Zoe Whittall

Want to pre-oder my new book??

2008-07-01T19:05:00.001-07:00

Then click here. This is the artwork that will appear on the cover. It's by the very talented, super-awesome Neetu Bains.

It's been 15 years since I graduated from high school

2008-06-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

My old friend Steve posted photos on his website, so I thought I'd share one of my best friend Michele and I, hanging out in 1992, 93-ish. To see more: click here.

Accepting the Dayne Ogilvie Award at the Proud Voices stage on Saturday

2008-06-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Winner of the Second Annual Dayne Ogilvie Grant!

2008-06-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

EMERGING GAY WRITER RECOGNIZED AT PRIDE WEEK 2008
THE WRITERS ’ TRUST OF CANADA TO PRESENT SECOND ANNUAL
DAYNE OGILVIE GRANT TO ZOE WHITTALL

TORONTO, ON – June 17, 2008 – The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced today that Zoe Whittall is the recipient of the second annual Dayne Ogilvie Grant. The $4,000 grant is given to an emerging gay writer from Canada. The grant is funded by an endowment established by Robin Pacific. A jury comprised of novelist Elizabeth Ruth, poet Maureen Hynes, and bookseller Dan Bazuin selected the winner.

Don Oravec, Executive Director of the Writers’ Trust, stated, “I am honoured to be partners with Pride Toronto and The Word on the Street to promote this unique grant. Announcing this grant during Pride Week provides emerging gay writers the deserved distinction in the community.”

Whittall is scheduled to read from her work and participate with the jurors in an informal question and answer session at the Proud Voices Stage on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 6 p.m., in James Canning Gardens Park, north of Dundonald Street, between Yonge and Church Streets. Proud Voices is a co-presentation between Pride Toronto and The Word On The Street.

...for more info contact: Contact Don Oravec (416.504.8222 ext. 244, or doravec@writerstrust.com)

ReLit Longlist and some readings!

2008-06-14T07:18:00.001-07:00

*Bottle Rocket Hearts made the ReLit Awards longlist!! Stay tuned for more awards news on Monday.

*I made the Bitch Magazine Things We Love list in the newest issue, courtesy of Maritimes arts journalist and blogger Shannon Webb-Campbell, with a fantastic write up and photo. Here is a scan:

Last September I took an impromptu romantic weekend away in the Bloomfield area and I'm so delighted to go back to read at the Prince Edward Country Authors' festival this Saturday. It takes place at Books & Company in Picton. Stay tuned for my pride readings announcements coming on Monday as well.

My essay in Event magazine, Monday to Friday with the Perpetually Emerging Writer, appears in the newest issue and I also have poems in the new issue of Exile Quarterly.

Knows How to Party...*

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The first shot is of the incredibly awesome and generous-with-her-genius poet Eileen Myles and Marcilyn Cianfarani, aka my smoocherella, on a Sunday afternoon in the Mission the day after our reading. The second pic is with my friend Joey Stevenson, who introduced me at the Small Press Traffic reading series.

The title poem from my next book, Precordial Thump, will appear in the next issue of The Fiddlehead. I also have a suite of poems called Sternal Rub appearing in Exile Quarterly, and several poems, including one from a new Hotel series, making their debut in the Gallows Humour issue of Matrix Magazine. Watch for an essay - well, more like a scrappy sarcastic list - on the writing life appearing in a forthcoming issue of Event.

*when does one become too old for a Tupac reference?

2008-04-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

some quick hits

2008-03-30T04:14:00.001-07:00

Click here to read my review of Maya Merrick's The Hole Show in the Globe & Mail.

Click here to read the details about my upcoming event in San Francisco with Eileen Myles at the California College of the Arts.

Above is a photo of Marcilyn and I at the recent sold-out launch of SKIM, a graphic novel written by the amazingly talented Mariko Tamaki.

I'm currently teaching creative writing at St.Mary's secondary school as part of Descant's SWAT program. You can read about it here.

Reading in Ottawa with Stacey-May Fowles

2008-03-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Event info - Please let your Ottawa friends know!

First Female Fiction Series
Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Octopus Books - 116 Third Ave - Ottawa, ON
6132332589 - Email: octopus@octopusbooks.ca

We are looking forward to the second part in our reading series, which will bring two of Toronto’s most exciting writers to Ottawa.

upcoming appearances

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- Reading at Hamilton's GRITlit festival on April 5th at 2pm w/ Sean Dixon.
- reading with Eileen Myles at Small Press Traffic in San Francisco on April 19th
- Being a guest at the Sunshine Coast Writers' Festival in August
- Reading with Michael V. Smith at the Common Magic - The Legacy of Bronwen Wallace conference in Kingston on March 7th.
- You can join the Bottle Rocket Hearts Facebook Group here
- I was a guest at the Toronto Public Library's Book Lover's Ball last week - very surreal. There's a photo of me in the bathroom of the Fairmount Royal York (that is bigger than my entire apartment) but I can't seem to figure out how to connect my cell phone to my lap-top, so alas, no evidence of my first black-tie affair.

Oh, and please order my book now because for my birthday, coming up next week, all I really want in the whole wide world, is a second printing with 100% less typos.

Bottle Rocket Hearts makes the TOP 100 Books of 2007 by the Globe & Mail

2007-12-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

Click here to read Martin Levin's comment on the list choice.

can I get a...?

2007-11-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

Bottle Rocket Hearts was selected as one of the Top Ten Books of 2007 by Quill and Quire magazine!!!

Thanks, Jake!

