Play Chthonics

On Wednesday November 7 I’ll be in Vancouver sharing the stage at the Play Chthonics Reading Series with Cecily Nicholson. I’m looking forward to visiting friends I rarely have a chance to see, as well as meeting new ones. 

The details:

Venue: Green College, UBC (6201 Cecil Green Park Rd.)

Time: 5 pm

 

Eulogy for the Quick

After a successful launch, the Fall 2011 Cactus Press chapbooks are now available for order online. If you’re interested, you can check them out under the Cactus Press tab on this site or email me at jim.johnstone@utoronto.ca.

Sample poems:

- Eulogy for the Quick on the Vehicule Press Blog (from Stewart Cole’s Sirens) 

- Walls at Encore Literary Magazine (from Greg Bell’s Better Locks and Daylight)

 

Fall Chapbooks

I’m pleased to announce that Cactus Press will be pairing with Karen Schindler’s newly founded Baseline Press to launch fall chapbooks from both presses on November 3, 2011. Here’s the lineup:
 
Cactus Press

Greg Bell – Better Locks and Daylight
Stewart Cole – Sirens
Shane Neilson – Love Poems in a Czech Winter

Baseline Press

Danielle Devereaux – Cardiogram
Andy McGuire – Sputniks
Christine Walde – The Black Car 

The launch will take place in association with Edward Nixon’s livewords reading series, and will be held at The Black Swan Tavern (154 Danforth Ave.) in Toronto. Doors open at 7:30. 

Below is a cover preview of Stewart Cole’s Sirens (designed by Pascale McCullough Manning)

 

2011 Matrix LitPop Awards

On Thursday night I was honoured to receive a call from Jon Paul Fiorentino notifying me that I’d won the 2011 Matrix LitPop Award for Poetry. My congrats to Anu Jindal and Chris Urquhart, winners in the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories!

Here’s the press release: 

Pop Montreal and Matrix Magazine are thrilled to announce the 2011 Lit Pop Award Winners!

Poetry
Jim Johnstone

Fiction
Anu Jindal

Non-Fiction
Chris Urquhart

Congratulations to this year’s winners and thanks to all who participated! Special thanks to this year’s judges, John K. Samson, Mike Spry and Katrina Best!

Cactus Press Chapbooks Reviewed

The winter 2010 Cactus Press chapbooks got a little bit of press last week in the form of a review written by Jacob McArthur Mooney for Northern Poetry Review. It’s rare that chapbooks get such focused attention, so I’m very pleased for the four authors: Darren Bifford, Edward Nixon, Marc di Saverio and Sarah Teitel. 

About Marc di Saverio’s Sanatorium Songs, Mooney writes:

Di Saverio is a gifted guy. He can track the anarchy-seeking scent of our bastardized language with a singular bravery, but what makes his work resonate beyond simple Beat parlour tricks is his ability to narrate his instincts with poetry. The effect is chilling, disorienting, and a little embarrassing; like stopping to watch a car crash, then turning around to find that the driver has somehow repositioned himself behind you, and has watched you watching him die. Di Saverio is never not in control of Sanatorium Songs.  

You can read the rest of the review here.
 

Last Gasp

After 7 1/2 years, Misunderstandings Magazine will celebrate its final issue on June 2, 2011. I’m happy to be going out with an issue that I’m especially proud of, and that Edward Nixon will be hosting the evening’s festivities.

Join us at the Black Swan Tavern for cake and readings from:

Claire Caldwell
Sam Cheuk
Mathew Henderson
Mat Laporte
Blaise Moritz
A.F. Moritz
Robin Richardson
Rob Taylor
Paul Vermeersch 

For the curious, here’s a cover preview:

Proofs & Equational Love: The Poetry of Jim Johnstone

Hot on the heels of Fatherhood: The Poetry of Wayne Clifford, Frog Hollow Press has released the second in an ongoing series of critical monographs: Proofs & Equational Love: The Poetry of Jim Johnstone. Within there are two separate essays (written by Jason Guriel and Shane Neilson, respectively) that explore the role of scientific equations / language in my first two books of poetry.

I’m honored to be the subject of this book, and that both Jason and Shane  would take such care exploring my work.

If you’re interested in a copy, you can order one here.

Another Spring – A Renga in 27 Parts

Thanks to Sachiko Murakami for including me as one of the 27 poets involved in creating Another Spring, a renga written in response to the earthquake/tsunami in Japan. You can watch the video below. 

Recommended Read: Guesswork

It’s poetry month, and as such I’ve purchased an inordinate amount of books, the best of which I’ve decided to recommend here over the remainder or April and into early May. I did something similar a while back (it’s hard for me to tell years apart these days, so it could have been 2009 or 2010), and was prompted to take up the practice again by the sheer brilliance of the first collection I’ll be featuring. Without belaboring any further, here’s the best collection of poetry I’ve read in 2011:

Jeffery Donaldson – Guesswork (Goose Lane, 2011)

I came by Donaldson on a tip from Marc di Saverio, so I have Marc to thank for Guesswork, an astonishing collection that jumps from hockey to John A. MacDonald to the origin of the book while still maintaining thematic unity. I was struck by Donaldson’s sense of rhythm and and the way in which he was able to surprise within a formal context. Check out Torso, an extended meditation on the headless sculpture of Apollo, for Guesswork at its finest.

Poetry Month

Over the next few weeks I’ll be doing several readings in Toronto to promote both Patternicity and Sunday, the locusts. If you’re in town, I’d be delighted to see you.

Battle of the Bards (March 30)
Where:  York Quay Centre (235 Queen’s Quay West)
When: 7:30 pm
With: David Hickey, Robyn Sarah, Zach Wells, among others.

Carousel 27 Launch Party (April 7)
Where: Black Swan Tavern (154 Danforth Ave.)
When: 7:30 pm
With: Julie Cameron Grey, Christine Walde, Natalie Zina Walschots, among others.

Art Bar (April 12)
Where: Clinton’s (693 Bloor Street West)
When: 8:00 pm
With: Ruth Roach Pierson, Jeanette Lynes