Jon Cone : Omnibus review : above/ground press 2025 : Sandhu, Greene, Berlatsky, Ladouceur, Kelly, Reid, Ross, Sikkema + Browne,

Canadian expat poet [and above/ground press author] Jon Cone was good enough to provide a series of first reviews, short and sketched on an array of above/ground press titles from 2025: THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA, by Mandy Sandhu (2025); EL REY MURCIÉLAGO // THE BAT KING, by Yaxkin Melchy Ramos, translated by Ryan Greene (2025); Spamtoum, by Noah Berlatsky (2025); The Last Man, by Ben Ladouceur (2025); More of How to Read the Bible, by J-T Kelly (2025); cuba A book: twentieth anniversary edition, by Monty Reid (2025); AND THEN THE GENTILE LIT THE CANDLES: Seven Stories, by Stuart Ross (2025); Just a Minute, Moon's Too Loud, by Michael Sikkema (2025); and Daily Self-Portrait Valentine, by Laynie Browne (2025). Thanks so much! You can see the original post here. Or read, below:

Here are some brief reviews of my favorite titles issued by Above/Ground Press during the year 2025. While I was not asked to write any of these reviews, I will state for the purpose of full disclosure that I was published by this press in 2025 and will appear as a co-author of another title in 2026. 

THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA by Mandy Sandhu

This is a wonderful collection. Sandhu’s poems are characterized by their concision, allusiveness, a leaping of imagery and wit. The voice behind the poetry suggests great intelligence and familiarity with various poetic traditions. Reading Sandhu’s poems, I thought of Ted Berrigan’s Sonnets. Then reading her bio at the back of the chapbook I was pleased to note Sandhu listed Berrigan as influence. A superb collection.

EL REY MURCIÉLAGO THE BAT KING by 
Yaxkin Melchy Ramos [tr. Ryan Greene]

This work appears to combine various forms and traditions – Surrealism, Concrete (Visual) Poetry, Mythology, Science Fiction – and doubtless others – into a contemporary hybrid that veers between poetry and prose. If you ask your poetry to break down barriers, then this is a chapbook you’ll find rewarding. An added felicity: it is bilingual so you can compare English translation to Spanish original.  Experimental in the best sense.

SPAMTOUM by Noah Berlatsky

This title contains one long poem of 95 stanzas of four-lines each, the titular “Spamtoum”, and a final poem “Hi Noah”. ‘Spamtoum’ with its repeating lines expands the pantoum form. Because I enjoy form, I set out to trace the pattern, then gave up at a certain point because it dawned on me the pattern itself was incidental to the feverish language play taking place before me. Much like John Ashbery’s sestina “Farm Implements and Rutagagas in a Landscape”, Berlatsky’s unfurling of the pantoum is intended to be gloriously screwball. Spam is where language goes to die. Here it is rescued, given oxygen, and a second chance. If you enjoy poetry that delights in language, then “Spamtoum” is ideal reading. 

THE LAST MAN by Ben Ladouceur

Ben Ladouceur writes elegant, well-crafted poems. His poetic imagination is considerable; his evident care with line and stanza enviable. Thus it is impossible for me to read a poem by Ladouceur and not be impressed by both form and content, as if those aspects can ever be fully separated, because his writing achieves its results with apparent effortlessness. He is a poet in full control of his gifts for the poetic art. (Color me envious.)  A brilliant collection.

MORE OF HOW TO READ THE BIBLE by J-T Kelly

Kelly writes poems that deal with his religious life, much like Franz Wright did. And like Wright, Kelly often deals with the struggle to maintain it in today’s world. Like the best love poetry, religious poetry appeals to us because it yearns to go beyond the material world toward a transcendent one. A highlight for me is Kelly’s catalog of sacred names that ends on a culminating moment; another favorite is the prose poem “Morning Exercise”, which has the profound bearing of a meditation one might encounter, say, in the journals of Thomas Merton. A serious and fine example of the art. 

cuba A book by Monty Reid (twentieth anniversary edition)

This reissue contains a brief essay by Monty Reid that describers the circumstances that prompted the writing of the original poem. Reid wrote cuba A book after a period of not-writing, and it impresses by how assured it feels.  None of that hesitancy or searching around for line or voice: from the start it is all there. I suppose that really shouldn’t surprise me, but it does.  For those familiar with Reid’s work and those who would like a good place to start: recommended.

AND THEN THE GENTILE LIT THE CANDLES by Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross is a poet who also writes a great deal of fiction. He’s a wonderful fiction writer. This small collection reminds me at times of Brautigan, at times of early Raymond Carver. (The Carver under the influence of Lish.) In his economy of language, Ross calls to mind another great Canadian short story writer: Norman Levine. The title story is a fine one; however, my personal favorite is “Meredith and Craig Sit in Their Kitchen and Play Stringed Instruments.” In that story you get an ending with a palpable sense of what music critic Greil Marcus called ‘that old weird America’ – a voice haunted, distant, haunting. An excellent collection.  

