Blogheads

Over at Open Book Toronto, George Murray and Steven W. Beattie chew on the subject of blogs.

"I think "tastemaking" is an activity people with resources can do. Some people have money and the machinery of capitalism as their primary resources, while others, like us, have the ears of a certain segment of society as our main resource. Yet I don't really think we make taste on any grand scale. I try to point readers towards things I find interesting, and if business flows from it, bully for those involved."

Warner Goes West

Ex-Signalite Patrick Warner read with Karen Solie in Toronto at This Ain't the Rosedale Library last Wednesday, June 24 (photographs by Anansi's Julie Wilson). You can read his new work in the new CNQ.

Where My Nose Has been Buried These Last Few Weeks

CNQ Spring/Summer 2009 Issue 76


Riddle Fence Winter 2009 Issue #3


Arc Summer 2009, Issue 62

Eric Gregory Awards

Todd Swift has an excellent post about the Eric Gregory Award poetry readings that occured last night in London. In the photo above are Sicilians Josie and Vincenzo brandishing their prize-winning cucuzza (a variety of squash).

A Canadian poet, a Welsh poet and an Irish poet walk into a bar...

Got back Monday night from a stellar week in UK, touring with poets Patrick McGuinness and Zoe Skoulding. I read in Bangor, Manchester (this, thanks to Evan Jones) and Oxford. I then spent a couple of days in London visiting with friends Eric and Irena Ormsby (who kindly put me up), Marius Kociejowski and Todd Swift. The Ormsbys also organized a dinner where I met poets Sebastian Barker (son of George Barker and Elizabeth Smart), his wife Hilary Davis and Christopher Middleton. Some nail-biting drama getting back home, however, as I ended up losing my passport at the always-chaotic Gatwick due to a colossal confusion at the check-in desk, and needed last-minute permission from the Canadian Deputy High commissioner. I made it on the plane by the skin of my teeth.



Bangor, Wales


Patrick protecting himself against the next Irish Famine by growing potatoes in his yard.


Zoe Skoulding reading at Ogilvie Theatre Foyer, St Anne's College, Oxford.


Yours truly reading at Ogilvie Theatre Foyer, St Anne's College, Oxford.


Ian Gregson reading at Ogilvie Theatre Foyer, St Anne's College, Oxford.


Patrick McGuinness reading at Ogilvie Theatre Foyer, St Anne's College, Oxford.


High Street, Oxford


Getting steadily spannered in an Oxford pub

Good-natured poet

In today's on-line Globe and Mail, Paul Vermeersch raves about This Way Out, Carmine Starnino's new collection of poems from Gaspereau. There is no question he likes the book: "infectious bounce and thwack of his lines," "a sensory-rich tour," "free-wheeling and playful," "adroit internal rhymes," "craftsmanship of profound dexterity."

However, Vermeersch strongly feels there is a contradiction between Starnino's public persona as a critic ("tenacious provocateur") and his work ("he puts his creative money where his critical mouth is"). Vermeersch asks, "Is this as it should be?" (What kind of question is that?) Vermeersch prefers the "good-natured poet, full of beans." to what he calls the critic of "stringent critical dogma." Without debating the merits of his comments, or detracting from his wonderful review of the book, from my point of view, who cares? Isn't it only the poetry that really counts?

Bloomsbury buys rights to Véhicule's Chef

Véhicule is pleased to announce that Bloomsbury has acquired world English language rights (excluding Canada and India) to Jaspreet Singh's novel, Chef. The deal was arranged by Natasha Daneman and Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.

Indian rights to Chef have been sold to Penguin, World Spanish rights to Paramo Ediciones, World French rights to Buchet-Chastel, and Italian rights to Piemme.

This has been a banner year for Jaspreet Singh. Chef won the 2009 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean region), the CAA Literary Award for Fiction, and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Chef is published in Véhicule's fiction series--Esplanade Books--edited by Andrew Steinmetz.

Chef is a compelling look at the India-Pakistan conflict from atop Siachen Glacier, the coldest and highest battlefield in the world.

Jaspreet Singh won critial acclaim for Seventeen Tomatoes (Véhicule Press) which was awarded the 2004 McAuslan First Book Prize and has been translated into Spanish and Punjabi.

Laughing Wolf

Esplanade author, Nicholas Maes has finished his YA novel, Laughing Wolf (Dundurn Press). In the July issue of Quill & Quire, Robert J. Wiersema calls it 'strikingly original, with a convincing command of both future world-building and historical recreation.' The full review here.

Say What?

In the photo above is the desk of Vancouver poet Rob Taylor, as seen by his left big toe. But it's this statement, on our own Signal poet Shannon Stewart, that really caught my attention:

"I’ve read Penny Dreadful three times, I know all about Shannon Stewart’s computer monitor, but I’ve never seen an assortment of her rumpled blouses piled in a hamper. Can I really call myself a fan?” To me, these are the kinds of questions any real lit nerd must ask in this day and age.

Read the rest of what this kook has to say here