The Ottawa Intl Writers Festival Spring Edition schedulue was announced today: the first six days in any case. Apparently, a documentary film about poetry in Ottawa will be shown on the seventh day, Saturday the 21st; although, this is, of course, a secret.
I'm especially excited about the Poetry Cabarets. It'll be my first chance to hear Sandra Alland, Dennis Lee, B.W. Powe, Barbara Nickel, Simon Armitage and George Murray read. The hosting to be done by Stephen Brockwell, David O'Meara and Alan Neal will surely add an extra element of excellence to the Poetry Cabarets.
Two new releases from Chaudiere Books will be launched. EVERYTHING IS MOVIES, a first book by Nicholas Lea, and the Ottawa City Project by rob mclennan.
An abbreviated schedule follows - for a complete one see the Writers Fest web site.
See ya there!
**
I'm especially excited about the Poetry Cabarets. It'll be my first chance to hear Sandra Alland, Dennis Lee, B.W. Powe, Barbara Nickel, Simon Armitage and George Murray read. The hosting to be done by Stephen Brockwell, David O'Meara and Alan Neal will surely add an extra element of excellence to the Poetry Cabarets.
Two new releases from Chaudiere Books will be launched. EVERYTHING IS MOVIES, a first book by Nicholas Lea, and the Ottawa City Project by rob mclennan.
An abbreviated schedule follows - for a complete one see the Writers Fest web site.
See ya there!
**
SUNDAY, APRIL 15 @ 6:00 PM
BUILDING A BETTER BLOG
With George Murray
Poet, editor and bookninja.com founder, George Murray talks about building an international online literary community. Bookninja is described as the premier Canadian literary site, and one of the top literary sites in the world. How did George Murray's blog become a nexus for literary news and opinion? Will blogs and discussions forums make traditional magazines and journals obsolete? And for those of us who still haven't mastered the interweb, what exactly is a blog anyway?
Tickets: $5 / Free for Festival Members
Day Pass: $30
SUNDAY, APRIL 15 @ 8:00 PM
POETRY CABARET #1
Featuring George Murray, rob mclennan and George Bowering
Reading and in conversation with Stephen Brockwell
The Spring Edition's feast of poetry begins with readings by Newfoundland's George Murray, whose fourth collection, The Rush to Here, combines what he calls "thought-rhyme with the structured sonnet form"; Ottawa's rob mclennan, described in the Danforth Review as a poet who "doesn't so much push against boundaries, as deny boundaries," launches his thirteenth collection: The Ottawa City Project; and Canada's first Poet Laureate, George Bowering, arrives from British Columbia with Vermeer's Light, a work that, in the words of the Quill & Quire, "walks the tightrope of sentiment without falling into sentimentality." After the readings, all three poets will join poet Stephen Brockwell for a conversation on the craft, with plenty of opportunity for audience questions.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
Day Pass: $30
MONDAY, APRIL 16 @ 8:30 PM
WRITING LIFE #1
featuring Liam Durcan, Scott Gardiner and Barbara Gowdy
Readings and discussion with Charlotte Gray
We inaugurate our second decade of the Writing Life with three huge Canadian talents; Liam Durcan, whose debut novel, García's Heart, tackles terrorism, bioethics, and the age-old dilemmas of loyalty and betrayal; Scott Gardiner's much-praised second novel, King John of Canada, is a biting political satire that dares to explore Canada's future after Quebec's separation; and international bestseller Barbara Gowdy's stunning novel Helpless, is the story of a child's disappearance and a mother's love. All three authors will share brief excerpts and discuss their work with author Charlotte Gray.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
Day Pass: $20
TUESDAY, APRIL 17 @ 8:30 PM
WRITING LIFE #1
Featuring Neil Smith, C.S. Richardson and Lawrence Hill
Readings and discussion with Phil Jenkins
The Writing Life continues with three of the most critically acclaimed authors of the season. Neil Smith's debut collection of nine riveting stories, Bang Crunch, is an international phenomenon announcing a major new writer; C.S. Richardson, a multiple recipient of the Alcuin Award for excellence in book design, delivers his debut novel, The End of the Alphabet, a magical story about an everyday life defined by an extraordinary love; and Lawrence Hill's novel, The Book of Negroes, is a sweeping story that transports the reader from a tribal African village to a plantation in the southern United States, from the teeming Halifax docks to the manor houses of London. All three will share a brief excerpt and discuss their work with Phil Jenkins.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
Day Pass: $20
DAY FOUR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 @ 6:00 PM
BOOK LAUNCHES:
EVERYTHING IS MOVIES by Nicholas Lea
TATTOO THIS MADNESS IN by Daniel Allen Cox
Join us for two exciting book launches featuring poetry from Ottawa's Nicholas Lea and prose from Montreal's Daniel Allen Cox.
