By Brooke Lee
Last month, local writer Brooke Lee sat down with Christopher DiRaddo–founder and host of the Violet Hour Book Club–to discuss his debut literary festival Lire Queer.
When did the idea for Lire Queer first come to you?
It began with an invitation from fiction writer Nairne Holtz, who is the founder of the Toronto book club, Sapphic Arts & Letters. Originally from Verdun, and now based in Hamilton, Holtz suggested coming up to Montreal for a joint book club meeting and a weekend of shared literary events between our two groups. I thought it was a great idea, and then thought: Why don’t we extend the invitation to local literary groups to produce events at the same time? And thus, Lire Queer was born. Montreal is such a hotbed of queer grassroots literary orgs (for example, Gay Writes, Mes pants de queer, Metonymy Press, and queer-owned bookstores like Librairie Pulp Books & Café, plus so many more), but so often we work in silos. It’s great to be working together with everyone on something that speaks to each of our strengths.
So instead of a pub crawl, it would be a bookstore crawl?
Something like that. With all these great initiatives already taking place, we thought, why not bring it all together for one festival? It would give readers and book lovers (whether or not they are also writers) the opportunity for discovery; and more importantly, it would create a fun atmosphere for them to connect with each other. It’s also a great way for us all to take a break from our screens for a while and interact with people in-person.
I love it. And so much of this work is based on collaboration. Can you tell me a bit about how you build relationships with publishers, organizations, and other authors?
One of the (few) great things about social media is that you can quickly be connected to other people who share your interests. Authors, publishers, bookstores, book clubs, literary groups, are all online and want to engage with their audiences. I usually follow people or accounts and then write to them, asking if they want to collaborate. The collaborations are one of the most rewarding parts of the work–the friendships and connections that both myself, and the people who come out to the events, form with one another.
I wonder what people did before the days of social media.
I’m still nostalgic for the days of the competing alternative weeklies (or ‘alt’ weeklies), which were free weekly newspapers that provided arts coverage for the general public (in Montreal, it was the Mirror and Hour magazine). That’s how we kept track of what was happening, and who was doing the most interesting creative work.
When it comes to partnerships, I think the most important thing is to be open to collaboration. Also, to stay informed and connected, to lean into synergies. Putting together a book club festival has been an amazing opportunity to reach out and develop additional, new connections. It also keeps the conversation around queer literature going, and gives a visual reminder of our presence and relevance. We can really see, visually, the power that we have in numbers.
Absolutely. How do you manage the budget for your events?
I think it’s important to clarify that there is no budget for my events. I have a day job, and organizing literary events is something I do off the side of my desk. I put together about 20-30 events per year, and do my best to keep them free and accessible, opting for a pay-what-you-can model for people who can and are willing to put forward a bit of financial support for the mission. I also occasionally partner up with organizations who do have project funding (for example, the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival) and who are able to provide honorariums for people’s work. In the end though, like with most artistic endeavours, money isn’t the goal. I see this more as giving back to the community.
What has been the most unexpected challenge of putting together the program for Lire Queer?
I suppose I hadn’t completely thought about how much more timely consensus would be needed when working with so many different partners at once. There is a lot of back and forth, and getting back to people quickly can be a challenge sometimes. All of us are busy, and an undertaking of this scope requires a lot of communication. I started planning Lire Queer back in December 2025 (to be ready for May 2026), and we soft-launched during the first week of March 2026 with still a few details yet to confirm.
To sum it all up, the amount of logistics to factor in, getting everyone on the same page, and keeping up with responding on time were the most unexpected challenges.
Wow, I can imagine. And I have one last question for you: What is something you wish you knew when you started out, both as an author and as an event planner?
I wish I knew how easy it was to just make things happen. I was such a bored kid. You don’t have to wait for the phone to ring, don’t wait for someone to invite you to something. Just make things happen for yourself. Create the events you want to go to. I took action and started to create the things I wish I had when I was starting out as an author. So if you want to get involved and help build a supportive community, you have to act. I can’t imagine the last decade of my life without these things, because life is so much richer as a result of these initiatives.
As it is for many of us. Thanks for all that you do, Chris.
Lire Queer Reader Fest will run from May 16–23. For more information, visit: https://www.lirequeer.ca/.
Brooke Lee is a freelance writer and editor in Montreal who writes fiction under the pen name River Lee. For more info, visit her website at riverleewriter.ca.
Illustration by Edzin.