some upcoming author readings: mclennan in Picton, Ebbitt in NYC + Tracy, Casteels + Heroux in Kingston, etc

rob mclennan reads with Kingston poet and Anstruther Press author Y. S. Lee on Thursday, June 20 in Picton, Ontario as part of the PEP Rally series hosted by Assembly Press: 6:30-8pm at Books & Company, 289 Main Street; Katie Ebbitt launches her above/ground press title alongside Riley Mac, Sophia Kiam, Coco Gordon Moore, Krithika Varagur and Stephanie Wambugu as part of Red Room KGB, 7pm on Sunday, June 23 in New York City; Dale Tracy launches her above/ground press title alongside Michael e. Casteels and Jason Heroux chapbook launches on Tuesday, June 18, 7pm, at Novel Idea Bookstore in Kingston, 156 Princess Street ; and you heard the ottawa small press book fair is next weekend, yes?

some author activity: Witek, eckhoff, Kemp-Gee, Casteels + Archer,

forthcoming author Terri Witek has new work up at Michigan Quarterly Review; kevin mcpherson eckhoff and Kimberley Dyck collaboratively answer some questions on their collaborations at Touch the Donkey; forthcoming author Meghan Kemp-Gee has work in Columba Poetry; and both Michael e. Casteels and Sacha Archer have new visual work up at utsanga.

new from above/ground press: ALL WE’VE LEARNED, WHICH ISN’T MUCH, by Michael e. Casteels and Nicholas Papaxanthos

ALL WE’VE LEARNED, WHICH ISN’T MUCH
Michael e. Casteels and Nicholas Papaxanthos
$5

CENTO

This murderous little world
on this suburban street
in a column of moonlight,
in a documentary that remembers the dead.

If we are separated
in the solitary evening of water,
shake out your dreams
up and down the street
marked by bones, rocks too large.

This is a game, and we are winning.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Michael e. Casteels is the author of over a dozen chapbooks of poetry. His first full-length collection of poetry, The Last White House at the End of the Row of White Houses, was published in autumn of 2016 by Invisible Publishing. Recently his work has appeared in Taddle Creek, Carousel, and Industrial Sabotage. He lives in Kingston, where he runs Puddles of Sky Press.

Nicholas Papaxanthos grew up in Lefkosia, Cyprus, and lives in Montreal. His work has appeared in various magazines, including Illiterature, The New Chief Tongue, Cosmonauts Avenue, Lemonhound, Lake Effect 5 and This Magazine. He is the author of the chapbook Teeth, Untucked (Proper Tales Press, 2011) and the winner of the 2014 John Lent Poetry-Prose Award for his chapbook manuscript Wearing Your Pants. His first poetry collection, Love Me Tender, was published by Mansfield Press in 2015.

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Jarvis, MacLeod, Nilson + Coulton,

Forthcoming author Jenna Jarvis has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day; Kathryn MacLeod is interviewed by Róise Nic an Bheatha over at Queen Mob's Teahouse; Geoffrey Nilson has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series on the dusie blog; and Valerie Coulton's chapbook, along with the most recent issue of Touch the Donkey, receive a positive and quick mention over at Michael e. Casteel's Puddles of Sky blog.

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, November 6, 2015: Noble, Casteels, Farley, McPherson + Christie,

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents:

The Factory Reading Series
pre-small press book fair reading
featuring readings by:

Catina Noble (Ottawa)
Michael e. Casteels (Kingston)
Claire Farley (Ottawa)
Christian McPherson (Ottawa)
+ Jason Christie (Ottawa)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, November 6, 2015;
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
The Carleton Tavern,
223 Armstrong Street (at Parkdale; upstairs)

[And don’t forget the ottawa small press book fair, held the following day at the Jack Purcell Community Centre]

Catina Noble: I have over 150 publications including Poetry, Short Stories, Articles/Interviews and Photography. My publications include: In/Words, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Byline Magazine, The Mindful Word, Curious: The Tourist Guide, Woman’s World, Riverview Park Review, Mainstreeter, PEN, Canadian Newcomer Magazine, Verse Afire, Y Travel Blog, Mojito Mother, Short-Story Me, Baby Post, CultivateTO, The Charlatan and Prairie Journal. I have 3 chapbooks of poetry out: Odds & Ends (Nov. 2014), Clean Up In Aisle 4 (May 2014) and Pussyfoot (May 2013). My new book is Katzenjammer, a collection of eclectic poems (Twig Works).

Michael Casteels has self-published over a dozen chapbooks of poetry and artwork. His poetry has recently appeared in: Arc, Filling Station, and BafterC. In 2012 he was nominated for the emerging artist award in The Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts. He lives in Kingston, where he runs Puddles of Sky Press. He will be launching a new chapbook with Ottawa's Apt. 9 Press.

Claire Farley [pictured] is from Québec's Outaouais region. She is the co-founder and editor of Canthius, a feminist literary journal. She has writing forthcoming in some mark made, a limited edition publication considering hybrid, material literary practices.

Christian McPherson was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1970.  He is the author of seven books, Saving Her, Cube Squared, My Life in Pictures, The Sun Has Forgotten Where I Live, The Cube People (shortlisted for the 2011 ReLit Awards), Poems that swim from my brain like rats leaving a sinking ship, and Six Ways to Sunday (shortlisted for the 2008 ReLit Awards). He has a degree in philosophy from Carleton University and a computer programming diploma from Algonquin College. He is married to the beautiful Marty Carr. They have two kids, Molly and Henry. They all live together in Ottawa.

Jason Christie lives in Ottawa with his wife and toddler. He is the author of Canada Post (Snare), i ROBOT (Edge/Tesseract), Unknown Actor (Insomniac), and a co-editor of Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (Mercury). He has two other recent chapbooks from above/ground press, which were both nominated for the bpNichol Chapbook Award: GOVERNMENT (2013), and Cursed Objects (2014). He is currently writing poetry about objects. He will be launching his new chapbook, The Charm (above/ground press).

Ashley-Elizabeth Best launches in Kingston, October 15, 2015

Ashley-Elizabeth Best launches her new above/ground press chapbook, Now You Have Many Legs To Stand On (2015), on October 15, 2015 at Novel Idea Bookstore, reading alongside Susan Olding, Erika Lamon and Michael e. Casteels.

various above/ground press authors (and others) in a month-long display of visual poetry : beaulieu, Martin, Hajnoczky, Schmaltz, Betts, Pirie, Smith, Harris + Barwin,

T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivi
a month-long display of * visual poetry *
Official Opening / Reception / poetry reading / open mike
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
7:30 p.m. - doors open 7 p.m.
The Human Bean, King Street, downtown Cobourg, Ontario
FREE admission
T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivi
April is National Poetry Month
"lay your WORD down!"
moves to Tuesday from our usual Thursday
for April only because {poetry in Cobourg spaces}
opens this month-long display of * visual poetry *
our poetry open mike is part of this * official opening *
T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivi
Usually poetry is delivered by reading but
this is a *poetry show*
it is an art show.
It is a collection of graphics meant for wall display.
However, the show is all about reading.
Each piece is based on text.
T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivi
Angela Rawlings, Derek Beaulieu, Camille Martin, Bill Bissett, Helen Hajnoczky, Robert Zend, Lindsay Cahill, Mark Laliberte, Jenny Sampirisi, Eric Schmaltz, Angela Szczepaniak, Gregory Betts & Neil Hennessy, Pearl Pirie, Eric Winter, Jessica Smith, Ted Amsden, Sharon Harris, Cliff Bell-Smith, Mary McKenzie, Wally Keeler, Katriona Dean, Gary Barwin, Judith Copithorne, michael j. casteels, Alixandra Bamford, Em Lawrence and Dan Waber
T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivity T E X T ual A R T ivi

see the facebook invitation here.

some author activity: Anstee, Graham, Poe + mclennan,

A recording of a reading Cameron Anstee did at Raw Sugar Cafe as part of a recent mini-tour was recently posted online (alongside Michael e. Casteels, Christine Miscione and Nicholas Papaxanthos); Lea Graham has a whole slew of new poems (including some epistolary piecces for the late Robert Kroetsch) up at ditch: the poetry that matters; Deborah Poe has a new poem posted as part of dusie's Tuesday poem series; and rob mclennan has a new little poem up on Halvard Johnson's On Barcelona.

Cameron Anstee reads with Casteels, Miscione + Papaxanthos in Ottawa, August 10, 2013

above/ground press author Cameron Anstee reads in Ottawa at Raw Sugar Cafe [see the facebook event here], lovingly hosted by Michael e. Casteels. As the event reads:

On Saturday, August 10, Raw Sugar (692 Somerset St. W.) will be hosting an afternoon of poetry and fiction. There will be books for sale and writers to point at and say “Hey, do I know you?” or “My brother’s a writer!” or “I like your use of semi-colons” or “Do you know where I can find the nearest pub? I thought there’d be wrestling here tonight.”

BUT SERIOUSLY: It'll be a great afternoon of literature and we hope all of you can come. Bring a friend or two -- the more the merrier!

Cameron Anstee lives and writes in Ottawa ON where he runs Apt. 9 Press and is pursuing a PhD in English Literature at the University of Ottawa.

Christine Miscione is a Canadian fiction writer. Her work has appeared in various Canadian publications, such as Exile: The Literary Quarterly, This Magazine, and The Puritan. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Hamilton Arts Award for Best Emerging Writer. In 2012, Christine’s story, Skin Just, won first place in the Gloria Vanderbilt/Exile Editions C.V.C Short Fiction Contest (emerging writer category). Her debut short story collection, Auxiliary Skins, will be released August 2013. Find her at christinemiscione.wordpress.com/

Michael e. Casteels has self-published over a dozen chapbooks of poetry and artwork. His poetry has also appeared in: 529 (Proper Tales Press), Sterling Magazine, In/Words, and That Not Forgotten (Hidden Brook Press). He has work forthcoming in The Rusty Toque. He was nominated for the emerging artist award in the 2012 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts. He lives in Kingston, Ontario where he runs Puddles of Sky Press. Check out Puddles of Sky Press at puddlesofskypress.com.

Nicholas Papaxanthos is currently living in Montreal, pursuing an MA with a focus in creative writing at Concordia University. He recently put together the chapbook Teeth, Untucked with Proper Tales Press, and has been published in the anthologies Lake Effect 5 and 529, as well as in The New Chief Tongue 10, Sandwich Review, and This Magazine.

Raw Sugar Cafe
692 Somerset W., Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6P4
Saturday, August 10, 2013; 2:00pm until 5:00pm

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, June 14, 2013: Artelle, Worth, Dawson, Sinaee + Casteels,

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents:

The Factory Reading Series
pre-small press book fair reading

with readings/launches by:

Steven Artelle (Ottawa)
Liz Worth (Toronto)
Kanina Dawson (Ottawa)
Bardia Sinaee (Toronto)
+ Michael e. Casteels (Kingston)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, June 14, 2013;
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
The Carleton Tavern,
223 Armstrong Street (at Parkdale; upstairs)

Steven Artelle's [pictured] writing has been published locally in Bywords Quarterly Journal, Ottawa Arts Review, and ottawater, and throughout Canada in journals including Vallum, FreeFall, and upcoming works in filling Station.  In 2013 his "Chinatown Zodiac" series will be part of a month-long exhibit during the Chinatown Remixed festival, and he will also have a chapbook, Four Hundred Rabbits, published by Angel House Press.  He recently completed a collection of poems entitled Metropantheon.

Liz Worth is an author and performance poet. Her first book, Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond (Bongo Beat/ECW Press) was the first to give an in-depth account of Toronto’s earliest punk scene. She has also written a poetry collection called Amphetamine Heart (Guernica Editions) and three chapbooks, Eleven: Eleven, Manifestations, and Arik’s Dream. She is also one-half of a band called Salt Circle. Check her out at www.lizworth.com

Kanina Dawsons’s work has appeared in a variety of Canadian literary publications, including Prism International, subTerrain, Descant, The Malahat Review and Event Magazine.  She has been awarded numerous prizes for creative non-fiction and was twice nominated for a National Magazine Award.  Kanina’s first book of poetry, Masham Means Everything, appeared this spring with Coteau Books. 

Bardia Sinaee lives in Toronto where he works at a bookstore. His poems have most recently appeared in The Puritan and The Walrus. He runs a micro-publishing outfit called Odourless Press.

Michael e. Casteels has self-published over a dozen chapbooks of poetry and artwork. His poetry has also appeared in: 529 (Proper Tales Press), Sterling Magazine, The Undergraduate Review, Incongruous Quarterly, In/Words That Not Forgotten (Hidden Brook Press) among others. He was nominated for the emerging artist award in the 2012 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts. Currently he lives in Kingston, Ontario where he works as a Registered Massage Therapist and runs Puddles of Sky Press.

check here for information on the spring 2013 edition of the ottawa small press book fair, happening from noon to 5pm on Saturday, June 15 at the Jack Purcell Community Centre;