Member News

Bill Arnott Rocky Mountain Books launches the new edition of Bill Arnott’s WIBA Finalist, Gone Viking: A Travel Saga. Some LCP friends may know my poetic work through my nonfiction travel memoirs. To my delight, as a result of my exploration writing Gone Viking: A Travel Saga (RMBooks) I’ve been granted a Fellowship in the Royal Geographical Society of London. Fellow fellows? Darwin, Shackleton, Livingstone and Palin. #TooFun Thanks RGS! Gone Viking: A Travel Saga (Whistler Independent Book Awards Finalist) has just been awarded Finalist at the American Book Fest International Book Awards. Thanks IBA! This travel memoir spawned some award-winning poetry at Scars Publications Best of 2019, Pandora’s Collective, and anthologized in a range of lit journals including Long Con Magazine / Collusion Books and our own LCP!

Frances Boyle My second poetry collection, This White Nest, was published by Quattro Books late in 2019, and was well-launched in Ottawa and Toronto. Other scheduled readings, including ones in BC and Ontario, have been cancelled or postponed due to the virus. But the book has already received several reviews, including one by Kim Fahner in Prairie Fire , and another by Allie McFarland on The Anti-Languorous Project

Di Brandt

Poetry in Progress 3.0—ONLINE! with Di Brandt

Do you long for accurate, empathetic, professionally informed, imaginative reader response for your poetryin-progress? This is the workshop for you! Led by internationally acclaimed, award-winning poet, editor and teacher Di Brandt, this workshop is a follow up to the FROM THE BLOG popular Contemporary Poetries and Poetry-in-Progress workshops, but is suitable for all skill levels and can also be experienced on its own. Participants should send in a portfolio of previously written poetry to the first class for group discussion (3-5 pages in any style, on any subject and at any level, from “amateur” and

“emerging” to “professional”).

October 15, 22, 29, November 5 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. (CDT)

Literary Manuscript Masterclass— ONLINE!

with Di Brandt This four-week Master Class is for emerging and professional writers with nearly finished booklength literary manuscripts in any genre. Here you may find expert editorial advice on your valuable work from multiple award-winning author and editor Di Brandt, in the

company of fun and supportive reader feedback from fellow Master Class participants. This final step in polishing up your work to its best shine before sending out to publishers can make the difference between getting published or not, and getting acclaim for your writing or not! November 12, 19, 26, December 3 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. (CDT)

Neall Calvert has been chosen as a finalist in the Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize, out of Vancouver, BC. The competition encompasses community involvement as well as writing (five poems submitted).

Fern G. Z. Carr would like to thank the Federation of British Columbia Writers and editor Ursula Vaira for having published her article, “Unlocking the Door - Publishing Tips and Resources”, in the “Writing

and Publishing through the Pandemic” issue of WordWorks - British Columbia’s Magazine for Writers. To read Fern’s article, please scroll to pages 12 and 13. Fern is delighted to present her new YouTube Poetry Channel. Video playlists include illustrated themed poetry readings, live poetry performances including some in Mandarin, plus practical poetry lesson plans and guides. Since Fern composes poetry in six languages, upcoming playlists will include even more bilingual foreign language readings. Feel free to click the following link to access these videos. If you enjoy them, please be sure to click the red “Subscribe” button - it is free of charge.

Karin Cope “Look, trees are time travellers too.” As a part of “Text Type Light,” a project by Jonas Johansson and Victoria Albrecht,

this short poetic line was typed out beside a park in letters of light in the Stockholm night, to the accompaniment of music by Linn Elisabet.

Sue Chenette’s documentary poem What We Said (Motes Books), based on her time as a social worker in Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, was launched at Toronto’s knife | fork | book a few weeks before the pandemic overtook our lives. What We Said juxtaposes memories with hypothetical reports of the type that case-workers were required to write, and with found poems, some touching on Appalachian history, some from other writers commenting on the War on Poverty. Watch Sue’s Virtual Art Bar reading from her poem here. The book is available from Barnes and Noble.

Denis Cooley three new titles in 2020: “the bestiary” and “cold-press moon” at Turnstone Press; and “the muse sings” from At Bay Press.

Louise Carson Tuesday Oct. 13 at 8 pm, poet Louise Carson will present as part of the Art Bar Virtual Poetry Reading Series. She will read from her latest collection Dog Poems, Aeolus House, 2020. In October, Louise’s fifth mystery The Cat Possessed, A Maples Mystery, will launch. It is available through the publisher Signature Editions and at the usual commercial outlets, including your local independent bookstore.

