auld loud syne?

a solid article at rollingstone.com, "the death of high fidelity" by robert levine, provides an introduction to deteriorating sound quality in music production. this essay offers insight into current listener habits and attitudes, and strikes me as a not-so-distant relative to r. murray schafer's comprehensive book soundscape: our sonic environment and the tuning of the world.

on influence, copyright, plagiarism

jonathan lethem's fine article in harpers ("the ecstacy of influence: a plagiarism," february 2007) is worth a read. incorporating phrases such as 'usemonopoly' and 'imperial plagiarism,' lethem careens through theories and practices of appropriation.

lemon hound on stuart ross

how's this for a lovely, insightful holiday gift? sina queyras interviewed stuart ross!

Hoflehner's Iceland photography

Recently dubbed the nature photographer of the year, Josef Hoflehner photographs remote locales worldwide. His site includes a series of snaps from Iceland taken between 2005 and 2007 -- of black-sand beaches and cliffs of insanity, waterfalls and fjords, ice and grass. This Gullfoss photo is breathtaking (and gasping increases with first-hand memory of the dangerous outcrop on which he must've stood to snap the shot).

sing

"singing is just like speaking except louder and longer and you move your voice up and down."

will ferrell, elf

Reykjavík! in Tdot

ALL SHADES OF YESNESS! Reykjavík! has been booked for Canadian Music Week.

ice loss

wow. huh.

Sound poetry on CKLN

This Tuesday, December 11 from 2-3pm, Camille Martin's guest-hosting an upcoming episode of 88.1 FM CKLN's In Other Words (listen online here). Her program will feature "folk traditions of sound singing with dad and other sound poetry performances." With work by Annie Johnston, Giacomo Balla, Sainkho Namtchylak, mIEKAL aND, Funginii, cris cheek, Jackson Mac Low, Anne Tardos, Robert Ashley, Vernon Frazer, Robert Creeley, and Lake Affect.

Novembrous

November was nutty with activity. Saw lots of theatre, attended several readings, caught up on work and a little much-needed socializing.

• (1-4) The month started in British Columbia.
• (4-9) I returned to ryan fitzpatrick (fake math), Natalie Zina Walschots (Thumbscrews), and William Neil Scott (Wonderfull) in town to carouse and launch their shiny new books. I hosted ryan chez raw, and the week was packed as I also instructed workshops on interviewing at Marc Garneau everyday.
  
• (8-10) I traipsed down to St. Catharines to read for Grey Borders Reading Series alongside Bill Kennedy and Darren Wershler, hosted by Greg Betts. The following night, Brea Burton and Jill Hartman flew in from Calgary to launch Booty: Hurricane Jane and Typhoon Mary. And the next day, Carousel Players premiered Bluenose, a children's play about pirates in which Conor's currently yaarrrring.
  
• (11-14) Calgarians followed me to Tdot. A few days later, Mercury launched our fall season of books in Toronto. Launch was packed and celebratory, so excellent to see awesome friends, colleagues, readers, writers out for the event.
• (15-23) Carolyn Smart hosted me at Queen's University in Kingston, a positive memory. I scurried home quickly after the meeting to attend my first board meeting for bluemouth inc. This kickstarted my week of theatre, as soon after Theatre Gargantua's Raging Dreams had me rapt. Toronto's first snowstorm couldn't keep me from seeing One Little Goat's new play, Antigone: Insurgency.
  
• (24-30) Test Reading Series featured Oana Avasilichioaei and Angela Carr. They shared similar pacing in how they delivered their texts, so it proved a musical symbiosis. Susan Howe read at Ryerson University; check out Carl's excellent recount. I spent the week at Victoria park Collegiate facilitating workshops in creative writing. And pics were posted from Brian Joseph Davis' launch for I, Tania.
• Throughout it all, I've enjoyed a constant soundtrack with aural ecstacies by Nico Muhly, múm, Regina Spektor, Reykjavík!, and Sonic Youth.
  

environment canada

i'm addicted to the 'weather warnings' portion of the environment canada website.

snow

She says, 'I'd prefer the moss; I'd prefer the mouth.'

- Regina Spektor

bluemouth inc.

I'm honoured to join bluemouth inc.'s Board of Directors!

Adventures in Prince George

My post-Iceland life has found me ensconced in continued travel, classroom visits, and Mercurial fall book season. Jordan Scott and I spent an awesome couple of days in Prince George, BC, where we read for series at both the University of Northern British Columbia and College of New Caledonia.

Prince George reminds me, superficially, of Sault Ste. Marie. It's a Northern city, population just shy of 80,000, reliant on pulp and paper industry, major city centre 8 hours to PG's south, a river running through the city. PG's had a rough go with air quality, and there are surprising and sizeable problems with homelessness and addiction. Both were apparent during a wander in the city's core. PG was chilly when we were there (snowed two days), though we were warmed by local reports of moose and bear activity, as well as the generosity and awesomeness of resident writers.

Jordan and I instantly hit it off with Graham Pearce, our Caledonia host. We enjoyed dinner and conversation with Ken Belford, who's lead one of the most fascinating lives I've ever heard recounted. I could spend months listening to him! Barry McKinnon shared drinks and fire, laughter and cameraderie -- such a gem. Rob Budde, our UNBC host, was gracious and did a hell of a job organizing our stay; I really look forward to visiting more with him in future. I wish I could go for a long hike with Gillian Wigmore, and then cuddle up with hot chocolates afterwards; she's my kinda people. And GP Lainsbury and Tanya Clary proved the icing on a wonderful stay, with easy yet deep conversation on our final evening.

And I think that expresses it well for all of the PG writers we met -- my kinda people. There was no pretense, no bullshit; everyone was more than willing to swap stories, share chapbooks, dinners, anything. No ageism, just straight-ahead respect and enthusiasm. Loveliness.

Billio's books

Bruno Billio puts books to back-breaking work.

Anthology: Strong Words, Year Two

Indiepolitik's Strong Words: Year Two anthology was recently released, including text by writers who featured at their Toronto readings last year. Two poems from my LOGYoLOGY series can be found in the pages ("ontology" and "traumatology").

Anthology contributors are Sandra Alland, Aidan Baker, Kate Belcher, Emma Beltran, Tomy Bewick, Ryan Bigge, Jon Blair, Matt Blair, Spencer Butt, Chris Eaton, Cameron Gordon, Paul Hong, Brian McLachlan, Steve McOrmond, Grace O'Connell, Catherine Owen, Sofi Papamarko, a.rawlings, Dave Silverberg, Matthew Tierney, Myna Wallin, Gein Wong, and Liz Worth.

