Edited by author 12-20-2006 10:39 PM

Postcard Fiction is a story approximately 500 words or less. It's a challenge and it's fun. On Sunday Jan. 21 the Flying Medifore reading series is hosting an open mic night for writers who would like to read their stories!

Show up with a story of 500 words or less (2 or 3 stories if you like!) It can be about your vacation, your latest love, your latest heartbreak, a story about times changing, times staying the same...It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be.....short.

If you have heard about the Flying Medifore reading series but have never been, if you've been trying to write but haven't found a reason, if you would like to say hello to some like-minded writers, come on by. We've been waiting for you!
 
Date: Sunday, January 21, 2007
Time: 7:00 pm.
Location: Zemra Bar Lounge 778 St. Clair Ave. West (just west of Christie)
Contact: Brenda 647-403-5694

Hi,
Susan Glickman, or any body else reading this, what is the interpretation of the poem "Poem About Your Laugh"? I have been sitting on it for the past couple of days and can't seem to grassp the theme.

Help would be greatly appreciated,
Sincerely,
Kanzaba

Sorry, my post didn't show up with the picture of the ebook. If you'd like an e-copy of our free Christmas eBook, visit http://www.writersville.homestead.com/seasonsgreetings.html.

Happy holiday to you!

Dorothy Thompson
Editor, The Writer's Life
www.thewriterslife.net

Season's Greetings from The Writersville Gang

New Reading Series I'm organizing, come out and read! Open Mic!

Edited by author 11-14-2006 11:14 PM

COMING APRIL 2007 - Preorder your copy now at Amazon.


An acclaimed novelist’s riveting memoir about what it means to be adopted and how all of us construct our sense of self and family
Before A.M. Homes was born, she was put up for adoption. Her birth mother was a twenty-two- year-old single woman who was having an affair with a much older married man with children of his own. The Mistress’s Daughter is the story of what happened when, thirty years later, her birth parents came looking for her.
Homes, renowned for the psychological accuracy and emotional intensity of her storytelling, tells how her birth parents initially made contact with her and what happened afterward (her mother stalked her and appeared unannounced at a reading) and what she was able to reconstruct about the story of their lives and their families. Her birth mother, a complex and lonely woman, never married or had another child, and died of kidney failure in 1998; her birth father, who initially made overtures about inviting her into his family, never did.
Then the story jumps forward several years to when Homes opens the boxes of her mother’s memorabilia. She had hoped to find her mother in those boxes, to know her secrets, but no relief came. She became increasingly obsessed with finding out as much as she could about all four parents and their families, hiring researchers and spending hours poring through newspaper morgues, municipal archives and genealogical Web sites. This brave, daring, and funny book is a story about what it means to be adopted, but it is also about identity and how all of us define our sense of self and family.

Edited by author 11-12-2006 11:02 PM

I am helping to organize a new reading series at Zemra's. Come on out this Sunday Nov. 19th!!!!

I Owe One to Robert Eggleton

October 30, 2006, by Evelyn Somers, The Missouri Review

Earlier this year I was contacted by first-time novelist Robert Eggleton, asking if I would review his forthcoming e-book. If people knew how many requests of this kind editors get, they would understand that out of self-preservation we sometimes… well, I ignored the request.

Robert tried again. There was something in the tone of his e-mail: this mattered to him. So I said yes, I’d take a look, though I didn’t think we could review Rarity From the Hollow. This is all fogged somewhat in memory: in the months since then our magazine moved its office, I was hospitalized for a cat bite (yes, they’re dangerous), we’ve published two issues, read hundreds of manuscripts, I went to Africa, etc., etc. But as I recall, Robert sent me the first chapter, which begins with two impoverished schoolgirls (from the Hollow of the title) studying together and spelling the word for a sex toy. It was quirky, profane, disturbing. I said I’d look at the book, not entirely sure what I could do to help.

He sent me the whole thing by e-mail. I read portions of the book, which is subtitled "A Lacy Dawn Adventure," after the girl protagonist, Lacy Dawn. I liked Lacy Dawn, who lives in a world of poverty, classmates with precocious sexual knowledge and/or experience, unemployed men, worn-down women, and cruelty so casual that it’s more knee-jerk than intentional. Maybe I was just too bothered by the content, but at a certain point I knew I couldn’t do anything. My time was nonexistent.

So I deleted the book from my desktop.

Robert contacted me again, and I got soft. You see, there was something about the whole project in general. Robert is a social worker who has spent at least a portion of his career working with child-abuse victims in Appalachia. The book was partly about that, and mostly very strange. In the Hollow, Lacy takes up with an android named DotCom, from "out of state," which really means off of this planet. Under DotCom’s wing, she decides that she will "save" her family. Little does she know she will end up saving the universe. The subject was not exactly run-of-the-mill. And Robert was donating the proceeds from sales of the e-book to help child-abuse victims.

Robert is not a kid; he’s maybe my age, maybe older. What was at stake wasn’t youthful ambition, vanity or reputation. This was about some kind of personal calling. I believe in those. I also believe in people who are driven to get their writing out there to an audience, through whatever venue. The e-book idea intrigued me. The earnestness of the appeal got to me. Send the book again, I said. He did. It’s still on my hard drive. (I suppose I should delete it, since I haven’t paid for it.)

Robert kept after me. If I liked it, could I write a blurb? Yeah, of course. I was fund-raising for my African trip (a Habitat for Humanity build), teaching, editing, raising three kids. But who is not busy and overwhelmed? We set our own priorities. I put Robert, and his book, lower than some other things, which really wasn’t fair because I had said I would do something, and I didn’t.

And it has bothered me. Here’s another thing people don’t know about editors. They sometimes have consciences about books/stories/poems/whatever that they’ve allowed to slip through the cracks, to get lost or neglected in the shuffle of what amounts to thousands of pages.

So I’m belatedly giving Rarity From the Hollow a plug. Among its strengths are an ultra-convincing depiction of the lives, especially the inner lives, of the Appalachian characters. The grim details of their existence are delivered with such flat understatement that at times they almost become comic. And just when you think enough is enough, this world is too plain ugly, Lacy Dawn’s father (who is being "fixed" with DotCom’s help) gets a job and Lacy Dawn, her mother and her dog take off for a trip to the mall "out of state" with Lacy Dawn’s android friend, now her "fiancé" (though as Lacy’s mother points out, he doesn’t have any private parts, not even "a bump.") In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It’s quite a trip.

Rarity is published by FatCat Press, which has other e-books for sale as well. You can find it at www.fatcatpress.com. The blurb on the website says in part:

Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of Appalachia, and then some. She lives in a hollow with her mom, her Vietnam Vet dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's very skilled at laying fiber-optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend, DotCom, has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. DotCom has been sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp: he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save Earth, and they must get a boatload of shopping done at the mall along the way. Saving Earth is important, but shopping – well, priorities are priorities.

Yes, priorities are. I should have had mine in order. Robert Eggleton's book deserves your attention. Check it out.

Ottawa book launch:

Matthew Firth will hold the Ottawa launch of his new book - Suburban Pornography and Other Stories, Anvil Press - Saturday November, 18th at 5 pm at the Manx Pub, 370 Elgin Street. Tel. 613-231-2070. Or firth@istar.ca for more info.

Anvil Press Book Launch (the Toronto edition)

Sugar Bush & Other Stories by Jenn Farrell
and
Suburban Pornography by Matthew Firth

With special guest reader Tanya Chapman, author of King (Coach House Books)

Friday, November 3rd, 6–9pm
The Victory Café, 581 Markham Street
Hosted by Michael Bryson • Free Event • DJ to follow
More info 604 876-5646

Edited by author 10-19-2006 02:39 PM
Thursday, November 16 and Friday, November 17, 2006
Insider Guide to Getting Published
Presented by the Humber School of Creative & Performing Arts

You’ve written and revised a manuscript you’re proud of. Or you’ve got a great idea you would like to develop. What’s the next step? Whether your work is fiction or non-fiction, for children or adults, this two day workshop will tell you everything you need to know to start you on the path to publication. Workshop leader Cynthia Good will share what publishers look for when they accept a manuscript, what outside influences affect publishers’ choices and provide some insights into the internal decision-making process. She will show you how to prepare cover letters and book proposals that get results and look at the pros and cons of working with a literary agent. She will cover what happens after your manuscript has been acquired by a publisher; what your contract might look like, the editorial process, the marketing of your book and more.

Cynthia Good is the Director of Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program and was the President and Publisher of Penguin Books for 20 years.

Time: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Cost: $329 for non-members, $299. for TWC members
Place: Toronto Writers' Centre, 101 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto
For information: Cynthia Good
                        (416) 675-6622 ext 3462
                        cynthia.good@humber.ca
To register: Hilary Higgins
   (416) 675-6622 ext 3449
   hilary.higgins@humber.ca

Edited by author 10-04-2006 01:42 PM

Enter the 3rd Annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest.

1st Prize: $250, 2nd Prize: $150, 3rd Prize: $100

Send a postcard along with a story that relates to the image. The relationship can be as tangential as you like, so long as there is a clear connection to the image or place. Maximum 500 words, fiction or non-fiction.

Entries must be postmarked no later than December 1, 2006.

The three winning entries will be published in Geist magazine.

Entry fee: $20 for the first entry, This includes a 1-year subscription or subscription extension (value: $15). $5 for each additional entry.

For more details and to read last year’s winning entries visit www.geist.com.

MAGIC VIAL UNCORKED!
Josh and the Magic Vial is a book for young readers based on intensely spiritual themes. Love is the creative universal force, but the will to love is always tested by those who hate and would destroy for the sheer pleasure of it. Josh Dempster, Millie Epp and Ian Lytle - the book's protagonists - must learn how to "love thine enemy" in their battles with the underworld forces of Lord Vortigen and Sirus Blackstone. Fast paced and a great read for kids and adults. Excerpts from the book are available at http://www.finelinefiction.com. You can also subscribe to The Investigative Journal of Inspector H. Puddifant, an ongoing exploration into the intrusions of the underworld into our own dimension.

I'm a therapist in a children's mental health program in West Virginia. I wrote a science fiction novel: "Rarity from the Hollow." It was published as an ebook: www.fatcatpress.com. A satirical essay about its self-promotion was also published in July by Wingspan Quarterly: www.wingspanquarterly.com. Jag Lall, English comic book artist, did the cover pro bono.

I can't afford to promote the novel, so I post anyplace I find that will let me after I get home from work. I'm not complaining because I knew I'd never make much of a salary in the child welfare field. And besides, my work is what inspires me to write.

"Rarity" has received several blurbs, some of which are on the publisher's site. Others are available, including one by Piers Anthony. One scifi/fantasy site gave me a year's free advertising. A review is in Baryon Online: http://www.baryon-online.com:

=========

Robert Eggleton
Rarity from the Hollow, A Lacy Dawn Adventure
Robert Eggleton
www.fatcatpress.com, $6.95, 411 pages, ISBN: 0977644839 reviewed by Barry Hunter

Lacy Dawn is the last person you would pick to be the savior of the universe. She’s in the fifth grade in the backwoods of West Virginia. Her best friend – Faith, is the ghost of a school mate that was beaten to death and lives in a tree. During recess she gives advice to her schoolmates about their future. Her boyfriend – DotCom, is an android that has lived in a cave for thousands of years keeping watch over her lineage from the first days of humankind.

Her dad - Dewayne is a disabled vet and her family is on welfare. Tom, the next door neighbor, grows "buds". Jenny, her mom does the best she can. Lacy and DotCom do some "reprogramming" on the parents to make them smarter and stronger and Lacy is up to college level in her studies with DotCom.

It turns out that in order for Lacy to save the universe; she must raise the prestige of Earth by becoming the greatest shopper of all time and negotiate the best deals for her services and those of her family on the planet Shptiludrp.

Eggleton has crafted a novel that deals with social commentary mixed with some eerie science fiction and a strange problem that Lacy has to solve to save the universe with the help of her family and her dog, Brownie. I can almost hear a blue grass version of Metallica while reading this. I expect to see more from Eggleton and Lacy Dawn. Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find.

===========
Depending on a schedule, from ten to fifty percent of any profits I receive will be donated to prevent child abuse: Children's Home Society of West Virginia (CHS, Dennis Sutton, Executive Director).

All of the above info is verifiable and I'll provide any additional info on your request. I'm writing to ask that you check it out and tell others, mention it to your friends, post this email on a wall, or whatever you think would help promote this project. Advertising is too expensive and ebook publishers don't promote the way that traditional publishers have in the past. Unless one has name recognition, actually, few paper publishers today invest much in promotion.

