above/ground press author spotlights : substack : Trivedi, Houglum, Tierney, Christie, Gray, Reid, Unsworth, Ballard, O’Reilly, Ladouceur, Sikkema, Siklosi, Norris, Nećakov, Saklikar, Fagan, Earl + Downs,

Since building my above/ground press substack last spring, I've started posting a series of interviews with above/ground press authors (new platform, new project, after all), focusing on authors published through the press with a new/recent chapbook, as well as multiple publications with the press, to give each interview a bit more heft. Since May, I've posted interviews with Amish Trivedi, Brook Houglum, Orchid Tierney, Jason Christie, Steph Gray, Monty Reid, Lydia Unsworth, Micah Ballard, Nathanael O’Reilly, Ben Ladouceur, Michael Sikkema, Kate Siklosi, Ken Norris, Lillian Nećakov, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Cary Fagan, Amanda Earl and Buck Downs, with forthcoming interviews still to post with poets including russell carisse, Pearl Pirie, Guy Birchard, Jill Stengel, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, N.W. Lea and Gary Barwin, among others. Otherwise, I do post a round-up of new publications every two months or so, as well as a round-up of the weekly "author activity" posts, also every two months or so (but I didn't want the substack to simply be a replication of the blog, right?) Free to sign up! And lands as an email, direct to your in-box. Huzzah! And can you believe the press turns thirty-three years old this summer? Gadzooks!

some author activity: Davis, Norris, Ladouceur, Doller, Maloukis, Trivedi + Boyle,

Jordan Davis has some new poems up at A Poet in Mexico; part five of Ken Norris' Confessions is now online; Ben Ladouceur has a poem up at NewPoetry; Sandra Doller writes on Fanny Howe's "The Witness" for Poetry Daily; Rose Maloukis has a poem in print and online at The New Quarterly; Amish Trivedi has a piece on C.D. Wright as part of a curated "cluster" on her work at Post45; and Frances Boyle has new work up at Public Reverie.

some author activity: benedict, Robinson, Pittella, Logan, Smallfield, Boughn + Trivedi,

alex benedict is zoom-interviewed on his periodicities essay, the poetics of Rilke, Celan, etc.; Ben Robinson is interviewed via All Lit Up; Carlos A. Pittella has a new poem on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month; Nate Logan has new work up at Community Mausoleum; Edward Smallfield also has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog; the video of Michael Boughn's recent Toronto reading is now online at YouTube; and Amish Trivedi now has a substack.

above/ground press author spotlight #1 : Amish Trivedi

The first author spotlight landed yesterday on the new above/ground press substack!

Amish Trivedi is the author of three books, most recently FuturePanic (Co•Im•Press, 2021) and four chapbooks from above/ground: The Destructions (2015), What We Remembered Before the Fire (2018), The Universe is an Earth-Shaped Urn (2021) and The Breakers (Expanded) (2021). In February 2023, above/ground press produced Report from the Trivedi Society Vol. 1 No. 1 (2023). Trivedi’s poems are in Denver Quarterly, American Poetry Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and are forthcoming in The Georgia Review. He has an MFA from Brown, a PhD from Illinois States, and is an assistant professor at the University of Delaware. Amish Trivedi reads on April 10, 2025 in Oneonta, New York as part of the Visiting Writers Series at Hartwick College.

some author activity: Ballard, Smith, Kaminski, Trivedi + Houbolt,

the livestream video for Kevin Opstedal and Micah Ballard's July 21, 2024 reading at Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco is now online; Mahaila Smith is interviewed over at News & Press from The Future Fire; Megan Kaminski has poems from a new project forthcoming in Plant Perspectives; Amish Trivedi read some poems as part of the Disaster Research Center 60th Anniversary Workshop at the University of Delaware, now up on YouTube; and Kyla Houbolt has two new poems and a write-up newly posted at Moist Poetry Journal.

some author activity: Notley, Martin, Waldrop, Collis, Trivedi, Olsen + Iijima,

Alice Notley has a new poem up at Harper's magazine; Camille Martin has been posting further to her blog lately; obituary for Keith Waldrop in The New York Times; Stephen Collis is featured up at Etcetera; Amish Trivedi has some new poems up at Tupelo Quarterly; and Geoffrey Olsen and Brenda Iijima have new work in the debut issue of The Call Center Collective.

some author activity: Robinson, Shea, Trivedi, Hyland, Greenstreet, Nilson, Gray, Iijima, Young + Martin,

Elizabeth Robinson, Michael Martin Shea, Amish Trivedi, MC Hyland, Kate Greenstreet and others all have new work in TYPO 34; Geoffrey Nilson, Stephanie Gray (a poem for Brenda Iijima) and Geoffrey Young each have new poems up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month; and Camille Martin has been working on a number of collages lately, over at her blog.

