Maria Scala talks about two Chaudiere titles,

Monty Reid's Disappointment Island and Anne Le Dressay's Old Winter on her blog.

John Lavery at Max Middle's A B Series

The A B Series begins 2008 with a performance by celebrated writer John Lavery. The Series is delighted to announce that there are to be musical & literary dimensions to Lavery's performance on January 17th. The evening begins with a reading by Josh Massey. Hosted by Max Middle.

John Lavery & Josh Massey
The A B Series #3

7:30pm
Thursday, 17 January, 2008

Art Gallery
Ottawa City Hall
Main Floor
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario

Free admission
A hat will be passed.

There will be a book table.

for more information:
contact Max Middle
maxmiddle@gmail.com
telephone: 613.859.8423

or refer to: http://theabseries.blogspot.com/

JOHN LAVERY's [see his 12 or 20 interview here] Very Good Butter (ECW, 2000) was a Hugh MacLennan prize finalist. His most recent collection You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off (ECW, 2004) deals with crimes that remain unsolved. Some are unpleasant and brutal, some of doubtful importance, others might even be considered useful. But most are ambiguous, difficult to reconstruct, and the result of misunderstandings or miscommunication. His stories have appeared in This Magazine, The Canadian Forum, The Ottawa Citizen, and The London Spectator. Lavery's work appears in the anthologies Coming Attractions (Oberon, 1999), The Journey Prize Anthology (McClelland & Stewart, 2000) and Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers (Chaudiere Books, 2006). He won the Quebec English Language Writers Federation contest and twice won the New Brunswick Writers Federation contest; he has twice been runner-up in the annual Prism International contest. Since sometime in 2007, Lavery has been collaborating with Max Middle to produce duo performances as the Max Middle Sound Project. He lives in Gatineau, Quebec where he is writing his first novel. He also writes songs and plays guitar.

JOSH MASSEY grew up in Ottawa, spent 5 years in Montreal schooling and working, now divides his time between the capital where he writes, and northern BC where he works as a forestry technician. A tiny percentage of his poetry and prose has hitherto been published in journals like The Cap Review, Event, The Antigonish Review, Grain, Matrix, and forthcoming in Open Letter. Last year he completed Heard of Poets along with Ben Walker, a documentary about poetry in Ottawa which premiered at the Ottawa International Writers Festival last Spring.

some Chaudiere Books author (etc) activity:

John-James Ford: Galle Sri Lanka January 18-19, 2008. Will be reading Friday 18 January, mainly from long poem "Epiphany Season" (not yet published). Conducting a children's workshop Saturday 19th dealing with opening subconscious to the creative process through archetypes. Copies of first novel Bonk on the Head as well as copies of Decalogue 2 will be on sale at the Galle Festival BookFair.

http://www.galleliteraryfestival.com/
http://www.galleliteraryfestival.com/authors.htm

rob mclennan: not only reading/hosting The Peter F. Yacht Club Ottawa launch/Christmas party with various other authors, but hosting the first in a series of monthly readings in Edmonton on Tuesday, January 15; also launching (remotely) the fourth issue of ottawater as part of the (Ottawa) Factory Reading Series on Thursday, January 24, hosted lovingly by Stephen Brockwell.

Anne Le Dressay on Shawna Lemay's blog

Edmonton poet and blogger Shawna Lemay recently mentioned Anne Le Dressay's new book on her capricious hold-all blog.

some Chaudiere Books author activity

Here are some reports (from Amanda Earl and Pearl Pirie) on Monty Reid's recent Dusty Owl Reading Series feature, and note that Matrix magazine is posting reviews on-line, including Jesse Ferguson's review of Nicholas Lea's first collection. Also, Chaudiere Books editor/publisher launches his first novel in Ottawa tomorrow night at the Ottawa Art Gallery.

Chaudiere Books website

If you are wondering why there are problems on the Chaudiere Books website, it is going through a minor revision (i.e. I'm learning software to fix it because it was very out of date). I apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone. It should be up running again with pretty new pictures by later in the day on Sunday....
--Jennifer

Monty Reid at the Dusty Owl Reading Series, Ottawa

Ottawa poet Monty Reid, author of the Archibald Lampman Award-winning collection Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books, 2006), will be reading as part of The Dusty Owl Reading Series, Sunday, December 2 at 5pm at Swizzles Bar & Grill, 246 (downstairs) Queen Street. The event also includes an open set, and, if you're feeling brave, stay after for the karaoke, hosted by Dog & Pony Sound. info: 613.230.7710 or steve@dustyowl.com

From their facebook notice: "And as usual, we'll follow our featured reader with our ever-surprising open mike (bring your own stories, songs, poems, and performances to share - anything goes!) and the Object of Desire competition will wrap up the night, so keep the writing implements sharp."

photos from Anne Le Dressay's Ottawa book launch

Here are two photos from the Ottawa launch of Anne Le Dressay's second poetry collection, Old Winter [check here for catalogue/ordering information] that happened last night at Collected Works, courtesy of poet/blogger Pearl Pirie.

Opening act Amanda Earl, reading from her chapbook E l e a n o r (above/ground press).

