FASHION | | FAT | Arts & Fashion Week
Fashion expands beyond sartorial construction and filters into the art world at the launch of | FAT | Arts & Fashion Week today. This unique five-day event examines the scope of fashion's influence into other arenas of art, including film, photography, music, performance and installation. Tonight's LANDscapes theme will reflect on physical environments with runway shows by local designers B.E. Shields, Jade Sullivan-Vallentyne and Little.White.Dress. and films like A Ballardian Collection. Photo and video exhibits and labs will also take place on site and off with tickets available on the Fashion Art Toronto website. (And may we suggest the week $75 pass
213 Sterling Road 8PM $30 advance, $35 at the door

BOOKS & LIT | "Mad Hope" Book Launch
Contemporary stories taking places in classrooms, waiting rooms, online chat rooms and even in the midst of a tragic plane crash fill Heather Birrell's "Mad Hope," her latest compilation of short stories. The Journey Prize winner writes about the messy, maddening lives of her characters in irregular locales during important moments of realization in "Mad Hope," her second book launching tonight at the Dakota. Fellow author Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will interview Birrell about her work, which will be available for purchase and signing afterward.
The Dakota Tavern (249 Queen Street West) 7PM Free

HISTORY | Riverdale Historical Society presents Hangman's Graveyard
When the Don Jail opened its doors in 1864, it was believed to be groundbreaking in that its improved conditions were a reflection of the new attitude toward prisoners. In the years since, the jail became better known for its public executions and notorious criminals. In Hangman's Graveyard, a film presented by the Riverdale Historical Society tonight in Riverdale Park's St. Matthews Club House, filmmakers follow a crew of archaeologists as they unearth a long forgotten graveyard that once sat behind the jail. The film will be followed by an in-depth talk with Alexis and John Dunlop from Archaeological Services Inc., whose teams worked on the dig featured in the movie.
St. Matthews Club House (Riverdale Park) 6PM $5 non-members

TRANSIT | NOW Talks: Taras Grescoe on Public Transit
strap·hang·er/ˈstrapˌhaNGər/. n.: 1. A standing passenger in a bus or train. 2. A person who commutes to work by public transportation. Toronto native Taras Grescoe knows what it is like to live a life as a straphanger and his new book by the same title explains why everyone else should be just as devoted. In "Straphanger," Grescoe examines transit systems worldwide and how automobiles have destroyed and will continue to be the ruin of many great cities. Speaking tonight in conversation with NOW Magazine's Enzo Di Matteo at the Drake, the author will reiterate the book's thesis about the need for a revolution in how we move about our daily lives and offer solutions to our current transit problems.
Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West) 6:30PM $10

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• David Rotenberg at Toronto Public Library
• Richard Stursberg in conversation with Don Ferguson at the Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Success
• OCADU Augmented Cinema Film Festival

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo by Neil Ta in the blogTO Flickr pool