some author activity: O'Connor, Hall, Solomon, Browne + McCann,

Wanda O'Connor is interviewed about her garden for an article on the BBC; Phil Hall has new work up at Discordia Review; Misha Solomon has a new poem up at The New Quarterly; Laynie Browne is interviewed via podcast over at Tin House; and did you know Marcus McCann has a Medium newsletter you can follow?

VERSeFest 2025 : Andy Weaver, Phil Hall + Eileen Myles

above/ground press authors Andy Weaver, Phil Hall and Eileen Myles read in Ottawa this week as part of VERSeFest 2025! Tickets are still available! And Myles even reads at Carleton on Friday at noon at a free event! Might we see you there?

some author activity: Robinson, Banks, Ross, Hall, mclennan, Weaver + Boyle,

Ben Robinson has some new poems up at the temz review; Chris Banks posts an essay over at The Woodlot, on how he still believes in National Poetry Month; Stuart Ross has a bunch of new poems up at Mercurius; Phil Hall is interviewed by rob mclennan for periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics, as is Andy Weaver; and Frances Boyle has a new poem up at Concision.

new from above/ground press: The Green Rose, by Phil Hall and Steven Ross Smith

The Green Rose
in collaboration
Steven Ross Smith
Phil Hall
$6

Morning performance poem
rattles & whistles & gaaaks

great-tailed grackle verse
howler monkeys & Frank Sinatra

the bird that isn’t there
has a name

the swinging howler chorus
is missing here this week

to be frank
a lesson in the line

collapsing form as foam
leaves a crockery bit

of green rose
then takes it back out

then in as noise
all day no one

watching or listening
the horizon erased by rain

never makes landfall
what lifts is dirty & pushes

what collapses
is clear & pulls free

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2024
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Phil Hall has a new book out this spring: Vallejo’s Marrow (Beautiful Outlaw, 2024). Other recent books are: The Ash Bell (Beautiful Outlaw, 2022); Toward a Blacker Ardour (Beautiful Outlaw, 2021); and Niagara & Government (Pedlar, 2020).

Steven Ross Smith loves music, practices yoga, and is fascinated by moss. Disparate threads weave through his seven-book poetic series fluttertongue. A new book is Glimmer: Short Fictions (Radiant Press, 2022). He writes in Victoria, BC.

This is Phil Hall’s fifth above/ground press chapbook (not including the secret chapbook), after Verulam (2009) and A Wolf Lake Chorus (2021), and the collaborations Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012) and Alternative Girders (with Stuart Kinmond; 2018). The festschrift Report from the [Phil] Hall Society, Vol. 1 No. 1 appeared in 2022.

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

A (Vancouver) Reading in Memory of Bob Hogg : February 12, 2023

HAL magazine, guest edited by Karl Jirgens : Bowering, Spinosa, Earl, Tucker, Davey, Hogg, Clarke, McCaffery, Betts, beaulieu, Rogal, Hall, Lynes, Nećakov, mclennan, Barwin, Arnott, Ross + Norris,

In case you haven't seen, above/ground press author Karl Jirgens guest-edited the fourteenth anniversary issue of Hamilton Arts and Letters, and included work by a whole ton of folk, including numerous (current and former) above/ground press authors! Why not check out the issue as a whole? Or check out the specific submissions by George Bowering, Dani Spinosa, Amanda Earl, Aaron Tucker, Frank Davey, Robert Hogg, George Elliott Clarke, Steve McCaffery, Gregory Betts, derek beaulieu, Stan Rogal, Phil Hall, Jeanette Lynes, Lillian Nećakov, rob mclennan, Gary Barwin, Joanne Arnott, Stuart Ross and Ken Norris! And there are bunches of others as well! So you really have to check out the issue as a whole, really.

some author activity: Pirie, Hall, Chernoff + Robertson,

Pearl Pirie interviews Phil Hall; MLA Chernoff has new work in long con magazine; and three recent Lisa Robertson titles are reviewed by Andrea Brady in the London Review of Books.

new from above/ground press: Report from the Hall Society. Vol. 1 No. 1

 

Report from the Hall Society
Vol 1. No. 1
edited by rob mclennan
$7

an assemblage of writing in response
to the work of Phil Hall

including
poems, critical writings
and
philosophical transactions

with contributions by:
Cameron Anstee
Jennifer Baker
Douglas Barbour
Andrew Burke
David Currie
Stan Dragland
Susan Gillis
Mark Goldstein
Robert Hogg
Ann Ireland
rob mclennan
Eirin Moure
Pearl Pirie
John Steffler
Chris Turnbull

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2022
full list of published reports here
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Report on the Society logo by C. McNair, editor’s devil (retired)

Phil Hall has published five chapbooks with above/ground press, including Verulam (2009), the collaborative Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012), Alternative Girders (with Stuart Kinmond; 2018) and A Wolf Lake Chorus (2021).

