Four books + two blue mugs

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For today's books column on Dahlia Kurtz' program on CJOB, I plan to talk about these five books:

Aqueduct: Colonialism, Resources, and the Histories We Remember by Adele Perry (ARP Boooks)
Dopamine Blunder: poems by Lori Cayer (Tightrope Books)
Jane Dying Again by Deborah Schnitzer (Unlimited Editions)
The Shadow Over Portage and Main, edited by Keith Cadieux and Dustin Geerart (Great Plains Publications)
Arctic Comics, edited by Nicholas Burns (Renegade Arts Entertainment)

(You'll notice that there are only four books in the picture. It's only that it's difficult to take a picture of a PDF...)

Or, put another way, one experimental novel, one book of non-fiction, one collection of poetry, one anthology of weird fiction, and a comic book set in the north. Three Winnipeg presses, one from Canmore, and one from Toronto.

The segment is part of a monthly books column I do, which so far is great fun. You can listen live or check it out after-the-fact here, by selecting June 2 and 2 pm, though you'll have to fastforward to 2:30, which is when I'm on the air.

February: 95 books

So February was not a great month, finishing of books-wise...

But I got lots of writing done, did some community organizing, and went out with friends. Live music even!

(I miss live music...)

19. Calamity Jack—Shannon and Dean Hale, illus. by Nathan Hale. #comics #antpeople #95books @BloomsburyPub

18. The Afterlife of Birds—Elizabeth Philips. #bones #novel #95books @fhbooks

17. Mouseheart—Lisa Fiedler. Because my daughter asked me to. #fiction #95books

16. The High Mountains of Portugal—Yann Martel. #fiction #apes #95books

Four books + lion dance ornament.

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For tomorrow's books column on Dahlia Kurtz' program on CJOB, I plan to talk about these four books:

The Evolution of Alice by David Alexander Robertson (Highwater Press)
Shopping Cart Pantheism by Jeanne Randolph (ARP Books)
Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive by Mark L. Winston (Harvard University Press)
A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (University of Manitoba Press)

Or, put another way, one novel and three non-fiction books. Four Winnipeg presses and one based in Cambridge, publishing books by two Winnipeggers, one non-resident, and a multi-author government report.

Speaking of which, Shelagh Rogers just blurbed A Knock on the Door:

 "A Knock on the Door is a book that I hope every Canadian will read, and read deeply. The transformation of this country begins with acknowledging what happened after that knock on the door. Acknowledging, understanding the implications, and then resolving to do something for positive change. It's right that the TRC Calls to Action are included, for we are all called to action."—Shelagh Rogers, O.C., Honorary Witness to the work of the TRC.

The segment is part of a monthly books column I'm doing, which so far is great fun. You can listen live or check it out after-the-fact here, by selecting February 26 and 2 pm.

Five books + a celadon cup

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For tomorrow's books column on Dahlia Kurtz' CJOB program, I plan to talk about these five books:

Laura Reeves' Guide to Useful Plants by Laura Reeves (Prairie Shore Botanicals)
Wish You Were Here: Hand-Tinted Postcards from Winnipeg's Halcyon Days by Stan Milosevic (Great Plains Publications)
The Road to Atlantis by Leo Brent Robillard (Turnstone Press)
After Light by Catherine Hunter (Signature Editions)
Why Would Elephants Rather Play Tag? by Silvina Rocha and Meyi (Doubledutch Books)

Or, put another way, two novels, one kids' book, and two non-fiction books with lotsa pictures. Five Winnipeg presses publishing books by three Winnipeggers and two non-residents.

I should note that while I was working with an ARC of Leo Brent Robillard's book, it is now out in the world and has a much more colourful cover.

I should also note that I've included a celadon cup, which came with its own loose tea strainer and cover, that I bought while teaching ESL in South Korea back in 1998. 

The segment is part of a monthly books column I'm doing, which so far is great fun. You can listen live or check it out after-the-fact here, by selecting January 14 and 2 pm.

