What the Poets are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation

I'm excited to announce a new book I've been working on (with many co-conspirators): What the Poets are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation will be published this November from Nightwood Editions!

As devoted Roll of Nickels readers will know, I've long been a big fan of the Tim Bowling edited 2002 collection of interviews, Where the Words Come From. I've posted many quotes from the book over the years, and I interviewed Tim, in part about Where the Words Come From, last year.

It was in rereading that book, in preparation for the interview, that I realized it had been sixteen years since it was published, a time in which an entirely new generation of writers had emerged (and another had risen to prominence). I sent a query to Nightwood, and a year-and-a-bit later here we are!

This new book will feature two younger generations of Canadian poets talking craft, politics, community, and all sorts of tangents (poets, you know?).

It will include conversations between:

Elizabeth Bachinsky and Kayla Czaga
Tim Bowling and Raoul Fernandes
Dionne Brand and Souvankham Thammavongsa
Marilyn Dumont and Katherena Vermette
Sue Goyette and Linda Besner
Steven Heighton and Ben Ladouceur
Sina Queyras and Canisia Lubrin
Armand Garnet Ruffo and Liz Howard
Karen Solie and Amanda Jernigan
Russell Thornton and Phoebe Wang
+ an afterword co-written by Nick Thran and Sue Sinclair

The book will also include sample poems from the poets, connected to elements of the conversations.

It will be a fun literary party, but in book form!

My hope is it will inspire writers young and old (as the 2002 book did, and does, for me), while also proving the great generational divide of our moment is not as great and divided as has been previously reported.

I can't wait for you all to see it!