On August 26, Xtra
held the first ever Writing Outside the Margins queer literary festival on Church Street. The day-long event featured readings from various authors, a number of vendor booths and a couple open mic events.
While I was looking forward to this event, I wasn’t expecting very much in the way of any envelope-pushing. A review of the advertising revealed very little in the way of actual alternative writing. In fact, many of the writers seemed to fit only because they were queer and because they wrote literature. For an event called, “Writing Outside the Margins” I would have liked to have seen more actual writing that qualifies as being outside the margins. Jim Bartley, Marusya Bociurkiw, and Michael Rowe might all be great writers and well worth reading, but they aren’t exactly what one would consider literary high risks. Many of the other guests were lesser-known and much more keeping with the theme of the title. But why were the big-names used in the advertising (i.e., James St. James and Patrick Califia) both from the United States? Why not showcase any number of queer Canadian talent that comes to mind?
Further, why the sparse festival ground? There were essentially two stages at either end of Church, with a few booths set up between. The effect was a long literary wilderness that does not realistically reflect either queer lit or the lit scene in Toronto or Canada. I can think of any number of groups, shops, publishing collectives, etc., that could have been recruited to set up a booth and fill out the street.
Both of these observations lead me to believe that the organizers missed many opportunities to reach out to a very vibrant literary community in Toronto. Where was Outrights, the writer’s group that meets at the 519 Center? What about any of the dozen or so queer zines I could name that are produced in Toronto?
Sadly, this festival rates as well as most of the Queer festivals I’ve attended: no initative, no imagination and no effort. Safe, safe, safe. There’s a place for safe, but literature is not it. The Writing Outside the Margins Queer Literary Festival rates a Not World Class for remaining in that safe space. --Robis
Comments (2)
Thank you for coming out to the festival. It is encouraging that you visited and chose to write about it.
My name is Jon Pressick, I was one of the two organizers of the event and I am also a writer and reviewer. So, I'm not going to dispute your review at all, I hold the review process dear to my heart.
However, I think you should have done more research before offering statements of "why weren't all of these other people/organizations/businesses involved." Because the reality is that a tremendous amount of outreach was done, to publishers, zinesters (and no, there aren't that many queer zinesters around these days, trust me), literary organizations and community groups. A huge amount. But, because we were in our first year, there was much apprehension about participating. And I respect that, and our hope is that people/groups/businesses will be encouraged by what we did and will choose to participate next year. Your review makes it sound like "I'm organizing this event, OBVIOUSLY everyone will be involved!" I'm sorry, my friend, event creation does not work that way.
Also, I have to counter your assessment of our non-edgy authors. Nalo Hopkinson writes queer sci-fi. Michael Rowe writes queer horror fiction. Kristyn Dunnion writes queer YA. Patrick Califia is, arguably, the most subversive queer author out there. Bobby Noble brought academic trans writing. Greg Kearney is notably bizarre and wonderful. I could go on and on.
As for the two big names being American: we are attempting to create an international festival. Sure, there are plenty of great Canadian queer authors. But refer back to the participation angle I mentioned. If they don't come, we can't feature them. We're hoping the word will get out that it was a good day, and that will encourage them to come out next year.
At the end of the day, myself and my co-producer Adrienne Defrancesco of Xtra felt wonderful because we did not produce a safe event. We produced a world-first. We brought queer literature out and put it in the street for all to see. How is that not without imagination and effort?
Again, I write reviews frequently. I appreciate your taking the time to write a review. However, next time, do some research first.
Respectfully,
Jon Pressick
Co-Producer, Writing Outside the Margins
Posted by Jon Pressick | August 29, 2007 12:55 PM
Posted on August 29, 2007 12:55
Hi, Jon:
I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree with what constitutes World Class, and what constitutes "edgy" literature. I am aware of the works of the featured writers and I love them all. But writing queer SF (as just an example) does not make one edgy, nor is it terribly ground-breaking. That's not to diminish the work of people that write queer SF. But something is not edgy just because it's queer. The most edgy part of the festival was the Pink Ink reading; you could feel the sense of danger in expressing things that the young writers had never been able to express before, and that danger came out in their writing. Compare that to Pat Califia's writing; his experiences with being transgendered is not nearly as risky now as it was when it peeked through his writing pre-trans. Without that risk--without blazing new trails--it just isn't edgy.
Please also do not confuse my harsh criticisms for the festival to mean that I do not appreciate the hard work you have all done to put it together. Having worked in meeting planning, I know that it is not easy to do. I think a queer literary festival is a great idea. I'm just not so sure that your outreach was as exhaustive as you think it was. That's okay, putting on a festival is a learning experience, no matter how many years you do it.
One thing that may not be clear, though, from an isolated reading of this review is my overall dissatisfaction with queer festivals in Toronto. I find them to be fairly formulaic and safe. There are some booths, some stagecraft, and that's it. I didn't find much different with Writing Outside the Margins. I challenge you to break out of that safe mold and develop new ways of thinking about festivals and what they are and can be. If the point is to showcase edgy queer writers, I can't think of any better way than taking some risks yourself.
Posted by Robis | August 29, 2007 1:51 PM
Posted on August 29, 2007 13:51