Speculative fiction, social activism and interstitiality
EVENTS
2026:
UPCOMING EVENTS
Reading and Discussion: WRITING AGAINST BORDERS
When: Thursday, April 9th from 19h to 20h30
Where: Librairie Pulp Books, 3952 Wellington St, Montreal
What: Join local speculative fiction authors Su J Sokol and Rich Larson as they welcome New York City author Sam J. Miller for “Writing Against Borders” – a reading and conversation focused on speculative fiction that transgresses boundaries and challenges the status quo in a time of violent xenophobia and repression. The evening will include short readings as well as a lively Q&A period.
PAST EVENTS
2026:
Violet Hour Book Club
When: Sunday, January 24th from 15h00 to 16h30
Where: Espace des Possibles, 6450, Av Christophe-Colomb, Montréal
What: Five Points on an Invisible Line is the Violet Hour Book Club choice for their first meeting of the new year! I won’t be there, but I hope others will come and join the discussion.
Environmental Writers Reading
When: Sunday, January 24th from 17h00 to 20h00
Where: Hotel Gault, 449, rue St-Hélène, Montréal
What: Canadian and U.S. writers will do short readings to raise funds for Raven Trust, a registered charity that works to support Indigenous Nations who are upholding their rights in court.
2025:
2025 Read Quebec Book Fair
When: Saturday to Sunday, December 6th and 7th, from 11h00 to 17h00
Where: Casa d’Italia, 505 Rue Jean-Talon E, Montréal
What: Come visit me at the table of Flame Arrow Publishing! There will be book signings and other activities.
Panel on Queer Literature
When: Thursday, November 27th, at 6pm/18h
Where: Librairie l’Euguélionne, 1426 Rue Beaudry, Montréal
With: Talhí Brionnes, Nour Symon, Su J Sokol, H. Nigel Thomas, Brooke Lee (moderator)
Violet Hour Reading Series
When: Tuesday, November 11th, at 7pm
Where: Rocket Science Room, 170 Rue Jean-Talon O #204, Montreal
With: John Burton, Jordan Coulombe, Emilie Nantel, Michael V. Smith, Su J Sokol
Party Littéraire – Livre and let livre
When: Tuesday, October 28th, at 8pm
Where: Les sans-taverne, 350 rue Ste-Madeleine, Montréal
With: Alex, Whitebean, Rich Larson, Su J Sokol
Livre and Let Livre est de retour le mardi 28 octobre. Alex Whitebean, Su J. Sokol et Rich Larson nous présentent leurs nouveaux livres et comme c’est presque l’Halloween, vous pouvez même vous costumer. Il y aura un quiz, des jeux et de la bonne bière des Sans-Taverne. Phoenix Curiosities sera aussi sur place avec des livres neufs et usagés. On vous attend!
Livre and Let Livre is back on October 28. Alex Whitebean, Su J. Sokol et Rich Larson join us to talk about their new books and since it’s almost Halloween, you can even wear your costume. There’ll be a quiz, games, and good beer from Sans-Taverne. Phoenix Curiosities will also be there with new and used books. You should come!
Can*Con
Dates: October 17-19, 2025
Location: Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Dr, Ottawa (Kanata), ON
Programming:
Friday, October 17th, from 5:00pm – 5:50pm: “Sensitivity Reading 101” with Nathan Frechette, Libby Graham, R. Haven, Su J Sokol (moderator)
Friday, October 17th at 8:00pm – 8:50pm: Flame Arrow Publishing launch of my Invisible Line duology alongside Rich Larson’s The Sky Didn’t Load Today and other Glitches
Saturday, October 18th, at 11:30am to 12:20pm: “Worldbuilding Without the Nuclear Family” with Claudie Arseneault, Rebecca Simkin, Su J. Sokol, Sonia Urlando (m)
Sunday, October 19th, at 12:00pm to 12:50pm: Su J Sokol signing books
New York Book Launch of the INVISIBLE LINE series
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2025, from 5pm to 7pm
New location: Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS), 155 Loisaida Ave, New York, NY
Joint launch with author Rich Larson, and in conversation with author Sam J. Miller on the role of speculative fiction in social justice movements
Congrès Boréal
Dates: 19 au 21 septembre 2025
Lieu: Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, 10555, avenue de Bois-de-Boulogne, Montréal
Programmation
dimanche le 21 septembre à 13h30
13h30: « Solarpunk, Hopeunk : l’espoir quand le monde brûle » avec Dave Dufour (a), Claudie Arseneault, Julie Desjardins, Su J Sokol
Montréal Book Launch of the INVISIBLE LINE series
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2025, from 17h – 19h
Location: Librairie Joie de livres, 5163 St Laurent Blvd, Montreal, Quebec H2T 1R9
Joint launch with science fiction author Rich Larson
Scintillation
Date: Friday, June 6th – Sunday, June 18th
Location: Holiday Inn Chinatown, 999 rue St-Urbain, Montréal
PROGRAMMING:
Saturday, June 7th:
15h45 – 16h15, Reading Room : Reading
21h00 – 22h00, Big Room: Surprise!
Tamara Vardomskaya, Su Sokol, Yves Meynard, Mal Frazier (M), Alice Degan, Ruthanna Emrys
Sunday, June 8th:
10h00 – 11h00, Big Room: The Underpinnings of the Future
Jon Evans, Zach Smirin, Alison Sinclair, Ruthanna Emrys (M), Su Sokol
16h30 – 17h30, Big Room: Why Do We Need Hopepunk More Than Ever?
Ada Palmer (M), Ruthanna Emrys, William Alexander, Naomi Kritzer, Su Sokol
Blue Met/Metropolis Bleu Festival
Date: Saturday, April 26th at 10h00 – 11h0
Location: Hotel 10, 10 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, Salle Jardin
Programming: Green to Grey: A new anthology from Guernica Editions exposes how toxic pollution is turning our beautiful, green world into grey. The book is both a celebration of nature and a lament for its degradation as expressed in edgy stories with elements of literary and speculative fiction. Three contributing authors reveal how their storytelling explores the human cost of climate change and where they think glimmers of hope might be found.
Participants: Matthew Murphy, Cora Siré, Timothy Niedermann
Moderator: Su J Sokol
2024:
Quebec Reads
Date: November 7th – 8th, 2024, 12h00 to 17h00
Saturday, 12h00 -16h30, tabling with Renaissance Press
Signings at 13h00 – 14h00
Sunday, 12h00 – 17h00, tabling with Renaissance Press
Signings at 15h00 – 16h00
Location: Casa d’Italia, 505, rue Jean Talon est
Lecture Logos Readings
Date: Monday, November 11th, 2024 at 19h00 to 21h30
Location: 2741 Notre-dame O., Montréal
Lectures Logos Readings invites you to its next session which will be held on Monday November 11 2024 at 2741 Notre-Dame West, Montréal, QC H3J 1N9, 7-9 pm. The guest readers are: Coutechève Lavoie Aupont, Ariane Benoît, Su Sokol, Nicole Swan, and Lynda Bailey.
Lectures logos readings vous invite à son prochain événement qui aura lieu lundi le 11 novembre 2024 de 19h-21h au 2741 Notre-Dame O, Montréal, QC H3J1N9. Les lecteurs/lectrices sont : Coutechève Lavoie Aupont, Ariane Benoît, Su Sokol, Nicole Swan et Lynda Bailey.