Anne Le Dressay, reading from Old Winter.

Stephen Brockwell, Jordan Fry & John Newlove

Ottawa poet Stephen Brockwell, post-ottawa small press book fair, going through Jordan Fry's recent purchase, the new A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove (photo courtesy Jordan Fry).

john newlove in jacket magazine (aus)

Australia's Jacket magazine has just posted three poems by Canadian poet John Newlove in their newest issue, as well as "These Things Form Poems When I Allow It: After John Newlove," an afterword by Jeff Derksen, to coincide with the publication of A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove, ed. Robert McTavish (Ottawa ON: Chaudiere Books)

http://jacketmagazine.com/34/newlove-3.shtml
http://jacketmagazine.com/34/derkson-newlove.shtml

for information about the book (and how to order one), go to: http://robmclennan.blogspot.com/2007/09/long-continual-argument-selected-poems.html

yer wayward publisher,
rob mclennan

The Ottawa X-Press 'best of Ottawa 2007' poll

The annual "best of Ottawa" poll is out from alternative weekly The Ottawa X-Press; be sure to vote early, vote often for your favourite Chaudiere Books authors, including Monty Reid's award-winning Disappointment Island, Nicholas Lea's Everything is movies or rob mclennan's The Ottawa City Project.

review of clare latremouille's the desmond road book of the dead

Review of her book here; remember, she reads this week in Ottawa, and then again (opening for Anne Le Dressay).

Monty Reid's Disappointment Island wins the Lampman-Scott Award

Announced last night: Monty Reid's Disappointment Island wins the Lampman-Scott Award, sponsored by Arc magazine;

Widely published as a poet and essayist, Monty Reid has produced a substantial volume of literary work. His volumes include The Life of Riley (Saskatoon SK: Thistledown Press, 1981), These Lawns (Red Deer AB: Red Deer College Press, 1990), The Alternate Guide (Red Deer College Press, 1995), Dog Sleeps (Edmonton AB: NeWest Press, 1993) and Flat Side (RedDeer College Press, 1998), a collection of new and selected poems, Crawlspace (Toronto ON: House of Anansi, 1993), and the chapbooks cuba A book (Ottawa ON: above/ground press, 2005) and Sweetheart of Mine (Toronto ON: BookThug, 2006). His work is also included in the anthology Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets, published as part of the first season of books by Chaudiere Books. He has won the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry three times and is also a three-time Governor General's Award nominee. He spent nearly twenty years working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, in the heart of the Alberta badlands, before moving to the Ottawa area in 1999 to work at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Disappointment Island was also shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award.

a review of the book by Ronnie R. Brown; another review by Steve McOrmond; Amanda Earl's write-up on the award + ceremony; photo of the event by John W. MacDonald;

for an interview with Monty Reid (one already exists in the second issue of ottawater), a review copy or to order a copy (available in better bookstores, including Audrey's Books in Edmonton and Collected Works + Mother Tongue + Exile Infoshop in Ottawa), email the publisher, rob mclennan, at az421@freenet.carleton.ca

Anne Le Dressay's Old Winter; Winnipeg, Ottawa launches

Chaudiere Books is pleased to announce the publication (and two launches) of Ottawa poet Anne Le Dressay's second poetry collection, Old Winter.

The pieces that make up Anne Le Dressay’s second poetry collection, Old Winter, are urban poems grounded in the rural past. Understated, direct, ironic, quietly humorous, they reveal a love of the particular, of small daily things which feel more and more fragile in a world overshadowed by big threats. Descriptive or narrative, focussing on the inner world of mind and spirit or the ‘real world’ outside the narrator, these poems celebrate in close and vivid detail the small moments of ordinary life. They are poems of wonder, transformation, and resurrection.

Anne Le Dressay grew up in Manitoba, first on a farm near Virden and then on an acreage outside Lorette. She has lived for extended periods in Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Edmonton (in that order). She taught English and Creative Writing for ten years in Alberta. She is now in Ottawa for the seond time, working for the feds. She has been published sporadically since the 1970s. She has one previous trade book, Sleep is a Country (Harbinger, 1997) and two chapbooks, This Body That I Live In (Turnstone, 1979) and Woman Dreams (above/ground, 1998). She was also featured in the anthology Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets (Chaudiere Books, 2006).

Winnipeg launch: Monday, November 12 at Mcnally Robinsons booksellers, Grant Park, 1120 Grant Avenue, Grant Park Mall at 7pm. rachelb@grant.mcnallyrobinson.ca

Ottawa launch: Thursday, November 22 at Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeebar, 1242 Wellington Street West (at Holland), 7:30pm. The evening will open with readings by Ottawa writers Amanda Earl and Clare Latremouille. info@collected-works.com

For information on this event or on the title, contact the publisher, rob mclennan at az421@freenet.carleton.ca

The Life and Poetry of John Newlove

THE LIFE AND POETRY OF JOHN NEWLOVE
as part of the fall 2007 edition of the ottawa international writers festival

Documentary Film and Book Launch with Robert McTavish
Hosted by rob mclennan

Sunday, October 21 at 2pm; Library and Archives, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa

Honour the memory of one of Canada’s greatest poets with this screening of What to make of it all? The life and poetry of John Newlove and the launch of A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove (Ottawa ON: Chaudiere Books, 2007). The film’s poignant interviews with Newlove in his last years are punctuated with commentary from George Bowering, Patrick Lane, Joe Rosenblatt, John Metcalf and the many poets and friends who knew the public persona and the private man.