Anything that you can do to pass the word would be appreciated. I'm a novice on the internet and have been stumbling around trying to let people know. Sometimes I've gotten myself called spam, which is especially discouraging. However, since it's an ebook, please caution folks not to share the actual novel because it would be like ripping off the kids.

Thanks,

Robert Eggleton
robert_t@charter.net

LONG HORN, BIG SHAGGY: A TALE OF WILD WEST TERROR AND REANIMATED BUFFALO
by Steve Vernon
Nova Scotia's hardest working horror writer

What's it about? Back-from-the-dead mountainmen, time-travelling mad scientists, carrion stallions, and zombified buffalo.

You will never look at a severed head the same way again.

Check it out here.

http://www.khpindustries.com/longhorn.html

For more information go to my website
http://users.eastlink.ca/~stevevernon

Edited by author 07-29-2006 06:38 PM

The Chronicles of Samuel Sassodoro,Book One

Description of fictional novel:

From a place beyond the space/time continuum, known as No-Time, Samuel Sassodoro, is born into this world. He possesses a certain faculty for bringing together the opposing forces of Good and Evil that beleaguer mankind; a potential for moving towards a new rung on the ladder of psychic evolution. Yet Evil would oppose any such change. Samuel must find within himself the integrity and courage to confront The Whore and Her monstrous ally, The Antichrist. When all seems lost, help arrives from a totally unexpected quarter. This is a tale of human frailty and its conscious recognition, whereby all is possible, and nothing is inconceivable.

Website: http://www.geocities.com/philomon65/

Edited by author 04-29-2006 12:20 AM

Grant Writing Seminar www.kgsambrano.com

 

 

 

 Author Helps Immerse Readers in Adventures

 

            Colleen Madonna Flood Williams is one of several authors in Windstorm Creative’s Orchard Academy My Adventure Series. Colleen’s titles include; My Adventure to the Arctic, My Adventure to the Fair, My Adventure to the Forest Clubhouse, My Adventure to the Harbor, My Adventure to the Playground, My Adventure to the Science Center, and My Adventure to the Secret Cave. These books allow children to immerse themselves in the adventures by adding written details, as well as visual information to the stories. She has also written a holiday adventure series for Windstorm that is in production at this time and is writing for their time travel adventure series and regional adventure series.

 

            Colleen Madonna Flood Williams explains, “These are books that children and their parents will treasure for many years to come. The child gets to put his/her name on the front cover and assume the role of author/illustrator for each of these titles. The child is taken on a guided adventure, and yet he/she gets to determine many of the feelings and sensory elements that he/she experiences along the way. Reading, writing, and illustrating have never been so much fun!”

 

            Flood Williams is the author of more than a dozen children’s books. She has written for Chelsea House and Mason Crest, as well as Windstorm Creative’s Orchard Academy Press. She has a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and is a full time freelance writer, wife, mother, and Homer, Alaska Bay Club Gym Member.

 

To read a review of My Adventure to the Fair or My Adventure at the Forest Clubhouse go here

http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/inde...27&CFTOKEN=38627044

 

 

Hi, there!

 

My name is Colleen Madonna Flood Williams. I am a published children’s author from Homer, Alaska. I am promoting a new series of books that I am working on for young children. These books are part of the Orchard Academy My Adventure Series. My first two books in this series are My Adventure to the Fair and My Adventure to the Forest Clubhouse. They will each be available for purchase within a month or two. Next year, a greater number of my titles will be available, including a series on holidays, a series on the regions of America, some time travel adventures, and some animal adventures. Two upcoming titles that may interest Alaskans especially are My Adventure to the Arctic and My Adventure to the Harbor.

 

Reading, writing, and illustrating has never been so much fun! These are books that children and their parents will treasure for many years to come. The child gets to put his/her name on the front cover and assume the role of author/illustrator for each of these titles. The child is taken on a guided adventure, and yet he/she gets to determine many of the feelings and sensory elements that he/she experiences along the way.

 

You can see/order my titles at http://www.windstormcreative.com/academy/2293X.htm

 

If you are a group or a bookstore go here http://www.windstormcreative.com/orders/index.htm to order my books at a discount.

 

(You can also see my other titles for older students by searching my name at amazon.com.)

 

For workshop situations, I prefer working with children in first grade, second grade, third grade, and with appropriate age/grade level special education students up for the challenge of writing/illustrating their own books. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Art and have some personal experience background with special education children. If you wish to schedule a writer’s workshop for children, I only ask that students/customers be willing to each purchase one book, so that we can work on it during my visit. If you are across the water from Homer or further away than Anchorage, I would also ask for my transportation to and from Homer or Anchorage to be paid for by your organization and for lodging to be provided for me. If you are on the road system and I can drive to your location, then transportation expenses will be minimal.

 

I will first talk to the students, then guide them through the process of writing their own books. If time allows, I will also guide them through illustrating the text, as well. If time does not allow, the students may illustrate their books on their own time or with their classroom teachers or parents.

 

If you contact me and want to arrange a regular author visit, book signing, or writer’s workshop, I will have my publisher contact you and set up an author visit date. I will also contact you so that I can

arrange to have enough books with me for all of your students should you arrange for a workshop. The books will cost under $10.00 a piece. You may charge an additional fee to benefit your organization for the workshop.

 

At the end of the visit, your students/customers will each receive a certificate signed by me that announces their emergence as an up and coming author/illustrator.

 

I hope to hear from you soon. If not, keep reading, writing, creating, illustrating, and learning!

 

Interested in a media kit to review my work? Want to interview me? Would you like to carry or purchase my books? Want to schedule an event? Contact the publishers at windstormcreative.com
 

Bear in mind that we can always arrange a cyber visit to your school, too!

 

Thanks for your time,

Colleen Madonna Flood Williams

Check out Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, George Murray and many others

Edited by author 03-31-2006 08:43 PM
Publishing Studies:
BOOK PUBLISHING 1

Rowland Lorimer, John Maxwell, and Jillian Shoichet (editors)

An inside look into various aspects of the publishing industry, including title aquisition, author-editor relations, marketing, purchasing and new technology.

This comprehensive collection of articles is a must-read for anyone interested in publishing, and is also a valuable resource for authors who want to know more about the publishing process.

For more information, visit http://www.ccsppress.com

Now available on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097387270...40?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Edited by author 03-26-2006 08:38 PM

A SOFTER WORLD 1: Truth & Beauty Bombs.</div>

Available now for pre-orders: The first A Softer World book. Features:

- Every comic available on the internet + 25 new just-for-print ones.
- 100+ pages at 3.5" x 8.5", opening landscape.
- full colour!

Pre-orders will be taken from now until the end of April. They will be shipped out approx. a month before the book is available in stores AND will come with a thank you bonus pack of stickers, 1" buttons, etc.

Please visit The Loose Teeth Press at http://www.looseteeth.ca to order.

For more info on the comic please visit http://asofterworld.com.

PoetryReviews.ca - new kid on the block. The goal is to promote Canadian poetry and poets. I'm currently looking for reviewers and books to review. I'm also offering special rates to writers who would like to host their Web site with my company, Shadow Box Creative Media.

Thanks,

Eric Barstad
Shadow Box Creative Media Ltd.
Web Sites for Non-Profits
www.shadowboxcreative.ca

Edited by author 03-05-2006 10:06 PM

open call for manuscripts!


http://www.looseteeth.ca/submit.htm

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from her novel, The Nettle Spinner, at The Ottawa Public Library (Main branch) on March 15 at 7 pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Please come. Kathryn has a profound fear of large empty Ottawan auditoriums.

For more information:
120 Metcalfe
Ottawa ON K1P 5M2
(613) 580-2945

Does anyone still read these old boards? If so, I'm having a launch for my novel The Violin Lover at Nicholas Hoare bookstore in Toronto on March 22. Everyone welcome! 6-8 pm. Wine and stuff to eat. GOod company.

Susan Glickman

But before I read in Windsor, I've got a few other dates lined up.

Next is Montreal, Zeke's Gallery (3955 St. Laurent), Feb. 1 at 7:30, with Stephanie Bolster, Geoff Cook and Robyn Sarah.

Goran Simic and Zach Wells will be reading in Windsor on `Monday, February 13th, at the Flying Monkey, 255 Ouellette, at 7 pm.

For those in The Vancouver area on February 9th:


BIBLIOASIS IS PROUD
TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF
 
Bright Objects of Desire
A sparkling collection of short stories by
Vancouver author and screenwriter Michèle Adams
 
           Thursday, February 9 at 6:30 pm
Café Montmartre
4362 Main Street @ 28th Avenue
 
Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm. Author reading will begin at 7 pm.
Please RSVP to fernanda@shaw.ca

1)It's amazing what you can accomplish with an email account, a background in transportation logistics, and prolonged periods of unemployment.

2)Pretty much. I got a grant and I work for the railroad (during the less prolonged periods when I'm not unemployed).

3)I don't have a dog, nor the attention span required to write a novel. Congratulations on that; it seems from my vantage point way harder than organizing a tour. A novel, that is. A dog I could handle, if only I could stay at home long enough.

Oy vey, Zach, I'm exhausted just reading your itinery. Two questions:1) how on earth did you organize all this?
          2) were you able to get all your transportation covered?


I have a novel coming out in two months and should probably be working on promotion but mostly I'm too nervous to do anything but keep walking the dog.

The Zach Wells X-Country Poetry Roadshow is about to begin. I'll be appearing at a venue near you at some point during the next 6 weeks. Come one, come all!

January 29, Ottawa, 2 pm: Reading at Collected Works bookstore, 1242 Wellington St. W. (at Holland).

January 29, Ottawa, 7 pm: Reading at Dusty Owl series, Swizzles Bar (246-b Queen Street below the Thai Garden Restaurant)

February 1, Montreal, 7:30 pm: Reading at Zeke's Gallery (3955 St. Laurent), with Stephanie Bolster, Geoffrey Cook, Robyn Sarah

February 5, Hamilton, 7:30 pm: Reading at the Lit Live Reading Series, The Junction Café, 197 King William St. and Ferguson Ave. N., with Richard Sanger, Jennifer Lovegrove, Steven Laird, Derek Beaulieu and Gary Barwin.

February 7, Toronto, 8 pm: Reading at the Art Bar Reading Series, Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St., with Richard Sanger and Gary Barwin.

February 8, Peterborough, 8 pm: Reading at Peterborough Arts Umbrella, 378 Aylmer St. N.

February 10, Toronto, 8 pm: Reading at the I.V. Lounge Reading Series, 326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO, with Damian Rogers and Chris Eaton.

February 11, Toronto, 7:30 pm: Presentation of People's Prize to Goran Simic, Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton St.

February 13, Windsor (ON), 7:30 pm: Reading at The Flying Monkey, 255 Ouellette Ave, with Goran Simic.

February 14, St. Catharine's, 7:30 pm: Reading at Grey Borders Reading Series, The Merchant Ale House, 98 St. Paul Street.

February 18, Winnipeg, 4 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 208-393 Portage Avenue.

February 20, Saskatoon, 7 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 3130 8th Street East, with Jeanette Lynes.

February 23, Calgary, 7 pm: Reading at McNally Robinson book shop, 120 8th Avenue SW, with Micheline Maylor.

February 24, Edmonton: Reading, with Ian Letourneau and others, Downtown Library, across from Churchill Square.

February 27, Prince George: Reading at University of Northern British Columbia, Northern Studies Department. Details TBA.

February 28, Wells, BC: Reading at Art Gallery. Details TBA.

March 6, Vancouver, 7:30 pm: Reading at Vancouver Public Library.

March 9, Lasqueti Island: Reading at Lasqueti Island Arts Centre.

I'm right here, damnit!, busy "promoting" myself.

Geez, what you kids call it these days.

File this under better late than never:

I'm launching my new chapbook, Ludicrous Parole, tonight at 8:30 the Economy Shoe Shop on Argyle St. in Halifax. Also reading will be Brian Bartlett, Wayne Clifford, Rachel Lebowitz and possibly the elusive Martin Wallace.

i hope this message is appropriate to post here.

this summer, i'll be participating in the friends for life bike rally to benefit the toronto people with aids foundation. i will cycle 600 km from toronto to montreal to raise money for the foundation. i need to raise $2,000 by june to participate in the rally.

even though registration doesn't begin until february, i'd like to get a head start on fundraising. here's where you lovely lit. types come in.

in an effort to raise money for the foundation, i would like to auction off signed books on ebay. if you would like to donate one of your books, signed by your sweet self, please let me know. my e-mail address is below. if you're interested in the auction, e-mail me and i will provide you with a link to the auction when it goes live at the end of february.

for more information on the friends for life bike rally, visit http://www.bikerally.org/home.html

i can be reached at couturedani@hotmail.com.

thanks!

dani

No, man, I've just gone in a different direction.