Reading in St. Catharines

If you're around St. Catharines this Thursday evening, it would be wonderful to see you at the Grey Borders Reading Series. I'll read with Bill Kennedy and Darren Wershler at Strega Cafe (7-9pm). And if you're in St. Cats Friday evening, absolutely come to the Niagara Gallery Cafe, where Calgarian phenoms Brea Burton and Jill Hartman will kick off their book tour by reading from Booty: Hurricane Jane and Typhoon Mary.

Reading in Prince George

Jordan Scott and I are thrilled to head to Prince George, BC this week to participate in both the CNC Caledonia Reading Series and the UNBC Just West of Unruly Reading Series. If you're in the neighbourhood, pop by for hellos!

Adventures in Iceland: Airwaves music festival

Iceland Airwaves is a four-day music festival in Reykjavík featuring over 200 bands. The city splits wide in the evenings, with the most intense, impassioned partying I've never imagined could exist. Though some of the more popular venues and acts would, at times, demand up to half an hour waiting in lines, I managed to see every band I'd hoped to see, and without missing any seconds (yes, copious knocking on wood while there). Here's a list of what I saw; if you're unfamiliar with these groups, do follow the links and give a listen.

THURSDAY... without much plan, I stumbled into a dinner with members of Hraun, then wandered to Iðnó for drinks with Hildur and Linda, where the gentle tones of most bands had us entranced...

Kira Kira: airy and warm, Kira Kira's tinkles and beats wrapped my eardrums in an aural embrace, the perfect introduction to the festival. A little spooky, a lot expansive, with instrumentation ranging from xylophone and music box to drums and sundries.

My Summer as a Salvation Soldier: half an hour of ultra slow guitar, lyrics, and drums à la Songs: Ohia summons the sleepies, so when this Icelandic band kicked three power chords into their last song, I was theirs. I'm awake! I'm with you! Sweet!

Grizzly Bear: for a brief interlude, I wandered with Örvar Smárason and his sister, Vala, to the Reykjavík Art Museum for this American outfit that featured sweeping hipster folk and stunning harmony.

Ben Frost: returning to Iðnó, I caught the latter half of Ben Frost's experimental composition, a driving computer-created soundscape with seven or eight live electric guitarists playing one chord for half an hour. The guitarists rocked their solo chord hard; both the sound and schtick proved mesmerizing. Also neat to see Reykjavík!'s Gummi and Haukur participate.

Sam Amidon: the closing act of the night was oneiric. Sam Amidon's southern-folk aesthetic, paired with Nico Muhly's orchestral talents, delighted. Favourite moment was Sam's teetering dance with fall that closed the show.

FRIDAY... this was the highlight of my festival, as I got to see the band I'd stayed in Iceland to see, hang out backstage, start what I hope will become an influential dialogue with Birgitta Birgirsdóttir, plus indulge in further Reykjavík!ian hedonism as I witnessed Erna Ómarsdóttir's incredible pipes.

Reykjavík!: see my earlier post on these phenoms. Better still, watch the video from this performance.

múm: aaahhhh, múm. I've been devoted to their ambient quorks and pips for several years, so it was a pleasure to see them live and hang out with them post-show. As serendipity would have it, I arrived just prior to their start, wound my way to front stage-right (random snapshot of my audience position here), and was greeted by Birgitta shortly after. While the Reykjavík Art Museum wasn't the ideal venue for this group, it was nevertheless wonderful to hear so much from the new album and to see Örvar, Mr. Silla, and the crew weave magic. Truly a treat, and I got to hang out backstage afterwards (which is my excuse for only seeing two bands this night, though there was much more to see). Speaking of the new album, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy has become my anthemic nostalgia for the trip -- instant time portal. For my Montreal and Toronto friends, if you have a spare evening this week, I heavily encourage you to go to the múm concert in your city! They're touring all over the States and Europe, too, so do make sure you see them if they come your way.

SATURDAY... hungover (a.k.a. feeling like a bag of smashed assholes), I dragged myself from bed around 3pm, dressed for the evening, and met Hildur for a pizza-breakfast...

Reykjavík! x2: 12 Tonar, a small music store downtown, cleared displays out of the way to pack the band and audience into the space. The band chased this energetic performance with an invitation to their studio space where they continued the music. Video clip of studio performance here.

Mugison: home-grown indie rock, Mugison came highly recommended to me by, well, everybody I encountered. The audience response to the unveiling of his new songs was overwhelmingly positive. Fun atmosphere.

Seabear: caught the end of their set, and it intrigued. Looking forward to further listening.

Benni Hemm Hemm: gotta love a music festival that features brass on so many stages. Benni Hemm Hemm blared enchanting songs. I peeked in and out of their set, as the venue was crowded and behind schedule. Met with Vala, and we wandered to Gaukurinn for...

FM Belfast: what started as a musically energetic, pizza-fueled day ended similarly. Vala and I snagged front-row spots for FM Belfast (of which Örvar is also a member), a geeky electronic team roaring with catchy one-liners and blazing beats. For their final number, the frontman introduced the song in Icelandic, though I caught the English words "Killing in the name of." That caught my attention, as I was immediately transported to a 1997 concert I saw at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens where Rage Against the Machine closed with that song. Flashforward to Airwaves. FM Belfast. The beat kicks in, multiple band members with microphones kick into their cult hit "Lotus," which is, in fact, an unreal cover of Rage's song. It was, simply, wowsville. Haukur even jumped onstage to scream along with them. I'm still processing how FM Belfast's physicality and musicality contextually shifts the lyrics. Do check out their site, where you can hear their version (though, I've gotta say, it's not in the same goodly realm as the wild live incarnation).

SUNDAY... after a rejuvenating splash with Hildur in Laugardalslaug -- one of Reykjavík's spas complete with hot pots, saunas, and Olympic-sized swimming pools -- and a restorative Italian dinner, we had drinks with Australian group Winterpark and Haukur before taking in the last night of the festival.

Skakkamanage: though the packed houses of the night before at Nasa were a distant memory, Skakkamanage played a good set. This band also touts Örvar as a member (playing shakers and harmonica one-handed), so my Icelandic adventures came full-circle as I had the pleasure of seeing him perform one last time.

The festival included a couple of Canadian acts, so it was fitting that my final shows of the weekend were by names I know: Buck 65 and Plants and Animals. Thus concluded one hell of a memorable weekend in the Bay of Smoke.

