Signed copies of Shared Universe now available in my Etsy store

If you know a poetry lover who'd like a personalized copy of my latest book Shared Universe from ECW Press, I now have them available through my Etsy store. Include your request for personalization when you order. All orders will be mailed promptly!

PLACE YOUR ORDER HERE

Shared Universe news, September 2020

Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995-2020 was officially published on September 1st, and as the month draws to a close, there are already a few developments I am happy to report. 

First, Shared Universe was named a Globe and Mail best book pick for fall 2020. 

The other entries in the poetry category are Swivelmount by Ken Babstock, Home Body by Rupi Kaur, Black Matters by Afua Cooper and Wilfried Raussert, and Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine. 

Next, Shared Universe was also listed as one of the Canadian poetry books to watch for in fall 2020 by CBC Books. 

Other titles on this list include Render by Sachiko Murakami, The Cyborg Anthology by Lindsay B-e, and Word Problems by Ian Williams, among many others. 

More recently, a review of Shared Universe by M. Travis Lane in the latest issue of The Fiddlehead says, “Paul Vermeersch is a major poet. How, nowadays, when most new poetry books are praised as superb (like the Irish father whose daughters were each of them more beautiful than all the others), does one praise a book which really is better than the rest? ...The poems, always perceptive, sometimes achingly sad, and sometimes achingly funny — are real poems. That is, they are written with an ear for the sound of our language: for the basic iambic of English, for the drama of emotion and wit, for the richly suggestive possibilities of pun and colloquial usage. Many of Vermeersch’s poems are sonnets (unrhymed); there are long sequences richly developed, each of which deserves an essay as long as Tysdal’s. And there are jokes, and bits of music — a magnificent potpourri! And all set against a universe imaged as always just beyond our imagination: galaxies, monsters, myths, aliens, and our childish selves.”

A few days later, a review appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press written by Jonathan Ball, who writes, “Instead of arranging groups of poems chronologically, according to the collection from which they are pulled, they are instead arranged according to how they might have appeared in imaginary alternate-universe collections.... The result is a book that feels essential... An exceptional collection and a must-have for any seriously non-serious lover of poetry.”

And finally, if you missed The Shared Universe Show, the virtual book launch event hosted by poet Daniel Scott Tysdal and presented by ECW Press and Another Story Bookshop on September 15th, the entire program is now available to stream on Another Story's YouTube channel, embedded below. Enjoy! 

 

Register now for The Shared Universe Show: A Launch Party!

Join poet and inter-dimensional traveler Paul Vermeersch for the launch of Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995–2020, a look backwards, and forwards, at his 25 year career. Featuring host Dan Scott Tysdal, guest Anjula Gogia, and a performance by LASERGNU!

Order Shared Universe from Another Story Bookshop. You can request a personalized copy if you order by September 18. 

This book gathers together the best of my poems from the last 25 years. To celebrate, I was hoping to throw you all the biggest party you’ve ever seen, but we must adapt to our world, and to keep you all safe, we’re doing something different. We’re using the Zoom Webinar platform, and we're calling the virtual launch for this book The Shared Universe Show.

Please register for the launch, and reserve your spot, here.

Personalized copies of Shared Universe available at Another Story Bookshop until Sept. 18

If you'd like to order a personalized copy of Shared Universe, Another Story Bookshop will be facilitating special personalized orders until Sept 18. Click on the link below and let us know who to sign the book to in the "instructions" field during the checkout process. 

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

SAVE THE DATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 — Shared Universe launch!

SAVE THE DATE!

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 

Join me in celebrating the launch of Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995-2020. We'll be doing this event online, so I hope you can channel your inner Tron and join me in cyberspace. Details to follow. We will be announcing special guests and super fun activities soon. Stay tuned.

You can RSVP on the Facebook event page here. 

Looking forward to seeing you on September 15th! 

The final dust jacket

The final piece of a very long puzzle: the full dust jacket is all approved, and I am told the book will be heading off to the printer this week in time for its September release. I'm looking forward to you all being able to read it.

For more information, or to pre-oder Shared Universe, click here.

The Quarantine Review is out now!

I was happy to contribute my poem "Liturgy for the Formal Exoneration of the Serpent in Genesis" (which will also be in my forthcoming book Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995-2020) to the debut issue of The Quarantine Review. This is a new literary journal edited by novelist J. J. Dupuis and ROM editor Sheeza Sarfraz. Proceeds from each issue will go to a different charity. For more information, or to download the first issue, click on the link or image below:

Click here to get The Quarantine Review Issue #1

New music from LASERGNU: The Isolation E.P.

Today LASERGNU releases The Isolation E.P. Because of COVID-19, we haven't been able to finish the album we've been working on, so we're releasing a few songs as an E.P. to keep us going. The new release, and our 2019 album Happy Mutations, are both PWYC (free, even!) for a limited time. We hope you enjoy it!

Click the image to get the E.P. 

Here are some samples from The Isolation E.P.

Shared Universe coming September 1, 2020

My new book Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995-2020 will be published on September 1, 2020, but you can already pre-order it from my publisher's website! If you're interested in the book,  pre-ordering can really help my publisher and me.

Here's the cover!

Published: September 2020
ISBN: 978177041224
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 in.
Pages: 240
Cover art: KRK Ryden
Cover design: Michel Vrana

And you can watch the book trailer here:

Stay tuned for details about the launch and other events. 

It's going to be a fun fall!

For more information, click here.