JUST A MINUTE, MOON’S TOO LOUD by Michael Sikkema

A concise poetry that pays homage to the natural world, the world encountered at the edge of a hike or in a moment of jeweled awareness. Sikkema surely enjoys the ancient Chinese masters, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t enjoy writers such as Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry. There’s humor here too, light, whimsical, lovely high seeming, as this complete poem demonstrates:

fav crow
ate my
rear view

When brevity is desired, let these poems answer the need. 

DAILY SELF-PORTRAIT VALENTINE by Laynie Browne

This chapbook, at first glance, is composed of lyrics that resemble those of Emily Dickinson. That is a misleading impression to have. As Browne tells us in an author’s note these poems grew out of “a year-long durational project” in which she “made a self-portrait every day for one year.” The resulting collection enacts a quest, one where memory accompanies Browne, as the outside world of obligation seems to call to the poet in the midst of her purposeful concentrations. These self-portraits are by necessity impressionistic. It is a collection that usefully demonstrates how poetry can come out of a daily practice.  

These are other fine titles can be found here  https://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com

Kevin Spenst reviews Hope Anderson's Family Chronicles from Muffin Land (2024) via subterrain #102

our pal Kevin Spenst was good enough to provide a first review for Hope Anderson's Family Chronicles from Muffin Land (2024), as part of his regular column of chapbook reviews, in a round-up assemblage in subterrain #102! Thanks so much! As Spenst writes:

    Two different dimensions of aging are explored in Monty Reid's Vertebrata (Turret House) and Hope Anderson's Family Chronicles from Muffin Land (above/ground press). In the former, the poet writes in the poem "CV5": "The long string of bones I hang from / was never right according to doctors / who looked at the scans." The series of poems takes us from the top of the vertebrae down, reflecting on the physiological construction of the body, the Latinate and Germanic naming of parts, and Reid's own history with spinal issues. The tone and divergent subject matter are stunning fluid and touching. Hinging less on physiology, Anderson's Family Chronicles from Muffin Land are poems of family lore and slipstream lullabies dedicated to the author's grandchildren and family written from his new home in "that town, hermetically / Known as Muffin Land" (known to the rest of us as Victoria, BC). What I love in this unique blend of myths and fables is how I'd often finish a poem with a sense that the last line rhymed, only to  look back and see it didn't. (What is the secret to Hope's ghost rhymes?) My favourite poem in the collection, "The Rolling Calf", reads as a lullaby that simultaneously presents danger and the promise of safety to the poet's granddaughter Nadja. 
    In a photo taken in Victoria in 1984, Hope Anderson is in a group of poets that include Amiri Baraka, George Bowering and bpNichol. The event was organised by Hope Anderson and in a recent interview with Wayde Compton for the Capilano Review, Anderson explains the context of Sunfest and how "Poetry always comes back to us."

 

some author activity: Bell, Boyle, Reid, Betts, Gordon + Ross,

Wade Bell has new work up at Public Reverie; Frances Boyle has two poems in the latest issue of Pinhole Poetry, where Monty Reid also has new work; Gregory Betts appears in the Canadian Poets Series over at Peripety and/or Tronies; Nada Gordon is featured in the Spotlight series; and Stuart Ross has four poems up at Relegation Books.

above/ground press author spotlights : substack : Trivedi, Houglum, Tierney, Christie, Gray, Reid, Unsworth, Ballard, O’Reilly, Ladouceur, Sikkema, Siklosi, Norris, Nećakov, Saklikar, Fagan, Earl + Downs,

Since building my above/ground press substack last spring, I've started posting a series of interviews with above/ground press authors (new platform, new project, after all), focusing on authors published through the press with a new/recent chapbook, as well as multiple publications with the press, to give each interview a bit more heft. Since May, I've posted interviews with Amish Trivedi, Brook Houglum, Orchid Tierney, Jason Christie, Steph Gray, Monty Reid, Lydia Unsworth, Micah Ballard, Nathanael O’Reilly, Ben Ladouceur, Michael Sikkema, Kate Siklosi, Ken Norris, Lillian Nećakov, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Cary Fagan, Amanda Earl and Buck Downs, with forthcoming interviews still to post with poets including russell carisse, Pearl Pirie, Guy Birchard, Jill Stengel, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, N.W. Lea and Gary Barwin, among others. Otherwise, I do post a round-up of new publications every two months or so, as well as a round-up of the weekly "author activity" posts, also every two months or so (but I didn't want the substack to simply be a replication of the blog, right?) Free to sign up! And lands as an email, direct to your in-box. Huzzah! And can you believe the press turns thirty-three years old this summer? Gadzooks!

