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Fourth Annual Queer Bookfair Fills Very Important Cultural Gap in Montreal
At Centre St-Pierre Aug. 13
Media Contacts:
Ashley Fortier – 514.409.1935 (English)
Kinneret Sheetreet – 514.805.8429 (French)
queerbetweenthecovers@gmail.com
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2011 --- Since the closing of L’Androgyne in 2002, Montreal has not maintained a long-standing queer bookstore. As a response to this significant literary dearth, local queer organizers are presenting the fourth annual Queer Between the Covers, a queer lit bookfair featuring materials from Montreal-based and out-of-town queer bookstores, publishers, zine distros, and independent artists.
Last year's bookfair attracted several hundred people and this year's will feature an even larger cross-section of materials sure to draw in the biggest attendance yet. Longtime bookfair organizer Kinneret Sheetreet speaks of the event's importance:
“Having access to materials relevant to and representative of our communities, for any marginalized community, is essential. The fact that we don't have a queer bookstore in this city makes holding a bookfair like this extremely important. I think we're really helping to fill a critical cultural gap in Montreal.”
Each year, the bookfair collective invites a wide range of booksellers and distributors from in and beyond Montreal, while also strongly encouraging the participation of many independent authors themselves.
“We do this,” collective member Kat Dandy emphasizes, “because we believe in supporting the amazing artistic and political work emerging from queer scenes, and because creating our own spaces where queer cultural production is in the spotlight is a really good way to strengthen our communities.”
Queer Between the Covers runs from 12 to 6pm on Saturday, August 13 at Centre St-Pierre (1212 rue Panet). It will feature a number of local distributors such as Kersplebedeb and l'Insoumise, as well as some out-of-town authors like NYC-based zinester Cristy C. Road and works by Pakistani poet Kyla Pasha. Cristy Road will also be doing a reading from her forthcoming graphic novel Spit and Passion following the bookfair at le Cagibi, beginning at 6:30pm.
The bookfair is free, wheelchair accessible, with free on-site childcare available. Food and drinks will be provided by the Midnight Kitchen Collective. Queer Between the Covers is being organized as part of the fifth annual Pervers/Cité, a series of events aimed at providing a financially accessible and politicized alternative to the annual Divers/Cité festival. The bookfair is also scheduled to coincide with Fierté Montreal's Community Day in the gay village, making it readily accessible to a wide a range of people in the city. Alongside the bookfair, a day of free workshops will also be taking place at Centre St-Pierre as part of this year's Pervers/Cité bill.
More info available at: qteam.org
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