About

Join us Thursday, March 20 at the Tranzac Club for the launch of Muttertongue: what is a word in utter space (Exile Editions). The event will feature the Muttertongue Trio: Lillian Allen, Gary Barwin and Gregory Betts. Doors will open at 7:00pm.

A spoken word, musical, and visual celebration of poetic brilliance:
• 7:00 – Doors Open – Free Admission
• 7:00-8:00 – Live music while you enjoy drinks, conversation, and get ready for the performance.
• 8:00 – We Start the Show! Neo-Sonic OCAD Sound Troupe (5 minutes) followed by: The Muttertongue Trio (Allen, Barwin, Betts) and their 50 minutes performance!
• 9:00-10:00 – Book signing, and live music to end the evening.

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 and March 2024, Toronto Lit Up has presented over 200 events featuring over 250 Toronto authors and illustrators. 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.

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Muttertongue: what is a word in utter space

Muttertongue: what is a word in utter space by Lillian Allen (a dub poet, writer, and Juno Award winner), Gary Barwin (poet, writer, composer, multimedia artist, performer, and educator), and Gregory Betts (whose writing explores the boundaries between self, other, and alien – the radical other) is a collaborative collection ... Read more

Buy from Exile Editions

Lillian Allen

Lillian Allen is the City of Toronto's seventh poet Laureate and a creative writing professor at OCAD University. A pre-and post-language innovator, she works at the intersection of dub, sound and rebel poetics.

Lillian is the author of Make the World New: The Poetry of Lillian Allen, Women Do this Every Day, Psychic Unrest, plus books and recordings for children and young people.

Read more about Lillian Allen

Gregory Betts

Gregory Betts is a poet, professor, scholar, and impish improviser. He curates the bpNichol.ca Digital Archive and is the Literary Arts Residency Lead for The SETI Institute.

Read more about Gregory Betts

Gary Barwin

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer and multimedia artist whose nationally bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, and won the Leacock Medal. abcdefy

Read more about Gary Barwin