The Garrison Monopolizes Toronto's Spring Launch Season

The OssingtonThis year’s spring launch season feels a little more subdued than last year – maybe it’s the terrible, fluky weather, but I think it’s that everything’s at The Garrison. The Dundas West spot houses the monthly Write Club, but this spring it’s hosted launches for Coach House, Wolsak and Wynn and Anansi.By contrast, in 2012 there were launches at The Magpie, The Gladstone, The Supermarketand The Tranzac, to name only a few. Given that a venue affects the audience’s experience of a reading, when launches by several different publishers end up at the same venue, readings run the risk of becoming interchangeable despite publishers’ attempts to host unique events.Promoters look for a few basic things in booking a venue: affordability, a central location, a space big enough to fit the crowd but small enough to pack, reasonable drink prices, and decent sound. Sometimes a promoter needs to compromise on one aspect in order to choose the best space for the event. (Disclosure: I run a reading series out of Duffy’s, notorious for its pre-renovation bathrooms and random heckles from drunk and not-so-literary regulars.)For instance, The Ossington is affordable and the small back room looks full with just twenty in attendance. But while it’s a fine venue for a small reading, party or concert, it’s also one of the worst if the crowd is too big, due to its layout – there’s a bottleneck at the entrance to the back room – and the acoustics– you can usually hear music from the front all too well. The Garrison, in comparison, is great for a reading with a large crowd.So is The Garrison becoming known as a “space” for literature? Are people drawn to the familiar rather than the unconquered? Is it better for a launch to be an adventure or, like this year, to feel like you’re hanging out with your friends in a familiar living room? Is exploring different venues part of the allure of launch season? Do we even want a regular space for poetry readings? I asked a few of the Anansi Spring Bash attendees what they thought.Lauren Mitchell, publicist at Dragnet Magazine, and a promoter, doesn’t care about “the ambiance of the space […] it’s a total convenience. Fine and reasonable … that’s what poetry’s about.”Poet Bardia Sinaee, of Odourless press (Launching this spring at The Ossington) agreed: “I don’t know if different venues even matter. This [The Garrison] is practical. I just wish there was more reading at the reading.” He might have been happier at Wolsak and Wynn than in the party-focused environment of the Coach House and Anansi launches.For Mat Laporte, poet, poetry editor at The Puritan, and one of the founders of Ferno House, what matters is accessibility: “I’m interested in if it’s affordable or accessible because I run events and because literary endeavours don’t have a lot of money in terms of what they can use [for events].” It seems practical concerns override the need for a Space-with-a-capital-S or the need to be exposed to different spaces.Still, May’s launches look like they are going to have a bit more venue variety with Little Brother, May 1st, at June Records; BookThug’s Spring Launch, May 6th, at The Supermarket; and The Insomniac Double Launch, May 9th, at No One Writers to the Colonel. Launch goers can decide for themselves: does May beat April due to the variety of venues or is the Garrison launch party destined to become a classic?

Back to blog Next