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: Hall, Thomas, Niespodziany, Robinson, Mohammadi + Clayton,

Phil Hall is interviewed by Sharon Berg at The Artisanal Writer; Hugh Thomas is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Benjamin Niespodziany interviews Elizabeth Robinson over at neon pajamas; Khashayar Mohammadi is interviewed over at The Temz Review; and Conyer Clayton is also interviewed by Sharon Berg at The Artisinal Writer.

new from above/ground press: A Wolf Lake Chorus, by Phil Hall

A Wolf Lake Chorus
Phil Hall
$5

A Wolf Lake Chorus is a dramatic voice-poem for poet, birds, & saw:
1 poet, 8 birds, & 1 musician bowing a saw.

    .

Silence.

A podium rigged with a microphone at centre stage.
Two high screens behind.

The poet & the musician walk onto the stage.

The poet goes to the podium.
The musician sits on a chair at the side of the stage.

The musician plays the saw.

Silence.
        ("Stage Directions")

Note

A Wolf Lake Chorus began as an invitation from Madhur Anand in 2015 to write a poem using only the words contained in one of her academic articles. The article chosen is mentioned in the poem.

Originally called The Overstory, it was performed in Guelph at Silence on Friday May 18, 2018 as part of an evening of performances in support of Wolf Lake. Also presenting were Madhur Anand and Gary Barwin.

The cast included David Lee on bass and Georgia Urban on musical saw, plus 8 volunteers who were the birds. I am grateful to everyone involved, especially the birds for their overlapping voices.

A video of the evening, with A Wolf Lake Chorus as the final act, may be viewed at: http://improvisationinstitute.ca/document/wolf-lake-tones/

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
November 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Phil Hall's most recent books are The Ogre (Trainwreck, 2021), Toward a Blacker Ardour (Beautiful Outlaw, 2021), and Niagara & Government (Pedlar, 2020).

This is Phil Hall’s fourth above/ground press chapbook, after Verulam (2009) and the collaborative Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012) and Alternative Girders (with Stuart Kinmond; 2018).

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 acitivity: Olsen, Johnson, mclennan, Hall + Mohammadi,

Geoffrey Olsen has some new work up at The Pi Review; Chris Johnson has a new poem up at The Quarantine Review; rob mclennan has a 'poem of the week' (text and video/audio) over at Vallum magazine; Phil Hall reads some poems via the Pedlar Press YouTube channel; Khashayar Mohammadi has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series up at dusie.

The Café Review "Canadian issue" launch: Anstee, Clayton, Hall, Weaver, Hogg + Turnbull

above/ground press authors Cameron Anstee, Conyer Clayton, Phil Hall, Andy Weaver and Chris Turnbull read alongside poets Sandra Ridley and Bruce Whiteman in Ottawa as part of the launch of the "Canadian issue" of Maine's The Café Review.

Guest-edited by poet and above/ground press author Robert Hogg, the issue features new poetry by multiple above/ground press authors (highlighted) and non-authors alike, including Cameron Anstee, Nelson Ball, bill bissett, Conyer Clayton, Stephen Collis, Neil Flowers, Phil Hall, Daphne Marlatt, Don McKay, Barry McKinnon, Sandra Ridley, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Carolyn Smart, Sharon Thesen, Aaron Tucker, Chris Turnbull, Andy Weaver and Bruce Whiteman. This issue also features work by artists Jim Andrews and Judith Copithorne with a review by Dana Wilde.

Saturday, May 11, 2019
2-4:30pm
Bar Robo: 692 Somerset St W, Ottawa

some author activity: Hall, Landman, mclennan, Gray + Townsend,

University of New Brunswick writer-in-residence Phil Hall is written up in in the brunswickan; Seth Landman has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; rob mclennan answers the "12 or 20 questions," via Vallum magazine, and has a new poem up at his clever blog; forthcoming author Evan Gray has an essay in the "my (small press) writing day" series; and Jamie Townsend has new work in the second issue of baest : a journal of queer forms & affects.

