some author activity: Barwin, Tierney, Strang, Mc Donnell, Sparrow, Swensen, Johnson + Earl,

Doreen Nicoll interviews Gary Barwin for the Small Change Podcast; Orchid Tierney has new work in petrichor; Catriona Strang has a poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Conor Mc Donnell, Noah Sparrow, Cole Swensen and Chris Johnson; and Amanda Earl is part of an assemblage of translations of John Keats over at Asymptote, as curated by Johanna Drucker.

Meredith Quartermain, Catriona Strang, Brook Houglum : above/ground press (Vancouver) chapbook launch : June 15 2025

Meredith Quartermain, Catriona Strang, Brook Houglum
: above/ground press (Vancouver) chapbook launch

June 15, 2025 @ 7pm | People’s Co-Op Books
1391 Commercial Drive | Vancouver, BC | V5L 3X5

Meredith Quartermain’s most recent book is Lullabies in the Real World (shortlisted for an Alberta Book Publishers’ award). Vancouver Walking won a BC Book Award for Poetry, and Nightmarker was a finalist for a Vancouver Book Award. She is also the author of two novels and two books of short fiction: Recipes from the Red Planet (BC fiction award finalist) and I, Bartleby. From 2014-2016, she served as Poetry Mentor in the SFU Writer’s Studio program. Her work has appeared in The Malahat Review, Prism International, The Dalhousie Review, Event Magazine, The Capilano Review, Golden Handcuffs Review, and many other magazines. She will be launching her above/ground press title, Things Musing (April 2025).

A founding member of the Institute for Domestic Research, Catriona Strang is the author of Unfuckable Lardass, Reveries of a Solitary Biker, Corked, and Low Fancy, and  co-author of Light Sweet Crude, Cold Trip, and Busted with the late Nancy Shaw, whose selected works, The Gorge, she edited.

She frequently collaborates with composer Jacqueline Leggatt, and lives with her two grown kids on stolen xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ Lands. She has been involved for decades in the Vancouver writing community, including in her paid work as editor at Talonbooks. She is recovering from decades of caring labour. She will be launching her above/ground press debut, from What If I Sang "Flower of Scotland"? (January 2025).

Brook Houglum [see her recent author spotlight interview here] has recently published the chapbooks Anthronoise (2024) and Inventory (2025) with above/ground press. She teaches at Capilano University and lives in Vancouver on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ lands. She will be launching her second above/ground press title, INVENTORY (April 2025).

some author activity: Logan, Burdick, Brenner, Barwin + Strang,

Nate Logan has new work up at The Pi Review, as does Alice Burdick; Summer Brenner is interviewed by Jane Rosenberg LaForge for Rain Taxi; Gary Barwin has posted a new poem-video online; Nate Logan also has new work up at The Under Review; and Catriona Strang joins the faculty at Banff Writing Studios as part of their summer program.

new from above/ground press: from What If I Sang “Flower of Scotland”?, by Catriona Strang

from What If I Sang “Flower of Scotland”?
Catriona Strang
$5

Crash-tackle

Descendant of the last man
in the scrum, I would not
act alone along
the lines of this
well-rucked blood bin where
the Wolf finds his interests
under the pressure of ritualized
aggression: tenants and taxes
rocked, stung, yet still
at odds over the porridge oats
barrelling their way over
the line of touch. What if
the enclosing fences sang, almost as
venerable as waves
of complaint pouring
out of trains, an ungrounding
pulse-over on a mud heap
in heavy rain, this knock-on that
begins to permeate the working
class, sealed by the extraordinary
wealth accrued in the maul – tweed,
hosiery, knitwear, linen – passionate
and intense in the face of
a forward rush of toil
and fatigue, hunger and
peril: “Feet, Scotland,
Feet!”

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
January 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover artwork: Aoife McLennan

Catriona Strang is a first-generation settler of primarily Scottish heritage who lives on stolen xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Lands. Her most recent publication is Unfuckable Lardass (Talonbooks, 2022). She is the author of five other books of poetry, several written in collaboration with the late Nancy Shaw, whose selected works, The Gorge, she edited (Talonbooks, 2017).

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) 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: Flowers, Mc Donnell, Strang, Rogal, Carr + Nichol,

Neil Flowers has a new poem up at The Typescript; Conor Mc Donnell has a poem and statement up at the Spotlight series; Catriona Strang has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem' series; Stan Rogal has two new poems up at The Pi Review; Julie Carr has new work up at Antiphony; and a 1984 episode of the TVO program Canadian Literature is on YouTube, featuring the late Toronto poet bpNichol.

the Vancouver launch of Rob Manery's SOME magazine, June 23, 2019 w Stephen Collis, Nicole Markotić etc

above/ground press authors Stephen Collis and Nicole Markotić read along with Michael Barnholden, Ted Byrne, Louis Cabri, Clint Burnham and Catriona Strang in Vancouver on Sunday, June 23, 2019 as part of the launch of the debut issue of Rob Manery's new poetry journal, SOME magazine. Further details on where and how to pick up an issue once that becomes available.