The Nelson Ball Prize: Margaret Christakos wins! and Peter Jaeger's shortlist write-up,

Congratulations to Toronto poet Margaret Christakos, who recently won The Nelson Ball Prize for That Audible Slippage (University of Alberta Press, 2024)! 2025 judges Bev Daurio and James McDonald included, as you might already know, Peter Jaeger's Selected Memoirs (above/ground press, 2024) on their shortlist, so here's the judge's citations for such (you can see the citations for all five of the shortlist titles, including Christakos', as well as a short interview with Christakos, here):

Selected Memoirs (above/ground press)
by Peter Jaeger

Peter Jaeger is the author of several books and has written on a wide variety of topics, from ecology to John Cage. His chapbook Selected Memoirs addresses six and a half decades of one life, in thirty passages varying in length from twenty-five words to a couple of pages. Some passages cover several years, some only one. Much is missing; most of the life under consideration; yet the book feels complete and open at the same time. Its observations are as much by omission as by what they state; there are great gaps of time and context between some sections, between years, between sentences within entries. The passages and the spaces between them combine to create a perfect broken mashed-together record of existence, implying that much is forgotten.

Jaeger touches on the intellectual, the mundane, sweetness and regret, the greater world, the inner world, worlds imagined. There is a tipping between the real, and memory. Jaeger touches on horror (2001), a puzzling comment by a colleague (1997-98), unique experiences in the real world, "Scuba drift in the Red Sea" (2002-03) and times of want: "That winter Frank and I wore our heavy coats inside the house and clutched empty whiskey bottles filled with hot water to keep our hands warm." (1983).

Listing topics and descrying polarities and their subtle tensions, however, does not do the book justice, because so much of its joy is contained in its delicate, startling details and striking, unexpected shifts. The entry for 1966 reads: "Meditating in Bellwoods Park on a sunny afternoon in Toronto, I saw myself and the world as a continuous field of subatomic particles. I still remained deeply interested in the alphabet."

Although written in seemingly straightforward prose, Selected Memoirs is replete with moments of incredible writing, and a participatory poetics, where gaps and leaps ask the reader to consider all that is not there and what is hidden. Jaeger creates a small world of serenity, by turns warm, winsome, vulnerable, and quietly profound.

Peter Jaeger is on the 2025 Nelson Ball Prize short list! (along w Stebner, Christakos etc

Congratulations to the entire 2025 Nelson Ball Prize short list! (do you remember the longlist?) Naturally, it is very exciting to see an above/ground press title on the list, by Canadian poet Peter Jaeger, as well as titles by above/ground press authors Margaret Christakos (author of the 2019 title Retreat Diary 2019) and Kevin Stebner (author of the 2023 title AGALMA). In case you aren't aware:

The Nelson Ball Prize, worth $1,000, is awarded annually to a Canadian poet for a published work that features 'poetry of observation.' * The judges this year are James McDonald and Beverley Daurio. Stay tuned for announcement of the winning publication in the first week of December.

Here's the full list of shortlisted titles:

Margaret Christakos, That Audible Slippage (University of Alberta Press)
Jeremy Clarke, Stone Hours (Rufus Books)
Peter Jaeger, Selected Memoirs (above/ground press)
Kevin Stebner, Inherent (Assembly Press)
Michael Trussler, 10:10 (Icehouse Poetry)

Lillian Nećakov and Karen Massey are Finalists for The Montreal International Poetry Prize!

In case you hadn't heard, Toronto poet Lillian Nećakov (3¢ Pulp) and Ottawa poet Karen Massey (bullet, Strange fits of beauty & light, SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE), both above/ground press authors, have poems included in the list of fifty-one finalists for this year's Montreal International Poetry Prize! Congratulations!

some author activity: MacEachern, mclennan, Archer, Heroux + Barwin,

Jessi MacEachern, nina jane drystek, rob mclennan and Sacha Archer (among others) all have work in the final issue of Carousel, which also includes an interview between Jason Heroux and Jerrod Edson; and Gary Barwin is on the inaugural League of Canadian Poets Spoken Word Award shortlist.

Jason Christie's glass / language / untitled / exaltation (2022) shortlisted for the 2023 bpNichol Chapbook Award

congratulations to author Jason Christie, whose chapbook glass / language / untitled / exaltation (2022) is shortlisted for this year's bpNichol Chapbook Award! hooray! and will you come to hear him on Monday? this is actually Jason's third time on the shortlist, after his Cursed Objects (2014) made the 2015 shortlist, and his Government (2013) made the 2014 list! and with this, it means that above/ground press has had titles (sometimes even two on the same list) on half a dozen shortlists now! that is pretty cool, yes? here's what Meet the Presses posted as part of their announcement!

