On April 19, McClelland & Stewart launched four poetry titles at the Dora Keogh pub on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue. Above: Paul Vermeersch (left), who was launching The Reinvention of the Human Hand, shows that while poets can get away with showing a little chest, publishers such as M&S president Doug Pepper (right) must make do with an unbuttoned collar. (Photo courtesy of M&S)

Sarah Elton, author of Locavore (HarperCollins Canada), seen here onstage at the Ottawa Writers Festival on April 22 (Earth Day), is a tireless advocate for eating locally and the importance of“ hey, that better be Ottawa Valley mineral water on the table… (Photo courtesy of pagehalffull, from the Q&Q Flickr page)

At the April 21 launch for The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath (Key Porter Books), held at Toronto’s Duke of York pub, author Erika Ritter and Andy Barrie, both former CBC Radio personalities, show just how relaxed they are in front of a microphone. (Photo by David Cuthbertson/DC Photography/Courtesy of Key Porter Books)

At the Book Exchange event held on April 8 at the Toronto Public Library’s Appel Salon, Damian Abraham (aka “Pink Eyes”, lead singer for hardcore band Fucked Up), shows that despite his well-earned reputation as an intense performer, he’s really a book cuddler at heart. Also participating in the event were Pasha Malla, Misha Glouberman, and Q&Q‘s own Zoe Whittall. (Photo courtesy of TPL)

Things get faaaaar out!! at the Vancouver launch of Darwin’s Bastards: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow (Douglas & McIntyre), held at Wise Hall on April 21. Above: Editor Zsuzsi Gartner and contributor Adam Lewis Schroeder (middle, dressed as an 82-year-old Feist), make D&M fiction editor Chris Labonté’s tie seem kinda humdrum. (Photo courtesy of Douglas & McIntyre – see the whole set here.)