Anita Lahey at the Trillium Awards

Upon being nominated for the Trillium Award for Poetry for Out to Dry in Cape Breton, Signal poet Anita Lahey took to Toronto for an awards luncheon at Hart House on June 4, along with Signal poetry editor Carmine Starnino. An evening of celebration, as you can see. It was also the Trillium Award's 20th anniversary.

Congratulations, Anita!

























Anita Lahey and Signal editor Carmine Starnino














Anita Lahy and fellow Trillium Award finalist Ken Babstock














Matthew Tierney, Carmine Starnino, Anita Lahey, Jeramy Dodds, Stephanie and Charmaine

Dead Poets Society

Kudos to Arc Poetry Magazine for their issue on Canada’s forgotten and neglected poets. Thirteen, in fact. In the special issue, to be launched at the Manx pub in Ottawa, June 23, poets such as Avi Boxer, Philip Child, Dorothy Roberts, and James Denoon (do you recognize these names?) are the subject of essays by poets and critics.

It’s sad, in this country, how quickly the names of poets fade from memory, once they’ve passed away. In 2003 we published the substantial Heresies: The Complete Poems of Anne Wilkinson, 1924-1961, abley edited by Dean Irvine. We had hoped to introduce to a new generation of poets and to the poetry-reading public (albeit a modest one) to the artistry of Wilkinson’s poetry. Malheuresement, the book went virtually unreviewed.

So, congrats to Arc. A brilliant idea.

Hassidic Montreal: A candid look

"A cross between Stephen Leacock and Erma Bombeck (with a nod to Isaac Bashevis Singer)." is how today's Globe and Mail, in a full-page article in its Focus section, describes Rather Laugh Than Cry: Stories from a Hassidic Household by Malka Zipora, just published by Véhicule. As the author says in her introduction: "I live, metaphorically speaking, with the shades down, for the light in our home comes from within." Fortunately for us, Zipora gingerly pulls the curtains aside.