***

A side note to self, I also saw these bands outside of the festival. Must revisit memories: Reykjavík!, Mr. Silla, Ólöf Arnalds, Kira Kira

Adventures in Iceland: Erna Ómarsdóttir

As you likely gathered from my last post, one of the exciting artists I encountered while in Iceland is modern dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir. Her website has an awesome selection of video clips, so you can get a sense of her choreography, movement, and voice. SO EXCITED. Seriously on.

Adventures in Iceland: Reykjavík!

Reykjavík!, a heavy/indie-rock/post-punk band with some members from Ísafjörður (though now relocated to Reykjavík) and comprised of Bóas/Haukur/Gummi/Geiri/Kristján, was my first introduction to a cross-disciplinary constellation of Icelandic artists. Though I was fairly bleary after 24+ hours of travel sans sleep and the first lovely segment of the poetry festival, Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl enticed Conor and me to join him at Café Amsterdam to partake of the dulcet tones of the local "penis rock 'n' roll" scene, as he's fondly dubbed it.

After thrashing to two warm-up bands (complete with musician leaping onto table and pouring Jack Daniel's into open mouths), the audience had sufficiently prepped its flight muscles and was ready to embrace Reykjavík!. I was instantly enamoured with their style, which proved quite generous to its audience -- whether through sharing microphones, Bóas the singer in the thick of dancers while belting out a tune, or inviting guest artists to join them onstage. In fact, I was literally pushed onstage at one point and told I could have a microphone only if I screamed or spoke into it. So I screamed. Naturally.

And which illustrates my point: generous with audience. I found Reykjavík!'s comfort onstage, and in sharing the magic to create with those in the room, delightful. As for the cross-disciplinarity, the night held further marvels as Reykjavík!'s guitarist, Haukur, introduced a song midway through the set by chanting, "EiríkurÖrnNorðdahl-EiríkurÖrnNorðdahl..." which sparked an impromptu poetry recitation by Eiríkur as the band rocked alongside him.

That initial introduction to these uninhibited, exuberant performers had them swiftly stowed behind my left ventricle. And what pleasure to get to know them over the proceeding week, and to see them play a further three times. With each successive show, my initial impressions of generosity and warmth were strengthened.

Though each performance was special for its own reason -- first night: seeing Eiríkur read with them; third time: small music store stuffed to the gills, standing next to ten-year-olds; fourth time: ears that nearly bled -- the second performance was the most ecstasis-producing for me. Pure exclamation point over the head. That yesyes feeling. Why? Reykjavík! + modern dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir.

Ohh, thank you thank you: a door has opened.

See clip below. This was easily one of the best things I witnessed at Iceland Airwaves, and has me thinking again about the conventional ways the female voice is expected to sound.

Reykjavík! @ Gaukurinn, Iceland Airwaves 2007

Five devils inhabit Erna Ómarsdóttir as she opens Reykjavík!'s set at Gaukurinn.

Adventures in Iceland: Reykjavík

RECOLLECTION: fresh air * Faxaflói Bay * Tjörnin * Laugardalslaug and compulsory swimming lessons * geothermal and hydro-electric power * no national military * Peace Tower * Þingvellir * Geysir * Gullfoss * Bláa Lónið * sulfuric shower * expensive * low unemployment rate (1.3% in 2006) * vegetarian-friendly * risa opal candy * skyr * smjör * brightly coloured houses like Halifax * Nordal Institute * clean, clean, clean * rejuvenation * almost 100% literacy rate * late-night social engagements (3am+!) * Iceland Airwaves!

NEXT TIME: folkloristics * the ghost centre * tour Nesjavellir * Kerið * Westfjords * Museum of Witchcraft * Museum of Phallology * Snæfellsjökull * Klaustrið? * Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowship? * speak Icelandic...

(picture taken during Iceland Airwaves by NME at Reykjavík Art Museum on Oct. 20,
during múm's set; Birgitta and I look distracted at the front.
check out NME's site for more excellent pictures from the festival)

Adventures in Iceland: Nýhil Day Three

On the third day of the Nýhil Poetry Festival, poets participated in panel discussions at the Nordic House. The first panel was chaired by Birna Bjarnadóttir and comprised of Markku Paasonen, Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen, Leif Holmstrand, and Arngrímur Vídalín. I appreciated the structure of this panel, which included an invitation to the poets to share poems during the talk; nice to contextualize work within the discussion. An intriguing digression completed the panel, where an audience member raised the obtuse issue of the role of beauty in contemporary poetry. This could have been a topic intrinsic to the panel, had parameters been established for what was meant by 'beauty'. As was, I felt as though some speakers tried to address what was meant by the abstract notion while others attempted to answer the question... A fascinating, dizzying game of trying to discern what, exactly, everyone meant.

The second panel focusws on politics, poetry, and literary groups, with digressions into English as a dominant language and marginalization. It was chaired by Benedikt Hjartarson; I joined Ingólfur Gíslason, Lars Skinnebach, Linh Dinh, and Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl for the chat.

There was a high level of audience interactivity, and the panels felt at times like they might have been better suited to a round-table forum given the audience participation. Definitely a pleasure to partake in the afternoon.

Nýhil ended off an exciting weekend of sharing with a classy group dinner in Stokkseyri, 45 minutes from Reykjavík, at Fjöruborðið (famed for its small, Icelandic lobsters). It was such a rare gift to be invited to participate, and to fraternize with Nýhilists and international poets. Takk fyrir!!

Adventures in Iceland: Nýhil Day Two

The second day of Nýhil’s 3rd International Poetry Festival began with a belly-filling breakfast at Prikið, after which Conor and I raced to Mál og Menning for an afternoon bookstore reading. Mál og Menning, similar to other contemporary spaces in Reykjavík, has a clean and manicured feeling to it, with large windows and polished wood. I was ecstatic to see an entire table on ground level devoted to displaying Nýhil's publications. Ingólfur Gíslason, Gísli Hvanndal, Linh Dinh, Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, and I gave brief readings. (I read the wolf poems from echology.)

The reading was followed by chillaxing with Eiríkur and dinner at one of Reykjavík's oldest Chinese restaurants. We then scooted to the National Theatre's basement for the second ten-reader poetry party, a night again filled with excellent readings (largely in Icelandic) and good energy.