Congrats to the 2023 bpNichol Chapbook Award Finalists

Meet the Presses is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2023 bpNichol Chapboook Award. Please join us in celebrating the following chapbooks and supporting the authors and presses that made them happen! In not particular order:

Light Years — Laboni Islam — baseline press

The Lake – James Lindsay – knife/fork/book

glass / language / untitled / exaltation – Jason Christie — above/ground press

Third State of Being — Cassidy McFadzean — Gaspereau Press

I Need Not Be Good — kitchen mckeown — Rahila’s Ghost Press

Thank you so much to the two judges for this year’s award, Alice Burdick and Betsy Warland for their care and generosity with this year’s slate!

You can find out the winner at our Literary Indie Market, taking place as part of the Ampersand Literary Festival. The Eventbrite (which includes the schedule) can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-nd-festival-and-indie-lit-market-tickets-686326429827?aff=oddtdtcreator . You can also get more information through Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1bPyEPHSp .

Jérôme Melançon is a Francopresse recognition award finalist!

Jérôme Melançon is one of the finalists of the Francopresse recognition award for the chronicle of the year alongside Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault and Julie Gillet! As they write via facebook: "To discover the pen of your reporters and your reporter, it is on page 32 of the finalists' notebook."

Helen Hajnoczky is on the 2022 shortlist for The Nelson Ball Prize!

Calgary poet Helen Hajnoczky is on the 2022 shortlist for The Nelson Ball Prize for her chapbook a grain of sand! Huzzah! And congrats to everyone else on the shortlist, including three other above/ground press authors! And a reminder, naturally, that copies of the recent festschrift celebrating her work, Report from the Hajnoczky Society Vol. 1 No. 1 are still very much available.

Zane Koss' The Odes (Incomplete) (2020) shortlisted for The Nelson Ball Prize!

Yesterday, Stuart Ross announced the shortlist for The Nelson Ball Prize, which includes The Odes (Incomplete) (2020) by Zane Koss! Hooray! The shortlist also includes titles by patrick friesen, Julie Joosten, Chantal Neveu (translated by Erín Moure) and Matthew James Weigel. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors, translator, publishers and titles! For further information, check out the link here.

some author activity: Ross, Reid, Tate, Archer, Gunnars, Jirgens, Norris + Young,

Stuart Ross is a finalist for the 4th James Tate International Poetry Prize, for his full-length manuscript, "Cringe System"; Monty Reid is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; Bronwen Tate now has a newsletter you can sign up for; Sacha Archer has posted "an improvisation by Sacha Archer played on a broken stand-up piano that was found in a large dumpster in the downtown of Peterborough, Ontario c. 2007" via YouTube; and above/ground press authors Ken Norris, Karl Jirgens, Geoffrey Young and Kristjana Gunnars, among others, have new work in the latest issue of mouse eggs.

some author activity: Robinson, Siklosi, Betts, Etherin + Niespodziany,

Elizabeth Robinson has some new work up at Posit; Kate Siklosi, Gregory Betts and Nasser Hussain are interviewed by Anthony Etherin and Clara Daneri as part of Episode 24 of The Penteract Podcast; and forthcoming author Benjamin Niespodziany is a runner up for the 2021 Greg Grummer Poetry Contest over at phoebe.

some author activity: Polyck-O'Neill, Braune, Deen, Syersak, Schmaltz + Tokar,

Julia Polyck-O'Neill, Sean Braune, Faizal Deen and Jake Syersak etc all have new work in the sixth issue of where is the river; Eric Schmaltz is interviewed at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and Janice Tokar is shortlisted for the 2018 Far Horizons Poetry Award, via The Malahat Review.

above/ground press authors Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees— (2016) and Dana Claxton's THE PATIENT STORM (2016) are on the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award‏ shortlist!

It has just been announced! Congratulations to Renée Sarojini Saklikar and Dana Claxton for making the shortlist to the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award [and of course, both Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees— and Dana Claxton's THE PATIENT STORM are still in print]! I'm in the midst of chapbook making (that might even be a Sacha Archer title in the background I'm stapling...), so am taking but a small pause with wine to hoist to the shortlisted authors. Congratulations, all!

