Friday, September 21 to Sunday, September 23, 2012
The Poetry Tent
click on times to expand programming
HOST: Christine Leclerc, author and activist
11:00 ::
The Song Collides takes the reader on a highly personal and internal metaphysical investigation into the state of the natural world—and then back via more lyrical and local enquiries that speak to each and every one of us. Life as an exchange: each of us takes in the world and then expresses it for ourselves and for others. Calvin Wharton is the Chair of Creative Writing at Douglas College and edited EVENT magazine from 1996–2001. He co-edited the poetry anthology, East of Main, with Tom Wayman. Calvin will be accompanied by his son, Sean Wharton, on fretless bass.
(Anvil Press $16.00)
11:15 ::
In Embouchure, Kevin McNeilly compiles the intertwined lineages of trumpet players who came to prominence in the States during the “pre-bop” era, loosely defined as the period between 1890 and 1939. This series of vignettes betrays a broad and detailed knowledge of the players’ lives and work, yet reads like a collection of conversational anecdotes. Kevin McNeilly teaches English at UBC. In addition to his academic publications, he has had poems published in Canadian Literature and The Antigonish Review. This is his first poetry collection.
(Nightwood Editions $18.95)
11:30 ::
Runaway Dreams immerses the reader in the unforgettable world where “the ancient ones stand at your shoulder ... making you a circle / containing everything.” These are Medicine teachings told from the experience of one who lived and still lives them. They also show us Canada as seen through the eyes and soul of a well-worn traveller, with his love of country, his love of people, and his language sensuous and tender. Richard Wagamese is Ojibway but was separated from his people for 20 years. When they reconnected, elders told him that he was to be a storyteller. This has led to an award-winning career as a writer and a journalist.
(Ronsdale Press $15.95) Adopted by Mark Milner
11:45 ::
Vancouver has become as much a city of cranes and excavation sites as it is of ocean and landscape. Rebuild engraves itself on the absence at the city’s centre, with its vacant civic square and its bulldozed public spaces. The poems crumble as you turn the page, words flaking from the line like the rain-damaged stucco of a leaky condominium. Sachiko Murakami’s first poetry collection, The Invisibility Exhibit, was a finalist for the Governer General’s Award for Poetry and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She is a past member of Vancouver’s Kootenay School of Writing collective and now co-hosts the Pivot Reading Series.
(Talonbooks $16.95)
HOST: Brian Kaufman, subTerrain
12:00 ::
subTerrain magazine presents Cynara Geissler, Heidi Greco, Garry Thomas Morse, Nikki Reimer, and Calvin Wharton who will be reading their poems from subTerrain, issue #59, a special Vancouver 125 issue featuring 125 poems about Vancouver! Cynara Geissler will read “this city keeps us together”, Heidi Greco will read “It Comes In Colours”, Garry Thomas Morse will read “The Untitled (78)”, Nikki Reimer will read “Black Lines for Flight”, and Calvin Wharton will read “A City Carved Out of Water”. Each of the poets will also read an additional surprise poem!
Host: Daniel Zomparelli, Poetry Is Dead
12:30 ::
Poetry Is Dead presents Jordan Abel, Dina Del Bucchia and Daniel Zomparelli who will be reading from their latest works. Dina Del Bucchia will be reading from her current manuscript that focuses on celebrity culture in which the poem “Pamela Anderson” was published in the “TV, Beer and Video Games” issue. Jordan Abel will be reading from his current manuscript about history and its constant malleability. Daniel Zomparelli will be attempting a poetic experiment within the Poetry Tent—don’t miss it.
HOST: PRISM international with Jordan Abel and Andrea Bennett
1:00 ::
George McWhirter is the co-editor of and the principal translator for Homero Aridjis’s Eyes to See Otherwise, originally published by New Directions. The translation appeared in PRISM international. Homero Aridjis is President Emeritus of International PEN and has won the Prix Roger Caillois in France. McWhirter has won international prizes for his poetry and is a UBC Professor Emeritus.
