Dick’s programming includes collaboratively-crafted workshops, reading series, public talks, ephemeral reading rooms, and other events foregrounding the work of trans, non-binary, and Two Spirit artists and authors. For example, Dick’s hosts a number of reading workshops that aim to stage the communal dimensions of reading, make the sociality of reading palpable, and inquire into the collective stakes of reading with others.
Ongoing & Upcoming Events
Care Without Pathology: Book Talk & Discussion – August 15th, 2024
Event Description
In collaboration with The Trans Patient Union and the Disability Archives Lab, we are excited to host a book talk and conversation on Care Without Pathology: How Trans- Health Activists Are Changing Medicine, by Christoph Hanssmann! Join us on August 15th for a presentation by the author, followed by a conversation with members of the Trans Patient Union and TRAPs (@traps_mtl) on the theme of trans-led collectives who organize on the assumption that trans health and, as Hanssmann calls it, trans therapeutics constitute “a social need and a public good.” While Hanssmann’s work interrogates issues of state and policy, our discussion will extend beyond these systems and towards autonomous collectives and actions that achieve trans care.
As a part of this event, we will host a pop-up library featuring a selection of books that address trans* care and healthcare. Some queer and trans zines will also be available for purchase on a pay-what-you-can basis, with all proceeds going towards Mubaadarat’s (@mubaadarat) mutual aid fund, which supports LGBTQI+ Arabs in crisis. We are grateful for the support of @qpirgconcordia and Disability Archives Lab for making this event possible. For full event details see the link in bio!
Details:
Date: August 15th, 2024
Time: 6:00-7:30 PM
Price: Free
Where: Coop Agenda, 6692 rue Saint-Denis
Access info:
- This is a masked event. K/N95s or better required. Free KN95s will be provided. A large HEPA filter will be in the space.
- Agenda is a wheelchair accessible space with a gender neutral bathroom.
- LSQ interpretation will be provided.
- This is a fragrance-free event. Please refrain from using fragrances and scented products prior to attending.
- Agenda is equipped with LED track lighting which can be dimmed. Please contact us for sensory needs.
- Agenda is a 5 minute walk from Beaubien metro (no elevator), and an 11 minute walk from Jean-Talon metro (w/ elevator access). Please contact us for free bus tickets.
Info sur l’accès:
- C’est un événement masqué. K/N95 ou mieux requis. Des KN95 sont fournis gratuitement. Un grand filtre HEPA sera présent dans l’espace.
- Agenda est un espace accessible aux fauteuils roulants avec une toilette neutre.
- L’interprétation en LSQ sera assurée. La traduction chuchotée en français sera disponible.
- Il s’agit d’un événement sans parfum. Veuillez vous abstenir d’utiliser des parfums et des produits parfumés avant d’assister à l’événement.
- Agenda est équipé d’un éclairage LED qui peut être atténué. Veuillez nous contacter pour des besoins sensoriels.
- Agenda est à 5 minutes à pied du métro Beaubien (sans ascenseur), et à 11 minutes à pied du métro Jean-Talon (avec accès aux ascenseurs). Veuillez nous contacter pour obtenir des billets de transport gratuits.
Author Bio:
Christoph Hanssmann is an Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis. Chris’ work focuses on relationships between social movements and biomedicine. His first book, Care without Pathology: How Trans- Health Activists are Changing Medicine (2023) was recently published by the University of Minnesota Press. He works collaboratively with researchers and activists in feminist, queer and transfeminist health and justice, and has published articles in Transgender Studies Quarterly, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Feminist Formations, and Social Science and Medicine.
Respondent bios:
Désirée Nore Sàlo Duchesne is a multifaceted community organizer working in philanthropy, researcher, and multidisciplinary artist, holds a master’s degree in sociology and double degrees in Philosophy and Sociology. Their work revolves around conducting action research with a penchant for worldbuilding and exploring liminal and marginalized realms, Desiree infuses her artistic endeavors with an element of experimentation and self-learning practices.