This is above/ground press' fifth appearance on the bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlist over the past six years, after Jason Christie's Cursed Objects (2014) and Ben Ladouceur's Lime Kiln Quay Road (2014) made the 2015 list, Christie's Government (2013) made the prior year's list and Fenn Stewart's An OK Organ Man (2012) made the list before that, and Hugh Thomas' Opening the Dictionary (2011) and Elizabeth Rainer and Michael Blouin's let lie/ (2012) were shortlisted the year prior to that. So many lists!

Looking forward to this year's Meet the Presses to hear the winner! You should totally come by and say hello and even pick up copies of these shortlisted titles? The press release for such is below (and at this link):

TORONTO – October 17, 2017 – Tonight, at a Toronto event paying tribute to the late poet bpNichol, the Meet the Presses collective announced the finalists for the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award. The prize, awarded annually since 1985, goes to the author of the best poetry chapbook – in the estimation of the judges – published in Canada in the previous year and submitted for consideration. It is named in honour of the late poet, novelist, mentor, and micropress publisher bpNichol (1944–1988).

The $4,000 prize purse, donated by an anonymous benefactor, makes this the richest annual literary award for a poetry chapbook, specified as a collection of no more than 48 pages. The publisher of the winning title also receives $500, thanks to an annual donation by Toronto writers Brian Dedora and Jim Smith.

Judges Helen Guri of Montréal, Québec, and Hoa Nguyen of Toronto, Ontario, chose the finalists from more than 60 submissions from across the country.

The finalists for the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award are:

Dana Claxton. The Patient Storm. above/ground press
Doris Fiszer. The Binders. Tree Press
Stevie Howell. Summer. Desert Pets Press
Sonnet L’Abbé. Anima Canadensis. Junction Books
Nanci Lee. Preparation. FreeFall Literary Society of Calgary
Renee Sarojini Saklikar. After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees. above/ground press

The winner will be announced at 2 p.m. on November 18, 2017, at the annual Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market, open from 12 noon to 5 p.m. at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor Street West, in Toronto. The Market introduces the public to independent literary publishers of books, chapbooks, magazines, ephemera, and recordings generally not available in bookstores. The free event is curated by Meet the Presses, a volunteer literary collective devoted to showcasing the work of independent publishers of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.

More details can be found at meetthepresses.wordpress.com.

For more information and interview opportunities, contact the publicist for Meet the Presses: Zarmina Rafi at rafi.zarmina@gmail.com

Gary Barwin on the Giller Shortlist!

Congratulations to above/ground press author Gary Barwin, on being on the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize Shortlist for his novel Yiddish for Pirates! Amazing!

above/ground press was fortunate enough to publish Barwin's chapbook Seedpod, Microfiche (2013), as well as "SYNONYMS FOR FISH," as an issue of STANZAS magazine (#26, March 2001). His work also appeared in the chapbook anthology 33 1/3 (2003).

The Robert Kroetsch Award Shortlist: Lea Graham + Laurie Fuhr

Congratulations to above/ground press authors Lea Graham and Laurie Fuhr, included on the 2016 shortlist for The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry!

Calgary poet and musician Laurie Fuhr is the author of the above/ground press chapbook accident: a chain reaction (1999), and Lea Graham, originally from Arkansas, is the author of the above/ground press chapbook Calendar Girls (2006) and co-author (with rob mclennan) of the collaboration metric (2011).

Graham's chapbook, This End of the World: Notes to Robert Kroetsch (Apt. 9 Press), is forthcoming in April.

Judged this year by George Elliott Clarke, the current Parliamentary Poet Laureate, the complete shortlist reads:

Micheline Maylor
Diandre Prendimano
Lea Graham
Ian Kinney
Geoffrey Babbitt
Paul Zits
Laurie Fuhr

The winner will be announced mid-March! See here for the full press release.

above/ground press author Jason Christie's Cursed Objects (2014) and Ben Ladouceur's Lime Kiln Quay Road (2014) on the 2015 bpNichol Chapbook Award‏ shortlist!

Congratulations to Jason Christie (second year in a row!) and Ben Ladouceur for making the shortlist to the 2015 bpNichol Chapbook Award! Thrilled to see, also, two other above/ground press authors--Nelson Ball and Phil Hall--on the shortlist for further titles. Congratulations, all!

This is above/ground press' fourth and fourth annual appearance on the bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlist, after Jason Christie's Government (2013) made last year's list, Fenn Stewart's An OK Organ Man (2012) made the previous year's list, and Hugh Thomas' Opening the Dictionary (2011) and Elizabeth Rainer and Michael Blouin's let lie/ (2012) were shortlisted the year prior to that.

