Meet me at Blue Met

This week is Blue Metropolis in Montreal (April 23-26). There’ll be a lot of literary events to take in over the four days, including a number featuring queer writers and themes (all outlined below). Will you join me at some of them?

I’ve been with the festival a long time. I began to work with Blue Met in 2004 when I became their English-language publicist. Back then, the festival was run by Linda Leith and epic in scope. For eight years I set up interviews for the local and visiting writers, often jumping into taxis with literary stars to take them to their next appointment with maybe an errand or two on the way (I have fond memories of escorting A.S. Byatt to the SAQ for a bottle of eau de vie). At times, I also served as a spokesperson, speaking directly with the press.

As an aspiring writer, I can’t tell you how energizing it was to shadow these authors who had been invited onstage and into studio to speak about a book they had written. As much as I might have wanted to, it wasn’t my place to ask for advice from the legends I was meeting. It did happen a couple of times, though. When you spend an entire afternoon with a stranger, conversation invariably wanders over to who you are and what you do (Julian Barnes and Yann Martel were very generous with their advice).

Over the years, the festival evolved—changing leadership, adding programs, switching venues. But at its heart it’s remained the same: a multi-lingual celebration of local and international literature that annually brings together a passionate community of book-lovers under one roof. I think one of the things I have loved most about the festival is the discoveries, writers who I may have never heard of before but who I became quick fans of after hearing them speak.

I stopped working for the festival in 2012, as arts coverage declined and I needed to change my career to something more stable. But my work with Blue Met gave me a taste for producing. I loved seeing conversations about books onstage.

In 2017, a few years after I began Violet Hour, I pitched an LGBTQ+ series to the leadership (William St-Hilaire and Marie-Andrée Lamontagne). That year, I produced five events, including my first curated panel. “The Past Inside the Present” was a 90-minute conversation with Canadian writers Ann-Marie Macdonald, Kai Cheng Thom, and Nick Comilla about the role the past plays in their recent works (and lives). I don’t think I have ever worked so hard on a script, but the result pretty much cemented my desire to continue to keep doing events like this.

I’ve never shared the recording publicly (nor had I listened to it until this weekend). I was embarrassed because the tech flubbed it and first 10 minutes are missing (plus, it’s hard to hear some of the questions from the crowd at the end). But really, who cares—it’s a great conversation (and also almost 10 years old now). If you’re interested to hear it, here is the link.

The following year, Blue Met and I co-created the Violet Prize to recognize the contributions of literary trailblazers who paved the way for LGBTQ+ literature in Canada. Since 2018, the $5,000 prize has been awarded to eight writers: Nicole Brossard, Dionne Brand, André Roy, Tomson Highway, Michel Marc Bouchard, Sky Gilbert, France Daigle, and this year, Shani Mootoo (the author of our April VHBC selection).

We’re not sure how long we can sustain this prize (so much depends on funding), but I hope it continues for a very long time, as there are so many people we could recognize. I’d like to personally thank Mark Gallop, Louise Ann Maziak and William St-Hilaire for keeping the prize going. But if you do happen to know a company or foundation that might want to formally sponsor the prize, please write to me.

This year marks my 10th anniversary helping to program Blue Met. While I only produced two of the events below, book-lovers can look forward to a wide range of LGBTQ+ voices featured across a number of different onstage conversations.

Hopefully, I will see you at some of them.

Thursday, April 23 at 9:30 PM
CHOSEN TIES: QUEER STORIES OF FAMILY, FOUND AND FORGED
In this intimate evening of original storytelling, LGBTQ+ voices explore the evolving shape of family—chosen, inherited, lost, or reclaimed. These stories ask: What makes a family, and who gets to decide? With Johanne Pelletier, Hollay Ghadery, John Cotrocois, Jamie Brickhouse, Nisha Coleman, Leila Marshy. Hosted by Misty Waterfalls and Christopher DiRaddo.
Location: Hotel 10, Espace Godin
Free admission

Friday, April 24 at 11:30 AM
IS NICHE LITERATURE THE FUTURE OF LITERATURE AND PUBLISHING?
Feminist, queer, Indigenous, specific languages and cultures: publishing catalogues are becoming increasingly specialized. Should this be seen as a response to commercial publishing and its inevitably global successes? Is niche publishing the future of publishing? With professionals Patrick Leimgruber (Canada), Nuria Sublet (Switzerland), Bel Olid (Catalonia/Spain), Alberto Garlini (Italy), and Djamila Ribeiro (Brazil). Hosted by Julien Lefort-Favreau.
Location: Hotel 10, Salle Saint-Laurent
In English and French
Tickets

Friday, April 24 at 6 PM
THE NARRATIVE SPELL: MAGICAL THINKING IN A RATIONAL WORLD
VHBC member Afrooz Zaad interviews mother-and-daughter duo Heather and Arizona O’Neill about how they interpret the world through a lens of imagination, emotion, and myth, drawing on metaphor, symbolism, fantasy, and legends to find meaning amid the chaos of modern life.
Location: Hotel 10, Salle Saint-Laurent
Tickets

