I hope you will excuse the shorter newsletter this month, but I am writing to you from Italy (right now, from the ancient city of Lecce with swallows swarming the hot sky around me). I came here last week to take part in the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers conference, held in the ancient city of Viterbo at the Università della Tuscia.
I was part of a panel on Italian-Canadian Queer Identities with Nicole Haldoupis and Ryan Calabretta-Sajder. I read from my work-in-progress, a literary satire with the working title Sorry for Your Loss. I’m currently in the middle of another draft of the text, processing the feedback I received from beta readers and trying to pare it down (it’s too long now, at 95K words) while also reinforcing its central tenets. Wish me luck.
My partner Greg and I tacked on a much-needed vacation at the end of the conference. We’ve rented a car and are visiting several cities (Matera, Lecce, Ostuni) and their environs in the south. The great thing about being away from home and having new experiences is that it can “feed the well,” so to speak. I’m sitting with the current book, and thinking about the one after that (one of the ideas I have is to revisit the characters in The Family Way during a post-pandemic trip through Italy). I have an outline for that book already, but I really have to finish the other two I’ve started before starting something else.
The next meeting of the Violet Hour Book Club in Montreal will be on Saturday, June 20, at 3 PM. We’ll be meeting at Espace des Possibles dans La Petite-Patrie (1052 Beaubien East) to discuss A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby with Mary Louisa Plummer (2016). I selected the book to coincide with National Indigenous Heritage Month (June) and Indigenous People’s Day in Canada (June 21). The book won Canada Reads in 2025.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community, Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social and economic legacies of colonialism.
As a child, Chacaby learned spiritual and cultural traditions from her Cree grandmother and trapping, hunting, and bush survival skills from her Ojibwa stepfather. She also suffered physical and sexual violence, and in her teen years became an alcoholic herself. At twenty, Chacaby took her children and, fleeing an abusive marriage, moved to Thunder Bay. Despite the abuse, racism, and indifference she often found there, Chacaby marshalled the strength and supports to help herself and others.
Over the following decades, she achieved sobriety, trained and worked as an alcoholism counsellor, raised her children and fostered many others, learned to live with visual impairment, and came out as a lesbian. In 2013, Chacaby led the first gay pride parade in Thunder Bay.
Ma-Nee Chacaby has emerged from hardship grounded in faith, compassion, and humour. Her memoir provides unprecedented insights into the challenges still faced by many Indigenous people.
UPCOMING VHBC SELECTIONS
The Freezer Door by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore: Saturday, July 18 (location: Espace des Possibles)
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: Saturday, August 1 (location: to be announced)
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Sunday, August 23 (location: Espace des Possibles)
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: Saturday, September 26 (location: Espace des Possibles)
OPEN HOUSE: Saturday, June 13
By the way: Espace des Possibles dans La Petite-Patrie, where most of our book club meetings are held, will be having an Open House on Saturday, June 13 from 1 PM to 5 PM. I’ll be at a special Violet Hour Book Club table letting people know all about our wonderful group. If you are in the neighbourhood and want to pass by and say hi, please do. You can also learn about the other groups that call this place home.
The Toronto chapter of the VHBC will be meeting on Saturday, July 11 at 6 PM to discuss Blessings (2024) by Chukwuebuka Ibeh. The meeting will take place at our Toronto home, Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Ave). Larry Baer will lead the discussion.
Click here to reserve your place.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A powerful portrait of sexual awakening and self-acceptance set in a Nigeria on the brink of criminalizing same-sex relationships.
Uzoamaka’s miracle baby, Obiefuna, arrives after a series of miscarriages. As a young boy, he brings luck to his family and joy to those in his orbit, from the teachers at his school to the ladies getting their hair braided at Uzoamaka’s salon. But by adolescence, Obiefuna has grown unsure of himself. After his father brings home an apprentice from a nearby village, the lightness Obiefuna feels is quickly dashed when the two are caught sharing a moment of intimacy.
