Featuring some of the best comedians in the country, from CBC, SiriusXM, ABCD, HEHEHAHA, and more!

This month’s lineup: 3 Kyles! Kyle Carpenter, Kyle Barnet, Kyle Hickey, Sarah MacLellan, Sara Graham, and Sharon McCormack! Hosted as always by the always (hopefully) funny and endearing Luba Magnus.

Tickets $10 in advance via Eventbrite or at the door! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neon-sign-comedy-vol-viii-tickets-1997930756676

Doors @ 6:30, show at 7pm start. Grab a Coffee, tea, or espresso martini, goodness knows you need it. See you there!

When: Thursday, August 27th 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

Cover is PWYC ($15 recommended)

When: Thursday, September 3rd 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

Why are we so obsessed with the 90s? This is an insightful political reckoning with an anomalous decade.

The 1990s were a cultural watershed, marking a turning point in popular music, television, cinema, literature, and fashion. Nestled between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks, the decade witnessed the ‘end of history’ and the birth of the internet, the consolidation of neoliberalism, and a political urgency embodied by the anti-globalization movement. We now see this pivotal decade in the rearview mirror as a force to reckon with, have yet to write its history, and have only begun to come to terms with its lasting significance.

This anthology dives into the contemporary fascination with the ’90s. Plotting a playful course between sociology and cultural studies on the one hand, and giddy nostalgia on the other, the book charts decisive developments of the decade to fully apprehend its resonances today.

Covering everything from ‘girl power,’ Star Trek, and hip-hop, to queer cinema, anarchist counterculture, and the erotic thriller, The Return of the ’90s excavates key moments in ’90s culture and uncovers its multiple reckonings in the present.

When: Friday, September 4th 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis ST. Halifax

When: Thursday, September 10th 2026 @ 6:30pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

Tickets for $10 in advance or $15 at the door, available at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/adamotmar/2301329!

When: Friday, September 11th 2026 @ 6:30pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

Joanne Merriam is a writer and poet from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She is the author of the poetry collection The Glaze from Breaking and her poetry and fiction has appeared in dozens of magazines and journals, including Astropoetica, The Baltimore Review, Escape Pod, Pank, Per Contra, Pictura, and Strange Horizons. Find her at joannemerriam.com and @joannemerriam.bsky.social‬.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When: Tuesday, Sept. 15th 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

Ontario-born singer, songwriter, and poet Paige Ballagh performs original folk-pop rooted in storytelling, warmth, and melodic ease. Joined by her multi-instrumentalist brother Mike Ballagh and her husband, CFMA-winning guitarist Kyle Waymouth, she delivers an inviting, grounded live show shaped by performances across Canada, the U.S., and Ireland — from theatres and festival stages to Ireland tours and Florida’s Kravis Center. A former Summerfolk Youth Discovery Artist, Paige is also the author of Waking Up, an Amazon #1 best-selling poetry collection (2022). Her album Shoes Untied and EP Oh Maggie — recorded with Juno Award–winner Jake Charron — showcase her clear, expressive voice and lived-in songwriting. Balancing heartfelt lyricism with humour and human connection, Paige’s work bridges house-concert intimacy with festival-stage presence.

Kale Penny is a west coast musician and actor based in Stratford, Ontario. In 2017, he released his debut EP, The Tracks, a collection of heartfelt songs that later inspired a stage adaptation by Mark Weatherley with Here for Now Theatre Company in 2021, starring Kale and his wife Lauren Bowler. Known for his honest lyrics and engaging performances, Kale’s music is delighting audiences around the world. His recent singles, You Deserve Love and Work It Out, are lauded as music that feels like a hug, receiving radio spins in Canada and the UK, as well as being streamed in 60 countries. He has also racked up millions of views on Instagram and TikTok in the past 6 months with his viral too high/too low song series, combining vocal talent with self-effacing humour. His latest single Gonna Be Somebody is a folk/pop/EDM collaboration with Swedish House Producer Henwall, with 25000 streams on Spotify in the first 3 weeks, and spins on Swedish and German radio.

When: Wednesday, September 23rd 2026 @ 6pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St, Halifax

It’s a fight club.

8 books enter the literati Thunderdome, and only 1 leaves. 80% book club. 20% fight club. 100% hilarious.

First time in Canada, a joint New Zealand & Guatemala event. It’s the Canadian premiere of the world’s only hilarious, raucous book fight club from Meegwai Productions!

PWYC – $10 suggested donation.

“…this show is too clever and too funny to stick to the rules.”
“…a rip roaring show of immense proportions.” – Theatreview
“I laughed so much. I laughed so hard at one point I nearly threw up.” – Libel Music
“…bordeline chaos that makes the show feel fresh.” – Chortle

When: Friday, September 25th 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax

When: Friday, October 9th, 2026 @ 7pm
Where: Trident Café & Booksellers, 1256 Hollis St, Halifax

Lisa Richter is a Toronto-based poet, writer, and educator. She is the author of two previous poetry collections, including Nautilus and Bone, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry, the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry in the U.S., and the Robert Kroetsch Award. Her work has been a finalist for a National Magazine Award, longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, and appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and will be serving as the 2026-2027 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer-in-Residence at McMaster University.

Conyer Clayton is a queer writer, editor and bookseller from Louisville, Kentucky, living in Ottawa. They are the author of But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves (Winner of the Archibald Lampman Award), We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite (Winner of the Ottawa Book Award) and many chapbooks. Conyer’s fiction has been supported by a MacDowell Fellowship and a McCormack Writing Center Scholarship. the lake-shaped excuse is their third book.

Jaime Forsythe is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently Yield (Wolsak & Wynn/ Buckrider Books, 2026). A collaborative chapbook with Stuart Ross, Disposable Adult Emergency Raincoat, will be out with Proper Tales Press in Fall 2026. Jaime is the recipient of a 2026-27 Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia sponsored residency at Jampolis Cottage. She holds an MFA from the University of Guelph and currently lives close to where she grew up in Nova Scotia/ Mi’kma’ki with her family.

Wild Blue Rose
Darrel Cameron
Shayla Morag
Michelle Calder
The Johnsons

When: Thursday, November 5th, 2026 @ 6:30pm
Where: Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 1256 Hollis St. Halifax