The Factory Reading Series, September 28, 2025: O'Reilly, Lithgow + Ladouceur,

The Factory Reading Series Presents:
readings by:

Nathanael O'Reilly (Texas)
Michael Lithgow (Ottawa)
+
Ben Ladouceur (Ottawa)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Doors 7pm / Reading 7:30pm
Avant-Garde Bar, 135 Besserer Street, Ottawa

Nathanael O’Reilly’s [pictured] fourteen poetry collections include Separation Blues: Poems 1994-2024 (Flying Islands Books, 2024), Dublin Wandering (Recent Work Press, 2024), Landmarks (Lamar University Literary Press, 2024), Selected Poems of Ned Kelly (Downingfield Press, 2024) and Boulevard (Downingfield Press, 2024), as well as three chapbooks with above/ground press. His work appears in journals and anthologies published in fifteen countries, including Cordite, The Honest Ulsterman, Meanjin, New World Writing Quarterly, Rabbit, Southword, Trasna and Westerly. He is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at The University of Texas at Arlington.

Michael Lithgow’s poetry, fiction and academic writing have appeared in various Canadian and international journals including TNQ, the Literary Review of Canada (LRC), Topia, The /Temz/ Review, Canadian Literature, Existere, The Antigonish Review, Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, ARC and Fiddlehead. He has authored two collections of poetry Waking in the Tree House (Cormorant Books, 2012) and Who We Thought We Were As We Fell (Cormorant Books, 2021). His short story ‘The Taxidermy Lesson’ was recently published in The Brussels Review. He teaches at Athabasca University.

Ben Ladouceur has received the Thomas Morton for Fiction, the National Magazine Award (Gold) for Poetry, the Archibald Lampman Award, the Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize, the Gerald Lampert Memorial Prize, the Earle Birney Prize, and a writer’s residency at the Al Purdy A-Frame. He is the author of the novel I Remember Lights (2025), the poetry collections Otter (2015) and Mad Long Emotion (2019), and ten chapbooks, including the above/ground press titles Lime Kiln Quay Road (2011; second printing, 2014) which was nominated for the bpNichol Chapbook Award, and The Last Man (2025), produced as part of his upcoming tenure as University of Ottawa’s new writer-in-residence. He lives in Ottawa.

report: the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch/party!

Happy anniversary! Once more, unto the breach, dear friends. I'm sure you are already aware that I recently hosted the thirty-second anniversary reading/launch/party for above/ground press over at RedBird Live in Old Ottawa South, a very good event this time around (as per usual, I might add). Do you remember my report from last year? Or the year prior? With readings and launches of new above/ground press titles by Monty Reid, Mandy Sandhu, Lina Ramona Vitkauskas, Jason Christie, Beatriz Hausner and Ellen Chang-Richardson, we had a wealth of above/ground press authors and others scattered throughout the audience, including Stuart Ross (who was given copies of his new above/ground press prose title at the event), Chris Johnson, Amanda Earl and Charles Earl, Christine McNair (running the door/book table), Michelle Desbarats (I've been hoping to convince a further manuscript out of her, by the way) and Chris Turnbull [above, with Christine]. I even got to meet Char Harrison, the new editorial coordinator for Ottawa's Arc Poetry Magazine. Can you believe it's almost time to be thinking of 2026 subscriptions? Gadzooks.

The first reader of the evening was Monty Reid, launching the twentieth anniversary edition of his 2005 title cuba A book [you probably already saw the big interview I conducted with him recently around the chapbook, over at the above/ground press substack], a chapbook he noted "didn't have the right star" on the first edition, so this update, this correction, was appreciated. This title is part of a long, meditative, ongoing sentence; one full-length, and a manuscript that some smart publisher should probably publish at some point. This is his seventh above/ground press title, with his debut through the press back in 2000, the small item Six Songs for the Mammoth Steppe (I do actually have a couple of copies kicking around the archive, somewhere), which he found curious to note: twenty-five years since the press began publishing his work. 

Mandy Sandhu followed, reading from her chapbook debut, The Temporary Place of a Placenta, as well as, I found out later, her first public reading! Not too bad, honestly. I was surprised it was her first! [I was part of St. Catharines writer/critic Gregory Betts first three public readings, whether as co-reader, host and/or organizer back in 2004, and you've seen how well he's done since]. I am curious to see where her work might go next. She recently composed this short piece for the Spotlight series, talking about her current work. Vitkauskas did record a part of Sandhu's reading, which Sandhu later put up on her Instagram.

The evening's third reader was Lina Ramona Vitkauskas, launching the chapbook The Deaf Forest of Cosmic Scaffolding, a title composed around the grief following the death of her partner, Larry Sawyer, who has a posthumous full-length Canadian debut forthcoming with Guernica Editions (which you should watch out for; I recently composed a blurb for it). Although, she did note that above/ground press did produce his Canadian debut, the chapbook A Chaise Lounge in Hell, all the way back in 2003 (I still have copies of that kicking around as well, somewhere). She ended her set with two of his poems, recorded by Sandhu (they make a good team, I think) and posted to Instagram. She even posted her own report on the event, as she and Sandhu had travelled together to Ottawa from Toronto, over at Instagram as well.