Alex & Tris are members of the Trans Patient Union.
Collaborators:
The Trans Patient Union is a collective by and for trans and nonbinary patients in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal). We are focused on advocating for better practices and patient unionization at local clinics, as well as providing resources and individual assistance to help trans patients navigate their care.
The Disability Archives Lab investigates the ways that archives and the materials they hold document, shape, and impact disabled people—in history and today. Keeping critical disability studies at the forefront of researching and building projects around disability and archives, the Lab hosts projects and research initiatives that center the politics of disability, how disabled people are affected by historic representation, and how to imagine archival futures that are centered around disabled desires. For more information see DisabilityArchivesLab.com.
Dick’s Writing Group – Fridays 11am-1pm
Starting in Summer 2024, Dick’s is hosting a writing group! A weekly container for whatever you need to write/task/focus on that we can do in trans* community with each other. Each session will kick off with introductions & a brief check-in, before launching into quiet working/writing time with cameras on or off. Come, type, make small chat, repeat the next week!
Date: Every Friday, Starting Friday, June 14th , 2024
Time: 11:00am-1:00pm EST
Where: Zoom (contact events [at] dickslendinglibrary [dot] com for zoom info)
Cost: Free
Access: AI captions will be provided. We’ll be mindful of the amount of chat for those of us who are easily distracted. Please contact us with any additional access requests. .
We can’t wait to co-work with you! Feel free to reach out to events [at] dickslendinglibrary [dot] com with any questions or concerns.
Facilitator bios:
Ess (they/them) is easily distracted, thrives with body doubles, has lots of studying and coordination tasks to do, and loves you. Lee is perpetually working on too many projects and wants to have more of a sense of community and accountability to get stuff done!
Past Events
What’s Your Pleasure: A Reading Workshop on Trans* Erotics
In this online workshop, we will share, read aloud, and discuss writing that addresses the pleasures & possibilities of trans* embodiment, sensualities & sexualities. Plan to come with your favorite sexy, smutty, or simply sensuous passages from texts of any genre, including but not limited to novels, poetry collections, zines, memoirs, essays, or hybrid texts. Online, Free/PWYC, April 13th, 2023.
Trans, Non-Binary, Two Spirit Poetics
A six-session reading workshop hosted by the Centre for Gender Advocacy in Fall 2022.
This online, collaboratively crafted workshop centers writing by trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit authors in order to think and feel through how lived experiences relate to poetic practice.Over the course of six weekly sessions, we will share, read aloud, and closely discuss a selection of short texts chosen by workshop participants. These texts will cover an expansive range of literary & artistic genres, styles, and forms.
Alongside our chosen readings, we will ask: What do poetics have to do with trans, non-binary, and two-spirit experiences? How do these experiences shape ways of making? And what might reading together teach us about living together? No advance reading will be required for any session.
The Enby Manifesto Launch
Come celebrate the launch of Danny McLaren‘s new chapbook The Enby Manifesto, published by Porkbelly Press!! Join us for a reading & conversation at Co-op Bar Milton-Parc on Friday, November 24th, from 5:30pm-7:30pm EST. Dick’s will be there with a lil’ pop-up library, and a pile of posters & flyers for Palestine. Masks are required and will be provided.
Danny McLaren is a neurodivergent, Jewish, queer, trans and non-binary writer and poet living in Katarokwi, what is colonially known as Kingston, Ontario. They have an MA in Gender Studies from Queen’s University. They write about living queerly, loving their friends, and their own trans body. They can be found on twitter @dannymclrn. The Enby Manifesto, their second chapbook, is part love letter, part manifesto, part dream for the transgender future.
Access info: This is a masked event. A limited amount of Kn95s will be available at the door, and one portable air purifier will be in the space. Co-op BMP is a wheelchair-accessible venue with gender-neutral bathrooms.