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?
 

new from above/ground press: Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage, eds./dir. Véronique Sylvain and/de David O’Meara

Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage
eds./dir. Véronique Sylvain 
and/et David O’Meara
$6

including new poems in English (alongside French translation) and new poems in French (alongside English translation) by:

Manahil Bandukwala
Julie Huard
Amanda Earl
Myriam Legault-Beauregard 
David Groulx
Michèle Matteau
Monty Reid
Clémence Roy-Darisse

translations by/traductions de Myriam Legault-Beauregard

Avant-propos, par Véronique Sylvain et David O’Meara
Poète officielle francophone et poète officiel anglophone de la Ville d’Ottawa

Dans le cadre de nos mandats à titre de poètes officiels pour 2024-2026, nous tâchons de mettre en valeur des organismes qui jouent un rôle important pour l’écologie de notre région, notamment en matière de sensibilisation et d’intendance environnementale. Nous célébrons, dans ce recueil, la rivière des Outaouais et son bassin versant, de même que le travail de Garde-rivière des Outaouais (https://garderivieredesoutaouais.ca/), qui joue un rôle essentiel pour préserver nos habitats locaux et la qualité de notre eau. Dans cet esprit, nous avons demandé à huit poètes d’ici d’écrire sur le thème de la rivière, et de nous communiquer leurs pensées, leurs souvenirs et leurs peurs en s’inspirant des environs. Les prochaines pages rassemblent les poèmes qui en découlent. Nous espérons qu’ils sauront vous plaire.

Foreword from Véronique Sylvain and David O’Meara
Poets Laureate, Francophone and Anglophone, The City of Ottawa

As part of our Laureate programs for 2024-26, we endeavour to recognize organizations that play an important role in the education and stewardship of our local ecology and its environment. With this chapbook, we celebrate the Ottawa River and its watershed and the work of the Ottawa Riverkeeper (https://ottawariverkeeper.ca/) in their essential role as supporters of local habitat and water quality. Accordingly, we asked eight local poets to respond to the subject of the river, conveying their thoughts, memories and fears through inspiration in its environs. These poems are the result. We hope you’ll enjoy them.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
produced for the Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage event, Wednesday June 18 2025 in Ottawa : tickets available at: https://ottawariverkeeper.ca/theme-event/current-conversations-poetry-by-the-river-june-18th-2025/
June 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Biographies:

Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist. She is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books 2024; shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award and the Raymond Souster Award) and MONUMENT (Brick Books 2022; shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award). She has been twice longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, and was selected as a Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Star in 2023. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.

Julie Huard is an author, photographer, filmmaker and traveller. Her seventh book, Paysâmes et miroirs du monde (Éditions David) won the prix “Coup de cœur” awarded by the City of Gatineau in 2016. Over the years, Julie has been invited to many writers’ residencies and literary festivals, including in Haiti, Belgium and Guinea. In her most recent book, a poetic narrative titled Les merveilleuses (Éditions David), she follows the footsteps of her mother, Hélène, while honouring all the mothers in the world. Her passion? To explore the planet, to observe and reflect on human nature, as she pursues her quest for beauty.

Amanda Earl (she/her) writes, edits, reviews and publishes poetry, prose, visual poetry and hybrid work on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. Earl is the managing editor of Bywords.ca. Her latest work is “desire, a footnote,” a long poem in six chapbooks published by AngelHousePress. More information: AmandaEarl.com. 

Myriam Legault-Beauregard is a translator, a poet and a spoken-word artist. She earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s from the Université du Québec en Outaouais, and she is currently completing her PhD at the University of Ottawa. Her own works and shorter translations have been published in various magazines and journals, and her first poetry collection, Comme un myosotis, was launched in September 2023. Her first book-length translation, De plâtre et de platine (French version of Shashi Bhat’s The Most Precious Substance on Earth), was a finalist to the John-Glassco prize in the fall of 2024. She lives in Gatineau with her partner and their two children.

David Groulx is an award-winning Indigenous author. He has published 11 books of poetry and several of his books have been translated into Cree, French and Ojibwe languages. He won the John Newlove award for poetry in 2019 and was nominated for the Archibald Lampman award in 2015 and 2019. His poetry has appeared in over 200 magazines in 16 countries. He currently lives in Vanier, Ontario.

Born in the Province of Québec, Michèle Matteau has lived in British Columbia and in Nova Scotia, where she worked as a teacher and completed her master’s degree in psychology. She now resides in Ottawa. Since 1987, she has worked as a screenwriter and researcher for different producers, as well as an educator for cultural and/or educational Canadian organizations. She was the director of the “Vertiges” collection at L’Interligne from 2009 to 2013. She now gives literary workshops and accompanies professional writers in their artistic career. An author of novels and short stories, a poet and a playwright, Michèle has won several literary awards, including the Prix littéraire Trillium, twice.

David O’Meara is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently A Pretty Sight and Masses On Radar (Coach House Books, 2013, 2021). His novel, Chandelier, is published by Nightwood Editions (2024). He is the current Poet Laureate (Anglophone) of the City of Ottawa.

