final draught

Friend and fellow ex-HAPer, Colin Stewart, is going to have his screenplay read as part of the Final Draught Reading Series this Monday (two days!). Here are the details:

Monday, December 1st
The Other Space (a bar at Georgia & Cambie, above The Media Club)
Casting starts at 7pm, readings start at 8pm
Admission by donation ($5 suggested)

It sounds like a lot of fun, so go! And good luck, Colin!!!

Child of Saturday review

A review of Child of Saturday by Arts Editor Deanne Beattie has been published in this week's edition of The Peak. It's quite complimentary of the chapbook, and even better, gets a couple paragraphs in on One Ghana, One Voice - which is really fantastic.

You can read the review online here.

The Peak was one of few places I could think of to get a chapbook reviewed - does anyone have other suggestions?

rock: salt

I'm reading tonight, along with:

David Zieroth, Alan Hill, Trevor Carolan, Daniela Elza, Christopher Levenson, Heather Haley, Kate Braid, Zachariah Wells, Russell Thornton, Joanne Arnott, Peter Trower


As part of the:

Rocksalt North Vancouver Launch


At:

32 Books, 3185 Edgemont Boulevard, North Vancouver, 7:30 pm


So you should:

Come.

Where is Rob Taylor when you need him?

Ok, I'm pretty sure he's meaning Australian actor Rod Taylor, but I'm still going to pretend that I save the day:

Bodega Bay Pantoum by Shane Allison

change i keep believing in again and again

Obama doesn't have to do much to excite me... Bush set the bar pretty low. Here's another example:

Obama spotted carrying poetry book

He doesn't even have to read it. It's that easy...

rocksalt vpl reading

Zachariah Wells has recorded and uploaded the reading from a couple weeks ago. Thanks, Zach!

It features readings by most of these people:

George McWhirter, Judith Copithorne, Jean Mallinson, Rob Taylor, Daniela Elza, Anna Wärje, Daphne Marlatt, Russell Thornton, Peter Morin, Susan Andrews Grace, Bobbie Ogletree, Jody Jankola, Susan McCaslin, Trevor Carolan, Christopher Levenson, Maxine Gadd, Joanne Arnott, Peter Trower, Susan Cormier, Zachariah Wells.

Here it is:

honey, honey, yeah

Another interesting event I heard through The Grapevine. Looks like it should be good:

Strong Words, a celebration of aboriginal poets and poetry, will take place on November 22 at the Chinese Cultural Centre.

The event will acknowledge the legacy of the poets Pauline Johnson, Chief Dan George and George Clutesi, with family and friends reading their poetry.

Event details:

Saturday, November 22, (12 - 9 PM)
Chinese Cultural Centre
50 East Pender St, Vancouver

While on the subject of aboriginal poetry, if you don't own this book, you should. While on the subject of readings, the Rocksalt North Van launch is the night before this. What a weekend!!!

Oh, and High Altitude Poetry is having a poetry slam up on Burnaby Mountain this Tuesday...though it may not be a poetry slam...in fact I'm pretty sure it isn't...finding out if it is or not will only add to the excitement of the evening!

Here's the poster:

complicity with fallenness

As far back as we can see, the economics of literary fame have been based on scarcity: there is not enough recognition to go around, so every human being's just claim cannot be met. Beauty is the currency, as arbitrary as gold or paper, in which recognition is bought and sold. We grant great writers the dignity of having really been, the posthumous recognition that we call immortality, because they please us with their arrangements of words. Because of how well they wrote, we remember not just their works but their letters, travels, illnesses, aspirations—we feel with and for them. But we do this as irrationally as the peahen rewards the peacock with the biggest tail feathers, which have nothing intrinsically to do with reproductive fitness.

If the scarcity of recognition is a symptom of the world's fallenness, then literary ambition is a form of complicity with fallenness. In other words, it is a sin. Because there is not enough money in the world, people steal; because there is not enough power, people do violence; because there is not enough recognition, they make art.

...

The Internet has democratized the means of self-expression, but it has not democratized the rewards of self-expression. Now everyone can assert a claim to recognition—in a blog, tumblr, Facebook status update. But the amount of recognition available in the world is inexorably shrinking, since each passing generation leaves behind more writers with a claim on our memory. That is why the fight for recognition is so fierce and so personal.


- from "The Fight for Recognition" by Adam Kirsch, from the November 2008 issue of POETRY.

Read the whole thing, for some reason retitled, here.

OGOV coverage

One Ghana, One Voice just got a mention on Ron Silliman's blog. Five words!!!

Hopefully his 1,880,000 hits worth of traffic will transfer a few eyes to our little 35,000 hit magazine.

