some author activity: Fuhr, Niespodziany + mclennan,

Laurie Anne Fuhr is interviewed in the "Six Questions" series via the Chaudiere Books blog; Benjamin Niespodziany has new work up at Peach mag, and at Litro, and is interviewed over at Gone Lawn; rob mclennan has a new poem up at Train: a poetry journal, and is interviewed by Lori Hettler in the 40 bu 10 questions interview series.

some author activity: mclennan, Earl, Hyland, Fuhr + Gurton-Wachter,

rob mclennan is interviewed by Christine Stoddard at Quill Bell magazine on curating the Tuesday poem series at the dusie blog; Amanda Earl has a poem in the poetry pause series via The League of Canadian Poets website; MC Hyland gets some love for her above/ground press chapbook via Instagram from Erin Emily Ann Vance; Laurie Fuhr reported on her recent Ottawa time, including her participation in the annual Christmas party/reading etc for The Peter F. Yacht Club; and Anna Gurton-Wachter has new work in Ginger #15.

The Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta : a report,

Friday night was our annual Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta, once again in our usual space in Parkdale Market's Carleton Tavern [see last year's report here], held as the "office Christmas party" for our informal writer's grouping.

The evening held a myriad of short readings by PFYC regulars, including Amanda Earl, Monty Reid, Frances Boyle, Pearl Pirie and myself, as well as special guests Stuart Ross and PFYC founding member Laurie Anne Fuhr, launching her first trade collection! As with an event like this, there were absences a-plenty, as Jason Christie, Chris Turnbull, Anita Dolman, James Moran, Cameron Anstee, Vivian Vavassis, D.S. Stymiest, Roland Prevost and Janice Tokar simply couldn't make it. And of course, Marilyn Irwin had put herself down as a "maybe" to read, and then I completely forgot to put her on the set list (dammit!). (I'll just have her read twice next year.)

Originally, natalie hanna and Chris Johnson were also on the bill, but natalie had to send her regrets (Chris was simply a no-show; where did he go?).

Christine and our young ladies had been there as well, but just up to the point of the readings, when they wandered home for bedtime, which meant, among other things, Christine wasn't able to read. Given the day allowed me to get to the tavern for 3pm for the sake of some writing time, Christine and the wee girls came by around 5pm to join me for dinner, before we headed upstairs to prepare for the event (and the girls danced/ran laps around the room). They also spent a great deal of time attempting to eat further of the lemon icebox cookies I had made that morning.

The house was packed! A crowd that included Robert Hogg, Stephen Brockwell, Michael Dennis, Avonlea Fotheringham, Jenna Jarvis (all the way from the east), Claire Farley, Craig Simon, Grant Savage (who most likely took photos far superior to these), allison calvern, jesslyn delia smith, Steve Zytveld + Cathy MacDonald-Zytveld, Grant Wilkins, Brian Pirie, Kees Kapteyn, jwcurry and plenty of others. Huzzah!

Amanda Earl was good enough to read from her broadside produced as part of the above/ground press 25th anniversary; Pearl Pirie read from two new chapbooks, including one self-produced as a give-away for the event; Monty Reid read from his new above/ground press title, produced as the final item of 2018, composing a sequence on the underground seams of coal throughout Alberta that occasionally catch fire; Frances Boyle read an excerpt from her recently-published novella; and Stuart Ross, who originally hadn't planned on reading, was convinced (with some slight prompting) to read a couple of pieces, including the handout he made for the event. Pearl, as well, was good enough to provide a hat for readers (most of whom declined), a hat she'd only been meaning to bring to the event for years.

It was very cool to be able to host Calgary-based Laurie Anne Fuhr and the launch of her first full-length poetry collection. A founding member of The Peter F. Yacht Club, way back in 1999 when all of this nonsense began [see the short history I posted on the group back in 2010 here], it was grand to be able to hear her read (and an impressive reading it was! she even managed to slip a drink order to bartender Derek mid-poem, in the most casual way), especially given she isn't able to make it back this way as often as she'd like.

The Peter F. Yacht Club regatta/reading/christmas party!

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan;

The Peter F. Yacht Club annual regatta/christmas party/reading

at The Carleton Tavern (upstairs)
233 Armstrong Avenue (at Parkdale Market)
Friday, December 28, 2017
doors 7pm, reading 7:30pm

with readings from yacht club regulars and irregulars alike, including Amanda Earl, Chris Johnson, Christine McNair, Frances Boyle, natalie hanna, Pearl Pirie and rob mclennan (and most likely some others).

Special Guest: Laurie Fuhr, launching her debut full-length collection!

readings! joyousness! baked goods!

The Robert Kroetsch Award Shortlist: Lea Graham + Laurie Fuhr

Congratulations to above/ground press authors Lea Graham and Laurie Fuhr, included on the 2016 shortlist for The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry!

Calgary poet and musician Laurie Fuhr is the author of the above/ground press chapbook accident: a chain reaction (1999), and Lea Graham, originally from Arkansas, is the author of the above/ground press chapbook Calendar Girls (2006) and co-author (with rob mclennan) of the collaboration metric (2011).

Graham's chapbook, This End of the World: Notes to Robert Kroetsch (Apt. 9 Press), is forthcoming in April.

Judged this year by George Elliott Clarke, the current Parliamentary Poet Laureate, the complete shortlist reads:

Micheline Maylor
Diandre Prendimano
Lea Graham
Ian Kinney
Geoffrey Babbitt
Paul Zits
Laurie Fuhr

The winner will be announced mid-March! See here for the full press release.

The Peter F. Yacht Club : a profile,

A short profile I put together on The Peter F. Yacht Club is now online at Open Book: Ontario, with input from Laurie Anne Fuhr, Anita Dolman, Vivian Vavassis, Peter Norman, Amanda Earl, Peter Richardson, Wes Smiderle, Janice Tokar, Pearl Pirie, Cameron Anstee, Ben Ladouceur and Marilyn Irwin.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #17!

The Peter F Yacht Club #17!
edited by rob mclennan
[see the link here for information on the previous issue]
[see the link here for a history of the publication]
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars, including Cameron Anstee, Stephen Collis, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl, Laurie Fuhr, Lea Graham, Marilyn Irwin, Ben Ladouceur, Kirya Marchand, rob mclennan, Peter Norman, Sean Moreland, Pearl Pirie, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid, Janice Tokar + Vivian Vavassis.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
November 2012
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[copies will also be available tonight as part of the door cover of The Factory Reading Series VERSeFest Fundraiser with Anstee, Pirie + Brockwell, or on Saturday as part of the ottawa small press book fair!]

If you subscribe to above/ground press' 2013 subscriptions today, this might even be included (if you ask all nice, like)!

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

Coming soon! information on The Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta at the Carleton Tavern, Saturday, December 29th