For his reading, Arngrímur Vídalín switched between paper and computer screen as he read (video below). Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen cast an enchantment over the audience that held me transfixed by her dark Finnish tongue. Other readers included Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir, Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Björk Þorgrímsdóttir, Kristín Eiríksdóttir, and Jóhamar. Music was provided by the lilting Ólöf Arnalds.

Linh Dinh read widely from Borderless Bodies, and also shared a lengthy poem focused on English translations of Vietnamese idioms that use the word 'eat.' Linh's a powerhouse thinker, dynamic and challenging in his assertions; a sample from Sunday's panel discussions included Linh proposing that the eventual fall of the American empire will trigger a death for English. Conor spent some time after we met Linh reading aloud to me from jam alerts. I would love to have him up to Toronto for a reading and discussion.

Of the Icelandic poets who read on Saturday evening, Örvar Smárason was my most anticipated. I've followed his work as a musician for several years, and have delighted in the quirky lyrics (and especially the titles!) of songs by his group, múm. Örvar's reading proved the most unintentionally hilarious of the evening, as he'd invited four friends to sing in harmonized a capella while he read a poem about Montevideo. What delighted was the occasional lost pitch or note, and the eventual corpsing of the singers.

I anchored the night with excerpts from Wide slumber.

Do check out video clips below, shot by Eiríkur!

Örvar Smárason @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Örvar Smárason's set delighted with his merry band of singers.

a.rawlings @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Linh Dinh @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Linh Dinh reads dark poetry.

Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Vilja-Tuulia reads in Finnish from two books. Bewitching!

Arngrímur Vídalín @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Arngrímur reads in Icelandic.

Adventures in Iceland: Bittersweet farewell

I'll provide a more comprehensive overview of the poetry festival, as well as Iceland Airwaves (a 200+ band music festival that proved to be the most intense, amazing 4-day party I've never even imagined could exist), once I find spare moments. But as tonight marks my final few hours in Reykjavík, I thought it appropriate to bid my farewell by introducing the two Icelandic best friends who've kept me busy this week.

Hildur Lilliendahl and Haukur Magnússon have shown me extraordinary kindness. Their depths, intelligence, and generosity kept me well fed, stimulated, hydrated, fascinated, relaxed, blissful... blissful... blissful.

Ég er mjög ánægð!!! Ranka við sér Toronto, takk fyrir!

Adventures in Iceland: Nýhil Day One

After a cancelled flight, a redirect red-eye through London (Heathrow), and a delayed Keflavík-bound plane, I arrived in Reykjavík last Friday. Despite malnutrition setting in from airplane/port fare as well as complete exhaustion, I dusted myself off and headed with Conor to the opening night of Nýhil’s 3rd International Poetry Festival.

Our late arrival to the festivities (combined with my bleariness) meant that I missed several of the ten or so readings that kickstarted the festival. But what I did catch was wholly worth the lack of sleep. We entered the spacious basement of the National Theatre to witness Hildur Lilliendahl's reading. Hildur writes and performs in Icelandic, like most of the festival's participants. Icelandic as a language has held a fascination for me for some time, as an old language fiercely guarded, spoken by a minute percentage of the world's population. Aside from a few numbers, pronouns, and prepositions, my semantic comprehension of the evening's work gave over to aural immersion.

Though the reading order escapes me, I was pleased to hear Ingólfur Gíslason read, who is the co-creator of Handsprengja í morgunsárið with Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl. As I understand the concept, Handsprengja translates poems by political figures (Saddam Hussein, Ernesto Che Guevara, Ronald Reagan, Osama bin Laden, etc.) into Icelandic, with Ingólfur and Eiríkur attaching one or two lines of biographical context onto probably banal occasional poems.

Lars Skinnebach gave an energetic, rousing performance in Danish; his reading energy reminded me slightly of Christian Bök's in its theatricality and speed. During a panel on Sunday, I learned that one of Lars' poems (Eiríkur translated the title for me loosely as "Read Me: I Have Big Tits") had appeared in an Icelandic newspaper the week prior, which had caused a small uproar amongst some Icelanders given the use of the word 'cunt.' An intriguing conversation ensued, revealing Scandinavian cultural attitudes towards this word. If curious, check out this introduction to an Icelandic anthology, where Eiríkur describes the frequent employment of 'cunt' in Finnish as a common and largely inoffensive expletive such as 'damn.'

Other readers of the night included Swedish writer Leif Holmstrand, Finnish writer Markku Paasonen (whose hardcover books are beautifully designed), and Eiríkur. It was a particular thrill to hear Eiríkur read, as his Icelandic wordplay and enuniation proved artful sound poetry. Music was provided by the excellent Mr. Silla, who has also begun working with one of my favourite groups, múm. Her setlist delighted us to no end -- covers of the theme song for The Never-ending Story, "What Is Love?", and a couple of Fleetwood Mac hits, all sung in haunting soprano accompanied by a ukelele.

Please check out video clips below for readings by Markku and Eiríkur.

Markku Paasonen @ Nýhil Poetry Festival

Markku performed poetry in English and Finnish at the festival on Friday.

Pol Pot (Pantún) by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl

Eiríkur performs poetry on an Icelandic literary television show.

Adventures in Iceland: Part One

For readers of commutiny, it will come as no surprise that I'm posting a) with enthusiasm, b) about poetry, and c) about Iceland. Which is where I'm curently visiting. Which has been incredible. Which isn't over yet. I'll post later as I have more time, but for now, here's a little taste of awesome.

Nýhil Poetry Festival: brilliant fun, highly and wholly recommended. Reykjavík: bright, clean, effervescent. Reykjavík!: I'm in love.

Brian Joseph Davis launches I, Tania

Brian Joseph Davis will launch his new novel, I, Tania, tonight at Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave., Toronto), 8pm. Do come if you're around. For the launch, Damian Rogers, Ken Babstock, Bill Kennedy, and I will read excerpts from novels by writers who are not BJD, and who did not write I, Tania.

a.raw er kanadískt ljóðskáld...

In anticipation of the poetry festival this weekend, Nýhil has posted a program complete with bios, translated poems, and the festival itinerary.

Vivisection

I've been toying with a new project that considers the relationship between vivisection and bodies of text, and am full of exclamation marks for the work of two people whose creations intersect with this topic.

A version of Monica Aasprong's Soldatmarkedet can be flipped through here. So much possible extrapolation, room for theory, from a text that focuses on erasure, homogeny, white-out, and the rapid-fire clock-tick/footstep/hammering insistence of the 't.'

Brian Dettmer's breathtaking book autopsies offer some of the more inspired vispo I've encountered recently. If you scroll mid-way down this page, click on his maps of the Middle East with the excised text.

