New Canonites invade Washington

Christopher Patton, Barbara Nickel, and Elise Partridge will be reading in Bellingham at Village Books at 6pm on Thursday July 19. They will read a few poems from The New Canon, as will as from their own volumes—Fielder’s Choice (Elise, far right), Domain (Barbara), and Ox (Christopher). Maybe some newer work too. You can find out a bit more about the occasion here.

Mary Dalton at large

Prairie Fire Review of Books sent us a link to their recent review of Mary Dalton’s Red Ledger. We’ve been told that there’s another excellent notice in the June/July issue of Books in Canada (though we haven't laid eyes on it yet). Other good news is that Dalton is off to Banff in the Spring of 2008 for three weeks— she’s invited to be one of the resident faculty for the Writing Studio. In the pipeline as well is a chapbook of riddles with the excellent Newfoundland-based micro-press Running The Goat Books. And do check out the very useful CBC Word at Large page devoted to her (Dalton was their poet of the month last March).

Anglo-Quebec poetry buzz.

Peter Van Toorn’s Mountain Tea (first out in 1985, and rereleased in 2004) was one of the first rescue operations under Carmine Starnino’s editorship. It brought a new generation of readers to Van Toorn’s poetry and after three years enthusiasm for the book—and its poet—has yet to flag. To whit, here's a new interview with Van Toorn (thanks to CLM).

Also, Jason Camlot and Todd Swift, co-editors of the recent Language Acts: Anglo-Québec Poetry, 1976 to the 21st Century, are currently assembling a feature on Quebec's English language poets for the international online magazine Jacket. It's slated to appear in Autumn 2007.

In the spirit of things, we’d like to direct your attention to a rather special YouTube movie created by Barbara Golden who spent a couple of weeks in Greece with Irving Layton (thanks to The Danforth Review)

Neglected but not forgotten

The blog’s been quiet of late, but to catch you up here are some photos from Arc’s launch of its "Forgotten and Neglected" issue which occurred at Ottawa’s Manx pub on June 23rd.

Included among the issue’s 13 contributions are essays by Signal Editions poet Anita Lahey (on Dorothy Roberts) and Signal Editions Editor Carmine Starnino (on James Denoon) as well as a very special piece by Asa Boxer (last photo on the left) who wrote about his father, Montreal poet Avi Boxer (1932-1987) —a piece the editors Anita Lahey and Matthew Holmes describe as an “uncompromising analysis” which provides “a new layer on legendary 1950s Montreal, the land of Layton and Klein." Asa’s poetry debut The Mechanical Bird is forthcoming from Signal Editions in October, and as a special treat we're readying a new edition of our Virtual Chapbook which will feature something Asa discovered among his father’s effects following his death: rare and candid photos of CanLit lions in their younger days (Al Purdy, Margaret Atwood and Louis Dudek among them). Not to be missed.

In the meantime, here’s Asa reading his father's poem "Galileo's Telescope" and here's Asa reading at Zeke’s Galley on July 7, 2006 as part of the launch for Anita Lahey's Signal book Out to Dry in Cape Breton

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.