Emerging writer, actor and producer Clémence Roy-Darisse was among the cast of 2042 at the National Arts Centre, and of Mamuche, by Théâtre Mauve Sapin. In 2019, she presented “Profil”, a work on the dictatorship of happiness on social media, as well as “Laurence”. Clémence holds a master’s degree in Theatre, in which she focuses on the integration of eco-emotions in theatre. She also aspires to involve the artistic community in the ecological transition, and therefore embodies a new generation of socially committed artists. 

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, worked in Alberta, and has lived beside the Ottawa River for the past 25 years.  His many books include Crawlspace (Anansi), The Luskville Reductions (Brick), and Garden (Chaudiere). His most recent chapbooks are Vertebrata, from Montreal’s Turret House, and the 20th anniversary re-issue of cuba A book, from above/ground press.

Véronique Sylvain lives in Ottawa, where she works in the publishing sector. Her poems appear in several literary journals and collectives. Thanks to her first collection, Premier quart (Prise de parole, 2019), she was rewarded with the Prix de poésie Trillium and the Prix du livre d’Ottawa, in 2020, as well as the prix Champlain and the Prix littéraire émergence AAOF, in 2021. Her most recent collection, En terrain miné, also published by Prise de parole, was launched in September 2024. She will be, until fall 2026, the Francophone Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa. 

Notices biographiques:

Manahil Bandukwala est écrivaine et artiste en arts visuels. Elle est l’autrice d’Heliotropia (Brick Books, 2024, en lice pour le prix Pat-Lowther et le prix Raymond-Souster), ainsi que de MONUMENT (Brick Books, 2022 ; finaliste au prix Gerald-Lampert). Elle a fait partie, à deux reprises, de la liste préliminaire du CBC Poetry Prize, et a été sélectionnée au programme « Rising Star » du Writer’s Trust of Canada en 2023. Pour découvrir son œuvre : manahilbandukwala.com.

Julie Huard est auteure, photographe, réalisatrice et voyageuse. Son septième ouvrage, Paysâmes et miroirs du monde (David) remportait en 2016 le prix Coup de cœur de la Ville de Gatineau. Au fil du temps, Julie a été conviée à bon nombre de résidences d’auteurs et de festivals littéraires notamment en Haïti, en Belgique et en Guinée. Dans son plus récent ouvrage, Les merveilleuses (David), un récit poétique, elle suit les traces d’Hélène, sa mère, offrant un hommage à toutes les mères du monde. La passion de Julie? Découvrir la planète, observer et réfléchir sur la nature humaine en poursuivant sa quête de beauté.

Amanda Earl (elle) écrit, révise, critique et publie des œuvres de poésie, de prose, des poèmes visuels et des œuvres hybrides sur les terres non cédées des Algonquins Anichinabés. Elle est la directrice de rédaction du site Web Bywords.ca. Sa plus récente création, un long poème publié en six courts recueils, s’intitule « desire, a footnote » et a été publiée chez AngelHousePress. Pour en savoir plus : AmandaEarl.com. 

Myriam Legault-Beauregard est traductrice, poète et slameuse. Titulaire de deux baccalauréats et d’une maîtrise de l’Université du Québec en Outaouais, elle termine actuellement son doctorat à l’Université d’Ottawa. Ses propres créations et certaines de ses traductions ont été publiées dans diverses revues, et son premier recueil de poésie, Comme un myosotis, est paru en septembre 2023. Sa première traduction de roman, De plâtre et de platine (version française de The Most Precious Substance on Earth de Shashi Bhat), a été finaliste aux prix John-Glassco à l'automne 2024. Elle vit à Gatineau avec son conjoint et leurs deux filles.

David Groulx est un auteur autochtone primé. Il a fait paraître 11 recueils de poésie, et plusieurs de ses livres ont été traduits en cri, en français et en ojibwé. Il a remporté le prix de poésie John-Newlove en 2019 et a été finaliste au prix Archibald-Lampman en 2015 et en 2019. Ses poèmes ont été publiés dans plus de 200 revues, dans 16 pays. Il vit actuellement à Vanier, en Ontario.

Née au Québec, Michèle Matteau a vécu en Colombie-Britannique, puis en Nouvelle-Écosse où elle a enseigné et complété une maîtrise en psychologie. Elle réside aujourd’hui à Ottawa. Depuis 1987, elle a travaillé comme scénariste et recherchiste pour différents producteurs, et comme pédagogue pour des institutions culturelles ou éducatives canadiennes. Elle a dirigé la collection « Vertiges » (L’Interligne), de 2009 à 2013. Elle donne aujourd’hui des ateliers littéraires et accompagne des écrivain.e.s professionnel.le.s dans leur cheminement artistique. Autrice de romans et de nouvelles, poète et dramaturge, Michèle a remporté plusieurs prix littéraires dont deux fois le Prix Trillium.

