some author activity: Tierney, Beaulieu, Saklikar + Robertson,

Orchid Tierney has new work in Posit; Derek Beaulieu is included in the Canadian Poets Series over at Peripety and/or Tronies, and is interviewed over at The Commentary, as is Renée Sarojini Saklikar; and Lisa Robertson is interviewed at David Naimon's Between the Covers.

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, June 19: Bebenek, carisse, Currie, MARTIN + Saklikar,

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

The Factory Reading Series
the pre-small press book fair reading

featuring readings by:

Jessica Bebenek (Montreal)
russell carisse (NB)
David Currie (Ottawa)
IAN MARTIN (Ottawa)
+
Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Vancouver)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, June 19, 2026
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 Glebe Community Centre]

Jessica Bebenek is a queer interdisciplinary poet, bookmaker, and educator living between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and an off-grid shack on unceded Anishinaabe territory. Her most recent chapbook, You Don’t Get Out Much (2024), is a memoir of chronic illness & her first ‘real’ book, No One Knows Us There (Book*hug Press, 2025), was a finalist for two Quebec Writer’s Federation Awards and was named a CBC Books Best Book of the Year. @notyrmuse www.jessicabebenek.art

russell carisse is currently living on unceded Wolastoqiyik/Mi’kmaw territory in New Brunswick. Here they live in an off-grid trailer in the woods with their partner and animals, growing food and practicing other forms of underconsumption. Author of five chapbooks, their work appears in the anthology On Occasion: Poems for the People, and ARC Poetry, Queen’s Quarterly, The Temz Review, Touch the Donkey, Website: russellcarisse.carrd.co Mastodon: @russellcarisse@writing.exchange Bluesky: @russellcarisse.bsky.social 

David Currie is not IAN MARTIN. He is a different writer with whom IAN MARTIN is collaborating. David’s work has appeared in various places - he wishes he could be more specific, but he forgot to write them down, and has been collected into six chapbooks. Heat a neutral oil to a boil before turning it to medium-low. Add Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, and a nub of ginger. Simmer for an hour, but make sure not to burn. strain the oil into a mason jar with about a cup to a cup and a half of chili pepper powder (the more varieties the better). Oil can be used immediately and kept for about 6 months. He currently resides in Ottawa. Currie and MARTIN are launching a collaborative above/ground press chapbook at this event, so be warned.

IAN MARTIN [pictured] is large and barely in charge. Their work has appeared recently in BAD DOG Mag, Discordia Review, and Sumac Literary Magazine. IAN has published six chapbooks, most recently EVERYONE IS MY ENEMY (2022). When not writing, IAN makes small video games and complains. Visit WWW.IANMARTIN.ROCKS at your own risk.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of six books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015-2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery is the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOTJBAP. Renee Sarojini is grateful to work, create, and live in East Vancouver on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

some author activity: Armantrout, mclennan, fitzpatrick, Smith, Saklikar, Kemp-Gee, Bolster + Solomon,

Rae Armantrout has four poems up at Granta; rob mclennan is interviewed via Coach House for the On Occasion anthology; there's also a hefty interview with mclennan conducted by ryan fitzpatrick; Mahaila Smith is interviewed via the National Poetry Month "POETS RESIST" interview series at All Lit Up, as is Renée Sarojini Saklikar and Meghan Kemp-Gee, and Stephanie Bolster and Misha Solomon's recent chapbooks even get mentioned via the Wikipedia page for Montreal's Biodome, which is cool.

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!

some author activity: fitzpatrick, Kemp, mclennan, Beaulieu, Saklikar, Collis + Manery,

the Calgary Guardian offers "a day in the life" of poet ryan fitzpatrick; Penn Kemp has new work up at Public Reverie; rob mclennan is interviewed at On Creative Writing, and also has some new work up at Public Reverie; Derek Beaulieu once again offers his annual list of Most Engaging Books; and the audio of Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s Vancouver chapbook launch, hosted by Stephen Collis with readings by Stephen Collis, Annie Lafleur (read by Stephen Collis), Rob Manery, Renee Rodin, Marguerite Pigeon, and Renée Sarojini Saklikar at People’s Co-op Bookstore on Dec. 6, 2025, is now online via Rob Manery.

the recording of the recent (zoom) conversation between Renée Sarojini Saklikar and rob mclennan on above/ground press is now online,

in case you missed it, the recent (zoom) conversation between Renée Sarojini Saklikar and rob mclennan
on above/ground press
in which they (also) each read from recent work
is now online: thanks to all who participated!