Hvað heitir þú?

Ég heiti a.raw.

For those inclined, there's a nice Icelandic-English dictionary here, and for the ambitious -- an incredible set of free online grammar lessons offered through the University of Iceland. The lessons are impressively designed, complete with audio clips, interactive games, and an intelligent layout that remembers where you are in the series. I've been rumbling through the lessons and am truly impressed. I can count to twenty, identify colours, and conjugate a few verbs... I've been working on my voiced dental non-sibilant fricatives and alveolar trills while practicing my ability to sight-read Icelandic (for pronunciation, not yet semantics).

Week in a nutshell

So much has happened in the last week, it's dizzying. All has been positive and thought-provoking, though. Here's a brief run-down:

• Donato Mancini read to an intimate crew last Friday in Toronto. I really dug his work, and was deeply impressed with his generous As for our Qs. He's kindly shared one of his poems with me, which I, in turn, plan to share with a group of high-school students this week...
• ...which leads me to school. I'm working with another round of OAC AiE projects this year, placing me in high schools for lengthy stretches. I'm pleased to be working alongside one of my favourite educators as I facilitate discussions and exercises for her literacy course. We covered hefty ground during our first visit (these students dug deep from the get-go, a promising sign we'll have an informative week ahead of us).
• I nuited and blanched from 7pm Saturday to 7am Sunday. The night proved a combination of "Hallowe'en for artists" and "endurance test." I dressed up as a poet and was thrilled by the turn-out and feedback in my basement corner, even though the 12-hour arting felt daunting as I began. Fascinating set of unpredictables for the readings included ambient noise and foot traffic that occasionally impeded on my personal space, which in turn had me conjure intense levels of focus. Reports from Cecil Street Community Centre, where I was set up, mention that approximately 4,000 people came to our venue. Thank you to all who listened, questioned, chillaxed, discussed, and especially those who whisked me away during breaks for road pop and axe tales!
• Mercury's new website is up and getting its sea legs.
  
• One week til Iceland. Schweet!!
  

fiðrildafræðinga for lepidopterists

"Víður lúr fyrir fiðrildafræðinga" is an Icelandic translation of "Wide slumber for lepidopterists." I love how diacritics add an agitated graphical buzzing to a character, and how the eth looks rather like it's airborne, or as though a moth has thrust its proboscis deep into its open 'o.' I'm intrigued by the letter-sounds that recur in each language (i, l, f, r) in this translation, and how the popping dentals (t, d) smoothe and soften with the letter shifts (ð).

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl's translation of p. 43 from Wide slumber has been posted online!

Countdown: Iceland

Iceland's busy poetry collective, Nýhil, is hosting an international poetry festival in Reykjavík (October 12-14, 2007). I'm absolutely honoured to be invited this year, and if you've chatted with me in person recently, you've probably heard my random exclamations of "Iceland!" or "Reykjavík!" The festival promises to be an intense experience, with a roster of authors including Linh Dinh, Lars Skinnebach, Leif Holmstrand, Markku Paasonen, Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen, and Sean Bonney.

Nuit Blanche: Tonight

Nuit Blanche has just started, and I'm around an hour away from my first performance. The space is set up, and the community centre is already hopping with many interesting activities, including Yvonne Ng's Collection.

I'm super stoked to have a special guest joining me for the 12:30am performance of Syntactic Analyses (Parasitic Ventures Press). Jenny Sampirisi and I will sound our way through commas, em-dashes, en-dashes, colons, semi-colons, question marks and -- yes -- periods until 1:10am.

Nuit Blanche: 9 poets 9 cities

As I mentioned in my last post, I'll be performing at Toronto's Nuit Blanche on September 29. Half of my performances will encompass the 9 Poets! 9 Cities! series coordinated by CA Conrad. For your informed convenience, here's the nitty gritty on the series and the poets whose work I'll share.

"9 poets in 9 cities have been asked to give poetry readings where poems by all 9 poets are read. There will be 9 rounds of these readings, one in the spring and one in the fall each year until all 81 poets have had their readings. Below you will see the readers, their bios, and a link to a separate page for each particular reading, which includes comment space for their audience members. Please enjoy, and I hope you attend one of these readings in your city." -- CA Conrad

Jen Coleman is a Minnesota poet living in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in ixnay, Chain, Speak Easy and EOAGH and elsewhere.

Kendall Grady studies and writes in Greencastle, IN. In July, Knutschfleck published her fledgling chapbook, I Love You. Thanks. She enjoys olives, ginger, and other things that are not food, like Bucuresti. A gender-neutral restroom is a happy restroom.

Karen Hannah is originally from Santa Maria, California. She has lived in Philadelphia, where she received her MA in Creative Writing and Literature from Temple University, and is currently living in Ilsan, South Korea, teaching kindergarten and working as a curricula editor at Koreapolyschool (KPS). Her work can be found in vol.1 of the online journal zbzz (2005), Fulcrum Annual (2004), Small Brushes, Adept Press and Thought Magazine (2002). Her work is also under experimentation within the little world of her blog at: http://thenoeticfoss.blogspot.com/. She has recently returned from Tibet, which she feels has helped to unfold her writing and poetics in new ways.

Yuri Hospodar was born in southeastern Pennsylvania in the US. After several escape attempts, he made it to Boston, the city he perhaps considers "home". Over the years he has bounced to Paso Robles, San Francisco, Prague, and back to Boston and SF. He is currently exhausted and trying to stay put for a while in Sydney, NSW, Australia. He's appeared in print and/or online in several mags (Shampoo, Carve, &c) and anthologies (most recently Bay Poetics and Queering Language), and not appeared in many, many others. His only book, To You in Your Closets (Stone Soup Press, 1990) , is long out of print. He is reclusive, disorganised, and a lousy schmoozer, so his other books have been published only, as Ginsberg would say, in Heaven.

Dorothea Lasky was born in St. Louis in 1978. Her first book, AWE, just came out this fall from Wave Books. Her poems have appeared in Crowd, 6x6, Boston Review, Delmar, Phoebe, Filter, Knock, Drill, Lungfull!, and Carve, among others. She is the author of three chapbooks: The Hatmaker's Wife (Braincase Press, 2006), Art (H_NGM_N Press, 2005), Alphabets and Portraits, (Anchorite Press, 2004). Currently, she lives in Philadelphia, where she edits the Katalanche Press chapbook series (along with poet, Michael Carr) and is pursuing her doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Hoa Nguyen is the author of Dark (Mike and Dales), Parrot Drum (Leroy), Let's Eat Red for Fun (Boog), Your Ancient See Through (Subpress), Red Juice (effing) and Poems (subpress). She lives in Austin TX where she edits the magazine and book imprint Skanky Possum and curates a reading series with her partner the poet Dale Smith.