2007-11-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

I woke up to find a great facebook note from Nova Scotia poet and current Guelph MFA colleague, Jacob McArthur Mooney , who read my book and created my very own wikipedia page in lieu of an Amazon review. I'm heading off to our poetry class - sadly, our second to last class with the awesome Ken Babstock . Our guest today is Karen Solie.

In other news, a little insider bird told me BRH is going to be on Quill & Quire's Best Books 07 list in their upcoming issue. Amazing way to round off BRH's first year on earth.

Named Best Emerging Author by Now Magazine

2007-11-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

In Now Magazine's Best of Toronto 2007

Best emerging author
ZOE WHITTALL
"We knew T.O. scenester and poet Whittall had a cool critical sensibility – she edited the excellent anthology Geeks, Misfits And Outlaws (McGilligan) and reviews books for NOW. But she blew us away with her first novel, Bottle Rocket Hearts (Cormorant), about growing up queer in Montreal. Hope the next one's set in T.O."

I *love* when I'm referred to as a scenester because in reality I barely leave my house to go to social events unless I am being paid to be there, or it's a dear friend's birthday or book launch. I get to seem much cooler than I am.

Zoe in Metro News!

2007-10-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

I'm in Metro News today! Click here to view.

Also, I'm still writer in residence for OpenBookToronto and blogging about the International Festival of Authors for Now Magazine, where I frequently freelance as a book reviewer.

I'm off to Montreal tomorrow for the reading on Wednesday night with Neil Smith and Jon Paul Fiorentino. Then on Thursday night it's the 30th anniversary for Between the Lines, the tenacious publisher of non-fiction where I've been working as promotions manager since March. If you'd like to come celebrate with us, come to the Gladstone Hotel at 7:00p.m. in the Ballroom.

upcoming appearances

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Montreal

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 6 P.M. AT DÉPANNEUR CAFÉ, 206 BERNARD STREET WEST— Neil Smith / Jon Paul Fiorentino / Zoe Whittall

Toronto

Hosting - International Festival of Authors
OCT 27th, 4PM PDT Reading/Interview - Lloyd Jones
Interviewer: Paul Quarrington

Waterloo

Saturday Nov 3 @2pm, reading/signing with Tish Cohen
Words Worth Books, 100 King Str S, Wloo 519-884-2665

West Coast - Victoria / Vancouver in January, San Francisco mid-April w/ Eileen Myles...check my blog for dates...

xo

Review from She Does the City website

2007-10-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Those who grew up in the nineties will appreciate the book’s references to Doc Martens, the 1995 referendum, Sonic Youth and the Spice Girls. If Leonard Cohen and Mordecai Richler immortalized the Montreal of their generation, Whittall immortalizes the Montreal of ours.

Click here to read the full review.

Open Book Toronto

2007-10-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

I am the current writer in residence for the website Open Book Toronto. . Please check it out!

Pics from Word on the Street

2007-09-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed for CBC Newsworld's The Scene by Jelena Adzic.Here is a pic with my her and my fabulous publicist, Sheila Hawks. It's been a looong weekend - who decided to put Nuit Blanche and WOTS in the same 24 hour period?

I was very excited to see my poetry animated on the TTC during the festival as part of the Words Travel Fast exhibit. (Animations playing on subway stations digital screens for the entire twelve hours of Nuit Blanche, without interruption from news flashes and marketing.) The 6 motion-poems commissioned for Words Travel Fast emerged from the collaborative pairing of poet Emily Pohl-Weary with motion graphics artist Karen Richardson, poet Emily Schultz with motion graphics artist Franco Barroeta Fonseca. I was paired up with motion graphics artist Emma Lopez.

Video of the videos to follow shortly!

Here is the edited version of the trailer! Enjoy!

2007-09-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Click To Play

PLus, if you are in Toronto, here are some upcoming gigs:

Sunday September 23rd at the Art Bar for the Nuit Blanche poetry anthology launch
Word on the Street - September 30th, 2:30, Proud Voices Ten
October 9th as part of She Does The City at the Gladstone Hotel with Sean Dixon and Jessica Westhead

A review in the Vancouver Sun by Karen X. Tulchinsky

2007-07-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

"Whittall's background as a poet shines in every paragraph. Her poetic voice hits hard and with beauty. Yet it is the drama of a gay-bashing (I can't say more without giving away too much) that haunts the latter part of the novel. We know that people die from hate crimes, but we don't often get such a close look at the ramifications on the survivors' lives.

Bottle Rocket Hearts will resonate with queer readers. For heterosexual readers I suspect it will provide a jarring dose of reality of the dangers still faced by gay men and lesbians -- simply because of whom they love. Gutsy, gritty, urban and sleek, Bottle Rocket Hearts is a compelling story told by a writer skilled in her craft. It leaves me wanting more."

Click here for the full review.

I always wanted to hold the MTV mic, it's true

2007-07-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

I was on MTV Live a few weeks back to talk about my novel. Here are some pics:

There was a band called Faber Drive on as well, and I've never heard of them, so I must be quite old.

I saw Built to Spill last night in Toronto and they were absolutely fantastic, and definitely a lot older than I remember:)

GLOBE AND MAIL REVIEW!!!

2007-05-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Zoe Whittall might just possibly be the cockiest, brashest, funniest, toughest, most life-affirming, elegant, scruffy, no-holds-barred writer to emerge from Montreal since Mordecai Richler staked out the moral terrain that would define and shape his work with A Choice of Enemies in 1957."

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REVIEW

despite the dozens of emails I've received this week from straight friends & family re: my book

2007-05-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

I still think this is true - Why don't straight people read gay books?

my trailer

2007-05-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Click To Play