Won't happen. You already sold out long ago.

Zing!

G

Congrats on the new chappie, Alex. Little fishcart makes lovely little books.

I reckon I'll have copies on hand at the I.V., yes, barring a stampede sellout between now and then...

And Zach will be reading from it at the IV lounge in Toronto (326 Dundas St W) Feb 10, so come on out. Will you have it for sale, Z?

As for me, my new chap is called Urgent Baby (concerning a self-obsessed character of the same name) and it's available from little fish cart press (littlefishcartpress.ca)

Edited by author 12-09-2005 02:20 PM
Haven't seen it myself yet, but my new chappie, Ludicrous Parole, is now available from Mercutio Press.

Good luck, y'all. How sad that I am now too old to make it into any anthology of "new" poetry! Will be busy that night at a fundraising dinner for Vietnamese writers in prison or I would hobble there on my walker to support you.

Thank goodness I'm not a ninja. Ninja Schmidt doesn't sound very good...

Ninja Murray reading this Saturday

Toronto ninjas! I am reading this weekend in support of the Vehicule Signal Editions poetry anthology The New Canon. Info below. Please come and introduce yourself.

Launch of The New Canon
Featuring readings by:

Kevin Connolly

Pino Coluccio

Noah Leznoff

Laura Lush

Asa Boxer

Richard Greene

Walid Bitar

Adam Sol

Richard Sanger

Carla Hartsfield

Shane Neilson

Geoff Cook

George Murray

Saturday, December 10, 2005
7:00 p.m.
Rivoli
334 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Subway: Osgoode

For more information:
416-596-1908


Home

December 6, 2005
 
Evie Christie, author of Gutted, will be reading as part of The Art Bar Poetry Series on Tuesday December 6, 2005. The event takes place at The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto. The reading starts at 8:00 p.m. and is free. (Betsy Struthers and Phil Hall also reading!)
 
December 9, 2005
 
Evie Christie, author of Gutted, will be reading at the IV Lounge (326 Dundas St. W.) on Friday December 9, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. Come on out for a great night of readings!
 (Walid Bitar and Steve McCabe reading as well!)

My sonnet
Yes, You Did Say You Wanted to be a Mountain Climber
 is among the Random Highbrow entries.

I know I know, I should've thrown it in solitary confinement with all my other sonnets and limericks...

Monday November 28, 2005

Come on out to ECW's Fall 2005 poetry event to help us launch Evie Christie's Gutted, and matt robinson's no cage contains a stare that well. Be at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. W.) on Monday November 28, 2005 from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. to partake in the fun. The evening will include a Speed Reading segment with Evie and matt, along with fellow ECW authors Jason Anderson, James Grainger, plus many more! You won't want to miss this literary party, so be sure to jot down this date on your calendars now.

Join Adrian Michael Kelly as
he launches his novel
Down Sterling Road
with special guests
Don Austin and
Andreae Prozesky

Tuesday, November 15
8:00p.m.
The Ship Pub
St. John's, NL
Free.

Sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and Coach House Books.
Presented by Poetry Tourism Newfoundland.

Littlefishcartpress announces a fresh batch of Chipbooks (smaller than chapbooks and considerably cheaper) which will be introduced to the world this Wednesday, November 16th from 7-10 pm at the Peterborough Arts Umbrella. The PAU is located at 378 Aylmer Street North (behind Artspace) in downtown Peterborough.

We will be introducing Chipbooks by:

David Bateman, Alex Boyd, David Cameron, John Climenhage, Jeramy Dodds, Cameron Esler, Gabe Foreman, Zach Gaviller, Lea Harper, Gordon Johnston, Leigh Kotsilidis, Steven Laird, Nathan Reeves, Ingrid Ruthig, Betsy Struthers, Florence Treadwell and Joshua Trotter

Readings by

Cameron Esler
Lea Harper
Gordon Johnston
Steven Laird
Ingrid Ruthig
Florence Treadwell

and surprise guests

Check us out at littlefishcartpress.ca

Will do my damndest.
   
  Dan

QT - Bookninja <qtopic+25-iMY7nWEdwRBK5@quicktopic.com> wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Attendance for Windsor ninjas (Windjas) is mandatory. I expect to see both of you there.

G

I think the Canada Council for the Arts and the University of Windsor Department of English also arrange for food, and sometimes wine. Decent food & drink, awesome poetry...

The George Murray public reading:
Nov. 15, 7:00 pm
Sunset Cafe (formerly the Grad House)
458 Sunset Ave.
University of Windsor Campus

G's chapbook is stunningly beautiful in every respect. I've been practically drooling over it ever since it arrived.

I'll look forward to that reading.

I will be visiting Windsor University in November, speaking to the MFAs on the 14th and giving a reading on the 15th.

The public reading will be:
Nov. 15, 7:00 pm
Sunset Cafe (formerly the Grad House)
458 Sunset Ave.
University of Windsor Campus

Both events sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and the University of Windsor Department of English.

George

Actually, both Goerge's and George are pronounce gorgeous. It's a bit embarrassing.

G

Goerge's. Pronounced gorgeous?

They are beautiful, & since I have advance ordered Goerge's, should get it in the mail soon. I can guarantee you that they are damned cheap for what you get: comparable presses cost 100-200 for the quality FH produces. See Barbarian, or some of the other letterpress presses, & you'll see what kind of bargain FH really is.. Just buy one less case of beer or bottle of scotch & I expect you won't regret it..

I've got a couple of FHP chappies on my shelf (wrapped in plastic, of course!) and have to say that they are worth the price if it's an author you're into. I'm pretty sure they have to charge as much as they do just to break even; the materials they use can't come cheap, never mind the enormous amount of labour that must be involved.

Congratulations, George. Not everyone has the opportunity to experience their book as a crafted object.

Edited by author 11-04-2005 06:35 PM
I know, but I just got home and damn is it beautiful. Puuuurrrty! It's like owning a nice watch. I'm so happy. Finally, someone cares about my words.

G

[P.S. I can see how the price is daunting, but if you're a bibliophile, in the tactile sense, it doesn't get much better than this. It's not like it's one of above/ground's one staple wonders. There's something to be said for that quick and dirty approach, but there's also something to be said for this kind of craftsmanship. And I've paid over that for a broadsheet even. It won't be for everyone for sure. Maybe it depends on where you place the value.]

Forty dollars!

For a chapbook!

I'm sure it's beautiful, but that is one pricey luxury item! I thought the printing press was supposed to bring the word to the masses.

Damn, wish I could afford it.

Shameless self-promotion

I have a new chapbook available from one of Canada's finest small hand presses, Frog Hollow. I just received copies in the mail today, and they're drop-dead gorgeous (so I'm told - the books are at home and I'm at work! Torture!). So, if you too would like to drop dead, please feel free to buy a copy here. They're expensive, as far as small books go, but it's an extremely limited print run and sure to be a collector's item among people foolish enough to collect Canadian poetry. Plus, you'll be supporting a great small press venture.


Home

Edited by author 10-30-2005 10:55 PM

Postcard Fiction night at the Bloor Gladstone Library!
Postcard fiction is a story approximately 500 words or less. It's a challenge and it's fun. On Nov. 8th the Gladstone Library Writing and Publishing Workshop is having a drop-in night for people who would like to well...drop-in.
 
Bring in a story 500 words or less. It can be about your vacation, your latest love, your latest heartbreak, a story about postcards, a story about life, or life in the slow lane, times changing, times staying the same...It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be.....short.
 
So if you have inquired about our workshop but have never been, if you've been trying to write but haven't found a reason, if you would like to say hello to some like-minded people, come on by. We've been waiting for you!
 
P.S. Feel free to forward this to anyone you might think is interested. The more the merrier!
 
Date: Nov. 8th.
Time: 6:15-8:15
Location: Bloor\Gladstone Library (3 minute walk east of Dufferin)
Admission: FREE
If details needed please email: gladstonelibrarywritersworkshop@yahoo.com

Matthew Francis - acclaimed UK poet will be in Toronto next week to launch Whereabouts, a collection published by new Toronto small press rufus books. A whole range of events are scheduled as follows:

Monday, October 31st, 6.00 p.m. - informal talk about the 20th century Scottish poet W.S. Graham. Matthew Francis is a Graham scholar and recently edited his New Collected Poems (Faber and Faber, 2004). Carr Hall, Rm 406 (St Michael's College, Celtic Studies Dept, UofT).

Tuesday, November 1st, 8.00 p.m. - reading at the Art Bar, with Gil Adamson and Souvankham Thammavongsa.

Wednesday, November 2nd, 4.00 p.m. - reading at Victoria College, Old Vic building, Rm 212.

Thursday, November 3rd, 7.30 p.m. - launch of Whereabouts, (also marking the launch of rufus books). Hart House Library, 7 Hart House Circle, UofT.

Sunday, November 6th, 7.30 p.m. - reading at LitLiVe at gritLit festival. Junction Cafe, Hamilton.

Whereabouts will be available to buy at these events and through the rufus books website, www.rufusbookspublishing.ca. Copies of the out-of-print Blizzard (Faber and Faber, 1996), and Dragons (Faber and Faber, 2001), will also be available at the events.

Edited by author 10-21-2005 12:34 PM
two toronto readings:

i'll be reading with sandy poole at the misunderstandings mag. launch at the zemra lounge on sunday.

778 st. clair (just west of christie)
8:00pm

also, there's a reading next week that i'm looking forward to:

sandra alland and stuart ross --
acta victoriana night

thursday, october 27, 8:00 pm at cat's eye pub, in the basement of the wymilwood building, 150 charles street west (charles street is one block south of bloor, east off university, go around the east side of the building)
i think it's free. not sure.

-- dani couture

Goran Simic's first collection of short fiction, Yesterday's People, is available. In the Toronto area thus far: Rosedale Library, Pages. It's also available at Collected Works in Ottawa, and soon more widely elsewhere. Please get your local independent to order it.

The launch is on Saturday October 29th at Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton, 7:30. We will also be launching Mike Barnes' novel Catalogue Raisonne, that evening.

Biblioasis and Page & Turners Bookstores are proud to announce the winner of the first Annual Metcalf-Rooke award. The winner is:


Patricia Young, for her short story collection Airstream.

Patricia will receive:

• a publishing contract with Biblioasis
• a $1500.00 prize from Page & Turners Bookstores
• a leather-bound copy of Airstream
• multiple launch parties
• a six-city book tour
• a national promotional campaign

The judges for this year's award were John Metcalf and Leon Rooke.

Jay, you just wanna be on top, admit it.

K

Edited by author 10-19-2005 01:27 PM
BookThug Launch

Come one, come all to a fall launch of Thugs and Books. Featuring local poets Gregory Betts (author of If Language) and Rob Read (author of O Spam, Poams: Selected Daily Treated Spam), as well as Morten Søndergaard of Copenhagen (author of Vinci, Later translated from the Danish by John Irons), and a reasonable facsimile of Elizabeth Bachinsky of Vancouver (author of Curio: Grotesques and Satires from the Electronic Age).

25 October, 7:30pm at Yammy the Cat 1108 Yonge Street (at Roxborough), in Toronto.

Hope to see you there.

(For more information on these books visit www.bookthug.ca)

Has the World Ended Yet?
A little while ago I posted about Amazon Shorts, an iTunes-like service for literature, only cheaper (under 50 cents a download) and easier to use. I think it's a great idea, so I gave them a new story to sell. (You can read an excerpt for free here.)

Home

Attention Toronto-area Ninjas!

Friday, October 7th. 8pm
Insomniac Press presents the launch of:

Over the Roofs of the World (poetry)
by Olive Senior
and the rerelease of Gardening in the Tropics (poetry)
also by Olive Senior

Man & Beast (poetry)
by Eric Cole

and Ladies of the Night (stories)
by Althea Prince.

Victory Cafe
Markham Street south of Bloor
Toronto

See you there.

Sue Wheeler takes her Habitat on the road:

Toronto - Tuesday, October 11 at 8 p.m. Reading with Susan McMaster and Marina Malvada at the Art Bar Poetry Series at the Victory Café, 581 Markham
Street, Bathurst & Bloor (1 block West of Bathurst, 1 block South of Bloor).

