To most people, a map is a tool used strictly to figure out which route will get them from point A to point B with the least amount of pain. As time passes, these maps reveal much about period styles of illustration, methods of planning, promised developments that never got off the ground, and changes in street names—Lot West Art Crawl, anyone? In his new book, Historical Atlas of Toronto, Derek Hayes provides commentary......

MUSIC: The Edge 102.1's monthly new music showcase is on tonight at the Horseshoe Tavern. Tonight's line-up features upcoming Toronto indie bands Invasions, The Speakeasies, and The Rivals. The Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West), 8:30 p.m., FREE. DISCUSSION: Simpsons co-executive producer (and York University graduate) Joel Cohen is moderating a debate and discussion via live video chat at Future Shop tonight called "The Future of Computer Technology." The panelists are Microsoft IT Pro advisor......

FESTIVAL: Toronto's annual Beer Festival is back today to celebrate one of Canada's favourite beverages. As always, hundreds of different types of beer will be available for sipping, sampling, and vomiting later in the day. R&B, jazz, reggae, and blues musicians will be performing throughout the day, and barbecue connoisseur Ted Reader will be on hand to show off his World Famous Grill. Until Sunday. Historic Fort York (100 Garrison Road), 4 p.m., $50 (at......

WORDS: Breaking Dawn, the final installment of author Stephenie Meyer's vampire/romance book series Twilight, is being released at midnight. A masquerade-themed party at Indigo this evening celebrates the book launch, with Breaking Dawn-inspired activities, music, and prizes for the best costume. Plus, you get to buy the book—which will certainly suck—as soon as it goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. Indigo Books (55 Bloor Street West), 8:00 p.m., FREE. SALE: Vintage boutique Marylou Flamingo is......

We're a month away from Labour Day weekend, and that means it’s almost time for this year’s 3 Day Novel Contest. What is the 3 Day Novel Contest, you ask? Well, it’s exactly as horrifying as it sounds. It’s Vancouver’s answer to NaNoWriMo, except instead of having to hammer out 1,000 words a day for an entire month, you get it all over with in 72 frantic, hysterical hours, during which contestants spew out an......

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. Artist Unknown and BOOKSAT GLEN BAILLIEPHOTO BY SOPWITH......

Torontoist favourites Emily Schultz and Brian Joseph Davis have launched a new web portal for original short fiction, hoping to thwart the idea that short stories are a dead scene by giving them a new venue for distribution. Dubbed Joyland, after Schultz's 2006 novel of the same name (but mostly because she already owned the sweet domain name and decided to double-dip), the site combines "a strict mandate (only short stories) to some principles......

Luminato is upon us, fair citizens. If you're wondering what to do, what to see, or what's Luminato?, Torontoist is here to play festival guide. We've randomly drawn carefully chosen ten must-not-miss events: one for each day of the city's massive annual "arts and creativity" smorgasbord, which runs from June 6–15. Our staff's picks are after the jump.......

Pack up your poetry chapbooks and start flirting with your local copy shop boy/girl—the Toronto Small Press Book Fair is upon us once again. The spring fair will be held at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, 750 Spadina Avenue on Saturday June 7 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. In this time of scant profits for major newspapers and magazines, getting a small magazine off the ground is a challenging enterprise. The phrase......

TYPE's new home on the Danforth. Photo by Val Dodge. You know your avenues have been gentrified when a chi-chi bookstore moves into the neighbourhood. Such is the fate of the Danforth strip, now home to the latest branch of Toronto retailers TYPE Books, the third location to crop up since the store first opened its doors in 2006. The inaugural Queen West location (right across the street from Trinity-Bellwoods) made a name for......

Photo by petite corneille. Torontoist's lit pick this week? On Thursday award-winning Winnipeg author Chandra Mayor is in town to launch her short story collection, All The Pretty Girls, at Toronto Women's Bookstore. The evening is a bonus triple bill, as Mayor will be joined by two local femme favourites—Debra Anderson (Code White), and Zoe Whittall (Bottle Rocket Hearts). Rumour has it Whittall will be reading from a draft of her latest, currently untitled......

Photo by micgormit from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. This week internationally acclaimed author Maggie Helwig launches her new novel Girls Fall Down (Coach House Books) at the Toronto Women's Bookstore (73 Harbord Street). Torontoist is always happy to see local writers using Toronto as a setting for novels, and Helwig doesn't disappoint. In her rendering, a biological outbreak on the TTC sends the city into a panic, as stricken citizens are collapsing in subways......

Photo by gp0256 from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. If great female writers is what you're after this week, you're in luck. Tonight you can catch the always entertaining and edgy poetry of Tara-Michelle Ziniuk (Emergency Contact) at The Art Bar Poetry Series. Rumour has it that she'll be publishing her next collection, tentatively titled Somewhere To Run From, with Tightrope Books in spring 2009. The writer, performer, and activist will be joined by Sharon......

Photo by Tom (hmm a rosa tint). Get ready for an overload of launches—spring has finally sprung in the book world. Things certainly start off right as tomorrow Coach House Books hosts their spring launch at Stones Place. As far as book parties go, Coach House has a real knack for showing revelers a real good time. The evening will feature performances by writers from their current catalogue, including Maggie Helwig, Claudia Dey, Jordan......

In the age of virtual everything, Don Taylor uses his hands to keep books alive that were written hundreds of years ago. Torontoist visited Taylor's studio on John Street, where he reinvigorates aging texts and creates stunning new bindings that are works of art in their own right.......

