Literary Podcast: John Degen's The Book Room

If you haven't been listening to John Degen's podcast series The Book Room, then you're missing out on a lively, literary good time. May I recommend you start with Degen's recent conversation with poet and novelist Jonathan Bennett, who discusses, among other things: 1) finding his identity as a Canadian writer after growing up in Australia, 2) finding his identity as a poet after first writing fiction, and 3) finding his identity as a rural writer after first living in the city -- and while Bennett discusses finding himself, you'll find that you're enjoying yourself. The Book Room is worth checking out, and you'll want to make a return visit soon. Just beware of the puma.

Peter Redgrove: Collected Poems

Last year on this blog I posted an internet round-up of links to poems, articles, and interviews in order to introduce more readers to the late British poet Peter Redgrove, who has become a personal favourite.

Jonathan Cape has done the poetry world a great service in publishing this timely edition of Redgrove's Collected Poems. While Redgrove was never as widely read in his lifetime as some of his more notorious contemporaries -- like Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin, for example -- Redgrove's singular, idiosyncratic genius is worthy of favourable comparison to any of the best-loved poets of his generation.

I have hope -- and confidence -- that the publication of this much-needed book will help Redgrove finally find a wide and eager readership among poetry enthusiasts of all ages. For a primer, my round up will give you a starting point, but Redgrove's body of work is so immense, varied and rich, that the Collected Poems is really, now that it exists, the best place to start. It's a treasure trove of vibrant, daring writing, at once a literary thrill and a necessary resource.

To whet your appetite, read the haunting, challenging poem called "From the Answers to Job" and a handful of others from his 1977 collection From Every Chink in the Ark. I suspect you'll be hooked.

Thoughts on my last Insomniac Press book launch as Poetry Editor

This Tuesday night at the Gladstone Ballroom in Toronto, Insomniac Press will be celebrating its 2012 Spring Launch with five new titles, two of which (Marcus McCann's The Hard Return and Natalie Zina Walschot's DOOM) were edited by me. This will officially be my last event as poetry editor for Insomniac Press. I have already handed the reins over to the very talented Sachiko Murakami, and I've already begun work on my new job acquiring and editing books for Wolsak and Wynn.

Over the last ten years or so, I've edited 30 books for Insomniac Press, 29 of them under my 4 A.M. Books imprint. I've been reflecting on these books, and how privileged I have been to work on them. I have to thank Mike O'Connor and everyone at Insomniac Press for these wonderful opportunities and years of support. I have to thank all the brilliant authors I've worked with, too, because my work at Insomniac has always been all about them and their writing. I'm proud to have played a part in bringing these amazing books to you, and I'm pleased that Insomniac Press allowed me to do this job for ten wonderful years.

So, dear friends, readers, and book lovers, I hope to see you this Tuesday night at the Gladstone Hotel to celebrate two more incredibly talented poets and some marvellous fiction as well. For all the details for the launch, check out our Facebook event page.

In the meantime, I'll be going over my bookshelves, and giving these 30 books another close read:


• DOOM: Love Poems for Supervillains by Natalie Zina Walschots (2012)
• The Hard Return by Marcus McCann (2012)
• Grunt of the Minotaur by Robin Richardson (2011)
• Love Figures by Sam Cheuk (2011)
• Dance Monster! 50 Selected Poems by Stan Rogal (2011)
• Winterkill by Catherine Graham (2010)
• Tiny, Frantic, Stronger by Jeff Latosik (2010)
• Why Are You So Long and Sweet? Collected Long Poems by David W. McFadden (2010) (with Stuart Ross)
• Wanton by Angela Hibbs (2009)
• Naming the Mannequins by Nic Labriola (2009) 
• Porcupine Archery by Bill Howell (2009)
• Into the Drowned World by Ryan Kamstra (2008)
• The Red Element by Catherine Graham (2008)
• The Debaucher by Jason Camlot (2008)
• Shell by Olive Senior (2007)
• Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems by David W. McFadden (2007) (with Stuart Ross)
• A Newer Wilderness by Roseanne Carrara (2007)
• Every Inadequate Name by Nick Thran (2006)
• Creamsicle Stick Shivs by John Stiles (2006)
• Man & Beast by Eric Cole (2005)
• Gardening in the Tropics by Olive Senior (2005)
• Over the Roofs of the World by Olive Senior (2005)
• Unsettled by Zachariah Wells (2004)
• Parts Unknown by Michael Holmes (2004)
• Pupa by Catherine Graham (2003)
• Outside Magic by Noah Leznoff (2003)
• Scouts Are Cancelled by John Stiles (2002)
• Late Capitalist Sublime by Ryan Kamstra (2002)
• Early Poems by A. F. Moritz (2002) 
• The I. V. Lounge Reader edited by Paul Vermeersch (2001)

There are some new poems by Jonathan Bennett and David Brock up at They Will Take My Island. Check them out!

