Join us for an evening of conversation and connection as acclaimed author and musician Rae Spoon and punk/alternative artist Cassia Hardy (of Wares/ASKO) come together to explore the intersection of queer identity, community, and artistic expression.
Rae will reflect on their published works and lived experiences as a trans writer and musician, while Cassia will discuss her new solo LP In Relation (out on Mint Records) and the collaborative zine that accompanies it—a stunning collection of essays, lyrics, and visual art rooted in the Prairies.
This intimate event is a celebration of queer storytelling across mediums, with space for dialogue, reflection, and mutual inspiration. Copies of Rae’s books and Cassia’s zine will be available for purchase and signing.
All are welcome. Come curious, come kind.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Rae Spoon is a musician, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and author. They have released twelve solo albums (Coax Records) spanning folk, country, indie rock, and electronic genres and published three books (Arsenal Pulp Press). Rae has been nominated for two Polaris Prizes, and a Western Canadian Music Award. They have toured internationally (Canada, Europe, the USA, Australia, China).
Rae is a non-binary, trans artist who lives with multiple disabilities. Their upcoming 2026 book, Cancer Person, chronicles a five-year health journey as a trans person who was diagnosed and treated for an often-gendered cancer. They outline health complications and their experience in a medical system that wasn’t prepared to respect their human rights.
They have published three books with Arsenal Pulp Press and a humorous booklet called How to (Hide) Be(hind) Your Songs (2017). Their first book, First Spring Grass Fire (2012), was nominated for a Lambda Literary award and the co-write Gender Failure (2014) was on the Over the Rainbow Project book list was published in German. Rae’s first novel, Green Glass Ghosts (2021), was illustrated by Gem Hall and reviewed by Quill & Quire, CBC and the Globe and Mail. In 2013 Rae was awarded a Dayne Ogilvie Prize Honour of Distinction by the Writers' Trust of Canada and has been nominated for two Polaris Prizes and a Western Canadian Music Award.
Rae Spoon is an uninvited guest and settler with European ancestry on stolen land. They were born and grew up on Treaty 7 territory in Mohkínsstsisi/Calgary (the traditional and ancestral territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy: Kainai, Piikani and Siksika as well as the Tsuu T'ina Nation and Stoney Nakoda First Nation). Rae currently lives between Tkoronto/Toronto (the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples) and Tiohtià:ke/Montréal (the unceded Indigenous lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka/Mohawk Nation).
Cassia Hardy is a loudish musician and songwriter from amiskwacîy-wâskahikan, Treaty 6. As the singer/guitarist for the rock band Wares, she has performed at festivals and clubs from Dawson City to Charlottetown. Her music is voltage controlled, dreamy and deliberate, not raw but worked to a fine point.
In Relation, the debut solo record from Hardy is an acknowledgment of the weight of the past, while searching for a means to survive the present and beyond. Stories told through commanding rhythms built from synths and strings, pushed ever forward by a relentless beat, the soundtrack to taking stock of all exquisite things lost and found, recorded by Matt McKeen at Shed Sound between August 2023-2024, out everywhere now on Mint Records.
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