Jason Christie's glass / language / untitled / exaltation (2022) HAS WON THE 2023 bpNICHOL CHAPBOOK AWARD

Incredible congratulations to Ottawa poet Jason Christie, who has won the bpNichol Chapbook Award for his glass / language / untitled / exaltation (above/ground press, 2022)! Check out the Meet the Presses YouTube channel, where they have a video of Jason reading from the poems! And congratulations to the other shortlisted titles as well: Light Years, by Laboni Islam: baseline press; The Lake, by James Lindsay: knife/fork/book; Third State of Being, by Cassidy McFadzean: Gaspereau Press; I Need Not Be Good, by kitchen mckeown: Rahila’s Ghost Press (all of whom are also reading from their titles on the Meet the Presses YouTube channel). The prize was announced earlier this afternoon in Toronto at this year's Meet the Presses Indie Market! Unfortunately, above/ground press was unable to be there this year, but Jason is on-site (presumably) signing and selling many copies of the second printing of his award-winning title!

As part of his win, above/ground press is offering copies of all but one (his 2013 title, Government, is essentially out-of-print) of his above/ground press titles over the years as a bundle: 8th Ave 15th St NW. (2004), Cursed Objects (2014), The Charm (2015), random_lines = random.choice (2017), glass language (excerpt) (2018), Bridge and Burn (2021) and glass / language / untitled / exaltation (second printing, 2023) for $35. I only have ten bundles to offer, so get those orders in! To order, send cheques (add $3 for postage; in US, add $5; outside North America, add $10) 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

Here's the short write-up that Meet the Presses read for me as part of the award announcement, in my absence:

I’m enormously pleased to hear that Jason Christie’s glass / language / untitled / exaltation won this year’s bpNichol Chapbook Award. This was Jason’s third time on the bpNichol shortlist, all of which were with above/ground press titles—his Cursed Objects (2014) made the 2015 shortlist, and Government (2013) made the 2014 list—three of some eight different titles of his that above/ground press has produced since 2004, back when he still lived in Calgary.

It is exciting to consider that this win adds Jason’s name to a list of Canadian writers that includes Mark Laba, Paul George Bowering, Janice Williamson, Barry McKinnon, Robert Kroetsch, P.K. Page, Stan Dragland, Lisa Robertson, Christine Leclerc and Gil McElroy, all of whom also won the bpNichol Chapbook Award. Jason’s work has long deserved an attention more than what it has been, although one might say that of most poets working in Canada. What am I even saying? Jason is great and his work is great and you should read more of Jason’s work. I am proud to know that above/ground press has played even a small part in any of this.