Tag Archives: Harbourfront Centre

The Forest of Reading Festival of Trees celebrates the love of books at Harbourfront Centre this month

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The Forest of Reading is Canada’s largest recreational reading program. They offer groups for readers of all types, including the Red Maple Award reading program, for students in grades 7 & 8, which includes a fiction list every year, and a non-fiction list every two years, and the White Pine Award, which familiarizes high school readers with great Canadian young adult fiction. Awards for both programs are given out at the Festival of Trees in May at Harbourfront Centre.

8000 young readers descend upon Harbourfront Centre for this annual celebration of reading.  Did you hear that?  Descend.  If you’re part of the gang (of readers, that is) you know that an epic word is fitting.  It’s a scientific fact that people who read are 300 to 60 000 times more intelligent than their non-reading counterparts.  So when we go places, we descend.  From our pedestals, from our bicycles, from our land of make-believe where everything is good.  And when we descend, we do it when it counts.

On My 15th and 16th, there will be workshops, award ceremonies, and more. Teresa Toten and Eric Walters will read from The Taming, brought to you by Celebration of Young Readers. This novel is the story of a shy high school girl who falls for the theatre and a troubled boy. As well, Karen Levine will present the tenth anniversary of Canada’s most-awarded children’s book of all time, Hana’s Suitcase. Ticket price is included with admission to Forest of Reading Festival of Trees ($14).

My sister Claire used to belong to a book club at school.  I belonged to one at !ndigo, where we got to pick out treats from their coffee shop (remember when it wasn’t Starbucks?) and go talk about books in a field scored by telephone wires behind the big-box buildings of Burlington. Claire got to go to a festival in Toronto, got to wear these sparkly things in her pigtails, and came home with all these ribbons and stories about authors, etc.  I can’t remember details because I was busy building a shield of love to block my eyes and ears, so I wouldn’t lash out in a jealous rage.

Learn from my mistakes.  Get to the train station/ subway station/ directly to the Harbourfront Centre, and dig the vibes of what you’re lucky enough to just have handed to you!

Tickets $10/ FREE for members, students and youth 25 and under with ID

Box office information 416 973 300 or readings.org

International Festival of Authors Ontario and Open Book present Write Across Ontario, a unique writing competition for high school students

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Are you an aspiring novelist? Compulsive journaler? Is creative writing your favourite subject? Does not a weekend pass that you don’t think ‘that moment would have made a great short story’ ? If so, then you need to enter the Write Across Ontario competition.

This creative writing competition gives you three story starters, written by three very different authors: Ian Rankin, Joanna Skibsrud, and Miriam Toews. Take their beginning and create your own middle and end-following your inspiration to craft a 500 word story, no later than February 1, 2012. The stories will be judged by Authors at Harbourfront Centre and Open Book: Ontario.

One winner from each grade will be chosen, and the winners will receive $500 and the opportunity to have their work published online in the Open Book Magazine.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get your work out there, and receive feedback from professional writers. So stop wowing your creative writing teacher and enter! (Okay, keep wowing him or her, but do this while you’re at it!) Visit here for complete rules and regulations. litontour.com/write-across-ontario.

Every Saturday, check out DJ Skate Night at Harbourfront

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Toronto’s weather has been so nice this week that we should all be outside enjoying it! And what better way to spend it than outside skating with your friends? The Harbourfront Centre has relaunched their Saturday night DJ Skate Night for this season. Every Saturday night from 8PM-11PM there will be a different DJ spinning tracks for your enjoyment. (And it’s FREE!) Now the only trick is, can you skate and dance at the same time? Lace up your skates, bring your friends, and come give it a try!

This Saturday Cratery will be taking over the DJ booth, and putting their own spin on Skate Night…. SKATERY. If you follow Harbourfront on Twitter @HarbourfrontTO you can keep track of who will be the DJ for the week.