2023 #AWP (unofficial) offsite (virtual) readings : day three of five: Nećakov, Trivedi, Christie, Kelsey + Rebrec,

Furthering this week’s thread as part of the above/ground press thirtieth anniversary as an adjunct to this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual Conference and Bookfair, one might begin to ask: just how offsite is offsite? What does it mean, exactly? One suspects that, in the end, we might discover that the true meaning of #AWP was actually inside of us this whole time.

Lillian Nećakov is the author many chapbooks, including The Lake Contains and Emergency Room (Apt. 9 Press; shortlisted for the bpNichol Chapbook Award), as well as the full-length collections il virus (Anvil Press; shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award), Hooligans (Mansfield Press), The Bone Broker (Mansfield Press), Hat Trick (Exile Editions), Polaroids (Coach House Books) and The Sickbed of Dogs (Wolsak and Wynn). Her new book, Midnight Glossolalia, a collaborative poetry collection with Scott Ferry and Lauren Scharhag was published in February, 2023 (Meat for Tea Press). Her other new book, duck eats yeast, quacks, explodes; man loses eye, a collaborative poem with Gary Barwin is forthcoming in May 2023 from Guernica Editions. She has also published in many print and online journals in Canada and the U.S. Lillian lives in Toronto.

Amish Trivedi is the author of three books, most recently FuturePanic (Co•Im•Press). He has poems in American Poetry Review, Bennington Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and others. He has an MFA from Brown, a Ph.D. from Illinois State, and is a Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Delaware.

Jason Christie lives and writes in Ottawa. He is the author of Canada Post (Invisible), i-ROBOT (Edge/Tesseract), Unknown Actor (Insomniac), and Cursed Objects (Coach House). His most recent chapbooks are: Glass Language Untitled Exaltation (excerpt) (above/ground) and Heavy Metal Litany (Model press). He is looking for a home for a new manuscript of poetry he wrote with the help of several Python scripts.

Laura Kelsey is a poet and performer living in Nanaimo, B.C., which is on Snuneymuxw First Nations Territory. Her poems have appeared in publications including the New Chief Tongue, the Carnegie Newsletter, Stone Pacific Zine and Sea & Cedar Magazine; and her debut chapbook west coast shorts was published by above/ground press in May 2022. Her four-song debut EP Hunting Season is out April 29.

Angela Rebrec lives and works on the unceeded, ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, scəw̓aθən, Stó:lō, and qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ peoples. Her most recent writing has appeared in Vallum, Prairie Fire, GRAIN, The Dalhousie Review, as well as the anthology Voicing Suicide (Ekstasis Editions, 2020). Angela’s poetry films have been recognized at the Barcelona International Film Festival, FilmmakerLife Awards, and Santa Barbara International Shortfest, among others. Her 2020 collaboration with composer Mickie Wadsworth for ART SONG LAB has been included in NewMusicShelf’s Anthology of New Music for Trans & Nonbinary Voices, vol.1. Angela is active in her community supporting the arts by facilitating writing and expressive arts workshops for kids and adults of all age. She is the founding and current president of the Delta Literary Arts Society (DLAS).

new from above/ground press: Report from the Trivedi Society. Vol. 1 No. 1

Report from the Trivedi Society
Vol 1. No. 1
edited by rob mclennan
$7

an assemblage of writing in response
to the work of Amish Trivedi

including
poems, critical writings
and
philosophical transactions

with contributions by:
Marty Cain
Chris Carosi
Joshua Corey
Michelle Detorie
Forrest Gander
francois luong
Lance Phillips
Prageeta Sharma and Mike Stussy
Alina Stefanescu
G.C. Waldrep
Nikki Wallschlaeger
Thomas Whyte

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
full list of published reports here
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Report on the Society logo by C. McNair, editor’s devil (retired)

Amish Trivedi has published four chapbooks with above/ground press: The Destructions (2015), What We Remembered Before the Fire (2018), The Universe is an Earth-Shaped Urn (2021) and The Breakers (Expanded) (2021).

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Eleftherion, Hunter, Waldrop, Trivedi, Mohammadi + Melançon,

both Melissa Eleftherion and Carrie Hunter have new work in the bisexual issue of Hot Pink Magazine; Rosmarie Waldrop is interviewed on the Between the Covers podcast via Tin House by David Naimon; Amish Trivedi has four new poems up at The Brooklyn Rail; Khashayar Mohammadi has new work up at Iterant, and Jérôme Melançon reads in October at the Festival International de la Poésie, Trois-Rivières.

some author activity: Gunnars, Mohammadi, Clayton, Hancock + O'Reilly,

[Khashayar Mohammadi, Amish Trivedi + rob mclennan during the recent VERSeFest/Factory Lecture Series event; photo by Pearl Pirie] Kristjana Gunnars participates in Turnstone Press' 2 Poem Tuesday alongside D.A. Lockhart; Khashayar Mohammadi participates in the "12 or 20 questions" interview series; Conyer Clayton has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; VERSeFest 2021 poet-in-residence Brecken Hancock does an interview for Rogers Ottawa; and Nathanael O'Reilly has a new poem in the latest issue of Backstory.

