In the corner of yolk literary journal editor-in-chief Curtis McRae’s Village apartment, poet Misha Solomon rises to stand.

“I was dissociating during my bio, as usual,” he says, glancing across the rows of people in folding or dining chairs and those leaning against walls or crouched close to the floor, the noise from Boulevard De Maisonneuve seeping through open windows along with the July breeze.

The crowd laughs and Solomon shuffles the papers in his hand and starts to recite. And with this, the new apartment series aptly entitled Two Readers and Music begins.

Organized by a small group of Montreal-based writers, and under yolk’s umbrella, the first iteration of the series, held on 9 July 2024, highlights Solomon, writer Alexander Manshel, and alternative-indie music duo Death Tennis.

Another author, Ellen Orme Adams, serves as emcee, introducing Solomon to kick off the reading with a mix of free-verse and rhymed poetry, followed by Death Tennis’s intimate set. Alexander Manshel, a seasoned writer and literature professor at McGill, concludes the reading with an excerpt from his current creative nonfiction project.

The planning for the series started two months ago around the kitchen table of Braedan Houtman, who works at Librairie De Stiil in the Plateau.

“At the bookshop, I realized there are various disparate literary communities in Montreal,” Houtman tells me. “I met a bunch of people within these communities and we wanted to connect them.”

Houtman’s dinner guests turned into organizers, including McRae, founder of yolk, Orme Adams, a freelance writer based in Montreal via Washington state, and David Connor, a novelist from New York who has called Montreal home for five years. Two Readers and Music aims to collect Montrealers and expats alike regularly under one roof, creating a distinct new literary scene in the city.

“All the people I love most in the world, I pulled them into one room so that they could connect, and that’s what happened,” says Houtman. “And then we came up with the idea for an event series.”

At the inaugural reading, one feels this pull-into-one-room sentiment. The proceedings are laid-back and informal, a lot like a cozy, hyper-literate house party. McRae greets each guest as they enter his apartment, offering a selection of beverages — wine, beer, water. One spot on his orange vinyl couch is designated with masking tape: “VIP SEATING — JOSH.”

Among Montreal readings, Two Readers and Music is in good company.

The series joins the biweekly, bilingual Accent Open Mic at Bar La Marche à Côté in the Plateau, organized by Cactus Press, the independent poetry series Nouveau Poem, hosted seasonally at Canadiana resto-bar Nouveau Palais in the Mile End, yolk’s own Egg-The-Poet readings, plus occasional events by poetry initiatives such as RODAISUN, the Encore Poetry Project, and a number of others.

“I do feel like I’m witnessing a revival,” McRae, a native Montrealer, says of the local literary scene.

“There’s been a resurgence of energy. I’ve noticed more and more journals, events, and literary entities popping up, and I’m watching more series happen. I’m seeing a lot of familiar faces in the circuit, but simultaneously watching that circuit grow. It feels like it’s high time for somebody to start bringing people together.”

It seems the community wants this as well.

One attendee, Hana Woodbridge, moved to Montreal from Ottawa two years ago. She is among the first to arrive to Two Readers and Music after hearing about it through yolk’s website. “I will cancel my plans to go to a yolk event,” she declares.

“The more events I go to, the more comfortable I feel being present with other writers.”

Woodbridge tells me she has long been searching for a writing community in her new city. “I wouldn’t say I’ve found it, but I’m finding it,” she says.

“In some ways I feel like I’ve found a microcosm of it in this evening.”◼︎

The next event in the Two Readers and Music series takes place in August 2024. More information and dates, when announced, can be found at @yolkliterary.

_{Cover image: Misha Solomon photographed by Braedan Houtman for NicheMTL}