Ariel Gordon's Blog, page 86

The Overnight Tour: Virden, MB

So Melissa Steele was my mentor via the MWG Emerging Writer Mentor program in 2002, when I was working on a novel.

And we would meet at Sal's on Stafford to go over chapters. And the weeks when we weren't meeting, I'd furtively drop new chapters in her mailbox.

She's since published another book and, this past year, was selected as the Winnipeg Public Library's Writer-in-Residence.

But she's always been interested in what I was writing...and what I was thinking and feeling about that writing.

Since taking up her post, Melissa has been doing some travel to rural communities in Manitoba.

One of those trips, which included both an evening reading and a daytime workshop, was to Virden, MB.

Melissa invited me to accompany her, and, so, after wrangling childcare from my sister, I did.

I've driven as far as Regina, SK (i.e. 600 km each way) by myself three or four times over the last year. And really enjoyed the trip, the time alone, the opportunity to wail along to my favourite music.

This trip was only 300 km and I didn't even turn on the radio the whole time. But it was still lovely...

We left early enough on Friday to a) take into account the frozen highway between Winnipeg and Virden and b) to be able to stop for Indian buffet in Brandon.

And we even had time to dress for a nice dinner at T's restaurant in Virden before the reading.

The reading was small but fun. And beyond the fact that I got to hear some of Melissa's new work, including a brace of postcard stories, it was an honour to read with her.

Afterwards, Virden's mayor showed up. He's a colleague of Melissa's sister, Winnipeg city councilor Jenny Gerbasi, and so was there to offer us an after-hours tour of the Virden opera house.

The opera house was built in 1911. And is a wonder, especially considering it's adjacent to the courthouse/council chambers and the steel-plated holding cell.

The next day, Melissa led a fiction workshop. And I piped up every so often. And it was good.

And I even sold a few books!

Shortlist READINGS

Lansdowne Prize for Poetry Nominees Reading
Featuring Ball, Gordon & Cayer

When: Thursday, March 31, 7 pm
Location: Aqua Books (274 Garry Street, between Graham and Portage)
Cost: FREE!

Jonathan Ball, Ariel Gordon and Lori Cayer have been shortlisted for this year's Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry/Prix Lansdowne de poésie.

Bookstore owner Kelly Hughes will hand out the prize at the Manitoba Book Awards on April 17, but in the meantime, Aqua Books is continuing its tradition of hosting nominee readings.

Award-winning writer Chandra Mayor will host.

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Jonathan Ball is the author of the poetry books Ex Machina (BookThug, 2009) and Clockfire (Coach House, 2010). He holds a Ph.D. in English with a focus in Creative Writing from the University of Calgary. His film Spoony B appeared on The Comedy Network, and his writing has appeared in The Believer and Harper's. He is the former editor of dandelion and the former short films programmer for the Gimli Film Festival.

Ariel Gordon is a writer whose first book of poetry, Hump, was published in spring 2010. How to Prepare for Flooding, a collaboration with designer Julia Michaud, is forthcoming from JackPine Press in 2011. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Lori Cayer's second volume of poetry, Attenuations of Force, was released by Frontenac House in 2010 as a finalist in the Dektet Series. Her first poetry collection, Stealing Mercury (The Muses' Company, 2004), won the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book in Manitoba in 2004, and in 2005 Lori won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. She serves as co-editor of English poetry for CV2 and is co-founder of the Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry/Prix Lansdowne de poésie, part of the Manitoba Writing and Publishing Awards. Lori works by day as an editorial assistant for a scientific research journal.

* * *

Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book nominees reading
Featuring Cadieux, McClarty, Gordon & Russell

When: Thursday, April 14, 7 pm
Location: Aqua Books (274 Garry Street, between Graham and Portage)
Cost: FREE!

Keith Cadieux, Theodore Fontaine, Sheila McClarty, Ariel Gordon and Craig Russell have been shortlisted for this year's Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book.

Bookstore owner Kelly Hughes will host.