B.C.’s Robert McTavish, who directed and produced the film and edited the book, shares his passion for Newlove’s plain-spoken and carefully crafted work, which mixed an obsession with the history and identity of the Prairies with a bleak personal struggle for understanding.

$12 General / $10 Students & Seniors / Free for Members Day Pass: $29

The Max Middle Sound Project in Toronto

The Max Middle Sound Project will be performing in Toronto's Test Reading Series on October 25th, 8pm at:

Mercer Union, A Centre for Contemporary Art
37 Lisgar Street, Toronto

http://www.testreading.org/index.html

**Founded in 2004 and consisting of three prominent Ottawa-area artists, John Lavery, Max Middle [Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets] and Jason Sonier, the Max Middle Sound Project is an interdisciplinary collaboration committed to the integration of poetry, sound poetry and music, incorporating elements of theatre and performance art as ancillary expression. The ensemble has performed in the Ottawa Fringe Festival, the Ottawa International Writers Festival and in the Dusty Owl, Tree and Grey Borders reading series.

http://www.maxmiddle.com

Clare Latremouille at the TREE Reading Series

Ottawa writer Clare Latremouille (The Desmond Road Book of the Dead) is the featured reader at the TREE Reading Series, Tuesday October 23, 2007.

12 or 20 questions: with Clare Latremouille

"Clare Latremouille is previously from parts unknown (mostly Kamloops, BC, with a bit of Toronto, Vancouver, Chilliwack, Victoria, and just a dash of Nanaimo thrown in for good measure. She has little or no recollection of her years in the town of Alexandria in Glengarry County, Ontario, although there is some sort of statuette in her honour in the park, or at least that's what the nice man told her...) Anyhoo, she is now a full time writer, which means she does anything and everything to avoid actually sitting downand writing, spending hours cleaning the litter box rather than picking up a pen, which would be much more sensible if she actually owned a cat... She presently has dreams of being a wildly successful writer and artist, but will in all likelihood only achieve her previous childhood dream of growing a really cool moustache. . ."

She is the author of the novel The Desmond Road Book of the Dead (Chaudiere Books, 2006), the poetry chapbook I will write a poem for you. Now: (above/ground press, 1995), and has had poetry and fiction appearing in a number of publications, including ottawater, graffito: the poetry poster, paperplates: a magazine for fifty readers, The Peter F. Yacht Club, and the anthologies Written in the Skin (Insomniac Press, 1998), Shadowy Technicians: New Ottawa Poets (Broken Jaw Press, 2000), groundswell: the best of above/ground press, 1993-2003 (Broken Jaw Press, 2003) and Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers (Chaudiere Books, 2007).

1 - How did your first book change your life?

My first book changed my life in that I can no longer go home for the holidays.

2 - How long have you lived in Ottawa, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

I have lived in Ottawa for a long long long longloooooong time ... over a fifth of my life so far ...(now I am afraid, and just a little depressed). Geography impacts my writing in as much as I am trapped in house all “Freezing-Rain Season (October to May-ish) and am forced to write out of sheer desperation. And although I myself rarely race anymore, I am very fond of gender.

3 - Where does a poem or piece of fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

A poem generally sneaks up on me, and whacks me on the side of the head when I am not paying attention. Fiction is even more devious, and appears and disappears without warning whenever I am as far from a pencil or computer as humanly possible, usually in the midst of something inappropriate, or sometimes vaguely illegal. I spend a lot of writing time coercing these magical ideas back from the magical nether-worlds into my head and onto the paper/screen, a process involving ridiculous quantities of caffeine and even more ridiculous quantities of Tom Jones albums. At the moment I am leaning toward the “book” mode of writing, although it is hard, and sometimes puts my leg to sleep.

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

Oh, I just love them. They are like mother’s milk to me...

5 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficultor essential (or both)?

I am an extremely difficult, and yet essential sort of person myself, and so was pleased to find I was able to offer editors a run for their money (if in fact actual money is involved in Canadian writing and/or editing, which I am personally skeptical of at this time).

6 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

You are a nosey thing, aren’t you? Well, if you must know, I had one for a morning snack today – a lovely, juicy, golden, politically-correct, organic, locally-produced Bartlett pear, picked at the peak of its little pear life, and presented to me in all its glowing yellow goodness by my glowing white “life-partner,” Bryan (AKA husband.)

*NOTE: I made the last bit up. I had to get it myself out of the fridge, while Bryan was looking up lame facts on the Internet in the next room. Although it is true he is very white, and should get out more . . .

7 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

“Save your fork; there’s going to be pie! And fellowship.”

*NOTE: Even I have no idea what that last bit means. It is, strangely enough, an actual quote... And yes rob, you still owe my uncle a piece of pie. The fact that he has since passed away does not let you off the hook, damn you and your pie-eating ways . . .