George McWhirter es el co-editor de la principal traductor de Homero Aridjis «Ojos de otro mirar», publicado originalmente por nuevas direcciones. La traducción apareció en el «PRISMA internacional». Homero Aridjis es presidente emérito del PEN Club Internacional y ha ganado el Premio Roger Caillois en Francia. McWhirter ha ganado premios internacionales por su poesía y es un emérito profesor de UBC.
Host: Evelyn Lau, poet
1:30 ::
In partnership with TransLink and BC Transit, the Association of Book Publishers of BC produces sixteen poetry cards annually featuring the work of BC-authored and Canadian-published poets. The cards are displayed on buses and SkyTrains throughout BC. A transit bus will be on-site all day displaying this year’s 16 poetry cards. Don’t miss readings from featured 2011 poets Rob Taylor, Gillian Jerome, Christine Lowther, Kate Braid, Laisha Rosnau, and David Zieroth in The Poetry Tent.
HOST: Bonnie Nish, Pandora’s Collective
2:30 ::
The Other Side of Ourselves, Rob Taylor’s award-winning debut collection of poems, explores the real and imagined worlds of our everyday lives. These poems are united in their consideration of what it means to be human, to shape lives for ourselves and attempt to live them well. The full-length manuscript of The Other Side of Ourselves won the 2010 Alfred G. Bailey Prize. Rob Taylor is the co-founder of One Ghana, One Voice, Ghana’s first online poetry magazine. In 2004 he also co-founded SFU’s student poetry zine, High Altitude Poetry.
(Cormorant Books $18.00) Adopted by book’mark
2:45 ::
The Shining Material blends self-portraiture, ekphrasis, and a certain brand of psalm to create a collection of poems that is a tonic: dizzying in its open-mouthed, symphonic charge. Dancing across, between and at the interstices of the self, no poem is a single statement; they all recognize language as a perpetual subject of inquiry. In addition to being published in many journals and anthologies Aisha Sasha John has a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and is currently writing a play called Kissy Kissy as part of Nightwood Theatre’s Write From the Hip program.
(BookThug $18.00)
3:00 ::
With its continuous poetic dialogue of “discovery” and “recovery”, Discovery Passages sets out to recover the appropriated, stolen and scattered world of the author’s ancestral people, the Kwakwaka’wakw. Linking traditions of the past with contemporary poetic tradition in BC, it encompasses oral and vocal tradition, ancient ritual, historical contextuality and our continuing rites. Garry Thomas Morse received the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist in 2008 and has twice been selected as runner-up for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry.
(Talonbooks $17.95) Adopted by Adaawx Publising
3:15 ::
Martha in the Mirror “borrows” the Martha from Doris Lessing’s series of autobiographical novels and reflects upon, interprets, and reimagines her character. At times even using Martha as a foil to herself, the poems deal with love and loss, birth and motherhood, longing and abandonment, and the compassion and understanding women can bring to one another. Renee Norman is an award-winning poet, a writer and a teacher. Her first volume of poetry, True Confessions, was awarded the Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award for Poetry.
(Inanna Publications $18.95)
3:30 ::
Visually and conceptually dynamic, Buffet World is a collection of poems about food, trade and life under late–late–capitalism. Exploring the relationships between industrial food production, eating, culture and the politics of language, Mancini organizes his controlled palette of words and images around metaphors of consumption and the formal device of the list. Donato Mancini uses poetry, bookworks, and text–based visual art for cultural criticism. Two of his books, Ligatures and Æthel, were each nominated for the ReLit Award. He is currently enrolled in the PhD program at UBC.
(New Star Books $21.00)
HOSTS: Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea
3:45 ::
Join hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea, the co-founders of the World Poetry Reading Series, and World Poetry Café Radio Show, as they host readings by four poets: Theo Campbell, Yilin Wang, Caroline C. Nazareno, and Dr. Warren Stevenson. World Poetry has over 500 poets from 64 countries and includes a strong Canadian and First Nations presence.