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Keith Cadieux lives and writes in Winnipeg, where he grew up. His first published work was the novella Gaze which was released by Quattro Books in 2010. He holds a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Manitoba where he also received the Robert Kroetsch Creative MA Thesis Prize. Keith teaches English at the University of Winnipeg and will be working on a new collection of short stories while serving as Aqua Books' Writer in Residence from May to August, 2011.

Ariel Gordon is a writer whose first book of poetry, Hump, was published in spring 2010. How to Prepare for Flooding, a collaboration with designer Julia Michaud, is forthcoming from JackPine Press in 2011. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Oakbank, Manitoba author Sheila McClarty's stories have appeared in various magazines, including Grain, The Antigonish Review and The Fiddlehead. She won first prize at the Sheldon Currie Fiction contest. High Speed Crow (Oberon Press, 2010), a book of short stories, is her first book.

Craig Russell grew up on what may be the flattest half-section of land on the planet, six miles north of Carman. Now a lawyer in Brandon, along with wife Janet, Craig has spent the past twenty-two years restoring a 1906 Victorian home, The Johnson House. Ten years ago, Craig began to study acting in his spare time. He believes that live theatre is a great training ground for a writer's ear because it teaches you to recognize effective dialogue. Black Bottle Man, a YA fable released by Great Plains Publishing, is his first novel.

Shortlist! SHORTlist!

MANITOBA BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED

The Manitoba Writers' Guild and the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers are pleased to announce the Manitoba Book Awards shortlists.

The awards will be presented at the Manitoba Book Awards gala, on Sunday April 17th at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain and hosted by Catherine Hunter. Cocktails are at 7:00 p.m., with the ceremony beginning at 8:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The shortlists and recipients are selected by a variety of juries, comprised of writers, publishers and other book industry personnel from across Canada.

And the nominees are...

Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry/Prix Lansdowne de poésie
Attenuations of Force by Lori Cayer, published by Frontenac House
Clockfire by Jonathan Ball, published by Coach House Books
Hump by Ariel Gordon, published by Palimpsest Press

Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book
Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell, published by Great Plains Teen Fiction
Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools by Theodore Fontaine, published by Heritage House Publishing
Gaze by Keith Cadieux, published by Quattro Books
High Speed Crow by Sheila McClarty, published by Oberon Press
Hump by Ariel Gordon, published by Palimpsest Press

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For the rest of the awards - there are twelve in total - see the MWG site.

very very early...

So when the CBC Weekend Morning Show producers track you down and invite you to an very very early in-studio interview, you don't say no.

Even if they feel they have to warn you, TWICE, that this is "a family show..."

Listen!

NOTE TO SELF: Don't try to read a poem you've never performed when you've got an incipient migraine AND have lost an EXTRA hour of sleep because of bloody daylight savings time and it's early to begin with.

But all of that said, it was lovely being able to murmur in the ear of those people still-lightly-dozing and those already-awake-for-hours.

Listen!

And I have the CBC and Agatha Moir, whose voice was infinitely comforting oh so early in the morning, to thank for it.

Yay! Fun!

And yes, I did go back to bed after the show.

p.s. Audioboo only allows you to upload files to a max of five minutes. Real life is longer than five minutes, so I've uploaded part one and part two for your listening pleasure....

Poet/oracle

THIS JUST IN: Poet and part-time oracle Charles Leblanc will be joining the roster of artists for the March 23 League of Canadian Poets fundraiser.

(7 pm: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street. Pay what you can...)

Here's Charles' poet bio:

Charles Leblanc is a St. Boniface translator, writer, editor, actor and poet. He is a founding member of the Collectif post-neo-rieliste, and helps to create the Foyer des écrivains, the francophone programming for THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

He won the Prix littéraire Rue-Deschambault at the 2005 Manitoba Book Awards for L'appétit du compteur.

And here's his DEEPLY EXCELLENT oracle bio:

Wondrous Winnipeg oracle Charles Leblanc was born in Montreal and currently resides in St. Boniface. Like most prophetic seers, his career history has been varied, and includes work as a researcher in economics, barman, waiter, professional actor, arts events organizer, industrial worker, translator and lecturer at St. Boniface College. His writings are primarily in poetry, with strange forays into collaborative prose works and journalism. Mr. Leblanc will provide readings in both official languages.

