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Queen Books

@queenbooksto

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Your local, Leslieville bookshop!
✿ Open M-F 10-8, S-S 10-6
💌 [email protected]
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Toronto area folks, join us tomorrow at 6:30pm at cozy Queen Books to celebrate the launch of Middlemen! Hosted by the wonderful Kate Maddalena in conversation with yours truly. Free event--no need to bring anything but your beautiful self (and maybe a friend). Expect munchies and good company. It would be my great pleasure to see you there! RSVP here📚: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/toronto-launch-of-middlemen-by-maria-cichosz-at-queen-books-tickets-1993082907629 About Middlemen: Toronto, mid-2010s: the economy is tanking, the opioid crisis is about to explode, and Beau Larky is drifting through the city in a drug-fuelled haze, photographing extravagant weddings to bankroll his habit. When he learns that Cam, his former roommate and one-time lover—now a celebrity academic on the West Coast—has suffered a breakdown, Beau is seized by an unexpected need to see him after years of silence. His impulsive trip to California ignites the resentment of Stacey, the professor’s soon-to-be wife, and Cliff, their former drug dealer turned real-estate shark, now too busy riding the housing boom to care about anything but the market.To “middle” is to sell drugs to support one’s own habit, but also to linger, to stall, to refuse to decide. Maria Cichosz is a writer, critical drug studies scholar, and professor of literature and creative writing at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. Their work has appeared in Critique, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Literary Review of Canada, American Literature, and on the CBC Literary Awards shortlist, among other places. She is the author of two novels, Cam & Beau (2020) and Middlemen (2026), as well as On Drugs, a forthcoming entry in Biblioasis’s Field Notes series. About the host: Kate Maddalena is an associate professor of writing and media studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She researches knowledge-making media, futurisms, and the popular uptake of science. She writes about stuff like LEGO, drugs, microbiota, wellness cultures, and ghosts.
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Join us for a book launch. 📚 On Tuesday, November 3, from 6:30–8:30 pm at @queenbooksto in Toronto, you're invited to join us for the launch of 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳: 𝘈 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 — a new publication by Anishinaabe artist and scholar Bonnie Devine and photographer Robert Burley about their interdisciplinary project that traces the Toronto Carrying Place Trail through historical research, mapping, storytelling, watercolour and photography. The evening will feature a conversation between Devine and Burley, moderated by McMichael Executive Director and Chief Curator Sarah Milroy. Free and open to all. See you there!
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Get in, losers. We’re beating the reading slump 📚 Looking for book clubs in Toronto? Whether you want to make new friends, meet fellow bookworms or just have a reason to leave the house this winter, there’s a reading group for you. Some are free, some come with coffee and some don’t even require you to read the same book. Find your next book club and give your brain rot a break with the LINK IN BIO 🔗 #TorontoBookClubs #TorontoThingsToDo #TorontoEvents #TorontoCommunity #BookLovers
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Self-portrait with novel, 2026 (swipe for evidence of endless recurrence 👉) On this day six years ago I was housebound in the Ontario countryside, picking pumpkins, canning the last of the garden produce, teaching on Zoom, and trying to launch Cam & Beau, a little book about love and drugs published in the middle of a global pandemic that coincided with a particularly fraught US election cycle dominating media headlines. Needless to say, getting a book out under these conditions was less than ideal, but I was humbled by the generosity of strangers and the love from my beautiful friends. Despite all odds, I managed to host a pretty lively online launch at the lovely Queen Books via their Instagram Live, which was certainly a learning experience for my luddite ass. This Thursday, Oct. 22, I'll be back at Queen Books, this time in the flesh, to celebrate the release of Middlemen in person. It'll be hosted by Kate Maddalena, delightful human being and intellectual force of nature who I happened to first meet in a Zoom meeting way back in 2020 (!!) and have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing ever since. Come and join us for some good weird conversation about the legacy of the Social Novel (watch out, Tolstoy), addiction, love, media theory, and much more. Refreshments will be served! I might even read a passage or two. RSVP here📚: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/toronto-launch-of-middlemen-by-maria-cichosz-at-queen-books-tickets-1993082907629 Self-portrait with novel, 2020 A gift from friends, 2020 Homegrown pumpkin, 2020 Homegrown pumpkin, 2026
