Red Tailed Hawk takes in Word on the Street 2008 Toronto

Red tailed Hawk takes in Pohadky at Word on the Street Toronto !

Actually, he arrived too late to watch our presentation,
but we gave him a book anyway.



Marek and Sasha look up......(see top right corner of pic)


...and Mr.Red Tail looks down..........

-Pat

Pohadky at Word on the Street Toronto !

We'll be speaking and signing at the fantastic Word
on the Street Book Festival today in Toronto. This is
one of my favorite festivals, so I'm especially pleased about this !


Here is our schedule
-2:30-3:30- Forsythe, Shewchuk and Colek signing
-4:15 pm- Petits Livres panel - again, us together with
Mathew Forsythe (his presentation is fantastic! )


The Festival is at Queens Park - pick up an EYE
magazine, it has a great map and schedule.
A festival of books !!! Outside in a park !
What could be better !
OH- I know - how about having Laura Barret
play there for free at 2pm ? DONE !
Yes - she will be playing at 2pm - GO!
We attended the launch of her new cd last weekend-
AMAZING ! I love the new songs !!!

-Pat

Pohadky Book Launch Toronto, much fun!

We had a great time at our book launch at the Central
yesterday - a big thank you to all came out
(thank you everyone !)

The Central was a great venue for the event,
food, beer , books - an excellent combination.

We'd also like to extend a HUGE thanks to
Peter and the Beguiling for hosting this event
(We LOVE this store !!!!!),
special thanks to Christopher Butcher and
Beguiling crew for putting up with us, and of course,
thanks to our awesome publisher Drawn and Quarterly.

We'd also like to thank our fantastic photographer
Olesya Muhaylivna for the wonderful pics,
as well as the effervescent Olga Oliynyk , who delighted
the audience by accompanying our presentation
with a live Bandura performance !!!!


Olha playing the Bandura



Marek watching Olha perform to our presentation




Our fellow presenters for the evening-
Mathew Forsythe of Ojingogo
and Ray Fenwick of The Hall of Best Knowledge



Olha talks to Peter of the Beguiling-
whilst acting out a scene from Pohadky



Matt and Marek



Pat signs a copy of Pohadky for a young
Eastern Bloc Beauty

POHADKY BOOK LAUNCH SATURDAY SEPT 27 5pm Toronto !

Drawn & Quarterly have just released two beautiful new books in their "Petit Livres" series of little books and so we're going to throw a party! The Beguiling is proud to present the official launch party for Matt Forsythe's Ojingogo and Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek's Pohadky, on Saturday September 27th at 5pm at The Central restaurant, adjacent to The Beguiling!

Matthew Forsythe is an acclaimed illustrator, blogger, and co-founder of popular illustration website Drawn.ca. His fantastic first graphic novella, Ojingogo, has already been nominated for numerous comics and publishing awards, and all before its official release! Ojingogo is an otherworldly pantomime about a girl, her squid, and the creatures and calamities they experience together, is an intrinsically expressive and deeply rewarding journey. Ojingogo is accessible for all ages, tossing aside traditional narrative conventions in favour of creating its own world, language and rules that anyone can find a home of their own in.

Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek's Pohadky is an illustrated marvel; the Grimm fairy tales given life beyond the limitations of their text. Translated as "folk tales" or "storybook", Pohadky provides a tapestry of interwoven fables and morose, allegorical iconography, bringing a harsh light to the greed, loss, and submission that marks the origins of so many cultural folk tales and legends. Heavily influenced by their respective cultural backgrounds--Colek fascinated with the artistic and narrative elements in the folklore of the Czech Republic, and Shewchuk immersed in the investigation of the symbols and pictography of pre-Christian Ukrainian decorative folk arts--the artists have created a work that balances delicate, richly detailed characters and a sharp but muted visual style, and in the process have created a title that exists as so much more than mere fairy tales.

The Release Party will feature short presentations from the works as well as a moderated Q&A session with the author/artists, followed by a signing. The event is completely free to attend and appropriate for all ages, and both books will be available for sale at the event.

- Chris @ The Beguiling

2008 Ukrainian Fest Toronto

We had a great time at the Ukrainian Fest last weekend -



perogies, saurkraut, (YUMMM!) vodka, beer, performers, friends, and shopping!


Here is our friend Lesia, of LPK - we missed seeing
her and her daughter and husband in the parade that morning,


but check out that awesome
Trypillian tattoo in progress !



What really blew us away was the frantic dancing
later that night at the Woodhouse for Ukrainia and
local faves Hudi a Mocni ("Skinny but Bold" haha)
- spinning ! twirling ! kicking !
It was amazing ! We do not know how to do this.

Here is a small video - and this is before the dance floor really got hot !

The Old Home Town ZALESZCZYKI

I was in Winnipeg recently, collecting some mementos
and photos of my late father's, when I came across
an old postcard: "Zaleszczyki : Panorama".

I didn't really know too much about where my
grandfather escaped from, on his own, when he was still a kid.

His autobiography starts out "It was almost the
end of February, 1904. The meadows of Zalischiki
were covered with early spring flowers...."

I was under the impression he came from a
village, so this postcard surprised me - My god,
this place even has it's own moat !
(It turned out to be a windy river, but still,
it is rather picturesque)


And here is Zaleszczyki today -

And here is an interesting story about the place
"Paradise Lost"

-Pat

Nayekhovichi !

We went to see the awesome punk-klezmer
band Nayekhovichi last week, brought here
by the Ashkenaz festival - they were completely amazing.

Between laughing my head off at the singer's
hilarious moves and being compelled to dance
uncontrollably (despite, or perhaps inspite of,
a bad back) I would say it was a most enjoyable
evening. Songs about Vodka and Borsht! YES !