Street lamps gleamed against turning trees; juicy oranges, crisp reds, and mellow yellows, on the cusp of tumbling from their branches in the late October chill. I headed to Mcsway Poetry Collective’s Halloween open mic, hosted at the ever-so-cozy community hub, The Yellow Door.

It was an unseasonably mild Wednesday evening in late October when writers, publishers, agents, and book-sellers from around the city gathered at Riverside St-Henri for Yolk Literary’s second annual installment of Literary Oktoberfest.