Doris Fiszer’s first full-length poetry collection, Locked in Different Alphabets, was recently published by Silver Bow Publishing in Vancouver in June 2020. Locked in Different Alphabets will appeal to readers who have contemplated their role in family, cared for a difficult parent, faced the loss of a loved one, experienced a problematic relationship with a sibling or parent and perhaps grew up in a home where one or both parents were war-time survivors. Because of the COVID pandemic, a fall launch will not be possible. The book will be launched in spring 2021 in Ottawa. The book is available through Silver Bow Publishing (silverbowpublishing.ca), Amazon and from the author at dorisfiszer@rogers.com.

John Flood The Wade Hemsworth video animation directed by Allison Wolvers and produced by Penumbra Press was selected as the winner in the Animated Short category at the Toronto Independent Film Awards. The animation is about prohibition, and the “I’m Alone,” a contraband schooner out of Lunenburg, was attacked and sunk by the American coastguard in 1929. Wade is the singer/songwriter who also sang “The Blackfly Song” (an Oscar nominee in 1991 in the Animated Short category) and “The Log Driver’s Waltz,” both NFB animations.

Rayanne Haines She, the River is a multicultural, multigenerational and multilingual poetry film, showcasing the voices of Edmonton’s celebrated female poets and storytellers. She, the River started as a theatre piece but due to COVID 19 was re-envisioned as a film featuring eight powerhouse Edmonton female poets of varying ages and cultural backgrounds. The film, through a form of braided poet-

ry, explores the poets’ upbringing, identity stories, and family journeys. Together, they share stories of what it means to be here, in this place. What it means to be a woman in this city. Says Rayanne Haines, Producer and Poet, “By entwining our journeys together in film, we invite you to embrace the story of our diverse histories and complexities as women.” Featured Performers are: Titilope

Sonuga, Alice Major, Pierrette Requier, Medgine Mathurin, Laurie MacFayden, Naomi McIlwraith, Nisha Patel and Rayanne Haines.

Produced by Rayanne Haines, this event is presented with thanks to the Edmonton Heritage Council, the Edmonton Arts Council, the Writers Guild of Alberta, Glass Bookshop and Lazy Kitten Productions. Donations to support The Terra Centre, I Human and The Come Up, will be gladly accepted in place of any viewing fees. Please join us on October 15th at 7pm for the world premiere of She, the River!

Heather Haley Publication of Skookum Raven my third collection of verse by Ekstasis Editions in the fall. “There are some rough and wild birds around Howe Sound -- West Coast avians like the sharp-shinned hawk, the northern harrier, and the whiskey-jack. Heather Haley, an accomplished mapper of human migration, pair-bonding and predation, takes these feathered frenemies as her starting point in this assured third collection, Skookum Raven. Like her foremothers and contemporaries Gwendolyn MacEwen, Susan Musgrave and Karen Solie, Haley writes sophisticated free lyrics of a witchy feminist kind -- but adds some proletarian ferocity with her bus-station grandpas and sketches of iffy guys like Ed the Fence. These are astute, austere poems which sometimes take flight into optimistic beauty -- this book is ‘pockmarked with luck.’ “ heatherhaley.com

Susan Ioannou On July 14, I shared a recorded reading of poems from my book Looking for Light on Denis Stokes’s ZOOM Conspiracy of 3 Reading Series, based in North Bay, Ontario.

Keith Inman had 19 print poems published so far this year, four were Honourable Mentions. Another 16 were published on-line. He was asked to write two cover blurbs for fellow writers launching new books. He did an introduction for an online journal, helped judge two teen poetry contests, co-ordinated an Ontario wide Anthology contest, and, had a new book published. The Way History Dries, a poetry/novel about walking the Camino-Frances, is scheduled for an October release from Black Moss Press. Keith is presently taking deep breaths and getting ready for various Poets and Painters and Poets and Photographers exercises to wrap up with zoomed launches and spaced out gatherings.

D.A. Lockhart Two new full length collections are on their way. Tukhone: Where the River Narrows and the Shores Bend (Black Moss Press, 2020) is due out this fall. A collection of haiku and haibun exploring the Waawiiyaatanong (Windsor,ON-Detroit,MI) through music that made it famous and through the seasons as measured by the Lenape calen-

dar. Bearmen Descend Upon Gimli (Frontenac House, 2021) is a novel in poems that tells the story of a fictional epic curling bonspiel in the famous Manitoba town.

Diana Manole Two poems from Claudiu Komartin’s Masters of a Dying Art (“Maeștrii unei arte muribunde.” Cartier 2017), translated by Diana Manole, have just been published in issue 8/ Spring 2020 of The Arkansas International of the University of Arkansas’s Program in Creative Writing & Translation: “twelve lines to drive fear away, twelve seconds to the light’s disappearance” and “Getting Ready for the Centennial of the October Revolution.”

