Ottawa Small Press Book Fair 1995 : interviews with rob mclennan, John Barton, etc

David Scrimshaw recently posted this video segment over at his blog; this is something he produced for Rogers 22's Community Magazine on the second edition of the ottawa small press book fair, which was held on September 16 and 17, 1995 at the Glebe Community Centre. This was the second fair, and the first one fully hosted by myself, as co-founder James Spyker had moved to Toronto not long after the first fair occurred in November 1994. See an interview with young me! And John Barton, talking about Arc Poetry Magazine! And others! with folk such as Victoria Vernell and Joe Blades in the background, as well.

some author activity: Blades, mclennan, Dyckman, Robinson, Townsend + Pakdel,

Catherine Owen podcasts a commemoration for the late Joe Blades as episode #34; rob mclennan, Susanne Dyckman, Elizabeth Robinson and Jamie Townsend, among others, have work in the new issue of Trilobite; and Saba Pakdel has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets.

The Factory Reading Series: a Covid-era memorial,

at The Carleton Tavern (upstairs)
233 Armstrong Avenue (at Parkdale Market)
Friday, January 13, 2023
doors 7pm, reading 7:30pm
lovingly hosted by rob mclennan,

Comprised as a group memorial for poets lost during the Covid-era, there will be readings and recollections by Cameron Anstee, Rhonda Douglas, James Moran, natalie hanna, rob mclennan, AJ Dolman, Chris Johnson, Chris Turnbull, Stephen Brockwell, Bardia Sinaee, Anita Lahey, Monty Reid and others on numerous poets we've been unable to properly memorialize over this period of pandemic isolation, including: Robert Hogg, Phyllis Webb, Douglas Barbour, Michael Dennis, Steven Heighton, Clare Latremouille, Joe Blades, Richard Sanger, Peter Van Toorn, David Donnell, RM (Richard) Vaughan, Brian Fawcett etc (if there's a Covid-era poet-loss you wish to memorialize at the event, please let me know at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com

This event will also mark not only the thirtieth anniversary of The Factory Reading Series (the first event held on Lisgar Street at the late lamented Stone Angel Institute in January 1993) but will see the publication of an accompanying issue of The Peter F Yacht Club.
See last year's virtual issue here
and information on the prior year's stay-at-home issue here

Joe Blades (1961-2020)

Sad to hear that Fredericton editor, poet, publisher and purveyor of a legion of community actions, activities and creations, Joe Blades, died last week. The official obituary exists here, and rob mclennan's obituary lives here. Blades was the author of five chapbooks through above/ground press, including In the Valley of the Shadow of Poets' Corner (1994), Tribeca (1997), wriding (2000), “t sea ache,” produced as STANZAS #19 (February 1999) and Tribeca: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2017), as well as numerous other publications in issues of The Peter F. Yacht Club, Missing Jacket and as numerous above/ground press "poem" handouts, new work and a statement in the Spotlight series, poems online for National Poetry Month on the Chaudiere Books blog here and here, and a chapbook through the dusie kollektiv. He will be missed.

some author activity: Blades, Pirie, Massey, McElroy, mclennan, Clayton + Polyck-O'Neill,

Joe Blades has a new poem on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of #NationalPoetryMonth, as does Pearl Pirie, Karen Massey and Gil McElroy; rob mclennan has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; forthcoming author Conyer Clayton is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal, and has new work at talking about strawberries all of the time; and Julia Polyck-O'Neill is also interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time.

new from above/ground press: Tribeca: Twentieth Anniversary Edition, by Joe Blades

Tribeca: Twentieth Anniversary Edition

by Joe Blades

with a new afterword by the author

$5

in tompkins square

no one bothers us

with our bag-wrapped vodka

here in the night

in tompkins square

even though we don’t sit

near trashcan fires

or have cardboard

bedding under plastic

we sit pulling grain

watching cops on avenue a

behind our backs

an open-columned shrine

faith · hope · charity · compassion

carved in lintel stones

we leave the bottle

empty in its paper bag

published in Ottawa by above/ground press

November 2017

a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Tribeca was originally produced through above/ground press in an edition of 300 copies, May 1997. It subsequently appeared in the anthology Groundswell: the best of above/ground press, 1993-2003 (Fredericton NB: Broken Jaw Press / cauldron books, 2003), edited by rob mclennan.

Joe Blades is currently is a PhD Interdisciplinary Studies student at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton where he also earned a MEd in 2012. A participant– researcher in Canadian Studies in the Balkans since 2004, Blades has authored seven poetry books, with three of them also published in Serbian translation. His writings are in over 50 anthologies as well as more than 30 chapbooks the most recent of which is november poems (dusie kollektiv 8 & BS Poetry Society).

