Curious things for November 2013...

1) I’m constantly trying to flex my objectivity toward above/ground press but Ground Rules: the Best of the Second Decade of above/ground press, 2003 – 2013 is a cause for celebration. I’ve been privy to a peek of the final draft and it’s a vast compendium of fine selections, many of them I missed the first time around. For details on the collection as well as the launch (also serving as a re-launch for publisher Chaudiere Books), visit Ottawa’s Writers Festival event page.

2.) This Town Crier article, written by Jess Taylor, reads like a personal fantasy of sorts: cute couple Mat Laporte and Brenda Whiteway contribute to their local writing community by hosting house-readings that routinely end up as dance-parties. You’re killing me. Poets should be taking on this initiative in every city. I know I’m tempted…

3.) Lit Reactor scribe Christopher Shultz taps a great topic by discussing the music writers choose when committing to certain projects. The possibilities are endless but Shultz offers some clever starting-points. And although he delegates albums according to fiction genres as a guide, Shultz’s picks have just as much potential to help one’s poetry manuscript along. I’ve used two of these myself!

4.) Grey Borders Reading Series’ 2013 program will wrap up November 29^th with readings by David Dowker, Jacqueline Valencia, Gary Barwin and Liz Worth. That’s right: Black Friday isn’t all rampant materialism, it has poetry too! Be sure to check out GBRS’ Facebook page for particulars!

5.) The Ottawa Poetry Newsletter has been busy keeping track of Ottawa’s creative forces and displaced offshoots. The "On Writing" series continues to thrive with revealing entries by Aaron Tucker and Roland Prevost while the latest "Recent Reads" include reviews of chapbooks by Marcus McCann as well as the poetic partnership of Christine McNair and rob mclennan.