Join us for our January 2024 Reading inside Dog-Eared Cafe!
We are excited to welcome writers Manahil Bandukwala, Nimra Bandukwala, Kathryn Carter, Kimia Eslah, Frances Roberts-Reilly, and Elizabeth Tarr to present their original work with us in Paris, Ontario.
BOOKS will be available for purchase from the presenters.
FOOD & DRINKS will be available for purchase from the venue.
FREE PUBLIC PARKING is available throughout Downtown Paris.
This event is made possible with funding support from both the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) and the Government of Ontario.
Manahil Bandukwala (she/her) is a poet and visual artist. She is the author of MONUMENT, and many chapbooks. She enjoys working collaboratively, and in addition to Reth aur Reghistan, frequently collaborates with other writers, musicians, and artists in Canada. She holds an MA in English from the University of Waterloo and in 2023, was selected as a Writer’s Trust Rising Star by Shani Mootoo. For more information, visit manahilbandukwala.com.
Nimra Bandukwala (she/her), right, is a visual artist and maker of crafts using foraged and found materials. More recently, she has been integrating earth pigments and natural dyes into her practice while exploring the stories and histories behind these materials. She is a recipient of arts grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Nimra has facilitated community-engaged workshops with folks of all ages and abilities in schools and community-based settings. For more information, visit nimrabandukwala.com.
Kathryn Carter (she/her) grew up in Paris, Ontario. She lucked into her first summer job: reading 19th-century editions of the Paris Star as research for the second edition of The Forks of the Grand. Later, she lucked into writing three plays for the Cobblestone Festival in the early 2000’s, and she also published a micro-short story about the Gilston Farm at the bottom of the Mile Hill, where she grew up. Other than that, she obtained a PhD in English from the University of Alberta, taught at Duke University and Universität Tubingen in Germany, became a professor, a dean, and a few other things at Wilfrid Laurier University, and published widely on life writing of the 19th century, especially diaries. Her next papers to be published include one on the history of diaries in the fur trade, and a short examination of reading habits in 19th-century Brantford entitled “How the Tinsmith Got his Books.” She is also currently a visiting scholar at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she has been researching the material culture of emigrant letters sent between Canada and Ireland.
Kimia Eslah writes novels about urbanites, underdogs, and the Iranian diaspora. CBC Books, Ms. Magazine, and The Miramichi Reader have praised her work. Her latest novel, Enough, is a corporate drama about three women of colour who challenge the old boys' club at Toronto City Hall. Kimia pens a monthly newsletter about being dominated by cats, and other meaningful life realizations. To subscribe, send a message to author@kimiaeslah.com. Before she wrote social justice novels, Kimia designed courses. After that, just to shake things up, she made a kid. Then she did a bunch of laundry. She now writes full-time. Kimia is a feminist writer and a Queer woman of colour. For more information, visit kimiaeslah.com.
Frances Roberts-Reilly has an international profile as a Romani writer, playwright, Storyteller, Poetry Wales poet and filmmaker. After making award-winning documentaries on human rights, she earned an Honours degree in English Literature at the University of Toronto. True to the spirit of the Romani diaspora her poems have been published internationally in well regarded anthologies in Canada, U.S., U.K., Wales and Europe.
Her books are Firebird Award-winner Parramisha: A Romani Poetry Collection (Cinnamon Press) and The Green Man (Stanza Series, TOPS). Her Romani poetry is now part of the Welsh government’s anti-racism and diversity curriculum taught in Welsh schools. Her essays are published in the Critical Romani Studies Journal by the Central European University, Budapest and Planet Welsh Internationalist, Wales. Frances is a contributor to the Roma Peoples Project at Columbia University and ERIAC European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture archive of Roma Women in Film. Her plays are, Mad Gwen and Hecate’s Suppers performed at She Speaks, International Women’s Day. Flush Ink Productions (2019 & 2022); while Esmeralda Speaks is in production. She has performed as a storyteller of her family's Gypsy tales at the Aberystwyth International Storytelling Festival, the Guelph Guild of Storytellers and the Baden Storytellers Guild.
Frances is a guest author on CBC Radio, WSRQ Radio, Sarasota and CKWR 98.5 Community Radio. She is producer of the podcast Watershed Writers on Midtown Radio KW. Frances is an LBTQ+ and BIPOC grandmother, living in Kitchener, Ontario.
Elizabeth Tarr is a horror obsessed writer from Paris who makes zines and collects books.