Imagining Toronto Updates

A few people have pointed out that I don't update the Imagining Toronto weblog very frequently. There are two principal reasons for this:

• In May 2006 I joined Reading Toronto as a contributing writer, and now post there every week (commentaries and ideas every Tuesday, with reviews of new, classic, and evocative Toronto literature every second week). If you are interested in reading my work, please click over to Reading Toronto. I will, however, do my best to post regular links here when I post there, just to faciliate finding the articles and reviews.
  
• Much of my energy this summer has gone into developing Imagining Toronto into a new senior undergraduate course which I'll be teaching in the Geography Department at York University this fall, a book chapter and various articles, and a couple of talks scheduled for the fall. I've been puddling away at the Imagining Toronto manuscript as well, and hope to produce a full draft by the summer of 2007.
  

This weblog should become more active in September 2006, when it goes interactive as part of the Imagining Toronto course. At that point I'll be encouraging students to contribute to the blog.

In the meantime, here are some details of upcoming Imagining Toronto events. If you'd like more information, please contact me at alharris@yorku.ca . Also, please visit the Imagining Toronto website, which is updated every few days and includes the large and expanding Imagining Toronto library (a catalogue of Toronto fiction and prose as well as critical literature).

1 November 2006
Scheduled release of The State of the Arts: Culture in Toronto (Coach House Books, forthcoming 2006) which will include my essay, "Toronto's Tower of Babel" (a considerably expanded version of a piece originally appearing at Reading Toronto) You can pre-order the book here.

20 September 2006
I will join philosopher Mark Kingwell, photographer Markus Schubert, artist Iris Haussler, and curator Rhonda Corvese at the Goethe-Institut Toronto to discuss the legacy of a reclusive Toronto artist who filled his Toronto home with sculpture. My talk will be titled "The City's Vanishing Narratives." "The Legacy" exhibition and panel discussion will take place at the Goethe-Institut Gallery (opening 5-8pm, panel discussion 7pm). Some details here; more to come. This is a free public event; please feel welcome to come.

15 September 2006
I will speak on opening night at Salon Voltaire's fall lecture series. Title: "Imagining Toronto: Facts, Figments, and the Fictional City". Venue: Jamie Kennedy's restaurant at the Gardiner Museum. For further details, click here. Advance media coverage here.

September 2006
My "Imagining Toronto: Essential Toronto Reads" article will be published in Spacing Magazine. This is a vastly reconceived version of a piece originally appearing at Reading Toronto.

September 2006
I'll be teaching Imagining Toronto as a new fourth year undergraduate course in the Department of Geography at York University. Details here and here (check regularly for updates).