Come and check out our final chapbooks: Royal and Ringsend, both by Stevie Howell (who will be working the table with me). The 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award winner will also be announced. 

Zach is attempting to raise money to offset the cost of his trip, and the chapbooks will be given to those who offer support. If you’re interested in acquiring one, click here.

Copies are selling for $5.00. If you’re interested in purchasing one, email me at jim.johnstone@utoronto.ca.

Here’s a sneak preview of the title poem, translated from Arthur Rimbaud, and originally published in Maisonneuve:

THE SLEEPER IN THE VALLEY

It’s a green ravine with a river that sings
and madly clings to silvery tatters
on the grasses—a little valley bubbling
with beams of a sun that scatters

from the noble peak. A young soldier, helmetless,
open-mouthed, bathing his nape in the cool blue cress,
sleeps; he’s under clouds, pale, outspread
where light is raining down on his green bed.

With his feet in the gladioli, he sleeps. Smiling how
a sick kid smiles, he’s catching some zees.
Nature, cradle him closely, he’s

cold. Smells won’t make his nostrils quiver now.
One hand on breast, asleep in the sun, he’s pacified;
there are two red holes in his right side.

The details:

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

Time: 5 pm

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)

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)

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!

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.
 

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:

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.