And the word of the year is...

Drum roll please...

It's "w00t."

Okay...

"W00t," is a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness. Merriam-Webster's president, John Morse, said "w00t" was an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology. "It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," Morse said.

It's really cool what's happening to the written word as more and more of our communication with each other becomes electronic. We're finding ways to condense language to its very essence.

We are all Hemingway when we write: "Miss U. Will b L8. LOL."

Remember when it was all about writing letters to people? I could write I love you in a letter, mail it, and by the time you got it be in love with someone else. Now, I can tell someone I don't "luv" them anymore with my blackberry... which is pretty convenient in-between meetings.

Personally, I think that the honour of the word of the year should have gone to the verb "Facebook" as in "I'll facebook you," or the word "creep," as in "Yo, you're such a creep, stop looking at her profile." Perhaps "creepin" would have been a better choice, as in "yo, stop creepin her page man that's weird."

Facebook. Now that's a blog entry on its own.

Happy Holidays.

J

Want to know what's going on at The Word On The Street this year?

Great news!

The Word On The Street is pleased to announce that four of its featured authors have been nominated for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize! Elizabeth Hay, who will be reading at this year’s Great Books Marquee, has been nominated for her novel Late Nights on Air. Alissa York, who will make an appearance at the Diaspora Dialogues Tent, was nominated for her novel Effigy. M.G. Vassanji will read from his nominated novel The Assassin's Song and will be joined by another former winner of the prize Richard B. Wright, nominated for his novel October at the Scotiabank Bestsellers Stage!

With The Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist only 10 days away from being announced, we will unite former winners Vincent Lam, Richard B. Wright and Austin Clarke to join David Staines, who assisted Jack Rabinovitch in building the prize’s creative template, to discuss their “Giller Experience” and the impact that Canada’s foremost literary prize has had on the lives and careers of its winners.

To see these amazing authors and hear their amazing new works, check out The Word On The Street, Sunday, September 30, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m at Queen’s Park.

Oh, and want to know who's going to be at this year's The Word On The Street?

Of course you do!

If you want a sneak peak then visit our website at:

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/toronto/whats_on_schedule.asp

See you Sunday!

Words, Words, Words...

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that words are the skin of living ideas. We here at Foreword agree. We are fascinated by words: they look great, they’re dangerous, and they’re prettier than Paris Hilton. This is the first of a series of articles in Foreword that will be about the power of words and ideas - this one courtesy of VoicePrint.

Enjoy.
Jason

___


Silly rabbit…Braille is for kids
By: Kim Mannix Vermette

All readers embrace the special joy that comes from opening a favorite book, taking in the words on a page and letting their imagination paint vivid pictures in the absence of visual images. Sometimes we’re so inspired by the power of words that we dream of penning our own stories or poems and sharing our creations with others.
For 17-year-old Carolyn Naylor, a Nova Scotia native with low-vision, that dream came early in life. At age 11, she began putting her ideas to the page. “I love writing stories,” says Carolyn. “It’s fun, it makes me happy and it’s probably my most favorite thing to do.”

Carolyn’s efforts to become fluent in Braille are on-going, but her commitment to learning it has brought reward. Last year Carolyn entered the Creative Writing and Braille Accuracy Competition, hosted each year by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), as part of its Braille Conference held in Toronto each October. She won top prize in her age category.

While the competition is a great way for blind and vision-impaired Canadians to show off their creativity, there’s a bigger purpose to the competition: to showcase the CNIB’s belief in the importance of Braille literacy. Shelagh Paterson, the director of advocacy, sales and marketing with the CNIB library in Toronto, explains that learning to read and write Braille is as important for persons who are blind or vision impaired as learning to read and write print is for sighted people. “Reading Braille is equivalent to reading print. Both ensure literacy, which we all need to have to function in society,” she says VoicePrint, a division of The National Broadcast Reading Service, shares CNIB’s belief in the importance of literacy and access to the written word for all people. This year VoicePrint will be participating in the annual Braille Conference in October by serving as host of a workshop that will investigate new programming ideas of specific interest to Braille users. VoicePrint listeners can look forward to unique programming focused on Braille, the Braille user, and the CNIB's annual children's short-story competition.