8 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?

I am extremely interested in writing extremely long, complicated, and unduly incomprehensible fiction, chock-full of obscure meaning and riddled with subtext, which English literature students will be forced to read until they weep and gnash their teeth, and I will laugh and laugh whilst I twirl about in my doubtlessly shallow and possibly unmarked grave. Poetry is so easy, so dammed short – you have such little scope for annoying people, and must resort to other tactics (see Question #4 above).

9 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Oh, I like to get up just a little late, lurch jauntily down the stairs, frantically bark orders ateveryone from my nine-year old son Sam to the senile Siamese cat, have a pot or two or something caffeinated, make lunches, sign papers, make snarky comments to glowing “life partner,” drag son to school, mill about at second-hand store on way home, hide really cool “Barreta” home game under the back porch so that glowing “life partner” does not find it, finally look at self in mirror, remove toast crumbs from eyebrow, brush hair, brush eyebrows, get dressed, inhale more caffeine and single perfect organic, locally grown Bartlett pear, and then settle in for a full hour or two of checking email, seeing how much our house is worth now, and looking for free puppies on EBay, before “Writing Time” actually commences, usually about ten minutes before my son is due home on the bus.

*NOTE: This description is frighteningly accurate. In speaking it out loud, I am ashamed and yet somehow relieved, as if a great burden has been lifted off my foot...

*NOTE: I love the lame, yet lingering melodrama that is ellipsis...

10 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

What is the old saying? 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration? Disgusting. I’m all for waiting until the Muses pick you up and carry you, kicking and screaming to your keyboard, and squish your little fingers randomly down on the keys until you produce a masterpiece. You and the little monkeys with typewriters. . . (And no, I don’t mean Davy Jones ...).

11 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I love Everything! But most of all . . . Oh, I just can’t decide! Everything it is!

12 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Is there something I haven’t yet done yet? Good God! I’m getting right on that!

13 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I’ve always dreamed of becoming a derelict, although for quite a time, in my youth, I was entranced by the idea of becoming a wolf, and spent a good deal of my childhood and teenage years lurking about the side of the house, growling.

14 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Satan. I’m pretty sure. Yep. Satan.

15 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

The last great book I read was maybe Ulysses, by James Joyce, or maybe A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or maybe The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka. No, wait; it was ANYTHING BY rob mclennan. He (he) is the BESTEST WRITER EVER! (Now where is my ten bucks?...) And the last great movie I saw (not having read any recently, she said snottily) was Brother, Where Art Thou? with George Clooney (God love him) And a great version of Alice Through the Looking Glass with Kate Beckinsale (?). And Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And of course, anything with Ethel Merman. Or Bugs Bunny. Or both.

16 - What are you currently working on?

I am really and truly working on a graphic novel for children, as well as a novel involving (in some mysteriously spiritual and yet sleazy way) Tom Jones, and a new poetry manuscript, and another graphic novel not nearly so serious and pretentious as the other one, and a third one much more serious and pretentious than the lot of them, and yet another book, even more serious and pretentious than all of the above, and heads and shoulders (knees and toes) over The Desmond Road Book of the Dead, by Clare Latremouille, (AKA me), a glorious and largely overlooked masterpiece which (after long contemplation and careful consideration), turns out to be the best book ever.

Sorry, rob . . .

Clare Latremouille reads next in Ottawa on Tuesday, October 23rd at the Royal Oak II Pub as part of the TREE Reading Series.

12 or 20 questions archive

an interview with rob mclennan, editor/co-publisher

An interview with rob mclennan, editor/co-publisher of Chaudiere Books, talking about publishing, the internet, and a few other things here, conducted by Didi Menendez, publisher of MiPOesias.

rob mclennan in Edmonton

rob mclennan (The Ottawa City Project) is current writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta for 2007-8, & doing a few readings shortly in Edmonton; also, check out the pieces on him in The Edmonton Journal, Gateway (the U of Alberta student paper) and on Nathaniel G. Moore's critical crushes.

Monty Reid shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award

City announces the 2007 Ottawa Book Award finalists

The City of Ottawa proudly announces the finalists for the 2007 Ottawa Book Awards. Since 1986, the award has recognized outstanding published literary works by Ottawa authors. Each year, the awards are presented in the following categories: English fiction, English non-fiction, French fiction and French non-fiction.

This year, the prize has increased to $5,000 and all short-listed authors will receive a $1,000 prize in recognition of their selection as finalists. Past winners of the award include Alan Cumyn, Brian Doyle, Elizabeth Hay, Frances Itani and Roy McGregor.

Through this award, we are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of Ottawa's great writers, said Mayor Larry O'Brien. These writers strengthen the cultural fabric of our city and make it a better place for us to live. The juries faced a strong cast of books this year, with tough choices to be made in the selection of finalists for the prize. The short-lists pay tribute to the high quality of writing, depth of research and distinctive voices that make Ottawa's writers second to none.

