They’ve read over 70 books since their start in 2019.
The Violet Hour book club meets monthly to discuss classic and contemporary works of 2SLGBTQ+ literature.
And this month, on Aug. 8 –- they held a special edition for ItalfestMTL and Pride — an evening with interviews and readings by queer writers of Italian origin.
“We find ourselves right in the middle of both ItalFestMTL and Fierté Montréal,” said Christopher DiRaddo, founder of Violet Hour. “Both of these huge festivals happen at the same time.”
“We wanted to do something about those intersections.”
And they did!
Creating this evening downtown at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Montréal.
Three queer Italian-Canadian writers shared their work – each who appeared in a recent anthology called Hear & Now:
- Matthew Fox, author of “This Is It,” read excerpts from his new text coming out in the fall.
- Liana Cusmano, shared some of their incredible poems.
- And Anthony Portulese, who read an expert from his short story.
“Events like this are really just an important opportunity for us to be able to not just sort of stomp our feet and say that we are part of this community,” said Portulese. “But also to show that we loved being raised Italian and the perspective that it provided us in not just our upbringings, but our outlook upon the world.”
Outside of this event, Violet Hour reaches beyond the Italian community.
The book club was created to compliment their reading series that began a decade ago – a way to provide a platform for all 2SLGBTQ+ writers living in Montreal.
“I wanted to create a space where we can kind of encourage people to read,” explained DiRaddo. “And read deeply, read more often.”
Over 250 writers have been featured at their over 150 events through the years.
“Great connections have been made because of the group, so a lot of friendships have been created,” said DiRaddo. “A lot of our members are aspiring writers as well.”
“They’ve been able to connect with one another, to kind of workshop their work,” he added. “And to be inspired for when they themselves do publish.”
“I am still a very much an emerging writer,” said Portulese. “It just feels like an incredible privilege to be able to share the sort of scene with them here tonight.”
“This won’t be the last event that I do with Italian writers, for sure,” said DiRaddo. “Hopefully this is just the beginning.”