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one of a kind bookstore proposal #engagementshoot #torontophotoshoot #film #bookstoreproposal @queenbooksto
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vibes of alex and alice’s engagement captured on film #engagementshoot #torontophotoshoot #film #bookstoreproposal @queenbooksto
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If you missed my launch at NUTS & SHELLS, know that I missed you too. ❤️ It was a par-tay (and a bday celebration for one of my besties too 💕). For all my east end peeps, there will be a more intimate gathering at QUEEN BOOKS on Thursday, Nov 5, 2026. This one starts at 6:30pm. My kids won’t be there bc dance classes and my fabulous interviewer, Upasna (@upasnakakroo) has to return to her life in Michigan (booo!) so the vibe is quieter but no less special. And that’s because we have the lovely and only slightly-intimidatingly brilliant Nadia Shahbaz (@nadiashahbaz_writer) hosting and interviewing me. Her questions hit deep and she loves to talk about craft. I mean check her substack, really. Anyway, you have been warned. FREE PUBLIC event and there will be chai and samosas too! 😍 ✨There is an eventbrite listing for this event. I always appreciate knowing numbers so I can order a good amount of snacks. I will post on linktree and/or feel free to dm me. ✨ And, of course, first let’s not forget, I will be at VANCOUVER WRITER’S FESTIVAL this week which is truly a dream come true. Can’t wait to meet everyone there. 🫶🏽✨ #canlit #youngadult #yadebut #bookstagram #books {just live; enjoy your one wild and precious life; launch; writing community; writer life}
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August long weekend, wandering Leslieville. Good company, great food, and favourite drinks. Couldn't ask for better end of summer vibes.
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My bones are too old to do this many side quests Thank you for supporting the one year anniversary of our community @queenbooksto !!🫶🏼🥹🥹
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I had a successful vintage haul yesterday. Did I get anything on my actual list? Of course not. Did I get a niche button, some weird lil guys, and boots for Emily? Absolutely. Living near @thevintagehallto @hogtownflea @artsmarket and @queenbooksto among other things is going to be detrimental to my wallet. BUT NOT AS DETRIMENTAL AS INFLATION ECONOMICS 🐸
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If I were in Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦, the first place I’d visit would definitely be Queen Books! @queenbooksto I’d head straight to the art section, and you’d find my book there. 🎨📚 Then, I’d probably check out the romance shelves too. ;) Happy Monday, everyone! ❤️ #queenbooks #canada #rotondogallery
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Toronto is home to so many quaint and quirky indie bookstores (and Canadian-owned Indigo), and their list of upcoming book signings and launch events is rad. October 13th - Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture by Daniel Gawthrop at Another Story Bookshop October 13th - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid at Massey Hall presented by Indigo October 14th - A New Kind of Clean by Iain Reid and Ellie Foumbi at Flying Books October 14th - Midnight Manor by Sid Sharp at Type Books October 14th - Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death by Michael Walsh at The Beguiling October 17th - One Day, We’ll Laugh About This by Sahara I Mehdi at Book People October 22nd - Crash Course by Piper Lawson at Hopeless Romantic Books October 22nd - The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki Vansickle at Epic Books October 27th - The Trial of Katterfelto by Michael Redhill at Book Bar October 28th - Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer at University of Toronto Bookstore October 29th - The Finalist by Faith Gladwin / Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie at Little Ghost Books October 31st - Mother Boo by Vikki VanSickle at Mabel’s Fables November 4th - Heatstroke by Meredyth Cole at Queen Books
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