Travis Nichols grew up in Ames, Iowa. A graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of Massachusetts, he now lives in Seattle where he edits the online magazine Weird Deer and writes for the Post-Intelligencer and the Stranger. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Boston Review, The Believer, The Village Voice, Poets & Writers, Stop Smiling, Crowd, Octopus, Factorial, Lungfull and Isn't It Romantic: An Anthology of Love Poems by Younger American Poets, among other places. In 2007, he co-curated the exhibition Poets on Painters, which opened at the Ulrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Wichita, KS.

Logan Ryan Smith lives in San Francisco where he publishes TRANSMISSION PRESS chapbooks. Up until recently he published a poetry mag called small town. In the summer of 2007 the San Francisco Bay Guardian recognized him for his publishing efforts with a "Best of the Bay 2007". His first book, THE SINGERS, was published by Dusie Press Books in the same summer. Other poetry has appeared in New American Writing, Bombay Gin, Spell, string of small machines, Hot Whiskey Magazine, the tiny, Mirage #4/ Period(ical), and elsewhere, as well as in the anthologies Bay Poetics (Faux Press), and The Meat Book (Hot Whiskey). A few online chapbooks can be found at detumescence.com and dusie.org.

nuit blanche

on september 29, the city of toronto will host its 2nd annual all-night arts extravaganza known as nuit blanche (read my recap of last year's here). this saturday/sunday, i'll experiment deep in the basement of the cecil street community centre (in zone B, site 14; near chinatown & kensington market). the community centre will conjure the cacophony of a street festival, with performers and esoterics in every nook and cranny. fellow artists at the space include yvonne ng (who's done an immense job organizing this venue), katherine duncanson, marie-josée chartier, jeremy mimnagh, and many more.

i plan to first-draft debut two experiments during my 2007 nuit blanche segments:

1) aural/kinetic performance of excerpts from the Syntactic Analyses series by michael maranda (Parasitic Ventures Press), specifically wollstonecraft's a vindication of the rights of woman and freud's the interpretation of dreams.

2) 9 Poets! 9 Cities!, the brainchild of philadelphia writer CA Conrad. in this adventure, CA's asked 9 poets to share 9 poems with one another, and to organize a reading in each city to share some of the circulated work. participating poets in round one of this experiment are:

Jennifer Coleman: New York City, USA
Dorothea Lasky: Philadelphia, USA
Kendall Grady: Greencastle, USA
Karen Hannah: Seoul, South Korea
Yuri Hospodar: Sydney, Australia
Hoa Nguyen: Austin, USA
Travis Nichols: Seattle, USA
a.rawlings: Toronto, Canada
Logan Ryan Smith: San Francisco, USA

i have six performance slots (40 minutes each), so i won't do the same thing every time, though i'm likely to play at length with anything from projected text and improvisation to sound and movement. and i plan to play it by ear on saturday night, when i'm drawn to either experiment. so, pro-whim. if you're out and about, do drop by the basement of 58 cecil street for a hello and a gander. my scheduled performance times start every two hours: 8:30pm-9:10pm & 10:30pm-11:10pm & 12:30am-1:10am & 2:30am-3:10am & 4:30am-5:10am & 6:30am-7:10am.

Icelandic translations anthology

131.839 slög með bilum, edited and translated by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, collects poems written in English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Finnish and translates them into Icelandic in this forthcoming anthology. The book features sixty-one poets, including several Canadians. An excerpt from Wide slumber's included, too. Here's a full list of poets whose work appears keyed and stroked:

Charles Bernstein, Jon Paul Fiorentino, Susana Gardner, Oscar Rossi, Kirby Olson, Leevi Lehto, Sharon Mesmer, Jan Hjort, Jesse Ball, Markku Paasonen, Jack Kerouac, derek beaulieu, Katie Degentesh, Paul Dutton, Nada Gordon, Paal Bjelke Andersen, Gherardo Bortolotti, Daniel Scott Tysdal, Iain Bamforth, Michael Lentz, Anne Waldman, Teemu Manninen, Mike Topp, Ida Börjel, Amiri Baraka, S. Baldrick, bpNichol, Charles Bukowski, Mairead Byrne, Mark Truscott, John Tranter, Sylvia Legris, Maya Angelou, Bruce Andrews, Haukur Már Helgason, Craig Dworkin, Shanna Compton, Lars Mikael Raattamaa, Vito Acconci, K. Silem Mohammad, Frank Bidart, Rita Dahl, damian lopes, Jelaluddin Rumi, Rachel Levitsky, Tom Leonard, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson, Caroline Bergvall, Christian Bök, e. e. cummings, Saul Williams, a.rawlings, Stephen Cain, Jeff Derksen, Linh Dinh, Nico Vassilakis, Martin Glaz Serup, Malte Persson, Anna Hallberg

Eiríkur's posted an English translation of his excellent introduction here.

Seen Reading: Wide slumber

Julie Wilson spotted someone thumbing through Wide slumber for lepidopterists and blogged about it on Seen Reading.

impromptu series III: donato mancini

when: this friday, september 28, 7pm
where: Coach House Books picnic table (401 huron street, rear)
what: bring $ to buy donato's new book, Æthel; bring your own beverage and snacks; bring one short text to
share with the group

that's right! the impromptu reading series returns with a visit from vancouver poet and designer donato mancini. donato will share excerpts from his new book. after donato reads, we'll open the floor to anyone who'd like to share a text (this'll give donato a chance to hear some local work). we'll finish around 9pm and wander to a nearby pub for further carousing, if the spirit takes us.

a difficult position

the new york times ran this article today, appraising the state of dance and performance studies in american universities. of particular interest are the persistent binaries of mind/body and practice/theory, still dogging curricula formation. also intriguing is the debate raised at the article's end, regarding experience necessary to instruct at the post-secondary level; would not an instructional model that embraces practice/theory integration be taught well by a person with practical, theoretical, and academic experience?

working title

the working title of my new project may yet morph. before the project had a solid foundation, i'd flirted with cleavage and fracture or so constantly breathing as the working title. then it shifted to environment canada, and after that to echology. i've had a summer's break from the project as i've moved, and new thoughts have me considering echolology as a revised working title. we'll see how long this one stays.

cinema's ornithological errors

"How many times must we watch a bald eagle soar across the movie screen, paired with the cry of a red-tailed hawk in Dolby Digital surround sound?"

