report: the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch/party!

Happy anniversary! Once more, unto the breach, dear friends. I'm sure you are already aware that I recently hosted the thirty-second anniversary reading/launch/party for above/ground press over at RedBird Live in Old Ottawa South, a very good event this time around (as per usual, I might add). Do you remember my report from last year? Or the year prior? With readings and launches of new above/ground press titles by Monty Reid, Mandy Sandhu, Lina Ramona Vitkauskas, Jason Christie, Beatriz Hausner and Ellen Chang-Richardson, we had a wealth of above/ground press authors and others scattered throughout the audience, including Stuart Ross (who was given copies of his new above/ground press prose title at the event), Chris Johnson, Amanda Earl and Charles Earl, Christine McNair (running the door/book table), Michelle Desbarats (I've been hoping to convince a further manuscript out of her, by the way) and Chris Turnbull [above, with Christine]. I even got to meet Char Harrison, the new editorial coordinator for Ottawa's Arc Poetry Magazine. Can you believe it's almost time to be thinking of 2026 subscriptions? Gadzooks.

The first reader of the evening was Monty Reid, launching the twentieth anniversary edition of his 2005 title cuba A book [you probably already saw the big interview I conducted with him recently around the chapbook, over at the above/ground press substack], a chapbook he noted "didn't have the right star" on the first edition, so this update, this correction, was appreciated. This title is part of a long, meditative, ongoing sentence; one full-length, and a manuscript that some smart publisher should probably publish at some point. This is his seventh above/ground press title, with his debut through the press back in 2000, the small item Six Songs for the Mammoth Steppe (I do actually have a couple of copies kicking around the archive, somewhere), which he found curious to note: twenty-five years since the press began publishing his work. 

Mandy Sandhu followed, reading from her chapbook debut, The Temporary Place of a Placenta, as well as, I found out later, her first public reading! Not too bad, honestly. I was surprised it was her first! [I was part of St. Catharines writer/critic Gregory Betts first three public readings, whether as co-reader, host and/or organizer back in 2004, and you've seen how well he's done since]. I am curious to see where her work might go next. She recently composed this short piece for the Spotlight series, talking about her current work. Vitkauskas did record a part of Sandhu's reading, which Sandhu later put up on her Instagram.

The evening's third reader was Lina Ramona Vitkauskas, launching the chapbook The Deaf Forest of Cosmic Scaffolding, a title composed around the grief following the death of her partner, Larry Sawyer, who has a posthumous full-length Canadian debut forthcoming with Guernica Editions (which you should watch out for; I recently composed a blurb for it). Although, she did note that above/ground press did produce his Canadian debut, the chapbook A Chaise Lounge in Hell, all the way back in 2003 (I still have copies of that kicking around as well, somewhere). She ended her set with two of his poems, recorded by Sandhu (they make a good team, I think) and posted to Instagram. She even posted her own report on the event, as she and Sandhu had travelled together to Ottawa from Toronto, over at Instagram as well.

To open the second half of the evening was Ottawa poet Jason Christie, launching his ninth above/ground press title, PSA [you probably already saw the big interview I conducted with him recently, over at the above/ground press substack], with his own debut through the press back in 2004, back when he still lived in Calgary, the chapbook 8th Ave 15th St NW (which I might also might still have copies of, by the way, for anyone curious). 

The penultimate reader of the evening was Toronto poet Beatriz Hausner, launching her above/ground press debut, The Oh Oh [you probably already saw the interview I conducted with her over at Touch the Donkey, given she's in the current issue]. Honestly, as much as I enjoyed her reading, the best part about her participation in the event is that we got to hang out the evening prior, discussing literature, surrealism and other subjects (the first time I think we've properly hung out, so I appreciated that).

The final reader of the event was Ellen Chang-Richardson, launching their above/ground press debut, The Moleskin Coat, providing a stellar reading. They recently had one of the finest debut poetry titles I've read in some time, I'll have you know, the collection Blood Belies (Wolsak and Wynn, 2024). I had been a few years gently prodding at Chang-Richardson for a possible chapbook submission, and they even wrote this particular title with the press in mind! Quite a compliment, I think. A very cool thing.

Thank you to everyone who came out! What should I do for next year? I should probably have taken more photos during the event, of course. Or perhaps even better photos?