The 2007 Ottawa Book Awards finalists are:

English non-fiction
John B. Dossetor, Beyond the Hippocratic Oath (The University of Alberta Press)
Graham Fraser, Sorry, I Don't Speak French (McClelland and Stewart)
Charlotte Gray, Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell (HarperCollins Canada)
David Lee, Lumber Kings and Shantymen (James Lorimer & Company Ltd.)
Alex Mortimer, The Quitter (Bunkhouse Press)

English fiction
Tom Henighan, Viking Terror (The Dundurn Group)
Anita Lahey, Out to Dry in Cape Breton (Vehicule Press)
Janet Lunn, A Rebel's Daughter (Scholastic Canada Ltd.)
Monty Reid, Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books)
Barbara Sibbald, Regarding Wanda (Bunkhouse Press)

French fiction
Daniel Castillo Durante, La Passion Des Nomades (XYZ Editeur)
Eric Charlebois, Cinerite (Les Editions David)
Andre Laurier, Horizons Navigables (XYZ Editeur)
Francoise Lepage, Poupeska (Les Editions L'nterligne)
Daniel Poliquin, La Kermesse (Les Editions du Boreal)

No award will be presented in French non-fiction this year.
The winners will be announced on October 13, 2007, at Library and Archives Canada as part of the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

Biographical information on all short-listed authors is available at: ottawa.ca/arts
For more information: Media contact, 613-580-2450; Public inquiries, 3-1-1

some Chaudiere Books author activity

Shane Rhodes (Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets) reads in Hamilton, Ontario on Sunday, October 7, 2007 as part of the LiT LiVe Reading Series, 7:30 PM. LiT LiVe is at: The Sky Dragon Centre 27 King William Street (between James Street North and Hughson Street), and he reads with Monica Kidd, Sky Gilbert, D.S. (Don) Martin and Stephen Brunt. He reads again in Toronto on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at the Art Bar Poetry Series at 8:00 PM. Art Bar is held at: Clinton's, 693 Bloor Street West (by Christie subway station) , and he reads with Monica Kidd and Gordon Johnston. He reads again in St. Catherines, Ontario on Thursday, October 11, 2007 as part of the Grey Borders Reading Series at 7:30 PM. Grey Borders is at: Strega Cafe, 19 King Street, and he reads with bill bissett. Monty Reid (Disappointment Island) reads September 20, 2007 in Ottawa as part of the shortlisted titles reading for the Lampman-Scott Award (rob mclennan is also shortlisted but cannot make the event).

a review of Meghan Jackson's movements in jars

A review of Meghan Jackson's first poetry collection, movements in jars, just appeared on the Northern Poetry Review website, done by Toronto writer Alex Boyd.

an interview with Nicholas Lea

on his first poetry collection, Everything is movies, by brilliant American poet Kate Greenstreet right here.

Monty Reid at the TREE Reading Series, Ottawa

On Tuesday, August 14, 2007, poet Monty Reid will be the featured reader at the Tree Reading Series.

Widely published as a poet and essayist, Monty Reid has produced a substantial volume of literary work, including: The Life of Riley (Thistledown Press, 1981), These Lawns (Red Deer College Press, 1990), The Alternate Guide (Red Deer College Press, 1995), Dog Sleeps (NeWest Press, 1993) and Flat Side (Red Deer College Press, 1998), Crawlspace (House of Anansi, 1993), and Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books, 2006). He has won the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry three times and is also a three-time Governor General's Award nominee. He spent nearly twenty years working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, in the heart of the Alberta badlands, before moving to the Ottawa area in 1999 to work at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Tree Readings are every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at the Royal Oak II Pub at 161 Laurier Avenue East in Sandy Hill. Open-set commences at 8:00 p.m., with featured reader to follow. Admission is free. For more information, please contact Dean Steadman at 613-749-3773 or mail to: dean.steadman@treereadingseries.ca.

The Tree Reading Series gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Ottawa.

some more chaudiere news...

You probably already saw the review in the Ottawa X-Press of our Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers; anthology contributor Ian Roy reads at the Factory Reading Series this Thursday, July 19 at the Ottawa Art Gallery with Toronto writer Sharon Harris. rob mclennan [The Ottawa City Project] and Nicholas Lea [Everything is movies] read together at the Carleton Tavern before they both leave town on Saturday, July 28; Monty Reid [Disappointment Island] features at the TREE Reading Series on August 11.

some upcoming Chaudiere author activity

John Lavery [Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers], Alexandra Leggat & the Max Middle Sound Project [Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets] at the Grey Borders Reading Series, the Merchant Ale House, St. Catharines, Ontario, 7:30pm, 10 July 2007; 12 July 2007, readings by: Michael Basinski, Don Metz, John Lavery & the Max Middle Sound Project at Rust Belt Books, 202 Allen Street, Buffalo NY, hosted by kevin thurston, 7pm, 12 July 2007. info: kevin.thurston@gmail.com ; Emily Falvey [Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers] reads as part of a "new Ottawa voices" feature at the TREE Reading Series, Ottawa, 8pm, 10 July 2007.

review of Nicholas Lea's Everything is Movies by Jesse Ferguson

Everything is Movies is a rollicking and elastic first collection, and it announces Lea as a voice to listen for. These poems evince a magpie curiosity, building linguistic nests from all things shiny, be they junk in the gutter or the jewels of literature and philosophy. Lea gathers and loves these fragments of nature, thought and emotion because, as A.M. Klein wrote, "until it has been praised, that part / has not been." Implicit in many of Lea's poems is that all things are connected, though not in the sense that they are the same and equivalent (which would render cataloguing needless), and not in the sense of any specific religious view, though Lea borrows at will from various mythologies. He, like Whitman, seeks to tease out the connections between things, to celebrate synchronicity and the unexpected harmony that arises if we will only listen "when the car alarm medley'd" (in the poem "Song Writhing").

