Metatron x Metonymy Press Fundraiser: Reading + Dance Party

Readings, a special performance and dance party in support of award-winning, independent queer literature in Montréal and beyond. Come hear some excellent readings, dance, and gather with Metatron and Metonymy Press for a special Sunday fundraiser supporting independent English-language publishing in Montréal. For more than a decade, our two presses have made space for writing that might not find a home elsewhere: poetry, fiction, nonfiction and hybrid work that takes risks, crosses boundaries, and refuses to make itself smaller, or easier to consume. We prioritize edgy, brave work—the writing that refuses to behave, refuses to flatten itself and refuses to disappear. Work that is strange, political, vulnerable, unruly, and free. Queer people from all over the world gather and create roots in Montréal. They meet here, make things here, fall in love here, and change one another here. Our presses grew out of that energy. We publish some of the best queer writers and emerging writers from Montréal and beyond: writers weaving meaning from the chaos, the edges. Trans writers changing what literature can look like. Queer writers, through the shared missions of our presses, who have started our own canons, who have joined a lineage of queer and trans writing in Montreal, and across North America. But independent publishing is fragile. As English-language presses in Québec, we are left out of local and provincial granting opportunities, while federal arts funding remains limited and inconsistent. We keep making books because we believe these voices matter—but editing, design, printing, distribution, author support and public programming all require real resources. That’s where our community comes in. Every ticket and purchase will help support the publishing programs of Metatron and Metonymy Press, allowing us to keep taking chances on writers, paying artists, making beautiful books, and creating spaces where literature can feel alive and shared, a means of sustaining and fortifying community, rather than a sales quota or a capitalist desire to publish centrist, run of the mill work, “guaranteed” to sell. The fundraiser will begin with readings and a very special performance, followed by DJs carrying us into an early-evening Sunday dance party. Come for the books, stay for the dancing—and still be home at a reasonable hour. This event ends at 9 PM. We’ll also have books from both presses and very limited-edition merch available throughout the event. This gathering is for the readers, writers, artists, queers, friends, collaborators, and local weirdos who have sustained our presses—and for anyone who wants risky independent literature to keep growing in Montréal and beyond. Bring your friends. Discover your next favourite writer. Buy a book. Tip your bartenders. Wear the merch. Dance with us. Help keep Montréal literature weird, brave, and exciting. The full lineup of readers, performers, and DJs will be announced next week. We can’t wait to share it with you.