Pearl Pirie reads as part of Poetry Month at the Ottawa Public Library

Ottawa Public Library National Poetry Month Reading
Main Branch

Monday, April 14, 2014 - 7:00pm
Celebrate National Poetry Month with readings by acclaimed Canadian poets Pearl Pirie, Chris Jennings, Sandra Ridley and Deanna Young. Offered in partnership with VERSeFest.

new poems by Amanda Earl and Pearl Pirie, and an Apt613 article on Earl's poetry month writing project,

Amanda Earl has a new poem in the March issue of The Steel Chisel, Pearl Pirie has a new poem in the March issue of Bywords.ca (as well as a new chapbook out with above/ground press), and Apartment613 was good enough to write an article on Earl's month-long writing project for April.

rob mclennan shortlisted for the Council for the Arts in Ottawa Mid-Career Artist Award;

Chaudiere author (and publisher) rob mclennan was officially shortlisted last night for the Council for the Arts in Ottawa's annual Mid-Career Artist Award, along with Rolf Klausener and Pier Rodier. Congratulations all! See Peter Simpson's blog post featuring all award shortlists on the Ottawa Citizen site here. The award will be announced at a gala at the Arts Court Theatre on April 22, 2014.

A B Series Celebrates National Poetry Month with Amanda Earl (and Dean Steadman,

A B Series Celebrates National Poetry Month!

Thursday, April 3, 2014
7pm; Ottawa Public Library Main Branch

Readings by AMANDA EARL & DEAN STEADMAN!
See the Facebook invitation here; check out the A B Series website here.

With a performance of Steadman's work, APRES SATIE: FOUR TWO AND FOUR HANDS by Lesley Strutt, Georgia Mathewson, Alastair Larwill and Steadman. Après Satie: Four Two and Four Hands is a poetry collection inspired by Erik Satie's piano compositions. Moody, often surreal in tone and content, the interplay of primo and secondo voices in these poems raises our awareness of the temporal nature of all things.

AMANDA EARL is the managing editor of Bywords.ca and the publisher of AngelHousePress, including its transgressive prose imprint, DevilHouse. She is the author of several chapbooks. Her first poetry book will be published by Chaudiere Books in the fall of 2014. Her poems have also appeared in literary journals both on line and in print in Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland and the USA. Amanda has received funding from the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council.

DEAN STEADMAN’s work has been published in Canadian journals and e-zines, as well as in the anthology Pith and Wry: Canadian Poetry (Scrivener Press, 2010). His poem, “Crime Passionnel” (Descant 144, Spring 2009), was selected by Lorna Crozier as one of the top 100 poems in The Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2010 (Tightrope Books). He was a finalist in the 2011 Ottawa Book Awards for his poetry collection their blue drowning (Frog Hollow Press, 2010). His chapbook, Portrait w/tulips, was published by Leaf Editions in 2013.

Amanda Earl to Source Poems from The Ottawa Citizen During National Poetry Month

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Local Author to Source Poems from The Ottawa Citizen During National Poetry Month

Author One of 78 Poets Set to Participate in Experimental Writing Initiative

OTTAWA — MARCH 20, 2014: Amanda Earl, a resident of Ottawa, is one of 78 poets from seven countries selected to participate in the OULIPOST project this April. Coordinated by the Found Poetry Review, the initiative unites authors in applying the constrained writing techniques of the Oulipo group to text found in local newspapers. Earl will be using The Ottawa Citizen as her source text for the month.

OULIPOST is inspired by the experimental writing practices of Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle — or “workshop of potential literature”) writers. Founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais, the group encourages the application of writing constraints to generate new structures and patterns.

“Oulipo constraints provide poets a chance to break free from the restrictions and challenges they face in their everyday writing practices,” noted Found Poetry Review Editor-in-Chief Jenni B. Baker. “We’re encouraging writers to be bold, take risks and write about topics they normally wouldn’t touch.”

Examples of the writing constraints poets will face range from relatively simple – a tautogram in which every word in the poem must start with the same letter – to a sestina, a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a short three-line stanza. In all cases, the words and phrases incorporated into the poems must be taken from the poet’s local newspaper.

“I've always found constraint-based poetry to be a chance to up my game and learn a few things,” explained Earl.

This is the third year the Found Poetry Review has led a project for National Poetry Month. Last year, the journal enlisted 85 poets to create found poetry from the 85 Pulitzer Prize-winning works of fiction as part of its Pulitzer Remix project.