Can*Con
Dates: November 1 – 3, 2024
Location: Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa
Programming:
Sunday, November 3:
11h30 – 12h20, Salon F: Climate Fiction: Existential Anxiety or Inspiration?– Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Ben Berman Ghan, Su J. Sokol, Selena Middleton (m)
14h30 – 15h20, Salon F: Building a Better Near-Future Canada – Ed Greenwood, Jason M. Harley, Sarah Ramdawar, Su J. Sokol (m)
Reading
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 17h00 (5pm) to 19h00 (7pm)
Location: Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220, avenue McGill College
Author readings and signings with Renaissance Press authors Su J Sokol and Alyson Hope
Congrès Boréal
Dates: 20 au 22 septembre 2024
Lieu: Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, 10555, avenue de Bois-de-Boulogne, Montréal
Programmation
Samedi le 21 septembre à 15h30
Le transhumanisme de demain
Animatrice: Andréane Sabourin Laflamme; Panélistes: Alain Bergeron, Bernard Gilbert, Su J. Sokol
World Science Fiction Convention
Dates: August 8 – 12, 2024
Location: The Scottish Events Campus
Programming:
Friday, August 9th, 7pm, Dochart 2
The Spectrum of Climate Fiction: As the undeniable effects of climate change become more and more a part of our daily lives, so too are they becoming more present in our speculative fiction. Join SFF authors for a discussion on the various approaches to imagining and navigating future worlds with hotter temperatures, water scarcity, rising sea levels, crop failures, and the movement of climate refugees. How do you balance research and narrative, science and opinion, horror and hope?
Participants:
Su J Sokol (moderator)
Abigail Nussbaum
Jasmin Kirkbride
Niall Harrison
Tara Campbell
Saturday, August 10th, 4pm, online event
Hopepunk: Dystopia or Utopia? The dictionary describes hopepunk as a subgenre of speculative fiction and art that shows optimism, gentleness, kindness, and collaboration to be effective weapons in the fight to create a better future. But does it have its roots in dystopian or utopian fiction?
Participants:
Mark Sabalauskas (moderator)
Dr. Yen Ooi
Juliet Kemp
Su J Sokol
Scintillation
Date: Friday, June 14th – Sunday, June 16th
Location: Holiday Inn Chinatown, 999 rue St-Urbain, Montréal
Programming:
Friday, June 16th:
19h15 – 20h15, Big Room: How do you title a book?
You’d think it would be easy, but A Fire Upon the Deep was originally called Among the Tines, and it took more than a year before Rene came up with the perfect title for Among Others. Where do titles come from, and why does it matter?
Mal Frasier, Victoria Goddard, Michèle LaFramboise, Ada Palmer (M), Su Sokol
Saturday, June 17th:
10h00 – 11h00, Big Room: Moving Through the World: Writing Travel
Tolkien didn’t start it, Homer started it. It can be a quest, a picaresque, a story of there and back again, but how and why do we write characters moving through the world?
Victoria Goddard, Rosemary Kirstein, Ada Palmer (M), Alison Sinclair, Su Sokol
15h15 – 16h00, Big Room: Using Fiction to Change the World!
Some books change the world so much we’re not reading them in the world they were written in. Other books get overwhelmed by the message. How do we keep this balance?
Will Alexander, Naomi Kritzer, Alexis Shotwell (M), Su Sokol
Sunday, June 18th:
15h30 – 16h00, Reading Room : Reading
Writing While Disabled: Making Spaces for Ourselves and Our Characters
Date: Thursday, June 13th at 7pm
Location: Argo Bookshop, 1841-A Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal
Please join us as three disabled writers—Cait Gordon, Jason M. Harley, and Madona Skaff-Koren—converse about their process, their protagonists, their world-building, and how they make spaces both for their characters and themselves as creatives. Moderated by Su J Sokol, the discussion will be followed by a Q&A period and an opportunity to obtain signed copies of the authors’ works.
This event will take place in store at Argo Bookshop. Masks are required. The event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP on TicketSource.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction that celebrates diversity. She is the author of the award-nominated, disability-hopepunk adventure, Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! Her short stories featuring disabled and/or neurodivergent heroes appear in Spring into SciFi (2024), We Shall Be Monsters, Mighty: An Anthology of Disabled Superheroes, There’s No Place, and Stargazers: Microtales from the Cosmos. She has had poems published in Polar Borealis and Mollyhouse. Cait also twice joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the (award-nominated) Nothing Without Us and (award-winning) Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies.
Jason M. Harley is a queer, non-binary McGill University professor in the Faculty of Medicine and a Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Their comic book, Fake News and Dinosaurs, co-created with their husband and visual artist, Daniel Beaudin, has been featured on Global News TV and the Toronto Star. Their fiction is forthcoming from Baffling Magazine and has appeared in Tesseracts, Polar Borealis and elsewhere. They have served on panels for Chicon (WorldCon), World Fantasy, and Can-Con science fiction and fantasy conventions and are a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFFWA; Associate Member) and the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Madona Skaff-Koren is the author of the Naya Investigates series, about a young woman disabled by multiple sclerosis, who turns sleuth to solve crimes. The character was inspired by her own MS diagnosis. The series so far includes Journey of a Thousand Steps (2015), and Death by Association (2020). Her stand alone novel, Shifting Trust (2021) is a science fiction thriller set twenty-five years into the future. She has several SF and mystery short stories appearing in various anthologies. Her essay on “Number One from Star Trek” is in the anthology, Women on Women in Trek (2024).
Su J Sokol (moderator) is a social rights activist and a writer of speculative and interstitial fiction. A former legal services lawyer from New York City, xe now makes Montréal xyr home. Sokol is the author of three novels: Cycling to Asylum (2014), which was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Run J Run (2019), and Zee (2020), a finalist for the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Sokol’s short fiction and essays have appeared in various magazines and anthologies When xe is not writing, battling slumlords, bringing evil bureaucracies to their knees, and smashing borders, Sokol curates and participates in readings and literary events in Canada and abroad.
The 2024 QWF Mentorship Reading
Date: Sunday, June 9th at 14h to 16h
Location:Bar La Marche à côté, 5043 Saint-Denis St., Montreal
Join us for the 2024 QWF Mentorship Reading!
For four months, seven emerging writers have worked to hone their craft through the QWFMentorship Program. Each has received one-on-one guidance from a professional writing mentor to help them transition to the next stage of their careers. Now, their journey culminates in a public reading where each mentee will present an excerpt from their work in progress.
Featuring:
Raphaëlle Aubin, mentored by Su J. Sokol in Fiction River Lee, mentored by Chris DiRaddo in Fiction Megan Hunt, mentored by Alexandria Haber in Playwriting Emily Gaudet, mentored by Sarah Wolfson in Poetry Santiago Eastman Herrera, mentored by Raquel Rivera in Young Adult Literature (Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship) Robin Macdonald, mentored by Elise Moser in Non-Fiction Emira Tufo, mentored by Daniel Allen Cox in Non-Fiction
Anarchist Cabaret Anarchiste
Date: Saturday, May 18th /le samedi 18 mai
Location: Casa del Popolo, 4873 St-Laurent, Montréal
MUSIQUE ! MUSIC!
POÉSIE ! POETRY!
PROSE! PROSE! PROSE!