This is Blades’ fifth chapbook with above/ground press, after In the Valley of the Shadow of Poets' Corner (1994), Tribeca (1997), wriding (2000) and “t sea ache,” produced as STANZAS #19 (February 1999).

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Blades, Ursuliak, Swan + Hogg,

Joe Blades has a new poem as part of the Chaudiere Books National Poetry Month series; Emily Ursuliak is interviewed in the "12 or 20 questions" series; Sarah Swan is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Robert Hogg speaks stone mill, organics and poetry over at CBC Radio Ottawa.

some author activity: Ursuliak, Barwin, Blades, Polyck-O'Neill, Betts + Whistle,

Emily Ursuliak has a new essay in the "On Writing" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Gary Barwin has a new videopoem up at Moving Poems; Joe Blades has some new work and a short statement in rob mclennan's spotlight series; Julia Polyck-O'Neill has a new poem in Chaudiere Books' National Poetry Month series for 2017; and Gregory Betts was interviewed by Ian Whistle for the ottawa poetry newsletter.

dusie kollektiv #8, curated by rob mclennan, now online

The 8th “dusie kollektiv” is now online, with pdfs of a variety of chapbooks by multiple current and former above/ground press authors (among a long list of others).

above/ground press authors in the 8th kollektiv include: Gary Barwin, Joe Blades, Rob Budde, Jason Christie, Amanda Earl, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Hailey Higdon, Megan Kaminski, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Marthe Reed, Elizabeth Robinson, Jessica Smith and Chris Turnbull.

See the link here to read all sorts of dusie goodness from across North America (and occasionally beyond!).

above/ground press at Word on the Street: Toronto (today!)

If you wander by The League of Canadian Poets booth at Word on the Street in Toronto today, they'll be handing out (while supplies last) a stack of above/ground press "poem" broadsides! I've been digging through the archives lately, and have discovered multiple broadsheets still in print by Sarah Pinder, Natalee Caple, Nelson Ball, Gil McElroy, Ken Norris, Steven Heighton, Ashley-Elizabeth Best, Wanda Praamsma, George Bowering, Joe Blades and Christine McNair, among numerous others. Why not stop by?

The Factory Reading Series: Joe Blades + Nicholas Lea

Chaudiere Books + The Factory Reading Series presents:

The Ottawa launch of Fredericton poet Joe Blades' Casemate Poems (Collected),
published by Chaudiere Books

for more information on Joe's book, check the link here:
http://www.chaudierebooks.com/books/casemate.html

with an opening set by Chaudiere Books author and Ottawa poet Nicholas Lea

    Thursday, May 3, 2012
    The Carleton Tavern, upstairs
    233 Armstrong Street (at Parkdale), Ottawa
    doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
    lovingly hosted by rob mclennan

Joe Blades has been giving readings, performing and publishing his poetry since 1980.

Blades was born and raised in Nova Scotia. He's a graduate of NSCAD (BFA (Studio Major: Intermedia), 1988), and he recently completed a Film & Television Certificate Program through the NB Filmmakers' Cooperative. He is also an alumni of the Banff Centre, Maritime Writers Workshop, Sage Hill Writing Experience, and the Simon Fraser University Book Publishing Immersion Workshop.

His poetry and art have appeared in over 50 trade and chapbook anthologies and CDs, and in numerous periodicals. Blades has authored or edited 30 poetry chapbooks and limited edition artist books. His five full-length poetry books are Cover Makes a Set (SpareTime Editions, 1990), River Suite (Insomniac Press, 1998), Open Road West (Broken Jaw Press, 2000, 2001) and Casemate Poems (Widows & Orphans, 2004). Serbian translations of River Suite as Recna svita in the Slike iz kanade: Tri kanadska pesnika (SKC Nis), and Casemate Poems as Pesme iz kazamata (i.p. Rad), were published in 2005.

Nicholas Lea earned his B.A. from the University of Ottawa. His poetry has appeared in such journals as dANDelion, Qwerty, The Puritan, Ottawater and ditch. His work was also been featured in the Globe and Mail’s online books blog, In Other Words. He has worked on the editorial boards of Bywords Quarterly Journal and The Fiddlehead. His debut collection of poetry, Everything is Movies (2007, Chaudière Books, Ottawa) was nominated for the Lampman-Scott Award. He most recently published the chapbook, Actual Girl (2011, The Emergency Response Unit, Toronto). He lives in Ottawa.

http://www.chaudierebooks.com/books/everything.html

for more information on authors, books or event, or for review/interview requests, contact rob mclennan at rob_mclennan at hotmail.com