Sunday’s Ottawa Citizen featured its usual fall preview of upcoming books. the article featured fiction, non fiction, biography and memoir, but as usual, not a word was mentioned about upcoming poetry publications. i guess what burns me the most about the Citizen’s lack of coverage of poetry is that many of our citizens write poetry and a few have upcoming books. how is the Citizen accurately reflecting what goes on in Ottawa, if it neglects the publishing efforts of its residents? it makes no sense to me.
furthermore, you’d think a newspaper with an interest in encouraging literacy would be highly supportive of covering Canadian publishers, who are working hard to ensure Canadians have access to a variety of writing, including poetry. the Citizen’s unbalanced coverage of literature in its arts and books pages makes it look like Ottawa residents are interested only in current events and mystery novels. here’s a list of cross-Canada publishers and the poetry that has been recently or is about to be launched this fall.
to the Citizen’s credit, they recently started a books section (again very little poetry coverage, maybe the occasional review) and James Macgowan has a book blog; although it seems to focus on American popular fiction if the last few weeks are any indication (yes i did see a mention of the Tree Reading Series with George Murray as the feature).
those of us with an interest in finding out about current poetry in Canada need to send letters to the editor of our papers complaining about the lack of coverage. we need to blog about poetry, promote poetry and keep agitating. i’m so bored of reading about mystery novels in the Citizen, aren’t you? tell them.
there are likely more poetry collections being published in Canada in the 2008/2009 literary season. perhaps you can send me a comment if you know of additional books...
take a look at the list below and make sure to buy poetry this fall. and go to the bywords.ca calendar of literary events to find out about local launches such as Rhonda Douglas’s upcoming launch on September 17 at the Cube Gallery.
Maritimes
Broken Jaw Press, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Aquella luz, la que estremece / The Light that Makes Us Tremble, poetry by Nela Rio; Hugh Hazelton, translator.
Gaspereau Press, Kentville, Nova Scotia
The Muskwa Assemblage by Don McKay
Refrain for Rental Boat #4 by Tim Bowling
Goose Lane Editions, Frederiction, New Brunswick
I & I by George Elliott Clarke
Imperfect Penance by Mitchell Parry
Québec
Véhicule Press, Signal Poetry Editions
The Stream Exposed With All Its Stones, Collected Poems by D.G. JONES
Penny Dreadful by SHANNON STEWART
The Empire’s Missing Links by WALID BITAR
36 Cornelian Avenue by CHRISTOPHER WISEMAN
Snare Books
Variations on Hölderlin by Geoffery Hlibchuk
JACK by Mike Spry
Ontario
Anansi Press, Toronto, Ontario
Jeremiah, Ohio by Adam Sol
Bookthug, Toronto, Ontario
Body of Text by Michael V. Smith and David Ellingsen
Every Way Oakly by Steve McCaffery
In Stereo by Paul Hegedus
Mal Arme: Letter Drop 3 by Victor Coleman and Paul Collins
Quixote Variations by Ramon Fernandez (Alfred Noyes, trans)
Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein
The SubWay by Philip Quinn
This & That Lenin by Steven Zultanski
Welcome to Earth: Poem for Alien(s) by Amanda Earl
Brick Books, London, Ontario
Cypress by Barbara Klar
Noble Gas, Penny Black by David O'Meara
Breaker by Sue Sinclair
Coach House Books, Toronto, Ontario
Crabwise to the Hounds By Jeramy Dodds
Laundromat Essay By Kyle Buckley
What Stirs By Margaret Christakos
ECW Press, Toronto, Ontario
Reading the Bible Backwards by Robert Priest
wasps in a golden dream hum a strange music by Asher Ghaffar
Pedlar Press, Toronto, Ontario
Watermarks by Joanne Page
Wolsak and Wynn Publishers, Hamilton, Ontario
The Baltic Quintet: Poems from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden
by Edita Page
feria: a poempark by Oana Avasilichioaei
Sister Prometheus: Discovering Marie Curie by Douglas Burnet Smith
I can still draw by Heather Spears
Your Scrivener Press, Sudbury, Ontario
The Hole in the Wall, poems by Peter McEwen
Prairies
Freehand Books, Calgary, Alberta
It’s Hard Being Queen: The Dusty Springfield Poems by Jeanette Lynes
NeWest Press, Edmonton, Alberta
Nightmarker by Meredith Quartermain
Signature Editions, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Some Days I Think I Know Things: The Cassandra Poems by Rhonda Douglas
Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba
she walks for days inside a thousand eyes by Sharron Proulx-Turner
Fear Not by Maurice Mierau
British Columbia
Caitlin Press, Halfmoon Bay, BC
lan(d)guage a sequence of poetics By Ken Belford
A Well-Mannered Storm The Glenn Gould Poems By Kate Braid
Nightwood Editions, Gibsons Landing, BC
The Book Collector by Tim Bowling
Letters I Didn't Write by John MacKenzie
Little Hunger by Philip Kevin Paul
Talonbooks, Burnaby, BC
Kerrisdale Elegies by George Bowering
sublingual by bill bissett