Accent Open Mic in Montreal
interview with Devon Gallant
I will have the pleasure of reading in Montreal at the Accent reading series on Monday, November 5, 2023, and I’ve never been there before, so I thought I would ask one of the co-organizers, Devon Gallant about the series.
When did the Accent Reading Series start?
Accent started in 2019.
Are there other bilingual reading series in Montreal?
At the moment, I’m really not sure. I do not believe so. Although, I think bilingualism is hardwired into the city of Montreal, in a way. So, especially for anglo-literary events, it’s just a given element of the environment in a way that would not be thinkable in other cities like Toronto or Vancouver. Truthfully, Accent has kind of leaned into being predominantly English, with a fringe French element. But I’m not too fussed either way, I go with the flow. One evening can be more English, another night more French. I don’t have a personal mandate or agenda to push for bilingualism in the series, it just kind of happens. Although, I think for some members of the Accent community, it means more to them and it’s an important aspect of the series for them, so I try to respect that.
Can you talk about its format?
The format is a little different to the average reading series that most people are used to, because we place our open mic component in the middle of the action. As opposed to at the end. Essentially, each set begins with about 5 different open mic readers followed by a featured reader. We take a ten minute break, and then rinse and repeat. We usually have about 2 features per night, but the open mic portion is unlimited. It’s never gotten too out of hand, we usually finish before midnight. But I always say, ‘we can go till last call’. We never have, but we’ve had upwards of over 30 readers sign up for the open mic, so it can become a real party some nights.
Who are some of the readers who've been featured?
We’ve had just about every English language poet who operates in the city of Montreal feature at our event at some point. I do have a wish list of writers, that for one reason or another we haven’t had feature yet. Each year I give them a bump to check in on their schedule. What’s amazing to me is that we haven’t hit the bottom of the well yet. You don’t necessarily think of Montreal being an incredibly large hub of English language writers, but this series has really opened my eyes to the amount of professional, published and lauded poets there are in this city at any given time. Some of my personal favorites over the years have been IF the Poet, Brandon Pitts, and Virginia Konchan. None of whom are native Montrealers, oops. But, then again, neither am I.
How did you and Luc-Antoine Chiasson end up organizing a series together?
Ah, Amanda. That is a story for another day.
Why do you enjoy running the series and do you have any interesting (and shareable) stories/anecdotes about it?
Tough question. There are so many things I love about running Accent: the power, the glory, the fame, the riches. Ha! But in all seriousness, I started Accent because I felt like Montreal was missing a literary watering hole. A place where anyone, regardless of experience or social network could come and buy in and share and participate. Accent’s a real proving ground, and the open mic has shown the breadth of awesome literary talent in the city that have been waiting for a stage. In the almost 2 decades I’ve been here, I kept waiting for somebody else to create it, I guess I got tired of waiting. The realization of this dream has been so much more than I could have asked for. It’s taken on a life of its own and the community has really responded to it, and I think really bought in to its modus operandi.
I read there several years ago at the former Resonance Reading Series run by Klara Du Plessis and at another event for Vallum. Both events were well attended and great fun. What's the literary scene like in Montreal?
The past 5 years have been a boom time for the English literary community of Montreal and I think we are still in the nascent stages of its Renaissance. It’s really exciting.
In your bio, one of your titles is "food historian." What does a food historian do? Do you have a favourite tidbit about food or a treasured recipe you can share?
People love this. It’s a long story, but I collect vintage cookbooks. Predominantly American midcentury publications between 1930-1980. With a special interest in ethnic foods and the explosion of global cuisine in America during that time. One of my favorite cookbooks is The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking by Elizabeth Ortiz published in 1973. It’s a treasure, and she is one of my culinary heroes, along with Vincent Price (yes, the movie star). I am just an enthusiast, but there are actually academic professionals in the field who, say, dedicated their field of studies to exploring the Chinese-American diaspora through the lens of Chinese-American cookbooks, restaurants, Chinatowns, etc. And the like. From what I’ve seen, Depression era cookbooks are quite popular amongst other historical food bloggers, for whatever reason. I, myself, tend to gravitate towards ethnic cuisine. The TIME-LIFE Foods of the World series is a truly remarkable, well-researched, well-executed, beautifully photographed series of hardcover cookbooks that you can usually find in your garden variety Value Village. If you are looking for a gateway drug. I need to overhaul my food blog, but I post under the handle Gourmet Relics.
You seem like a busy person. Aside from running the series, you also have your own press, Cactus Press, several books published and a food blog, and are editor of the literary magazine, Lantern. I do a lot of things at the same time too, and prefer it that way. What do you like about being a multi-tasker?
Being busy makes me feel like my life has meaning, which is nice. But it also means that I always have more ideas than I have time for, especially with my day job getting in the way. I don’t know, I think a lot about carving out more personal time for my own projects, but stuff like Accent and Cactus Press feels so vital right now to the Montreal literary community that I feel personally responsible to keep the train rolling for the artists who benefit from them.
Is there anything else you'd like readers to know about you and about the series?
I’m a Sagittarius and like long walks on the beach. Accent takes place on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month at La Marche à côté.
Friends in Montreal, come and read at the open mic!