St. John’s - Sunday, October 16 - 2 - 4 p.m. Reading at Bianca’s Bar with Genevieve Lehr, music by Dave Panting, at 173 Water Street.

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia - Tuesday, October 18 at 7 p.m. - Reading by the 3 Sues - Sue Wheeler, Sue Goyette and Sue Macleod - at the Biscuit Eater Books
& Café, 16 Orchard Street.
 
Halifax - Wednesday, October 19, 8p.m. - 3 Sues again, at the Khyber Club (likely, but still tentative. Check local listings.)

Ottawa - Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. - Reading with Anita Lahey at Mother Tongue Books, 1067 Banks Street (at Sunnyside).

Calgary - Monday, October 24 at 8 p.m. - Reading at McNally Robinson Booksellers, 120-8th Ave. SW.

I've read Suzanne Buffam's book, and it is damn good. Wish I could make the reading.

Friday Sept 30 at the IV lounge reading series,
326 Dundas St W in Toronto, 8pm, free

Stan Dragland (Stormy Weather: foursomes)

Suzanne Hancock (Another Name for Bridge, poetry)

John Lavery (You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off, fiction)

Suzanne Buffam (Past Imperfect, poems)

Rimbaud, please repost, if you like, in the Poetry Quatrain thread. It's not really appropriate for this thread.

http://www.quicktopic.com/28/H/L9RMPgZdCmr

Thanks,
G

Edited by author 09-26-2005 11:25 PM
BENEFIT READING FOR ADULT LITERACY

Abbotsford Station Book Launch & Benefit Reading for Adult Literacy. Come on out to an evening of poetry, prose, humour and music as Invago Publishing launches new books by k.g. Sambrano, Simon Leigh, and Nik Beat. Musical guest- Ryan Neufeldt w/ Random Acts of Kindness.

When: October 14th 7:30 p.m.
Where: Touch Lounge & Dining 499 King St. W. (1 block west of Spadina)
Cost: Sugg. Donation $15.00

Proceeds to Adult Literacy. Official press release at http://www.kgsambrano.com

Edited by author 09-26-2005 11:27 PM
WRITING WORKSHOP OCTOBER 8TH 1-4 PM SWANSEA TOWN HALL


Hi folks! I'm running a Creative Writing wordshop on Sat. October 8th. It's the second in a series of eight. It's called an Introduction to Personal Creativity. It will be fun and interactive. The main goal of this workshop is to unleash your creativity. Enrolment is limited and at present I have 3 places left open.

More information please contact me. Donuts included. 416-835-6099

Biblioasis and Page and Turners are pleased to announce the finalists for the first annual Metcalf-Rooke Award. They are:

Julie Booker. Silver Hearts. Short Fiction.

Patricia Robertson. The Goldfish Dancer. Short Fiction.

Patrick Roscoe. The Reincarnation of Linda Lopez. Novel.

Patricia Young. Airstream. Short Fiction

The winner will be announced October 20th, and will receive 1500.00, a publishing contract with Biblioasis (for Spring, 2006), a regional book tour, a leather bound copy of their book, and a national promotional campaign.

EAST COAST LAUNCH OF IN FINE FORM: THE CANADIAN BOOK OF FORM POETRY

With readings by Brian Bartlett, Carole Langille, Sandy Shreve and Zachariah Wells.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Economy Shoe Shop, 1633 Argyle St.,
Halifax, 8:30 pm

Edited by author 09-04-2005 05:53 PM
• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at McNally Robinson Bookstore in Winnipeg on September 7th at 7:30.
http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/content.php?intFileID=15
    
• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at Pages on Kensington Bookstore in Calgary on September 8th at 7:30. Lawrence Osgood will also be reading this evening.
http://www.pages.ab.ca/

• Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from The Nettle Spinner at Our Town Café in Vancouver on September 9th at 8:00 with the inimitable duo of Timothy Taylor and Steven Galloway.
http://vancouver.wifimug.org/index.cgi?OurTownCafe

Edited by author 08-17-2005 03:17 PM
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Jay MillAr and Adrienne Weiss will be reading at the I.V. Lounge Friday, August 19th at 8pm

This event is free.

The I.V. Lounge is a reading series hosted by Alex Boyd and located at 326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO in Toronto.

I am working on new Tees. Black. Sold by me in Canadian dollars. Keep your Giftmas list open.

G

This tee would make a nice alternative to the cafepress stuff:
http://store.cottonfactory.com/tee-0283.html

Readings from DESIRE, DOOM AND VICE
Nathaniel Moore, editor.

featuring Ryan Bigge, Angela Rawlings, Jessica Westhead, Sarah Selecky, Al Zabas, Michael Bryson.

As part of the IV lounge reading series,
friday Aug 5,
326 Dundas St W, Toronto, across from the AGO, 8pm, free

That's tonight...

My first reading in Toronto to shamelessly promote my first book This Is Not Eden
http://www.thistledown.sk.ca/cgi-bin/thist...ispbook&bkid=186&nf=

Tuesday, August 2nd
Art Bar Poetry Series
Victory Cafe, 581 Markham St.
featuring Tracy Hamon,Steven Laird and Alessandro Porco Rudy Fearon will host the reading

Hope to see you there!

Ooh, ooh, Mr Kotter, I know how to do this. Check out my new website www.zombielogicpress.com. Soon it will be an ezine in the style of Exquisite Corpse. Here's how pretty I am. And single, too. Screw that my file's too large, but what's new?

Bookninja got kudos in the Globe today:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...6/Entertainment/Idx

Edited by author 07-12-2005 04:18 PM
Hi, there will be more shameless self promotion to come... my new book, When the Light of Any Action Ceases, will be out next month... but for now... I shamelessly promote my move to Windsor to teach writing at the University of Windsor. I will be in town July 22 setting up the new pad and office and getting settled. If you are a Windsor ninja please do contact me at annefwalker @ berkeley.edu, or annefw @ uwindsor.ca

... especially if you know of a good restaurants/cafes, readings, a good running used car, or dinning room set, household stuff, animal-print planters, that kind of thing... i'll be setting up a whole new home.

Cheers

Anne

Goran Simic will be reading from his new book "From Sarajevo, With Sorrow" at Fellini's Shoe, 226 Carlton, 7:30 PM Monday June 27th.

Damn, I wish I could go to that reading! Stupid job. I've just been listening to Pete Trower singin' blues and reading poems set to music. Great stuff. And great to hear that Trower's Selected has won the CAA award. Well-deserved, if inadequate, recognition for a life's work.

Jun 24, 8pm, free, IV lounge, 326 Dundas St W, Toronto:

Peter Trower, Andrea Jarmai, Kristen Rose, Jennifer Lovegrove

Edited by author 06-16-2005 02:53 PM
The St. John's Folk Arts Council and the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland & Labrador, in partnership with the City of St. John's, present:

The 3rd Annual St. John's Days "Tales and Tunes to Delight and Amuse" at the Crow's Nest Officers Club
Sunday, June 19 from 1:30 until 4:30.

Featuring music and storytelling for the entire family with Kevin Hehir, Dale Jarvis, Anita Best, Charlotte Malischewski, Colleen Power, Dave Penney and Alan Ricketts.

Free Admission. All welcome.

Edited by author 06-15-2005 11:27 AM
Re: Pedlar - If you can, go to this. (Is it shameless if others second the promotion?) If you've never seen Souvankham Thammavongsa read, I guess you'll want to soon...wait, sorry, I have "Tonight's the Night" stuck in my head after reading the Scott Young obit. But the sentiment stands - most surprising experience you're likely to have at a poetry reading is hearing Sou extemporize in response to questions.

Two poetry readings coming up in Nova Scotia:

Toronto poets Souvankham Thammavongsa, Ronna Bloom, and Laura Farina will join Alice Burdick for readings from their poetry.

The first event is at the Khyber Club (1588 Barrington St.) at 8 p.m. on Thurs. June 16th.

The second reading is at the Lunenburg Public Library at 7 p.m. on Fri. June 17th.

Greetings. This Sunday The Speakeasy Resumes followed by a launch:

Sunday 5 June at 2:30 PM
This Ain't The Rosedale Library, in the sideroom
483 Church Street, Toronto

featuring

Novelist Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Storyteller Dawne McFarlane
who will give a talk entitled
Weaving and Narrative: a tangled look at research and story in The Nettle
Spinner

This will be followed at 3:30 pm by the launch of BookThug's

A Boy's First Book of Chlamydia: Poems 1996 - 2002
by Daniel f. Bradley
who will be on hand for general abuse and good cheer
and might also be convinced to read from the book.

Brenda Schmidt & Ariel Gordon
Wednesday May 25, 8:00 PM
McNally Robinson, Grant Park
Winnipeg, MB

Schmidt will read from More Than Three Feet of Ice and Gordon will read from forthcoming work.

George Murray you get down here this instant!

In fact, the reading below will be a rare double-ninja sighting, as one ninja will be introducing readers and another ninja will be reading... It doesn't get more deadly or assassinesque than that! HOT!

Plus, I used to get stoned in David Layton's basement and I hope to work that into the introduction.

G

Edited by author 05-15-2005 03:01 PM

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading from

The Nettle Spinner

at Harbourfront in Toronto on

Wednesday, May 18th with

David Layton (The Bird factory) and Ilona Van Mil (Sugarmilk Falls).

Starts at 7:30.

Brenda Schmidt will be reading from More Than Three Feet of Ice


Wednesday, May 11, 8 pm, McNally Robinson, Saskatoon, SK.

Thursday, May 12, 7 pm, Book and Brier Patch, Regina, SK.

Friday, May 13, 7:30 pm, Java Express, Moose Jaw, SK. Reading with Tracy Hamon and Dan Tysdal.

Hope to see you!

Goran Simic's latest poetry collection, From Sarajevo, With Sorrow, is available. You can buy it direct (biblioasis@yahoo.com/ 519 256 7367) at least until I can get the website updated), or through ABE books; Amazon and your neighbourhood bookseller (bug them for it)hopefully very shortly.

/m331 /m332 - Thanks! Hope you enjoy my incredibly upbeat poems.

IV this friday Apr 29:
Leo Brent Robillard, Natlie Onuska, Jean Greenberg

And seventh anniversary evening on May 6, following that.

326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO, 8pm, free

Congrats Rachel. It's on my to read immediately list.

Nice work, Rachel! I'll get it tomorrow.

G

Six of my poems are in the Spring Fiddlehead.

Just to remind Toronto area readers in need of an event tonight -- I will be launching The Nettle Spinner at Camera Bar (1028 Queen Street West) from
5:30 - 7:30. There will be a special Ninja sighting as well as various video clips of very dirty people and a photography installation, Tree Planting, by Sarah Anne Johnson next door at Stephen Bulger Gallery. Everyone most welcome.

The Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador presents a reading by poet Chris Hutchinson.Saturday, April 23rd at the Eastern Edge Gallery, St John's, beginning 8:00pm. The reading is sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts.

The Muses' Company is collaborating three launches: their own Chris Hutchinson, Anvil Press' Lyle Neff, and ECW's Alessandro Porco; and three readings by Signature's George Payerle, Brick Books Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, and Mansfield's tba.

The event will take place tonight at Bar Italia (upper level) 582 College Street (at Clinton) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 at 8:00 p.m.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer will be reading at The Ottawa International Writers festival, Spring Edition on April 22nd:

7:30 pm Writing Life #3
John Metcalf (Canada)
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (Canada)
Nalini Warriar (Canada)
Dionne Brand (Canada)
Host: Elizabeth Hay
$12 / $10 for Students or Seniors / $8 for Festival Members

The Ottawa International Writers Festival, Spring Edition will run from April 18 to 23, 2005 at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street.

Unlike poets, right Paul? :)

See you at your launch tonight.

Is West Virginia University Press so desperate it needs to plug itself on discussion boards?

www.wvupress.com

Toronto area readers, I'd like to invite you all to a book launch on Monday.

From McClelland & Stewart's poetry list...

John Reibetanz will be launching his latest collection entitled Near Relations,

and I will be launching my new book called Between the Walls.

Hope to see you there. Here are the coordinates:

Monday, April 18th, 7pm
The Dora Keogh
141 Danforth Ave (at Broadview)
Toronto

The launch is also a fundraiser for World Literacy of Canada. There won't be cover charge, but a portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated.

Happy poetry month.