I'm reading at the first Wayward Troubadours reading this Monday in Parkdale

Insomniac Press and Wolsak & Wynn: a transitional spring season

Well, folks, there's going to be a few changes behind the scenes this publishing season. After ten years and 30 books, I will be stepping down as Poetry Editor at Insomniac Press to take on the role of Senior Editor at Wolsak & Wynn Publishers Ltd.

I'm proud of the books I've published under my "4 A.M. Books" imprint over the past decade with Insomniac, not only those by poets I've long admired, like David W. McFadden, Olive Senior, and A. F. Moritz, but also those first books that came out under my imprint, by such wonderfully talented younger poets as Nick Thran, Robin Richardson, and Jeff Latosik (for a complete list, look here). It was a difficult decision to leave Insomniac Press, but ultimately I was swayed by the challenge of building a new imprint from scratch, one that will include more books each year and further test my abilities by eventually including fiction as well. In my place, Insomniac Press has named Sachiko Murakami the new poetry editor, and I know she will take the list in exciting new directions. This is bound to be a good thing for Insomniac and for Canadian poetry in general.

Because of the necessary bit of overlap between the two positions, I've been busy planning spring book launches for both houses this year: my last season with Insomniac and my first with W&W. The books included in both publishing line-ups are stellar, and I'm pleased to invite my readers to attend both of them.

First, the Wolsak & Wynn spring launch will take place on May 1st, 2012, at The Magpie Taproom in Toronto. It will run from 7pm till 10:30pm, and we will be launching new poetry collections by Moez Surani (Floating Life) and Oana Avasilichioaei (We, Beasts), as well as a new collection of personal essays by poet and musician Catherine Owen (Catalysts: Confrontations with the Muse).  RVSP via Facebook. 

Secondly, the 2012 Insomniac Press Spring Launch Party will take place on May 15 at The Dora Keogh Traditional Irish Pub. It will also run from 7pm to 10:30pm, and we will be launching new poetry collections by Marcus McCann (The Hard Return) and Natalie Zina Walschots (DOOM: Love Poems for Supervillains), as well as new fiction by Liz Bugg, Julie McIsaac, and Jamie Popowich. RSVP via Facebook.

I hope to see lots of friendly and familiar faces at both events. Cheers!

Peter Norman reviews The Reinvention of the Human Hand

Poet Peter Norman (author of At the Gates of the Theme Park) has reviewed my last book for The Mansfield Review. Here's a sample:

The poems in Reinvention demonstrate a keen sympathetic imagination. Whether assuming the voice of the glass eye, or of Laika the orbiting dog, or of another human, such as Joseph Merrick (widely and mistakenly known as John Merrick, a.k.a. the Elephant Man), Vermeersch infuses his verse with compassion. But cheap sentiment is nowhere in sight—these poems do not indulge in hocus pocus; they are grounded in scientific awareness. Some of them function almost as secular hymns, leavening awe with pragmatism.

This delicate balance relies largely on technique—the tone and the music must be very finely calibrated. Fortunately, in that regard we are in excellent hands. Vermeersch makes terrific use of musical effects. His handle on structure and pacing is very strong too—he’s particularly good at the sinister final twist or surprising last-second lift-off. “Ode to Amoeba proteus” is a good example of these strengths.

Read the entire review here.

Some books by women who write interesting poems about nature...

I've just picked up a copy of Radial Symmetry by Katherine Larson (Yale University Press, 2011). It's the winner of this year's Kate Tufts Discovery Award and it was selected for the Yale Younger Poets Series by Louise Glück. It's a tremendous book, worthy of the honours it has received. I'm enjoying it, and it puts me in mind of some other poets, all women, who also write marvellously about the natural world, and I would like to share some of their books with you. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive reading list, but these are book that I have enjoyed, and they all seem to compliment one another. Let these be recommendations for anyone who has enjoyed at least one of these titles; if you liked one, then I'm sure the others will interest you, as well.

A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth by Stephanie Bolster (Brick Books, 2011).

Winterkill by Catherine Graham (Insomniac Press, 2010). 

Inseminating the Elephant by Lucia Perillo (Copper Canyon Press, 2009).

Red Nest by Gillian Jerome (Nightwood Editions, 2009).

Twigs & Knucklebones by Sarah Lindsay (Copper Canyon Press, 2008).

Spectral Waves by Madeleine DeFrees (Copper Canyon Press, 2006).

Woods etc. by Alice Oswald (Faber and Faber, 2005). 

Dream Work by Mary Oliver (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986). 

Selected Poems by Amy Clampitt (Alfred A, Knopf, 2010).

Who would you add to this list?