David O’Meara est l’auteur de cinq recueils de poésie, dont les plus récents sont A Pretty Sight et On Radar (Coach House Books, 2013 et 2021). Son roman, intitulé Chandelier, a été publié chez Nightwood Editions en 2024. Il est actuellement le poète officiel anglophone de la Ville d’Ottawa.

Autrice, comédienne et metteure en scène de la relève, Clémence Roy-Darisse a fait partie de la distribution de 2042 au Centre national des Arts et de Mamuche du Théâtre Mauve Sapin. Elle a présenté, en 2019, « Profil », un texte sur la dictature du bonheur sur les réseaux sociaux et « Laurence ». Clémence détient une maîtrise en théâtre, où elle se concentre sur l’intégration des éco-émotions au théâtre. Elle aspire également à impliquer les artistes dans la transition écologique, incarnant ainsi une nouvelle génération d’artistes engagé.e.s.

Monty Reid est né en Saskatchewan, a travaillé en Alberta, et vit non loin de la rivière des Outaouais depuis 25 ans. Parmi les nombreux titres qu’il a fait paraître, mentionnons Crawlspace (House of Anansi), The Luskville Reductions (Brick Books), and Garden (Chaudière Books). Ses plus récentes publications sont deux courts recueils : Vertebrata, paru chez Turret House Press, à Montréal, et une réédition 20e anniversaire de cuba A book, parue chez above/ground press.

Véronique Sylvain habite à Ottawa, où elle travaille dans le milieu de l’édition. Ses poèmes ont paru dans plusieurs revues de création littéraire, ainsi que des collectifs. Son premier recueil, Premier quart (Prise de parole, 2019), lui a permis de remporter le Prix de poésie Trillium, le Prix du livre d’Ottawa, en 2020, le prix Champlain et le Prix littéraire émergence AAOF 2021. Son plus récent recueil de poésie, En terrain miné, est paru en septembre 2024 chez Prise de parole. Elle occupera, jusqu’à l’automne 2026, le poste de poète officielle francophone de la Ville d’Ottawa.

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

the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch/party! August 7 at RedBird,

celebrating THIRTY-TWO YEARS of continuous activity (and nearly fourteen hundred publications), Ottawa publisher above/ground press presents:

readings and chapbook launches by:

Jason Christie (Ottawa), Monty Reid (Ottawa), Beatriz Hausner (Toronto), Ellen Chang-Richardson (Ottawa), Lina Ramona Vitkauskas (Toronto) + Mandy Sandhu (Toronto);

lovingly hosted by above/ground press editor/publisher rob mclennan
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025 at RedBird
7pm door/7:30pm reading 

$18 ; includes copies of three recent above/ground press titles ; Tickets available via RedBird, or at the door; [see the report here from last year’s event] 

author/performer biographies: 

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, and currently lives in Ottawa. He is the author of the full-length collection Karst Means Stone (NeWest Press, 1979), The Life of Ryley (Thistledown Press, 1981), The Dream of Snowy Owls (Longspoon Press, 1983), The Alternate Guide (Red Deer College Press, 1985), These Lawns (Red Deer College Press, 1990), Dog Sleeps: Irritated Texts (NeWest Press, 1993), Crawlspace: New and Selected Poems (House of Anansi Press, 1993), Flat Side (Red Deer College Press, 1998), Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books, 2006), Luskville Reductions (Brick Books, 2008), Garden (Chaudiere Books, 2014) and Meditatio Placentae (Brick Books, 2016), as well as a mound of chapbooks. The former Managing Editor of Arc Poetry Magazine, he was the Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival for more than a decade.

Reid is the author of seven titles through above/ground press: Six Songs for the Mammoth Steppe (2000), cuba A book (2005), In the Garden (sept series) (2011), Moan Coach (2013), seam (2018), Where there’s smoke (2023) and cuba A book: twentieth anniversary edition (2025), which he will be launching as part of this event. above/ground press produced Report from the Reid Society Vol. 1 No. 1 (2022).

Jason Christie lives and writes in Ottawa with his wife and two children and no pets. His published books include Canada Post (Invisible), i-Robot (EDGE/Tesseract), Unknown Author (Insomniac), and Cursed Objects (Coach House). He’s wrapping up a new collection that he wrote with/against/for AI.

Christie is the author of nine chapbooks with above/ground press: 8th Ave 15th St NW. (2004), Government (2013), Cursed Objects (2014), The Charm (2015), random_lines = random.choice (2017), glass language (excerpt) (2018), Bridge and Burn (2021) and glass / language / untitled / exaltation (2023; second printing, 2023), which won the bpNichol Chapbook Award, as well as PSA (2025), which he will be launching as part of this event.