Edited by author 04-13-2005 07:54 AM
Article on tree planting in the Globe today:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...query=kuitenbrouwer

I also want to bring your attention to this fantastic movie called Storm by tree planter Mark Vonesch

http://www.tree-planter.com/index.php?article_id=10

-Kathryn

Thursday April 14th: Brian Bartlett, Alice Burdick, Zach Wells

Halifax Public Library, Spring Garden Rd. Branch (at Grafton), 7 pm

Thursday April 21st: Launch of To Find Us, an anthology of Haligonian photos, stories and poems. Ginger's Tavern (upstairs from Granite Brewery) 1662 Barrington St., 7 pm.

IV lounge reading series
Apr 15: Patrick Warner, Robert Priest, Marci Denesiuk

326 Dundas St W, 8pm, free

Edited by author 04-10-2005 08:52 PM
Salvatore Ala will be reading from his new collection Straight Razor and Other Poems at the Parliament Library in Toronto at 6:30 pm, Tuesday, April 12. Also reading George Eliot Clarke.

For those interested, Goran Simic's latest "From Sarajevo, With Sorrow,"will be available for sale April 20th. Book launch info will follow.

I'll be reading at the Khyber Club (1588 Barrington St.) tonight (Thurs. April 7) at 9:30 as part of the Halifax International Writers Festival. 5 other readers and musical entertainment. $5 or included in Festival pass.

Way to go Brenda and Kathryn! Congrats all around.

G

Kuitenbrouwer launch

Dear Ninjas,

I want you to know I now have More Than Three Feet of Ice in my hands.
It feels good. It looks magnificent.

Sincerely,
Twinkle a.k.a. Brenda Schmidt

Oh c'mon, Kathryn, I'm analysing my own technique in public. It can't get more shameless than that!

The vaccuum cleaner cometh...

In the interest of tidiness, can this discussion be moved to misc. everything or poetry quatrain. Methinks it falls outside of shameless self promotion.

Kathryn

Like I said, sw, I wasn't consciously channelling any single poet when I wrote that poem. And I don't think that a close-reading compare and contrast would show that I was unconsciously imitating Denham, either. The things you identify as similar are to my mind incredibly general aspects of how one goes about writing poems. "Almost sonnet"? My poem's 13 lines, Denham's fishing poems are 16; mine is therefore only 81.25% of the line count of Denham's. Denham wrote 16 poems about fishing, I've written one about killing insects. If you want to get into this ad absurdum, you could say that I was mimicking every poet who's ever written a sonnetesque poem between 10 and 20 lines. And this sort of exploitation of available vocabulary is something I've been doing for years, long before I ever had the pleasure of encountering Denham's work. Consider "Small Song of Wonders" from my book, or "Bowhead" (which the poetry editor of the Danforth Review told me reminded him somewhat of Denham's poems); those poems were both drafted circa 1999-2000, when I'd never heard of Denham, much less read him. Perhaps if I'd written a linked suite of 16 poems in the voices of various tradespeople addressing their quarry ("The Logger's Song to the Douglas Fir"; "The Plumber's Song to the Hairy Drain Clog"; "The Dog-Catcher's Song to the Rabid Poodle"; "Ahab's Song to the Great White Whale"; "The Seal Clubber's Song to the Brain-Bashed Pup," etc. ad nauseum) then you might have a case--albeit a tenuous one, as Gulp and Fish Fish very sensibly, and humourously, point out--for the prosecution on counts of both formal imitation and "CW exercising."

But as it is, your crude analogizing overlooks the very substantial differences between my poem and Denham's sequence (I'm making no case here for one or the other being better, just for their being distinct). The p.o.v. is nowhere near the same. It's all firsthand, "I experienced this" narration in NHMS. Nowhere does Denham use a dramatic monologue in an obvious persona. Nowhere does Denham employ apostrophe or self-conscious anaphora. Nowhere do I employ a conversational tone, but maintain a voice that is, at the risk of self-damning criticism, archly artificial. While Denham and I both use a great deal of assonance and alliteration in our poems, he tends to use more strong plosive consonant sounds and a lot of "a" and "e" sounds ("I etch ephemeral sketches in flat black water"), as opposed to the thoroughgoing sibilance and soft "i" sounds that predominate in my poem.

So, have I learned something from Joe Denham? I'm sure I have; I think I learn something from anyone who's doing good fresh work. Have I aped/mimicked/plagiarised Denham? It is to laugh. And even if it were true, it would be a compliment, not "disrespectful" (after "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"); if poets were to attribute every allusion and theft they make, it would take a great deal out of the fun of reading poems. Language is common property, as are poetic forms. I'd say that poetry is, fundamentally, a sort of thievery. But that wouldn't be a very original observation.

For anyone not familiar with Joe Denham's work, here are some links:

http://www.nightwoodeditions.com/book_exce..._id=484&text_id=721

http://maisonneuve.org/article.php?article_id=236

http://maisonneuve.org/article.php?article_id=237

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, do your stuff. (after Al Purdy)

Oh christ there's no comparison between the two. Denham's sequence is straightforward--full of gorgeous language and imagery, yes, but unironic in tone. Wells' piece is all irony--the exterminator apologizing to the silverfish? Don't you start to wonder what's really going on there? And the language is richer than Denham's.

Since when can someone copyright subject and lingo? Or voice? If anyone should be offended, it's me.

So you've read the Denham poems, Gulp?

I don't mean to simplify my comparison to content alone -- the general point-of-view is probably the main aspect, but even the basic length as an almost-sonnet (let alone use of language, which amost seems like a word-for-word replacement for a poem of similar length full of fishing terminology)...

... in which case we'd all owe many an "after" credit, wouldn't we?

holy paranoia batman. (after Robin)

sw, perhaps ease up on the choleric burn throttle (after Dennis Miller)

Zach -- Reads very clearly to me that you're imitating (mockingly? playfully?) Joe Denham's Night Haul/Morning Set sequence, generally shifting "fishing" for prawns into "exterminating silverfish" (abound with fishing metaphors). Obviously there is "no new thing under the sun" but the voice here is a little to close for comfort to such a recent, and Canadian, book... Certainly no plagiarism at work here - I don't want any browsers of Bookninja to think I'm making that serious of an accusation - but I see such a clear connection that an "After..." credit seems more than appropriate.

ECW PRESENTS. . .
Thursday APRIL 7th 8pm at Club ONE (1186 Crescent Street, below St. Catherine)
 
The LAUNCH of two new collections of poetry (and a
wonderful way to celebrate the last day of school kids!)
 
Jennifer LoveGrove's I SHOULD NEVER HAVE FIRED THE SENTINEL
Alessandro Porco's THE JILL KELLY POEMS
 
With special guests:
 
Jason Camlot
Jon Paul Fiorentino
John Lavery
Moberley Luger
and, your host, David McGimpsey
 
And, to close out the evening, Montreal's favourite rock-band, PUGGY HAMMER.
 
Once again, April 7th 8pm at Club ONE (1186 Crescent Street).

Edited by author 04-04-2005 04:43 AM
I beg your pardon, sw, but you'll have to enlighten me as to what poet/poem I'm aping because frankly ah'm at a lawss. And do keep in mind that there is no new thing under the sun. "Originality" is an over-rated virtue in poetry and poetics.

Also, dear, please keep in mind that whatever I say in prose does not constitute an avowal that my practice in verse is impeccably beyond reproach. That would be stupid.

Oh, I think I figured it out! It's "argentinas," isn't it? Apologies to Barbara Streisand.

Not to mention extremely hypocritical for someone calling for higher standards of ethics in Canadian poetry.

Zach, this is a surprising piece coming from someone who claims to have so much disdain for imitative creating-writing-class exercises.

Whether this poem is in mockery or praise (I assume the latter, since your praise is already strongly on record) I find it a bit disrespectful that you didn't credit the poet/poem you are aping.

Thanks, AB!

Oh, and enjoyed your "Eye" poem, ZW.

Thanks, Gulp!!

For anyone who cares to partake in my ignoble defeat in the recent CBC poetry faceoff, it will be broadcast on CBC twice this weekend.

CBC Radio Two
   Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ADT

CBC Radio One
   Sunday, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ADT

If you're not so blessed as to live in Nova Scotia, you can tune in here: http://www.cbc.ca/connections/ (I think you can only catch the Radio One broadcast on the web.)

There was also an amusing article about the event in the Dalhousie U Gazette.

THE IV LOUNGE READING SERIES Andrew Daley, Alessandro Porco, Diana Fiztgerald Bryden. Apr 1. 8pm. Free. 416-593-5105

man... that last bit of shameless self-promotion must have been horrifically shameless to be 'deleted by topic administrator' ... shamefully, scandalously shameless ...

kind of gets me curious

Edited by author 03-21-2005 06:41 PM
Hey New Brunswick Ninjas (why does that feel like an oxymoron?):

I'm going to be reading at UNB Wednesday night along with Dave Cameron, author of the picaresque travel memoir Continental Drifter:

8 p.m. in the President's Lounge of the Alumni Memorial Building, 13 Bailey Dr.

Hello, Toronto ninjas. Please come to my launch!
-Jon

LIVE @ THE RIVOLI
7:30. Sunday, March 20.
332 Queen Street West (back room)
Toronto ON

THE LAUNCH OF JON PAUL FIORENTINO'S ASTHMATICA

“Fiorentino is in the midst of something grand."
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

AND DAVID McGIMPSEY'S CERTIFIABLE
"This guy is as funny as David Sedaris, and more inventive."
OTTAWA CITIZEN

with very special guests:
PUGGY HAMMER and
CALCU-LATOR and the ORAL PRESENTATION
hosted by
ANGELA RAWLINGS

Reading in Toronto at the Art Bar, Victory Cafe, Tuesday, March 22nd with Erin Noteboom and Margaret Christakos.

Reading in Montreal at the Double Hook Bookstore, Thursday, March 31st with Carmine Starnino.

(If you think that's shameless, then I've got three words for you: portable karaoke machine. Wait'll I get my hands on that mike...)

http://www.matthewtierney.ca

THE IV LOUNGE READING SERIES -- Friday, March 18
326 Dundas St W, across from the AGO, 8pm, free

Kate Harding, Ewan Whyte, Dani Couture

Hope to see you there!

Calling all Ninjas in the Halifax Regional Municipality area:

This Friday, March 11, I'll be competing in the CBC Poetry Face-Off, 7:00 pm at the Grawood Lounge, in the Dalhousie University Student Union Building on University Ave. Besides myself and three other competitors, there will be musical entertainment by the wonderfully gifted singer/songwriter Jill Barber. The winner, based on audience votes, will have his or her poem adapted into a short film.

For anyone who's interested and hasn't yet bought my book (not all at once now!), Forget Magazine has reprinted three poems from Unsettled.

I'm blogging, for the moment anyway. Come and go as you please.

Edited by author 01-03-2005 11:10 AM
Attention all lovers of poetry and haters of poetry journals:

Check out Cranks & Lurkers, the first self-editing poetry journal. The principal is sort of like Survivor; anyone can publish a poem on the site, but it has to receive enough vote-points to stay on the site--and if it doesn't get enough points, you're not eligible to submit again for a year. All other rules explained on the site.

I'm putting this in Shameless Self Promotion because I was one of four people invited to publish the first set of poems. But I'd really like to see this experiment work, and part of its objective is to avoid the cronyism typical of most lit journals' editorial decisions. So PLEASE don't vote for me if you know me.

(I think you need a Flash Media Player plugin or some such to view the site.)

Take a gander at my blog book, "Confessions of a Teenage Teenager"-

http://www.livejournal.com/users/teenageteenager/

It has been described as "Motley Crue's 'The Dirt' meets the unauthorized biography of Justin Timberlake."

Gawd, not me again!

For any ninjas in the Halifax area:

I'll be launching my collection of poems, Unsettled, in Halifax on Saturday, Nov. 13, 8 pm, at the Khyber Club (1588 Barrington St.) Very nice bar, cheap drinks, come one come all.

I'll be back in a week to tell y'all about my Charlottetown launch. Don't forget to breathe.

Boy, this is shameless, but in case anyone's forgotten:

I'm reading tomorrow night at the I.V. Lounge. Details in /m275.

For all you Ninjas in the Greater Toronto Area, I have two readings upcoming:

November 01, 2004: Reading at the Transient Orange series, Toronto. Benefit for The Food and Shelter Project (small cover at door). With Camilla Gibb and others. 8pm, Fuse Room (418 College St, at Bathurst). Because this is a fundraiser and I am fortunate enough to have adequate amounts of both food and shelter, I'll be donating $2 from each book sale to the cause.

November 05, 2004: I.V. Lounge Reading Series, Toronto. With Larry Lynch, Jonathan Campbell, Rishma Dunlop. 8pm, I.V. Lounge (326 Dundas St. W.).

