N.W. Lea's Understander shortlisted for the Archibald Lampman Award!

Congratulations to Chaudiere author N.W. Lea, whose second poetry collection, Understander (2015), has just been shortlisted for this year's Archibald Lampman Award, alongside titles by Pearl Pirie (the pet radish, shrunken) and David Groulx (Wabi­goon River Poems). The annual $1,500 Archibald Lampman Award acknowledges an out­stand­ing book of poetry by a National Cap­i­tal Region author pub­lished during the previous calendar year. See Arc Poetry Magazine's announcement for such here. The Archibald Lamp­man Award will be pre­sented in con­junc­tion with the City of Ottawa Book Awards on Octo­ber 19, 2016.


Copies of Understander are still very much available, as are copies of Lea's debut collection, Everything is Movies (2007).

As the judges said of Understander:

In this bril­liant book of com­pact lyrics, themes of alien­ation and fragility meet dark humour and hope. Part Baude­laire, part Bashō, Nicholas Lea’s pre­cisely-focused poems exam­ine the raw edges of being. Ques­tions, equiv­o­ca­tions and mis­di­rec­tions abound, as Under­stander walks with ner­vous aplomb along the edge of the abyss, but never falls in.

Ryan Pratt reviews Amanda Earl's Kiki (2014)

Our good friend Ryan Pratt was good enough to review Amanda Earl's Kiki (2014) over at the ottawa poetry newsletter. Thanks, much! You can see his original review here. 

This is actually the seventh review of Kiki, after Jacqueline Valencia discussed the book at All Lit Up, Anne Burke reviewed such via The League of Canadian Poets, "Indiereadergirl" reviewed such over at her indiereadergirl0329 blog, Jonathan Ball reviewed such over at the Winnipeg Free Press, Douglas Barbour reviewed such over at his blog, and Matthew J. Hall was good enough to review such over at The Small Press Book Review. 

And of course, copies can be ordered directly via All Lit Up!

Five Literary Things: Monty Reid's Ottawa at Open Book: Toronto

Chaudiere author Monty Reid posts about his Ottawa in the "Five Things Literary" series over at Open Book: Toronto. His new book might be through Brick Books, but his two Chaudiere titles -- Disappointment Island (2007) and Garden (2014) -- are still very much available.

William Hawkins (1940-2016) : some tributes, and an update,

There are more than a couple of tributes to the late Ottawa poet and musician William Hawkins that have emerged over recent days, including this, by Chaudiere co-publisher rob mclennan, and this thoughtful piece by Cameron Anstee, editor of The Collected Poems of William Hawkins.

Alan Neal spoke to Sneezy Waters and Bruce Cockburn on CBC Radio's All in a Day on Tuesday, and CBC News (Ottawa) spoke to Sneezy Waters again the same day (at the 37:00 mark). The Ottawa Citizen even included an article in today's paper.

Once information on a public tribute is available, we will certainly post here.

William Hawkins ( May 20, 1940 - July 4, 2016)

Legendary Ottawa poet William Hawkins has died, after a short stretch in hospital. As Joanne Wiffen writes in an email: "Bill passed away peacefully this afternoon.  He was not in pain."

He was our favourite author, and we were thrilled to be able to produce his last title, The Collected Poems of William Hawkins, edited by Cameron Anstee, in 2015.

More details as and when they emerge. Condolences to everyone that knew him. 

More than likely a tribute event will be forthcoming.