For more information about VoicePrint, to access a broadcast schedule and more details about its special Braille-related programming, visit www.voiceprintcanada.com

Looking for a great summer read?

Visit The Word On The Street's contest page for a chance to win an amazing summer reads prize pack courtesy of HarperCollinsCanada!

Summer Reading Rules!

When I was growing up, summers in the city were spent taking trips to the pool, going to camp and spending hours sitting in the back of the car on road trips that never seemed to end. Filling the time in between, I read. A lot. Though the occasional trip to the bookstore allowed me to start my own collection of books, the bulk of my reading material came from the local library. Afternoons would be spent with my mom and brothers browsing the shelves, stocking up on books, and then getting a popsicle from the neighbouring corner store (if we were lucky).

Recently I’ve noticed ads popping up on the TTC for the Toronto Public Library’s TD Summer Reading Club. I can remember participating in an earlier version of the program when I was a kid (a construction paper cut-out with my name up on the bulletin board in the children’s section seems to ring a bell). Browsing the program’s site (http://tdsrc.torontopubliclibrary.ca/) makes me realize how the internet has changed the way that kids across the city access the library’s services. The theme this summer is “Lost Worlds” and kids can submit the titles of the books they’ve read, and post reviews for ones they’ve loved or hated. Just a few days into summer vacation and there’s already quite a bit of action on the site—and 483 books read-to-date. It’s one big virtual bulletin board for kids across the city to share their picks for the summer. A little different than the summer reading club I remember, but still lots of fun. And if it gets kids reading, what could be better than that?

Kate Edwards

Debut novelist lands six-figure U.K. deal

The Quill & Quire reports that Toronto resident Sean Dixon's debut novel, "The Girls Who Saw Everything" has just been purchased by HarperCollins U.K. as part of a two-book, six-figure deal.

Oh. My. Allah. How awesome is that?

Sean is known mostly as an actor and a playwright, and I know him as a teacher (he taught at The National Theatre School of Canada). He dramaturged by friend Ryan Griffith's graduating production "Drift" and the resulting play was lovely and sad and full of heart. I'm currently in the process of writing a play called "K" about a young girl lost in a terrible, wonderful place, full of magic and knights and demons and all that jazz, and my dramaturg recommended I read Sean's play "The End of the World Romance" to get a sense of what a fairy tale for adults should sound like.

I read it. It was lovely.

I just wanted to use this space to congratulate Sean for making it happen! For writing what he wants and being rewarded for it.

He gives us young writers hope :).


Jason Maghanoy

Book Expo: A collection of thoughts.

I collected a lot of business cards at Book Expo.

Clive Barker was there. He is a very famous writer. He wrote a series of books that were later turned into the Hellraiser series of horror films that traumatized me in my youth. It was nice to see him.

There were a lot of free books. I didn't really want any of them. Well...

There was one book on display that I wanted, The Tudors: Collection of Screenplays. The Tudors is a great series on Showtime about Henry the VIII that stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I read the first few pages of the book and I just had to have it. The writing was sexy and alive and crackling with wit. To get the book I sort of stalked it all day... seriously... just sort of hung around the Simon and Schuster exhibit like one of those creepy guys you read about. Did it work? Well. I went up to who I thought was the friendliest person at Simon and Schuster and asked if I could take it (even though I wasn't allowed). The friendly old man said yes. He had a copy in his car. He could just use that one for the display. He handed me the book and I was happy. I've already read the whole thing.

I ran into an old friend of mine from high school whom I haven't seen in years. She was sitting by the Scholastic Exhibit. We made eye contact, and I wasn't sure it was her. But then when she said my name and started hugging me I assumed it was her... because who would do that to a stranger?