Edited by author 10-28-2004 10:41 AM
Goose Lane Editions, in association with Pages Books and Magazines on Queen, invites you to the launch of

" Greetings from the Vodka Sea"
by Chris Gudgeon

Monday 8, 2004
The Drake Hotel Underground
1150 Queen Street West, Toronto
8 pm – 10 pm

with

Giller nominee Paul Quarrington reading from "Galveston" and Lee Gowan reading from "The Last Cowboy" and surprise guests.

Music by Pork Belly Futures Trio

For more information call (416) 203-9307

Hi Brenda. Thanks.

Edited by author 10-23-2004 11:24 AM
re: /m268 Hi John, see way down the page on http://schevv.sasktelwebsite.net/birdart.htm

Okay, maybe I'm missing something here, but what's with the google spider's porcine theme?

Great interview, ZW. It's nice to finally put a voice to the words I've been reading here and on Maisonneuve.

A very weary ZW checking in from the mini book tour. Had an interview on McGill radio CKUT this morning. If anyone's interested, they can download an MP3 of it at http://www.ckut.ca. Click "Listen," select archives, then fill in Oct. 22, 08:00-08:30. The gravelly timbre of my voice is somewhat exaggerated by 3 hours of sleep and a mild hangover...

Forthcoming when, where, Twink?

Some news from last weekend re: my ms/forthcoming book,
More Than Three Feet of Ice
http://www.artsboard.sk.ca/News/news_ovations_Hicks.htm

Edited by author 10-19-2004 10:46 PM
I'd fire mine, but the poor fucker starved to death last week. It was for the best. It hurt at the end, watching him eat his matching white belt and shoes.

If the readings at the Gladstone aren't shortish, I'm sure the regulars will remind the readers. If there's a blond guy named Dan sitting at the bar, tell him his cousin says hi.

For those in the Toronto area, or with enough disposable income to fly in:

Friday, October 22
IV Lounge
8pm
with Anne Walker and Yashin Blake

or

Monday, November 1
Gladstone Hotel
7 pm
with Sue Sinclair, Charmaine Cadeau, Rhea Tregebov, Lesley-Ann Bourne (This is a double launch, Goose Lane and Wolsak & Wynn. I assume the reading times will be kept, uh, shortish.)

Details: http://www.matthewtierney.ca

(Zach, I notice you're reading in Toronto on Nov. 1 too. Bummer. I'm going to have to fire my agent.)

Hey-ho, I'm off to Montreal tomorrow to flog my book to the indifferent masses.

I'll be reading at Zeke's Gallery, 3955 St. Laurent, 7:30 pm, Thursday Oct. 21. Rumour has it that drinks will be served, but please, if it it's a choice between two crantinis and a spanking new copy of Unsettled, give your liver a break. My publisher will thank you for it. He weeps little tears of joy every time someone buys an Insomniac book, and he's just so darned cute when he weeps those little tears of joy.

For any Montreal early birds, I'll be interviewed the following morning, Friday Oct. 22, on CKUT 90.3 FM, sometime between 7 and 9 am. To my chagrin, this will be a live broadcast. The last time I read after a big night out, my voice cracked like a pubescent boy's. It should be worth tuning in for this alone. If you have better things to do at 7:30 in the morning, like sleep for instance, or if you're outside the broadcast range of CKUT, but still would like to hear the interview, it will apparently be accessible thru the station's website.

Details of these and other events are also at my website: http://www.zachariahwells.com/news.html

Edited by author 10-13-2004 11:14 AM
Poetry is like God, if it's wanted it's already there.

Besides, Wendy Morton isn't interested in bringing poetry to anyone. All she wants is to be in everyone's face and I must admit she does a good job of that.

Edited by author 10-13-2004 10:46 AM
Dear Captain Cook,

Where, in your opinion, is poetry wanted, and how and why does this want arise?

Wendy Morton can only be described as a nuisance. That woman has done everything in her power to trivialize poetry, because it is only in a trivialized environment that she can flourish. People interested in poetry, and not just those who write it, should voice their objections to her bullshit. Morton plans to take poetry into hairdressing salons, busses, coffee shops, everywhere except bars and whorehouses of course. This idea of taking poetry where it isn't wanted is so hackneyed and besides it never worked, thank God.

Wendy Morton, self-proclaimed Westjet's Poet Laureate of the Airways, and Chrysler's "Free Ride Emissary" has proclaimed Oct. 25 - 31 'National Random Acts of self-promotion and bad poetry week.' Morton is hoping that poets from coast to coast, will hit the streets to validate this self-serving nonsense. Apart from Morton and fellow old age pension recipient, Glen Sorestad, gratefully no one else seems to be interested. Although Morton writes derivative, lightweight ditties, she describes herself as a mid-career poet, which I assume means that she has applied for at least one Canada Council grant.

Edited by author 10-09-2004 08:50 PM
re /m254 - No pink ambulance?

Speaking of exercises of dubious merit:

http://www.durham.net/~neilmac/sub5.htm

I think I'm starting to understand the arguments against safe injection sites...

Today's Times-Colonist (Victoria, BC) article titled,
'POET'S CORNER: PREPARE FOR THE VERSE"
Wendy Morton, Westjet's Laureate 'Poet of the Airways' and Chrysler's 'Poetry Travels' emissary has proclaimed Oct. 25-31 'National Random Acts of Poetry Week' saying that from "coast to coast, poets will hit the streets, bus stops, hair salons and anywhere the seemingly poetry-deprived might lurk", reading their poetry and giving away free copies of their books. "Other than Morton and Saskatchewan poet laureate Glen Sorestad, there are few recognizable names taking part in this month's promotion. 'This is not for big-name poets. We're all mid-career poets.' Morton said."

"His reading here in Halifax last night, though pig-free, was also very good."

ARghhhh

In response to Martin's questions in #2), /m251:

I was an impromptu addition to one of the events at the Alden Nowlan Festival last weekend at UNB. There was something in the order of thirty other readers over the weekend, which was both as enjoyable and as horrible as it sounds. Many incipient Ninjas and lurkers were in attendance.

One of the highlights of the weekend was Barry Dempster's reading of his poem "Lucky Pigs," a blow-by-blow breakdown of the male pig's half-hour long orgasm. I am proud to say that he wouldn't have read it were it not for my heckling. His reading here in Halifax last night, though pig-free, was also very good.

I am like a man who wanders into a party, says a few things,leaves, and then shows up a month later expecting to continue the conversation.

Anyway...

1) Yes, I discovered the bone fragments in my grain. You'd think I'd be mad, but the fragments were crunchy and tasty.

2)Obviously I did not attend Zach's reading in Fredericton (more details--where and who showed up?) and I cannot attend the Nightwood reading in Toronto. Hell, I couldn't even manage to make it to the Barry Dempster reading last night in Halifax (my disappointment is real and profound.) Maybe I should start the Shad Bay reading series, where you all come to my house. Think the Canada Council would pay?

3) re /m241. It's unfortunate that I cast aspersions on ol' Calvin Little (or for that matter, Zach), but I'm not sure that my serious point is worth discarding...see my posting to "reviewing" for more. I'd post it here, but I'm already way off topic and wasting bandwidth (do people still say that?)

I read in Fredericton, NB a couple of days ago. Too bad if you missed it; I was really quite good.

[now that's what I call shameless!]

Hi Ninjas,

I'm reading tomorrow night in support of Breathing Fire 2, an anthology of young poets. Deets below. It would be nice to meet some of you.

G

Nightwood Editions invites all to the Toronto fall launch of: Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets

Featuring: Triny Finlay, Adam Getty, Steve McOrmond, Alayna Munce, George Murray & Alison Pick

With an introduction of the evening by: Patrick Lane

Wednesday 6 October 2004
7:30 p.m.

Hart House Library
7 Hart House Circle
University of Toronto

Edited by author 10-01-2004 01:57 PM
dunno

Nifty, Twinkle...but answer me this: why is Donna Kane listed twice?

And, is a typo or an indication of Jacob Two-two tendencies on the part of the webmaster?

A couple Bone Fragments from my latest ms are stuck in the new issue of Grain
http://www.grainmagazine.ca/
Work by a Maisonneuve columnist appears in this issue, too.

Um, no story, posset, sorry to disappoint. Just not my dept., as they say, i.e. I didn't write it, I wrote the stuff INside the book. I did say I like it, for what it is. m'kay?

 wow. that's a bad sign when the author washes his hands of his book's cover so early in the game. what's the story there? render unto caesar, i guess.

Hear, hear!

Blurbs never do. If they say something, they run the danger of becoming valid forms of expression.

re /m236: Credit and blame for my jacket copy can be laid at the feet of the Fat Kid. Personally, I like it, 'cause it's true :) Not that it's saying much.

We sunk yer battleship.

Those two L's can look like one letter.

Trivia: My mother's maiden name is Wallace. So we are both almost George Wallace.

Edited by author 09-30-2004 01:20 PM
 A hit! A palpable hit!

I think the math part of my brain has atrophied from lack of use.

All right then:

"With his debut collection Wallace proves that, like the authors of The Cottage Builder's Letter, Uncle Louis, and Travels by Night, his first name is really George."

better?

or allace

You must mean "Wallac" then, right?

re /m228

Geez, Zach, I read the blurb. Nice of whoever to work in the gratuitous Purdy reference. If I get a book of poems out, I'd like the blurb to say

"Not since Al Purdy has a poet been so damn ornery."

Or maybe "With this collection, Martin Wallace joins the company of poets with six letters in their last name like Solway and Atwood."

Twinkle:

Poster tag--you're it!

Sometimes I confuse myself, but I never get to the "with" part...

Sometimes I confuse myself with Walt Whitman.

(You mean "Song of Myself" isn't about me???)

My mistake...crap.

I still stand behind my recommendation of Henighan's essay, though...check it out at: www.geist.com/columns/

Speaking of things Geist-related, I recently had great fun writing prose around Sumo wrestling for their postcard story contest.

SUMO!

Tilda, I think you're confusing Stephen Henighan with Tom Henihan.

Henighan has an interesting essay called Reading the City in the most recent issue of Geist...

Those of you interested in literature around the city might want to check it out.

Writers Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador
Monthly Readings Series

WANL's upcoming Monthly Reading Series features readings by Tom Henihan and Ramona Dearing. The readings begin at 8:00pm on Monday, October 4th, 2004, LSPU Hall Gallery. Admission is free.

Tom Henihan has read his work at many of the major venues across Canada and has been a resident artist at the Leighton Artists Studios at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1995, 1997 and 1998. He has published four collections of poetry: Between the Streets, A Mortar of Seeds, Almost Forgotten and A Further Exile.

Ramona Dearing lives in St. John's and is a member of the Burning Rock writing collective. Some of her poems and short stories have appeared in The Malahat Review, Grain and Prairie Fire as well as Oberon's Best Canadian Stories and Coming Attractions. So Beautiful, her first story collection, was published by The Porcupine's Quill in March 2004.

Edited by author 09-27-2004 01:04 PM
Speaking of new books, my first full-length collection, Unsettled, a book of Arctic poems, is back from the printers. Order it here or here. Or even better from your local independent book seller.

Hey G, thanks.

Edited by author 09-26-2004 09:50 PM
I bought a chapbook of Matthew's at a reading in Toronto. He's got the goods!

Congrats, Matthew.

G

Long-time listener, first-time caller...with first book out.

http://www.matthewtierney.ca

All the great Canadian poets are birders. Well, most of them. Congrats on a great site, Twinkers!

Apparently I have a new web address. I discovered this today.
http://schevv.sasktelwebsite.net/birdart.htm

Does it work?

As promised (post 193 in this thread) ... here's the link to my story "Live Bait":
http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/QWERTY/Summer_04/live_bait.php

Edited by author 08-20-2004 11:35 AM
In the truest sense what Kevin is doing is self- promoting. I don't see anything egoless in being a host for a reading series. Gatenby certainly wasn't egoless and as far as I can tell neither is his successor. I'm sure every little pee-on host in the world is secretly carving out an identity based on playground candy-giving techniques-to-win-friends-and-gain-notoriety (the word host has its antecedents in hostis meaning a stranger, a guest and an enemy). Enmity comes from the point of view of the recipient of the host's gifts since her reliance on the host for promotion is sure to be a mixed emotional situation. Is there any writer who does not feel grateful when asked and aggravated and passed over when not? Hosting is outwardly selfless, probably money losing and, therefore, one could argue, sacrificial. Outwardly sacrificial is other than inwardly sacrificial, of course. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Dear slert,
Have you any launch dates to announce? Any brief notes on books?