Blue Met/Metropolis Bleu Festival
Date: Saturday, April 27th at 16h00 – 17h0
Location: Hotel 10, 10 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, Salle Jardin
Panel discussion: RE-DREAMI NG MONTRÉAL:In what ways do the unique cultural, geographic, and social dynamics of our city nourish dreams, inspire the imagination, and influence storytelling? Four authors writing in different genres, of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences, and with distinct relationships to Montréal will discuss the impact of Tiohtià:ke/Montréal on how they dream up the worlds they share with their readers
With:
Rich Larson | Panelist; Cora Siré | Panelist; Sivan Slapak| Panelist; Neil Smith | Panelist; Su J Sokol | Moderator
Westmount Littéraire / Westmount Lit
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2024, 19h – 20h30
Location: Bibliothèque publique de Westmount – Westmount Public Library, 4574, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Westmount (Québec)
Readings and Discussion with Michelle Franklin, Rich Larson, Su J Sokol, Philip Yong
Pop-up Book Fair / Vente de livres de gauche
Date: Sunday, March 3, 2024, 11h – 17h
Location: ARTICULE, 6282 St-Huber
Livre and let livre
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 20h – 22h30
Location: Sans Taverne at Batiment 7, 1900 Rue le Ber, Montréal
Hosts: Sylvain Neuvel and Michelle Franklin with Special Guests:Su J Sokol and Talhi Briones
2023:
Read Quebec Book Fair
Date: Friday and Saturday, November 3 – 4 2023
Location: Concordia University, Montréal
Signings:
Friday, November 3rd, 11h00 to 12h00
Friday, November 3rd, 13h00 to 14h00
Congrès Boréal: Au-delà du possible
Date: 20-21-22 octobre 2023
Lieu: Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, 10555, avenue de Bois-de-Boulogne, Montréal
Programmation:
Samedi le 21 octobre
9h00 : Entrevue de Su J Sokol par Clélia Pulido-Ferrois
10h00: Table rondeÉcrire Queeravec, à l’animation, Hélène Bughin et en panélistes : Su J Sokol, Pascal Raud, Célia Chalfoun, Talhí Briones.
14h30 : Table ronde Comment écrire l’Autre avec, à l’animation, Étienne Groleau ; et en panélistes : Su J Sokol, Andréa Renaud-Simard, Natasha Beaulieu, Éric Gauthier.
15h30 : Table ronde L’identité de l’auteur à travers son texte avec, à l’animation, Dave Côté ; et en panélistes : Su J Sokol, Pascal Raud, Jonathan Reynolds.
Can-Con 2023
Date: October 15 – 17, 2023
Location: Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Programming:
Saturday, October 16:
11h30 – 12h20, Salon E: Spotlight on Québec Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Mélodie Joseph, Mathieu Lauzon- Dicso, Talhi Briones, Su J. Sokol (m), Nathan Fréchette (t)
17h30 – 18h20, Penthouse: Using Words Wisely: Sociolinguistics in Spec Fic – Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Sienna Tristen, Eli K. P. William, Su J. Sokol (m)
Sunday, October 17:
10h30 – 1100, Vendor’s Room: Signings: Su J. Sokol, Colleen Winter (10:30- 11:00)
Montreal: 2140: Hopeful Futures in Science and Storytelling
Keynote speakers: Kim Stanley Robinson and Annalee Newitz
Date: Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Friday, October 13, 2023
Location: Esplanade Tranquille, 1442 rue Clark, Montreal, QC
Programming:
THURSDAY: 10:00am – 12:00pmBuilding Hopeful Stories Across Science and Fiction with Renee Sieber and Lisa Bornstein (moderators), Geneviève Blouin, Alyx Dellamonica, Nina Munteanu, Rich Larson, Andréa Simard, Su J Sokol: Workshop presenting science fiction authors in dialogue with academics, to discuss and model how these two communities can work together across boundaries to create hopeful narratives for the future.
FRIDAY: 2:00pm – 3:30pm:Telling the Story of the Future with Chris Barrington-Leigh, (moderator), Alyx Dellamonica, Prof. Irene Gregory-Eaves, Dr. Jane Engle, Nina Munteanu, Prof. Richard Shearmur, Prof. Stephanie Posthumus, Su J Sokol: Roundtable discussion presenting the key ideas and solutions produced during the conference, framing them as tools to be implemented across scholarly research, creative writing, public discourse and social policy.
Causerie | Chris Bergeron et Su J Sokol | l’avenir de la résistance queer
Date: le samedi, 18 août 2023 à 19h00
Lieu: Librairie un livre à soi,1575, Avenue Laurier E, Montréal
Reading at Sooke Regional Library
Date: Sunday, August 13th at 12h30
Location: Sooke Library Multipurpose Room, 6671 Wadams Way, Sooke, BC
With Assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers’ Union of Canada
Reading at Masset Regional Library
Date: Thursday, August 3rd at 19h00
Location: 2123 Collison Ave, Masset BC
With Assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers’ Union of Canada
Scintillation
Date: Friday, June 9th – Sunday, June 11th
Location: Holiday Inn Chinatown, 999 rue St-Urbain, Montréal
Friday, June 9th at 21h: Reading
Sunday, June 11th at 11h15: Panel discussion – Activism in Fiction with Su Sokol, Ruthanna Emrys, Alexis Shotwell (M), David Levine, Amal el Mohtar
Sunda, June 11th at 16h: Panel discussion – Journeys: making space and time work with Ada Palmer (M), Jon Evans, Jim Cambias, Victoria Goddard, Su Sokol
Salon du livre anarchiste/Anarchist Book Fair
Date: Saturday, May 27th and Sunday, May 28th
Location: CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle and Centre culturel Georges-Vanier, 2450 rue Workman
Lectures Logos Readings
Date: Monday, May 8th at 18h30
Location: 2741, Notre-dame-ouest, Montréal
Blue Met/Metropolis Bleu Festival
Date: Saturday, April 29th at 11h30 – 12h30
Location: Hotel 10, 10 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal
Panel discussion: HOPEPUNK, PLANET OPERA, QUEER SPECULATIVE FICTION – WHAT FUTURE IS THAT?
Jorge Carrión | Participant invité Rich Larson | Participant invité Mathieu Lauzon-Dicsö | Animateur Su J. Sokol | Participant invité
Interview à l’émission Libraire du force
le 13 avril 2023, à 18h
CIBL 101,5
avec Mélodie Joseph, Mathieu Lauzon-Dicsö, Su J Sokol
Don’t miss this discussion with Sienna Tristen, Brandon Crilly and I about the use of language in speculative fiction and how it relates to worldbuilding.
Salon du livre de Fierté Littéraire
Date: 4 – 5 février 2023
Location: Théâtre la Comédie de Montréal,1113 Boul. de Maisonneuve E.
Sessions de dédicace, le 5 février, 10h à 17h
2022:
Why We Write: On Resistance and Connection
Date: December 15th, 2022
Location: Café Mercanti,6128 Monkland, Montréal
Please join us for a lively, intimate discussion on the burning reasons we write. The evening will include refreshments, a Q&A, and short readings.
Salon du livre de Montréal
Date : le 23 – 27 novembre 2022
Lieu : Palais du congrès, Montréal
Jeudi 24 novembre
15h à 16h30 séance de dédicaces
Samedi 26 novembre
11h45 à 12h45 Table ronde sur les récits utopiques, optimistes, hopepunk, etc.
13h à 14h30 séance de dédicaces
Dimanche 27 novembre
11h30 à 13h séance de dédicaces
15h à 16h30 séance de dédicaces
Causerie Hopepunk Q&A de l’autre monde – ImaginAtlas
Date : le 22 octobre 2022
Lieu : Librairie Saga Bookstore, 5574, Chemin Upper Lachine, Montréal
Les Utopiales, Festival internationale de science-fiction
Date : le 29 octobre – 1 novembre 2022
Lieu : Cité des Congrès de Nantes, Nantes, France
le dimanche 30 octobre à 16h00 – (Cité des Congrès – Salle 2001)
“Vade retro”
Les droits sociaux qui semblent acquis pour toujours sont de fait fragiles et dépendent entièrement des mouvements qui agitent les sociétés. L’avortement, ce droit reproductif fondamental, recule devant les assauts intégristes dans toutes les démocraties occidentales, entre manque de moyens et restrictions des applications légales. Du mariage pour tous à l’IVG, comment conserver le progrès ?
