The blog of Ron Schafrick
On a completely different note... just thought I'd share a video I took of me mountain biking in the Don Valley on one of my favourite trails. In the summertime this is my almost daily exercise routine. The video was shot June 8, 2016.
Just a reminder that I'll be reading once again at the Queer Confessions reading series at The 519 (on Church St.) in Toronto. Other readers include LeZlie LEE KAM, Karen Lewis, Zena Lord, and Rachel Lauren Clark. Show starts at 8 pm. For the reading series' Facebook page, go here, or here to visit the website. See you then!
Please join me on June 2nd at The 519 where I'll once again be reading as part of the Queer Confessions reading series. Coinciding with Pride, the theme for the evening is "Loud and Proud." I don't know who the other readers will be, but I'll post again when I do. The event starts at 8 pm and is held at 519 Church Street in Toronto. To find out more, go here. See you then!
I'm very excited to see my story "Safe" out now in the latest issue of The New Quarterly (no. 138). The story is about a high school English teacher and his obsession with the murder of Chinese student Jun Lin four years ago. I was worried that no one would take on the story given its subject matter, so I'm very grateful that it found a good home at The New Quarterly. The new issue also has work by Elizabeth Hay, Steven Heighton, Cynthia Flood, and a number of others. Can't wait to dig in! Check it out! Also, learn all about why I do not write at my desk by checking out the TNQ blog here.
Please join me on Sunday, March 20th, at the Red Sandcastle Theatre in Toronto where I'll be reading as part of the Draft Reading Series. It looks like an amazing line-up, and I'm excited to be reading alongside Ken Murray, Lillian Necakov, Lana Pesch, and Jessica Westhead. The event starts at 3 pm, and for more information click here or here. Hope to see you then!
So after another hiatus of a couple months I returned to Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, only this time to tackle Volume IV (or “Season 4” as I like to think of it): Sodom and Gomorrah. The previous volume, The Guermantes Way, ended with a cliff-hanger: while on his way to visit the Duke de Guermantes to confirm whether the invitation he received to the Princess de Guermantes’ party is legitimate or not, Marcel witnesses something of such monumental importance that he tells the reader that he must wait until later to tell us what it is in order to dedicate enough time and space to its discussion. And so Volume IV resumes where we left off with Marcel poking around the flowers in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Guermantes. Hidden from view, he observes the Baron de Charlus and Jupien (a tailor who has a shop in the courtyard) silently striking strange (and somewhat comical) poses that Proust compares to flowers that openly display their reproductive parts in order to attract bees to come and pollinate them. When the two men disappear into the building, Marcel goes into an adjacent shop and listens through the wall to the two men having sex, thus introducing the theme of homosexuality to this volume.
A number of months ago, Plenitude Magazine (who had published my story "Lovely Company" back in 2014) asked me to write a short piece on a queer book or author that had a big impact on me. I decided to write about Denton Welch, and you can find that piece on their website. Check it out here.
I'm terribly excited and pleased to announce that my mega-long story "Safe" has been accepted for publication in The New Quarterly! Expect it to come out in either the Spring or Summer issue (will keep you posted, of course). Thanks to the people at Moosemeat, my writing group, who saw an earlier version of the story and offered their insight and suggestions. Can't wait to see it in print!
Please join me Monday, January 11th, at 6:15 PM at The Central (603 Markham Street in Toronto) where I'll be reading alongside Clara Blackwood, Sonia Di Placido, and Richard Scarsbrook. You can find out more about each of the readers, the time and venue, and about our lovely host, Heather Wood, here and here. Looking forward to it! See you then!
First of all, my apologies to my friend Mark Sampson. I know he does a yearly round-up on his own blog, but because I only started blogging in early 2015 I also couldn’t resist doing something similar by looking back at what I read and enjoyed and which otherwise inspired me this year. So in chronological order here’s what I read in 2015:
