Concrete Poetry exhibition at the Secret Handshake Gallery, Toronto:

Concrete is Porous
Act 1: Visual

An exhibition of concrete poetry.

November 3, 2018 to February 23, 2019
Opening reception November 3, 2:30pm to 6:30pm
The Secret Handshake Gallery
170a Baldwin Street
Toronto, Ontario

Featuring works by a variety of above/ground authors and non-authors, including bill bissett, dani spinosa, kate siklosi, eric schmaltz, derek beaulieu, michèle prevost, adeena karasick, david tin mouth, w mark sutherland, steve mccaffery, peggy lefler, mark laliberte, bpnichol, karl bekker, jim andrews, gary barwin, gustave morin, chad juriansz, paul dutton, michael e casteels, barbara caruso, amanda earl, jwcurry, judith copithorne, grant wilkins, hart broudy and daniel f bradley!

Scott Bryson reviews Derek Beaulieu’s tattered sails (after un coup de des) (2018) in Broken Pencil #81

Scott Bryson was good enough to provide the first review of Derek Beaulieu’s tattered sails (after un coup de des) (2018) in Broken Pencil #81. Thanks so much! It reads:

1969: Belgian poet Marcel Broodthaers reimagines French poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s Un Coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hazard (1897), replacing all of its text with solid black bars. The homage is an attempt to amplify Mallarmé’s inventive utilization of space.

            2018: Derek Beaulieu takes Broodthaers’ work and folds it, shifting the horizontal bars, he says, into “the hang and fold of sails on the mast… heaving beams and broken masts of a ship-wreck of meaning.” Beaulieu’s nautical approach is evidently inspired by Mallarmé’s original, which was heavy on upheaval, ship-wrecks, and the movement of water.

            This far removed from its original state, the altered Mallarmé material is more about associations, evolution, and performance than it is about poetry. If you’re not willing to dive into the history of tattered sails, you’re not getting much more than slanted black lines. As a stand-alone work, meaning is obscured – the value is in the voyage.

            In circling back to the initial text thematically, Beaulieu has provided us a closing chapter – that we didn’t know we needed – for a process that was launched 120 years ago.

some author activity: Barwin, Braune, mclennan, Polyck-O'Neill, Boisvert + Dennis,

Gary Barwin has some new work up at talking about strawberries all of the time, as do Sean Braune, rob mclennan and Julia Polyck-O'Neill; Jon Boisvert is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey, and Amy Dennis had some work up at Stuart Ross' the week shall inherit the verse.

25th Anniversary of above/ground press at OIWF: w Ridley, McElroy + Mangold

25th Anniversary of above/ground press
with Sandra Ridley, Gil McElroy and Sarah Mangold
Hosted by Stephen Brockwell
as part of the ottawa international writers festival

"The impact of above/ground press has been so great, some authors can’t remember a time without it."
— Apt. 613

Tuesday, October 30, 2018
FREE EVENT
7pm, Christ Church Cathedral • 414 Sparks Street Ottawa

As part of its silver anniversary year, the above/ground press has produced a limited edition set of single-poem broadsides by an array of above/ground press authors.

Curated by publisher/editor rob mclennan and designed by Christine McNair, the series will be launched by Sarah Mangold, Gil McElroy and Sandra Ridley, who will be joined on-stage by rob mclennan for a conversation on the press’s twenty-fifth year. Moderated by Stephen Brockwell.

More details on the broadsides to be announced very soon! Copies will, of course, be available at the event;

See Sandra Ridley's bio here ; Gil McElroy's bio here ; Sarah Mangold's bio here

for further information on the event and the festival, check out the link here

Derek Beaulieu named Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

fwd: Media Release
For immediate release

Calgary’s former Poet Laureate Derek Beaulieu [and above/ground press author] named Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

BANFF, AB, October 9 – Derek Beaulieu, an award winning professor at the Alberta College of Art and Design and Mount Royal University, has been appointed the next Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Beaulieu will take up his post on October 15, 2018 and is thrilled to be taking on this important role. Born in Montréal, Beaulieu moved to Calgary as a young boy and has built his career here.

“I grew up in Alberta, and have worked with the artistic and literary community here and across the country for decades. I believe that Banff Centre is unique in Canada as a place where writers come to explore their craft and be mentored by some of the most illustrious figures in literary arts. I am thrilled to get this opportunity to add to the rich legacy of literary arts at Banff Centre,” said Beaulieu.

As Calgary’s former Poet Laureate (2014–16), Beaulieu enjoyed being a cultural ambassador for the literary and visual arts, something he will continue while at Banff Centre. An award winning instructor, Beaulieu has taught creative writing and contemporary literature. A prolific author, editor, and visual artist, his work has also been exhibited internationally in over 20 solo and group exhibitions.

“We are so pleased Derek is joining our team at Banff Centre. It’s exciting to have an author and artist from Alberta to lead Literary Arts. We know Derek will succeed magnificently in this new role,” said Janice Price, President and CEO of Banff Centre.

“Derek impressed us all with his passion, ideas, and commitment to the regional, national, and international literary world. Derek is widely celebrated for his lifetime achievements, his depth of experience as an educator, and as a published writer. He is also a builder of community and an advocate for the role art can play in shaping our understanding of who we are that made him a perfect fit,” said Howard Jang, Vice President of Arts and Leadership of Banff Centre.

Derek Beaulieu is the author and editor of 20 collections of poetry, prose, and criticism including two volumes of his selected work Please No More Poetry: the poetry of derek beaulieu (2013) and Konzeptuelle Arbeiten (2017). His most recent volume of fiction, a, A Novel was published by Paris’s Jean Boîte Editions.

Beaulieu lives in Calgary with his wife and daughter and will be relocating to Banff this fall.

For more information, please contact:

Jenny Spurr
Manager, Communications
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
T1L 1H5
tel: 403.431.0261
jenny_spurr@banffcentre.ca

some author activity: Armantrout, Moure, Waldrop, Eleftherion + Gruber,

Rae Armantrout, Erín Moure + Rosmarie Waldrop, along with multiple others, have new work as part of the #MeToo: A Poetry Collective feature at Chicago Review; Melissa Eleftherion is interviewed in the "12 or 20 questions" series; and Adrienne Gruber has some new work + a statement as part of rob mclennan's "Spotlight" series over at Medium.

above/ground press at Canzine Ottawa / October 13

above/ground press will be exhibiting at Ottawa's first ever Canzine on October 13, 2018 at the Ottawa Art Gallery!

You should totally come out if you are able. Free to get in! Yay!

noon to 6pm
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Ottawa Art Gallery - Galerie d'art d'Ottawa
50 Mackenzie King Bridge, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 0C5

All of this, of course, simply as build-up to the semi-annual ottawa small press book fair on November 24th, an event that will be celebrating (as you know) twenty-four glorious years!