Avec : Marie Bardiaux-Vaïente, Morgan of Glencoe, Stéphanie Nicot, Su J. Sokol Modération : Ugo Bellagamba
le lundi 31 octobre à 13h00 (Cité des Congrès – Scène Shayol)
“La ligne bleue des Vosges”
Dans la Saga Vorkosigan de Lois McMaster Bujold, les seigneurs locaux se trouvent confrontés à une loi qui permet à leurs paysans de quitter leur comté si le seigneur se montre trop dur et exigeant. La libre circulation des personnes devient ainsi un levier de régulation sociale et de démocratie. Tandis qu’Offred retrouve sa dignité d’être humain en se réfugiant au Canada dans La Servante Écarlate de Margaret Atwood. Fuir, franchir les frontières et obtenir la liberté, un thème de science-fiction ?
Avec : P. Djèlí Clark, Xavier Dollo, Claire Duvivier, Su J. Sokol Modération : Stéphanie Nicot
le mardi 1 novembre à 16h45 (Cité des Congrès – Salle Tschaï)
“Passé les bornes, y’a plus de limites”
Depuis Antigone, la jeunesse se lève pour renouveler les révoltes d’hier au grand dam ou incompréhension de ses aînés. C’est ainsi que la génération Larzac contemple celle de la Zad et de la permaculture avec un brin de stupéfaction. La science-fiction, porteuse de révolutions, nous rappelle que les bornes sont faites pour être franchies et que l’on a raison de se révolter…
Avec : Morgane Caussarieu, Elly Bangs, Su J. Sokol
Can-Con 2022
Date: October 14 – 16, 2022
Location: Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Saturday, October 15th at 1pm:
“Imagining A Better Craft Workshop”
Panelists: Ashley Deng (moderator), Amal El-Mohtar, James K. Moran, Su J. Sokol
Craft discussions are much maligned, given their tendencies toward prescriptive advice, but workshops rely on them for mutual constructive criticism. With Milford being the industry standard, many marginalized points of view are overlooked or dismissed as a consequence. How can we imagine a better workshop? How can we make sure that all voices are heard and considered? When writing rules are flexible and varied, what exactly do we mean by “craft”? A discussion about less prescriptive workshop methods and writing advice.
Saturday, October 15th at 2:30 pm
BOOK SIGNINGS
Sunday, October 16th at 2:30 pm at 11:30 am
“Homemade is Fine: The Use and Making of Niche Genre Terms”
Sweetweird, hopepunk, lunarpunk, dark academia — what’s with all these new genre terms that keep cropping up? Clearly, there seems to be a need within SFF spaces to make, find, and use niche terms to describe our work. Why do we gravitate towards such labels, and what is gained in the making and usage of them? How niche is too niche?
Violet Hour
Date: October 5, 2022, 18h – 19h30
Location: Place du Village, a new space located in the green area across the street from Cabaret Mado (Ste. Catherine Street East, corner of Wolfe)
Cet événement sera bilingue, avec des lectures en anglais et en français. Join us for an evening of readings by LGBTQ writers, including Gabriel Cholette, Virginie Savard, Su J. Sokol and Neil Smith. The event is hosted by Christopher DiRaddo.
Chicon 8: 80th World Science Fiction Convention
Date: September 1, 2022 through September 5, 2022
Location: Hyatt Regency Chicago
Thursday, September 1st, at 4:00 pm
“Systems of Governance in SFF”
Panelists: Annalee Newitz, Olav Rokne (moderator), Ruthanna Emrys, Su J Sokol, W A Thomasson
For a genre that is supposed to imagine alternatives and look to the future, science fiction seems to spend a lot of time dealing with empires, kings, and other regressive forms of government. Let’s talk about how humans organize societies, how technological advances can change the way we govern ourselves, and about authors such as Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Ada Palmer, and Ursula K. Le Guin who have explored different ways that people can work together to share decision-making power within a society.
Friday, September 2nd, at 11:30 am
AUTOGRAPHING
Saturday, September 3rd, at 2:30 pm
“Hopepunk: 5 Years In”
Panelists: David M Perry (moderator), Ruthanna Emrys, Su J Sokol, Terry Franklin
Rowland’s influential concept of “hopepunk” was posted in 2017, sparking many fruitful discussions and debates. Our panelists will look at the state of term today—offering and revising definitions, opining on whether it’s a movement, sub-genre, or what—and digging into the commonalities and popularity of works like Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer series or Katherine Addison’s Goblin Emperor.
Saturday, September 3rd, at 7:00 pm
“Translation is Creative Writing”
Panelists: Andy Dudak,Jean Bürlesk (moderator), Su J Sokol, Sue Burke, Yasser Bahjatt
The job of a translator is not merely to pick the matching words in the second language. Done well, translation conveys the tone and flavor of the original text. A character with an ascerbic wit in Chinese should be just as funny in English, for example. Lyrical descriptions of landscapes should be equally poetic. What makes a translation work, and who does it well?
Sunday, September 4th, at 10:00 am
“Hugboxing vs. Scab-picking: Two Different Tactics for Engaging with Oppression in Queer SFF”
Elizabeth Sandifer, in her piece “Four Tiny Essays on SF&F”, identified two competing tendencies in queer fiction: art which imagines our liberation from oppression, which is in tension with art as a tool for engaging with oppression. Which artists are engaging with these approaches, and where on the spectrum do they sit?
Monday, September 4th, at 10:00 am
“What Does Justice Look Like”
Panelists: Christine Amsden (moderator), Jean Bürlesk, Matt Mitrovich, Su J Sokol
Humans have long sought justice, even when we disagree about the shape of it. What would justice look like in a working society? How would a just society function? Thinking about a world where justice is the prevailing societal construction, what would day-to-day life be like? A SFF worldbuilding question as well as a philosophical one, our panelists will try and imagine a world where we have solved the problem of justice.
Monday, September 4th, at 1:00 pm
“Warnings/Trigger/Content: Guidelines, Not Censorship”
Panelists: Dominic Loise L., J. Stanton, Mary G. Thompson (moderator), Su J Sokol
Given recent controversies over content, and the labeling of content with either trigger warnings or content warnings, there has been confusion across the industry from readers all the way up through the food chain of authors, reviewers, and publishers. What are the best practices for such warnings? Is there a point at which the warnings themselves become problematic? Are these warnings here to stay, or is this another fad that isn’t worth investing in? Panelists discuss the subject from health, artistic, and business perspectives.
Lancement de/Launch of Les lignes invisibles
Date: le jeudi 18 août / Thursday August 18th, 17h – 18h30
Lieu/location: Parc Girouard / NDG Park
The launch of Les lignes invisibles is part of the programming of la semaine des arts de NDG Arts Week. Please join us for readings, a question Q&A session, and refreshments. Il y aura également une séance de dédicace pour le livre — you can also obtain an autographed copy of the book.
Le salon du livre anarchiste /Anarchist Book Fair Montréal
Date: August 6th and August 7th, 10h to 17h
Pride Week Tabling event: Violet Hour at Community Day
Date: August 5, 2022, 14h – 17h
Lieu/Location : Village gai, rue St. Catherine entre Beaudry et la Visitation
Scintillation
Date: Friday, May 10th to Sunday, May 12th
Location: Holiday Inn in Chinatown 999 Rue Saint-Urbain, Montréal
Panel on Marge Piercy and Reading from work-in-progress
Cabaret littéraire de l’autre monde – ImaginAtlas
Six artistes LGBTQ+ vont livrer sur scène de courts textes de science-fiction, de fantasy et de réalisme magique qui mettent en lumière des enjeux et des personnages queers. Quoi de plus naturel que de marier la diversité sexuelle et de genres à des littératures réputées pour leur ouverture ? Non seulement les personnes queers ont l’habitude de redéfinir le monde au quotidien, mais elles ont aussi la capacité de faire vibrer le public avec leurs voix singulières.
