Diverse Lineup Joins Ian McEwan for TORN FROM THE PAGES at Harbourfront Centre

On September 23, 2016 a diverse lineup of artists join celebrated Man Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan when he brings his new novel Nutshell to life at Harbourfront Centre Theatre.

Creator, host and curator Dave Bidini says "Torn From the Pages is among the most unique events that I've ever been part of: part concert, part literary circus, part tightrope of new performance, and part celebration of the ligament that connects spoken word, music and books. Having Ian McEwan's work celebrated, and having him participate in the show, debuting his new novel, is among the crowning achievements of the series thus far."

Taking inspiration from the works of McEwan, indie pop musician and CBC host Casey Mecija (Ohbijou), singer-songwriter Dan Bern, Governor General's Award-winning playwright Michael Healey, novelist and poet Tanis Rideout, writer Craig Davidson and folk trio Trent Severn (Dayna Manning, Emm Gryner and Lindsay Schindler), will each premiere original music and prose at the event to celebrate McEwan, who will also take the stage to read from his brand new novel, Nutshell (out September 13, via Penguin Random House Canada).

Learn more about Torn From the Pages by listening to a podcast about the series and watching a short documentary.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Ian McEwan
Perhaps best known for Atonement, which was adapted into an Oscar-winning film, Ian McEwan was awarded the Man Booker Prize - and has often appeared on its short-list - as well as a host of other prizes. No stranger to music himself, McEwan co-created an oratorio (Or Shall We Die?) and an opera (For You) and has placed music and musicians at the centre of several of his books. His new book, Nutshell, is out on September 13.
ianmcewan.com

Dan Bern
A remarkably prolific songsmith, Dan Bern has released some two dozen studio albums, EPs and live recordings, performing as a solo artist and fronting Common Rotation. His records have featured Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris and many others, and he contributed to the soundtracks of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Get Him to the Greek. He's been called "the voice of a new generation of folk music," (NPR) and "a throwback...with a fresh, defiantly uncompromising style" (Sterophile).
danbern.com | @DanBernHQ

Dave Bidini
Creator, host and curator of Torn from the Pages, Dave Bidini is a founding member of Canadian rock band Rheostatics, and currently performs with Bidiniband. He the author of fourteen books, and is the only Canadian to have been nominated for all three of Canada's main entertainment awards - the Gemini, the Genie, and the JUNO - as well as appearing twice on Canada Reads. Most recently Bidini was named a finalist for the Toronto Arts Council's The William Kilbourn Award celebrating individual who greatly contribute to Toronto's Cultural Life.
@hockeyesque

Craig Davidson
St. Catharines-born Craig Davidson has published three books of literary fiction: Rust and Bone, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film of the same name, The Fighter, and Sarah Court. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, his articles and journalism have been published in the National Post, Esquire, GQ, The Walrus, and The Washington Post, among other places.
craigdavidson.net

Michael Healey
One of Canada's leading theatrical voices, Michael Healey's plays include Kicked, The Drawer Boy, Plan B, Rune Arlidge, The Innocent Eye Test, Generous, Courageous and Proud. He has written adaptations for the Shaw and Stratford festivals and won the Chalmers Award, the Governor General's Award and five Dora Mavor Moore Awards. His latest play, 1979, about Joe Clark's short-lived government, will premiere in Calgary and Ottawa in the spring of 2017.
@healeytypes

Casey Mecija
Casey Mecija has been a fixture in Toronto's music scene for the last decade. She fronted the orchestral-pop band Ohbijou until its hiatus, when she completed a Masters and PhD at the University of Toronto and went on to host CBC Radio's The Doc Project. In early 2016, she released her first solo album, Psychic Materials, which Exclaim! called "an atmospheric saga," and continues to offer listeners proof that art has a place in social movements, and that music can give language to emotions not yet named.
caseymecija.com | @CaseyMecija

Tanis Rideout
Novelist and poet Tanis Rideout's first novel, Above All Things, was a critically acclaimed best-seller, a Globe and Mail Best Book, a New York Times Editors Pick, was long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award, and won the ITAS Primo de Montagna Award in Italy. Her poetry collection, Arguments with the Lake, grew out of her relationship with the environmental advocacy group, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, which named her the Poet Laureate for Lake Ontario in 2006. A selection of the poems was shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards.
tanisrideout.wordpress.com | @tanisrideout

Trent Severn
Acclaimed Ontario folk trio Trent Severn creates songs that are perhaps best described as "Canadian History in Harmony." The two-time Canadian Folk Music Award-nominated band, comprised of talented multi-instrumentalists, singers and songwriters Dayna Manning, Emm Gryner and Lindsay Schindler, follows in the footsteps of pioneering Canadian troubadours, and "picks up where Stompin' Tom left off" (Maclean's Magazine). The Stratford-area trio continues to win over fans from coast to coast with their bracingly authentic acoustic-based, story-centred brand of music, and recently appeared alongside Rheostatics for their Live at Massey Hall performance in April, 2016.
trentsevernband.ca | @TrentSevernBand