Birder Graham Chisholm outlines the sloppy treatment of birds in Hollywood films.

snare books: kroetsch award

Snare Books facilitates this annual award, now entering its second year. Natalie Walschots won the first year, and her debut collection Thumbscrews is set for publication this fall. Here's the latest call for submission from Snare:

The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry is awarded annually to the best poetry manuscript by an emerging Canadian writer (a writer who has published two books or less). Each year the winning manuscript will be selected by an established poet in co-operation with Snare Books. This year's judge is Elizabeth Bachinsky. The winner receives a trade paperback contract with Snare Books which will include the publication of the manuscript and a $500 honorarium. Deadline: January 31, 2008.

Each entry must be accompanied with a business size SASE and an entry fee for $30.00 Canadian. Please make all cheques and money orders payable to "Livres Snare". No cash please. For more information email Jon Fiorentino at jon [dot] fiorentino [at] gmail.com.

Send all manuscripts to:
The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry
c/o Snare Books
#1A 4302 St. Urbain Street
Montreal QC
H2W 1V5

sale: belladonna books

belladonna books is having a sale: any ten chapbooks for CDN$35 before october 1, 2007. browse their catalogue; includes my 2006 publication W I D E R: b-sides, rarities, and remixes from wide slumber.

island fantasy

greenhouse studios: a wet dream.

Eye: Patria

eye magazine's published a recent review i wrote about the patria cycle: princess of the stars.

Review: Stride Magazine on Wide slumber

Sarah Law, for England's Stride Magazine, offers an eloquent review of Wide slumber for lepidopterists, alongside City West by Catherine Walsh and Practice, Restraint by Laura Sims.

Eye: On My Knees

I've been invited to review dance for eye magazine. My first review follows the incredible public divorce ceremony "On My Knees" by Cathy Gordon.

VOCABLE: Toronto workshop

Ciara Adams and I will run a writing+sounding workshop in Toronto next month. Details below!

On August 12, 2007, Decadent Rare and Theatre Commutiny will present VOCABLE, a multidisciplinary arts workshop facilitated by Ciara Adams and a.rawlings. We will share warm-ups and creation exercises we use to develop individual and collaborative art. This is a fantastic opportunity to kick-start your curiosity, creativity, and passion.

Participants will be invited to engage in writing exercises, breath and voice work, and improvisation. Open to anyone aged 18+.

Workshop material will explore:

• the importance of warm-up in literary, theatrical, sound, and movement-based practices;
• how body awareness and being present can benefit the creative process;
• how to harness improvisation and collaboration as creation tools;
• writing exercises, voice and breath-control technique, and interdisciplinary vocabulary development;
• blending art forms to create dynamic work, with an emphasis on innovation and invention;
• focus on the body as a primary starting point for creation.
  

DATE: Sunday, August 12, 2007
TIME: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LOCATION: The Theatre Centre, #100 - 1087 Queen Street West
COST: $100
TO REGISTER OR FOR INFO: E-mail angela@thescream.ca. 50% registration fee due before workshop to confirm participation.
NOTE: Wear comfortable clothing for light movement. Bring writing journal and pens/pencils with you. We will have two ten-minute breaks and an hour for lunch.

Whispering Tree

If you're in Toronto, treat yourself to a Toronto Islands visit and check out The Whispering Tree, a sound-art installation by Lori Beckstead and Dave Rose. There's a nice article with event details at eye. I had the pleasure of befriending Dave and Lori and chatting about their project while at a sound ecology retreat last March, and am greatly looking forward to experiencing its reality.

review: strange alchemy @ scream

Eva's blog, Eastern Blot, reports on the findings of The Scream Literary Festival's science and poetry panel.

450,000 year-old moth DNA

Greenland ice-core sample nets scientists 450,000 year-old moth DNA and the confirmation that Greenland was once, in fact, green.

Matrix: Science Poetry, Issue 77

Matrix Magazine's new issue is full of wonders. It features a science poetry dossier edited by Gillian Savigny, with work by Christian Bök, Kate Eichhorn, Sylvia Legris, Ken Babstock, Julia Williams, derek beaulieu, Karen Solie, four poems from my in-progress echology, and more. The visual art's a helluva treat this issue (phenomenal cover by Adrienne Traviss).

The issue will launch at The Scream Literary Festival on July 4. I'll participate in both the discussion and the reading. From the Scream site:

Strange Alchemy: The Science and Poetry Panel and Matrix Launch

Wednesday JULY 4th
Supermarket 268 Augusta Ave
Panel at 7 pm, Reading at 9pm
PWYC, $7 suggested

Looking for a universal solvent, elixir of life, spontaneous gold? Expect science and poetry to bond in startling ways during our critical panel. Moderated by Clive Thompson, panellists Christian Bök, angela rawlings, Ken Babstock and postdoctoral candidate, Lisa Betts (who is studying the neuroscience of vision at York) will set their giant brains to task on the emerging transmutations taking place between science and poetry. The discussion will be followed at 9 pm by the launch of the newest issue of Montreal’s Matrix Magazine with readings by the panellists and along with Jim Johnstone and Karen Solie, all poets who have engaged science in their poetic practice.

Nypoesi: Translation issue, Vol. 2

Nypoesi.net (online publication from Norway) has posted their second of two issues on translation. The issue includes a text by me (excerpted from early drafts of Wide slumber), Hjörvar Pétursson's Icelandic translation of the text, and Hugh Thomas' homophonic translation of the Icelandic version to English.

It's a chewy issue, with an incredible list of contributors including Paal Bjelke Andersen, derek beaulieu, Aase Berg, Charles Bernstein, Craig Dworkin, Johannes Göransson, Leevi Lehto, Marko Niemi, and Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl.

review: WSfL in Open Letters

Wide slumber for lepidopterists is among three books (+ Crystallography and Touch to Affliction) reviewed by Adam Golaski in the latest issue of Open Letters: A Monthly Arts and Literature Review. Check it out here.

Sound advice

"So how loud is the world we live in?

"The fact is, listening to any sound at 85 decibels or higher for a prolonged period of time can cause permanent damage to hearing. The maximum safe exposure time to 120 decibels is eight seconds. The problem is there is a raft of activities in our everyday lives that exceed those noise levels.