Looking forward to this year's Meet the Presses (our second annual appearance) to hear the winner! The press release for such is below (and at this link):

TORONTO – October 21, 2015 – The Meet the Presses collective is excited to announce the finalists for the 2015 bpNichol Chapbook Award. The prize, awarded annually since its establishment in 1985, goes to the author of the best poetry chapbook published in Canada in the previous year. It is named in honour of the late poet, novelist, and micropress publisher bpNichol.

Thanks to an anonymous benefactor, the purse doubled to $4,000 in 2014, making it the richest annual literary award for a poetry chapbook — a collection of no more than 48 pages. The publisher of the winning title also receives $500, thanks to an annual donation by Toronto writers Brian Dedora and Jim Smith, both of whom were friends of bpNichol.

Judges Alice Burdick of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, and Karl Jirgens of Windsor, Ontario, chose the finalists from 68 submissions from across the country. The judges felt this year’s entries included many excellent works and some remarkable book designs, commenting: “It was difficult to choose from this wealth of literary riches.”

The finalists for the 2015 bpNichol Chapbook Award are:

Nelson Ball, A Gathering (BookThug)

Jason Christie, Cursed Objects (above/ground press)

Phil Hall, Notes from Gethsemani (Nomados Press)

Ben Ladouceur, Lime Kiln Quay Road (above/ground press)

Matt Rader, I Don’t Want to Die Like Frank O’Hara (baseline press)

Lissa Wolsak, Of Beings Alone: The Eigenface (Nomados Press)

The winner will be announced at 2 pm on November 14, 2015, at the annual Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market, which runs from 11:30 am to 5 pm at the Tranzac Club, at 292 Brunswick Avenue, in Toronto. The Market introduces the public to independent literary publishers and authors of books, chapbooks, magazines, broadsheets, and recordings that are largely not available in bookstores. The event is curated by Meet the Presses, a volunteer literary collective devoted to organizing public events showcasing the work of independent publishers of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.

“This award is particularly important now, three decades after its inception,” says collective member Stuart Ross. “In an era when everyone seems constantly online, it’s exciting that there is still such vital passion for poetry on the printed page, especially in such an esoteric and utterly non-commercial form as the chapbook. And that the pioneering spirit of bpNichol continues to be such an influence on writers, including many born after his death.”

More information can be found at bpnichol.ca and meetthepresses.wordpress.com.

2014 ReLit Shortlists : eckhoff, Rogal + Brockwell,

Congratulations to the three above/ground press authors, along with all else, who made it onto the 2014 ReLit Awards Shortlist: kevin mcpherson eckhoff (Forge, Invisible), Stan Rogal (Love's Not the Way to, BookLand) and Stephen Brockwell (Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books, Mansfield).

above/ground press author Fenn Stewart's An OK Organ Man (2012) on the bpNichol 2013 chapbook award shortlist!

Congratulations to Toronto poet Fenn Stewart, whose 2012 chapbook An OK Organ Man (copies are still available) is on the 2013 bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlist! This is above/ground press' second appearance on the shortlist, after two titles appeared on last year's list. Nice, also, to also see above/ground press authors Gil McElroy and Shannon Maguire on the list for other titles, and even one of our authors as a judge! (the press appears to be everywhere these days) Congratulations to the entire shortlist!

Here's the press release that Toronto's Meet the Presses Collective sent out today:

Congratulations: Meet The Presses Collective and the bpNichol Chapbook Award Committee are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2013 bpNichol Chapbook Award.

thirteen poems for releasing love by joanne thorwaldson (leaf press)
An OK Organ Man by Fenn Stewart (above/ground)
Ordinary Time: The Merton Lake Propers by Gil McElroy (baseline press)
fruit machine by Shannon Maguire (Ferno House)
21st century monsters by ryan fitzpatrick (Red Nettle Press)
naturally speaking by Sandra Alland (espresso [paperplates press])

The winner will be announced at 2PM on Saturday 16 November 2013 at the Indie Literary Market, Tranzac Club, Toronto. A cheque for $2,000 goes to the winning poet and $500 to the winning publisher. Donors for the prizes include Anonymous ($2,000 prize), Jim Smith and Brian Dedora ($500 prize).

Judges this year are Sandra Ridley (Ottawa) & kevin mcpherson eckhoff (Armstrong, BC), who received 90 chapbooks from which they made this year's shortlist selection.

