order Violet Miranda #4

FREE SPEECH is back with another evening of stories and song in the intimate setting at Tinto on Roncesvalles Ave, in Toronto, where owners Ricardo Rozental and Elvia Saenz are trying to create an arts and activism based community hub, rooted in fair trade and sustainability. This installment of the reading series features Emily Pohl-Weary, White Noise Machine and Lisa McGlade. Songwriter of the month is Frank Patrick.

If you’ve been to FREE SPEECH before you know that the room usually fills up quickly so if you want a seat.

Tinto, 89 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto
Tuesday, November 27, 7pm
Pay what you will (more…)

Off to read at the Aurora Public Library today… then maybe a walk in a conservation area with my father and his puppy. If it doesn’t rain, that is. The sky looks ominous.

Hopefully, we won’t find a Magnum .44 with its grip removed buried in the mud, like we did next to the Humber River last time we went for a walk. (No lie, we have photos to prove it!) The weird thing is it was discovered five feet away from a massive bone.

My over-active imagination immediately came up with the theory that Doctor Who mistakenly brought a dinosaur forward in time and then a nasty guy shot it and scavengers made off with all the juicy bones except a single femur. It’s entirely possible! In Emily Universe!

Okay, in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure the image in this post is a little video distraction, courtesy of the band Noah and the Whale. Click!

This past summer, I ran two workshops for street-involved youth at the Evergreen Youth Shelter and Street Outreach Services. Some of the poems and stories written by workshop participants are now online, and they’re unbelievably moving.

When the program coordinator asked me to say a few words at the launch of their web-magazine, I wrote up a little speech (it’s posted after the break, if you want to read it).

Doing these workshops, I was struck by the openness of the youth participating. They really wanted to be there with me, and the writing that emerged was incredibly honest. I got them to come up with song lyrics based on the feeling that their favourite tunes evoked, and come up with character sketches that could be developed further on their own.

It’s not easy to write something on demand and then share your personal thoughts with 30-40 of your peers! What was incredible was how trusting and kind everyone was. No one made fun of anyone else, no matter how raw the writing, and nobody just cracked jokes to get out of doing the work.

The experience actually inspired me very much. I’m thinking about starting a writing group for at-risk teens in the neighbourhood where I grew up.
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Cool. The two poems of mine that were animated by Karen Richardson for Toronto’s “all-night art thing” Nuit Blanche are now online: My Gold Hair Is So Unreliable and To Build A Home.

Just go to this page and click on the images above my bio to load up the videos.

In other news, there’s a silly interview with me on the Winnipeg Writers’ Festival’s blog (done by Ariel Gordon. The fest was a lot of fun. I did two readings for middle-school kids with the highly entertaining Brendan McLeod and one for college students with Maureen Fergus.

Two of my poems are being turned into animations by Karen Richardson to be screened on the TV sets in Toronto’s Subway system during all-nighter Nuit Blanche (September 29th). Here’s the press release:

Onestop Network and Art for Commuters Present…

WORDS TRAVEL FAST

at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

Animations based on the work of three Toronto writers will be screened in subway stations across the city from dusk ’til dawn (starting at 7:03 pm, September 29, 2007).

Even your ride to Nuit Blanche will be filled with art! For the first time ever, the TTC will keep part of its subway service open all night long. Half-a-dozen Words Travel Fast animations will be playing on Onestop’s network of subway station television screens for the entire twelve hours, without interruption from news flashes and marketing. Experience media art that expands the possibilities for both poetry and motion-graphics in this unique venue. (more…)

Lately, I’ve been consuming cultural products like an addict. The last time I remember getting this immersed in things, and wanting to absorb them all at one time was (literally) grade school. It’s nice, because it’s creatively inspiring. But it also means I’ve been a little antisocial, and haven’t done much of anything but write, play/watch/read, and occasionally go for a walk or to the gym.

In no particular order, this summer I’ve love love loved the following things:

• Flight of the Conchords (HBO) - A hilarious show about two New Zealanders in a novelty band who try to “make it” in New York. Prior to this, I didn’t believe that a musical could ever truly engage me. (No, not even the Buffy musical episodes convinced me, despite the hype from my friends.) (more…)

Okay, so somehow I’m sitting in Starbucks/Chapters at Yorkdale Mall, nursing a coffee, and trying to write, while Jesse sees the new Bruce Willis vehicle.

Guess what day it is? The day the J.K. Rowling Empire gets even richer. But I’m here. I’m a witness. So I’m gonna blog about it.

9:22 pm: Big crowd. They’re giving out candy floss! I got overwhelmed with emotion for a second, like when the Blue Jays won the series. Weird.

9:24: Nerds of the world unite! Seriously, these kids all look like me at that age–a little clueless, bookish, hair kinda wild…

9:33: Holy crap. The costumes. People are really trying to look like characters. It’s a cult of misfits hopped up on sugar. Wait a second… all the people wearing costumes are Chapters employees. So, it’s basically like Halloween, if everyone were paid minimum wage to dress up for the night. (more…)