Tanis MacDonald Mobile (Book*hug Press) Longlisted for the Toronto Book Awards

Susan McCaslin has a new volume of poetry titled Heart Work forthcoming from Ekstasis Editions (Victoria, BC) by Jan. 2021. Her corona of sonnets,“Corona Corona,” was published on “Covid Tales Journal,” Apocryphile Press, Aug 11, 2020: “Persephone’s Nook” was first-place winner in the Write On contest sponsored by the Royal City Literary Arts Society, New Westminster, BC. The poem was published in the Society’s online publication Wordplay at Work in the Society’s September 2020 issue of the RCLAS Ezine

The poem “Hildegard of Bingen Considers the Migrant Farm Workers,” appeared in Desibuzz Canada: Canada’s Leading South Asian News Magazine, Surrey, BC, Aug. 26, 2020 An essay, “The Call: Nature & Nurture in the Shaping of a Vocation,” appeared in Sage-ing, The Okanagan Institute (Issue 34, Fall 2020), pp. 28-29. Susan is currently editing a forthcoming volume consisting of the last poems of Canadian poet E.D. Blodgett (1935-2018) to be published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Vancouver). She will be reading in a zoom session (In/Verse series) organized by the Federation of BC Writers, Dec. 12, 2020, 2 pm Pacific time hosted by poet Fiona Lam: See Fed website later for link.

Kamal Parmar: I have an upcoming poetry book titled STILL WATERS due to be published soon, by Silver Bow Publishing BC I am to do a ZOOM poetry reading from my book Fleeting Shadows for a local poetry organization Wordstorm, in Nanaimo, BC on Oct. 1st. I will be doing a ZOOM poetry reading as part of the online Author Connection program organized by the Federation of BC Writers. on Oct. 29th 2020. Stan Rogal I recently had a poetry chapbook come out with above/ ground press, titled: Alas & Alack. Also a seventh novel, The Comic, with Guernica Editions is hot off the press. It is supposed to launch in June, but given the present state of the world, this seems optimistic and unlikely. lection Parramisha. What’s written about us by non-Roma is a stereotypical image that’s both romantic and vilified. In writing our own Parramisha-story we are obligated to deconstruct those prevailing narratives readily available in popular culture and that have unjustly treated us. Parramisha challenges the reader to reconstruct a new image as a life affirming narrative of our wholeness as a Romani identity.

Rob Rolfe Co-authored a book/CD project of poems, songs and music entitled Late Nights on Irish Mountain (Ginger Press, 2019) with Owen Sound singer-songwriter Larry Jensen and illustrator Patti Waterfield.

Cynthia Sharp Journey through ten books of astounding, heartfelt, meaningful poetry with poet and singer Jude Neale. Let her imagery and healing voice transport you through over a decade of crafted verse. We welcome you to celebrate her life’s work with two-three poems from each publication, followed by a Q & A on topics such as what haiku is and isn’t in the twenty-first century, with much gratitude to our generous sponsors, the League of Canadian Poets and The Federation of British Columbia Writers.

Renée M. Sgroi I just published my debut poetry collection, life print, in points with erbacce-press in the UK.

Eleonore Schönmaier’s Wavelengths of Your Song (McGill-Queen’s University Press) was published in German translation in August as Wellenlängen deines Liedes by Parasitenpresse, Cologne

(translator Knut Birkholz). She was invited to the European Literary Festival in Cologne in September (where in her absence her poetry was read live in an urban garden in German and English). She is also invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. eleonoreschonmaier.com

Janet Vickers: My third book of poetry, Sleep With Me: Lullaby for an Anxious Planet is available at Ekstasis Editions. “These poems come forward in a tense time. The apocalypse appears to be upon us. Yet Janet’s serene poetic voice calls out to us as a mother to her child in the night, reassuring us that we can act against the forces for destruction, and that when we need respite from the intense struggle to maintain human decency, we may take it. And then persist once more – a wonderful accomplishment.” May Partridge, community organizer, retired post-secondary teacher of English and sociology.

Liz Zetlin “PROMPTED BY HAPPINESS” Book Launch with Liz Zetlin & Friends Everyone is welcome to join Liz Zetlin, Owen Sound’s first poet laureate, for the Zoom launch of her 7th poetry collection, Prompted by Happiness, published by Black Moss Press, on Tuesday, October 27 at 7 pm EST. Zoom room opens at 6:45 PM Passcode: 579838 Liz will be joined by current poet laureate Richard-Yves Sitoski, former poet laureate Terry Burns, who will interview Liz, and singer-songwriter david sereda, followed by a Q&A. “These poems flicker across the reader’s mind like sunlight and cloud-shadow on a windblown landscape, a reflection of the simultaneity of both pleasure and sorrow in all our daily, ordinary lives.” says Terry Burns, author of The Quality of Light. Watch the book trailer