Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

MERITH HAS A LIFE STORY PEOPLE WANT TO READ                                            Some might say that retired York Region police supervisor Keith Merith picked a good day to launch his autobiography last Saturday. Those in the book business would say it differently; rookie author Merith had an amazing launch for his new book, "A Darker Shade of Blue." He hit it out of the park, got a royal flush, and hit the mother lode all in one very busy day. Most book launches usually only attract a small but loyal crowd; 20 to 30 book fans are the norm. However, on Saturday, at the popular Scarborough Windies Restaurant & Sports Bar, the organizers started turning away people at 170. "A few more talked their way in," said Keith Merith, "we think it was about 184 that came in and took in the speeches and bought a book." Former police colleagues, MP Paul Chiang himself a retired poli...

  Windsor Celebrates the Launch of Dr. Howard D. McCurdy's Autobiography: A Legacy of Activism and Achievement Last week, the University of Windsor, in collaboration with Toronto poet George Elliott Clarke, played host to a distinguished book launch and signing event for "Black Activist, Black Scientist, Black Icon: The Autobiography of Dr. Howard D. McCurdy." The just-published work delves into the life of one of Canada's most influential figures in science, civil rights advocacy, and Canadian politics. Held in one of the university's expansive atriums, the event was a celebration of Dr. McCurdy's monumental contributions to academia, politics, and civil rights. As the first Black person to hold a tenure-track position at a Canadian university, achieved during his tenure at the University of Windsor, and the second Black elected to Parliament, Dr. McCurdy's life story is a tapestry of pioneering achievements. Brenda McCurdy, alongside writer/editor George...

Karl Jirgens takes a picture of Stephen Marche STEPHEN MARCHE:  Biblioasis March 8th talk wasn’t just any old flop As usual I arrived too early. Biblioasis staff were still putting up chairs and laying out cheese and crackers. Owner Dan Wells and author Stephen Marche were sitting at the front window of the bookstore, drinking wine, and trying to make two microphones work (not a great team, but they did get them working). Said “Hi” and bought a copy of Stephen Marche’s new  On Writing & Failure: Or, On The Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer . I thought $16 was a rather expensive price for a 73-page book. Oh well, I had an hour to kill, and I could break tradition and actually read a title before the book launch started. I left the store and shuffled down to Timmies near the train station (my home away from home), grabbed a coffee, sat at a window booth looking over a busy busy  Wyandotte  and started to speed read. I actually finished b...

New Book Xpresses Maxwell’s Belief In The Divine Order Of Authority Maxwell Blackwood, the Toronto based publisher of the Jamaican Xpress News will be holding court on Sunday August 14th at the Royal Canadian Legion on Irwin Rd in Etobicoke. The well-known writer will be launching a new book at the 2pm event. The new book is entitled the Divine Order of Authority: Law and Mathematics. “The entire theme of this book is to let readers realize that Law and Mathematics are part of the divine order of authority,” said Blackwell. “This book is intended to stimulate ideas and concepts and lead the readers to think for themselves objectively, on matters of importance, spiritually, academically, and mentally. It will help to foster clarity on subject matters that may not even be knowable.” Part philosophy, part autobiography and very much a social commentary on Black Culture, Blackwell tells this non-fiction title through the voice of a pastoral preacher! Although originally from Jamaica, the a...

Desmond Cole Howls About His New Blockbuster Book The Howl Radio Show scored a big media scoop when they had author Desmond Cole on air the night before the official launch of his guaranteed blockbuster book The Skin We're In.  University of Toronto's CIUT-FM 89.5 landed a 20-minute late night (10pm) live interview on Tuesday in advance of Cole’s large sold-out launch  booked for Wednesday evening at the downtown Art Gallery of Ontario. Howl is one of the longest running book radio show in the country (20+ years). Show host Jane Bullis, took Cole through his new work, a book which looks at racism in Canada in 2017 and, as he says, punctures the smugness of a post-racial nation. Cole chronicles  the year 2017 – Canada’s 150th birthday  -- and the month of January 2018. It’s all about the struggle against racism in this country. It was a year that he writes, saw calls for tighter borders when Black refugees braved frigid temperatures to cross into Manit...

Review By Stephen Weir Canada's Caribbean Camera Newspaper,  March 8, 2018 Staring down a terrorist gun barrel while being held hostage in the Parliament Chamber at the Red House in Port-of-Spain, Winston Dookeran introduced himself to the gunman as the Minister of Planning.  “He said to me ‘I bet you didn’t plan for this!’” It was the 1990 attempted armed government overthrow of the Trinidad and Tobago Government by over 100 insurrectionists and Dookeran was in the thick of it. Now, almost 30 years later, the politician and scholar has released a book in Canada that plans for a wave of change in the politics of the Caribbean. The 74-year old politician, turned academic (he is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Toronto), addressed a large audience at the soft cover launch of his book Crisis and Promise in the Caribbean; Politics of Convergence . “We are going through a profound change, not just in Trinidad but across the whole Caribbean. I am ho...