Greg Bem reviews Stuart Kinmond and Phil Hall's Alternative Girders: a collaboration / 2014 - 2017 (2018)

Our pal Greg Bem was good enough to provide the first review for Stuart Kinmond and Phil Hall's Alternative Girders: a collaboration / 2014 - 2017 (2018) at Goodreads. Thanks so much! You can see the original review here.

Reading through this book is like reading through each breath of the poets. Their language spurts out like girders, like structural supports, the innards of the book as a whole. There is a visual quality to the poem that is certified by the vispo works splicing the more conventional poems every few pages. The language is quite astute and phantasmagorical, with such intimacies that pretension need not be suspected.

REPORT: THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY!

lovable editor/publisher/host rob mclennan ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill

Already a week-plus behind me, and I’m still reeling from the recent silver anniversary above/ground press event at Vimy Brewing Company: an incredible array of readings, writing and support, celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press [I forgot to report on last year's, but do you remember the year prior? That was fun. And the Toronto event? Or the 19th anniversary?]. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to hear, came out to read, and/or came out to otherwise assist with the event, including valuable tech-asssists by Stephen Brockwell and Monty Reid, book tabling by Anita Dolman and door-coverage by Allie Duff and Marilyn Irwin. The staff at Vimy Brewing Company were incredibly generous, and the space was perfect for the event. My only disappointment was the realization that gifts of silver weren’t forthcoming, despite my hints, given the twenty-fifth anniversary, that such would be certainly welcome.

Anita Dolman sporting the new above/ground press anniversary shirt ; photo by Pearl Pirie

This event also saw the introduction of above/ground press t-shirts! Lovingly designed by Christine McNair, utilizing the classic above/ground press logo, and produced by Ottawa’s own Troublemaker Print! Tote bags were also ordered, but the bags themselves were backordered by the supplier, so they have yet to arrive (I’m also putting another order in soon for t-shirts, so if you have any specific size requests, please let me know: I’m selling them for $25 (shipping, at least to anywhere in North America, included)). Send me an email to see what I have on-hand, and what sizes I might be ordering, and when (rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com).

photo by Pearl Pirie

Really, it was just grand to be able to see so many people I like in one place, and the audience included multiple friends and above/ground press authors alike, including Karen Massey, Kees Kapteyn, Amanda Earl, Pearl Pirie, Chris Turnbull, Gwendolyn Guth, Allison Calvern, Cameron Anstee, Rob Fairchild, Avonlea Fotheringham, Michael Dennis, Grant Wilkins, Conyer Clayton, Robert Hogg, Grant Savage, David Scrimshaw, jwcurry and many, many others. Unfortunately, given we were technically out of town for the weekend, watching my father’s house/pets as well as my sister’s, Christine wasn’t able to make the event at all (I attempted an audio recording of the evening, but god knows if it actually worked), solo at the McLennan homestead an hour away, with the girls: watching two dogs, two cats, a guinea pig and a fish. It did, at least, mean that I could stay out a bit later, and even host Billy Mavreas over at our wee house. The following morning, I might add, was not an early one (and involved me driving an hour, once I finally woke and delivered Billy, post-breakfast, to the bus station).

Aaron Tucker ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

Old pal Aaron Tucker opened the event, as well as the first set, reading from his third above/ground press title, Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018), an excerpt of a much longer work-in-progress, dedicated to his partner, Julia Polyck-O’Neill. I’m fascinated by the long stretch of lines, and the accumulation, existing as a single, extended poem.

natalie hanna ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

photo by Pearl Pirie

I’ve been fortunate enough to be aware of natalie hanna’s work for some time now, since she emerged somewhere in the mid-1990s, before retreating into law school. Fortunately for us, she reappeared after a few years, and has been impressing us ever since. Reading from her new chapbook, some of which responds directly as a call-and-response with recent work by Stephen Brockwell, she ended her set with a startling poem for multiple voices, adding Liam Burke, Conyer Clayton, Cameron Anstee, Nathanael Larochette and Frances Boyle for a piece that description can’t do justice.

Natalee Caple ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill

It was great to be able to hear Natalee Caple read from her Love / Wildness (2018), especially knowing that she’ll be doing more of such next spring, when the book-length version appears with Wolsak and Wynn. She drove the whole family from St. Catharines, Ontario to Ottawa for the event, but their twins became immediately infatuated with Jason Christie’s small children (who could blame them?) and decided to remain there, instead of coming out to the reading. I can’t even remember the last time I heard Natalee read, but it would have been at The TREE Reading Series back when the readings were held at SAW Gallery; at least five years ago? Seven?

