Programs

PROGRAM FULLY BOOKED - WAIT LIST ONLY

Whether by race, class, culture, gender, ableism, or other categories, many people have experienced being outsiders. Outsiders make excellent observers, and we can use our experience of looking at society to create poems that interrogate what is often seen as “normal” or “correct” simply because it is the majority experience. Taking from our lives and unique experiences we will celebrate the ways in which we belong to ourselves.

Participants can attend this workshop on its own or with the others in its series. Registration required, spaces are limited. To register call 416-393-7085 or email trllanglit@tpl.ca .

This program is presented by Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang, TPL’s Spring 2024 Writer in Residence whose focus is Poetry for an Adult Audience. Learn more about TPL's Writer in Residence program, including upcoming programs and one-on-one consultation sessions.

Writer in Residence : Programs, Classes & Exhibits

Visiting Writer in Residence accepts manuscripts, gives lectures and helps young writers at the library.

www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks' notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca.

Desmond P. Ryan, author of Mike O’Shea Crime Series, discusses the different sub-genre of crime fiction, the emergence of the female character in crime fiction, the effect media/television has on actual criminal investigations and the popularity of the crime fiction series.

Drop in.

This is the second of a 3 part series, next program dates:

May 22, 2-3 in Room 224

If you live with a disability, and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services at accessibleservices@tpl.ca or phone (416) 393-7099. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

In celebrating Asian Heritage Month, join Carol Williams-Wong, as she discusses her personal history in Letters to My Grandchildren: Memoirs of a Dragon Lady. 

Born to Hakka Chinese immigrants in Jamaica, Carol Wong discusses her early life in the West Indies, and her journey in becoming a Hakka Chinese Dragon Lady in Toronto. While the letters serve to record her family history, they also highlight life in Jamaica from 1941-1977 and the changing socio-political events from that era. 

Q&A to follow Author Talk. Books will be available for sale and signing. Drop-In. No Registration Required.

Please call (416) 393-7697 or speak with staff at the desk for more information.

If you identify as a person with a disability or as a person who is Deaf, and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services by email, accessibleservices@tpl.ca, or voicemail, 416-393-7099, to make a request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

What's at stake when we lose the art of conversation?

In a world with competing voices, the simple act of overcoming disagreement through productive dialogue has become more challenging. How can we re-learn the value in speaking with one another? And what do we stand to gain?

Dr. Paula Marantz Cohen is a distinguished professor at Drexel University and the host of the PBS series The Civil Discourse. Her new book, Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation explores the inherent curative power in the simple act of talking to one another. Dr. Peter Kim is the world’s leading expert on trust repair and a professor at the University of Southern California. His new book, How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired brings together his two decades of experience in the field of trust repair. Dr. Kim and Dr. Marantz will speak with U of T’s newly appointed provostial adviser on civil discourse, Randy Boyagoda, about trust and conversation - the two critical and often missing elements that might help heal us, inspire us and remind us of our shared humanity.

What magic can be found in speaking with a stranger? What new connections can we forge with language? And how can we heal one another with words?

This event is part of our new series exploring what’s at stake when intellectual freedom is threatened.

Join the conversation.

Important information for accessing this live virtual event:

• You must register for a free ticket via Eventbrite to gain access to this event.
• This event will be presented in a Zoom Webinar. Once registered, you will receive reminder emails from both Zoom and Eventbrite with links and instructions to access your unique Zoom Webinar link to watch this event.
• At the time of the event, you must be signed in to Zoom or Eventbrite with the same email address that you used to book your ticket in order to access your unique event link.

About this event’s guests:

Dr. Paula Marantz Cohen

Dr. Peter Kim

Randy Boyagoda

Read more:

Talking cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation

How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships are Built, Broken and Repaired

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Accessibility at Toronto Public Library:

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca.

Join Toronto oncologist and author, Dr. Charles Hayter, as he pulls back the curtain on his life as a cancer doctor and his experience dealing with his father’s cancer and death. He’ll read from and discuss his recent book Cancer Confidential. This event will be of interest to anyone whose life has been touched by cancer, whether as a patient, family member, or caregiver.

Register in branch or by calling 416-396-3975.

If you identify as a person with a disability and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services by email, accessibleservices@tpl.ca, or voicemail, 416-393-7099, to make a request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

An overview of the birth, evolution, and death of stars, including white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Ages 10+

Presented in partnership with UofT’s Dunlop Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics.

John Percy is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, in Astronomy & Astrophysics, and in Science Education. His research deals with the nature and evolution of the stars. He is also active in astronomy education, at all levels, throughout the world. He has received many awards for his work in education and outreach, most recently the 2013 Education Prize of the American Astronomical Society.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request an accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks' notice is preferred. Phone (416) 393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

The subject matter of Fahrenheit 451, the 1953 dystopian novel has led to it being challenged and/or banned at least 10 times since 1992. This talk discusses the age of censorship and some very big issues that society will need to wrestle with.

Presented by Paul Keen, Associate Dean, Professor at Carleton University.

