Sept. 12, Quebec City — Unless they mark the appearance of a big-name author, or are part of one of Canada’s many big-time book festivals, public readings tend to fly under the mainstream radar. In fact, the majority of readings are fairly dour, unremarkable, and under-attended affairs.

The upcoming Moulin a paroles (or “chatterbox”) event being held in Quebec City this coming weekend to mark the 250th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham will be anything but. Put together after Quebec nationalists scotched the idea of a full-on reenactment of the battle in which British forces defeated the French and thus became rulers of what would eventually be Canada, the event is a 24-hour reading of a few hundred texts, all of which purport to say something about Quebec, past and present.

The one text that has a lot of people up in arms, though, is the manifesto of the radical separatist group the Front de libération du Québec, or the FLQ, the grouped that sparked the October Crisis of 1970.

Even if readings aren’t your thing, this one promises to be a helluva show.

(And if you can’t make it, here’s the manifesto in question.)