To open the second half of the evening was Ottawa poet Jason Christie, launching his ninth above/ground press title, PSA [you probably already saw the big interview I conducted with him recently, over at the above/ground press substack], with his own debut through the press back in 2004, back when he still lived in Calgary, the chapbook 8th Ave 15th St NW (which I might also might still have copies of, by the way, for anyone curious). 

The penultimate reader of the evening was Toronto poet Beatriz Hausner, launching her above/ground press debut, The Oh Oh [you probably already saw the interview I conducted with her over at Touch the Donkey, given she's in the current issue]. Honestly, as much as I enjoyed her reading, the best part about her participation in the event is that we got to hang out the evening prior, discussing literature, surrealism and other subjects (the first time I think we've properly hung out, so I appreciated that).

The final reader of the event was Ellen Chang-Richardson, launching their above/ground press debut, The Moleskin Coat, providing a stellar reading. They recently had one of the finest debut poetry titles I've read in some time, I'll have you know, the collection Blood Belies (Wolsak and Wynn, 2024). I had been a few years gently prodding at Chang-Richardson for a possible chapbook submission, and they even wrote this particular title with the press in mind! Quite a compliment, I think. A very cool thing.

Thank you to everyone who came out! What should I do for next year? I should probably have taken more photos during the event, of course. Or perhaps even better photos?
 

new from above/ground press: POEMS I DIDN’T WRITE, by kevin mcpherson eckhoff

POEMS I DIDN’T WRITE
kevin mcpherson eckhoff
$6

THE LEAST OFFENSIVE POEM

welcome nice pills yes interesting pillar gadzooks toasty pillows throw bland marshmallow then happy ukuleles sunshine blasts mellow underpants puppy pudding oh wow fluffy toes and holy moly banana eh you're kidding sorry of course no really flake you monkey feather puce jubilation lull picnic snack blossom breeze pool dorsal to water drumlin pingo roof zigzag there adjective peace geranium beam approved transom colander tousled cilantro door good block together the larch loam sky great tolerance shoot heck sonder word personable tune parsley cuddles innocuous cookie creamy aardvark bosom butter kitten bum tuffet honey molecule tingle pickle pie pewp bewbz fudge slab butterfly dink vajayjay custard poptart ummmm gee ok as you wish also love neat toodles

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

kevin mcpherson eckhoff recently became friends with Peter and Melody Anderson, and his life is objectively better for it. His latest full-length book is called The Pain Itself, and it really is. In 2022, he politely asked Maria Bamford to contribute one word to his album, Joke Killed, and she did: how?! He is currently trying to dry off Lavender, a sweet and gentle La Mancha. Jake Kennedy is his forever best friend. Bye for now!

This is eckhoff's fourth above/ground press title, after dissections from their biography (2012), faux foe (2018) and dieting Herb Wit (2020).

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

new (online) workshop: Robert Duncan's H.D. Book: The Roots of Modernism, with Michael Boughn,

a new (online) workshop: Robert Duncan's H.D. Book: The Roots of Modernism, conducted by poet, editor, writer and critic (and above/ground press author) Michael Boughn. Further information and registration here.

some author activity: Collis, Dueck, Shea, Bowering + Norris,

Stephen Collis is interviewed via Victoria Festival of Authors, as publicity for an upcoming reading; Jonathan Ball's podcast Writing the Wrong Way offers a two-part interview with Nathan Dueck: Parenting And Productive Writing With Nathan Dueck - Part 1, Parenting And Productive Writing With Nathan Dueck - Part 2; Michael Martin Shea is interviewed by Lloyd Wallace for Poetry Daily; and both George Bowering and Ken Norris have new work up at The Typescript.

new from above/ground press: Just a Minute, Moon’s too Loud, by Michael Sikkema

Just a Minute, Moon’s too Loud 
Michael Sikkema
$6

what a room
all these birches
            and thunder
an exit wound
            on the way
            a gown of roses
for the bees

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

Michael Sikkema is a poet in Michigan who works with children of all ages and enjoys planting plants and treeing trees.

This is Sikkema's fourth chapbook with above/ground press, after Here on Huron (2019), Transmissions from the Crawdad Constellation (2021) and Boing, Extinction VS Wow! Signal (2021).

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

new from above/ground press : Daily Self-Portrait Valentine, by Laynie Browne

Daily Self-Portrait Valentine
Laynie Browne
$6

As if that trunk were 
My torso corseted
Stitched in pictures
Gathering every
Day is not a difficult
Task but what I want
To know is how to sift 
Arrange and compile
Sustain an ongoing
Impermanent season

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

Laynie Browne's recent books of poetry include: Apprentice to a Breathing Hand (Omnidawn, 2025), Everyone & Her Resemblances (Pamenar, 2024), Intaglio Daughters (Ornithopter 2023), and Translation of the Lilies Back into Lists (Wave Books, 2022). She co-edited the anthology I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues Press) and edited the anthology A Forest on Many Stems: Essays on The Poet’s Novel (Nightboat). Honors include a Pew Fellowship, the National Poetry Series Award for her collection The Scented Fox, and the Contemporary Poetry Series Award for her collection Drawing of a Swan Before Memory. She teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

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