Contact Details:
Website Address: http://draftreadings.com/
Email Address for General Inquiries: draftreadings@gmail.com
Social Media Addresses/Usernames: Facebook – Draft Reading Series
Twitter – @DraftReadings
Instagram – draft.readings
Goals/Mission:
Draft aims to
- Remain a spontaneous and self-directed series that does not need to rely on publishers, agents, or big organizations.
- Be an initiative that celebrates the writing process and promotes the public reading of new, unpublished, and in-process work from a variety of authors in order to disrupt how product-oriented the literary world can be.
- Foster dialogue between itself, authors, and attendees as all are brought together in an intimate setting to discuss literature and the creative process.
- Include both emerging and established authors so no author hierarchy exists and each author reads for the same amount of time (in alphabetical order) with no featured author.
- Bring literary activity to Leslieville (a neighbourhood lacking in this) by partnering with venues in the area to host the readings.
- Find accessible venues in this neighbourhood that hold similar grassroots, labour-of-love values as the initiative.
- Provide a stress-free and welcoming environment so authors feel that they can be vulnerable with their work and share it with an audience.
Notable Past and Current Activities:
- A monthly or bi-monthly reading series that hosts four to six authors reading unpublished work; followed by a mingle session where people are free to discuss the events of the show.
- A companion publication, called Draft, that each reading artist contributes to in order to share their creative process (contributing anything that has inspired their writing) – this publication is only available the day of the reading or at certain libraries.
- The active promotion of all past and present authors on Draft’s social media accounts.
Ways in Which People Can Get Involved:
- Attending the reading series to engage with authors and other attendees, and then also being present to grab a copy of Draft to read.
- Draft is always looking for more volunteers to help in all areas including administration, promotion, online presence, and the handling of donations.
- Donating to the initiative, as Draft has opted out of any Arts Council funding this year and relies solely on these donations to operate.
- Following Draft on social media to be informed about upcoming events and author activity.
Information compiled by Alexandria Howie.