some author activity: Hamilton, mclennan, Tate, Rosenthal + Trivedi,

["describe your writing process as a single gif"] Eaton Hamilton has a new essay up at Guernica magazine; rob mclennan has a new poem up at The Babel Tower Notice Board; Bronwen Tate has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Sarah Rosenthal has a new essay up at Entropy mag; and Amish Trivedi has a new essay up at Post45.

new from above/ground press: The Breakers (Expanded), by Amish Trivedi

The Breakers (Expanded)
Amish Trivedi
$5

Addiction to a Friend of Mine

Ready to shake this game of things-
a furniture rope of burnt offers:
too many eggs blessing.  A

delicate rewind, her fingers
preferred to digest the saturated
soil, a Hare Gunge!

bending higher states in.  Driving
on a filament, this scheme of things.
A care would like a word on a

wing, fiddling like a standing
light more. To this movement,
we are a gutter.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

an earlier version of this was published in 2008 as part of Absent magazine.

Amish Trivedi wrote Sound/Chest (Coven 2015) and Your Relationship to Motion Has Changed (Shearsman 2019). He has an MFA and PhD and lives in Maryland.

This is Trivedi’s fourth above/ground press chapbook, after The Destructions (2015), What We Remembered Before the Fire (2018) and The Universe is an Earth-Shaped Urn (2021).

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Boyle, O'Reilly, Dennis, Pirie, Trivedi + Solomon,

Frances Boyle has been on fire (again) lately, with new work up at MookyChick, The Wild Word and Vox Viola; Nathanael O'Reilly has a new piece as part of the "Talking Poetics" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter ; Pearl Pirie has posted a short piece on Michael Dennis; Amish Trivedi is being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; and Misha Solomon has started a newsletter of weekly poems, some gay poems, which you should totally sign up for.

new from above/ground press: The Universe in an Earth-Shaped Urn, by Amish Trivedi

The Universe in an Earth-Shaped Urn
Amish Trivedi
$5

There is a moon in the window and it’s burning even if we can’t see it. When it was overcast before, there was an indelicateness. What was meant has never mattered— what we call ourselves, how defined the boundaries of the self, matters more to everyone I am not. But do not generalize: maybe there is a me I have never seen because there is nothing anyways.

 

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
January 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Amish Trivedi wrote Sound/Chest (Coven 2015) and Your Relationship to Motion Has Changed (Shearsman 2019). He has an MFA and PhD and lives in Maryland.

This is Trivedi’s third above/ground press chapbook, after The Destructions (2015) and What We Remembered Before the Fire (2018). A fourth is forthcoming.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Trivedi, Folsom, Hofmann, Boyle + Solomon,

Amish Trivedi writes on Mark Novak's Social Poetics for The Iowa Review blog; Eric Folsom has a new poem up at the Kingston Public Library website; part two of a manifesto by forthcoming author Ava Hofmann is now online at the Action Books blog; Frances Boyle has a new poem up at Artis Natura; and Misha Solomon has an essay in the "Talking Poetics" series.

some author activity: hanna, Thomas, Trivedi, Maguire, Barton, Aigen, Spinosa + Weaver,

natalie hanna has a new poem on the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as do Hugh Thomas, Amish Trivedi and Shannon Maguire; John Barton is interviewed for the Chaudiere Books blog in the "Six Questions" series; Razielle Aigen is interviewed at Train : a poetry journal; and Dani Spinosa writes on Andy Weaver for Open Book.

some author activity: Eleftherion, Rogal, Clayton, Polyck-O'Neill, Christie + Trivedi

Melissa Eleftherion has some poems up at the tiny; Stan Rogal is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; Conyer Clayton is profiled over at Open Book; Julia Polyck-O'Neill has new work up at IceFloe Press; Jason Christie has a new poem up at at the Coach House Books blog; and Amish Trivedi has new work up at the re-launched Can We Have Our Ball Back?

some author activity: mclennan, Prime, Robinson, Caple + Trivedi,

rob mclennan has a new poem in the 'poetry pause' series via The League of Canadian Poets; Tom Prime has an essay celebrating forty years of Proper Tales Press; Ben Robinson is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; R.M. Vaughan interviewed Natalee Caple for This magazine; and Amish Trivedi has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.

some author activity: Trivedi, Collis, Braune, Ladouceur + Ayer,

Amish Trivedi has an excerpt of a current work-in-progress, along with a note on the project, now up at Jacket2; Stephen Collis has a new poem up at Train : a poetry journal, as does Sean Braune; Dayne Ogilvie winner Ben Ladouceur is interviewed over at Open Book; and forthcoming author Beth Ayer has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.