Without explanation, Obiefuna is sent off to Christian boarding school, where he must navigate strict codes, hierarchies, and alliances among his new classmates. There, he internalizes the lesson that he must hide his true self, pushing away those who may have otherwise brought him comfort. Back home, Uzoamaka must contend with the absence of her beloved son, her husband’s cryptic reasons for sending him away, and realizations that were within her all along.
Told from the alternating perspectives of Obiefuna and Uzoamaka, as they reach towards a future that will hold them both, Blessings is an elegant rendering of the compromises made in a country that forbids homosexuality and the love that can flourish in spite of them—among friends and partners, but also between a parent and child.
Each month I ask VHBC members to share what books they’re currently reading and why it resonates. This month’s pick is by Robert Petrera, who has been a book club member since July 2025. This month Robert recommends Len & Cub: A Queer History by Meredith J. Batt and Dusty Green (2022).
“Reading Len & Cub: A Queer History, written in 2022, felt especially meaningful to me growing up in Montreal, a city where queer life has long had visible gathering spaces, bookstores, bars, and communities that made connection seem possible. The book opened a window onto a very different reality, one that I had often wondered about: how did queer people living in rural areas manage to build rich emotional and social lives when there were so few obvious meeting places or public spaces where they could safely exist?
I had come across the book in different places over the years, including at the gift shop of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia while visiting Halifax a few years ago, before finally picking up a copy at Argo Bookshop in downtown Montreal, and I’m glad I did.
Through the deeply touching story of Len and Cub’s decades-long relationship in rural New Brunswick, the book beautifully shows that queer connection has always found a way to flourish, often through quiet networks, coded encounters, friendship circles, and immense resilience. It challenges the assumption that meaningful queer life only exists in urban centres and offers a moving reminder that love, companionship, and community can survive even in isolation and invisibility, even if these stories did not always have happy endings, as is also reflected in this book.
I would highly recommend this book not only for its important contribution to queer history, but also for the tenderness and humanity with which it tells its story. It left me reflecting on the many hidden queer lives that existed beyond the cities and the courage it took simply to find one another.”
As soon as I get home, I plan to delve into Christian John Wikane’s A Night at the Disco (the beautiful book was too big for me to bring with me on my trip). I love all kinds of music, and like Christian, disco is my happy place (I often cook to it in our kitchen).
Christian is currently on a North American tour promoting his new book, and I’ll be speaking with him about it in Montreal on Tuesday, June 30, at De Stiil Bookstore (351 Duluth E.). The event begins at 7 PM.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A Night at the Disco is a celebration of groundbreaking dance music from 1970–‘79. An unprecedented collection of photographs of more than 100 artists, illuminating the styles and sounds from a decade that sparked a global phenomenon in music and culture. Exclusive comments from Donna Summer, Barry Gibb, Debbie Harry, Giorgio Moroder, founding members of CHIC, Labelle, The Trammps, Village People, Earth, Wind & Fire, and dozens more artists, songwriters and producers, offering fascinating insights that tell the stories behind the beats. From underground New York clubs to discothèques across the globe, A Night at the Disco illustrates how artists spanning soul, pop, disco, funk, jazz and rock defined nightlife during the 1970s and influenced popular music to the present day.
With a foreword by Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire, this is a real treat for music, dance and disco fans everywhere.
New and recent books to discover: The Double Dutch Fuss: A Memoir by Phill Branch; Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer; Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan; The Bright Afters by Sadie McCarney; Bastien sort ce soir by Mathieu Pierre; Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000 by Barry Walters; and All Them Dogs by Djamel White.
VHBC member Darren Stehle has written a book! Queering the Way: Navigating Leadership Ethics from the Margins is about what becomes possible when queer and trans leaders stop leading despite their identity and start leading from it. It’s a very personal book written for thoughtful, curious people who have been contemplating what it means to lead with integrity in a world whose default social order was not built to include many of us. It draws on the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, queer theory, and the realities of leading ethically in a world that is, at this particular moment in history, making that increasingly difficult. It is grounded in six principles — FEEL, KNOW, THINK, VOICE, DREAM, LEAD — not as steps to follow, but as practices to embody and make your own.