Her name is Katherine. We worked in theatre together. We also went to Prom together. I have this picture of us bowling after prom (at 3am). I am wearing a wife beater and she is wearing a really nice red dress. We looked like the best couple ever... even though we've never dated. She now works at Stratford. She was at Book Expo through The World's Biggest Bookstore (where she used to work). We talked for an hour (while I was supposed to be looking for boxes to pack our exhibitor table at the end of the day). She is doing well. She looks exactly the same. I wonder if she thought the same thing about me?

She did say that I seemed happy.

Which was nice to hear.

Because everyone wants to appear happy.

My first Book Expo was a great experience. Already looking forward to next year.

Jason Maghanoy

Gotta Love LuminaTO!

I saw a really great show at the Factory Theatre last night called "Tough." It's part of this thing the Factory is doing called "The Walker Project," which is part of LuminaTO. The piece, written by Canadian Playwright George F. Walker and directed by Ken Gass, had a ton of energy, some really innovative staging, and a strong, young cast that really brought Walker's work into a fuller relief.

What I loved about the show was that it was all about "transformation:" the Factory Studio was transformed into a long rectangle, and the audience sat around it; while the ethnically diverse ensemble cast all interchanged with each other, with 11 actors playing the three hander and bringing their own personalities and interpretations to the characters as they rotated from scene to scene.

The play was a great example of what theatre could be in Toronto: Sharp. Imaginative. Relevant.

SEE IT!

Jason

PS
I'm off to Book Expo this weekend. Pretty excited. I'm gonna try and bring my manuscript and like... drop it on the floor or something... hopefully one of the big publishers will pick it up.

Not likely :).

The Word On The Street and Disapora Dialogues

If you didn't know, The Word On The Street is going to be teaming up with Diaspora Dialogues this year, as part of Nuit Blanche. Let's just say it's going to be a multi-media extravaganza with words and images and drawing all crashing together. I'm pretty excited about this partnership because I've worked with Diaspora Dialogues before - they've been a major sponsor of the CrossCurrents New Play Festival at the Factory Theatre (which I've done the past two years). I love that they're trying to bring ethnically diverse stories and story-tellers to the forefront, and showcase the dynamic, multi-cultural tapestry of Canada.

What's more Canadian than that?

They've recently teamed up with PEN Canada in something called: "The Taxi Project."

What happens when you pair up 7 of Toronto’s top artists with 7 outstanding writers in exile, give them 7 hours to develop a 7 minute presentation based on a theme revealed that day? You get the TAXI Stand Jam – an exciting evening of performance, music, theatre, writing, and surprises presented by PEN Canada and the Art for Real Change (ARC) Collective.

The featured artists are legendary Dumbek player Suleiman Warwar; award-winning dub poet d’bi.young; creator of the RED Festival and multidisciplinary artist Lisa Pijuan-Nomura; multi-disciplinary Metis performing artist Jani Lauzon; the soulful tunes of Rosina Kazi from Lal; visionary dancer BaKari Lindsay and Sudanese-Canadian musical genius Waleed Abdulhamid.

The featured writers in exile are Sheng Xue, Benjamín Santamaría Ochoa, Genc Tirana, Martha Kumsa, Tahir Aslam Gora, Emma Beltrán and Reza Baraheni.

The Jam will be hosted by spoken word artist Naila Keleta Mae.

It takes place on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 8pm, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street (south of Wellesley at Yonge)

$10 suggested admission at the door

All welcome. Bring your imagination.

For more information please contact Anjula Gogia at agogia@pencanada.ca or 416.703.8448 x23 or visit www.pencanada.ca

I urge you guys to check it out. I think it's gonna be pretty special.