Billy Mavreas ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

Opening the second set of readers, Montreal’s Billy Mavreas launched his visual collection A MERCY OF SIGNS (2018) by discussing the difficulty with reading from a collection of visuals, and managed to give a performance on marginalia that felt like a silent sound poem. Why doesn’t this guy have a full-length collection of his concrete and visual poetry yet? He has micropress publications going back years, from an array of publishers, including self-published, and his work deserves far more attention.

Stephen Brockwell ; photo by rob mclennan

Stephen Brockwell really is one of my favourite humans. It is always such a pleasure and a delight to interact with him at all, and I do think his ongoing thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit is often taken for granted. As part of reading his latest title, Immune to the Sacred (2018), he read some of the poems he had composed in conversation with natalie hanna. I’m curious to see where this conversation might go, and what form the eventual larger conversation might take. Will this ever appear as a single-unit collaboration/conversation, or will the threads remain more disperate?

Phil Hall ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

Stuart Kinmond ; photo by Pearl Pirie

Phil Hall’s collaboration with artist Stuart Kinmond, Alternative Girders (2018), provided an opportunity for both to present on the two sides of their conversation, from Hall’s words to Kinmond’s visuals, backdropped beautifully by Kinmond’s own work. Hall’s thoughtfulness is expansive, and incredibly precise, and he manages to both capture an attention to the smallest moment as well as somehow see the big picture, simultaneously. I’m curious to see if their collaboration continues beyond the work gathered in his small chapbook.

Jason Christie ; photo by rob mclennan

Jason Christie opened the third set, launching his sixth chapbook with the press, by reading excerpts from every one of his above/ground press titles, from his Calgary-work 8th Ave 15th St NW. (2004) to works produced since their move to Ottawa: Government (2013), Cursed Objects (2014), The Charm (2015), random_lines = random.choice (2017) and glass language (excerpt) (2018). One of my favourite people these days, I am very much looking forward to his next full-length title, out next spring with Coach House Books.

Julia Polyck-O'Neill ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

I’ve been quite taken with the work of Julia Polyck-O’Neill, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to appear fully-formed and confident in her work, allowing above/ground press to produce two chapbooks of her writing so far. And did you see this recent interview up at Train: a poetry journal? There is some absolutely amazing work happening here, and worthy of far more attention. I’m just hoping the next time we cross paths, I’m actually able to spend some time talking to her (the evening made for very little in the way of larger conversation with just about anyone).

Stuart Ross ; photo by Stephen Brockwell

A personal favourite, Stuart Ross closed the event with a reading from his above/ground press debut, ESPESANTES (2018). Given his generous example as a poet, editor, reviewer, chapbook publisher and supporter over some four decades, I was incredibly grateful to have Ross included in such an event. His own Proper Tales Press will be forty years old next year, if you can imagine it. I just hope that 2019 sees some kind of proper acknowledgement for his ongoing contribution and support of small and micro press.

Julia Polyck-O'Neill, rob mclennan and Aaron Tucker ; photo by Julia Polyck-O'Neill

Twenty-five years! God sakes. And of course, after weeks of lead-up, I managed to crash entirely after the event, falling into a combination of exhaustion/sinus cold that lingers. And, as well, the inevitable look forward to what publications will emerge next. Work is already underway on more than a couple of titles, with still-forthcoming chapbooks by Erín Moure (which has appeared already, in the time it took me to write this up), Ian Dreiblatt, Melissa Eleftherion, Kyle Flemmer, Lisa Rawn, Sean Braune, Michael Martin Shea, Cole Swensen, Jennifer Stella, Jamie Townsend, Sara Renee Marshall, Dennis Cooley, Mark Laliberte, Sacha Archer, Sandra Ridley and multiple others. Watch for 2019 subscriptions to announce on October 1^st! (or just send me an email if you really can’t wait)

photo by Pearl Pirie

And: if you’ve been keeping track, above/ground press has done anniversary anthologies every ten years, so this year won’t be seeing such, but watch for the launch of a special twenty-fifth anniversary project at the Ottawa international writers festival on October 30^th, featuring readings by Sarah Mangold (Seattle), Gil McElroy (Colborne) and Sandra Ridley (Ottawa)!

photo by Pearl Pirie

But don’t you worry: a thirtieth anniversary collection is in the works. Picton, Ontario publisher Invisible Publishing recently accepted the project, which will appear in print in 2023! I mean, that might sound like a long time away, but it really isn’t…

new from above/ground press: Alternative Girders: a collaboration / 2014 - 2017, by Phil Hall and Stuart Kinmond

Alternative Girders
a collaboration / 2014 - 2017
Stuart Kinmond  /  Phil Hall
$5

13.