Photo by blimpa. A welcome literary sign of spring is National Poetry Month, a country-wide event that kicked off locally this morning with a shindig at Ben McNally Books featuring Poet Laureate for Canada, John Steffler. Until the end of April Toronto will see a wide variety of events and readings, each devoted to celebrating the cultural value of poetry. The first poetry event of note is this Wednesday's NicholBack, an ingeniously titled tribute......

The fantastic Ibi Kaslik is back with a follow-up to her stunning debut novel, Skinny (a book that cracked the New York Times best sellers list for two consecutive weeks earlier this year—no small feat for a young Canadian writer). Kaslik's latest offering, The Angel Riots (Penguin Books), is the fictional chronicle of two up-and-coming Montreal bands, and speculation has already surfaced that the author (who, while in high school, was in a band with......

Photo by Jonathan Ponce from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's a bit of a slow week on Toronto's literary event calendar, as most publishers are in the final, frantic phases of producing their new spring catalogues. Enjoy your rest now, because things are going to get real busy come April. Having said that, there are a few gems for book lovers to attend before the snow finally melts and a packed schedule of spring......

With temperatures finally floating above zero, tonight's the tonight to dance and drink away the dregs of winter. And tomorrow morning? Head to the Gladstone Hotel for hangover brunch at noon... then start the party all over again with Shameless Magazine. The glossy for "girls who get it" is fêting the launch of the latest issue at the Gladstone Ballroom from 1—4 p.m. Saturday, March 15, with a something-for-everyone celebration. Star performers include Emma......

Panel from Emily Pohl-Weary and Willow Dawson's Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate #4, courtesy of Willow Dawson. Ten weeks of fantastic, free writing workshops have just been announced as part of the Parkdale Street Writers program. Coordinated by the multi-talented poet, YA author, and Kiss Machine founder Emily Pohl-Weary, the workshops start April 1 and are led by some kick-ass local writers and artists, including Mariko Tamaki, Willow Dawson, and Kristyn Dunnion. You don’t have......

Popular Québécois cartoonist Michel Rabagliati will be making an appearance at the Lillian H. Smith Library (239 College Street) on March 15 at 5:00 p.m. to promote his latest book, Paul Goes Fishing. Rabagliati will participate in a Q&A session with The Beguiling’s Peter Birkemoe and sign books for loyal fans of the Paul series. And it's free! Who is Paul? It is Michel himself, with a smattering of fiction here and there ("5......

Photo of Julie Wilson, courtesy of Julie Wilson. Julie Wilson has become a favourite in literary entertainment over the past few years. Since 2006, her popular blog Seen Reading has been keeping Toronto book geeks amused by tracking the city's public reading habits. The concept is both simple and ingenious—Wilson spots a stranger reading, guesses where they are in the book, transcribes the passage onto her blog, and then lets her imagination run wild.......

Detail of photo by the Frankfurt School from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.. This week is Freedom to Read Week, a national event that encourages Canadians to value their right to choose what they read, and to recognize the individuals who fight to protect that right. Celebrations against censorship are happening across the country—locally PEN Canada is presenting an evening of readings and performances to promote a new anthology, Writers Under Siege: Voices of Freedom......

You really have to wonder how performance artist and sexual activist Louise Bak always manages to schedule the very best mix of the Toronto literary scene for her Box Salon series. The successful poet and CIUT "Sex City" host founded the event back in 1998, and a decade later it is still the most entertaining literary night out in Toronto. While many other reading series can be hit or miss, the Box is consistently fresh,......

Once a proud Torontoist staffer, now a published YA novelist: Jill Murray is celebrating the release of her first book this week. Break On Through is the story of Nadine, aka Lady Six Sky, a badass b-girl who dreams of winning the Hogtown Showdown with her breakdancing crew. But when her parents announce that they're moving from Parkdale to the fictional suburb of Rivercrest, Nadine's world is turned upside down. Now she's lost her crew,......

In time for Valentine’s Day, Toronto-based Harlequin has released the results of a national online survey on romance and love. Did you know that most men tell white lies to women to keep them happy? According to the survey: "The majority of Canadian men (68%) have done the right thing and lied when their significant other asked the dreaded "Do I look fat in this?" According to 67% of Canadians, white lies are an......

Photo of d’bi.young.anitafrika and her son, Moon, courtesy of Women’s Press. Last week’s literary listings featured a number of events celebrating one man (Michael Redhill, who is likely exhausted and has since gone back to Narbonne, France) and One Book (Consolation). This week the obvious literary picks are two very talented, very different women. Recent winner of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation Emerging Artist award and one of Canada’s most celebrated young performers, d’bi.young.anitafrika......

The amount of events this week are bursting at the seams. Keep Toronto Reading is kicking it into full gear this month with various readings across library branches, Lit Lunches, and various One Book events. There are just too many to list here. Visit the KTR calendar to see all event details and plan out your literary excursions. And if you have any kids, you can join Gisèle from TVOKids for various library tours, as......

Oh, the seemingly endless toil and frustration of being an underpublished and underappreciated writer. There's the mailbox full of polite, predictable rejections and the depressing rite of passage otherwise known as "open mic night." When you finally emerge from it all, it's certainly time to rejoice. Thankfully Pages Books & Magazines’ This Is Not A Reading Series has stepped up to celebrate some of the lesser-known but soon-to-be-well-known players in Toronto’s vibrant literary scene.......

Next Monday, February 4, Keep Toronto Reading will launch its One Book program at the Toronto Reference Library. There will be performances by Soprano Mary Lou Fallis, who will sing popular songs from the 1850s, and Ross Manson who will perform two dramatic readings from Consolation. The event will be hosted by Tina Srebotnjak, who will interview Michael Redhill, author of Consolation. You can check out all One Book events here. As part of Keep......