“Make it a Collaborative Enterprise:” Liz Howard on AvantGarden

Liz Howard, literary brains behind AvantGarden.“I was thinking about all of the writers whose work I really loved, and I felt they weren’t being very well represented in the [existing] series and perhaps the community,” Liz Howard told me. This led Howard to start AvantGarden—which is focused mainly on sound-based, experimental, and feminist writers and performers—in May of 2010.“Not to do it a disservice, but I thought the community could benefit from a showcasing of these types of writers and performers. One night Shannon Maguire and I were both at the Art Bar, and she was up on the open mic, and it was as though I knew her poetics and her feminist leanings, and I approached her and I said, ‘We’re going to start a feminist reading series together.’ And she’s like, ‘Yes, we are!’ and we exchanged information, started meeting and planning, got work from people in the community. And then it started!” Fenn Stewart also got involved—as a grant writer and as a performer for the series.Over iced coffee at the Green Beanery at Bathurst and Bloor, Howard spoke about some of the publications and courses that inspired AvantGarden, such as the Influency Salon founded by Margaret Christakos. “It’s a salon-style course,” Howard said, “you read the work of eight poets, and each session one poet gives a talk on another poet’s work, and then that poet also reads. It was very fascinating to be in that context and be exposed to so many different types of poetry and poetics. It was also around the time when Prismatic Publics came out, an anthology of innovative women’s writing in Canada.”While AvantGarden likes to feature experimental work, they “also invite people whose work might be thought of as more lyrical or more narrative to come forward and present their most experimental or weird stuff, stuff that’s in the early stages of being developed, to get feedback. We’ve also had performers who are sound-based and integrate music and film into performances.” The set times at AvantGarden run up to forty minutes long, so often shows are only composed of two performers, which Howard says is because “we wanted to give people the chance to really explore their oeuvre.”Howard continues: “The good thing about our series is that we have a Q and A session afterwards and ask the audience to engage with the readers and their readings. I think it lends a more participatory feel to the evening.” Sometimes the audience is also invited to participate in an open mic, which Howard views as “an excellent way for people to get their sea legs, to start out and get a feel for performing, and to feel included. It’s democratic.”Howard and Maguire also like to switch things up occasionally with Wild Occasional Blooms, shows that run when a certain writer they want to book happens to be in town. “From the Hothouse” is also an occasional feature of the series, where an emerging writer is invited to perform a slightly shorter set. If the performance suits AvantGarden’s crowd, sometimes a “From the Hothouse” writer is invited back to do a full set at another show.For Howard, a well-curated show is what makes an event memorable: “Having a bit of diversity. And also having the [performers] sort of speak to each other. It makes for a more interesting evening.” She adds, “I think Pivot does a great job at staying on the pulse of who’s being published, and you can always expect a good season.”Howard is pleased with the other events that make the city a lively place for literature, but thinks more can be done to reinforce the sense of community that has developed. “It would be nice if we all sort of had an online home we could trade information on,” she says, “a blog or something. Stuart Ross does a great thing with Patchy Squirrel where you can send him your listing and he sends out a mass email, but it might be nice to have more fluid engagement, like an online hub, a poetry community hub.”According to Howard, the community makes a great series like AvantGarden possible, which leads her to suggest that beginning curators “make [running a series] a collaborative enterprise. That’s always very fruitful to get that sort of help and have another mind doing it with you, sorting things out and helping with all of the administrative things.” Other community members often get involved by donating items to be sold as a fundraiser. For example, “Mat Laporte donated broadsides. Ralph Kolewe donated handmade chapbooks of his work to be sold. It’s been a really wonderful, rewarding experience, and we’re very happy to be part of the Toronto community.”For the fall season, Howard will be stepping away from the series for a brief hiatus while she focuses on finishing her MFA at Guelph-Humber. The series continues to be hosted by Shannon Maguire. For more information on the series, join their Facebook group or add Maguire or Howard on Facebook. “Talk to people; don’t feel shy about talking to the featured readers or the series hosts. We’re all pretty friendly.”