Squat the City! How to use the arts for housing justice Book Launch Norman Nawrocki

Kersplebedeb Publishing and acclaimed Montreal author Norman Nawrocki are launching his exciting and timely new book, Squat The City! How To Use The Arts For Housing Justice, Thurs May 15, 2025 at the Bar Milton Parc Coop, 3417 Ave du Parc, 5pm to 7pm. The multi-media launch is free. With special guests from SLAM-MATU and Artifact.

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCwn1A3LuSA

Squat The City! How To Use The Arts For Housing Justice (Kersplebedeb Publishing, Montreal, 2025) is an inspiring and practical resource for anyone curious about how the arts can help navigate the current housing crisis. It’s full of lessons, strategies and examples based on Nawrocki’s decades of ongoing work as an activist/artist/organiser and educator using music, theatre, comedy and poetry to address the issues.

His 18th book, but first work of non-fiction, it assembles his essays, articles, and extracts from his plays, albums, stories and Creative Resistance workshops, plus material from Rhythm Activism’s legendary hilarious “community cabarets” seen by thousands across Quebec.

The Montreal Gazette calls him, “A fighter — invariably for the underdog . . . a Montreal legend”; while Montreal’s Le Devoir, says, “Anyone who knows Norman Nawrocki knows that he’s on fire when it’s time to talk about social causes close to his heart.” The Vancouver Sun said his last book, a novella Vancouvered Out (2024), was, “In the honoured tradition of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London … Highly recommended.” 

Nawrocki is a veteran community organiser who co-founded his non-profit, self-managed housing coop in Montreal’s Milton-Parc and has been active in housing battles across Canada since the 1970s. He’s also an internationally acclaimed violinist, playwright, actor and producer who teaches part-time in the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University and gives Creative Resistance workshops worldwide.

“For those of us involved in activism and housing, this book inspires and points to how to build a movement integrating the arts as a means to build power!” —Eric Shragge, co-editor, Montreal: A Citizen’s Guide to City Politics.

https://leftwingbooks.net/collections/kersplebedeb-favorites
https://linktr.ee/normannawrocki

Date and Time

Thursday, May 15 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Location