Participants : Jeanne A. Debats, Chris Bergeron, Peter Dubé, Su J. Sokol, Ayavi Lake, Neil Smith Animateur : Samuel Larochelle
Date: le 7 mai, 2022 at 18h30
Lieu: Grand Bibliothèque (Auditorium)
Springboards: Connecting teachers with local writers, poets and storytellers
Date: April 1, 2022 at 10:10am
Location: online event
Using Zee to Explore Empathy, Difference, and Finding Your Own Path in Life
Location: Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham Hotel
The Work of Malka Older, Thu 7:00 pm, Blue Room
Lost (or Gained) in Translation, Friday, 1 pm, Older Room
Real Estate in Space, Saturday 11:30 am, Calvert Room
Reading and Autograph opportunity
Salon du livre de Montréal
Date : 25 au 28 novembre 2021
Lieu : Palais du congrès, Montréal
Activité : Séances de dédicaces
jeudi le 25 novembre, 11h kiosque 1313 (Bouton d’or Acadie)
samedi le 25 novembre, 16h, kiosque 1304 (Association des éditeurs de langue anglaise du Quebec -AELAQ)
dimanche le 28 novembre, 14h, kiosque 1313 (Bouton d’or Acadie)
The 2021 QWF Awards Gala
Date: November 24th, 2021 at 7pm
Location: Cabaret Lion d’Or, 1676 Rue Ontario E, Montréal QC H2L 1S7, Canada
Salon du livre de Montréal dans NDG: Les vois actuellles de l’imaginaire/
Current Voices in Speculative Fiction
Date: November 13th, 2021 at 5pm/17h
Location: Centre Communautaire Saint-Raymond5600, Chemin Upper-Lachine
Avec/with
Su J. Sokol,Auteur·rice
Lateef Martin,Auteur·rice
Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso,Libraire
Frankfort Book Fair/Frankfurter Buchmess
Dates: October 19th – 23rd 2021
La Semaine des arts NDG + Librarie Saga Books Presents:
Authors of NDG
Date: August 12th, 2021 at 5pm/17h
Location: Parc Georges-Saint-Pierre
To celebrate « August 12 – Buy a Quebec Book Day », in collaboration with Librairie Saga Bookstore, we invite you to join us for two literary talks with local NDG authors who specialize in genre fiction!
5pm-6pm : Meet authors Michelle Franklin and Su J Sokol to learn about their perspectives on speculative fiction (such as science fiction and fantasy), and learn how they create different worlds full of magic and wonders that can help us to find ways of improving our own reality. (In English)6:30pm-7:30pm : Join Marie-Eve Bourassa and Catherine Côté to learn the secrets of crime fiction writing, as they discuss how they researched and wrote their own detective mystery novels that are set in various periods of Montreal’s history! (In French)
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En collaboration avec la Librairie Saga Bookstore et pour célébrer « Le 12 août – J’achète un livre québécois », joignez-vous à nous lors de deux causeries littéraires en compagnie d’écrivaines de NDG qui sont spécialistes en littérature de genre!
17h-18h : Retrouvez Michelle Franklin et Su J Sokol pour connaître leurs visions des littératures de l’imaginaire, comme la science-fiction et la fantasy, et découvrir comment elles créent différents mondes pleins de magie et d’extraordinaire qui peuvent nous aider à trouver une façon d’améliorer notre propre réalité. (En anglais)
18h30-19h30 : Rencontrez Marie-Eve Bourassa et Catherine Côté, qui vous révéleront les secrets du roman policier, alors qu’elles discuteront de leurs recherches et de l’écriture de leurs propres polars, qui mettent de l’avant différentes périodes historiques de Montréal! (En français).
When Words Collide Science Fiction Festival
Date: August 13th to 15th 2021
Location: Online Event
Programming: PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TIMES ARE LISTED IN MOUNTAIN DAYLIGHT TIME.(For instance, it will be two hours later if you are in the Eastern Standard Time zone.)
Friday, August 13th, 2pm
Cross Genre Writing
Su J. Sokol, Lee Gowan, Ira Nayman, Allan Weiss, Caro Soles
What happens if your book falls within multiple genres? Authors are pushing boundaries and challenging labels. What are the advantages? What are the drawbacks? Join us as our panel discusses this highly relevant topic.
Saturday, August 14th, 12pm
Writing Well: Diversity and Sensitivity
Bobbi Lee Lintner, Lisa Collins, V. S. Holmes, Su J. Sokol
Proactively looking at writing diversity well in your works. Discussion on how to be mindfully inclusive while navigating the “forced diversity” narrative, how to avoid writing stereotypes offensive to minorities, and best practices on choosing sensitivity consultants/editors/readers.
Saturday, August 14th, 3pm
Let the Characters Tell the Story
Claire McCague, Krista Wallace, Merilyn Ruth Liddell, Su J. Sokol
It is not unusual to hear authors claim their characters took over the writing. But it can be hard to understand how this is possible. Authors discuss instances of how this has happened to them, and why this is a good thing.
Saturday Night Rapid Readings (3 Hours) TBA (host) Drop in for short teaser readings of published works by a dozen authors. Schedule TBA.
Table ronde – Penser l’Après : du sombre au lumineux
Avec Geneviève Blouin, J.D. Kurtness, Su Sokol et Élisabeth Vonarburg
Animation : Anaïs Paquin
Comment envisage-t-on l’Après en science-fiction, cette période qui suit la Fin du monde… ou la fin d’un monde? Quatre écrivaines parlent de ces futurs, proches ou lointains, qu’elles ont créés : dystopiques, utopiques, postapocalytiques, hopepunk, solarpunk. Quelles sont les grandes préoccupations qui traversent nos imaginaires collectifs contemporains et comment les intègrent-elles à leurs univers? Qu’arrive-t-il aux villes, aux écosystèmes dans leurs fictions? Comment écrire une ambiance sombre ou, au contraire, plus lumineuse pour ces mondes de l’Après? Doit-on se restreindre à ces deux pôles ou peut-on en explorer les différentes nuances?
Zee entend ce que vous pensez, et ressent ce que vous ressentez. À travers vos regards, Zee se voit reflétée, et cette vision la transforme. Tantôt, Zee est la fille précoce de ses quatre adultes. Tantôt, Zee est un ado voyou de Brooklyn, New York. Mais qui est-iel vraiment?
Zee can hear what you’re thinking and feel what you’re feeling. She sees herself through your eyes and what she sees changes who she is. Sometimes Zee is the precocious daughter of her four grown-ups. Other times, she’s a rough boy from Brooklyn, New York, playing basketball and getting into trouble. Zee just wants to fit in, but will losing sight of who she is put Zee in even greater danger?
Sit down and have a cozy chat with your favorite Renaissance author!
As part of the AELAQ’s Read Québec Holiday Book Fest, we bring you an occasion to sit down and have a conversation with some of our authors where you’ll be able to ask them whatever you want about their latest books, what they’re working on now, how the pandemic has affected their work, etc.! Don’t miss this unique opportunity to have a laid-back hangout with so many of our authors at the same time!
This panel discusses the challenge of using real places in fiction. How do you avoid problems? How to futurize a location? What are common pitfalls in using real locations?
Jack Briglio, Stephen B. Pearl, Angela Misri (m), Éric Desmarais, Su J. Sokol, Luke R. J. Maynard
11:30 AM – 12 30 PM Family of choice.
How have chosen family narratives evolved over the past few years? What remains to be done in terms of representation, and what has been done well (or less well)? Why are chosen family narratives still relevant and important?
Su J Sokol, Angela Misri (m), Avi Silver, Nathan Caro Fréchette, Jamieson Wolf
1 PM – 2 PM : Polyamorous narratives
Romantic configurations are evolving, and polyamory is becoming more commonplace and open. How to narratives of family and romance adapt to this? What are good representations, and what are the harmful tropes associated with depictions of polyamory?
