Giller prize winning author, Vincent Lam has just released his first novel, The Headmaster’s Wager. It is a intricate piece of historical fiction, where Lam depicts the complexity of the Chinese community in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. Lam is in Ottawa tonight speaking as part of the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival. Tonight’s event is titled The Weight of History and features Lam, Peter Hobbs and Ami McKay. The panel convenes at Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar Street at 8:30pm. Apartment613 sat down with Vincent Lam today to discuss his... | Continue reading article

Ottawa is chock-full of not-for-profits – from environmental to health organizations, from education to arts and culture groups. Yet in a city where other sectors tend to dominate the workforce, it can be tough to meet people also in the field. This is where mesh steps in – a network for young not-for-profit professionals. For the past year, mesh has provided opportunities for like-minded, similar-job-holding young people (although I was assured that ‘young’ simply refers to state of mind, not age) to connect, chat, and build their networks in the... | Continue reading article

Known for ice sculpture and skating on the canal, Winterlude hasn’t necessarily always been a key destination for the musically oriented. The JazzFest’s Petr Cancura is hoping to change that with this year’s Winter Jazzfest. We got some answers from Petr on what you can expect at the festival and why he thought jazz might be just what the Ottawa winter needs. Apartment613: I understand that this Winter Jazzfest is based on a similar event that takes place in New York. What was your inspiration to try to bring an... | Continue reading article

This week on the podcast, Apartment613 editor Karen goes it alone on the technical side of things, while her usual co-hosts Ryan and Trevor are mysteriously absent. Thankfully, Katrina (Apt613′s Vice Editor – not vice-editor, but editor of all things vice-related) joins her in the CHUO studio to rein in the monologues. We interview Maureen McEvoy, Ottawa Public Library’s Manager of Communications and Community Relations, all about the Human Library Project. Yes, it’s where humans turn into books for a day – and we find out if it’s possible to... | Continue reading article

By Alessandro Marcon Both the best and worst that can be said of troubadour B.A. Johnston is that he sweats hard for his fans. Few entertainers are so overtly abrasive, disgusting and belligerently shirtless and yet, paradoxically, so charismatic, hardworking and flat out entertaining. Think modern day performance humour: wow this is awkward, mixed with well delivered one-timers, and unabashedly, literally right-in-your-face engagement. B.A. Johnston works in a similar strain to Ottawa’s own Remi Royale but writes and sings his own songs, which he plays on acoustic guitar or sings... | Continue reading article

Last night after a beer at Chez Lucien, I headed to the Château Lafayette (better known to its patrons as the Laff) to meet with John Carroll. The Kemptville musician has had a residency at the Laff for the past seven years. I was there on my own when a spring chicken of about 70 named Roy accosted me. “Is it your first time here?,” he said. When I replied no, he announced “I’ve come here every Wednesday for some years now to hear John and I’ve never seen you... | Continue reading article

This post originally appeared on OpenFile Ottawa on December 29, 2011 and is re-printed with their permission. by Trevor Pritchard Last week’s news that a fully licensed movie theatre could be part of the Lansdowne Park redevelopment was quite the conversation starter. On Twitter, multiple people pointed out that the cinephiles at Ottawa’s Mayfair Theatre had already tried improving the cinematic experience by serving alcohol. And that piqued our curiosity. We had a brief chat with Lee Demarbre, the indie theatre’s co-owner. Demarbre didn’t just talk about how a licensed... | Continue reading article

Post by Robin Levinson Local band The Donna Litas are busy trying to balance promoting their new EP, Laser Doves, with the sheer joy of making music. Formed in the summer of 2009, Sean Rioux (keyboard and vocals) Adam Dunn (guitar), Phil Jonasson (guitar), Andrew Jonasson (bass) and Justin Orr (drums) spent the first couple years under the radar, writing music and developing their sound. Now, with a debut EP and their first live performance in almost a year planned for tonight as they open for Sound of Lions at... | Continue reading article

Happy Friday, audiophiles. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? We’re only now getting around to posting last week’s episode of Apartment613 Live, which is too bad, because it’s a stellar episode. (Of course, they’re all stellar, but this one is more stellar – stellarer? – than the others. Also, “stellar” is a funny word when you write it four times in a row, but that’s sort of off topic.) Why is it stellar? Because it’s so rare that you get to hear the voices of the people who toil away in... | Continue reading article

This week, OpenFile Ottawa and Apartment613 have partnered to present a series of stories—apologies for Ottawa—that show off what makes Ottawa a great place to live. We drew inspiration from ideas readers submitted to both websites. In our final installation, Drew Gough writes about our amazing open spaces. In January of 2008, I was standing in the middle of a forest with two dozen freezing Brazilians. By Ottawa winter standards, it wasn’t a particularly cold day, but these teenagers—in Ottawa for a month as part of a language exchange—hadn’t dressed... | Continue reading article