Whoo whoo, Toronto’s Fringe Festival started yesterday, and in case you are desperately trawling the internet, seeking recommendations, here is mine: The Light Between, a one-woman show written and performed by Meghan McClenaghan, about the effect of acts of violence on the everyday life of survivors. (Shameless disclosure: Meghan is a good friend of mine.)

The play can be described as series of strategies for dealing with the unbearable. It takes place over the course of a night, as the main (or rather, only) character struggles to get to sleep, but can’t shake the fears and memories that come to her in the dark. Some are general and familiar to any woman; fears of being attacked in the night, amusing/mortifying memories of early sexual endeavours in high school. Others are particular to the life story of McClenaghan which largely inspired the work; the loss of her family in a brutal and unimaginable act.

McClenaghan’s choice to put her personal and excruciating experiences in the literal spotlight, in an attempt to confront and discuss the aftermath that acts of violence leave, makes this a remarkable and intense play.

In the very first issue of Shameless, Lisa Weaver wrote about The Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon (“Get Ready to Rock”), the absolute coolest summer camp I have ever heard of.

A few more camps have popped up in the US, and there’s a great feature on girls rock camps in Wiretap. It mentions that there’s a similar camp in Canada. Could it be true?! Has anyone heard about this?

I love that these camps give girls an outlet for creative expression, a sense of community and a chance to rock a mic (or guitar, or drums) without feeling self-conscious. Rock on, girls.

The biggest event on my literary calendar is coming up. The Scream Literary Festival kicks off tomorrow night at the Gladstone. Readings and other events continue for a full week.

My favourite event outside the mainstage is Scream at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore on Thursday, featuring Sou Thammavongsa, Jemeni and Tamai Kobayashi.

The festival wraps up next Monday, July 10th with the Scream In High Park, a big reading at the outdoor stage usually used for the Shakespearean Dream in High Park. It features twelve readers (including Maggie MacDonald, whose band Republic of Safety played a Shameless launch once) and the occasional firefly. 7pm, PWYC, $10 suggested.

Check out the festival website for detailed event listings.

One of my favourite blogs is by Nalo Hopkinson, a Toronto writer. Her work is amazing - my favourite is The Salt Roads, but I’m currently reading Midnight Robber, and I might change my mind. She calls it speculative fiction, but I think it does enough genre-crossing to defy description. Hopkinson’s blog is a window into the life of a successful writer, complete with Shameless-friendly political content.