Luke R. J. Maynard, Elizabeth Hirst, Su J. Sokol, Nathan Caro Fréchette (m), Avi Silver
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM : What is the Artist’s Role in the Revolution?
This panel discusses the intersection between speculative fiction and social change. What makes speculative fiction such a good vehicle for talking about current world struggles?
Su J. Sokol (m), Luke R. J. Maynard, Jack Briglio, Dominic Bercier
4 PM – 5 PM: Writing gender: a cistemic problem
What should be the role of spec fiction in addressing gender stereotypes, rigid gender roles, binary presumptions, etc? How can we write characters who are realistic and interesting as concerns gender? What books or stories have done this well?
S. M. Carrière, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Su J. Sokol, Avi Silver, Talia C. Johnson (m)
Argo Reading Series
Date: Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm
Location: Argo Bookshop,1915 Rue Sainte-Catherine O, Montréal
Topic: What do Science Fiction Writers Think of the Pandemic (with Jo Walton and Su J. Sokol)
Reading: Book Warehouse, Main Street (CANCELLED)
Date: Thursday, July 14th, 2020 at 19h (7pm)
Location: Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver
Renaissance Virtual Conference
Date: June 5th to 7th 2020
Location: Zoom and Discord Event
Programming:
Sunday, June 7th at 10h30: Panel: Literary and Genre Fiction: Can’t We All Just Get Along
Sunday, June 7th at 11h30: Sense and Sensitivity: Our panelists discuss why own-voice beta readers and editors are so important. Cait Gordon, Su J Sokol, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Talia C. Johnson
Sunday, June 7th at 12h30:Panel: Going Deep with Characterization, EC Ambrose, Sue Taylor-Davidson, Su J Sokol, Benoit Chartier, Kate Heartfield, Melissa Yuan-Innes
Reading: Molasses Books (CANCELLED)
Please join us at Molasses Books in Brooklyn, New York as Sharon Lax, Shira Nayman, and Su J. Sokol read from their latest works! Refreshments will be available.
Science Fiction Workshop: Creating and Writing Alternative Worlds
This workshop is for anyone who’s interested in writing science fiction or adding wonder to the stories they’re already writing.
During the sessions, participants will learn about science fiction and its sub-genres and be guided through the process of developing interesting and realistic characters, world-building, and plotting. Finally, participants will create their own short works of fiction which will be workshopped during the class.
Schedule (4 sessions)
Thursday, January 9, 7:00-9:30pm
Thursday, January 16, 7:00-9:30pm
Thursday, February 6, 7:00-9:30pm
Thursday, February 13, 7:00-9:30pm
Week by Week Breakdown
Session One: Introduction to science fiction and its sub-genres (e.g. cyberpunk, space opera, utopia/dystopia, first-contact stories, hopepunk, post-apocalyptic tales, slipstream.) Examples of such works will be identified and discussed. Participants will have the opportunity to identify a type of science fiction story that interests them and explore a subject for a story of their own.
Session Two: Study and practice different aspects of the craft including character development and voice, realistic and effective dialogue, world-building without info-dumping, story arc, and SF themes and tropes. We will also discuss point-of-view, tense, and tone.
Two-week break during which participants work on a piece of short science fiction.
Session Three: Give and receive feedback on your own original short works of science fiction.
Session Four: Workshop the remaining short science fiction stories. Participants will be given individualized feedback and suggestions for moving forward to perfect and publish their work.
About the Instructor
Su J. Sokol is a writer of speculative and interstitial fiction. She is the author of two novels, Cycling to Asylum, which was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and optioned for a film, and Run J Run, published in 2019 by Renaissance Press. A YA speculative fiction novel, Zee, is to be published in French by Bouton d’or Acadie. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies such as The Future Fire; Spark: A Creative Anthology; Glittership: An LGBTQ Science Fiction and Fantasy Podcast; and After the Orange: Ruin and Recovery. Su is a member of the Québec Writers’ Federation and SFCanada—Canada’s National Association of Science Fiction Professionals. She also curates and participates in readings and literary events in Canada and abroad.
Nuit de la lecture: Reading at Saga Bookstore’s Opening Celebration
Location: Glad Day Bookshop, 499 Church Street, Toronto
The Violet Hour: Montréal’s Queer Reading Series
An evening of short readings and performances by LGBTQ writers. Featuring Trebor Healey, Felice Picano, Su J Sokol, David Tacium, among others, Hosted by Christopher DiRaddo: Link to Facebook Event Page
Date: Wednesday, October 23rd 19h – 20h30
Location: The Stock Bar, 1171 rue Ste. Catherine Est, Montréal
Scintillation Science Fiction Convention
Date: October 11th to 13th
Location: The Holiday Inn in Chinatown,999, rue Saint-Urbain, Montréal
Programming:
Saturday, October 12th at 10h00: Rosemary Kirsten and Su Sokol in conversation
Saturday, October 12th at 20h15: Reading from Five Points on an Invisible Line: a work in progress
Can*Con Science Fiction Convention
Date: October 18th to 20th
Location: The Sheraton Hotel, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa
Programming:
Saturday, October 19th at 15h00, Salon E: Back to the Future is a Bunch of Bull —Geoff Hart, Kate Heartfield, Kim- Mei Kirtland, Kelly Robson, and Su J. Sokol (moderator)
Sunday, October 20th at 10h00, Salon D: The Stories You Love — Now With Diversity! — Millie Ho, Kari Maaren, Rati Mehrotra, Su J. Sokol, ‘Nathan Burgoine (moderator)
Sunday, October 20th at 16h00:Reading, Salon B: Works in Progress —Joe Mahoney, Su J. Sokol, Gregory A. Wilson
Lectures Logos Readings
Date: Monday, October 7th
Location: 2741, Notre-dame-ouest, Montréal
Ottawa Book Launch
Date: Saturday, October 5th at 4pm (16h)
Location: Three Brewers — 240 Sparks, Ottawa
Word on the Street Book Festival
Book Signing for Run J Run!
Date: Sunday, September 22nd at 10am
Location: Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Booth 241
The Words and Music Show
Date: Sunday, September 22nd — Doors open at 8pm/20h
Location: Argo Bookshop, 1915 rue Ste-Catherine, Montréal
The World Science Fiction Convention: Dublin
Date: Thursday, August 15th through Monday, August 19th
Location: the Convention Centre and the Point Square, Dublin, Ireland
Programming:
Done to death: the art of killing characters
16 Aug 2019, Friday 12:00 – 12:50, Liffey Hall-2 (CCD)
Sometimes death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a character. When does killing off a character serve the story, and when does it undermine the narrative? Let’s move away from stories where marginalised characters must die to drive the protagonist’s emotional journey. The panel will consider the many ways in which character death can be used, as well as alternatives to well-worn tropes.
Daryl Gregory (moderator), Aimee Ogden, Su J. Sokol, Veronica Roth, Patrick Rothfuss
Dystopian SF: how utopias go wrong
17 Aug 2019, Saturday 14:00 – 14:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)In SF there is no such thing as a utopia. Or, at least, anything that seems on the surface to be a utopia usually isn’t for everyone. The panel will discuss the concept of utopias and whether there can be one that isn’t ultimately harmful for some aspect of society, giving examples from a range of SF sources. How can the ideals of a perfect world be twisted into something dark and dystopian?
Su J. Sokol (moderator), Charnock, Charlie Jane Anders, Tom Toner, K.M. Szpara
Musical influences: emotions, health, and memory
18 Aug 2019, Sunday 11:00 – 11:50, Wicklow Room-4 (CCD)
Music has a powerful effect on our emotions – and creators of film, games, and television take full advantage of this route to our subconscious. How do creators set the mood, does our own cultural baggage help or hinder this process, and in a medical setting can music be used to alter our moods and strengthen memories?