You can order your copy here. And you can also follow Darren on Substack.
Author, journalist and broadcaster Alan Hustak passed away on May 21. I remember him fondly, having met him multiple times when he was still living in Montreal. An aspiring journalist, I loved to hear his stories of what newsrooms (and gay life) used to be like. You can read Richard Burnett’s tribute here or read Alan’s obituary here. Rest in peace, Alan.
Daniel Allen Cox launches the paperback edition of I Felt the End Before It Came on June 9 at 7 PM at Pulp Books, with readings from Tamara Jong and Ellen Orme Adams.
Rae Spoon launches their new album “Assigned Countrysinger At Birth” at Trans Family Re-union 2 MTL on Sunday, June 14. Trans Family Re-union is Rae’s bi-monthly Sunday matinee series that showcases Two-Spirit, trans and/or non-binary musicians and allies. With Jupiter Storm at Turbo Haus (2040 Saint-Denis). Click the link above for tickets.
Festival Jouissif is organizing a queer and kink literary evening on Friday, June 19 at La Livrerie. They are looking for people to read short work on the subjects of desire, bodies and kink. Click here for more info.
The Queer Kinship Network Siena-Oxford-Toronto is seeking proposals for the upcoming conference, Queer Kinship: Migrations, Diasporas, Communities (October 16-17 in Toronto). Keynote speakers include Joseph M. Pierce and Liana Cusmano. Deadline to apply is June 20.
Montreal poet Misha Solomon returns with IS THIS PROMPT ABOUT ME? The six-week workshop has participants receiving four entirely personalized poetry prompts and the chance to workshop one of their poems. Workshop meetings take place at Pulp Books weekly from July 21 to August 25, from 7 PM to 9 PM. For more info and pricing, please email misha.solomon@gmail.com.
Linda Morra interviewed cartoonist and writer Lee Lai for her award-winning literary podcast series, Getting Lit with Linda. They spoke about Lai’s graphic novel Cannon, which was shortlisted for the Carol Shields Prize.
It’s been a tough year, and Montreal’s Metonymy Press needs our help. The team are running an online fundraiser and a sustainers program to help it restart its publishing program, and to begin some new and exciting projects. If you can help, please do!
We did it! A huge thank-you to everyone who attended an event in May as part of Lire Queer Reader Fest. I’d say it was a success with people discovering new book clubs, bookstores, and literary communities in the city. It was also wonderful to meet the Sapphic Arts and Letters group visiting from Toronto. The Hot Flash Lit Match dance party was so much fun, and the Booksmaxxing conversation at Mes Pants de Queer so interesting.
Thanks to everyone who participated and helped make the festival such a memorable celebration (in no order):
Nairne and her crew from Sapphic Arts & Letters
Ella and Argo Bookshop
Antoine and Dustin at Mes pants de queer
Jame and Gay Writes
Alex, Enni and Saviluk at Pulp Books & Café
Miriam and Millie from Hot Flash
Calev and Dick’s Lending Library
Kennedy and Drawn & Quarterly
Miguel et Marilou du Lucioles et morilles
Mathieu and Carrie-Ann at Joie de livres
El equipo de Latinos de Montreal y Café Nueva Era
Sebestian et Le Cercle de lecture LGBTQ+
Cassandra and David at Librairie Saint Henri Books
Oliver, Eli and the team at Metonymy Press
Claude et Maggie à Fierte littaraire
L’equipe du Librairie n’était-ce pas l’été
Finally, a big thanks to my friends at Violet Hour for the last few years, especially to Hector and Brooke for picking up the mantel to lead some of the meetings. It means a lot to me that you two believe so much in what we are doing.
I hope to turn Lire Queer into an annual event, if possible. If you attended an event this year and have some insights to share, please let me know.
And if you want to catch me speaking about Lire Queer Reader Fest on CBC Radio, you can listen here.
Photos below.
That’s it for this month. A big thank you to everyone who came out to events, and to my paid subscribers! Your support allows me to continue to create free literary programming in Montreal.
Alla prossima volta!!
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