Beatriz Hausner has published several poetry collections, including The Wardrobe Mistress (2003), Sew Him Up (2010), Enter the Raccoon (2012), Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (2020) and She Who Lies Above (2023), as well as many limited edition chapbooks. Her books have been published internationally and translated into several languages, including her native Spanish, French, and most recently Greek. Hausner writes extensively about surrealism and her translations of Spanish American surrealist poets have exerted an important influence on her own writing. Hausner has edited journals and magazines, including Open Letter, ellipse, Exile Quarterly, as well as many of the books published during her tenure as a publisher of Quattro Books. She is the editor of Someone Editions, and its current project French Letter Society. Beatriz Hausner was President of the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada and Chair of the Public Lending Right Commission. She lives in Toronto where she publishes The Philosophical Egg, an organ or living surrealism. Currently, with Russell Smith, she curates and runs the lecture series Soluble Fish. She will be launching her above/ground press debut chapbook, The Oh Oh (2025).

Ellen Chang-Richardson is an award-winning poet, multi-genre writer, judicial assistant, and editor of Taiwanese and Chinese Cambodian descent. A third culture kid at heart, Ellen’s writing is informed by their love of contemporary art, their concern with humanity’s impact on Earth, and their experience moving through various societies as a femme-presenting genderqueer. The author/co-author of six other poetry chapbooks, Ellen’s multi-genre writing has appeared in Augur, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Ex-Puritan, The Fiddlehead, Grain, Plenitude, Watch Your Head, and more. Their debut collection, Blood Belies (Wolsak & Wynn, 2024), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. They are a co-founder of Riverbed Reading Series, an editor for Room and long con magazine, and a member of the poetry collective VII. Find out more at www.ehjchang.com. They will be launching their above/ground press debut, The Moleskin Coat (2025).

Lina Ramona Vitkauskas is a Canadian-American-Lithuanian formerly from Chicago, living in Toronto. She is an award-winning, published poet & video poet. She was a 2020 recipient of a PEN America grant for her development of an experimental poetry collection that adapted poems from Vsevolod Nekrasov and Bill Knott. She was also the voice of George Maciunas’ mother in the documentary, GEORGE (directed by Jeffrey Perkins) screened at MoMA and in Vilnius. Her work has been most recently featured in/at: Film Video Poetry Society (Los Angeles); Octopus Film Festival (Gdansk, Poland); John Gagné Contemporary Gallery (Toronto): Post-Future Era with Kunel Gaur, Justin Neely, and Confusions (Ben Turner); Poetic Phonotheque (Denmark); MOCA Toronto (public installation); SIFF (Moldova); Newlyn Film Festival (UK); Festival Fotogenia (Mexico); Midwest Poetry Fest (US); Vienna Video Poetry Festival (Austria); and the International Migration & Environmental Film Festival (Canada). Her website is linaramona.com. She will be launching her above/ground press debut, The Deaf Forest of Cosmic Scaffolding (2025).

Mandy Sandhu is a poet based in Oakville, Ontario. Her work, often in sonnet form, blends vivid imagery with sharp observation, drawing inspiration from writers like Sylvia Plath, the Beats, Dale Smith and Ted Berrigan.  Mandy works at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Disability Office. She will be launching her chapbook debut, The Temporary Space of a Placenta (2025).

for media inquires, as ever, send a note to rob mclennan at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com,

 

new from above/ground press: cuba A book: twentieth anniversary edition, by Monty Reid

cuba A book
twentieth anniversary edition
Monty Reid
$6

 

Imagination
always has a body.

Revolution always
has a boat.

You have entered
the black room

and the celebrated boat
is preserved

in a glass house
in the old city.

Description
is no longer possible.

What's left
of the sea

has never
arrived.

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

[Monty Reid will be launching this title in Ottawa on August 7, 2025 as part of the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch at RedBird Live; tickets and other information available soon]

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, and currently lives in Ottawa. He is the author of the full-length collections Karst Means Stone (NeWest Press, 1979), The Life of Ryley (Thistledown Press, 1981), The Dream of Snowy Owls (Longspoon Press, 1983), The Alternate Guide (Red Deer College Press, 1985), These Lawns (Red Deer College Press, 1990), Dog Sleeps: Irritated Texts (NeWest Press, 1993), Crawlspace: New and Selected Poems (House of Anansi Press, 1993), Flat Side (Red Deer College Press, 1998), Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books, 2006), Luskville Reductions (Brick Books, 2008), Garden (Chaudiere Books, 2014) and Meditatio Placentae (Brick Books, 2016). The former Managing Editor of Arc Poetry Magazine, he was the Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival for more than a decade.

This is Reid’s seventh chapbook with above/ground press, following Six Songs for the Mammoth Steppe (2000), cuba A book (2005), In the Garden (sept series) (2011), Moan Coach (2013), seam (2018) and Where there’s smoke (2023). above/ground press produced the festschrift Report from the Reid Society Vol. 1 No. 1 in 2022.

