the ottawa small press book fair : home edition #20 : shreeking violet press,

Shortlisted for the 2016 bpNichol Award and winner of the 2013 Diana Brebner Prize, Marilyn Irwin’s work has been published by above/ground press, Apt. 9 Press, Arc Poetry Magazine, bywords.ca, and Puddles of Sky, among others. the day the moon went away is her ninth chapbook. She runs shreeking violet press in Ottawa.

shreeking violet press specializes in hand-made papery things by a variety of emerging and established writers with special consideration given to authors who have historically been at a disadvantage in publishing.

Q: Tell me about your press. How long have you been publishing, and what got you started?

A: shreeking violet press specializes in hand-made papery things by a variety of emerging and established writers with special consideration given to authors who have historically been at a disadvantage in publishing. It began out of desire to make something for a reading I was performing at as part of being named a “Hot Ottawa Voice” by Tree Reading Series in Ottawa in 2014. I used a typewriter and handmade paper and needle and thread and conjured up four little items which I sold that night. Within the next year, I decided I would rather showcase other writers’ voices; soliciting those I admired and wanted to amplify. The first “thing” I made was my first and self-published chapbook “for when you pick daisies” in 2010, but it wasn’t under any press name.

Q: How many times have you exhibited at the ottawa small press fair? How do you find the experience?

A: My first ottawa small press fair as exhibitor was Spring 2015 and I haven’t missed one so I’ve tabled eleven times for shreeking violet press. Small press people are magical because they’re often making things for little to no profit and, more often than not, with blood, sweat and tears poured into their products. It’s a very encouraging and curious community. It’s dangerous to be surrounded by such coveted, usually limited edition items. You want to snatch everything up that catches your eye and be supportive of everyone’s hard work but you also want to break even. Making trades is a win-win which I often do when presented the option. One of my favourite parts is sitting down for drinks at a pub at the end of the day to swap stories of how everyone’s day went where I get to chat with either new friends or friends who live out of the city and who I only get to see as often as the fair occurs. I highly recommend tabling for people just starting out as it’s a great way to meet the community.

Q: Would you have made something specific for this spring’s fair? Are you still doing that? How does the lack of spring fair this year effect how or what you might be producing?

A: I was/am going to be publishing one or two books. The “when” is still uncertain. I’m awaiting final revisions from a mystery author of one of the books and the other book is mine which I still need to edit. I haven’t self-published a book of my own through my own press yet so I thought it might be time. The pandemic has bought us time to sit with our work and neither of us are in a rush to get it out the door by the end of the year so things may defer to next year. It’s a crapshoot at this point, really.

Q: How are you, as a small publisher, approaching the myriad shut-downs? Is everything on hold, or are you pushing against the silences, whether in similar or alternate ways than you might have prior to the pandemic? How are you getting your publications out into the world?

A: When the books are printed, they’ll be available through our Etsy store vs Etsy as well as at the fair. Aside from that, not much else has changed.

Q: Have you done anything in terms of online or virtual launches since the pandemic began? Have you attended or participated in others? How are you attempting to connect to the larger literary community?

A: I have not. I can’t get past how Zooming feels like I’m at work and I’m not one for the spotlight so I’m not interested in hosting or being a visible participant so my camera would be off and I would feel bad for not fully participating so I just haven’t bothered altogether. That’s not to say, I won’t. I think as the colder weeks pass, I’ll be more stir crazy inside and I already miss seeing familiar faces, so, it’s probably inevitable I’ll attend one or even some, at some point.

Q: Has the pandemic forced you to rethink anything in terms of production? Are there supplies or printers you haven’t access to during these times that have forced a shift in what and how you produce?

A: I’ve been avoiding stores due to someone in my bubble being immunocompromised and I usually do my shopping for book material in the real world so I’ll either break down and go to stores or find new suppliers online. This has been a contributing factor to not producing anything as yet this year. My printer works out of her house and we’ve always done porch pick-ups/drop offs so that wouldn’t be an issue.

Q: What are your most recent publications? How might people still be able to order copies?

