some author activity: Stebner, Martin, Berlatsky, Banks, Mohammadi, Moure + Solomon,

Kevin Stebner answers the '12 or 20 questions' interview; Camille Martin has a series of photographs newly posted online; Noah Berlatsky has new work up at dadakuku; Chris Banks has an essay forthcoming in Best Canadian Essays 2026, and Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi, Erín Moure and Misha Solomon have poems forthcoming in Best Canadian Poetry 2026.

some author activity: Paige, Morton, Beaulieu, Ross, Dennis + Earl,

Abby Paige participates in the "Six Questions" interview series over at Chaudiere Books; Colin Morton responds to same; Derek Beaulieu has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Stuart Ross interviews Michael Dennis; and Amanda Earl has a photo essay at Watch Your Head.

some author activity: Koss, Earl + Barwin,

Did I mention that Zane Koss (left) was in town recently? It was nice to be able to hand him his new above/ground press title in person. We enjoyed drinks and a spot of food at my most favourite tavern. Also: Amanda Earl's "The Power of Poetry" essay is now up at The Poetry Question; and Gary Barwin is interviewed in the Wombwell Rainbow Interviews series (but you already knew all of that, right?)

WORD Vancouver: Collis, Saklikar + timewell,

[l-r: timewell, Greco, Saklikar + Collis] In case you missed it, Stephen Collis (NEW LIFE), lary timewell (Odds Are/tones employed as loss) and Renée Sarojini Saklikar (After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees) read this past Sunday as part of a WORD Vancouver above/ground press event, lovingly hosted by Heidi Greco, who was kind enough to pass along a photo. Wishing I could have been there! And of course, all of their above/ground press items are still very much available!

some author activity: Irwin, Best, timewell, Trivedi + Abel,

Marilyn Irwin has a poem featured on the Matrix Magazine website; Ashley-Elizabeth Best is interviewed over at Kingstonist; lary bremner/timewell has a new photo album up at the Kootenay School of Writing website; Amish Trivedi has a blog; and Jordan Abel is seeking submissions for a special issue of filling Station magazine, "Experimentation in First Peoples' Art and Literature."

And we'll see you at The Fisher Fine and Small Press Fair today at the University of Toronto, yes?

above/ground press in Toronto : this weekend!

You might already know we're at a book fair this weekend, and they were good enough to post a photo to Instagram of two of our titles as part of their publicity! Titles by Hugh Thomas and Amy Dennis (and of course, both are still available). Might we see you Saturday? There might even be a new title or two (that we haven't told you about yet...

some author activity: Martin, Hall, hastain + Reed,

[a photo of some older above/ground titles Cameron Anstee picked up recently] Camille Martin has (as she writes) "been writing an illustrated exploration of the life and work of Robert Zend (1929-1985), avant-garde Hungarian-Canadian poet and artist. It features photographs, poetry, concrete poetry, collages, typewriter art, and fiction, some of it never before made public. Special attention will be given to Zend's cosmopolitan literary spirit, including his international influences and affinities. I'll be posting installments twice a week on my blog, Rogue Embryo." The first of these installments is now up; Ann Ireland interviews Phil Hall over at Numero Cinq; j/j hastain has new work in dusie #15; and Marthe Reed has new work in Otoliths #32.

the peter f. yacht club regatta, 2013;

While we usually hold a Christmas reading/party/regatta, hosted by The Peter F. Yacht Club, somewhere between Christmas and New Year, this year Christine and myself hosted a small pot-luck. In part to show off the house and our new five-week-old Rose, it was also a sign of our inability to easily leave the house; we thought, why not bring the party to us, instead?

With roughly a third of those invited unable to make it, we still managed to host some twenty people or more in our little house, as I spent the day baking in preparation. Pearl Pirie posted photos of the cake I made for such over at her food blog, as well as the creamy spaghetti squash primavera and the asparagus and white bean salad I prepared (the fourth photo of her quartet I wasn't responsible for). Given that at least one of our group is vegan and has a gluten allergy, I spent more than a week online seeking out recipes.

During the day, I also prepared a lovely beef stew, and an apple/pear (Japanese pear) crisp. And why is there a cow on the cake? Well, I couldn't find any yacht/nautical cake-y decorations at any of the dollar-stores I visited; and who doesn't love cows?

[A lovely wooden item gifted to us by the Piries] We were able to host a ton of Yacht Club regulars and irregulars, including Monty Reid, Sarah Hill and their Frances, Brecken Hancock, Amanda and Charles Earl, Pearl and Brian Pirie, Sandra Ridley, Roland Prevost and Janice Tokar, Vivian Vavassis, Rhonda Douglas, Marilyn Irwin and plenty of others. I could barely keep track! And, given the distraction of food, house and baby, I took barely any photographs. We stayed up far too late, had so much food and wine that we ended with more than we began, and never even got to the readings. Perhaps next year we'll be able to be public again, and Rose will allow us out of the house long enough to host our regular reading/regatta/party back at The Carleton Tavern!