Five books + a teacup

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For this month's books column on Dahlia Kurtz' CJOB program, I talked about these five books:

Lost & Found: Signposts for Steering Through the World by Laura Lamont & Jess Dixon (JackPine Press)
Connectomics by Alison Calder (JackPine Books)
Let Us Be True by Erna Buffie (Coteau Books)
Too Far Gone by Chadwick Ginther (Turnstone Press)
Questions I Asked My Mother by Di Brandt w/an afterword by Tanis MacDonald (Turnstone Press)

Or, put another way, two novels & three books of poetry. Three by Saskatchewan publishers & two by a Winnipeg publisher. Two chapbooks & three trade books.

The segment is part of a monthly books column I'm doing, which so far is great fun. You can listen in here, by selecting December 17 and 2 pm.

Creamer, sugar bowl + books

Some of the books I'll be chatted with Dahlia Kurtz about today on CJOB 680:

If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie (M&S)
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill (Harper Collins)
A short history of Crazy Bone by Patrick Friesen (Mother Tongue)
The Optimistic Environmentalist by David R. Boyd (ECW Press)
InvisiBill by Maureen Fergus (Tundra Books )

Or, put another way, two novels, one non-fiction book, one picture book, and one collection of poetry. (I could keep going: Two books by former Winnipeggers, one by current Pegger, two by BC island-types...)

This segment is part of a monthly books column I'm doing, which so far is great fun.

(The creamer and sugar bowl are from a set given me by my mother-in-law Dorothy. Which I haven't yet used, shamefully...)

five books + an egg cup

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Some of the MB authored/published books I chatted with Dahlia Kurtz about July 9 on CJOB 680:

The Significance of Moths by Shirley Camia (Turnstone Press)
Lessons from a Nude Man by Donna Besel (Hagios Press)
Infinitum by GMB Chomichuk (Chizine Publications)
Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story by David Alexander Robertson & Scott Henderson (Portage & Main Press)
City Beautiful by Randy Turner (Winnipeg Free Press)

Or, put another way, two graphic novels, one non-fiction book, one book of short stories, and one collection of poetry.


This segment is part of a monthly books column I'm doing, which so far is great fun. The most surprising thing is that two eight-minute segments = a half hour of radio. Or that sixteen minutes would go by so quickly...



(The egg cup was painted by the girl at one of those ceramic-painting places.)

Six books + a plate

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Some of the MB authored/published books I'll be chatting with Dahlia Kurtz about at 2:30 pm on CJOB 680:

Ghost Most Foul by Patti Grayson (Coteau Books)
Wonder Horse by Anita Daher (Rebelight Publishing Inc.)
Life Among the Qallunaat by Mini Aodla Freeman (University of Manitoba Press)
A Daytripper's Guide to Manitoba by Bartley Kives (Great Plains Publications)
Monologue Dogs by Meira Cook (Brick Books)
The Significance of Moths by Shirley Camia (Turnstone Press)

Or, put another way, two YA books, two non-fiction books, and two collections of poetry.

The books for a new monthly books column, which should be great fun. The plate is just decorative but is one of my grandmother's. 

Saskatchewan shelfie

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Being the stack of books I brought back from my readings in Saskatoon and Regina.

Bruce Rice's The Trouble with Beauty
Anne Lazurko's Dollybird
John Donlan's Baysville
Slow Food Saskatoon's Food Words: plums in the icebox, food poems by Saskatchewan poets

Post-tour pile

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These are all the books I brought back from the southern Ontario leg of my booktour for Stowaways.

The stack includes new-to-me authors and Palimpsest pressmates as well as trades at events. And two of them were gifts, which is the best kind of book.

I was also gifted with Biblioasis' "Ten Years of Fucking Awesome Books" bag, which I used to curse at everyone on the subway in Toronto. While also hauling copies of my books to the Art Bar Reading Series.

Calgary/conference books

(l-r) Ann Eriksson's High Clear Bell of Morning, Micheline Maylor's Whirr & Click, Joan Shillington's Folding the Wilderness Within, and Richard Harrison's Worthy of his Fall.