These poems are by turns reverent and irreverent; they delve into the arcane of metaphysics, and then they disarm with confessional passages, self-deprecation and hammy comedy. In "Unnatural Speeds," for instance, the speaker speculates:

during all this the ice is melting.
A gradual melting that must relate
to time — so — time is melting, or,
melting is time. The inflection is
unclear. Hoped you could clarify, get back
to me.

First, there's no brainy sobriquet for it. Nothing so cute.

There is a double-gesture in many of the most memorable of Lea's poems both toward and away from any totalizing philosophy. We must ask with the speaker of "Crowded Out" whether "the world is more than dishes and / miscarriages, you know … don't // believe Nietzsche. What's he ever / done for the garden?"

Lea achieves most when he develops fewer images with greater detail, taking the time to connect each to the next by means of a rough sense of settling, or adherence to theme. Through greater coherence, poems such as "Aquifer" and "Unnatural Speeds" become more memorable. His poems ramble incorrigibly; they ask you if you want a beer; they ask you if you want a pillow fight; they ask you your thoughts on the ontological significance of couch springs. Above all, they are funny and smart, yet they let you in on all the in-jokes.

originally appeared in Matrix #77; reviewed by Jesse Ferguson

a review of Monty Reid's Disappiontment Island

by Ronnie Brown (Canadian bookseller, Volume 2, 2007)

Still referred to many as a "western poet," Monty Reid moved from Drumheller, Alberta in 1999, a year after his last full length collection, Flat Side, was released. Eight years is a long time for a poet of Reid's calibre to go between books but, contrary to its title, Disappointment Island, one of the first collections released by Ottawa's newest publishing house, Chaudiere Books (the brainchild of rob mclennan and Jennifer Mulligan), will not disappoint fans of Reid's quirky, but apt, imagery.

Divided into nine sections, most of which are either single long poems or sets of sequenced poems, Reid does not so much 'describe' his world (which includes archaeological digs in the Gobi, trips to Cuba, as well as more conventional jaunts to the cabin) as invite the reader to join him in the experience. For, whether Reid urges the reader to "watch the white/ waves undress upon the point/" or talks about the archaeological aspects of discarded civilization in the form of "…the single wing of the flightless refrigerator/" or "…the carapace of an old stove/," he makes his reality clear and present.

In "Gobi Dig," Reid speaks of a man needing, "…a story, and a throat/ to contain it, one more way to make us believe/ the fissures of starlight open like one of the gates/ upon what we are//." Disappointment Island opens the world up like that for the reader: it is a truly fine book. Kudos to Chaudiere, both for daring to brave the world of publishing, and for finding such a well-written and polished work to launch their series.

Ronnie R. Brown is a freelance writer. The author of five books of poetry—her fourth, States of Matter (Black Moss, 2005) was recently named the winner of the Acorn-Plantos People's Poetry Award; her fifth, Night Echoes (Black Moss) was launched in late 2006.

related notes: see another review of the same title here.

upcoming chaudiere author events

Don't forget the reading this Friday hosted by Max Middle, or the ottawa small press book fair on Saturday, with appearances throughout the day by Monty Reid, Anne Le Dressay and Clare Latremouille (among others). After that, Michelle Desbarats reads at the Sasquatch Reading Series on Sunday, June 24 (2pm-4:30pm) in the basement of the Royal Oak II on Laurier Avenue East; on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, the Max Middle Sound Project will be featured at a special event of the Tree Reading Series to be held in the Byward Market's Tin House Courtyard commencing at 8:00 pm. open set to follow. Later on in the season, fiction writer Emily Falvey reads as part of a four-author "new Ottawa voices" feature (along with Marcus McCann, Sandra Ridley & tba) on July 10th for the TREE Reading Series in their usual location at the Royal Oak II, with Monty Reid featuring at the same series on August 14.

brief review of Monty Reid's Disappointment Island

By Steve McOrmond, posted on The New Quarterly online:

Monty Reid’s Disappointment Island is one of the finest collections of poetry I’ve read in years. In several long sequences of precise lyrics, small songs and “narrowed prayers,” Reid casts a paleontologist’s eye on the accumulations of everyday life, the remains of the near and distant past. Objects, those accretions of memory, are taken down from the shelving and dusted off by a mind hungry for meaning and transcendence. This is a poetry that asks the big questions: What survives, and what may be revealed by listening to the “erotic murmur of material things” (The Shelving”)? In so many of these moving poems, time is telescoped and small human figures are set against a stark backdrop of barrens, desert places, stones and “an excess of bones” (“Kwei”). There are meditations on the arrogance of seeking such emptiness, and also on the various places and provisional dwellings we come to call home: a cabin fastened into place “by sticking the chimney into the mist,” a crumbling Cuban love hotel and “the faintly luminous tents that have gathered like so many eyes / around the fire in the desert…” (“‘Outside the Mouth’”). Here be wonders.

