Wednesday 10 November 2010

Q&A with Jon Chapman

I love it when students want to know more about poetry, so I'm always happy to talk with them whenever I can. Jon Chapman interviewed me recently and posted our conversation on his blog... along with an old author photo that was taken when I was 27! (I remember that hair!)

Here's how our conversation started:
Jon Chapman: When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Paul Vermeersch: When I was a kid, I always sought out creative activities. I loved to write, but I also loved to draw. I had a subscription to National Geographic, and I liked to imagine that one day I would write stories about wildlife for them. But I also wanted to be a painter. I couldn't choose between painting and writing. In university I studied visual art and English, and when I gradulated I moved to Poland to teach at a college there. I thought I would paint a lot in Poland, but I didn't. I wrote a lot of poems, though, and when I came back to Canada a year later, I had most of my first book written. That's when I knew which path I needed to follow. I decided to devote myself to my writing, and I haven't looked back.

JC: What do you like best about being an author now?

PV: I don't really think of being an author much to be honest....


Read the rest here.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Upcoming reading: The Art Bar Poetry Series in Toronto on November 9

I will be reading along with Jane Munro and Sam Turner in the Art Bar Poetry Series on Tuesday, November 9th at 8pm.

The series is located in Clinton's Tavern, at the corner of Bloor Street and Clinton, near the Christie subway station.

For more information on the Art Bar, visit their website.

To RSVP via Facebook, click here.