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Kelly Hughes, who owned Aqua Books, used to say "Give a poet $1.00 and they'll spend $1.50 on books."

Which seems sad but also right-on-the-money.

Here are the books I brought home with me from Calgary. Though I will note that I traded for a few of them. (Which still costs me money, given that I have to pay for my own books, but still...)

shelfie

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A different kind of 'shelfie' : being all the books I've worked on since starting at UMP in 2011. 

(See all the orange I've snuck in?)

Poetry-as-saviour

 So I won the Literary Press Group's National Poetry Month contest, which meant that 35 books of poetry arrived on my doorstep this week. (!)

I had a good rummage amidst the titles yesterday. Pulled out the ones I already had and made piles of the ones I didn't have. Ones I'm interested in/ones I'm less interested in. You know.

Anyways, here is the first to-read pile. You'll note all the titles are land/forest-y. That's just where I am right now...

The Deer Yard by Cooper & Thurston (Gaspereau Press, 2013)

Fire Watcher by Vivian Demuth (Guernica Editions, 2013)

The Lease by Mathew Henderson (Coach House, 2012)

Active Pass by Jane Munro (Pedlar Press, 2010)

In the Vision of Birds: New and Selected Poems by Steve Luxton (DC Books, 2012)

Seldom Seen Road by Jenna Butler (NeWest Press, 2013)

The Flicker Tree: Okanagan Poems by Nancy Homes (Ronsdale Press, 2012)

In related news, I brought a couple of the books I already had to my writing group meeting on Tuesday. I gave Marita Dachsel's Glossolalia to Kerry Ryan and Clea Roberts' Here is Where we Disembark to Alison Calder.

Alison was so pleased, she gifted me with a pair of stripy wool socks she'd knitted. And what's more, colourway of the sock wool she'd made them from was named Winnipeg. Which is just about perfect. (Apparently, her husband Warren doesn't like wool socks. To which I say: ????????)

 Who says poetry can't save the world?

(Okay, she had brought them because they were too big for her. And I have MASSIVE feet. But I prefer my poetry-as-saviour model...)

(I really love the term "colourway.")

Books! For me!

As I've mentioned in this space previously, I had the great good fortune to work on my upcoming Kalamalka Press chapbook with a bunch of writers whose work I admired.

And then there were the come-from -away readers also performing at Word Ruckus and Vertigo Voices.

So it should go without saying that my 'soft launch' of the chappie last week in Vernon & Kelowna saw me accumulating quite a stack of books to bring home.

Jake Kennedy's How to do Typing
Laisha Rosnau's Notes on Leaving
Al Rempel's This Isn't the Apocalypse We Hoped For
Hannah Calder's More House
Jason Dewinetz's moving to the clear
David Pitt-Brooke and Christine McPhee's Accommodation: A Dialogue of Culture and Nature

After spending a bit of time with their authors I'm looking forward now to spending time in the books.

I also picked up some of the weird books piled on the floor at Word Ruckus. And hauled them home. And will therefore learn about The Horse Through the Ages, All About Ferrets, and Evergreens through seventies-tinted glasses.

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In other Kalamalka Press chapbook news, I will be hosting/reading at the MWG Book Awards Anniversary Reading on April 22 at aceartinc (2nd Floor, 290 McDermott Ave).

The event will feature multiple MBA-winners, including Lori Cayer, Chandra Mayor, Faith Johnston, J.R. Leveille, Larry Verstraete, and Armin Wiebe. (And one or two as yet confirmed others...)

It will also function as a How to Make a Collage launch. Because I've got a chapbook to launch. And don't feel like organizing an additional event. Just to launch it.

Yay! Fun!

Holiday reading

So I have nearly three weeks off this holiday season. 

And believe-you-me, I need every goddamn minute to recover from this hellbent-for-leather fall-and-winter. Soooo many new-to-me projects, soo many grant apps, so many deadlines. 