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: Boughn, Mohammadi, Rogal, Reid, Skrabalak + Smith,

Michael Boughn has a new poem up for National Poetry Month, over at the Chaudiere Books blog; Khashayar Mohammadi has a new write-up at Etcetera; Stan Rogal and Monty Reid have poems in the new issue of Pinhole Poetry, and Reid also has new work up at talking about strawberries all of the time; Ryan Skrabalak has new work in Noir Sauna; and Mahaila Smith is interviewed by Myna Chang.

some author activity: O'Reilly, Gurton-Wachter, Reid, Dardis, Boyle + Aube,

Nathanael O'Reilly has a poem included in Red Room Poetry's Phone-a-Poem project; Anna Gurton-Wachter has a poem in the debut issue of the newly-revived LONG NEWS; Monty Reid has a new poem suite up at IceFloe Press; Colin Dardis has three new poems up at The Pi Review; Frances Boyle has two new poems up at Obindo; and Gwen Aube launches their above/ground press chapbook this week in Montreal! oh, and did you see that above/ground press now has a substack?

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #35 : 2025 VERSeFest Special

The Peter F Yacht Club #35
2025 VERSeFest Special
lovingly hand-crafted, folded, stapled, edited and carried around in bags of envelopes by rob mclennan,
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars, irregulars and VERSeFest 2025 participants, including Kimberly Quiogue Andrews, Susan J. Atkinson, Frances Boyle, Jason Christie, Michelle Desbarats, Em Dial, AJ Dolman, Amanda Earl, Cara Goodwin, Phil Hall, Jessica Hiemstra, Rebecca Kempe, Laurie Koensgen, Margo LaPierre, Karen Massey, rob mclennan, Pamela Mosher, Salem Paige, Terese Mason Pierre, Pearl Pirie, Monty Reid, stephanie roberts + Grant Wilkins;

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[a small stack of copies will be distributed free as part of the fifteenth annual VERSeFest, March 25-29, 2025]
[see the prior issue here; see last year's VERSeFest issue here]

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: Manery, Markotić, Doller, Straumsvåg, Heroux, Fagan, Barwin, Reid + Solomon,

forthcoming author Sandra Doller is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Dag T. Straumsvåg and Jason Heroux's collaborative chapbook gets a nice mention by Cary Fagan over at his review blog; Gary Barwin has an archived poem up at The Walrus; Monty Reid is reviewed by Dawn Macdonald; and Misha Solomon has new work up in the Spotlight series.

some author activity: Reid, Mohammadi, Weaver + Kemp,

Monty Reid has new work up at The Pi Review; Khashayar Mohammadi is interviewed over at The Mahalat Review; Andy Weaver has a small essay up at The Woodlot; and Harold Rhenisch and forthcoming author Penn Kemp have a collaborative poem and new interviews online at Canadian Literature.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #34 : 2024 Holiday Special,

The Peter F Yacht Club #34
2024 Holiday Special
lovingly hand-crafted, folded, stapled, edited and carried around in bags of envelopes by rob mclennan,
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars, including Frances Boyle, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Jason Christie, David Currie, Michelle Desbarats, AJ Dolman, nina jane drystek, Amanda Earl, Laura Farina, ryan fitzpatrick, Cara Goodwin, Chris Johnson, Margo LaPierre, IAN MARTIN, Karen Massey, rob mclennan, James K. Moran, Pearl Pirie, Colin Quin, Monty Reid, Joan Rivard, Stuart Ross and Grant Wilkins!

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
December 27, 2024 ; as the final above/ground press item of 2024!
[launching tonight at our annual holiday reading/regatta! you should come out!]
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

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

some author activity: Dolman, Reid, Beaulieu, Barwin + McNair,

AJ Dolman is now listed up at the Poetry in Canada website; Monty Reid has new work up at The Typescript; Derek Beaulieu offers his 2024 Year in Review; Gary Barwin is interviewed over at Jamie Tennant's podcast; and Christine McNair was part of a roundtable conversation along with Paige Maylott and Maurice Vellekoop at The & Festival at Sheridan College, as conducted by Hollay Ghadery, the text of which is now online.

some author activity: Clayton, Boyle, Reid, Smith, Solomon, Dolman + Baker,

Conyer Clayton has some new work up at the ex-puritan, as does Frances Boyle; Clayton also has some new work up at Vallum magazine; Monty Reid had some poems up at The Dodge (that I hadn't noticed prior); Steven Ross Smith has a piece up in the "Tuesday poem" series; Misha Solomon has a poem up in the "Poetry Pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; and did you see that Conyer Clayton, AJ Dolman and Jennifer Baker are reading soon in Kemptville, Ontario at the North Grenville Public Library?

