“I Try to Be Conscious of the Various Differences”: Farzana Doctor on Brockton Writers

Farzana Doctor, founder of Brockton Writers.“I’m quite connected to the [Brockton] neighbourhood. I’m one of the co-moderators of the listserv for the neighbourhood, and I’ve lived here for ten years,” Farzana Doctor told me in Bivy Café at Brock and Dundas, in the heart of Brockton Village. “We often get quite a lot of regulars who are local residents [outside the literary community] who come because they’re just like, ‘Hey this is a cool thing that’s happening just down the street.’”I walked from Roncesvalles along Lansdowne, Brockton, and Brock on my way to meet Doctor. It was my first time getting a feel of the Brockton neighbourhood: its artists, independent restaurants and cafés, and day labourers loading up their trucks for a day of construction. According to Doctor, The Brockton Triangle consists of all the space from Lansdowne to Rusholme and College to Queen. The area inspired Brockton Writers, founded in fall 2009.Doctor decided to start the series after meeting another writer dog-walking. “I started the series with Melanie Janisse. She used to own a café called Zeus, and she and I thought [we should] try to run something out of her café. We had another dog-walker friend who was a writer and had a new book coming out, so the three of us read. So then we thought, ‘Let’s keep doing this.’ It first highlighted writers in the neighbourhood, but then we ran out of people. Now it includes mostly Toronto writers, but every so often there is someone who comes in from out of town if they have Canada Council Travel Funding. So we have Angie Abdou coming from Fernie, B.C. in March and Lisa Moore coming in May.”Aside from local representation, Doctor has always made the diversity of readers a priority in the booking process. “Sometimes the writing series [in Toronto] don’t feel very diverse. You can go to them and there are three white guys that are reading.” While Doctor acknowledges that some series work to disrupt this homogeneity, at the time she founded Brockton Writers, she “felt like there wasn’t enough [diversity]. For each reading, I try to have a mix of genres, like a poet and a novelist and someone who’s a playwright. It attracts more people and it’s interesting. I try to have at each event someone who is well known with someone who is emerging. I like to have ethno-racial differences, so at least one person of colour is on the bill. I like to have a queer person if we can, I like to have women, I like to have older/younger. I try to be conscious of the various differences and what the group looks like on stage.”Brockton Writers also includes other features to make the series unique and useful to writers in the community, such as a networking portion with a speaker at the beginning of the night and an author Q and A period. “There’s a bit of professional development. We have someone organizing a special guest speaker a half hour before the readings begin. And so far that’s been on topics that would be the most relevant for emerging writers, so we’ll have a publisher coming in to talk about their publishing house and what they look for. We’ve had people from the grant agencies talk about criteria and how to get a grant. It’s very short, and it’s really informal and an opportunity for people to talk to each other.” Doctor says having the speaker helps give conversations a starting point and helps make shier attendees who might not know anyone feel included.The Q and A period proved to be more productive than the open mic format for Brockton Writers. Doctor “found that [the Q and A] allowed for more interaction with the writers. And it also increased the author’s booksales.”Since Brockton Writers has so many different components, having reliable volunteers has been a must. “I wasn’t really able to concentrate on readings before because I’d be at the table when people were arriving, and I’d be trying to take the photographs. It was just ridiculous. I did all the [booking and organizational] work, and Melanie did the venue work. The number of volunteers that help with all of this has increased over time, which I’m very grateful for.

A map of Brockton.“Today we have quite a range of people. We have Sheila Toller who takes the photographs and then posts them on Facebook afterwards. We have Daniel Perry who writes the blog, and he also sells the books at the event. He sometimes takes on the Q and A period as well. May Lui organizes the guest speakers. We have the owner of the café, Lori Nytko, and she also does our Twitter Feed. There’s quite a lot of hours of labour [in running a series], and it all adds up. If you aren’t spreading this stuff out, you start to get a little bummed out.” Now that the work is shared, Doctor finds it to be an enjoyable evening for both herself and her volunteers.Doctor’s advice for new writers is to get involved in Toronto’s community. “We all need to have a writer’s network. Go to these events, introduce yourself to people, maybe offer to volunteer if you have time. Somebody who isn’t connected at all to a writer’s scene could meet every single writer and talk to them, just because they’re volunteering, and suddenly they have a network. It doesn’t take that long. So I would say get involved, don’t just show up and be quiet.” Doctor knows sometimes it can be intimidating to go out to events alone, which is why Brockton Writers makes sure to “greet people when they come in [and] introduce ourselves.” The series is also always looking for volunteers and might be a great place for an emerging writer to start getting to know people in the community. “It’s really key to have a lot of help.”If you are interested in volunteering, contact Farzana Doctor over Facebook. Brockton Writers has currently closed their list of future readers due to overwhelming interest in reading at the series. Join Brockton Writers for their last event of the 2013 season on November 13, 2013 at Full of Beans Coffee House & Roastery (1348 Dundas St. W., Toronto) featuring Daniel Perry, Richard Scarsbrook, Josh Smith, and Emily Pohl-Weary. Come early (6:30) for a networking session with Michael Callaghan, publisher at Exile Editions.