Jason Maghanoy

A big splash on the other side of the pond

A series of articles recently released have revealed that Canadian literature is receiving a great deal of admiration and attention overseas. Industry mag, the Quill and Quire has reported that poet Ken Babstock, (whose most recent book of poems Airstream Land Yacht was featured at The Word On The Street in 2006,) has been invited to a poetry festival in Berlin. Invited as well are eleven other poets including Paul Vermeersch, Tim Lilburn, Suzanne Buffam, Karen Solie, and six francophone poets. The delegates will participate in a workshop with 12 German poets, in which they will do translations of each other’s poems with the help of prepared word-for-word literal translations and interpreters. The translations will later be published in a trilingual anthology.

Reported recently in the Toronto Star, for the first time in its history, the Budapest Book Festival has shone a spotlight on Canada and Canadian literature. No non-European country has been featured previously in the event's 14-year history. Six Canadian authors, among them Anna Porter, Joseph Boyden and Sharon Pollock, travelled across the Atlantic to be present for the launch of Hungarian translations of their work. Alice Munro, was also invited but declined the invitation to visit Hungary for the launch of Csend, vetkek, szenvedely, the Hungarian version of her story collection Runaway.

Now is as great a time as ever to visit your local bookstore and pick up something one of your fellow Canadians has written recently. Every year, hundreds of Canadian works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays go into print adding more and more volume to the voice of Canadian literature. Make this year yours to celebrate Canadian literature.

source and source

Raw Shark is Delicious!

Following up on a post from a few weeks ago, here's more on the Raw Shark Texts.

Last night a couple of us from the office decided to head down to the Raw Shark Texts launch at the SPIN Gallery -- what a show! The gallery is a really great space, big and bright, very malleable, and had enough room for the HarperCollins team to assemble a mock-up of the boat 'The Orpheus' featured briefly in the book.

HarperCollins also treated the assembled booklovers to a special book-bonus: 'In every country except Canada," said author Steven Hall, "the book starts on page 3. However, in Canada the story begins on page -22." The publisher created only 100 copies of a special Chapter 0 only available in Canada that starts the story even earlier than Hall had originally anticipated.

Hall was a lovely man to speak with, in turns both proud of his books success and flattered by the out-pouring of admiration by the books' (and the publicity campaigns') fans. All in all, a fantastic evening, supported by Pages This Is Not a Reading Series.

You Can Make it BIG!

Great news for all those Torontonians who typically burst at the seams with ideas: there's a new event in Toronto perfect for spilling your idea guts out to. Except instead of getting the rolled eyes and you-must-be-nuts stares from your fellow TTC riders, creative folks can all convene in a single time and place to pitch their ideas to real, actual industry professionals.

iCan Pitch invites well-respected members of the film and television community to participate in this unique event, designed to offer writers and ‘creative types' the chance to pitch their fresh ideas in a fast paced, exciting environment. It's an ideal opportunity for the power brokers in the film and television industry to find a “diamond in the rough”, and to help shape the lives and careers of many talented, aspiring Canadian writers.

Word from event organizers is that last year's debut event sold-out uber-quickly and was incredibly successful. Aside from pitching your ideas to industry professionals, the event gives you a chance to network with other folks just like you and attend useful and inspiring workshops to refine your craft and your pitch.

Writing about Writing about Writing

It's great to read and read and read, but if you're a writer, eventually you'll have to stop reading (and become, dare I say, 'aliterate'?) and start writing. Before that happens though, and most especially if this is the first time it's happening, you'll want to read this first.

In a SlushPile.net article unpacking the book, Scott McKenzie, says that the ocean of DIY writing is full of garbage reference books, and in contrast to that, Mosley really seems to know what he's talking about.

But Mosley's book is neither the first nor the last place any aspiring writer should look to. In the city of Toronto there are dozens of writers organizations who will gladly share their experiences and expertise in the writing life, and be equally glad to hear your version of things too. How fortunate for readers of Read. Write. Think! that our all-new website, coming this April, will have a directory of support for writers!