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of five books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015-2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery is the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOTJBAP, forthcoming in Spring 2026 with Nightwood Editions. She lives in East Vancouver.

Saklikar is the author of three titles through above/ground press: After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees— (2016; second printing, 2019), from The Book of Bramah (2019) and Voices from Planet X ~ speculative verse from the THOTJBAP series (2025).

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa, where he is home full-time with the two wee girls he shares with Christine McNair. The author of some fifty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent titles include On Beauty: stories (University of Alberta Press, 2024), the poetry collections the book of sentences (University of Calgary Press, 2025) and edgeless (Caitlin Press, 2026), and the anthology groundworks: the best of the third decade of above/ground press 2013-2023 (Invisible Publishing, 2023). The current Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival, he spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta.

He founded above/ground press way back in July 1993, having produced nearly 1,500 items-to-date, the bulk of which have been single author poetry chapbooks. His publishing mantra continues to be: "relentless."

This is not the first above/ground press event online, as I'm sure you know, with last year's online launches (one and two), or even that AWP offsite reading we hosted in 2023, or the virtual issue of The Peter F Yacht Club. Really, you should be checking out the whole YouTube channel, most of which is made up of the periodicities "virtual reading series," as well as a handful of other things. 

a (zoom) conversation between Renée Sarojini Saklikar and rob mclennan : December 7, 2025

a (zoom) conversation between Renée Sarojini Saklikar and rob mclennan
on above/ground press
in which they (also) each read from recent work
Sunday Dec 7, 2025 / 7pm EST on zoom

a zoom link will be offered just prior to the event via the facebook event page; or email rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com to register;

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of five books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015-2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery is the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOTJBAP, forthcoming in Spring 2026 with Nightwood Editions. She lives in East Vancouver.

Saklikar is the author of three titles through above/ground press: After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees— (2016; second printing, 2019), from The Book of Bramah (2019) and Voices from Planet X ~ speculative verse from the THOTJBAP series (2025).

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa, where he is home full-time with the two wee girls he shares with Christine McNair. The author of some fifty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent titles include On Beauty: stories (University of Alberta Press, 2024), the poetry collections the book of sentences (University of Calgary Press, 2025) and edgeless (Caitlin Press, 2026), and the anthology groundworks: the best of the third decade of above/ground press 2013-2023 (Invisible Publishing, 2023). The current Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival, he spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta.

He founded above/ground press way back in July 1993, having produced nearly 1,500 items-to-date, the bulk of which have been single author poetry chapbooks. His publishing mantra continues to be: "relentless."

new from above/ground press: Voices from Planet X ~ speculative verse from the THOTJBAP series, by Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Voices from Planet X
~ speculative verse from the THOTJBAP series 
Renée Sarojini Saklikar
$6

The Weather 

Northeast winds stripped bare branches; 
great limbs felled, fir to oak, linden to strange
hybrids, contraband imports 
           Ficus benghalensis whispered
indentured migrants, reserve army of labour
sold to work the edges of Perimeter
Winter Portal damaged: change a whipsaw,
once gaping wide, now, minuscule, 
then again huge, blasted, ice pellets strewn
snow banks eight fathoms deep, lakes and rivers, 
temperatures below, below, below, then sudden
change to above, ice cracks, ferocious bellows, 
chunks gaping, the roar of ice water, jade green
liquid pushing slabs below. Toss, tumble unseen.

We, shipped in, transported, rendered, contracted
we to work the change, supply lines jammed;
rumble-shake, quiet, quiet, rumble shake—
change, a portal, now minuscule; then snap!
Gaping wide, below, below,  core splitting fissures
above, the sky, thinned, ozone wearing off
           earth, shrugging us off:
temperatures below, below, below, then above,
once gaping wide, now, minuscule, earth’s push,
pulled, pulling against the ice fast melting— 

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

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of five books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015-2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery is the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOTJBAP. She lives in East Vancouver. 