 To descend   
a staircase     a chair     sits    

 in a chair     warm still     feel                              

another chair     sits     in that one    
 another fits     over that one     rising    

each     plastic     chair-back     leans    

 stuttering     a high curve   
the audience     hoisted    

 into one     ticket stub

one seat     up there     as impossible
 to sit on     as an accent     aigu    

everyone ushered out    

 around     the stack     this denuded   
floor space

 I am not lonely    

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2018
celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Phil Hall’s [see his 25th anniversary essay here] most recent books are Guthrie Clothing: The Poetry of Phil Hall – A Selected Collage (Sir Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015), Conjugation (BookThug, 2016), & Le pluvier kildir (translated by Rose Després / Prise de parole, 2015). He lives near Perth Ontario.

Montreal native and long-time architect, Stuart Kinmond has lived in Ottawa since 1984.  He studied painting and printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art in the nineties and began exhibiting in 2000.  He is now a full-time visual artist working in paint, digital media, installation and public art at his Ottawa studio.  He has had numerous solo and group shows in Ottawa/Gatineau, Montreal, Toronto and San Francisco.

This is Phil Hall’s third above/ground press chapbook, after Verulam (2009) and the collaborative Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012).

[Phil Hall and Stuart Kinmond will be launching this title as part of THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY on August 25, 2018 at Ottawa's Vimy Brewing Company!]

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

THE ABOVE/GROUND PRESS SILVER ANNIVERSARY READING/LAUNCH/PARTY!

celebrating twenty-five years of continuous activity (and nearly nine hundred publications), Ottawa publisher above/ground press presents: 

nine readings and chapbook launches by:

Natalee Caple (St. Catharines ON)
Jason Christie (Ottawa)

Julia Polyck-O’Neill (Toronto)
Stuart Ross (Cobourg ON)
Aaron Tucker (Toronto)
Phil Hall (Perth ON)
Stephen Brockwell (Ottawa)
natalie hanna (Ottawa)
+
Billy Mavreas (Montreal) 

lovingly hosted by above/ground press editor/publisher rob mclennan 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018
Vimy Brewing Company
145 Loretta Ave N #1, Ottawa, ON K1Y 2J7
http://www.vimybrewing.ca/
7pm door/7:30pm reading

$6 at the door; includes a copy of a recent above/ground press title

THIS EVENT WILL ALSO SEE THE INTRODUCTION OF LIMITED-EDITION SWAG (T-SHIRTS AND TOTE BAGS), PRODUCED BY OTTAWA’S OWN TROUBLEMAKER PRINT https://www.facebook.com/TroublemakerPrint/

See the Globe & Mail’s recent piece on the press here.

See rob’s write-up earlier this year onthe press here.

As well as a series of essays by avariety of above/ground press authors and friends of the press here.

author/performer biographies: 

Natalee Caple is the author of nine books of poetry and fiction. Her latest book of poetry, Love in the Chthulucene/Cthulhucene (from which these poems come) will be out with Wolsak and Wynn in Spring 2019. Natalee is an associate professor at Brock University.

She will be launching her third chapbook with above/ground press—Love / Wildness (2018)—after The Appetites of Tiny Hands (1997) and The Appetites of Tiny Hands: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2017). 

Jason Christie 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). His next book will be published by Coach House in the Spring of 2019.

He will be launching his sixth chapbook with above/ground press—glass language (excerpt) (2018)—after 8th Ave 15th St NW. (2004), Government (2013), Cursed Objects (2014), The Charm (2015) and random_lines = random.choice (2017). 

Julia Polyck-O’Neill is an artist, curator, critic, and writer. She is a doctoral candidate in Brock University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program, where she is completing a SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary and comparative critical study of contemporary conceptualist literature and art in Vancouver. She has taught in art history and contemporary visual culture, and was, until very recently, a visiting lecturer and scholar in Transnational American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Her writing has been published in B.C. Studies, Feminist Spaces, Tripwire, Fermenting Feminisms (a project of the Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology, curated by Lauren Fournier), The Avant Canada Anthology (WLU Press, forthcoming 2018), and is co-editing a special issue of the journal Canadian Literature with Gregory Betts. Her debut chapbook, femme, was published in 2016 by above/ground press.

She will be launching her second chapbook, Everything will be taken away. (2018). 