Jennifer Mace (moderator), Joao Goncalves, Su J. Sokol, Dr Mary Crowell, Gabrielle de Cuir
ChiSeries Toronto Reading
Date: Wednesday, July 17th at 8pm
Location: Round Venue, 152A Augusta Avenue, 2nd floor, Toronto
Visual Arts Centre Readings
School of Art / McClure Gallery Readings
Date: June 18, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Location: 350 avenue Victoria , Westmount, Québec
Launch of RUN J RUN
Please join me for the launch of my second novel, Run J Run. The Brooklyn launch will be held at Ginger’s Bar, an icon of my old neighbourhood. The Montréal launch will be at the also iconic Cheval Blanc on rue Ontario. There will be a reading as well as a Q&A. Snacks will be provided and drinks can be purchased at the bar.
MONTRÈAL
DATE: June 11, 2019 at 7pm
LOCATION: Vegan Rapide – Le Misanthrope, 1385 rue Ontario E., Montréal, QC
NEW YORK
DATE: May 12, 2019 at 2:30pm
LOCATION: Ginger’s Bar, 363 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin
DATE: April 8, 2019, 7:00pm/19h
LOCATION: Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest, H-110
Quebec premiere followed by discussion with Jo Walton, Su Sokol, and Helen Chau Bradley, moderated by James Goddard.
LOCATION: Centre Culturel Notre-Dame-des-Grace, 6400 Monkland Avenue, Montréal (Benny Library)
The NDG Community Council is excited to be hosting our second annual Combat des Livres NDG Reads!
Join us on February 22nd to witness a literary battle as some of NDG’s finest defend some of Montreal’s best literature until one book is crowned the must read Montreal novel.
The theme for this year is “Turf Wars.” Celebrating the quirks and subtle differences that can be found as you travel from one neighbourhood to the next, which one of these literary gems provides the best representation of Montreal?
The Montreal masterpieces that will be defended are:
• Cycling to Asylum by Su J. Sokol • Born Into It: A Fan’s Life by Jay Baruchel • Rue by Melissa Bull • Sun of a Distant Land by David Bouchet
Speculative Fiction Readings
DATE: January 10th, 2019
LOCATION: Argo Books
Please join us for an evening of readings of speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, and more – by local Montreal authors:
JO WALTON, SU J. SOKOL, and A. E. PREVOST
2018:
Argo Bookshop Reading
DATE: Thursday, November 8th, at 7:00pm
LOCATION: 1915, rue Saint-Catherine O., Montréal
Can-Con 2018
DATE: October 12th-14th
LOCATION: Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, ON
Truth or Fiction: Blurring the Line Between Memoir and Novel – Nathan Frechette, Talia Johnson, Su J. Sokol, Ursula Pflug (m)
Borderlands: Migration in Fiction – Gillian Clinton, Su J. Sokol, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Derek Newman-Stille (m)
Book-Clubbing Foreign Works of SF – Jonathan Crowe, Costi Gurgu, Su J. Sokol (m)
Special Guest at Parliament Library, Toronto
DATE: Tuesday, July 31st, at 6:30pm
LOCATION: Toronto Public Library, 269 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, ON
DESCRIPTION
Join us for a night to remember with literary readings by our special guests, Su Sokol & Ursula Pflug, as well as readings by a variety of talented writers.
Towards a Liberated (Un)imaginable
DATE: Thursday, June 21st, at 7:30pm
LOCATION: Left Bank Books, 92 Pike, Seattle, Washington
DESCRIPTION
Join visiting Montreal-based author Su J. Sokol (author of Cycling to Asylum) and local writer Magpie Leibøwitz as they read from their respective works and engage in a facilitated discussion of the relationship between speculative writing and activism.
Speculative Fiction, Resistance, and Social Change
DATE: Thursday, May 24th, at 7pm
LOCATION: QPIRG Concordia, 1500 de Maisonneuve West, suite 204
DESCRIPTION:
Speculative fiction has a long history of creating stories that challenge our assumptions about what is possible. Some say that this makes it a natural tool for aiding social justice movements. Others would argue that speculative fiction, like other literary genres, merely springs from and reinforces current social mores and ways of thinking.
This panel will bring together writers of speculative fiction to discuss and debate such issues as the role of dystopian and utopian fiction as social commentary, whether science fiction’s technophilia reinforces capitalist and imperialist thinking, and to what extent is speculative fiction inclusive of works by women, racialized people, and the lgbtqia+ community.
PANELISTS:
H. Nigel Thomas (moderator) is the author of ten books: four novels: Spirits in the Dark (shortlisted for the QSPELL Hugh MacLennan Fiction Award), Behind the Face of Winter, Return to Arcadia, and No Safeguards ( finalist for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction in 2015); three collections of short stories: How Loud Can the Village Cock Crow, Lives: Whole and Otherwise, and When the Bottom Falls Out and Other Stories; a collection of poems, Moving Through Darkness; and two works of non-fiction: From Folklore to Fiction: A Study of Folk Heroes and Rituals in the Black American Novel and Why We Write: Conversations with African Canadian Poets and Novelists. He is a former Montreal high-school teacher and retired professor of United States literature at Université Laval. He is the founder and English-language coordinator of Lectures Logos Readings.
Claudie Arsenault: Squids, bread, and hot air balloon have little in common… except how much nerdy squeeing they can draw out of Claudie. Excitable and passionate, Claudie writes quirky science-fiction and fantasy that lets the best tropes shine through, haters be damned, and her love for sprawling casts invariably turns her novels into multi-storylined wonders. As an aromantic and asexual writer, she gives full breadth to stories that centre platonic relationships. Her latest novel, Baker Thief, features a bigender aromantic baker and explores romantic narrative arcs applied to aromantic characters. Claudie is also well-known for her database of aro and ace characters. Claudie is also a founding member of The Kraken Collective, a group of indie writers who love queer SFF, and she is devoted to its promotion. Find more on her website!
Paige Cooper’s stories have appeared in The Fiddlehead, West Branch, Michigan Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast Online, Canadian Notes & Queries, The New Quarterly, and have been anthologized in The Journey Prize Stories and Best Canadian Stories. She’s a fiction editor at Cosmonauts Avenue and her first book, Zolitude, came out this year with Biblioasis.
Su J. Sokol is a social rights activist and a writer of speculative, liminal, and interstitial fiction. A former legal services lawyer from New York City, she now makes Montréal her home. Cycling to Asylum, Su’s debut novel, was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her short fiction has appeared or is upcoming in The Future Fire, Spark: A Creative Anthology, the TFF 10th Anniversary Anthology, Glittership: an LGBTQ Science Fiction and Fantasy Podcast, the Glittership: Year One anthology, and After the Orange by B-Cubed Press. Her new novel, Run J Run, is scheduled to come out in 2019 with Renaissance Press.
CHILDCARE:
If you require childcare, please contact the organizers at info@kersplebedeb.com 48 hours before the event.
This event is being organized with the support of QPIRG McGill
Blue Metropolis/Metropolis Bleu
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Location: Hôtel 10, Salle Jardin
Description: I will be moderating The Children of Mary Shelley,a panel discussion with Amal El-Mohtar, David Demchuck, and Melissa Yuan-Innes.
Since Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein 200 years ago, speculative fiction has evolved, becoming an eclectic category of literature whose works are increasingly cited for the highest literary awards. How does this evolution relate to trends in literature, and what are the challenges for the future?
Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association
Date: March 10, 2018 at 1:00 pm
Location: Hotel Espresso, 1005 rue Guy — St-François room
Description: Guest of Honour along with Jo Walton for discussion on Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Lapalabrava Readings
Date: February 7, 2018 at 7:00 pm
Location: 5035 St-Denis (corner of St-Joseph)
Description: Série de lectures de poésie en espagnol, français et anglais
WORLDCON: The 75th World Science Fiction Convention
Date: August 9 – 13, 2017
Location: Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Panelist: Can Writers of Science Fiction Predict the Future?
