Readings & Events

WORD Vancouver

Twisted Poets as part of  WORD Vancouver.

This sturdy reading series has great open mic opportunities. Come read with me! Hosts are Mary Duffy and Rosemary Nowicki and the other readers are Jennifer Zilm and Henry Beissel!

Dead Poet’s Reading Series

This series has poets read the work of other poets who are gone and it is always eye-opening. It is very well-attended and the readings are across-the-boards great. I read Mexican essayist and poet Rosario Castellanos in a previous session and have come to love the buffet aspect of the series. At this meeting I will be reading my friend John Asfour’s work – he and I worked on V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and we were thickly entwined in each other’s editing. I’m excited to visit with him through selections of his books of poems and his translations of Faraj Bayrakdar’s poems from Syria, Mirrors of Absence.

John Asfour (1945 – 2014), read by Elee Kraljii Gardiner
Mahmoud Darwish (1942 – 2008), read by Rahat Kurd
Hafez (1325 – 1390), read by Nina Mosall
Nizar Qabanni (1923 – 1998), read by Ray McGinnis
Rumi (1207 – 1273), read by E.D. Blodgett

Historic Joy Kogawa House – Reading

Ali Blythe and Adrienne Gruber and I are going to do an outdoor reading in the backyard of Historic Joy Kogawa House. We’ll read each other’s poems in a sort of round-robin. We’ve decided to only read the poems we have never read at our own readings. There will be coconut cake and lemonade. Blankets, pillows, folding chairs.

The Paper Hound

Kevin Spenst  and I welcome Ontario’s Ashley-Elizabeth Best to read in the tiniest and best-curated book shop in the province.

Boston-area launch of serpentine loop

This is the Boston-area launch of serpentine loop! Join me for a one hour event – a 20 minute reading followed by book signing and mingling.

There is generally full access to the store: there is a ramp that leads to the entrance. We do not have automatic doors, but certainly assist carts, walkers, etc. We have a single bathroom which is gender neutral and has a baby changing table.

House Party – Reading

I’ll be reading at a house party with US/Canadian poets Jen Currin and Broc Russell and the band Scarlet Locomotive in Vancouver. It’s a private event but if you really want to come, email me.

Spoken Ink series

Chelene Knight and I are going to read for 20 mins each and then have a Q&A. If you arrive wearing skates (with skateguards) you get a copy of serpentine loop and if you come wearing braids, you get a DISCOUNTED copy of Braided Skin. It should be a lovely night – we’ll be out on the patio and there is an open mic, too.

Real Vancouver Writing Series

Reading with Michael Prior, Model Disciple, Véhicule Press, 2016; Fraser Nixon, Straight to the Head, Arsenal Press, 2016; Matthew Walsh, works in progress; Andrea Warner, We Oughta Know, Eternal Cavalier Press, 2015; Elena Johnson, Field Notes for the Alpine Tundra, Gaspereau Press, 2015

Hosted by Dina Del Bucchia and Sean Cranbury

Doors at 7PM
Admission by donation, pay what you can. Nobody turned away for lack of funds
Beers generously provided by Phillips Brewing
Books for sale, authors take 100% of proceeds from every sale

The wonderful people at Anvil Press made a Facebook page for the serpentine loop eastern Canada tour below where I will post from April 25-May 5. Details are below, too.

Reading

Reading with Amanda Earl, Alison LaSorda, Jacob McArthur Mooney and Alison Strumberger.

Novel Idea

With Ashley-Elizabeth Best and musician Erika Lamon, a wonderful Kingston singer/songwriter whose EP will launch later this year.

Ashley-Elizabeth Best lives in Kingston and is from Cobourg, Ontario. She has been published in a number of anthologies including ‘That Not Forgotten’, ‘529’, ‘Lake Effect 5’, and ‘The Changing Image’. Her work has appeared in a number of publications including Fjords, CV2, Berfrois, Grist, and Ambit Magazine. She has received an honourable mention in the Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards. Her poetry was shortlisted for the 2011 Matrix Litpop Awards, Prism’s Poetry Prize 2012, and the 2015 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. Her chapbook ‘Now You Have Many Legs to Stand On’ (above/ground press) was published in 2015. Slow States of Collapse (ECW Press, 2016) is her first collection of poetry.

Elizabeth Greene will be reading from ‘The Dowager Empress: Selected Poems of Adele Wiseman’ which she is currently editing as well as some new poems of her own. Elizabeth is the author of three books of poetry. She edited and contributed to ‘We Who Can Fly: Poems, Essays and Memories in Honour of Adele Wiseman’ (Cormorant, 1997) which won the Betty and Morris Aaron Prize in 1998.

Erika Lamon is a bilingual singer-songwriter-interpreter from Kingston. Her genre ranges from folk, acoustic pop to indie tunes. She performed at the FrancoFolies de Montréal, Skeleton Parks Arts Festival and the Kingston Artfest. She’s a member of the French band, Les Soliloques, and her solo English debut EP will be released in September 2016. A single, ‘Strangers Know’ is set to launch in April 2016.

Reading with Mike Caesar & Jeff Blackman

MIKE CAESAR was born in Little Current, Ontario, and lives in Ottawa. His poems have been published in Arc Poetry Magazine, The Malahat Review and The Fiddlehead. He opened for Peter Richardson at the Tree Reading Series and his work was chosen by judge Phil Hall as a past winner of the Sawdust Reading Series’ monthly poetry contest.

JEFF BLACKMAN’s poetry has appeared in periodicals such as Blacklock’s Reporter, In/Words, and the Steel Chisel, the anthology Five (Apt. 9 Press), and Best Canadian Poetry in English 2015 (Tightrope Books). He lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with his growing family. Visit https://jeffblackman2001.wordpress.com/ for poems, videos, and chapbooks.

PLUS THE REGULAR RAILROAD OPEN MIC!

RailRoad’s conductor and engineer are, in no order, Rona Shaffran and Rod Pederson.

In the Soil Festival

Reading with Margaret Christakos, Adrienne Gruber, Shannon Maguire, John Nyman, Mark Laliberte, Eric Schmaltz & Kasia Smug.

There are two sets of readers (see names above) and I’m reading second to last. Books will be for sale, but CASH ONLY!

http://www.nac.org/contact/