L'extraordinaire oracle Charles Leblanc est né à Montréal et vit présentement à Saint-Boniface. Comme la plupart des voyants prophétiques, il a eu plusieurs carrières comme chercheur en sciences économiques, barman et serveur, acteur professionnel, organisateur d'événement artistiques, travailleur industriel, traducteur et chargé de cours au Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. Ses écrits portent principalement sur la poésie, avec d'étranges incursions dans des ouvrages coopératifs en prose et dans le journalisme. M. Leblanc offrira ses services dans les deux langues officielles du pays.

I mean, who wouldn't want their fortune told by a poet?

Yay! Fun!

radical poetry

Hey all,

As Manitoba rep of the League of Canadian Poets, it's my responsibility to organize a once-a-year fundraiser.

Lori Cayer, organizer extraordinaire and former MB rep, had done a series of events that looked effortless and were even fun.

Knowing that they were NOT effortless, I'm attempting something that approaches her events.

Thanks to all the readers! Thanks to the organizations and individuals who are donating items for the raffle! And thanks, too, to Aqua, for allowing me the room.

* * *

A Radical LCP Fundraiser
Featuring Bernadette Wagner with Chandra Mayor & Shawna Dempsey

When: Wednesday, March 23 at 7 pm
Where: Aqua Books (274 Garry Street)
Cost: Pay what you can

This year's fundraiser for the League of Canadian Poets will feature poetry, performance art and protest songs.

In addition to the militant marching band (!) and a one-night-only revival of the Winnipeg Tarot Company, we'll also have that LCP fundraiser stand-by, a raffle chock-full of bookish prizes.

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Regina writer Bernadette Wagner infuses her poetry and nonfiction with a love of land, a commitment to grassroots activism and the spirit of the prairies. When she's not writing, she's politicking. She's been known to speak out against government policies, fight to keep inner city libraries open and build feminist organizations. Her work has appeared in journals, anthologies, and magazines and on radio, television and film, in schools, on stages, in the streets and on the web. This hot place (Thistledown Press, 2010), a collection of poetry, explores the personal as political and the political as personal and received a Saskatchewan Book Award nomination.

Chandra Mayor's writing has appeared in several anthologies, including Interruptions: 30 Women Tell the Truth about Motherhood, Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets, and Post-Prairie. Her first book, August Witch: poems, was short-listed for four Manitoba book awards and won the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. She received the 2004 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Writer, and the following year her novel, Cherry, won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. The title story from her most recent book, All the Pretty Girls, won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction and was shortlisted for a 2008 CBC Literary Award. She lives in Winnipeg.

In a collaboration that has spanned well over a decade, Winnipeg multi-disciplinary artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan have created a body of internationally acclaimed work that addresses feminist, lesbian, and social concerns with biting wit.

library SUPER conference

The Literary Press Group table at the Ontario Library Super Conference, February 2011. (Credit: LPG)

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I know this mostly just demonstrates what a supergeek I am, but: MY. BOOK. IS. ON. THE. TABLE. Whee!

(And look! Nico Roger's book. And Kerry Ryan's book - on a stand, even!)

Poems & thrills

Jennifer Still / Holly Luhning launch, Wednesday, March 2 @ McNally Robinson Booksellers, Winnipeg, MB.

* * *

So Jenn & Holly were brilliant. And I was just this side of dreadful as facilitator but it was such an honour a) to be asked to facilitate by the kind people at McNally's and b) to get to talk to Jenn about her book in public.

We became friends just as her second book was accepted for publication by Brick and so it's really felt as though I've been a part of the whole process. I mean, the part where I do no work except drink down Jenn's tea. But still!

I'll make sure, the next time, that I can make terrible jokes when facilitating. Because, really, that's all I've got.

Thanks to M, as ever, for the pic.

Victoria writer digs up earthy, word-drunk humour

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Reviewed by: Ariel Gordon

After writing three books of poetry and burying - and eulogizing - her parents, Susan Stenson has arrived at a sense of wry gratitude.