Friday 12:00 – 13:00
Su J. Sokol, Kathleen Ann Goonan (M), Ian Watson, Bao Shu
Signing: Su J. Sokol
Friday 15:00 – 16:00, Signing area
Moderator: Beta Reading and Beta Readers
Saturday 12:00 – 13:00
Charlie Stross, Katherine Jay, Su J. Sokol (M), Keren Landsman
Moderator: Non-binary Genders in Post-human and Non-human Bodies
Saturday 16:00 – 17:00,
Su J. Sokol (M), Charlie Jane Anders, Emma Humphries, Helen Barford, JY Yang
Moderator: Robot Morality
Sunday 13:00 – 14:00, 205
Tara Oakes, Lilian Edwards, Tony Ballantyne, Su J. Sokol (M)
Salon du livres Anarchiste de Montréal/Montréal Anarchist Book Fair
Date: May 27 – 28, 2917, 10am to 5pm (10h – 17h)
Location: It takes place in two buildings across from each other in Parc Vinet:
Centre d’éducation populaire de la Petite-Bourgogne et de St-Henri (CEDA), 2515 rue Delisle, Montréal
Centre Culturel Georges-Vanier (CCGV), 2450 rue Workman, Montréal A short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro.
Come visit me at my table!
The Naughty Bits Book Club
Date: Friday, April 28, 2017 10:00 PM
Location: Hotel 10, 10 rue Sherbrooke W, Montreal, QC, Salle Godin
Host: Blue Met/Metropolis Bleu Literary Festival
Entry fee: $10
An event that recreates that early, furtive feeling of first reading something illicit. When you were too young to have actually done anything, but were VERY INTERESTED in certain passages of certain books. Readers will read hilarious and titillating sexcerpts from famous literary works. With: ❤ Ann-Marie MacDonald ❤ George Elliott Clarke ❤❤ Harry Giles ❤ Monique Polak ❤ Su J. Sokol
Montreal: Once and Future City of Refuge
Date:Thursday, April 27, 2017 3:30 PM
Location: Hotel 10, 10 rue Sherbrooke W, Montreal, QC, Salle Jardin
Host: Blue Met/Metropolis Bleu Literary Festival
Entry fee: $10
Writers from the world over—including the U.S—have found sanctuary in Montreal, and their fiction reflects this. Writers Ehab Lotayef (Crossing Gibraltar, To Love a Palestinian Woman), Cora Siré (Behold Things Beautiful, The Other Oscar), Su Sokol (Cycling to Asylum) and Caroline Vu (Palawan Story, That Summer in Provincetown) discuss the image of Montreal in literature as a city of refuge: past, present and future. Moderated by Jaggi Singh.
Diminishing Shadows
Date:Thursday, March 30, 2017, Door open at 8 PM
Location: Casa del popolo, 4873 boulevard St Laurent, Montreal
Host: The Mile End Poets’ Festival
Entry fee:$7/PWYC
Our opening event of Mile End Poets’ Festival 2017. We are delighted to present ‘Diminishing Shadows’, hosted by Su Sokol & Blossom Thom.
Just as winter brings long shadows, politicians who promote an us-against-them perspective also cast shadows. As their rhetoric builds, so does our resistance. Thoughts of spring, of light, of renewal, begin to fill our spirits. Please join us for an evening of words and music to welcome a new season of diminishing shadows.
With performances from B.A Markus, Deanna Radford, Jason ‘Blackbird’ Selman, Sandra Sjollema, Su Sokol, Blossom Thom and Kay Thellot.
Reading Between the Wines with Su J. Sokol
Date:Thursday, March 16, 2017, at 7:30 PM
Location: Jewish Public Library, 5151 ch. de la Côte Ste-Catherine, Montréal
Host: The Jewish Public Library
Entry fee: $15 general admission
In the wake of recent political and electoral events in the U.S., Su J. Sokol’s near future novel about a family fleeing their home in Brooklyn to seek asylum in Canada has been labelled prophetic by some. Please join Sivan Slapak as she asks Su such questions as how she first came up with this idea, what a utopian Montréal of the future looks like, why she chose the bicycle as her characters’ escape vehicle, and what the story has to say about love, activism, friendship, and loyalty.
Yellow Door Readings
Date:Tuesday, January 24, 2017, at 19:00
Location: The Yellow Door at 3625 Rue Aylmer, Montréal
Host: Ilona Martonfi
Entry fee: $15 general admission
An Evening of Poetry & Prose & Music co-hosted by Ilona Martonfi and Mike Di Sclafani with readings by Barry Webster,Carolyne Van Der Meer, Jeffrey Mackie, Su J. Sokol, Ilona Martonfi, Ehab Lotayef,Liana Cusmano, Mike Di Sclafani, and music by John Kerkhoven.
2016:
Imagining a Path to a More Just Future
Date:Tuesday, November 22, 2016, 7:30 PM
Location: Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 30 W North Ave, Baltimore
Host: Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse
Entry fee: none
Please join us for an evening of readings and discussion with Jason Harris and Su Sokol on the power of speculative fiction to aid social justice movements in imagining, organizing and building a better world. Jason Harris, a 2015 Kimbilio Fiction fellow, is the editor of REDLINES: Baltimore 2028, as well as the author of the soon-to-be-released novel Fly Girl. Su J. Sokol, a former housing attorney from Brooklyn, is a social rights advocate and activist living in Montréal. Her debut novel, Cycling to Asylum, was nominated for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.
CAN-CON 2016
Dates:September 9th – 11th
Location: Novotel, 33 Nicholas Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Host: The Society for Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature
Registration fees: see website
CAN•CON, or more completely CAN•CON: The Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, is a periodic science fiction and fantasy convention in Ottawa put on by The Society for Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature.
Friday, September 9, 7:00 pm: Ursula K. Le Guin: Contributions and Legacy – Caroline Frechette, Su Sokol, Cathy Hird, Chris Kelworth, Alison Sinclair
Saturday, September 10, 16:00: Want to Dominate the World, but Don’t Have a Writers’ Group? Maaja Wentz, Mike Rimar, James K. Moran, Su Sokol, Ryan McFadden (m)
Saturday, September 10, 18:00: Readings: Cycling to Asylum by Su Sokol, Thanatos by Karen Dales, RecipeArium by Costi Gurgu
Sunday, September 11, at 11:00am: Book-Clubbing Foreign Work of SF Translated into English– Peter Halasz, Jonathan Crowe, Su Sokol, Anatoly Belilovski, Costi Gurgu (m)
NDG ARTS WEEK: BELLES LETTRES I, II, and III
Dates:August 23rd at 18:45, August 25th at 18:45, and August 28th at 17:00
Location: Café Shäika, 5526 rue Sherbrooke O., Montréal
Host: La Semaines des arts NDG Arts Week
Entry fee: free
Belles Lettres I, Tuesday, August 23rd: Enjoy an evening of prose and poetry with award-winning authors Ian McGillis, Melissa Bull, Pascale Rafie, Larissa Andrusyshyn, Ariela Freedman, and Monique Polak, who will give readings and sign copies of their books. Curated and hosted by Su Sokol.
Belles Lettres II, Tuesday, August 23rd: Enjoy an evening of prose and poetry with award-winning authors Louise Auger, Cora Siré, Dima Karout, Anita Rau Badami, Sivan Slapak, Su J. Sokol, and Martin Michaud. Curated and hosted by Su Sokol.
Belles Lettres III, Tuesday, August 23rd: Enjoy an evening of prose and poetry with award-winning authors Blossom Thom, Joel Yanofsky, Caroline Vu, Derek Webster, Neil Smith, and Jo Walton who will give readings and sign copies of their books. Curated and hosted by Su Sokol.