some author activity: eckhoff, Kaminski, Hancock, Barwin, Irwin + Stewart,

kevin mcpherson eckhoff emerges from the west to perform in Toronto on August 21 as part of "poems to be performed by kevin mcpherson eckhoff (with or without a green elfin mask)"; Megan Kaminski has a new poem up at Finery; Brecken Hancock answers the Canadian Poetries questionnaire; Gary Barwin has a "Red Letter Day" over at 49th Shelf; and Marilyn Irwin and Christine Stewart both have new work in the tenth issue of seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics.

Poets in Profile: Janice Tokar,

Janice Tokar recently discussed her chapbook Arrhythmia (2014) as part of her "Poets in Profile" questionnaire over at Open Book: Toronto, and even managed to gain the attention of someone south of the border. Lovely!

Brecken Hancock at Open Book: Toronto

In case you missed it, Ottawa poet (and above/ground press author) Brecken Hancock was writer-in-residence over at Open Book: Toronto for the month of July, and wrote a series of incredible essays on writing "confession". You can find individual links to them here: Our Lives of No Interest: The Compulsion to Confess (July 4), Tending Toward Liquid (July 7), His Gravity (July 10), A Story That No One Owns (July 11), Modest Portraits of My Mother (July 13), Grounds For Communion (July 18), Craving A Talent Not My Own (July 20), Trash (July 24) and Still Illegitimate (July 28).

some author activity: Landman, mclennan, Barwin, Kaminski, Hajnoczky + Gordon,

Seth Landman has some new work up in Coconut #19; rob mclennan's "Reading Recommendations" were posted recently by Susan M. Toy; Gary Barwin has some new work on an international blog of concrete and visual poetry; forthcoming above/ground press author Megan Kaminski had some collaborative pieces (composed with Bonnie Roy) in a recent issue of ILK; Noah Eli Gordon "On Scaffolding, Surrounding Auras, Authenticity, and Artfulness" at The Volta; and Helen Hajnoczky's 2011 chapbook "Tight-Lacing," "A rare example of contemporary feminist concrete poetry," appears for free pdf download at ubu web: visual poetry.

above/ground press twenty-first anniversary reading and launch: Christie, Dolman + Weaver,

above/ground press twenty-first anniversary reading and launch

with readings by:
Jason Christie (Ottawa)
Anita Dolman (Ottawa)
+ Andy Weaver (Toronto)

Thursday, August 14, 2014
7pm door / 7:30pm reading
Raw Sugar Cafe
692 Somerset St W, Ottawa
lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
$6 at the door / includes a copy of a recent above/ground press chapbook, or a copy of either the first or second issue of the new poetry journal Touch the Donkey!

author bios:

New Ottawa resident (temporary) Jason Christie's [pictured] poems have appeared in many journals and magazines, including N/A, filling Station, dANDelion, Poetry is Dead, Action, Yes!, The Capilano Review, West Coast Line and Interim. He is the author of several chapbooks. Jason is the author of i-ROBOT Poetry (http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/irobotpoetry/ir-catalog.html), Canada Post (http://snarebooks.wordpress.com/books/jason-christie/) and Unknown Actor (http://www.insomniacpress.com/title.php?id=978-1-55483-101-2). He is also an editor alongside angela rawlings and derek beaulieu of the anthology Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (http://www.themercurypress.ca/?q=books/shift_switch). Jason has lived in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and now Ottawa. He is currently writing poems about a fictitious forest, a tongue-in-cheek take on Jason and The Argonauts, and Money.

His most recent above/ground press publication is the chapbook GOVERNMENT (2013).

Anita Dolman’s poetry and flash fiction have appeared in journals and magazines throughout Canada and the United States, including, most recently, in Grain, Bywords.ca, The Antigonish Review, Ottawater and The Peter F. Yacht Club. Her short story “Happy Enough” is available as an e-book (Morning Rain Publishing, Burlington, 2014). above/ground has published her poetry in various broadsides and chapbooks, and her translations in the 2013 chapbook Two Dutch Poets: Hélène Gelens and Erik Lindner.

Her most recent above/ground press publication is the "poem" broadside “jwcurry’s Map Drawers” (#328).

Andy Weaver has published two books of poetry, Were the bees (NeWest, 2005) and Gangson (NeWest, 2011). He teaches contemporary poetry and poetics at York University.

He will be launching the chapbook concatenations (above/ground press), his fifth above/ground press publication and third chapbook publication, after Three Ghazals to the constellation Corvus (The Crow) (2001) and Other Work for your Hands (2004).

Helen Hajnoczky reads in Calgary (again)

Calgary poet laureate derek beaulieu hosts readings by above/ground press author Helen Hajnoczky and Calgary poet Victoria Braun on August 6 at 7pm at Loft 112, 535 8 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta T2G 5S9. See the Facebook invitation here.

Touch the Donkey: self-profile and the release of the second issue!

In case you've wondered why I felt such need to invent a new magazine, there is now a self-profile of Touch the Donkey over at Open Book: Ontario. You can even head directly to the website to see information on the second issue, and remain posted on updates on our brand-new Facebook group. And yes, Touch the Donkey is included in the annual above/ground press subscription, in case you were wondering.

Email rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com if you wish to be included on either the Touch the Donkey or above/ground press email lists for updates as well.

Watch the Touch the Donkey blog over the next few weeks for interviews with issue #2 contributors Pearl Pirie, David Peter Clark, Julie Carr, Susan Holbrook, Susanne Dyckman and Catherine Wagner!

Touch the Donkey. There's more than one way to get high, baby.