This is Saklikar’s third above/ground press poetry title, after After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees— (2016; second printing, 2019) and from The Book of Bramah (2019).

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: Saklikar, Eleftherion, Tierney, Cook, Campos, Niespodziany + Rogal,

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is interviewed by The British Columbia Review; Melissa Eleftherion, Orchid Tierney, Juliet Cook, Isabel Sobral Campos and Benjamin Niespodziany all have work up in the new issue of Action, Spectacle; and Stan Rogal has three poems up at The Temz Review.

some author activity: Browne, Maloukis, Saklikar, Manery, Robinson, Boughn + Kemp,

a video conversation of Kate Colby and Al Filreas discussing a poem by Laynie Browne at Kelly Writers House is now online; Rose Maloukis had a poem longlisted for The 2025 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse contest, via The New Quarterly; Renée Sarojini Saklikar etc read in Vancouver on June 28th as part of Rob Manery's Some Reading; Ben Robinson has some new poems and book recommendations over at Etcetera, as does Michael Boughn; and Penn Kemp has four new poems up at The Typescript.

some author activity: Browne, mclennan, Paty, Boyle + Saklikar,

forthcoming author Laynie Browne is one of a trio--along with Anselm Berrigan and Kate Colby--discussing Lewis Warsh's poem "Polar Night" as part of the most recent podcast episode of PoemTalk; rob mclennan is interviewed by Hollay Ghadery for the New Books Network podcast; Allyson Paty answers the "12 or 20 questions" interview; rob mclennan has a new poem up at Sumac Literary Review, as does Frances Boyle; and Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the second in the Canadian Poets series over at Peripety and/or Tronies.

some author activity: McNair, Hawes, Saklikar, Bell, MacEachern + Armantrout,

Christine McNair has added a rare new post to her blog; James Hawes has a poem up at SQUID; Renée Sarojini Saklikar is interviewed in the 5 Questions series by Finnian Burnett; Wade Bell offers his own piece on filling Station for The Typescript; Jessi MacEachern has new work up at the ex-puritan; and Rae Armantrout has a poem up at The London Review of Books.

some author activity: Olsen, Young, Saklikar, Berlatsky, mclennan + O'Reilly,

Geoffrey Olsen has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Geoffrey Young and Renée Sarojini Saklikar; Noah Berlatsky has some poems up at Five Fleas, as well as a poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; rob mclennan has a poem + a writing prompt up at Moist Poetry Journal; and Nathanael O'Reilly has new work in The Hooghly Review.

some author activity: Mangold, Saklikar, Hogg + mclennan,

Sarah Mangold has new work up at 128 Lit; Renée Sarojini Saklikar has a poem up in the poetry pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; and Robert Hogg has a poem up at Pamenar Press; and did I mention I now have a substack that focuses on in-progress prose?

some author activity: Niespodziany, Nilson, Saklikar, Wang + Robertson,

Benjamin Niespodziany is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Geoffrey Nilson has posted to Soundcloud the audio of a reading at the New Westminster Public Library in New Westminster BC on April 9, 2022 by "Five Contemporary BC Poets": Tolu Oloruntoba, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Isabella Wang, Claire Matthews and Kevin Spenst; and Lisa Robertson is interviewed by Louis Klee for the Sydney Review of Books.

some author activity: mclennan, Campos, Mohammadi, Robinson + Saklikar,

rob mclennan has a new poem up at Columba Poetry; Isabel Sobral Campos is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Khashayar Mohammadi has new work online at The Humber Literary Review; Elizabeth Robinson has three new poems up at Black Sun Lit; and Renée Sarojini Saklikar participates in the first episode of The League of Canadian Poets' Feminist Caucus in Conversation series 2022, alongside Heather Birrell and Phoebe Wang.

some author activity: Saklikar, Christie, Earl, Clayton + Siklosi,

Vicki Ziegler was good enough to mention a few above/ground press titles as part of her Silent Book Club (along with a ton of other titles, naturally): Renée Sarojini Saklikar's from The Book of Bramah (2019), Jason Christie's Bridge and Burn (2021) and Amanda Earl's a field guide to fanciful bugs (2021); Conyer Clayton has a poem up in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; and Kate Siklosi is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews.

