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Book Launch: Jake Byrne's Celebrate Pride, With Lockheed Martin

Join Jake Byrne at La Petite Librairie Drawn & Quarterly at 176 rue Bernard O at 7 pm on Friday, April 28th for the launch of their debut poetry collection Celebrate Pride with Lockheed Martin! The evening will feature readings by Adrian Ngai, Marcela Huerta, and Tara McGowan-Ross, a conversation, Q&A and signing.

The event is free and open to all. Books will be available for purchase at the event and the author will sign copies of their book.

Please note that we are asking all guests to wear masks at this event. Masks will be available free of charge upon entry.

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Celebrate Pride with Lockheed Martin is a swirl of energy, emotion and observation that takes the reader across the world on a Carmen Sandiego–like journey as well as deep into the complexities of modern queer life. Unabashedly sexual, and embracing a wide range of styles and tones, Byrne’s poems move easily from lines of love and desire to sharp critiques of capitalism and war, and the co-opting of queer culture by them both. These are destabilizing poems, poems filled with glittering imagery and ideas and questions and truths, poems that share the poet’s longing to live in a time that is not “as cruel and unjust / As every other time has been before it.”

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Jake Byrne is a poet and writer based in Toronto, Canada. Their work has been published in journals and anthologies in North America. Their poem “Parallel Volumes” won CV2’s Foster Poetry Prize for 2019, and their first two books of poetry are forthcoming in 2023 with Wolsak & Wynn and in 2024 with Brick Books, respectively. Find them @jakebyrnewrites.

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Librairie Drawn & Quarterly would like to acknowledge that our events and bookstores are located on the unceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka. Many of us refer to Montreal as our home, but it is named Tiohtiá:ke. It has always been a gathering place for many First Nations and continues to be home to a diverse population of Indigenous peoples. We are grateful that creating and sharing stories has been a part of this land for thousands of years.

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La Petite Drawn and Quarterly Accessibility information:
- We encourage the wearing of masks at our events.
- Our event space uses StopGap.ca ramps in an effort to encourage accessibility. Both the step at the entrance, followed by a half step and a door have StopGap ramps. The door opens inward and is not automated. Once inside, there are no additional steps.
- It is not a sober space, our events sometimes offer alcohol.
Please email events@drawnandquarterly.com if you have any questions!