Join Mawenzi House on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 7pm ET to celebrate the launch of charles c. smith’s poetry book, searching for eastman. The free Toronto Lit Up book launch will take place at 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media and Education. The doors will open at 6:45pm ET if you would like to attend in person or you can watch from the comfort of your home via Zoom.

searching for eastman is a multidisciplinary performance—a choreopoem—in four acts, based on the interpretation of four of Julius Eastman’s compositions—evil nigger; prelude to st joan; stay on it; and gay guerrilla. Making use of different artistic forms—poetry, theatre, music, dance, video and digital—it is inspired by the African griot tradition, the Harlem Renaissance (eg the work of Langston Hughes with jazz and Kurt Weil), and the Black Arts movement (eg Amiri Baraka’s work with Sun Ra). You can purchase your copy of the book from Mawenzi House here.

Toronto Lit Up is a multi-year initiative, started in 2016 by the Toronto International Festival of Authors and the Toronto Arts Council, to spotlight Toronto writers and empower local artists with career-building opportunities. Between April 2016 to December 2020, Toronto Lit Up has produced 119 events to launch 143 books by 212 Toronto authors. Toronto Lit Up book launches take place throughout the year at venues across the city. They are open to the public and free to attend. Click here for more information.