upcoming Chaudiere author stuff

Ottawa poet Shane Rhodes (Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets) has two upcoming Vancouver readings: Wednesday, June 13 at the Disjunct Reading Series. The event will also feature the experimental music group Collapsing Lung. Event details: Wednesday, June 13, 8:00 PM
Wired Monk in Kits, 2610 West 4th Avenue - (corner of 4th and Trafalgar). Admission is by donation. Thursday, June 14 at the UBC Robson Square Reading Series with poet Christopher Patton, author of the newly released debut poetry collection, Ox, and Rachel Lebowitz, author of Hannus. Event details: Thursday, June 14th, 7:00 PM, UBC Bookstore Robson Square, 800 Robson Street (down the steps from the Vancouver Art Gallery). Free to the public, refreshments provided.

more readers, reviews, news

That nice Jeremy Mesiano-Crookston reviewed rob mclennan's The Ottawa City Project and Nicholas Lea's Everything is movies in this week's edition of The Ottawa X-Press; Matthew Firth reads as part of Ottawa's WESTFEST Main Stage Saturday, June 9 with various other local authors at WESTFESTLIT, 11 am to 12:15 pm; all Chaudiere Books titles are now available at the new EXILE Infoshop 256 Bank St. (second floor) Ottawa; Ottawa artist Bhat Boy will be selling copies of Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets (his painting graces the cover) at his Art in the Park on Saturday, June 2 and Sunday June 3 in the Glebe; and don't forget to check us out at this spring's ottawa small press book fair on June 16!

chaudiere books now part of the literary press group

As of June, Chaudiere Books titles are represented in Canada by the Literary Press Group, and distributed by LitDistCo; in other news, check out this photograph of John-James Ford taken by Charles Earl at the Ottawa launch of Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers.

various Chaudiere author readings

Matthew Firth reads in Montreal on Monday, May 14 with Harold Hoefle (Spray Job, Black Bile Press), hosted by Tom Abray, at Casa Del Popolo, 6-8 p.m. 4873 boul. St-Laurent, Montreal. Admission is free. Books will be available to purchase and have signed. Max Middle & his Max Middle Sound Project will feature at a TREE Reading Series special in Ottawa, Tuesday, June 26 at the Tin House Courtyard in the Byward Market. Monty Reid features at the TREE Reading Series, Ottawa on Tuesday, August 14.

Chaudiere Books will also be appearing at this spring's ottawa small press book fair on June 16, noon to 5pm, at the Jack Purcell Community Centre.

a review of Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets

by Maria Scala, here.

Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers launch

Friday, May 18, 2007 at The Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Street (upstairs), Ottawa, Chaudiere Books proudly launches the second in their Decalogue series, the anthology Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers. Edited by rob mclennan, this collection features the work of Emily Falvey, Matthew Firth, Gabriella Goliger, Alison Gresik, John-James Ford, Clare Latremouille, John Lavery, Nadine McInnis, rob mclennan and Ian Roy.

Doors at 7pm, readings at 8pm. Admission free. For more information, email rob mclennan at az421@freenet.carleton.ca

various Chaudiere author readings

Some upcoming readings by Chaudiere authors: rob mclennan & Nicholas Lea launch poetry titles at the ottawa international writers festival, & rob mclennan does two further Ottawa readings on April 22 & 27th, listed here; THE POETRY EXPERIENCE at the Sunnyside branch of the Ottawa Public Library, 1049 Bank Street at 7pm includes readings by Shane Rhodes and Margaret Malloch Zielinski on April 19th, and Anita Dolman and Philip Gardner on May 3; Diamond Cherry Reading Series (Toronto) at 8pm on Wednesday, April 18 includes a reading by Meghan Jackson; The TREE Reading Series (Ottawa) on Tuesday, August 14 features a reading by Monty Reid.

call for submissions: who wears short shorts?

Ottawa literary publisher Chaudiere Books is seeking submissions by Canadian writers of short fiction of no more than 1,500 to 2,000 words for an upcoming anthology project. Seeking vibrant, engaging works perhaps more “language” than “narrative,” but not exclusively. Please send works no later than August 15, 2007 to Chaudiere Books, c/o 858 Somerset Street West, main floor, Ottawa Ontario K1R 6R7 (include s.a.s.e. if you expect work returned) or over email to rob_mclennan@hotmail.com

Monty Reid in St. Catherine's - March 26, 2007

Monty Reid reads with Terrance Cox @ Strega Cafe, St. Catherine's, Ontario. 8pm.

find more information from the grey borders myspace...www.myspace.com/greyborders

Chaudiere authors at the ottawa international writers festival!