Stuart Ross is the author of 20 books of poetry, fiction, and essays, and countless chapbooks and ephemera. His most recent books include the novel-in-prose-poems Pockets (ECW Press, 2017) and the poetry collection A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent (Wolsak and Wynn, 2016), which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry in 2017. Other titles include the poetry collection A Hamburger in a Gallery (DC Books, 2015), the novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew (ECW Press, 2011), and the story collection Buying Cigarettes for the Dog (Freehand Books, 2009). Stuart began his literary career by selling his self-published chapbooks on the streets of Toronto during the 1980s, wearing signs like “Writing Going To Hell: Buy My Books.” He was the 2010 Writer in Residence at Queen’s University, and has taught writing workshops across Canada. His poetry has recently been translated into French; other translations, into Nynorsk and Spanish, are in progress. His micropress, Proper Tales, is lurching toward its 40th year of publishing. Stuart lives in Cobourg, Ontario.

He will be launching his above/ground press debut, ESPESANTES (2018). 

Aaron Tucker is the author of the forthcoming novel Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos (Coach House Books) as well as two books of poetry, Irresponsible Mediums: The Chess Games of Marcel Duchamp (Bookthug Press) and punchlines (Mansfield Press), and two scholarly cinema studies monographs, Virtual Weaponry: The Militarized Internet in Hollywood War Films and Interfacing with the Internet in Popular Cinema (both published by Palgrave Macmillan).

His current collaborative project, Loss Sets, translates poems into sculptures which are then 3D printed (http://aarontucker.ca/3-d-poems/); he is also the co-creator of The ChessBard, an app that transforms chess games into poems (http://chesspoetry.com).

An earlier version of punchlines was released by above/ground in the summer of 2013. His poetic works and reviews have been published across Canada. His previous chapbook, apartments, was shortlisted for the 2010 bpNichol Chapbook award.

Currently, he is an uninvited guest on the Dish with One Spoon Territory, where he is a lecturer in the English department at Ryerson University (Toronto), teaching creative and academic writing. You can reach him atucker[at]ryerson[dot]ca

Tucker is the author of three above/ground press chapbooks, including apartments (2010), punchlines (2013) and this year’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018). 

Phil Hall’s most recent books are Guthrie Clothing: The Poetry of Phil Hall – A Selected Collage (Sir Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015), Conjugation (BookThug, 2016), & Le pluvier kildir (translated by Rose Després / Prise de parole, 2015). He lives near Perth Ontario.

He will be launching his third above/ground press chapbook—a collaboration with Stuart Kinmond, Alternative Girders (2018)—after Verulam (2009) and the collaborative Shikibu Shuffle (with Andrew Burke; 2012). 

Stephen Brockwell cut his writing teeth in the ’80s in Montreal, appearing on French and English CBC Radio and in the anthologies Cross/cut: Contemporary English Quebec Poetry and The Insecurity of Art (both Véhicule Press, 1982). All of Us Reticent, Here, Together won the Archibald Lampman award for best book of poetry in Ottawa in 2017. Brockwell currently operates a small IT consulting company from an office in Ottawa’s By Ward Market.

He will be launching his fifth above/ground press chapbook—Immune to the Sacred (2018)—after Marin County Poems (2001), Impossible Books (the Carleton Installment) (2010), Excerpts from Impossible Books: The Crawdad Cantos (2012) and Images from Declassified Nuclear Test Films (2014). 

natalie hanna is a queer, feminist, ottawa lawyer, of middle-eastern descent working with low income populations. her writing focuses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She runs battleaxe press (small poetry press) / is the Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series / serves as newsletter editor and board member at Arc Poetry Magazine.  Her work, interviews, have appeared online and in print in various publications, including with Literary Landscapes, In/Words Magazine, phafours press, Hussy Press, Bywords, the Dusie Blog, the Chaudiere Books Blog, Canthius, shreeking violet press, and Peter F. Yacht Club,  among others. This is her 10th chapbook. Find her at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com to learn more

She will be launching the chapbook CONCEALED WEAPONS / ANIMAL SURVIVORS (2018), her third with above/ground press, after “this evidence against you,” produced as STANZAS #21 (October 1999), and dark ecologies (2017).  

Billy Mavreas is a Montréal based writer and artist who makes comics, collage, visual poetry and more. His studio and art shop, Monastiraki, is celebrating twenty years of idiosyncrasy in the Mile-End neighbourhood (1998-2108).

He will be launching his above/ground press debut, A MERCY OF SIGNS (2018).