From our education system to our literary community, why is CanLit so white? Nashwa Khan challenges the default narrative JUNOT DÍAZ UNLEASHED A BOMBSHELL on the writing world when he published his essay “MFA vs. PoC” in the New Yorker last spring. The Dominican American author is a creative writing professor, a fiction editor for […] More »

Lowell’s bold, new vision for a women- and girl-friendly pop future POP SINGER-SONGWRITER Lowell has recently been experiencing a recurring dream in which she’s robbing a bank, then driving away on a motorbike with her lesbian lover. Given the surreal imagery in the videos for her songs “The Bells” and “Cloud 69,” it’s easy to […] More »

Métis in Space is a hilariously smart take down of Indigenous stereotypes in popular science-fiction LAST SUMMER, friends Molly Swain and Chelsea Vowel were having a rough time, and looking for an excuse to spend more time together. Swain and Vowel, who are both Métis and live in Montreal, came up with a solution to […] More »

Four Toronto community programs that empower the city’s youth Over the past month, we’ve featured amazing Social Justice All-Stars and the work they’re doing to make Canada a better place to live. Fellow Canadians have taken notice. Our readers have sent us dozens of nominations, highlighting individuals for the great contributions they make, whether its […] More »

Editor, designer and professor Sheila Sampath is a refreshing voice for intersectional, accessible feminism IT’S OCTOBER 2014 and I’m sitting on the floor in Sheila Sampath’s Toronto living room, discussing the progress of the newest issue of Shameless, an independent magazine for teen girls and trans youth. Surrounded by communal snacks, the team talks about […] More »

 Guelph’s ReMediate project connects devastating bee loss, our food system, and the environment In spring 2014, the ReMediate project brought together artist Christina Kingsbury, writer Anna Bowen, and non-profit Pollination Guelph, to make a 305 square metre quilt for the decommissioned Eastview Landfill in Guelph, Ont. Embedded with native seeds Kingsbury collected, the quilt was […] More »

Inside The Weakerthans’ bassist Greg Smith’s studio Beer in hand, Greg Smith sits in a chair wedged into a corner. A microphone stand, angled overhead, partially frames him. The room is full of instruments: four- and six-stringed guitars on stands, a mandolin hanging from a hook, a drum kit and keyboards facing one another. But […] More »

Montreal choreographer confronts street life, addiction, and the Canadian aboriginal experience As calls for a public inquiry into the many cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada go unheard by the federal government, Montreal choreographer Lara Kramer’s most recent piece, titled NGS (“Native Girl Syndrome”), could not be more timely. “Native Girl Syndrome” […] More »

This past Saturday, February 22, anyone passing by Old City Hall in downtown Toronto would have noticed two ladies in nothing but their skivvies and balaclavas a-la-Pussy-Riot. The choice in wardrobe wardrobe was a nod to the legal restrictions our sisters in Russia will be facing—lace panties will no longer be an option as of […] More »

“There will be bad days.” That’s the start of this inspirational poem by Canadian spoken word artist Shane Koyczan.   The poem, appropriately called “Instructions for a Bad Day” offers some helpful advice on how to deal with those days when everything just won’t go right.  Now hopefully you’re not having a bad day, especially seeing […] More »

Sometimes, when I think of theatre, I’m tempted to imagine aristocrat types wasting time and money to watch something more than a little pretentious. (And, sometimes, I’m right).  And certainly, there’s a nagging impression of theatre nowadays that it’s for an older generation, and that the problems are no longer relevant. Which is why I […] More »