Welcome New Festival Readers!

Here are some facts and suggestions that you will need:

Location: The Rivoli, 344 Queen St. West, Toronto, ON (main floor, back room)

Show Time: Wednesday, November 18th. 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

** Please arrive at 6 p.m. **

We ask you to arrive early so that you will have time to:
- receive a schedule for the evening
- meet the person who will introduce you to the audience
- become acquainted with the microphone and stage
- receive a print out of your story to read from.

The festival will be divided into two segments with an intermission inbetween.

The Totally Unknown Writers Festival: 2009 Collection will be sold at the Festival.

Reading tips

Preparation

Practice! Get yourself alone in whatever room you are comfortable (I stand in my living room) and read the stories out loud at a little slower pace than your normal conversation speed. Read each story this way a couple of times each if you can.

If you find spots that are tongue-twisters, edit them, don’t try to master them.

We will have a print out of your story in an easy to read font, double spaced, on numbered pages, on hand for you to read from at the festival.

Please email any (minor) edits you want to have included in this print out to lauriekallis@hotmail.com

Reading at the Festival

Get rid of your gum.

Avoid drinking carbonated beverages beforehand (a beer is okay - maybe even beneficial!).

A good reading pace is just slightly slower than your usual speaking rate.

Leave a 2 second silence after introducing your story, eg:
“The Mumps, by Victoria Martinez”… slight pause ... then read the story.

Don’t worry about any small stutters, or repeating of one or two words. This a community festival, a little imperfection keeps it real.

Remember to breathe, and…

Don’t worry. Everyone gets through this okay. Even REALLY nervous people go on to live perfectly normal lives after reading at the Totally Unknown Writers Festival.

In support of all readers - we ask that you try to stay until the end of the show!