August 16 | 5:30 pm

Sarah Pinder, Trish Salah, Sarah Gibson, Mark Andrew Hamilton, Ricky Leach | The Violet Hour

An evening of short readings and performances by LGBTQ writers and musicians. Featuring: Sarah Gibson, Mark Andrew Hamilton, Ricky Leach, Sarah Pinder, Trish Salah and a performance by Jonathan from the Montreal production of Naked Boys Singing.

Host: Christopher DiRaddo
Doors: 5:30 PM / Show: 6 PM (sharp)

Event link here.

This event is an official part of Fierté Montréal’s Literary Pride 2017 series. Although a free event, we will be collecting donations for Blue Metropolis Literary Foundation’s LGBTQ programs.

More literary events at this year’s festival:

https://www.facebook.com/events/294608370950482
https://www.facebook.com/events/122242181698486
https://www.facebook.com/FierteLitteraire/

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ABOUT THE WRITERS/PERFORMERS

Sarah Gibson is a senior manager at a technology consulting company and a constant reader and writer, particularly in the genre of creative non-fiction. She’s curious about everyday lives (including yours) and the hidden stories they contain – the un-shared ideas, the untold truths, and the big and small moments that need witnessing and telling.

Canadian writer and musician Mark Andrew Hamilton (a.k.a. Woodpigeon) has recorded six critically-acclaimed studio albums and more than a dozen Eps. His most recent release is ‘T R O U B L E’ (April 2016), an album about rhythm and sex and sadness. Merging the best of John Grant with Avalon era Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night, with a nod towards Kanye West’s Yeezus, the sounds of ‘T R O U B L E’ are transposed to a largely acoustic setting feeding off influences from his travels across the globe. (www.woodpigeon-songbook.com)

Ricky Leach is a performer from London who has presented variously in experimental cabaret, music shows, cheeky English comedy, live art, spoken word events and queer and trans fundraisers in Montreal since 2014. Recently she has been interested into stripping her practice down into intimate performaces using a cheap half-size acoustic guitar. She will be presenting a small peice in this vein for The Violet Hour.
(soundcloud.com/rickyleach)

Sarah Pinder is the author of Cutting Room (Coach House Books, 2012) and Common Place (Coach House Books, 2017). Her writing has been shortlisted for the Expozine Small Press Awards, and included in magazines like Geist, Arc and Poetry is Dead. A long time zine-maker, you can also find her work in Montreal’s Distroboto art vending machines. She lives in Toronto, Canada. (www.sarahpinder.com)

Born in Halifax, Trish Salah is the author of Wanting in Arabic (TSAR 2002, 2013) and Lyric Sexology Vol. 1 (Roof 2014, Metonymy 2017) and co-editor of special issues of Canadian Review of American Studies 35.2 (2005) and TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.4 (2014). The 2013 edition of Wanting in Arabic won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. At the University of Winnipeg she organized the conferences Writing Trans Genres: Emergent Literatures and Criticism and Decolonizing and Decriminalizing Trans Genres. Currently an assistant professor of Gender Studies at Queen’s University, she is a member of the editorial boards of TSQ, Eoagh, and Topia. (https://twitter.com/anasemia)

Acts To Grind Theatre delivers the Quebec-MONTREAL premier of the Off-Broadway (running since 1999) sensational musical comedy review “NAKED BOYS SINGING” August 16th to 20th at Cabaret Café Cléopâtre (1230 St-Laurent, 2nd floor). Featuring an original score of 16 songs and a global cast of 6 talented triple threats. For your exclusive viewing and listening pleasure, they display their special charms while celebrating the splendours of male nudity in comedy, songs, & dance. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/597384740472829/

ABOUT THE HOST

Christopher DiRaddo is the author of The Geography of Pluto. He has also published four short stories in anthologies by Arsenal Pulp Press, including the Lambda Literary Award-winning First Person Queer. He is the founder and host of The Violet Hour reading series.