Friday, April 24 at 6 PM
BRANDON TAYLOR IN CONVERSATION WITH ELEANOR WACHTEL
An onstage conversation between Eleanor Wachtel and Alabama-born and multiple award-winning writer Brandon Taylor about his latest novel, Minor Black Figures—a vivid portrait of friendship, creativity and desire set in the New York art world.
Location: Hotel 10, Espace Godin
Tickets

Saturday, April 25 at 10 AM
THE POWER OF POINT OF VIEW IN DIVISIVE TIMES
Three Canadian authors discuss how they utilize story narration to approach difficult topics from new angles. With Hollay Ghadery (The Unravelling of Ou), Sky Gilbert (The Blue House), and Lindsay Wong (Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies). Hosted by Gina Leola Woolsey.
Location: Hotel 10, Salle Jardin
Tickets

Saturday, April 25 at 11:30 AM
QUEER LIFE THEN AND NOW
Bringing together Bel Olid, Shani Mootoo, and Will Straw, this conversation moves between language, intimacy, and the spaces where queer worlds take shape. From Olid’s La madre incompleta to Mootoo’s Starry Starry Night, and through Straw’s Nights in Fairyland, the discussion follows how queer lives are shaped, shared, and sustained. Hosted by Matthew Hays.
Location: Hotel 10, Salle Saint-Laurent
Tickets

Saturday, April 25 at 2:30 PM
THE VIOLET PRIZE AWARDED TO SHANI MOOTOO
Join us in celebrating the 2026 Blue Metropolis Violet Literary Prize, awarded to the renowned writer, filmmaker, and visual artist Shani Mootoo. Over the course of her impressive three-decade career, Shani has fearlessly created fiction and poetry that explore themes of queer desire, as well as the intersections of sexuality, class, and race. Known for her clarity, empathy, and lyrical mastery, Shani will share insights into her groundbreaking work, including her latest novel, Starry Starry Night. Hosted by Christopher DiRaddo. Onstage interview with Eva Crocker.
Location: Hotel 10, Espace Godin
Tickets

Saturday, April 25 at 2:30 PM
FEMME, MÈRE ET LIBRE – L’IMPOSSIBLE MODERNITÉ
Is being both a woman and a mother compatible with freedom as we understand it today? Four writers, who reject idealized images of women and mothers in favour of complexity, reflect on the question. With Ariana Harwicz, Bel Olid, Antoinette Rychner, Martine Reid. Hosted by Christian Bouchard.
Location: Hotel 10, Salle Jardin
In French
Tickets

Sunday, April 26 at 11 AM
MASTERCLASS ON GENDER AND LITERATURE WITH BEL OLID
In this 90-minute bilingual master class, Catalan writer and translator Bel Olid will explore how gender shapes literature and translation. Drawing on their work as a novelist, essayist, and translator, Olid will discuss how feminist perspectives influence language, narrative voice, and literary interpretation, while reflecting on similarities and differences between the literary cultures of Catalonia and Quebec. Moderated by Ophelie Denomee-Marchand.
Location: Webster Library (Concordia)
Free, but registration is required. Contact Ingrid.Bejerman@metropolisbleu.org

Sunday, April 26 at 2:30 PM
THE POWER OF GREAT BOOKS: AUTHOR AZAR NAFISI IN CONVERSATION WITH CBC BOOKENDS HOST MATTEA ROACH
Iranian-American author Azar Nafisi has written extensively on how the works of Vladimir Nabokov, Henry James, Jane Austen vividly demonstrate the subversive and redemptive power of fiction. Nafisi’s books, like the acclaimed Reading Lolita in Tehran, have been read around the world. She will be interviewed by host Mattea Roach in a conversation recorded live for CBC Bookends.
Location: Hotel 10, Espace Godin
Tickets

Wednesday, April 29 at 7 PM
DI RAYZE AHEYM / THE JOURNEY HOME IN CONCERT: IRENA KLEPFISZ, AVI-FOX-ROSEN AND ALICIA SVIGALS
In 1983, on the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Irena Klepfisz and her mother Rose returned to Poland for the first time since their emigration to America. On her return from this trip, Irena composed Di rayze aheym / The journey home, first published in 1985. 40 years later, in 2025, Avi Fox-Rosen composed song settings for Irena’s words. Join us for an intimate concert in which Irena recites her words, and Avi and klezmer fiddle virtuoso Alicia Svigals perform these new musical settings. Hosted by David Moss and Kelly Steinmetz.
Location: Casa del Popolo
In English and Yiddish
Tickets

Thursday, April 30 at 6:00 PM
THE JOURNEY HOME: A POETRY READING AND WORKSHOP WITH IRENA KLEPFISZ
Areading and workshop with New York-based Jewish poet, academic, feminist, and activist Irena Klepfisz alongside local author and poet Madelaine Caritas Longman.
Location: Museum of Jewish Montreal (Fischer & Fils space)
Tickets

See you at the festival!