Violet Hour: Readings

Name: Violet Hour: Readings
Start: 2025-11-11T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-11T20:30:00-05:00
Location: Rocket Science Room

Schedule

Tue Nov 11 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Rocket Science Room | Mount Royal, QC

Join us for an evening of readings by queer writers with fresh new books/publications. Featuring John Barton (Compulsory Figures), Jordan Coloumbe (Crooked Fagazine), Emilie Nantel (Load Game), Michael V. Smith (Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir) and Su J Sokol (Five Points On An Invisible Line). Hosted by Christopher DiRaddo.
Readings will take place at the Rocket Science Room, a DIY arts/cultural space, which facilitates live events in the city. RSR is located in the Atlas Lighting Building (170 Rue Jean-Talon O #204, De Castelnau Metro).
A NOTE FROM THE VENUE: Rocket Science Room is on the second floor. There is a single flight of stairs off the main entrance with no wheelchair access, however there is a functioning elevator on the main floor. If you require assistance of any kind, please let us know! We'd be happy to accommodate any of your needs to the best of our ability.
VIOLET HOUR: READINGS
Tuesday, November 11
From 7 PM to 8:30 PM
Admission is free, but we will be passing a hat to help defray the host of the rental.
ABOUT THE WRITERS ///
John Barton is a poet, essayist, and editor. His collections of poetry include Hymn, For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems, Polari, Lost Family: A Memoir, a nominee for the 2021 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, and his thirteenth and latest, Compulsory Figures, which Kevin Shaw says “shimmers under a prairie wind that cuts across private and public histories, moving from the sexual politics of traditional marriage and family to the inheritance of queer culture.” John’s other books include Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay-Male Poets, We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos, and Best Canadian Poetry 2023. The recipient of three Archibald Lampman Awards, a CBC Literary Award, a National Magazine Award, and an eLit Award, he is a life member of the League of Canadian Poets. He lives in Victoria, where he was the city’s first queer poet laureate.
Jordan Coulombe is a Montreal-based writer and independent publisher. For over a decade he’s produced Crooked Fagazine, a disreputable creative writing journal for shameless queer storytelling that’s made its way onto bookstore shelves across North America and Europe. With an MA in queer print cultures, he’s presented his work at the New York Art Book Fair and Paris Ass Book Fair, as well as spoken about his archival research and publishing practice at cultural institutions from Madrid’s Matadero to Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
Emilie Nantel is a queer fiction author. In her writing, she’s driven by the need to break the allo-cis-het, monogamous mold and lend her voice to underrepresented communities. Emilie developed her casual, witty voice writing fanfiction, always seeking the different, the underground, and she still carries that in her original fiction. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her at home in Montreal, trying every art medium she can get her hands on, playing The Sims 4, or bringing various hot mess characters to life in tabletop roleplaying games. She published her first novel, OPEN: A Tale of Love, Mermaids, Bassists, & Creepy Dudes, in 2019. Load Game (2025) is her first foray into Young Adult fiction.
Michael V. Smith is currently a Researcher of the Year at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus in Kelowna. His prizes include a Western Magazine Gold Award, Director’s Choice Award at the Cinema Diverse festival in Palm Springs, the Colin Campbell Award for Inside Out Queer Film Festival, as well as shortlists for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Relit Prize, and the Journey Prize.
Su J Sokol is a social rights activist and a writer of speculative and queer fiction. Cycling to Asylum, xyr debut novel, was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, optioned for a film, published in French under the title Les lignes invisibles—a finalist for the Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole—and republished in 2025 under the title Invisible Line. Sokol’s other novels also include Run J Run; Zee, and Five Points on an Invisible Line, the sequel to Invisible Line. Sokol's short fiction and essays have appeared or are upcoming in various publications. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Sokol immigrated to Montréal/Tiohtià:ke and has made a home there for more than twenty years. When Sokol is not writing, bringing evil bureaucracies to their knees, or smashing borders, xe participates in literary events in Canada and abroad.