The Argo presents its August reading series event of local prose and poetry, curated by Ilona Martonfi. Please email us at events @ argobookshop . ca for the Zoom link!

Our lineup for this event:

Drea Lake is a songwriter whose poetic songs range from folk to pop & neo soul, she studies at Berklee College of Music: https://andrealake.ca/home
 
Alejandro Saravia, Canadian-Bolivian author. Publications include Jaguar con el corazón en la mano (2010) & L'homme polyphonique (2014).
 
Ariela Freedman is the author of the award-winning novels Arabic for Beginners (LLP, 2017) and A Joy to be Hidden (LLP, 2019).
 
Willow Loveday Little is a British-Canadian writer and poet whose work has appeared in several publications, including The Dalhousie Review.
 
Devon Gallant is the author of four poetry collections including S(tars) & M(agnets) which bill bissett called ‘a mirakul uv a book.’
 
Connie Guzzo McParland, President & Chief Administrative Officer of Guernica. Author of The Girls of Piazza d’Amore & The Women of Saturn. 
 
Madelaine Caritas Longman's poetry appears in Room, Grain, Prism, & elsewhere. Author of a first book, The Danger Model (McGill-Queen's, 2019).
 
Sharon Lax publishes in numerous journals; longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize. Author of Shattered Fossils by Guernica Editions, 2020.
 
Harry Rajchgot, author of Gravitational Fields & The Sweetness of Life, the play A Little Happiness, editor, JONAHmagazine & 1001 Uses for Dental Floss.

The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu around the year 1000, is often considered the world's first novel. Her story of the Shining Prince of the Imperial Court and his life, culture, and relationships with women, has stood the test of time and forms an important piece of the foundation of Japanese literature.

For 2020, the Japan Book Club, presented in collaboration between the Argo and JETAA Q/A, is meeting monthly to discuss this important and still lively work. You can read the complete Tale of Genji in any of its English translations, by Arthur Waley, Edward Seidensticker, Royall Tyler, or Dennis Washburn; we have all of them available for sale. You can also choose to read it in French or other languages, if you prefer.

In our seventh edition, we will be discussing Chapters 29-34 of the Tale of Genji in whatever translation you are reading. If you are interested in joining us, please email us at events@argobookshop.ca for the link. Please join us for this trip through a historic yet timeless tale!

Looking for a foxy and surreal read for the heat of summer in Montreal? The Argo Bookshop, in conjunction with the JET Alumni Association of Quebec and Atlantic Canada, will be hosting its summer Japan Book Club on August 27.

For this meeting, we'll be discussing The Fox and Dr. Shimamura by Christine Wunnicke. A work of historical fiction by a German author, we look at the life of a Meiji-era Japanese doctor trying to train the eye of modern psychological eye on the phenomenon of people being possessed by fox spirits. For being 150 pages, this book packs in a lot to discuss - science, folklore, gender, surreealism, history, Westernization in Japan, and much more.

Join us online via Zoom for a lively discussion of a thoughtful and offbeat piece of literature about Japan! You can read the book in any language. You're also welcome to come if you haven't read the book, but there will likely be spoilers.