Thanks, Ron, and thanks to Zachariah Wells for pointing this out.

stimulating intellectual passion

Poetry needs synthesis. The world contains hundreds of languages and literatures which more and more often form and reform each other. In the 1960s, personal expression was important. Now the personal is less important, and abstraction has increased. Young people continue to have new ideas. The body of feminist literature continues to expand, as does radical and egalitrian work in many forms. If grammar is innate, then language is also and so, probably, is poetry; thus, whatever methods of writing, if we don't take this instinctive basis into account our writing will dry up. Poetry predates particular traditions and schools and will continue beyond our innovations, for poetry is bigger than each of us. And yet we want to grow beyond our instinctual roots: as we hope to become less violent and selfish, so our minds help us to see how our will and our intentions might express themselves. Theory contains intellectual speculation, which is an interesting form of connection to poetry. So, although theoretical poetry may not produce the affects of other types of poetry, it can stimulate intellectual passion. Pure humor opens the mind, satire and irony shape it, sonic qualities and imagery sway it. Sound and visual poetries add further dimensions. Today modernist, lyrical, language-oriented and surreal poetry are only a few of the forms available to us. It is fascinating to sample the great riches available across the spectrum of poetry. Why not experiment with this wide range of poetry and experience its gifts of the mind, of the emotions and of the senses?

- Judith Copithorne, Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry

p.s. Rocksalt reading in North Van on the 21st!

readings old and new

The Rocksalt reading on Friday night went quite well, despite the fact that I didn't report in to the right person, and so almost missed my reading. The readings were, not surprisingly, of a very high quality, especially the readings by Daniela Elza, Bobbie Ogletree and Zach Wells.

It was a pretty intimidating group to read with, but it went well and I was able to promote One Ghana, One Voice a bit, which was nice. Thanks to all my friends, and Mom!, who came out for support.

If you weren't there, you missed out!

But you have more chances to catch some top-notch poetry in Vancouver (I'm pretty sure I'm going to all of them - hope to see you there!):


Robson Reading Series
Tim Lilburn and JoAnn Dionne
Thursday, November 13th, 2008, 7pm
800 Robson Street (Between Hornby & Howe)
Vancouver


Rocksalt North Vancouver Launch
David Zieroth, Rob Taylor, Alan Hill, Trevor Carolan, Daniela Elza, Christopher Levenson, Heather Haley, Kate Braid, Zachariah Wells, Russell Thornton, Joanne Arnott, Peter Trower
Friday, November 21st, 2008, 7:30 pm
32 Books, 3185 Edgemont Boulevard
North Vancouver


Shortline Reading Series
Tony Power, Ada Smailbegovic, Mercedes Eng, Larissa Lai, Zach Wells
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir
Vancouver

new HAP + reading

A new issue of High Altitude Poetry, the second since I stopped being directly involved, just came out - and my god, the further they get from my influence, the better!

It looks really sharp (and probably cheaper than the original logo and tag line they're spoofing), and has some good poems, including the long-awaited return to HAP of Kalervo Sinervo...it's been too long, my friend! Read the online version here, and the .pdf here.

Oh, and Rocksalt reading tonight - be there!

Vancouver Public Library
350 W. Georgia St. Friday
Nov. 7th. 7-9:30 pm
Featuring:

George McWhirter, Judith Copithorne, Jean Mallinson, Rob Taylor, Daniela Elza, Michael Kenyon, Anna Wärje, Daphne Marlatt, Russell Thornton, Peter Morin, Susan Andrews Grace, Bobbie Ogletree, Jody Jankola, Susan McCaslin, Trevor Carolan, Christopher Levenson, Maxine Gadd, Joanne Arnott, Peter Trower, Susan Cormier, Roy Miki, Zachariah Wells

p.s. New chapbook!

munyori profile

Munyori Poetry Journal, an international poetry journal run by Sacramento English professor, Zimbabwean arts activist, and, most importantly (ha!), One Ghana, One Voice contributor, Emmanuel Sigauke, has just released its November/December issue. I'm very honoured to have been selected as one of the feature poets for this issue, which involves the publication of a short Q&A in addition to three of my poems.

Obviously, with our shared African poetry interests, the discussion revolves around OGOV - though I do get a mention in about Child of Saturday (as I will continue to attempt to do in every post for a while...like I just did again!).

You can read my interview and poems (and see some photos by Marta, like the one posted here, as well!) here, and read the whole issue - which includes some great poets, especially the Zimbabwean contributors, here.

Thanks, Emmanuel!

Child of Saturday - New Poetry Chapbook by Rob Taylor

My new chapbook, Child of Saturday, is finally ready for sale! It features 11 poems written while I was living in Ghana in 2006/07, some of which have appeared in The Antigonish Review and The Dalhousie Review, among other publications.

I'm selling CoS for $3 in person and $5 online (S&H included), and as a package with my first chapbook, splattered earth, for $4 in person and $6 online.

For more info on the chapbook, check out this promotional flyer. For even more info, or to make a purchase, visit my website: http://roblucastaylor.com.

Thanks!

you toob?

Everybody loves the YouTube. Finally, One Ghana, One Voice is getting on board. Laban Hill, an English prof currently on exchange at Cape Coast University in Ghana, is about to undertake a project to video record as many Ghanaian poets as possible throughout the month of November. He will then archive the videos and make them available to OGOV via YouTube.

So if you live in Ghana, or know someone who does, take a look at our press release and then get in touch with him!

Laban is also the poet in profile at OGOV this week, and has provided us with a great poem. Read it here.