And who knows -- now that we have a house and are beginning to settle, we may even be gearing up for regular meetings again in 2014; perhaps even a new issue? I'm already gearing up to a whole slew of new above/ground press chapbooks by Camille Martin, Nicholas Lea, Hugh Thomas, David Phillips and more; keep watching this space!

some author activity: Cochrane, Armantrout, mclennan, Higdon, Wilkinson, Butler, Betts, Cooley + Barbour,

[photo of Mark Cochrane reading Cat. on the poetry bus at Vancouver's WORD festival on September 29, 2013; photo credit: Kevin Spenst] Rae Armantrout and rob mclennan both have new work in the second issue of N/A; Hailey Higdon has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; there's a new interview with Joshua Marie Wilkinson over at Under A Warm Green Linden, Christopher Nelson's poetry blog; Jenna Butler guest-edits a Canadian poetry section in the October 2013 issue of Connotation Press online, including new writing by rob mclennan, Gregory Betts, Dennis Cooley, Douglas Barbour and plenty of others.

some author activity: Armantrout, mclennan, eckhoff, Prevost + Maguire,

"A Second Look: The Poetry of Rae Armantrout," in SF State magazine; rob mclennan has the third essay in the "On Writing" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter; kevin mcpherson eckhoff and last year's Fish Quill Poetry Boat Tour; Roland Prevost has a new poem up as part of the dusie "Tuesday Poem" series; and Eric Schmaltz writes on Shannon Maguire over at Lemonhound.

Lauren Turner's Factory Reading in the Kitchissippi Times

Pearl Pirie was good enough to send along this clipping from the April 11th issue of the Kitchissippi Times, with a small write-up and photo of recent Factory Reading Series reader and Kitchissippi resident Lauren Turner.

some author activity: Sand, Poe, Pirie, Dolman, Gelèns, Lindner + McNair,

Just what have our authors been up to, you ask? Kaia Sand guest-blogs over at Ooligan Press; Deborah Poe has some new poems up at coconut #16; Pearl Pirie has done the last of her VERSeFest 2013 posts, featuring Anita Dolman, Hélène Gelèns and Erik Lindner; and Christine McNair reads in Toronto at the Pivot Reading Series on April 10, 2013.

some author activity: Pirie on Hawkins, Markotić, McElroy, McNair, Brockwell, Gelèns and Lindner, + an interview with Butler,

Pearl Pirie was good enough to post some reports on William Hawkins being one of the first inductees into the VERSeOttawa Hall of Honour, as well as the recent Factory Reading Series @ VERSeFest lecture by Gil McElroy and Nicole Markotić; and even post a whole slew of photos from the event, with all the above, as well as Christine McNair, Stephen Brockwell, rob mclennan, Hélène Gelèns and Erik Lindner; and there's a new interview with Jenna Butler on Connotation Press, alongside some new poems.

some author activity: The Peter F Yacht Club, Martin, MillAr, mclennan, Markotic + Poe,

For the first time in years, we actually had a meeting of The Peter F Yacht Club! Pictured left to right are Pearl and Brian Pirie, Vivian Vavassis and Gwendolyn Guth, listening intently to an unseen (by the camera, at least) Laurie Fuhr; others in attendance included rob mclennan, Stephen Brockwell, Danica Brockwell and Christine McNair.

Camille Martin has a collage essay over at Talking Writing, and Jay MillAr is interviewed over at Canadian Poets Petting Cats; rob mclennan's "Daily Offerings: a note on 'Songs for little sleep,'" is now online at Branta, anticipating his newest trade poetry collection; Nicole Markotic has some new poems over at Numero Cinq, along with an afterward on her poems by Tammy Armstrong; and there's a new interview with Deborah Poe over at womens quarterly conversation.

Also, copies of Hugh Thomas and Michael Blouin/Elizabeth Rainer's bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlisted titles will be available at Toronto's Meet the Presses, as at the ottawa small press book fair on Saturday!

some author activity: mcpherson eckhoff, Weaver, Markotić, Cooley, Reid, Bowering, Hall + mclennan,

kevin mcpherson eckhoff [pictured] was in Ottawa over the weekend, where he launched his new chapbook, and even posed for a number of other pictures; Douglas Barbour has been editing TRUCK over the month of October, and including various above/ground press authors, including Andy Weaver, Nicole Markotić, Dennis Cooley, Monty Reid + George Bowering; Phil Hall is doing a lecture at Queen's in November, as part of a series he's started; and I even have a new poem up at Halvard Johnston's On Barcelona.

some photos from last night's above/ground press 19th anniversary reading/anniversary/launch,

A stellar evening last night at Overkill, a small lounge just underneath The Mercury Lounge in Ottawa's Byward Market. Have you ever seen such a lovely picture of chapbooks?