Keep track of Earl's progress at amandaearl.tumblr.com. View updates from all OULIPOST poets at http://bit.ly/oulipost.

My Writing Process -- blog tour: rob mclennan and Amanda Earl

Chaudiere authors rob mclennan and Amanda Earl both participated recently in the "My Writing Process -- blog tour" questionnaire over the past week or so, with Earl's answers appearing this past Monday, and mclennan's answers appearing the Monday before.

Pearl Pirie: One Piece at a Time: Remixing your Poetic Source Material

Canadian Authors Association
April 8th, 7-9pm Main Branch Ottawa Public Library, open to members and non-members (non-members $10)

One Piece at a Time: Remixing your Poetic Source Material
Speaker: Pearl Pirie

Remix culture is presented as characteristic of our age but poetry's toolbox has long been taking pieces from here and there and synthesizing elements to new effect. Partly hands on, partly theory, this 90-minute workshop would explore examples and techniques of using disparate sources and collaborating to make new whole. Sampling, recutting, and using the material of distinct poems to make distinctly fresh ones.

Whether you are a fiction-writer by nature or poet, there's more to be gained by looking at tools for livening you out of risk of rut.

http://www.canauthors-ottawa.org/meetings.shtml

The Small Press Review reviews rob mclennan's The Uncertainty Principle: stories,

C.A. LaRue was good enough to post the first review of rob mclennan's The Uncertain Principle: stories, (Chaudiere Books, 2014) over at The Small Press Book Review. Thanks much!

Amanda Earl is (willingly) led astray by Anne Carson,

Chaudiere Books author Amanda Earl is "led astray" by the work of Anne Carson, specifically Carson's new Nay Rather (Sylph Editions), as she discusses today over at her amazing blog.

new poems by Monty Reid and Pearl Pirie,

Monty Reid has a new poem up on the dusie blog as part of the "Tuesday poem" series, (curated by rob mclennan) and Pearl Pirie has some new work posted up at TRUCK (curated by Colin Morton and Mary Lee Bragg).

McNair + McCann (etc) in Hamilton: a report,

Our pal Ryan Pratt was good enough to post a generous and thorough report of the LitLive Reading Series event in Hamilton on March 2, 2014 that included readings by Chaudiere author Marcus McCann and co-publisher Christine McNair, as well as Angie Abdou, Jim Smith, Andrew Faulkner and Lynn Davies (the photos are his as well). Much thanks! I have to say it was an impressive event (and Pratt was even good enough to mention the fact that I was also there, holding Rose the Intern throughout). Check out his report here.

Christine McNair on a Letterpress, Papermaking and Book Conservation Panel at the University of Ottawa,

Christine McNair participates in "The Page: Material and Visual Literature," this year's Department of English Graduate Student Conference at the University of Ottawa, running March 14-16, 2014. She will be participating in the "Curated Panel on Letterpress, Papermaking, and Book Conservation" along with Richard Coxford and Grant Wilkins. Questions about the conference can be directed to Neil Hackler and Cameron Anstee at the conference email address: uOttawa.conference@gmail.com

Robert McTavish screens "The Line has Shattered" at Ottawa's VERSeFest

Editor and documentary filmmaker Robert McTavish showcases The Line has Shattered at the fourth annual VERSeFest in Ottawa with a film screening and panel discussion.

Saturday, March 29, 2014
1:30pm: "The Line has Shattered" — Film Screening & Panel
Mercury Lounge, 55 Byward Market Square
Fifty years ago, American poets Charles Olson, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and Denise Levertov came to Vancouver for a poetry conference that was radical for its time and remains inspiring to this day. The Line has Shattered examines how a rising generation was inspired to embrace new, open forms of poetry, and the field of poetry itself as a meaningful experience for a lifetime's work.

Following the film, there will be a panel discussion lead by Robert McTavish, with guests Roy McSkimming, Robert Hogg and William Hawkins.

Robert McTavish’s documentary films include What to make of it all? The life and poetry of John Newlove and The Line has Shattered: Vancouver’s Landmark 1963 Poetry Conference. He is the editor of A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove (Chaudière Books, Ottawa, 2007) and his radio work includes the documentary Phyllis Webb: The Art of Ideas for CBC Radio’s IDEAS.

Check the VERSeFest website for other events.