While it was all stuff I wanted and needed to do, I've been feeling rather...blowsy...of late.

As such, this holiday is all about resting but also getting-the-fuck back to work.

I've earmarked a pile of titles for this holiday season and thought I'd share them with you...

You WIN Reads:

A Page From the Wonders of Life on Earth by Stephanie Bolster (from Brick Books via Goodreads)

Honore Jaxon: Prairie Visionary by Donald B. Smith (from Coteau Books via Facebook)

Pressmate(s) Forever:

A Peepshow with Views of the Interior: Paratexts by Aislinn Hunter

Hummingbird by John Wall Barger

I bought these titles as a part of Palimpsest's 3-for-2 sale, which means that I'll also be getting Hard Ass by Sharon McCartney in spring 2013.

It's About GODDAMN Time Reads:

Archive of the Undressed by Jeanette Lynes

A Book of Great Worth by Dave Margoshes

Monkey Ranch by Julie Bruck

Winnipeg 1912 by Jim Blanchard

Serendipitous Bookstore Finds:

Steveston by Daphne Marlatt and Robert Minden

And, having purchased seven copies of Imagining Winnipeg: History Through the Photographs of L.B. Foote for friends/family for Xmas, I plan to spend several hours with MY copy over the next coupla weeks. I feel like I haven't looked at the photos in ages...

A stack of poetry! A bale!

I mentioned that Kitty Lewis of Brick Books contacted me last week and offered me Brick titles for  participants in the workshop I'm teaching this fall, right?

Well, the books arrived in yesterday's mail. And it's a mighty stack. An enviable stack.

Marlene Cookshaw's Double Somersaults. Sue Sinclair's Mortal Arguments. Maureen Harris' A Possible Landscape. Steven Price's Anatomy of Keys. Adam Dickinson's Kingdom, Phylum. Dennis Lee's Riffs. Julie Berry's worn thresholds. Julie Bruck's The End of Travel. Goran Simic's Immigrant Blues. Michael Kenyon's The Sutler. Lyn King's Walking in the Night Sky. Sue Wheeler's Habitat. Barry Dempster's Letters From a Long Illness With the World. Sue Goyette's Undone.

It should go without saying, but...many thanks to Kitty and Brick!

Speaking of which, here are the workshop details again:

Fall Back Into Writing: 
A Workshop With Ariel Gordon

Dates:         3 Mondays, Sept 17, Oct 22, Nov 19
Times:        6:00 – 9:00 pm
Location:   Staff Room, Kelvin High School
Cost:          $79.00 including GST

For more information or to register, see the Life Long Learning / Winnipeg School Division website.

Need a nudge to keep your writing going as the geese migrate and the trees lose their leaves?

Join Winnipeg poet Ariel Gordon as she leads a once a month reading and writing course for new writers. Workshop your fiction, poetry, or non-fiction and try your hand at exercises designed to have you writing, thinking and feeling summery all season long.

Beach reads

Otherwise known as the stack I'm bringing to the cabin. There's more here than I can possibly read in two weeks' time, especially given that I've also got two UMP manuscripts to leaf thru, but it's also a symbolic act:

I'll be reading my way back into the Edison manuscript.

I've had a stack of exciting-for-me biographies out from the library and haven't been able to get to them. (Renewed them twice already...)

And I really really need to get into some kind of routine with this manuscript or I will pull my hair out and perhaps even attempt to get a grip on the short hairs on M's shaven head.

That bad, yes. But there have been a few extenuate-ings and I'm still reasonably certain there's still juice in the poems. (I have a bit of a thing for the poems, in fact, which is probably why I'm so impatient...)

There's also books here that I have been putting off reading for months, again because of the pile of must-reads.

You also have to plan for different reading moods when going out of town, where there's no TV and only the cooling night between me and bed.

Finally, right on top of the pile is the How to Prepare for Flooding proof that I've been playing show and tell with for months. Now we have to do final text/image touches and get the damn thing printed.