Was it a manufactured hologram or the fog rising from a lake? In Nicholas Lea's first collection of poetry, the question coalesces in an obvious yearning toward surrealism and a supreme interest in aesthetics. Everything is movies wrestles with the myth-making of mass culture and high art, but the collection - accidentally? - rolls off the bed and onto the floor, a heap of laughing limbs.
Also: an Ottawa launch for Tattoo This Madness In, which was a Finalist for the 2nd Expozine Alternative Press Awards. "Daniel Allen Cox unravels the twisted truth in the heroic rebel yell of queer youth." - HOUR Magazine
A free event. Donations welcome.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 @ 8:30 PM
POETRY CABARET #2
Readings by B.W. Powe, Sandra Alland and bill bissett
On-stage conversation with Alan Neal
Our poetic celebration continues with work that challenges and entertains: the lyric samplings, notes and reveries in B.W. Powe's The Unsaid Passing is a bewitching spell of reflections, ecstasies and longings; Sandra Alland's Blissful Times explores how many ways there are to say one thing, and how much of herself the translator inserts by featuring 63 poetic "translations" of text by Samuel Beckett from the play Happy Days; and bill bissett, whose charged readings never fail to amaze, incorporates sound poetry, chanting and singing in a performance from his latest collection, Ths Is Erth Thees AR Peopul.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
THURSDAY, APRIL 19 @ 8:30 PM
WRITING LIFE #3:
Readings by Andy Brown, Tanya Chapman and M.A.C. Farrant
On-stage conversation with Kate Heartfield
The Spring Edition's final Writing Life features three of Canada's most innovative scribes. Montreal's Andy Brown, writer, editor and publisher, follows his acclaimed collection of stories I Can See You Being Invisible with his debut novel, The Mole Chronicles; filmmaker Tanya Chapman, winner of This magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt shares her first novel, King; and M.A.C. Farrant, the acclaimed author of seven previous collections of short fiction, returns to the Festival with The Breakdown So Far, her eighth volume. All three cutting-edge storytellers will read brief excerpts from their work and discuss their craft with The Ottawa Citizen's Kate Heartfield.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
Day Pass: $35
FRIDAY, APRIL 20 @ 6:00 PM
BOOK LAUNCH:
MISSING THE ARK by Catherine Kidd
Missing the Ark is the highly anticipated first novel from acclaimed spoken word artist Catherine Kidd. This is a novel about memory and perception, exploring the thin line between what is inside and what is out, what is seen and what can't be known.
A free event. Donations welcome.
FRIDAY, APRIL 20 @ 7:00 PM
THE EXCRUCIATING CHOICES OF EVERYDAY LIFE
Heather Mallick in conversation with Sarah Dearing
Spend time with one of Canada's most popular columnist and author, Heather Mallick, always sure to provoke and delight. Her latest bestseller, Cake or Death, is a no-holds-barred riposte to the mess we've made of things. Author Sarah Dearing talks with Heather, uncensored from the restrictions of her Globe and Mail column, about the complicated state of our lives and our world today.
Tickets: $12 General / $10 Student or Senior / $8 Festival Member
Day Pass: $20
FRIDAY, APRIL 20 @ 8:30 PM
POETRY CABARET #3:
Readings by Barbara Nickel, Dennis Lee and Simon Armitage
On-stage conversation with David O'Meara
Our feast of words continues with an evening of internationally acclaimed poetry that is sure to remind us why poetry must be read aloud. Children's author and Pat Lowther Memorial Award winning poet, Barbara Nickel's second collection, Domain, explores the search for meaning and love in a world where "home" must be constructed; one of Canada's most beloved poets, Dennis Lee's latest Yesno is a continuation of his urgent poetic project to grapple with the question of humankind's future, simultaneously embracing pessimism and hope; while Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid, the latest from England's Simon Armitage, engages some of the most pressing oppositions of our time - man versus monster, conflict versus conversation, age versus youth and humanity versus the environment. The performances will be followed by a discussion with renowned poet and Artistic Director of the Plan 99 series, David O'Meara.
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Student or Senior / $10 Festival Member
Day Pass: $20