Or a joke beyond the apprehension of the humourless...

In bookninja world, where you can have any name you want, you pick Slert. A pervasive self-image problem I suspect.

Putting off, or putting on? Or is it putting from, as in "Greg Norman is putting from the rough"? Does competence as a reading host have anything to do with competence in one's lingua franca? I'm sure that Anansi (and almost any other Canadian publisher) has squandered subsidized sums on many things more or less significant than a reading in Newfoundland; I fail to see how their whopping contribution is any reflection on the event's host.

Edited by author 08-18-2004 05:02 PM
Thanks Martin.
I have to admit that I'm a bit puzzled that a simple annoucement about a reading would draw such personal attacks.

George mentions the value of the reading organizer's name in a print ad for an event. To that I have two points 1) the organizer's name (in this case me) appeared on a topic board called Shameless Self Promotion and not in a print ad, and 2)My name doesn't appear on the half page ad for the reading that came out today in our local weekly but I doubt Anansi would have shelled out $400+ for it if they thought the person putting off the reading wasn't competent.

Funny, Martin, and half true. Mom and Dad might be the main audience for any given poet's work these days, but you don't have to know pagemaker to get two books out. In fact, it's way too easy to have two books out. Or three, for that matter.

Reading hosts do alot of unacknowledged work. Does that mean their names belong in the print ads? I don't know. I suppose as long as it's not taking space away from anything else, it doesn't matter and is up to the individual coordinator. Some people may feel it necessary, some may not care.

re /m206

"And I have two books, both of which have done well enough without you, thanks very much"

For those of you new to the Canadian Poetry scene, I thought I'd run this through the official "CanPo Internet to English translator"

"I have two books" = "I done learnt to use Pagemaker"

"both of which have done well enough" - "Mom and Dad think I'm swell!"

Keep up the good and hard work, Kevin

I agree with Nert and Slert. Gosh, I've always wanted to say that. A good host is one who yields the stage and passes the hat; a name in print means nothing to anyone but the host him/herself. Unless said host happens to be Lorna Crozier or Billy Collins. In which case a print mention acts as a warning to wary travellers, much like a grave marker.

Sometimes hosts can wreck a reading series and drive people away from it with the sheer repulsive force of their personality or lack thereof. Best keep presence to a minimum, imho.

...which brings to mind the fun fur cat kleenex box cover I had to make in home ec, how the dust used to gather on its sorry pink back, how I could really use my own discussion board or learn to stay on topic or stay away from these boards cuz now I'm thinking fur instead of editing

everywhere the flurry of fun fur

What's so funny about wearing a rabid ferret costume? I've got mine on right now.......

do you two have to dress up as funny animals to talk like this?

No one's coming to see YOU. They may appreciate you organizing things, but to think you have a 'fan base' is preposterous.

How do you know this?

Edited by author 08-17-2004 01:39 PM
I just find this whole thing rather pretentious. Particularly when the career as a host eclipses the career as a poet. There's an icky desperation to it.

I know hosts do a variety of work promoting their series', and I've done it myself before, but have you ever noticed that the best series tend to be run by... who? Exactly. 'That fellow' or 'that woman.' When you have to make time for the host's ego, you're undercutting the readers and, therefore, the audience.

Of course you should be proud of your work, but shouldn't that be reward enough? It is for so many others who work tirelessly, and QUIETLY, in the trenches of cultural production. Do you constantly need to see your name in print to feel valid? Do you feel it necessary to siphon off excess publicity? No one's coming to see YOU. They may appreciate you organizing things, but to think you have a 'fan base' is preposterous. When you read your own poetry, people come to see you, I assume. When you introduce poets, they're there to see them.

I've never met you, or heard you work, but I sincerely hope you're not one of those MCs who opens with one of his own poems, tries a bit of bad stand up and digresses constantly into anecdote. That's bad enough in the readers! :)

And I have two books, both of which have done well enough without you, thanks very much.

wow. more of that. wow.

Is the host's name a draw? Insomniac would have never contacted me and asked me to put on a reading for one of their writers if they didn't know who I was.

Hosting means a lot of things. Booking the room and sound, dealing with publishers (in this case 4) getting articles written or broadcast in the media. Promotion. Door prizes

I'm proud of my reading series. I've been featuring 30 or so writers a year for the last 8 years. When your book comes out you will appreciate the energy of people like me a lot more.

"Poetry is made it the mouth." Tristan Tzara

Is it self promoting to announce who the reading is hosted by? I guess. I've always wondered why some hosts need this. Do they think they're a draw? Apparently some are more shameless than others.

Edited by author 08-16-2004 02:31 PM
Poetry Tourism Newfoundland
presents a reading at
The Ship Pub.

Join poets Mark Callanan (Scarecrow) and Catherine Graham (Pupa and The White Page:Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets); and Giller Award nominee Lisa Moore
(Degrees of Nakedness, Open) as they help celebrate the launch of Michael Winter's new novel The Big Why.

Hosted by Kevin Hehir
The Ship Pub. Monday, August 23. 8:00pm. Free. Always.

Express 2004: A Festival of Art in 24 Hours
http://easternedge.ca/events.php

August 21 & 22
Marathon starts at noon Saturday - Admission $5.00
Live Auction starts at noon Sunday with Auctioneer Chris O'Dea

Get ready for Express 2004: A Festival of Art in 24 Hours, otherwise known as Eastern Edge's 5th Annual 24 Hour Art Marathon! The Marathon is a bonanza of creative activity. Local artists create work for 24 hours straight, and you have a chance to buy their artwork in both a silent and live auction!

Evening Performances: Starting at 6pm Saturday

Wayne Butler, Michelle Butler Hallett, Kevin Hehir, Curtis Andrews and Patrick Boyle, Sarah Wiseman, Tom Henihan, Jill Porter, Sarah Joy Stoker, Matthew Cook, Gabriel Piller, Meghan Beressord, Magnus Svensons, The Origin of the Sound Band, Skull Face and Others, Geinus, The Black Auks

Edited by author 08-08-2004 07:54 PM
Calling all collectors of ephemera:

A very ltd. ed. of a broadside of my poem "Huginn & Muninn" is in the final stages of preparation. This varied edition run of 12 prints, beautifully produced by Halifax-based artist Margaret Flood, using a combination of intaglio, lithography and handdrawing/painting on cotton rag paper.

Caveat: price will reflect the small size of the edition, the intensive labour required to produce the prints, and the quality of the materials used. Serious inquiries only: zachwells at gmail dot com.

performing tonight as a part if this
http://www.soundsymposium.com/home.html

11pm (scroll down if you're curious)

Edited by author 06-18-2004 10:39 AM
Summer Readings at the Ship Pub

A short story writer, two poets and a novelist walk into a bar...
 
Bill Robertson (Saskatoon), Larry Mathews (St. John's), Christine Walde(Sault Ste. Marie) and Anna Swanson (St. John's) who will be launching her newest chapbook Where a Name Would Be.

Hosted by Kevin Hehir
Monday, June 21
8:00 pm
Free. Always.
Info at 722-0678
                                      
William Robertson has published three collections of poems, the most recent of which is Somewhere Else, and a biography of k.d.lang He also reviews plays and musical events and books for CBC Saskatchewan Books and for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. He teaches English in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and at the Thunderchild First Nation, and has taught creative writing for the Sage Hill Writing Experience, as well as serving on its board of directors.

Larry Mathews teaches Canadian literature and creative writing in the English Department at Memorial University. He has published stories in numerous anthologies and journals and is a founding member of The Burning Rock Collective. His collection of short stories, The Sandblasting Hall of Fame, was published this year by Ottawa's Oberon Press.

Christine Walde has been published in a variety of publications including Descant, B & A, The New Quarterly, Kiss Machine and the Globe and Mail. Her first novel, The Candy Darlings,will be published by the Gutter Press
in Canada and Houghton Mifflin in the US. She lives in Sault Ste. Marie.

Anna Swanson studied Creative Writing at the University of Victoria. Her poetry has been published in various literary journals including Grain, Prairie Fire and The Malahat Review, and also appears in Joining the Sisterhood, an anthology of young Jewish women writers. Her first
chapbook, Enough Naked Women to Sink a Small Dock, was published by Rubber Boot Rodeo in 2002. She grew up in Vancouver and currently makes her home in St. John's.

For more information contact Kevin Hehir at 722-0678 or khehir@cs.mun.ca

Take a look at Me Three's list of the top novel titles of all time...

http://www.methree.net/archives/2004/June/stodolatoptitles.html

Edited by author 06-01-2004 07:13 PM
yes, gorgeous site

just read the wonderful War Rugs article

Nice website Kathrynk.

Edited by author 06-01-2004 06:10 PM
Just putting the finishing touches on this:

http://www.kathrynkuitenbrouwer.com/

The articles section will be a regular-ish posting of articles on topics that interest me, written by me or other people who interest me.

The Joan Bodger article appeared first in The Literary Review but without the beautiful photo (Fiona Christie) and the original hand-tinted daguerreotype (Mike Robinson).

Sure thing.

DW was a prof at UNB (he's now at UWindsor, I believe). QWERTY is at UNB, so there's some kinda connection there; that's all I know.

Darryl Whetter Fiction Contest? What is that?

Congratulations, Michael. That's great. Will you post the link again when the story is up?

New story (out June 1st):
http://www.plumrubyreview.com/jun04/fiction/bryson.htm

Also one forthcoming in QWERTY (later in summer 2004):
http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/QWERTY/

Both of 'em are a little odd (like the author, surely ...

The QWERTY story is the 1st prize winner of the Darryl Whetter Fiction Contest. Had to note that, as this is shameless self-promotion...

Baby Shot
I recently did a tag-team story with Andrew Lewis Conn, for the Journal News, a NY state paper. I'd never done that before, so it was an interesting experiment. The Journal has a whole series of such stories, including ones co-written by Ninja faves such as Matthew Sharpe, Alica Erian and Matthew Derby (we'll be talking about Derby's book Super Flat Times shortly). Best of all, they're free!

Home

I look forward to seeing any friendly faces!

Beeton Auditorium: Toronto Reference Library
Short Stories
Join in an evening of short stories. Len Gasparini reads from his new collection A Demon in My View: Stories. Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer reads from her new collection Way Up. A question and answer period to follow the readings.
A Demon in My View: StoriesTuesday, May 18, 7:30 p.m.

For more information see:http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:dBDKBw...uwer&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Uhm, anyone wishing to cry with embarassment for me can tune in to Bravo! on May 13th at 8:30

http://www.bravo.ca/programlistings/index.asp?date=5-13-2004

Also, I'll be reading with Len Gasparini on May 18th at the Toronto Reference Library (7:30 Beaton Auditorium)and at Bloor West/Runnymede Chapters with Ania Szado on May 28th (7:30).

new work at http://www.ballicatter.org/

prize of a cd for first to point out wrestling allusion

I think if you edit the book, it counts as self-promotion, tho perhaps a degree less shameless :)

Okay, while is this necessarily "self" promotion, I'd though I'd post some links of interest.

Michael Holmes' new book is out. He's done a few interviews:

http://www.danforthreview.com/features/int.../michael_holmes.htm
and
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/04/27/438366.html

For myself, I prefer the Mennonite model - there's nothing like a good shunning...

Oh, no! Anything but that!

Don't make us excommunicate you, Rachel....

P

Or we could be rebels and vote for people who have probably never heard of Bookninja.

Come one come all...

In this corner, the rare northern non-judgemental lady. In the other, the bearded man.

In other words...you can now vote for your favorite ninja on the 2004 CBC Poetry Face off website.

This particular freak show/ballot box closes April 27th.

I had that taken care of. See "Social" thread.

Bighead strikes again.

For all you ninjas hungry for prose on poetry--and really, who isn't?--two new essays at maisonneuve.org. Not all at once, now!

Fefe, yes, they are excellent writers. I hope they get a big crowd. I can't be there myself do to geography.

so who's going on the correct nights? i hear that their writings are out of this world.

Fefe's a star in my own right, don't forget!

Why do I get the feeling that this Fefe Dobson is actually Tony Burgess using is own peculiar brand of reverse psychology?

I won't, fefe, though now I want to...

FEFE!!!!

/m166 not a dare. i mean like, really, don't go tonight.

re /m165 : Limited? That must be Tony posting. Only Tony could call Tony and Derek limited and live to see the morning.... :)

Yup!

Hi Chris. Was that you in the dark corner with a handsome bearded man?