This event is part of Toronto Public Library’s Great Books Lecture Series, made possible through a gift from the Ann Thoburn Fund. The lecture series, delivered by academics, explores humanity, diverse views and possibilities on literary titles as they relate to the series’ annual theme. The theme of Toronto Public Library's 2024 Great Books Lecture Series is Books as Battlefields and is curated by Paul Chafe of Toronto Metropolitan University.

Questions? Please email programsproposal@tpl.ca

If you identify as a person with a disability and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services by email, accessibleservices@tpl.ca, or voicemail, 416-393-7099, to make a request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

Presented in partnership with the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, acclaimed artist and illustrator Maurice Vellekoop visits the Toronto Reference Library to discuss his new book, I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together. This graphic memoir tells the epic story of an aspiring queer illustrator surviving an intensely Christian family, coming of age and coming out in 1980s Toronto, becoming a successful artist and the long process of coming to terms with the traumas of childhood.

Meet little Maurice Vellekoop, the youngest of four children raised by Dutch immigrants in 1970s Etobicoke. The Vellekoops are devoted to art, music, and film, and they instill a deep reverence for the arts in young Maurice—except for literature. He’d rather watch Cher and Carol Burnett on TV than read a book. He also loves playing with his girlfriends’ Barbies and helping his Mum in her basement hair salon. In short, he is really, really gay.

Vellekoop struggles with intolerance at home and at school until he finds a welcoming community of bohemians at the Ontario College of Art, including a brilliant, flamboyantly gay professor who encourages him to come out. But just as he’s dipping his toes into the waters of gay sex and love, a series of disasters set him back. Maurice retreats to the safety of childhood obsessions, seeking to meet his emotional needs through film- and theatre-going, music, boozy self-medication, and prolific art-making. When these tactics inevitably fail, Vellekoop at last embarks on a journey of self-discovery. In therapy, a spiderweb of family, faith, guilt, and sexuality at last begins to untangle.

Author Maurice Vellekeep is joined by journalist Rachel Giese to discuss this enthralling portrait of what it means to be true to yourself, to learn to forgive, and to be an artist.

Q&A and book signing to follow. Books available for purchase.

Ticket registration for this event is required: Free tickets for this event will be available to book via Eventbrite beginning on April 18 at 9:00am ET.

About this event’s guests:

Maurice Vellekoop

Rachel Giese

Read more:

I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together

Boys: What It Means to Become a Man

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This event is part of our signature Salon Series, where we host local and international authors, artists and thinkers in conversation about their new books and big ideas.

In partnership with the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

Note: This is an in-person event located in the Jack Rabinovitch Reading Room on the fourth floor of the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street).

Arrive early, meet people. Come early so you can chat with your fellow literature lovers, and make new friends.

Accessibility at Toronto Public Library:

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca.

Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It is a nation known for historic sites related to a succession of rulers including the Romans, Moors, and Knights of Saint John. Experienced travel talk presenter David Crichton presents his recent trip to the area where he visited National Museum of Archaeology, St. John's Cathedral and more. He also toured Gozo Island and the countryside with prehistoric temples. 

This program is designed for adults. Drop in. No registration is required. 

If you identify as a person with a disability or as a person who is Deaf, and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services by email, accessibleservices@tpl.ca, or voicemail, 416-393-7099, to make a request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

The Searcher Group – Canada’s oldest, most reputable and accomplished paranormal research team – celebrates its 45th Anniversary with a return to the Toronto Public Library!

Putting the ‘boo’ in ‘book’, Assistant Director and author Peter Roe (Haunted Town Halls) will manifest at the Mount Pleasant Branch, Saturday May 11, at 10:30 am, sharing The Searcher Group’s true-life discoveries from the field of ghost investigation.

Mixing chills, a deep appreciation of Ontario’s vanishing heritage and thought-provoking discussion with a dash of humour, this popular presentation includes tools-of-the-trade, original theory on life-after-life phenomena, rarely-seen exclusive field photos and clarifies popular misconceptions about ghosts (and how to properly investigate them). Followed by a Q&A. 

An informative and entertaining Pre-Show video will be presented 30 minutes before the presentation, for early attendees from 10-10:30 AM. 

Registration required. Please register in person at the Mount Pleasant Branch or by calling 416-393-7737. 

If you identify as a person with a disability and require an accessibility accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Accessibility Services by email, accessibleservices@tpl.ca, or voicemail, 416-393-7099, to make a request. Please contact us at least three weeks in advance.

La Bibliothèque publique de Toronto s'est engagée à assurer l'accessibilité. Veuillez nous appeler ou nous envoyer un courriel si vous êtes sourd(e) ou avez un handicap et souhaitez demander des mesures d'adaptation pour participer à ce programme. Veuillez nous en informer le plus tôt possible et nous ferons de notre mieux pour répondre à votre demande. Un préavis d'au moins trois semaines est préférable. Composez 416-393-7099 ou contactez-nous par courriel accessibleservices@tpl.ca