Untitled

April 22, 2022, 7 PM

Presented by The Reading Salon
Join us on Zoom or Facebook Live.

Hosted by
David Bateman
Raymond Helkio

Featuring
Steman Pardy
A pandemic post-launch of David Bateman’s first novel, Dr. Sad.
+ Open mic

Untitled 2, Helkio, Bateman, Pardy

STEDMOND PARDY is a Self-educated, Left-handed poet of Canadian Caribbean descent (Newfoundland & St.Kitts/Nevis) from the Lakeshire Mimico area. His first full-length book of poetry “The Pleasures of This Planet aren’t Enough” was released by Mosaic Press in the Spring of 2021. He has performed on stages & on Radio In Montreal, Toronto, Alberta, & the Seattle/Washington State areas.

DAVID BATEMAN is a painter, performance poet, and arts journalist. His four collections of poetry and one collaborative long poem, with Hiromi Goto ( https://tinyurl.com/bdfekvy5 ), have been published by Frontenac Press ( https://tinyurl.com/3d567ba6 ). A collaborative long poem with Naomi Beth Wakan was published by Bevalia press and is available as an ebook on Amazon and Kindle. Hidden Brook Press published his collection of short stories and creative non-fiction, A MAD BENT DIVA, in 2017. His first novel, DR SAD, was published by the University of Calgary Press in November of 2020.

RAYMOND HELKIO is a queer artist living on the edge of insanity.


January 20, 2022, 7 PM

Presented by The Reading Salon
On Zoom and Facebook Live.

Hosted by
David Bateman
Raymond Helkio

Featuring
brawk hessel
Breton Lalama
Darian Razdar
Neta Rose

UNTITLED-poster-helkio
Brawk Hessel

brawk hessel is a white settler and a gender queer fag that uses they/them pronouns. brawk is also a recovering addict, proudly mad, and a care worker. Their performance art and poetry has been featured frequently at Video Fag, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Glad Day Bookshop. They are also a collective member of the community arts space, Unit 2, as well as the Bricks and Glitter Festival.


Neta Rose

Neta Rose (they/them) is a proud Ashkenazi-Jewish, queer, non-binary tattooed tomboy-fem redhead geek, living and working as a settler in Toronto/Tkaronto, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River, part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant.

Neta is an actor, painter, and poet. They write every morning, draw every night, perform whenever they can, and spend whatever time is left trying to earn some money to pay rent. Their writing has previously been published in Salty Magazine, and by Buddies In Bad Times Theatre as part of the Pandemic Poetry Project, and they will next be seen on-stage (virtually) in Nowadays Theatre’s “Heart of a Dog” at the Next Stage Theatre Festival. You can read more about them here.


Darian Razdar is a writer, researcher, and artist living in Toronto with roots in the Great Lakes and Caspian Sea basins. He is driven by beauty and experimentation, leading me to explore societal tensions and incite change. His practices focus on social movements, poetics, materials, and political cultures. Darian is also an organizer with Bricks & Glitter and the founder of Reflex Urbanism. You can read more about them here.


Breton Lalama

Breton Lalama (he+they) is a multi-medium artist. Right now, he’s really into exploring tiny huge moments. Stuff that has been super fun: being 41 people at once (Fully Committed, Neptune Theatre); surviving the apocalypse (Y: The Last Man, Hulu FX); wearing a pleasingly tall top hat (Orlando, MTC); attempting to secure grandad’s fortune (Slasher, Shudder). Other work in progress: THE LAST SHOW ON EARTH TRADEMARK SYMBOL! (Groundswell Festival), unnamed piece (Alberta Theatre Projects). @bretonlikethecrackers
Photo of Breton by James MacLean


Land Acknowledgment
Untitled would like to acknowledge the Indigenous land on which we presently occupy. Toronto comes from the Kanien’kéha word Tkaronto, and is part of traditional territories of many nations including the Huron Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Mississaugas of the Credit.