Caterwaul: Nine Poems by Michael Dennis (2019), Eleven Elleve Alive by Stuart Ross, Dag T. Straumsvåg & Hugh Thomas (2018), and Wintered by Amanda Earl (2017) are the latest books hot off the press. These, and all other books and broadsides published by shreeking violet press can be purchased via our Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/shreekingvioletpress.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: See above.

On writing #5 : Michael Dennis

Who knew?
Michael Dennis

I've been writing poetry since I was in grade six at Queen Alexandra Public School in 1968 when I handed in the very naive poem "Jews and Negroes Hand in Hand," for an English assignment, to a very perplexed Mr. Rutherford.  In high school I was lucky to have an excellent teacher who fed my interest in poetry with actual books.

When I decided to be a poet I really had never met one or seen one on TV.  I had an idea of what a poet was, but no real clue.  Forty years later I've been published a couple of hundred times in magazines, journals, reviews, anthologies and every other thology.  I've published books, chapbooks, broadsides, posters, audio tapes, videos, CDs, posters, you name it.

But I remain one of those poets you might have read if you stumbled across a book of mine in a second hand store.  I recently had a phone call from a publisher of two of my books.  His publishing house had been purchased by a larger publishing house and one of the first things they were doing was purging by pulping "dead stock".  That meant that my remaining books would become toilet paper.  Perhaps an entirely too obvious metaphor but it wasn't allegorical, it was happening for real.

At this point in my literary career was bringing me little joy.

And it was a damned shame because I love poetry.  I started to write it because I loved reading it.  The first poet who really turned me on was Gwendolyn MacEwen and her fine book The Armies Of The Moon.

                                 "their leaders stand motionless
                                  on the rims of craters"

I didn't get it at all - but I liked it.  It made me feel smart and stupid at the same time.  Challenged and excited.  I liked that it was an entry point to a world I didn't know.  Of course I only know that in hindsight.  Since discovering MacEwen, I could easily divide my life into poetic discoveries.  After MacEwen, Cohen, Birney, Layton, Pratt, Lane, Lowther, Souster, Purdy, Bukowski. Ross, Tourbin... it is an endless list, an iceberg that I've shown the tip of.  Since then, outside of my marriage to my lovely and patient wife, my greatest joys have come from reading and discovering new poets.

A few months ago on while on Facebook, I posted a small note about a book of poetry I'd read and enjoyed.  For the fun of it kept doing it.  Two or three sentences and the title, name of the poet, etc.  After a few weeks my friend Christian McPherson said I should blog about the books, but I had no interest in that.  Then he said, "but they will send you books!"

Christian set up my blog and I started.  I write about books I like.  Not really reviews, because they lack any critical analysis - instead, I would call them appreciations.  And to my absolute joy and utter astonishment, Christian was right, books started to arrive at my door.  Little bundles of joy.  I started collecting poetry long before I thought of being a poet.  Having new books, new authors, arrive at the door, perfect.

Then a curious thing happened.  I'd always thought I was a good poet, not great, but happy to call myself good.  And like many poets I know, I had a chip on my shoulder about my lack of success, no small amount of jealousy about those whom I perceived received undeserved success (which really meant - any success other than mine).  Having all these new poets come through the door has been a staggering reality check and punch in the head.

In a few short weeks it was clear to me that there were an army of poets I hadn't read.  Gwendolyn's excellent army of poets who wrote in as many different ways as there are languages and voices.  It was a joy to discover and a release from any frustrations I had about my own craft.  Clearly I had been lucky to publish what I had, or at all.  All these years I'd been reading as much as I could find at the local stores, whatever I could amass - only to recently discover that the small stream I thought I was swimming in is a rather large river, an ocean in fact.  The vast army of poets, so many of them truly excellent, has given me back what I loved most, first.

I rediscovered the joy of finding new voices, voices that astonish.

Michael Dennis [photo by John W. MacDonald] was born in London, Ontario in 1956. He is the author of numerous books and chapbooks. His first, Quarter On Its' Edge, was published in 1979 and his most recent, The Uncertainty of Everything from Burnt Wine Press in 2011. His forthcoming title Blue Movies For Blues Players or Sonnets For The Eternally Sad, will be out this fall from Pooka Press in Vancouver. He blogs at http://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.ca/