In this week's roundup of Toronto's literary events: Party in Parkdale, Slamming for Spoken Word Supremacy, Scintillating Sex Stories, and other alliterations.

Tuesday, June 17

Paul Polak, founder of Colorado-based non-profit International Development Enterprises, visits OCAD tonight to deliver a talk on why current poverty-alleviation strategies might not be working, and what can be done to make them more effective. He will also be launching his book Out of Poverty: When Traditional Approaches Fail. The talk and launch take place at the OCAD Auditorium at 6:30pm tonight.

Also on Tuesday:

• Lien Chao reads from her short story collection The Chinese Knot and her other works at TPL's Locke Branch at 2pm.
• Michael Knox launches The North End Poems at The Supermarket at 6:30pm.
• James Deahl, Laura Pasol, and Pier Giorgio Di Cicco feature at the Art Bar Poetry Series at Clinton's at 8pm.
   

In this week's roundup of Toronto's literary events: Canadian sonnets, more Luminato, poetry in the park, and Book Expo Canada.

Tuesday, June 10

Straight from Norway, acclaimed cartoonist JASON will be at The Central in Toronto to launch his new work Pocket Full of Rain. JASON's work can be currently seen in the New York Times Magazine, and will be interviewed on his process and inspirations by The Beguiling's Peter Birkemoe.

Also on Tuesday:

• Launch for Sailor Girl by Sheree-Lee Olson @ 6pm - Ben McNally Books
• Jeff Fuchs at This is Not a Reading Series @ 7:30pm - Gladstone Hotel
• Monty Reid, Phlip Arima, and Yannick Marshall at Art Bar Poetry Series @ 8pm - Clinton's
   

Photo: "Reference Library" by Metrix X, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Thoughts of Luminato — Toronto's Festival of Arts and Creativity — don't always conjure up images of the Toronto Public Library, but as it did last year, the country's largest library system is sponsoring a whole slew of literary events as part of the upcoming festival.

The highlight of TPL's Luminato activities (especially for lovers of all things short like me) is the Festival of the Short Story, featuring readings and panels with eight of this country's best short story authors at four library locations across the city.

There are films I watch at the Toronto International Film Festival that I never expect to be released here in North America. Not because of their quality, mind you, but because they generally don't have the same kind of widespread appeal and marketing budget as, for example, a film like Indiana Jones.

Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is an Only Child) was one of those films. Daniele Luchetti's film — which opened at Cannes in 2007 but had its North American premiere at TIFF last year — not only made my list of favorite films of the festival, but has been entertaining audiences in Europe since its release across the ocean a few months ago.

Now, it's coming to Toronto.

In this week's roundup of Toronto's literary events: celebrating 100 years of Anne of Green Gables, a gathering of mystery readers and writers, exploring the city's small presses, and the book trailer for Toronto Noir.

Tuesday, June 3rd:

Gregory Betts, Nathan Whitlock, Tanya Runyen, Joe Rosenblatt and Norman Snider will be reading at the Dora Keogh Irish Pub, while Esther Mazakian, Katia Grubisic and Rocco de Giacomo will take the mic at Clinton's for the weekly Art Bar Poetry Series.

Over at the MacMillan Theatre at the University of Toronto, seven finalists for the Griffin Poetry Prize will read their selected works.

Ed Gass-Donnelly, in his recent film This Beautiful City, features Toronto at its grittiest. And for that, I'm proud.

We're all used to Toronto playing the stand-in for New York or Boston in big-budget films. Seeing our city play herself on screen is a rare enough treat, but in Gass-Donnelly's movie, she not only stars, but shines. For those of you that didn't get the chance to see Toronto's starring role at TIFF last year, This Beautiful City opens tomorrow at The Royal for a limited engagement.