“Words Without Borders opens doors to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the best international literature. Every month we publish select prose and poetry on our site. In addition we develop print anthologies, work with educators to bring literature in translation into classrooms, host events with foreign authors, and maintain an extensive archive […]

Today is my brother’s twenty-ninth birthday, so I’ve decided to make his website the Link of the Day in his honour. Don’t worry, I also got him an actual decent gift. It’s admittedly been about four or five months since Jon has posted anything new, so I hope he won’t mind me linking to his […]

Spreeder is a useful little web application that you can use to train yourself to read faster and more effectively. It does so mainly by doing what it calls “silencing subvocalization.” “Most readers have an average reading speed of 200 wpm,” the site explains in its introduction, “which is about as fast as they can […]

Yesterday morning, I used this space to tell you all about the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy. I promised it would be one of a number of organizations and programs I’d mention here who are doing great work for the cause of literacy in Toronto. Well, the Book Ends program at the Toronto Public Library […]

Last night’s edition of Strong Words was a great night indeed, an excellent fifth anniversary with five terrific readers on the bill. For me, it was also a great note to end on. I realized last night that I’d been with the series for longer than I’ve held any actual job, and I’ll certainly miss […]

Yeah, I guess it’s a little bit shifty to give an award as prestigious as the Link of the Day to my own reading series. But after out fifth anniversary reading tonight, it won’t really be my reading series anymore. After five years, the time has come to hand things over to curators Gillian Savigny […]

Today is Camp Day at Tim Hortons locations across Canada and the United States. Every cent from coffee sold today will benefit the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation, which will help send tens of thousands of children to one of the foundation’s six summer camps. It’s a great way to do something really positive before your […]

To be honest with you, the main reason I’m posting a link to the Embassy listing on the Toronto Life website is because five years ago today, Kate and I met there. But it’s a fine bar in its own right, and well worth checking out. Why, it’s right in the middle of the Market […]

Yesterday was Kate’s birthday, and she’d been meaning to check out O.Noir for a while, so we made a reservation for last night. I’m not much of a gourmet, but I know what I like, and the food and the experience alike at O.Noir are well worth recommending. More important than that, however, is the […]

“Anti-Apathy (AA) promotes and supports people who take creative and innovative approaches to social and environmental issues. From ‘guilt-free’ fashion to crowd-powered online platforms for change, AA has been the home of sustainable lifestyles innovation and collaboration since 2002.” Do check them out.