With some forty people in attendance, we launched new publications by Amanda Earl, Cameron Anstee (above), Marilyn Irwin (below) and Stephen Brockwell (below-er), and nineteen years of chapbook publishing, and all four authors gave amazing readings. I even managed to have copies of both of Amanda Earl's previous above/ground press items, as well as Stephen Brockwell's, yet couldn't manage to find copies of Marilyn Irwin's previous above/ground press item (she brought some of her own copies along).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the event, from the readers to audience to bartendress, to Christine McNair, willing to be the evening's door person and bookseller. The audience was filled with Ottawa writers, including various above/ground authors and non-authors alike: Christian McPherson, Michelle Desberats (Eve'n Adam), Brandon McNally, Pearl Pirie (oath in the boathouse), Monique Desnoyers, David Currie, Vivian Vavassis and Bardia Sinaee. 

By October, I'll be announcing the 2013 above/ground press subscriptions, and watch for readings coming up this fall, with possible appearances by George Elliott Clarke, Shannon Maguire and Fenn Stewart, and a late March, 2013 reading by American poet Deborah Poe. Just what might the 20th anniversary bring...? 

Some author activity: Armantrout, McKinnon, Ackerson-Kiely + Hall at VERSeFest (some reports);

Now that the second annual VERSeFest is behind us, there are notes and reports popping up in various corners of the accumulated activity at our newest poetry festival (Pearl Pirie has a whole TON of photos here). For above/ground press authors Rae Armantrout, Barry McKinnon and Paige Ackerson-Kiely, these were their first appearances in Ottawa, making a series of rare occasions that much more impressive. Perth, Ontario poet Phil Hall, on the other hand, returned after numerous readings around Ottawa over the past decade as the most recent winner of the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for Killdeer (BookThug, 2011).

American poet Rae Armantrout [here a photo of Armantrout and McKinnon at lunch] gave a magnificent reading from recent work, including her chapbook Custom (above/ground press, 2012), which was, unfortunately, the only title of hers available throughout the week. See here, a photo Pearl Pirie posted from the event, as well as a report on the evening generally, and Armantrout specifically. Here, two days earlier, a photograph she took of Barry McKinnon. See here, Amanda Earl's report on the event.

As The Factory Reading Series @ VERSeFest, Barry McKinnon and Paige Ackerson-Kiely presented informal lectures/talks to a packed crowd at The Mercury Lounge in the Byward Market, both articulating various aspects of recent work and how it had been created, informed and structured. Ackerson-Kiely spoke of her second trade collection, My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta Press, 2012), and McKinnon spoke of an ongoing project translating fragments of Dante’s Inferno, parts of which have appeared as the chapbook Into The Blind World (above/ground press, 2012) and in The Peter F. Yacht Club #16. McKinnon even distributed copies of his talk as a self-produced chapbook of twenty-six copies through his long-standing Gorse Press, When “I” Left the Stage: A Realm of Intention (January 2012). A small fraction of the essay reads:

When I started writing at the age of 16, I wrote fast, filling boxes with quickly scribbled lyrics dashed off with a sense of excitement and risk. I never know what I was about to say or where the page was to take me. Now I’m 67 and the energy and pleasure of the writing process hasn’t really changed, but I wait much longer between poems. I’ve had to learn patience. Much writing and thinking for me is practice in preparation for the event when the poem arrives.

I’ve also learned to live with another paradox of its activity: The poem simultaneously identifies its writer to the world, but only comes into being when the writer, so to speak, is out of the way. What a strange occupation and process that requires obliteration of self at the same time that it reaffirms it. I think I knew this early on.

The event concluded with a lively (albeit brief, for the sake of time) question and answer session. Both pieces will appear later on this year in the fifth issue of seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics. See Pearl Pirie's magnificent report on the reading here.

Phil Hall, reading at the final event of the festival, the “Summit Reading,” shared the stage with American poet Philip Levine and Mexican poet Pura López-Colomé. For his opening set, the collage of Hall’s poetry was blended into a single, extended piece specifically structured for the sake of his performance at this event, with these two particular writers, and was one of the finest readings, and perhaps one of the finest works, of his career to date. How does Hall manage to keep surprising after all of these years? See Amanda Earl's report here on both The Factory Reading Series and The Summit.

A new chapbook, a collaboration between Hall and Western Australia poet Andrew Burke, will be available in a matter of days.

"poem" broadsides "inside cow barn at Ecotay," near Perth, Ontario; photo by Brian Pirie,