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In the spirit of the original Phoenix Chapbook Award, which was adjudicated for its first two years by Frank Davey and bpNichol, and continued as the bpNichol Chapbook Award for 23 years by Phoenix Community Works Foundation, the award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry published in chapbook form. With the demise of Phoenix Community Works Foundation, the Meet the Presses collective was pleased to assume management of the award. Meet the Presses is a Toronto-based collective devoted to promoting micro, small and independent literary presses. This collective has come together in the spirit of the original Meet the Presses event begun in Toronto in the mid-1980s by Nicholas Power and Stuart Ross. Members of Meet the Presses have organized a variety of curated public events, and all the events focus on independent publishers of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Meet the Presses – an unfunded and non-profit collective – consists of members Gary Barwin, Paul Dutton, Beth Follett, Hazel Millar, Leigh Nash, Nicholas Power and Stuart Ross.

Hugh Thomas' Opening the Dictionary and Elizabeth Rainer + Michael Blouin's let lie shortlisted for the 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award!

Congratulations to all the authors shortlisted for this year's prize! above/ground press is thrilled to be included not once, but twice, on this year's list, and for the first time! Michael Blouin's inclusion also comes on the heels of his Archibald Lampman Award, which was presented last night as part of the Ottawa Book Awards. Congrats, all!

Click here for more information on Thomas' chapbook, and here for the Rainer/Blouin collaboration, both of which are still available.

Here's the full announcement, from the Meet the Presses blog:

In 2012, the Meet the Presses collective took over the administration of the annual bpNichol Chapbook Award, which was launched in 1996. Named for the late poet, novelist, and indie publisher bpNichol, the $2,000 prize is awarded to the author of the best poetry chapbook published in the previous year, as selected by two judges appointed by Meet the Presses.

Judges Bill Kennedy and Maggie Helwig — both writers themselves — made the tough choices this year.

The finalists for the 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award are:

    Spencer Gordon, Feel Good! Look Great! Have a Blast!, Ferno House (Toronto)
    Adrienne Gruber, Mimic, Leaf Press (Lantzville, B.C.)
    Liz Howard, (skullambient), Ferno House (Toronto)
    Robert Martens, Poltergeist, Lipstick Press (Gabriola, B.C.)
    Elizabeth Rainer and Michael Blouin, let lie, above/ground press (Ottawa)
    Hugh Thomas, Opening the Dictionary, above/ground press (Ottawa)

The winner will be announced at the Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market, which takes place on November 17, 2012, noon to 4:30 p.m., at the Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Street, in Toronto.

The market gives the public an opportunity to meet independent literary publishers and authors, and take home books, chapbooks, magazines, broadsheets, and recordings that are largely not available in bookstores.

The Meet the Presses collective is Gary Barwin, Paul Dutton, Ally Fleming, Beth Follett, Leigh Nash, Nicholas Power, Stuart Ross, and Carey Toane.

About the 2012 Judges:

Maggie Helwig lives in Toronto. She was co-coordinator of the Toronto Small Press Fair from 1998 to 2003, and the event coordinator/associate director of the Scream Literary Festival from 2005 to 2009. She was among the founding members of the Meet the Presses collective. Her most recent book is the novel Girls Fall Down, published by Coach House Books in 2008.

Bill Kennedy once cold-called Bob Cobbing from a London phone booth. He proceeded to spend two days of his vacation with Bob perusing Writers Forum publications, an experience he considers his only real bona fide for judging a chapbook award. Bill is the co-author (with Darren Wershler) of Apostrophe (ECW, 2006) and Update (Snare Books, 2010). He’s a long-time literary organizer, from the Café May Reading Series (with Michael Holmes), to the Lexiconjury Reading Series (with Angela Rawlings), to the Scream Literary Festival (with a whole bunch of awesome people) where he did a ten-year stint as Artistic Director. The Apostrophe Engine (www.apostropheengine.ca), the web-based poem that generated the book, has recently appeared as part of the Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. His latest venture is Intelligent Machines (www.intelligentmachines.ca), a digital media co-operative. Bill lives in Toronto.

some author activity: Earl, McNair + mclennan, hastain, Bolster;

In case you weren't aware, Amanda Earl spent the month of August celebrating Anne Carson; the sixth issue of summer stock features part of the ongoing collaboration by Christine McNair and rob mclennan (featured in their recent above/ground press title), as well as new work by j/j hastain, and a collaboration hastain is working on with Joseph Cooper, Travis Macdonald and Michelle Taransky; and rob mclennan answers Jonathan Ball's "what are you working on right now?"

And Stephanie Bolster has made the CBC Poetry shortlist!