95.8% -- No Surprise To Us

An interesting study was recently released about the reading habits of Canadians -- here are some highlights:

• 86.7% of the population 15 or older read a newspaper (22.6 million Canadians);
• 78.2% read a magazine (20.4 million Canadians);
• 66.6% read at least one book (17.4 million Canadians);
• a total of 95.8% read at least one of these items (25.0 million Canadians); and
• 52.5% read a newspaper, a magazine and a book in 2005 (13.7 million Canadians).

• 42.6% of the population 15 or older read a magazine at least once a week (11.1 million
Canadians)

• 40% of the population 15 or older read at least one book each month (i.e. 10.5 million Canadians read at least 12 books during the year)

See the full article.

Bitter Irony

E-books have, for many years, been touted as "the next big thing" and some are suggesting that we can start dropping the 'next'. Digital publishing is not new, and publishers like Harlequin are reporting that at least a hundred books go digital every month digitally. As usual, it's going to take society a while to catch up to it's technology. For example, there's a growing need for publishers to become more aware of the ever-increasing number of books published only digitally. Montreal publisher Les Éditions des Intouchables learned that the hard way this week.

Toothpaste, cereal boxes, street signs

What do these things have in common? They're ubiquitous, everywhere. And you read them -- probably without knowing it. Everyday we're confronted by things, various products, our environs, commuter papers and more, that we read without consciously reading. It's sort of non-reading reading.

Isn't that the beauty of things like reading (like breathing, like walking?) Once you know how to do it, reading just happens automatically, without much fanfare or notice. How many times have you heard yourself use a word or a phrase that you picked up clandestinely through something you didn't even realize you had read? Where do words like 'conjuction', 'selenium', or 'quotient' come from when they're not in your typical vocabulary? I think the truth is that a lot of the non-reading reading we consume comes in the form of advertisements and other messaging that's meant to be discretely inserted one's consciousness. Though it's not a pure form of literature by any means, is it ever bad to keep reading?

Daily Head Scratcher

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." -- Mark Twain

The ability to read is not a right, it's not a privilege -- it is a gift. Like the ability to sing or paint or handle alligators, reading opens doors that would otherwise stay closed. John G. Ramsay, in an article entitled "Hells bibliophiles", discusses the scourge of aliteracy in North America: "[Twain's] point is that aliteracy is a chosen form of illiteracy, and therefore borders on being a self-inflicted handicap--a radical rejection of literate and literary culture and the recorded wisdom of the ages." More.

Daily Guerilla Gorilla

While wading through the often unusual, ever-interesting posts for artists on craigslist.org, I found something extraordinarily bizarre. On first glance I thought it was just a really wacko sort of post. When I glanced at the reply-to address I noticed it was to raw shark texts at gmail, which is when it hit me -- HarperCollins Canada has just released a book called The Raw Shark Texts and which I of course Googled, and lo and behold. It's a bit of a mystery thus far who planted the post, but it's cool nonetheless.

Shiny, Happy Blogging

Hi. Welcome to Foreword the new blog from The Word On The Street in Toronto -- the best way to celebrate Toronto's biggest and most popular festival of Canadian books and magazines.

Why a blog?

1) This is a really easy way to share interesting articles, links, videos, pictures, etc.
2) It's also a good way to share stuff that's going on in Toronto that The Word On The Street loves and supports, but that aren't necessarily our event.
3) It's a way to provoke discussion - post your opinion about our festival and see where it leads.
4) Because we here at The Word On The Street love our jobs, love this festival, and love the industry -- there's so much cool stuff happening all the time, why not talk about it all in one place???

Everyone who works at The Word On The Street in Toronto will be able to contribue to this blog, so stay tuned -- you're gonna read some really neat stuff.

Feel free to share your thoughts in comments, please remember that all ages will view this site and nothing offensive will be allowed on the blog.

Let's get this party started!