The Victoria poet/publisher's latest book, Nobody Move (Sono Nis, 96 pages, $15), is full of earthy, word-drunk humour, as in her "Lovers and Lesser Men":

"There's no guarantee the size of a man's hands / has anything to do with his heart. But if he cooks, sleep with him. / Garlic, gorgonzola, baba ganoush."

Stenson writes of well-worn husbands, of sex and childhood and shaggy dogs.

Nobody Move is denser and slightly more absurd than the stark incandescence of My Mother Agrees with the Dead (2007), even if poems of loss and taking stock creep in amid the ribald glosas and aubades and voice poems.

This is poetry that takes a page from the whip-smart dames in movies from the 1930s: clever but with a speaking heart.

* * *

In the decade since the Saskatoon-based poet Anne Szumigalski died, all but one of her 16 collections have gone out of print.

So it is a great and good thing that A Peeled Wand: Selected Poems of Anne Szumigalski (96 pages, $15) has been published by Winnipeg's Signature Editions.

For all that Szumigalski was a pioneer as a Prairie poet and beloved in her adopted Saskatchewan and beyond, this book never feels like a dusty tribute.

The poems yowl and laugh and grieve and feel as fresh today as when Szumigalski first started publishing them in 1974, as is evidenced by this snippet from "In Praise of My Own Breasts":

"A lover told me one breast is a giant puffball the other a coconut. One is full of sweet milk the other of ripe spores. He didn't say which he admired the most."

* * *

The Scare in the Crow (Goose Lane Editions, 112 pages, $18) is Fredericton-based writer Tammy Armstrong's fourth collection and sixth book.

Armstrong is a peripatetic poet known for her tightly strung verse. but this effort finds her writing what seems to be domestic travel poetry.

She's compiled an uneasy Canadian bestiary in the book's first section, with poems about foxes, bears and porcupines. She also includes a handful about that most Canadian of pastimes, canoeing.

Armstrong appears to be plumbing what it means to return to a place after years away and begin to call it home, as in "Patron Saint Against Lost Keys":

"To use the key, / to call this address home, / your mouth shifts, forms something different: / heliotropic."

Also worth noting is how toothy and charged her language has become. Very nice!

* * *

In The Fetch: A Book of Voices (Brick Books, 120 pages, $19), Ontario-based storyteller Nico Rogers re-creates outport Newfoundland of 50 or 100 years ago in a way both surprising and familiar.

Familiar, because these texts/images have their share of gutted fish, drowned fisherman and starving widows, but surprising because there isn't the smallest drop of condescension or sentimentality in Rogers' debut.

And surprising, too, because The Fetch's orphans, widows and yearning men will make you cry as they turn themselves inside out on the page.

Rogers, who completed his MA - and a first draft of this book - at the University of Manitoba, wrote The Fetch in homage to his father. He didn't grow up in Newfoundland himself, but based his texts on interviews with relatives and community elders and time spent in archives.

And it works, thankfully, both as tribute and as art.

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg writer.

Poems and Thrills

A reading by Jennifer Still & Holly Luhning

Wednesday Mar 02 2011 7:00 pm,
McNally Robinson Booksellers: Grant Park in the Atrium

Following the readings, Still and Luhning will be joined in conversation by acclaimed Winnipeg-based poet Ariel Gordon, author of Hump and recipient of the 2010 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.

* * *

Jennifer Still's first collection of poems, Saltations, was nominated for three Saskatchewan Book Awards. Poems from her new collection Girlwood were finalists in the 2008 CBC Literary Awards. After living her adult years until just recently in Saskatchewan, Jennifer now lives in Winnipeg with her husband and two children.

In Girlwood, Still's poems come of age: they take the dare; they cross out of sapling and into maturity's thicket. But the poems don't leave the girl behind, they bring her along: as sylph, as raconteur, as witness, as pure, unstoppable bravado. These songs of liberation and confinement arise from the rich and mysterious connection between mother and daughter.

Raised in rural Saskatchewan and now living in Toronto, Holly Luhning hold a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, madness and theories of the body. She has received a Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor's Arts Award, and her collection of poetry, Sway, was nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award. Quiver is her first novel, a psychological thriller that focuses on a young forensic psychologist drawn to the legend of the infamous Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory.