Michael Sikkema has work in Heavy Feather Review; Benjamin Niespodziany has some new work up at SurVision; Natalee Caple was selected as this year’s recipient of the Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Service Award at Brock University; and Ken Norris has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series, and is being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews.
Showing posts with label Natalee Caple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natalee Caple. Show all posts
Saturday, July 24, 2021
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
some author activity: mclennan, Prime, Robinson, Caple + Trivedi,
rob mclennan has a new poem in the 'poetry pause' series via The League of Canadian Poets; Tom Prime has an essay celebrating forty years of Proper Tales Press; Ben Robinson is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; R.M. Vaughan interviewed Natalee Caple for This magazine; and Amish Trivedi has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.
Saturday, October 5, 2019
some author activity: Caple, mclennan, McCulloch, Robinson, Unsworth + hanna,
Natalee Caple has a new essay in the my (small press) writing day series; Tim Atkins has recent work in Tentacular; rob mclennan has composed a poem for the late Ian McCulloch; forthcoming author Ben Robinson has some new work up at Train : a poetry journal; Lydia Unsworth is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time; and natalie hanna has a poem included in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets (reprinted from Canthius).
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
REPORT: THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY!
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lovable editor/publisher/host rob mclennan ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill |
Already a week-plus behind me, and I’m still reeling from
the recent silver anniversary above/ground press event at Vimy Brewing Company: an incredible
array of readings, writing and support, celebrating twenty-five years of
above/ground press [I forgot to report on last year's, but do you remember the year prior? That was fun. And the Toronto event? Or the 19th anniversary?]. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to hear, came out
to read, and/or came out to otherwise assist with the event, including valuable
tech-asssists by Stephen Brockwell
and Monty Reid, book tabling by Anita Dolman and door-coverage by Allie Duff and Marilyn Irwin. The staff at Vimy Brewing Company were incredibly generous, and the space was perfect for the
event. My only disappointment was the realization that gifts of silver weren’t forthcoming,
despite my hints, given the twenty-fifth anniversary, that such would be
certainly welcome.
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Anita Dolman sporting the new above/ground press anniversary shirt ; photo by Pearl Pirie |
This event also saw the
introduction of above/ground press t-shirts! Lovingly designed by Christine McNair, utilizing the classic
above/ground press logo, and produced by Ottawa’s own Troublemaker Print! Tote bags were also ordered, but the bags
themselves were backordered by the supplier, so they have yet to arrive (I’m
also putting another order in soon for t-shirts, so if you have any specific
size requests, please let me know: I’m selling them for $25 (shipping, at least
to anywhere in North America, included)). Send me an email to see what I have
on-hand, and what sizes I might be ordering, and when (rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com).
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photo by Pearl Pirie |
Really, it was just grand to be able to see so many people I
like in one place, and the audience included multiple friends and above/ground
press authors alike, including Karen
Massey, Kees Kapteyn, Amanda Earl, Pearl Pirie, Chris
Turnbull, Gwendolyn Guth, Allison Calvern, Cameron Anstee, Rob Fairchild,
Avonlea Fotheringham, Michael Dennis, Grant Wilkins, Conyer Clayton, Robert
Hogg, Grant Savage, David Scrimshaw, jwcurry and many, many others. Unfortunately,
given we were technically out of town for the weekend, watching my father’s
house/pets as well as my sister’s, Christine wasn’t able to make the event at
all (I attempted an audio recording of the evening, but god knows if it actually worked), solo at the McLennan homestead an hour away, with the girls: watching two
dogs, two cats, a guinea pig and a fish. It did, at least, mean that I could stay
out a bit later, and even host Billy Mavreas over at our wee house. The following
morning, I might add, was not an early one (and involved me driving an hour,
once I finally woke and delivered Billy, post-breakfast, to the bus station).
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Aaron Tucker ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
Old pal Aaron Tucker opened the event, as well
as the first set, reading from his third above/ground press title, Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018), an excerpt of a much longer work-in-progress, dedicated to his
partner, Julia Polyck-O’Neill. I’m fascinated by the long stretch of lines, and
the accumulation, existing as a single, extended poem.
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natalie hanna ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
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photo by Pearl Pirie |
I’ve
been fortunate enough to be aware of natalie
hanna’s work for some time now, since she emerged somewhere in the
mid-1990s, before retreating into law school. Fortunately for us, she
reappeared after a few years, and has been impressing us ever since. Reading from
her new chapbook, some of which responds directly as a call-and-response with
recent work by Stephen Brockwell, she ended her set with a startling poem for
multiple voices, adding Liam Burke, Conyer Clayton,
Cameron Anstee, Nathanael Larochette and Frances Boyle for a piece that description
can’t do justice.
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Natalee Caple ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill |
It
was great to be able to hear Natalee
Caple read from her Love / Wildness (2018), especially knowing
that she’ll be doing more of such next spring, when the book-length version
appears with Wolsak and Wynn. She drove the whole family from St. Catharines,
Ontario to Ottawa for the event, but their twins became immediately infatuated
with Jason Christie’s small children (who could blame them?) and decided to
remain there, instead of coming out to the reading. I can’t even remember the
last time I heard Natalee read, but it would have been at The TREE Reading
Series back when the readings were held at SAW Gallery; at least five years
ago? Seven?
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Billy Mavreas ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
Opening
the second set of readers, Montreal’s Billy
Mavreas launched his visual collection A MERCY OF SIGNS (2018) by discussing the difficulty with reading from a
collection of visuals, and managed to give a performance on marginalia that felt like a
silent sound poem. Why doesn’t this guy have a full-length collection of his
concrete and visual poetry yet? He has micropress publications going back years,
from an array of publishers, including self-published, and his work deserves
far more attention.
Stephen Brockwell ; photo by rob mclennan |
Stephen Brockwell really is one of my
favourite humans. It is always such a pleasure and a delight to interact with
him at all, and I do think his ongoing thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit
is often taken for granted. As part of reading his latest title, Immune to the Sacred (2018), he read
some of the poems he had composed in conversation with natalie hanna. I’m
curious to see where this conversation might go, and what form the eventual
larger conversation might take. Will this ever appear as a single-unit
collaboration/conversation, or will the threads remain more disperate?
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Phil Hall ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
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Stuart Kinmond ; photo by Pearl Pirie |
Phil Hall’s collaboration
with artist Stuart Kinmond, Alternative Girders (2018), provided an
opportunity for both to present on the two sides of their conversation, from
Hall’s words to Kinmond’s visuals, backdropped beautifully by Kinmond’s own
work. Hall’s thoughtfulness is expansive, and incredibly precise, and he
manages to both capture an attention to the smallest moment as well as somehow
see the big picture, simultaneously. I’m curious to see if their collaboration
continues beyond the work gathered in his small chapbook.
Jason Christie ; photo by rob mclennan |
Jason Christie opened the
third set, launching his sixth chapbook with the press, by reading excerpts
from every one of his above/ground press titles, from his Calgary-work 8th Ave
15th St NW. (2004) to works produced since their move to Ottawa: Government (2013), Cursed Objects (2014), The
Charm (2015), random_lines =
random.choice (2017) and glass language (excerpt) (2018). One of my favourite people these days, I am very
much looking forward to his next full-length title, out next spring with Coach
House Books.
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Julia Polyck-O'Neill ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
I’ve
been quite taken with the work of Julia
Polyck-O’Neill, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to appear fully-formed
and confident in her work, allowing above/ground press to produce two chapbooks of her writing so far. And did you see this recent interview up at Train: a poetry journal? There is some
absolutely amazing work happening here, and worthy of far more attention. I’m
just hoping the next time we cross paths, I’m actually able to spend some time
talking to her (the evening made for very little in the way of larger
conversation with just about anyone).
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Stuart Ross ; photo by Stephen Brockwell |
A personal
favourite, Stuart Ross closed the
event with a reading from his above/ground press debut, ESPESANTES (2018). Given his generous example as a poet, editor, reviewer,
chapbook publisher and supporter over some four decades, I was incredibly
grateful to have Ross included in such an event. His own Proper Tales Press
will be forty years old next year, if you can imagine it. I just hope that 2019
sees some kind of proper acknowledgement for his ongoing contribution and
support of small and micro press.
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Julia Polyck-O'Neill, rob mclennan and Aaron Tucker ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill |
Twenty-five
years! God sakes. And of course, after weeks of lead-up, I managed to crash
entirely after the event, falling into a combination of exhaustion/sinus cold
that lingers. And, as well, the inevitable look forward to what publications
will emerge next. Work is already underway on more than a couple of titles,
with still-forthcoming chapbooks by Erín Moure (which has appeared already, in the time it took me to write this up), Ian Dreiblatt, Melissa Eleftherion, Kyle Flemmer, Lisa Rawn, Sean
Braune, Michael Martin Shea, Cole Swensen, Jennifer Stella, Jamie Townsend,
Sara Renee Marshall, Dennis Cooley, Mark Laliberte, Sacha Archer, Sandra Ridley
and multiple others. Watch for 2019
subscriptions to announce on October 1st! (or just send me an
email if you really can’t wait)
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photo by Pearl Pirie |
And:
if you’ve been keeping track, above/ground press has done anniversary anthologies
every ten years, so this year won’t be seeing such, but watch for the launch of a special twenty-fifth
anniversary project at the Ottawa international writers festival on October 30th,
featuring readings by Sarah Mangold (Seattle), Gil McElroy (Colborne) and
Sandra Ridley (Ottawa)!
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photo by Pearl Pirie |
But
don’t you worry: a thirtieth anniversary collection is in the works. Picton,
Ontario publisher Invisible Publishing
recently accepted the project, which will appear in print in 2023! I mean, that
might sound like a long time away, but it really isn’t…
Saturday, September 1, 2018
some author activity: Abel, Smith, Caple + Polyck-O'Neill,
A new conversation between Jordan Abel and Cecily Nicholson has been posted at Rungh; Jessica Smith has new work up at 8 Poems; Natalee Caple has a new essay in the "On Writing" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and Julia Polyck-O'Neill is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal.
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
new from above/ground press: Love / Wildness, by Natalee Caple
Love / Wildness
Natalee Caple
$5
August 2018
celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Natalee Caple is the author of nine books of poetry and fiction. Her latest book of poetry, Love in the Chthulucene/Cthulhucene (from which these poems come) will be out with Wolsak and Wynn in Spring 2019. Natalee is an associate professor at Brock University.
This is her third chapbook with above/ground press, after The Appetites of Tiny Hands (1997) and The Appetites of Tiny Hands: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2017).
[Natalee Caple will be launching this title as part of THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY on August 25, 2018 at Ottawa's Vimy Brewing Company!]
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
Natalee Caple
$5
Motions of Confessionpublished in Ottawa by above/ground press
We spent years on our futures
trying on colours
our neighbours were lovers
We orphaned texts
wrote long etceteras
drank and danced
I trace you
between paragraphs
your children too
Drawl in your reading voice
crushed velvet dress
bill and Mitch play chess
As if it never ended
I never moved West
you never moved East
Stopped writing
am I wrong?
I'd like to be
O Nancy when you feel wicked
wait for me
August 2018
celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Natalee Caple is the author of nine books of poetry and fiction. Her latest book of poetry, Love in the Chthulucene/Cthulhucene (from which these poems come) will be out with Wolsak and Wynn in Spring 2019. Natalee is an associate professor at Brock University.
This is her third chapbook with above/ground press, after The Appetites of Tiny Hands (1997) and The Appetites of Tiny Hands: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2017).
[Natalee Caple will be launching this title as part of THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY on August 25, 2018 at Ottawa's Vimy Brewing Company!]
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
Thursday, August 2, 2018
THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY!
celebrating
twenty-five years of continuous activity (and nearly nine hundred publications),
Ottawa publisher above/ground press presents:
nine readings and chapbook launches by:
nine readings and chapbook launches by:
Natalee Caple (St. Catharines ON)
Jason Christie (Ottawa)
Julia Polyck-O’Neill (Toronto)
Stuart Ross (Cobourg ON)
Aaron Tucker (Toronto)
Phil Hall (Perth ON)
Stephen Brockwell (Ottawa)
natalie hanna (Ottawa)
+
Billy Mavreas (Montreal)
lovingly hosted by above/ground press editor/publisher rob mclennan
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018
Vimy Brewing Company
145 Loretta Ave N #1, Ottawa, ON K1Y 2J7
http://www.vimybrewing.ca/
7pm door/7:30pm reading
$6 at the door; includes a copy of a recent above/ground press title
THIS EVENT WILL ALSO SEE THE INTRODUCTION OF LIMITED-EDITION SWAG (T-SHIRTS AND TOTE BAGS), PRODUCED BY OTTAWA’S OWN TROUBLEMAKER PRINT https://www.facebook.com/TroublemakerPrint/
See the Globe & Mail’s recent piece on the press here.
See rob’s write-up earlier this year onthe press here.
As well as a series of essays by avariety of above/ground press authors and friends of the press here.
author/performer biographies:
Natalee Caple is the author of nine books of poetry and fiction. Her latest book of poetry, Love in the Chthulucene/Cthulhucene (from which these poems come) will be out with Wolsak and Wynn in Spring 2019. Natalee is an associate professor at Brock University.
She will be launching her third chapbook with above/ground press—Love / Wildness (2018)—after The Appetites of Tiny Hands (1997) and The Appetites of Tiny Hands: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2017).
Jason Christie is the author of Canada Post (Snare), i-ROBOT (Edge/Tesseract), Unknown Actor (Insomniac), and a co-editor of Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (Mercury). His next book will be published by Coach House in the Spring of 2019.
He will be launching his sixth chapbook with above/ground press—glass language (excerpt) (2018)—after 8th Ave 15th St NW. (2004), Government (2013), Cursed Objects (2014), The Charm (2015) and random_lines = random.choice (2017).
Julia Polyck-O’Neill is an artist, curator, critic, and writer. She is a doctoral candidate in Brock University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program, where she is completing a SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary and comparative critical study of contemporary conceptualist literature and art in Vancouver. She has taught in art history and contemporary visual culture, and was, until very recently, a visiting lecturer and scholar in Transnational American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Her writing has been published in B.C. Studies, Feminist Spaces, Tripwire, Fermenting Feminisms (a project of the Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology, curated by Lauren Fournier), The Avant Canada Anthology (WLU Press, forthcoming 2018), and is co-editing a special issue of the journal Canadian Literature with Gregory Betts. Her debut chapbook, femme, was published in 2016 by above/ground press.
She will be launching her second chapbook,
Stuart Ross is the author of 20 books of poetry, fiction, and essays, and countless chapbooks and ephemera. His most recent books include the novel-in-prose-poems Pockets (ECW Press, 2017) and the poetry collection A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent (Wolsak and Wynn, 2016), which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry in 2017. Other titles include the poetry collection A Hamburger in a Gallery (DC Books, 2015), the novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew (ECW Press, 2011), and the story collection Buying Cigarettes for the Dog (Freehand Books, 2009). Stuart began his literary career by selling his self-published chapbooks on the streets of Toronto during the 1980s, wearing signs like “Writing Going To Hell: Buy My Books.” He was the 2010 Writer in Residence at Queen’s University, and has taught writing workshops across Canada. His poetry has recently been translated into French; other translations, into Nynorsk and Spanish, are in progress. His micropress, Proper Tales, is lurching toward its 40th year of publishing. Stuart lives in Cobourg, Ontario.
He will be launching his above/ground press debut, ESPESANTES (2018).
Aaron Tucker is the author of the forthcoming novel Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos (Coach House Books) as well as two books of poetry, Irresponsible Mediums: The Chess Games of Marcel Duchamp (Bookthug Press) and punchlines (Mansfield Press), and two scholarly cinema studies monographs, Virtual Weaponry: The Militarized Internet in Hollywood War Films and Interfacing with the Internet in Popular Cinema (both published by Palgrave Macmillan).
His current collaborative project, Loss Sets, translates poems into sculptures which are then 3D printed (http://aarontucker.ca/3-d-poems/); he is also the co-creator of The ChessBard, an app that transforms chess games into poems (http://chesspoetry.com).
An earlier version of punchlines was released by above/ground in the summer of 2013. His poetic works and reviews have been published across Canada. His previous chapbook, apartments, was shortlisted for the 2010 bpNichol Chapbook award.
Currently, he is an uninvited guest on the Dish with One Spoon Territory, where he is a lecturer in the English department at Ryerson University (Toronto), teaching creative and academic writing. You can reach him atucker[at]ryerson[dot]ca
Tucker is the author of three above/ground press chapbooks, including apartments (2010), punchlines (2013) and this year’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018).
