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Eva H.D. is back in town

Ever since the cover of RPM and some of  her poetry was used in Charlie Kaufman’s film, “I’m thinking of ending things,” Eva’s book has been sold around the world. It just goes to show how many people pay attention to film in general and Charlie Kaufman in particular.

On September 12, Eva will be reading at the West End Phoenix headquarters in west Toronto. You can find her there at 3 Bartlett Avenue. The doors open at 7:30 and the reading begins at eight.

And if that’s not enough, on 13 September, Jackals & Fireflies will be showing in Toronto at the Paradise Cinema on Bloor. It’s a short film based on one of Eva’s poems and it’s directed by Charlie Kaufman. Eva and Charlie will be on hand for a Q+A. The fun begins at 8pm and you can find tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/yhpz7z7c

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Candace de Taeye on the longlist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award!

Candace de Taeye

Special 20% off.  $18.00 is now $14.40  Can/US


 

It’s April, it’s National Poetry Month, it’s getting warmer, and the League of Canadian Poets will soon hand out their annual awards. There are a lot of great books here on the longlists, including Candace deTaeye’s _Pronounced / Workable._ It is up for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and to celebrate we’re going to lower the price of the book so everyone in the family can have one. One week only and it will be the first really warm sunny week of the year. What’s not to like?

You can also hear her reading April 8th at an Artists in the Ambulance event. It’s a benefit concert and silent auction in support of Wounded Warriors Canada. The live music and the art is provided by GTA paramedics. Who knew there were so many? It’s at 3030 Dundas West and doors open at 7pm.

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Corrado Paina sells out

Well, not artistically at least. He will be presenting his new book, Changing Residence at the Italian Cultural Institute at 6:30 pm on January 19. Ticket reservations for this (free) event were gone the day they were posted but you never know, there may be some room left if they have any last minute cancellations. The Institute is at 496 Huron St. and the phone number is 416-921-3802 if you want to call them and try your luck. Even if you can’t catch the reading you can still buy the book right here!

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Last Night at the Monarch Tavern

Stephen Brockwell reading from his latest book, Immune to the Sacred.

Last night we launched six books at the Monarch Tavern and the place was packed. The writers all gave great readings and book sales were brisk. It was so gratifying to see so many people come out to support the writers and the press. For two hours it was like Covid never happened! Thank you everyone, let’s do this again really soon.

 

 

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Fishing off the company dock at Mansfield

It may seem like Mansfield is fishing off the company dock when the first notice of The Sleep Orchard, by Amy Dennis, is written by rob mclennan, who also has a book out with Mansfield this year. But this review is really just a continuation of the work rob does all year long—documenting the small press world and telling us all about it. Between interviewing writers and reviewing books, no other writer in the country comes close to matching rob’s engagement with Canadian literature. Why wouldn’t he also write about the first book by somebody as talented as Amy Dennis?

  His latest book, Essays in the Face of Uncertainties, came out of the enforced isolation that Covid brought to Canadians in 2020. In these very personal meditations, rob tries to make sense of the unfolding pandemic in the quiet company of his wife and two daughters. As the country goes into lockdown, rob naturally turns to his library and brings writers from around the world into his narrative. His wide reading allows him to bring a larger conversation into his family’s isolation, and then share it with readers of this book. He shows us how ideas and books bring us together, even as circumstances force us apart.

 That isolation is captured beautifully in the cover photo of these essays. You see the love of a family at play, even as they look out to the world from the home that Covid turned into an aquarium. That photo was taken by Stephen Brockwell, whose book Immune to the Sacred was also published this year by Mansfield.

The poetry world in Canada is small and the company dock is necessarily large but there is an incredible diversity of talent represented here that cannot be diminished by proximity. Because rob mclennan writes about everyone, he naturally wrote about the latest book by Stephen Brockwell, where he highlights the almost scientifically rigorous observation of poems that are also lyrical and deeply human. Stephen’s book should be read in full because he is a senior writer at the top of his game, but rob’s review can be a useful introduction if you are not familiar with Stephen’s work. If nothing else, a visit to the review page will also give you an opportunity to see rob mclennan looking quite masculine in his skirt. That has to be worth a click.

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