The Ironist

Differing Perspectives

The Irony Club

Can’t get enough of irony, can we? So, we created a club. Welcome one and all!

We would like to thank you for subscribing to The Ironist and for your kind encouragement over the past two years. It has meant more to us than we can easily say. As a result, we have some ambitious plans for expanding The Ironist in 2026, including new initiatives and a subscription plan that we’ll be introducing over the coming months. We thought the best way to begin the year was by returning to the source. Writing and reading.

 

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As writers ourselves, we attend events, especially speaking events like open mics and know the familiar anxieties that accompany them. The fear of being misunderstood, of being dismissed, of reading into a room that isn’t listening. In an age of encroaching AI, those insecurities have just gone up. For this reason, we’re beginning our expansion with an open mic designed to strip away performance pressure, no established cliques, no expectation to impress, just a genuine attempt to encourage your writing, and the writing of those you admire.

This will be a low-pressure evening where writers can hear themselves read and get a sense of how their work lands, without critique or analysis. After the readings, readers, writers, speakers, and curious listeners will stay on to talk and connect over coffee or a drink. You don’t have to be a writer to attend. It’s for everyone — and anyway, don’t we all want to be writers?

We’re also delighted to welcome a few guests coming in from out of town, including my eldest brother, Peter Scotchmer, who has written over a hundred short stories and has spent many years thinking and writing about irony. He’ll speak briefly on the subject and, time permitting, share a piece of his own or talk about a writer he admires.

Please do come. I promise it will be memorable and it’s only a small preview of what The Ironist hopes to offer more regularly in the year ahead.

Here are the details:

January 21 · 7 PM

at

Mayil Coffee, 870 College St, Toronto

–

Contributed by

Nigel Scotchmer

Author

Inspiration

Inspiration

This is the second essay by Peter on the intricacies of the English language. Here, he writes on where inspiration comes from, and why no amount of effort can quite summon it. My first piece in the English language series talked about the quality of writing that...

The Last Puritan

The Last Puritan

Alexander Montgomery writes a fleeting, intimate glimpse of Glenn Gould, the genius and the strange solitude of his greatness. Glenn Gould’s sitting in Fran’s Deli, St. Clair East, and I sit here, watching him from the pub across the street. There he is, the bastard,...

The Awkward One: Rediscovering Mary Bennett

The Awkward One: Rediscovering Mary Bennett

About the most forgettable Bennet sister and a retelling of Pride and Prejudice... “There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the...

The Little Tanagra: Part 2

The Little Tanagra: Part 2

Previously in Part 1, Hara writes about young Arsinoe growing into a woman of remarkable talents at the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. But longing for freedom, she begins to plan her escape.     Arsinoe took longer each day to return from her...