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, November 15: Sherwood, Reid, Hamilton, Baglow + Rodrigues,

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

The Factory Reading Series
the pre-small press book fair reading
celebrating THIRTY YEARS of the ottawa small press book fair

featuring readings by:

Claire Sherwood (Montreal)
Monty Reid (Ottawa)
Seymour Hamilton (Chelsea QC)
John Baglow (Ottawa)
+
Tazi Rodrigues (Ottawa)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, November 15, 2024
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
Anina’s Café, 280 Joffre-Bélanger Way

[And don’t forget the ottawa small press book fair, held the following day at the Tom Brown Arena]

Claire Sherwood [pictured] is a Montreal writer, visual poet, and oral storyteller. Her short fiction has appeared in Minority Reports: New English Writing in Quebec (Vehicule Press), and her poetry in Kola Magazine (The Black Writers’ Guild), Zettel Magazine (Underbridge Press), carte blanche magazine (QWF online), Helios (Ediciones de la Salamandra Negra), My Island My City (sitting duck press), What Lasts (2 Susans Poetry Circle). Her new chapbook Eat Your Words was published by Montreal’s Turret House Press.

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan but has made his home in Ottawa for the past 25 years. He has published a dozen books of poetry, most recently Garden (Chaudiere, 2014) and Meditatio Placentae (Brick, 2016). He has also published award-winning non-fiction and more than 20 chapbooks with publishers in Canada and abroad. His work has won National Magazine Awards, the Lampman Award, the Stephansson Award (3 times) and has been short-listed 3 times for the GGs. Magazine publications include The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, Grain, CV2, The Puritan, Train, Dusie, Manoah and many others. His latest chapbook Vertebrata was published by Montreal’s Turret House Press.

Seymour Hamilton lives in Chelsea, Quebec with his wife Katherine. He is much happier writing stories than he ever was before he retired from ordinary work-work, which in his case involved a lot of marking, editing, and writing in the academic world and the civil service.  He has written eight books of fiction, six of them a post-apocalypse science fiction trilogy that got out of hand and spun off three sequels, with a seventh coming soon.  He also wrote a novel about 1960s back-to-the-land hippies in Nova Scotia, and a collection of inter-related stories called The Laughing Princess, which feature dragons of great power and authority.

John Baglow is a former union executive officer (PSAC), and presently writes and lives in Ottawa. Baglow has published three books of poetry, Emergency Measures (Sono Nis Press, 1976), Journey Under Glass (Penumbra Press, 2004), and more recently, Murmuration: Marianne’s Book (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023). He has also written a critical study of the Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid, The Poetry of Self (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1987). His poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, nationally and internationally.

Tazi Rodrigues (she/her) is a writer and aquatic biologist. A second/third-generation-settler from Treaty 1 territory, she lives in Ottawa on the unceded land of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. She placed second in the 2023 Kloppenburg Hybrid Grain Contest for her essay on learning Portuguese and listening to fish, and won the 2024 Diana Brebner Prize for her poem on looking for bees. Other writing has appeared in The Fiddlehead, CV2, and Canthius. She is currently writing about ecological sound, caring for the worms and foster cats who live with her, and counting bugs at her neighbourhood pollinator garden.

some author activity: Boyle, Konchan, Smith, Reid, Kearney + Scroggins,

Frances Boyle has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; Virginia Konchan has a poem up at Poets.org; Pete Smith has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Monty Reid, Rae Kearney, and even Frances Boyle, as well; and Mark Scroggins has a new poem up at Merion West.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #33 : 2024 VERSeFest Special,

The Peter F Yacht Club #33
2024 VERSeFest Special
lovingly hand-crafted, folded, stapled, edited and carried around in bags of envelopes by rob mclennan,
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars, irregulars and VERSeFest 2024 participants, including Jennifer Baker, Manahil Bandukwala, Frances Boyle, Jason Christie, nina jane drystek, Klara du Plessis, Amanda Earl, Anita Lahey, IAN MARTIN, rob mclennan, James Moran, Pearl Pirie, Jaclyn Piudik, Monty Reid, Sandra Ridley, Marjorie Silverman, Madeleine Stratford, D.S. Stymeist, Derek Webster and Grant Wilkins,

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2024
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[a small stack of copies will be distributed free as part of the fourteenth annual VERSeFest, March 21-24, 2023]

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

VERSeFest 2024: Reid, drystek, Earl, Dolman, Turnbull, Christie + Mohammadi,

above/ground press authors Monty Reid, nina jane drystek, Amanda Earl, AJ Dolman, Chris Turnbull, Jason Christie and Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi, among plenty of others, read next week in Ottawa as part of VERSeFest 2024 (March 21-24)! Might we see you there? And in case you weren't aware, there have been an array of interviews with a number of authors reading at this year's festival posted over at periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics, including an interview with AJ Dolman by Amanda Earl and Sandra Ridley by Margo LaPierre, and interviews with Khashayar Mohammadi and Jason Christie by myself (interviews with Chris Turnbull, Laila Malik + Klara du Plessis to post over the next few days!).