The Peter F Yacht Club #30 : the virtual issue,

I know the holidays just aren’t the same without our usual Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta, set between Christmas and New Year’s Eve (an event I originated in 2005 for the sake of an “office Christmas party” for our informal writer’s group), but we’ll get back to that soon enough. If you are interested in such, you can see my report on the 2019 event here, the 2018 event here, the 2017 event here, the 2016 event here, the 2015 event here, the 2013 event here, the 2012 event here (there have been at least a decade’s worth of further events, but apparently I made no reports on those, save for the 2007 event). But next year, right? Until then, here is a virtual event, posted as issue #30 of The Peter F. Yacht Club [see information on the prior issue here]. We are far more than halfway out of the dark, I’d wager.

Kimberly Quiogue Andrews : “Jesus in a Prom Gown”

Kimberly Quiogue Andrews is a poet and literary critic. She is the author of A Brief History of Fruit, winner of the Akron Prize for Poetry from the University of Akron Press, and BETWEEN, winner of the New Women’s Voices Chapbook Prize from Finishing Line Press. She teaches creative writing and American literature at the University of Ottawa, and you can find her on Twitter at @kqandrews.

Susan J. Atkinson : “Reading Palms,” “The Dining Room Poem by another Poet” and “Interpreting Rothko”

Susan J. Atkinson’s poems have won a number of awards, most recently first prize in the 2019 National Capital Writers Contest and chosen as a Notable Mention in the 2020 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse. She has new work in Grain Magazine and The Queen’s Quarterly. Her first full-length collection, The Marta Poems was published by Silver Bow Publishing in 2020 and her chapbook The Birthday Party, The Mariachi Player and The Tourist came out in Spring 2021 with Catkin Press. Visit www.susanjatkinson.com for more information.

Frances Boyle : “The whole tall world” and “Abbey”

Frances Boyle is the author of two poetry books, most recently This White Nest (2019). She has also written Tower, a Rapunzel-infused novella (2018), and Seeking Shade, a short story collection (2020) which was a first-place winner of the Miramichi Reader’s Very Best! Awards, and a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Award and the ReLit Award. Her writing has been selected for the Best Canadian Poetry series, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and published throughout North America and internationally. Frances’s third book of poetry is forthcoming in fall 2022 with Frontenac House Press. www.francesboyle.com

Jason Christie : “Slow death”

Jason Christie lives and writes in Ottawa. He is the author of Canada Post (Invisible), i-ROBOT (Edge/Tesseract), Unknown Actor (Insomniac), and Cursed Objects (Coach House). His most recent chapbooks are: Bridge and Burn (above / ground) and Heavy Metal Litany (Model press). He is looking for a home for a new manuscript of poetry he wrote with the help of several Python scripts.

Conyer Clayton : “Family Dinner” and “Intruder,” both from But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves (Spring 2022, A Feed Dog Book by Anvil Press).

Conyer Clayton is a writer, musician, editor, and gymnastics coach living on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe land. Her debut collection, We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite (Guernica Editions, 2020), won an Ottawa Book Award and was a Relit Award finalist. She's released 2 albums and many chapbooks; recently, Towers (Collusion Books, 2021) by VII, of which she is a member, and Sprawl (Collusion Books, 2020) written with Manahil Bandukwala, shortlisted for the bpNichol Award. Her second book, But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves (A Feed Dog Book, Anvil Press) is forthcoming Spring 2022.

Laurie Anne Fuhr : “applicable skills of the military brat #1” and “applicable skills of the military brat #2,” from night flying (Frontenac House 2018).

