Toronto’s second annual Luminato arts fest kicks off in a couple of weeks (it runs from June 6 to 15), and the schedule of literary events is now set. It includes a tribute to Isaac Bashevis Singer, an event about South Asian writing and one about political graphic novels, and several readings at different venues and times that make up a “Festival of the Short Story.”
Also under the Luminato banner is an event dubbed “The Dark City,” a fundraiser for The Walrus magazine that will feature urban noir-themed readings by Austin Clarke, Heather O’Neill, and Greg Hollingshead, plus the jazz-vocal stylings of Molly Johnson.
Lame in every way.
I second that. Maybe if the Walrus:
(a) Diversified its editorial staff
(b) Attempted to target more than just the upper middle-class white man with its editorial content
(d) Stopped trying so hard (and failing) to be the Canadian New Yorker
They might get:
(a) More interest from a multi-cultural audience
(b) More advertising
(c) More subscriptions
And then we wouldn’t have to be put through the torture of seeing Walrus raise funds for itself with Luminato-Walrus ads for an event called “Dark City” with a picture of a black woman (albeit a beautiful woman - Molly Johnson) a the top of its ad. How unintentionally patronizing.