The conumdrum is Chris Banks. Kathyrn, I met you a couple of months ago at the reading on Roncesvaille. :)

Double dare?

Edited by author 04-21-2004 05:34 PM
for a thing in Vancouver the limited talents of Tony Burgess and Derek McCormack reading:

EL COCAL, 1037 COMMERCIAL DRIVE, VANCOUVER,
MONDAY APRIL 26 8PM
AS PART OF THE BOLTS OF FICTION SERIES

TIGERS, 2133 GRANVILLE ST, VANCOUVER,
TUESDAY APRIL 27 7PM
AS PART OF THE UNDER THE ELEPHANT SERIES

oh man, don't even try to go to this shit tonight.

Who's the conumdrum again?

I think I saw it floating on an effluent slick in the Halifax Harbour the other day. That explains the obscure initials TFK I saw embroidered on it.

KK, I might take you up on that lift offer if it's still open.

and re /m161
Sorry, guys, but my propellor beanie crashed in the ocean somewhere off of Nova Scotia. After all, I did get from the Canadian military.

And by ties you mean prison record, right TC?

re: /m155, Sorry, Twinks, I lied about the military chopper. It's just Vermeersch in a propeller cap. Budgetary constraints, you know.

I'm spreading the word to both students and staff. However, I'll probably be coming down solo.

BN, I think the Guelph Mercury is running an article on my nomination tomorrow, seeing as I have strong Guelph ties. See you Friday.

Also, TC and Bill and anyone nearby should spread the word to friends, students, underlings, and all shadowy brethren. Thanks!

Hey, TC: congrats.

I'll be there on Friday night, too. It sounds like a great line-up.

That's my kind of bookstore! Hope to meet a Ninja or two.

You're wrong there! Booze booze booze! We're actually just getting under the wire before the bar turns into a nightclub at around 9pm. So stay and party afterwards.

Books will be available through the store.

Twinks, we have a military chopper flying in around 3pm to lift you out of the wild and transport you to poetry reading heaven. Make sure you light a signal fire. Preferably with poetry books you don't like. Preferably not mine.

No ride needed, but thanks for the offer. I'm going to do my best to be there. I'll be coming from Waterloo, if anyone needs a lift from there.

Also, will the group have books available for sale? Or will the store?

My DD remark was a poorly worded joke. I thought a Friday night reading might be occasion for drinks as well, but I suppose the venue isn't licensed. My bad.

Thanks

I wouldn't mind a lift...

Do you want a lift?

Which one of the 5 is the designated driver?

Sounds like fun, BN, I'll be there.

"largely devoid of writers"

Ain't that a selling point? I hear writers bring down property values.

I'd be there, but I've hit a snag with the teleportation device. The cat came back missing whiskers and tail. I shudder to think what this could mean for a human male.

Edited by author 04-19-2004 10:38 PM
Dear ninjas...

As I was just saying to Twinkle in an off board message: you're gonna wish you lived in Guelph. Sure it's a little isolated and largely devoid of writers, but guess who I've managed to line up for a Canada Book Day reading... go ahead. Guess.

Okay, I'll tell you.

This Friday, April 23rd, at 6:30 pm in "The Green Room" at the Bookshelf in downtown Guelph (directions here), readings will be given by the following poets and novelists.

Dennis Bock
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
A.J. Levin
A.F. Moritz
George Murray

(I'm particularly fond of the last poet's work. There should be an emoticon for that fingertip kiss that denotes "manifique!")

It's sure to be a rocking reading. Please come if you can.

G

and when is More Than Three Feet of Ice coming out?

The Greenboathouse Books I own are beautiful in every way.
My favorites:

The Land Beyond by Matt Rader. It's hard to believe that one can marry the actual feel of a book with the content, but that's what Greenboathouse Books did with this work. Incredible.

this cake is for the party by Sarah Lucille Selecky is another pleasure just to hold and feel. It's gorgeous throughout.

The Eye-Shift of Surface by Meredith Quartermain. I'm sure I've mentioned this one before. It's stunning.

Jason Dewinetz came up with cardiogram images in the version of Ectopic Beats you see in the PDF. That's how it was published. In my submission I used the symbol above the 6 on the keyboard to represent this, which was the best I could come up with :)

man i hate friday deadlines. i just surf all day.

that green boathouse site is great and i assume that their books are beautiful too. there is obviously a keen eye for design involved.

When, and with whom, is More Than Three Feet of Ice coming out?

also, did the original of Ectopic Beats have the cardiogram images? when i read it first i kept putting "I"s where th breaks were. Then I read the PDF of the broadside and it all made sense (or made more sense anyway, i'd hate to come off as knowing anything).

As for the Lisa Robertson prompt. i find her writing to be absolutely lovely. Look for something in the new Brick that will blow your mind.

The Greenboathouse Books site has been relaunched
great redesign
http://www.greenboathouse.com/index.htm

A poem of mine is part of the new edition of The Variant Project, a Greenboathouse Books initiative.
It's just ducky :)

Attention Montreal and Vancouver Ninjas!

Since Reluctant Ninja Jonathan Bennett is already on tour for his new book of poetry, Here is My Street, This Tree I Planted from ECW, I am posting this for him by proxy. After a kickass launch last night in Ottawa, his upcoming tour readings are:

April 15, Montreal - launch
Zeke's Gallery, 7 p.m.
3955 St. Laurent Blvd., Montreal
                       
April 16 Vancouver - launch
Café Montmartre, 7 p.m.
4362 Main St
with Barry McKinnon and rob mclennan

April 18, Vancouver
Café Montmartre
4362 Main St
Thundering Word Heard Series with Barry McKinnon

April 19, Vancouver
Poetic Licence at El Cocal
1037 Commercial Drive
Liars of Orpheus Series
with Barry McKinnon and rob mclennan

He's touring with Stephen Brockwell (and apparently rob mclennan). Please go and see him or he'll be stuck with only rob to talk to...

The book is actually quite good, which I hope is a smack in the chops for Bennett who used to trash talk poetry something fierce until he tried it himself an discovered that he liked it... My dad tried to tell me that about brussell sprouts.

G

If yer in this neck of the woods
Twinkle aka Brenda Schmidt will be reading at this:

The Flin Flon Writers Guild, the Flin Flon Toastmasters Club and the Flin Flon Public Library will host a poetry reading to celebrate National Poetry Month on Thursday, April 15, 7-9 p.m. at the Flin Flon Public Library.

Oh, that's right, he's Arstralian, ain't 'e?

Are you going to read the one about Mel Gibson's arse?

Edited by author 04-10-2004 07:43 PM
Ninjas of a Haligonian persuasion: Looking for a way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ? Come see me read some poems at the Khyber Club, downtown on 1588 Barrington St., Easter Monday, April 12, 7 pm. Admission free, drinks cheap. It'll be a jesus good time, b'y.

Huh, if Yann Martel is right, I ought to be chasing it down in Halifax and trying to find a safe shelf for it. Martin, if you find it, please put a collar on it, give it a rabies shot, some kibble; it needs spaying for godsake, for freedom's sake.

Kathryn, your metaphor reminded me of "Life of Pi" There's a passage in it in which the narrator insists that the animals are in fact happier in their cages, and that their desire for freedom is the real anthromorphic projection. (He compares the action of "returning them to the wilds" to someone coming to your home, opening all the doors, pushing you outside and saying "now, you're free!")

Some of the sites in Halifax (of which there seems several) are not actually identified other than by their bookcrossing titles, it seems. I wonder if I should be combing Halifax for your book. (Like a cat chasing an errant mouse.)

Martin, I too go through physical gyrations to read titles on public transit; it's a kind of reading mania coupled with insane curiosity. I must say I'm flattered my book has found such freedom -- like some small, cute, near- extinct animal avoiding the fate of the bigger cats (to be ogled by well-meaning zoo visitors, all the while pacing, pacing). Morning coffee clearly worked today.

I like it too. Nothing that gets a writer more readers can hurt. Sure there's the supposed 'lost royalties' argument, but it's not like the people snagging your book from a cafe would have necessarily bought it in a store.

For whatever reason, Kathryn, they talk about it on CBC radio all the time.

Personally, I love the idea. I don't think it damages the writer per se, since it's simply an extension of the informal trading that goes on among booklovers anyway. And its supporters suggest that people who are unaware of the website might actually read books they find in odd places simply out of a sort of sense of adventure.

I'm the sort of person who gets an almost erotic charge out of seeing people read (I've been know to stare intently at people on buses, trying to read the title of their books), so the idea of books "freed" from their inert spots in bookstore, libraries and people's homes really appeals to me.

What do people think about this? Does this hurt the writer in the long run?

Not really, but had I known that your book would be floating around the city for free, I wouldna bought the durn thing :)

Anyone know anything about this website?

http://jjflash.bookcrossing.com/journal/1517384

Edited by author 03-26-2004 03:30 PM
I'll be hosting this tomorrow night:

The Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador
presents
Paris-based, Canadian poet and essayist Lisa Robertson.

Saturday, March 27
8:00 pm
The Studio (above Auntie Craes)
272 Water Street. Free.

Widely lauded for her inexhaustibly rich, intelligent poetry, Robertson has published four books of poetry including the 2002 Relit Award for Poetry winner, The Weather and Debbie: An Epic, a finalist for the 1998
Governor General's Award. Books in Canada calls Robertson, "one of our most important, and most interesting poets."

'In this so-often-impersonal book (which is no small crime for a female writer), she lets the landscape narrate, and from this newly constructed body politic, a collective tells the tale. The writing of the weather descriptions (which, I must admit, instantly changed mine) is incantatory.
... Dazzling!'
                     -Eileen Myles, The Nation about The Weather

Her most recent book is Occasional Works and Seven Walks from the Office For Soft Architecture (Clear Cut Press), a linked series of prose walks and essays on city space, architectural history, and decorative design.
The Office for Soft Architecture, headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., constructs propositions and documents for the advancement of a natural history of civic surface.

Ms. Robertson also contributes a regular decorating horoscope to Nest: A Quarterly of Interiors, under the pen name Swann. Her essays on the visual arts appear frequently in gallery catalogues, and her essays and
reviews on poetry have been published by The Globe and Mail, American Book Review, Stand, The Poetry Project Newsletter, and The Stranger. In 1999 she was a visiting fellow at Cambridge University and has been writer-in-residence at the University of California at San Diego, and at Capilano College in North Vancouver.

Saturday, March 27
8:00 pm
The Studio (above Auntie Craes)
272 Water Street
For more information please contact WANL at 739 - 5215

Here are some links to her writing on-line. It should give you an idea of what she is all about:
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~poetry/robertson.html
http://www.va.com.au/parallel/x2/journal/l...bertson/phatic.html
http://www.arcadejournal.com/v20_3txt2.html
http://www.arcadejournal.com/v20_3txt9.html
This has a link to a reading in Philadelphia. IN her preamble she explains how the nightly nautical weather reports became source material for the
book, The Weather
 http://phillytalks.org/content/11080/

The first five pages of this PDF file are from her book The Weather.
http://slought.org/files/downloads/domains...ytalks/pdf/pt17.pdf

W is the journal of the Kootaney School of Writing. Lisa has something inv
1 and 6
http://www.kswnet.org/
http://www.kswnet.org/w/index.html

This a site developed by a guy at U Calgary
http://www.housepress.ca/lisa.htm

Well lookee here... Apparently, I'm a "spoke word" artist, yo....

In an effort to blend in to small town Ontario I said yes to this invite, but I managed to get them to invite Christian as well... they have no idea what they're in for. I hope he unleashes the beast - fully Kurt Schwitters them where it hurts most.

G

---

Action Read's
6th annual poetry night

For the Love of Words Is an annual fundraiser in support of Action Read's adult and family literacy programs in Guelph.

Thursday, April 1st, @7:30 pm

at

The Boathouse
Doors open at 6:45

Come early. . . it fills up fast!

Tickets $12.
Tickets available at The Bookshelf and at

Action Read
2 Quebec Street, Suite 220
or call 836.2759
action1@on.aibn.com

Emcee: T. Sher Singh

Spoken Word: Christian Bok, James Clarke, Ed Kuris, George
Murray, Judith Thompson and Sheila Stewart

Music: Sue Smith and Jesse Belle Smith (no relation!)

Beer, wine and refreshments will be sold. the silent auction- pre-bids will start at the Guelph Public Library in mid-March. Silent Auction items include a VIA Rail Pass for two to Niagara Falls and a night at a B & B, a quilt by Marilyn Clarke, Billy's Best Bottles gift baskets, a tour and wine tasting for ten and much, much more!