Ottawa poets rob mclennan and Nicholas Lea will be launching new poetry titles at this spring's ottawa international writers festival, being held the third week of April at the National Library & Archives building, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa (at the end of Bay Street). rob mclennan will be launching his thirteenth poetry title The Ottawa City Project on Sunday, April 15th, 8pm, reading with Vancouver poet George Bowering and Newfoundland poet George Murray, and Nicholas Lea will be launching his first poetry collection, Everything is Movies, both published by Chaudiere Books. More info on the fesival here.

other Chaudiere authors & their (Ottawa) activities

Ottawa poet Shane Rhodes (contributor to Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets; see an interview with him in the third issue of ottawater) launches his third trade poetry collection, The Bindery (NeWest Press), in Ottawa on Saturday, April 14 at 5 :00 PM at The Manx Pub at 370 Elgin Street (downstairs, corner of Frank Street). Earlier and further west, he reads Wednesday March 28 at 7:30 / 8:00 ish at the Red Deer College Library, Room 2006, Red Deer, Alberta; parking is free in the evening, so people could park north of the library. A link to a map of the college here (the library is in dark purple). Friday, March 30th at 7:30 reading at Pages Book Store (1135 Kensington Road NW, Calgary). More details will be posted here. Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 at the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival Auburn Saloon -- #163 115 - 9th Ave. SE, Calgary, Alberta; entry Fee: $10. More details here. Ottawa poet Anita Dolman (contributor to same) reads at Sunnyside Library, 1049 Bank Street (near Sunnyside) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 3rd with other reader(s) tba, hosted by Christopher Levenson. Further readings in Ottawa can be found at the Bywords site.

Chaudiere Books at the Art Bar, Toronto

The Art Bar Poetry Series in Toronto hosts two Chaudiere Books authors:

Tuesday, March 27; 8pm, free; The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street (near Honest Ed's)

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, and lived for many years in Alberta. Currently he lives in Ottawa. He is the author of many books of poetry starting with Karst Means Stone (NeWest Press, 1979). Three of his books have been nominated for the Governor General's Award. He will be celebrating a new book, Disappointment Island (Chaudiere Books).

Meghan Jackson has published two chapbooks and several broadsheets. She currently works as a knitting instructor and pattern designer in the Greater Toronto Area. She will be promoting her first full poetry collection titled, Movements in Jars (Chaudiere Books).

Sheila O'Hearn's poetry is a dark cavernous room, crowded with trinkets, oddities, treasures. Please bring flashlights. Her chapbook, The Insatiate, was published in 2005 by Burning Effigy Press.

Chaudiere Books at The Dusty Owl Reading Series

The Dusty Owl Reading Series (Ottawa) hosts a second launch
for Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets

On Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 7pm

with readings by

Stephen Brockwell
Monty Reid
Max Middle
Anne Le Dressay
& Anita Dolman

Since their regular location, Swizzles, isn't completely renovated yet, the reading will take place at The Lookout Bar, 41 York Street in the Market
lovingly hosted by special guest-host James Moran

for more information, check out the Dusty Owl website or www.chaudierebooks.com ; be there for Dusty Owl's third anniversary!

Clare Latremouille at Collected Works - Feb 18th

Chaudiere Books & Collected Works Bookstore presents a reading by two new fiction writers:

Clare Latremouille (Ottawa)
author of The Desmond Road Book of the Dead
published by Chaudiere Books

& Tim Conley (St. Catharines ON)
author of Whatever Happens
published by Insomniac Press

reading at Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeebar, Wellington Street at
Holland Avenue, Ottawa
Sunday, February 18, 2007, 2pm
lovingly hosted by rob mclennan

author bios:

Clare Latremouille has published poetry and fiction in various magazines and anthologies over the years, including Written in the Skin (1998), Shadowy Technicians: New Ottawa Poets (2000) and Groundswell: best of above/ground press, 1993-2003 (2003). Her novel, The Desmond Road Book of the Dead came out with Chaudiere Books in 2006, and a story will be appearing in the anthology Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers with Chaudiere Books in April 2007.

Tim Conley's fiction, essays, poetry, and translations have appeared in numerous magazines in five countries. He runs In Case of Emergency Press,  a fine press chapbook series, and lives in St. Catharines, where he teaches at Brock University. His collection of short fiction, Whatever Happens, was published by Insominac Press in 2006.

for more information on Chaudiere Books titles & authors, check out
www.chaudierebooks.com &/or www.chaudierebooks.blogspot.com
for more information on Collected Works, check out
http://www.collected-works.com/

Meghan Jackson reading in Toronto - Jan 26/07

Friday, January 26, 2007 (Toronto ON): poet Meghan Jackson (Toronto) reads with poet Robert Steckling and novelist Anand Mahadevan at the IV Lounge Reading Series.

Clare Latremouille in City Journal

look here...

upcoming Chaudiere author readings in Toronto

Friday, January 26, 2007 (Toronto ON): poet Meghan Jackson (Toronto) reads with poet Robert Steckling and novelist Anand Mahadevan at the IV Lounge Reading Series.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 (Toronto ON): Monty Reid (Ottawa) & Meghan Jackson (Toronto) read with Sheila O'Hearn at the Art Bar Reading Series, The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto, 8pm