Laurie Anne Fuhr, ex-Ottawan, current Calgarian, is author of night flying (Frontenac House 2018), which was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry 2016 in ms form. Fuhr had work in several anthologies in 2021, including Uncommon Grounds: poems by the Espresso Poetry Collective (epcpress 2021); Wonder/Shift 40th Anniversary Anthology (AWCS Press 2021); and The Stroll of Poets Anthology (2021), and had a poem on a tall can with Blindman Brewing's Session Stories series (ed. Jason Lee Norman). Her poem mixed media was shortlisted in the Freefall Magazine poetry contest 2020 (Judge Gary Barwin). Her work has been published in an above/ground chapbook and in many periodicals like This Magazine, Journal of Literature and Aesthetics (India), Bywords, and Prairie Journal. Fuhr is a poetry instructor with alexandrawriters.org; its poetry workshops are now open to all on Zoom.

natalie hanna : “keep moving / keep sleeping” and “to learn of making”

natalie hanna is a queer, disabled, feminist, Middle Eastern, Ottawa-born lawyer. She runs battleaxe press, and has authored thirteen chapbooks, including three titles with above/ground press, Baseline Press (2020), and collaboratively with Liam Burke, machine dreams, from Collusion Books (2021). She is working on her first full length poetry collection. Her poetry, interviews, and commentary have been published in Canada and the U.S. Learn more: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com.

Robert Hogg : “The Poem that Starts in the Night”

Robert Hogg was born in Edmonton, Alberta, grew up in the Cariboo and Fraser Valley in British Columbia, and attended UBC during the early Sixties where he was associated with the Vancouver TISH poets, co-edited MOTION - a prose newsletter, and graduated with a BA in English and Creative Writing. His books include: The Connexions, Berkeley: Oyez, 1966; Standing Back, Toronto: Coach House, 1972; Of Light, Toronto: Coach House, 1978; Heat Lightning, Windsor: Black Moss, 1986; There Is No Falling, Toronto: ECW,1993; and as editor, An English Canadian Poetics, The Confederation Poets – Vol. 1, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2009. He recently published several chapbooks: from LAMENTATIONS, Ottawa: above/ground, 2016; two Cariboo poems, Ranch Days – The McIntosh from hawk/weed press in Kemptville, ON; Ranch Days—for Ed Dorn from battleaxe press (Ottawa 2019); A Quiet Affair – Vancouver ’63 (Trainwreck, May 2021); and in August 2021 a chapbook titled From Each Forthcoming (above/ground). In December 2021, a chapbook will be released from Hogwallow Press, called The Red Menace, and another from Apt 9 Press in Ottawa, called Apothegms.

Margo LaPierre : “A Video of You, Laughing” (first published in Mineral Lit Mag), “Hysterosonogram” (forthcoming 2022 in Sable Books’ disability anthology The Ending Hasn’t Happened Yet) and “Air Show” (first published in Train Journal)

Margo LaPierre is a freelance editor and author of Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes (Guernica Editions, 2017). She serves as newsletter editor of Arc Poetry Magazine and is a member of poetry collective VII. She is the winner of the 2021 Room Poetry Contest and the 2020 subTerrain Lush Triumphant Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2021 Fiddlehead Creative Nonfiction Contest. She is completing her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC. Find her on Twitter @margolapierre.

Gil McElroy is reading three new poems from his ongoing project, The Julian Days.

Gil McElroy is a poet currently living in Colborne, Ontario.

rob mclennan : “Autobiography of green,” “Coordinates” and “Burning the dead grass”

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa, where he is home full-time with the two wee girls he shares with Christine McNair. The author of more than thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent poetry title, the book of smaller (University of Calgary Press, 2022), is now available for pre-order. In spring 2020, he won ‘best pandemic beard’ from Coach House Books via Twitter, of which he is extremely proud (and mentions constantly). He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta.

Christine McNair : “Déjà Entendu” and “Déjà vu”

Christine McNair has published two books of poetry with Bookhug – Conflict (2012) and Charm (2017). Her most recent manuscript is a hybrid non-fiction poetry manuscript focused on preeclampsia, illness, and disability. She works as a book doctor in Ottawa. Also – she recorded this last year for Canthius but it may have been lost in the ether, much like she was lost in the Christmas tree.

Pearl Pirie : “Daily you detail weather” & “time scales mountains” are from the tentatively titled, “Well-Behaved Thistle.” If you’re a potential publisher, ask for it by name.

Pearl Pirie’s fourth poetry collection is footlights (Radiant Press, 2020). rain’s small gestures (Apt 9 Press, fall 2021) is minimalist poems. Mudflaps for Short Dogs is out from Trainwreck Press (July 2021). Interact with her at Instagram or Patreon at Pearlpiriepoet.

Monty Reid : two poems from “Playground”

Monty Reid is a damaged Ottawa poet.

Stuart Ross : “A Stephen Crane Christmas,” “Sixty-Two” and “Razovsky On The Volga”

Stuart Ross is a writer, editor, and writing teacher, the author of 20 books of fiction, poetry, and essays, and countless chapbooks and ephemera. He received the 2019 Harbourfront Festival Prize and the 2021 James Tate Poetry Prize. Stuart’s work has been translated into Nynorsk, French, Spanish, Estonian, and Russian. His most recent book is 70 Kippers, written with his dearest friend, the late Ottawa poet Michael Dennis. Stuart’s hybrid poem/essay The Book Of Grief And Hamburgers, dedicated to Michael, comes out this spring from ECW Press. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar : from the Perimeter sequence in Bramah and The Beggar Boy

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is a poet and lawyer who lives in Vancouver on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples. She is the author of four books, including the ground-breaking poetry book, children of air india, about the bombing of Air India Flight 182 which won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Prize and is the co-author, with Dr. Mark Winston, of the poetry and essay collection, Listening to the Bees, winner of the 2019 Gold Medal Independent Publishers Book Award, Environment/Ecology. She is currently working on Book 2 of the THOT J BAP series, an epic fantasy in verse.

This poem is from the Perimeter sequence in my epic fantasy in verse, Bramah and The Beggar Boy (Nightwood Editions, 2021).

An early version of this poem, one of the first in my long poem series, https://thotjbap.com/, first appeared in a beautiful hand made chapbook by the late Marthe Reed, to whom I was introduced by rob mclennan at the Factory Reading Series in Ottawa.

Other poems from the sequence also appeared in Kathryn Mockler’s The Rusty Toque.

With gratitude for these, past and present, who support/supported long form poetry.

D.S. Stymeist : Big Ride: Passage 1” and “Tonic.”

D.S. Stymeist’s debut collection, The Bone Weir, was published by Frontenac in 2016 and was a finalist for the Canadian Author’s Association Award for Poetry. He continues to publish widely in both academic and literary magazines. Alongside fending off Crohn’s disease, he teaches creative writing and crime fiction at Carleton University. He’s the former president of VERSe Ottawa, which organizes VERSeFest, Ottawa’s international poetry festival.

On special assignment: Cameron Anstee, Stephen Brockwell, jwcurry, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl, Lea Graham, Marilyn Irwin, Chris Johnson, Janice Tokar, Roland Prevost, Sandra Ridley and Chris Turnbull.

some author activity: mclennan, Saklikar, Bowering, Newlove, Niespodziany, Abel + Turnbull,

rob mclennan offers write-ups on works by Susan Howe, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Joshua Beckman and John Newlove, as well as an anthology edited by George Bowering and Jean Baird, and an anthology edited by Eli Mandel, and has two new poems as well, up at Katie Naughton's Etcetera ; Benjamin Niespodziany has two new poems up at Rejection Letters; Jordan Abel is interviewed by Joseph Shea-Carter for The Puritan; and Chris Turnbull has some new work up at Pamenar Press.

some author activity: Graf, Unsworth, Young, Turnbull, Saklikar + Solomon,

Adele Graf is interviewed in the "Six Questions" series over at Chaudiere Books; Lydia Unsworth has two poems up at The Pi Review; Geoffrey Young has some new work in Hello Goodbye Apocalypse; Chris Turnbull has posted the first installment of a series, interviewing Renée Sarojini Saklikar at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and Misha Solomon opens this year's array of poetry posting for National Poetry Month via the Chaudiere Books blog!