Phil Hall’s most recent books are Guthrie Clothing: The Poetry of Phil Hall – A Selected Collage (Sir Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015), Conjugation (BookThug, 2016), & Le pluvier kildir (translated by Rose Després / Prise de parole, 2015). He lives near Perth Ontario.
He will be launching his third above/ground press chapbook—a collaboration with Stuart Kinmond, Alternative Girders (2018)—after Verulam (2009) and the collaborative Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012).
Stephen Brockwell cut his writing teeth in the ’80s in Montreal, appearing on French and English CBC Radio and in the anthologies Cross/cut: Contemporary English Quebec Poetry and The Insecurity of Art (both Véhicule Press, 1982). All of Us Reticent, Here, Together won the Archibald Lampman award for best book of poetry in Ottawa in 2017. Brockwell currently operates a small IT consulting company from an office in Ottawa’s By Ward Market.
He will be launching his fifth above/ground press chapbook—Immune to the Sacred (2018)—after Marin County Poems (2001), Impossible Books (the Carleton Installment) (2010), Excerpts from Impossible Books: The Crawdad Cantos (2012) and Images from Declassified Nuclear Test Films (2014).
natalie hanna is a queer, feminist, ottawa lawyer, of middle-eastern descent working with low income populations. her writing focuses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She runs battleaxe press (small poetry press) / is the Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series / serves as newsletter editor and board member at Arc Poetry Magazine. Her work, interviews, have appeared online and in print in various publications, including with Literary Landscapes, In/Words Magazine, phafours press, Hussy Press, Bywords, the Dusie Blog, the Chaudiere Books Blog, Canthius, shreeking violet press, and Peter F. Yacht Club, among others. This is her 10th chapbook. Find her at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com to learn more
She will be launching the chapbook CONCEALED WEAPONS / ANIMAL SURVIVORS (2018), her third with above/ground press, after “this evidence against you,” produced as STANZAS #21 (October 1999), and dark ecologies (2017).
Billy Mavreas is a Montréal based writer and artist who makes comics, collage, visual poetry and more. His studio and art shop, Monastiraki, is celebrating twenty years of idiosyncrasy in the Mile-End neighbourhood (1998-2108).
He will be launching his above/ground press debut, A MERCY OF SIGNS (2018).
Saturday, April 14, 2018
some author activity: Caple, Earl, Press, Johnstone, Archer, + Saklikar,
Chaudiere Books' 5th annual National Poetry Month feature has begun, featuring new poems by above/ground press authors including Natalee Caple and Amanda Earl and K.I. Press; Matthew Johnstone has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at dusie; Sacha Archer is interviewed at Touch the Donkey; and Renée Sarojini Saklikar is interviewed by Read Local BC.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
some author activity: Caple, Cassidy, McNair, Bolster, Lea, Whistle, Christie, Spinosa + mclennan,
Natalee Caple has a new essay online at Room magazine, on #MeToo backlash and burnout; Sara Cassidy, Christine McNair, Stephanie Bolster, N.W. Lea, Ian Whistle, Jason Christie and Dani Spinosa all have new work in the fourteenth issue of ottawater; and rob mclennan has a poem-in-progress, "snow day," posted over at his blog.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Amanda Earl reviews four 2017 titles: Matthew Johnstone's ( Kiln ), Natalee Caple's The Appetites of Tiny Hands, Philip Miletic's Marginal Prints and Sarah Fox's Invisible Wife
As an acknowledgment of the press' twenty-fifth anniversary [see my 'by the numbers' piece here], Ottawa poet, publisher and above/ground press author (here) Amanda Earl was good enough to review four different above/ground press 2017 titles over at her blog, providing first reviews for Matthew Johnstone's ( Kiln ) and Natalee Caple's The Appetites of Tiny Hands: Twentieth Anniversary Edition, a second review of Philip Miletic's Marginal Prints (after Eleni Zisimatos' review) and a third review of Sarah Fox's Invisible Wife (after Rebecca Banks' review and Greg Bem's review). Thanks so very much! You can see Amanda's glorious and generous review here.
Labels:
Amanda Earl,
Matthew Johnstone,
Natalee Caple,
philip miletic,
review,
Sarah Fox
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