"For example, an average conversation takes place at around 60 decibels. Standing on a downtown street corner in rush hour, you're probably exposed to about 85 to 90 decibels. While using an electric hair dryer or pushing a gas lawnmower, you're well into the danger zone at 90-plus decibels. At peak levels, iPods can hit volumes of 120 decibels, which is louder than a chainsaw or jackhammer. Music in dance clubs can peak as high as 150 decibels."

Read the rest of this article on hearing loss by Denise Deveau at CBC News.

a.raw on PennSound

PennSound kindly offered to host my poetry audio files. Excerpts from Wide slumber for lepidopterists now available online through their awesome archive.

interview: ESO newsletter

Dana Gagnier, editor of the Entomologists' Society of Ontario Newsletter, interviewed me about both the page and stage versions of Wide slumber for lepidopterists for their May 2007 issue.

volta: first impressions

sonic effervescence!

as readers of this blog may have gathered, i've been an enthusiastic listener of music by björk for many years. there can be such pleasure in following the work of an artist. her tendency has been to release new material every two years or so... so the initial listens to new work are often quite powerful, curious, surprising, and even cathartic.

björk's new album, volta, is out today. where her last album, medulla, focused on the voice (the bulk of songs a capella), she's mentioned the new album focuses on beats (note: not rhythms... beats; her standard mix of 4/4 or arhythm is alive and well throughout). a few first impressions:

• "pneumonia" is one of the most profoundly affecting songs i've heard in a long while, in the same zone (both lyrically and aurally) as "all is full of love" and "pleasure is all mine."
• "earth intruders" is goofy, catchy, and has a refrain that borrows a partial melody from her earlier song "one day" (off her debut album).
• "declare independence" is an experiment, the first song where she's spoken most of the lyrics. pseudo-punk, the song recalls homogenic's "alarm call" (lyrics) and "pluto" (dirty smash-it-up electric noise/sound).
• two of the album's songs are duets, an unusual move (hasn't occurred since selmasongs).
• memorable lyrics (much has to do with the intonation, descending notes, choral quality): i have lost my origin and i don't want to find it again (from "wanderlust").
• ship horns ("hope")!!!
  

have you listened to volta? what do you think?
do you have musicians whose work you follow?

working title

i've begun researching a new project, so far dealing loosely with sound ecology, sustainability, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife Species, human impact on environment and environmental impact on human well-being, repetition, text as ecosystem, and pronoun employment. relationship between these not yet firmed, but similarity, parallel, tangents starting to cohere.

the project's had a number of working titles so far. the one i've used with most frequency is Environment Canada. after some thought, i've decided to shift the working title to echology. has closer ties with my subjects, and still recalls EnviroCan (with its E/C commencing echo).

listening tag

danielle's tagged me in a music meme. request: list seven songs heavy in my playlist's rotation these days.

z. abel et cain / diamanda galás
y. cucaracha / jorane
x. music for egon schiele / the rachel's
w. mary of silence / mazzy starr
v. puta madre / zaki
u. earth intruders / björk
t. come up to show them / steve reich

if you read this, consider yourself tagged; to what are you listening?

hymenoptera population in decline

Southern Ontario apiarists are confounded by a decline in their honeybee populations this spring.

Culprit: Illness? Life cycle?
Weather? Lack of pollen?
Beetle infestation? Pesticides?
Cellphone radiation?

alcuin award: wide slumber

Wide slumber for lepidopterists has tied for the Alcuin Scociety Book Design Award in the category of poetry! Congrats to Bill Kenendy for his design and the Coach House team for their care.

Wide slumber shares the award with The Book of Were by Wayne Clifford (designed by Tim Inkster, Porcupine's Quill).

kroetsch award

Congrats to Natalie Walschots on receiving the first annual Robert Kroetsch Award through Snare Books. The award will see her first manuscript, Thumbscrews, published this fall.

tonight: riff/raft

TONIGHT (Thursday, April 5)
Trane Studio
964 Bathurst St. (just north of Bloor West)
7-10pm

Featuring a polyvocal performance by poets
Margaret Christakos, Sonnet L'Abbe, a.rawlings,
Jenny Sampirisi, Jordan Scott, Gerry Shikatani,
and Rachel Zolf with music by Tim Posgate

PRISM International

the new issue of PRISM International includes five pages from my zygotic work-in-progress Environment Canada.

nomination: wide slumber

Shortlists have been announced for the 2007 Gerald Lampert and Pat Lowther Awards, and Wide Slumber's made friends. Congrats to all nominees!

Gerald Lampert Award Shortlist: a broken mirror, fallen leaf by Yvonne Blomer, In the Lights of a Midnight Plow by David Hickey, Tacoma Narrows by Mitchell Parry, Anatomy of Keys by Steven Price, Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists by a.rawlings, Every Inadequate Name by Nick Thran.

Pat Lowther Award Shortlist: Inventory by Dionne Brand, Liar by Lynn Crosbie, I, Nadja and Other Poems by Susan Elmslie, Types of Canadian Women by K.I. Press, Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras, The Good Bacteria by Sharon Thesen.

reading in vancouver

I'm reading in Vancouver on Monday. Details below, if you're in the area and interested.

In conjuction with the PRISM contest posted in the previous entry, PRISM is hosting a reading by award-winning authors Trevor Herriot and a. rawlings.

What happens when lepidoptery meets sleep studies? What significance do disappearing grassland birds have for the prairies and the people who live there? Join us for an evening of readings that explore our relationships with the natural world.

Monday, April 2, 2007
Free admission (no minors, sorry)
7 pm
Thea’s Lounge, UBC
6371 Crescent Road

Trevor Herriot is an award-winning literary non-fiction author. His first book, River in a Dry Land: A Prairie Passage (McClelland & Stewart,2000),received two Saskatchewan Book Awards, the Writers Trust Drainie Taylor Biography Prize, and the Canadian Booksellers’ Association Award for “Best First-Time Author.” It was also nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. Jacob’s Wound: a Search for the Spirit of Wildness (McClelland & Stewart, 2004) also received several award nominations, including the Writer’s Trust Award for Non-fiction. Herriot has written two documentaries for CBC Ideas and is currently working on a book called Pastures Unsung.

a. rawlings is a poet and multidisciplinary artist. In 2001, she received the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing upon graduation from York University. She recently co-edited Shift and Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press, 2005). Her first poetry collection, Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists, was published by Coach House Press in 2006. Wide Slumber was listed in The Globe and Mail's top 100 books of 2006.