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News, Events, and Announcements

news | Saturday November 2, 2024

Chambersonic on Read Local BC's List of Books About Music

The experimental new poetry collection Chambersonic by Oana Avasilichioaei was named on Read Local BC’s list of must-read books about music. Chambersonic imagines the book as an acoustic chamber and comes alive with documents, rehearsals, and reverberations, all populated by an ensemble of players, instruments, and materials that make sound together.

Check out all of the titles on the list here.

news | Thursday October 31, 2024

Conversations with the Kagawong River Is Here!

Hot off the press! The gorgeous debut poetry and visual art collection Conversations with the Kagawong River by sophie anne edwards is here! A site-specific engagement with an ecosystem of Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island), Conversations with the Kagawong River raises the possibility of collaboration with the more-than-human. The author spent several years learning to listen to the Gaagigewang Ziibi (Kagawong River) and to follow the rhythms and patterns of its flora and fauna, the weather and the water. edwards invited the participation of various collaborators – woodpeckers, otters, currents, ice, grasses. The resulting poems, supported by local Elders, language speakers, and historians, make visible the colonial, environmental, and social processes that construct an ecosystem and (settler) relationships to it.

An excerpt from “December 19”:

“Increasingly my process on the River is about relationships. I am less
observer, moving more into responsiveness. … I trace the
porosity of my body and the aquatic one with which I am in relations as a
writer, walker, and someone who lives downstream, drinks the water, and
cycles her through my own household, through my body, and back into the
water table, the air, and in turn the River. I begin to shift from noun to verb.”

Order your copy of Conversations with the Kagawong River here.

news | Tuesday October 29, 2024

Two Plays on Read Local BC List of Books that Need Film Adaptations

we the same by Sangeeta Wylie and the forthcoming Behind the Moon by Anosh Irani are on Read Local BC’s list of books that need a film adaptation. These two plays bring the vibrancy to the stage and the page alike. To read all of Read Local BC’s recommendations for cinematic titles that deserve screen adaptations, click here.

news | Tuesday October 29, 2024

Chambersonic by Oana Avasilichioaei Has Arrived!

Chambersonic, the experimental new poetry collection by award-winning author, sound artist, and translator Oana Avasilichioaei has arrived back from the printer! Chambersonic imagines the book as an acoustic chamber. This collection of poems, essays, performance scores, and audio recordings comes alive with documents, rehearsals, and reverberations, all populated by an ensemble of players, instruments, and materials that make sound together.

An excerpt from “Voice Scree”:

“the voice is a score t e v ic is a core th voic s a sc re e o ce s s ore e oi e i a o e
the voice is a scar th v ice s sc r t e o ce i a s ar t e v i e is sca e oi e i a a
the voice is a scree the voi s a s ree t e oice i a sc ee t e voi e is scr e oi e i a ee …

the voice has no substitute th voi e as o sub ti ute t e oi e a o u i u e
the voice is a stage t e v ice i a s age he vo ce s tag e o ce i a st ge e oi e i a a e
the voice is a saga e voic s sag t e v i e is aga t e o ce s a a a e oi e i a a a
the voice is never safe th vo c is n ver afe th oice s nev r sa e e oi e i e e a e
the voice is radial the vo ce s radi l t e voic i dial t e v ic is rad al e oi e i a ia
the voice is symbiotic he oice is symb oti th v ice s ym otic e oi e i y io i
the voice is rebellion e v i e is rebel ion t e o ce i ebel on e oi e i e e io
the voice is mutation, a living score he vo e is mut ion, a liv g sc re e oi e i u a io”

Get your copy of Chambersonic here.

news | Monday October 28, 2024

Canoes Reviewed in The Minnesota Star Tribune

May-lee Chai reviewed Canoes by Maylis de Kerangal and translated by Jessica Moore in The Minnesota Star Tribune, calling it “the best collection of short stories this year.” Read the piece here.

news | Friday October 25, 2024

Hot Off the Press: cop city swagger Is Here!

Hot off the press! cop city swagger, the brand new poetry collection from award-winning poet Mercedes Eng has arrived! Investigating whose safety really matters in the most expensive city in the nation, cop city swagger conducts a threat assessment of Vancouver’s police. Holding close lived and living connections to the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown neighbourhoods, Eng juxtaposes the police’s and the city’s institutional rhetoric with their acts of violence against marginalized people, presenting a panoramic media montage of structural harm and community care.

An excerpt from “Core Values”:

“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills but am not surprised when a mayoral
candidate says that 100 new police will make The City

safe

I am taking crazy pills and I live in a brown body so I know 100 new
cops will not make The City

safe”

Order your copy of cop city swagger here.

news | Thursday October 24, 2024

Song & Dread on CBC Books

Song & Dread, the fabulous 2023 poetry collection by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek is featured in a CBC Books article about books to read for Black Poetry Day! Read through all of their recommendations here.

news | Wednesday October 23, 2024

The Poetry Foundation Features Chambersonic

Janani Ambikapathy reviewed the new poetry collection Chambersonic by Oana Avasilichioaei for The Poetry Foundation!

From the review: “Reading Chambersonic by Oana Avasilichioaei feels like walking through two kinds of interior spaces: one is a rehearsal or performance space where music is being composed and played, the other is the mind-space of the artist reflecting on their practice.”

Read the complete piece here.

news | Saturday October 19, 2024

Art Miki in My Lethbridge Now

Stan Ashbee wrote about Art Miki’s visit to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden for the Lethbridge launch of Gaman – Perseverance: Japanese Canadians’ Journey to Justice for My Lethbridge Now.

Here’s an excerpt from the article: “‘There’s quite a history of Japanese Canadians. I could relate to the experiences they had here,’ says Miki. ‘I think it’s good to share some of our stories, especially the younger people who might not have remembered or knew about the past. I think that’s one of our obligations, is to ensure people don’t forget what happened to Japanese Canadians, so the same things don’t happen again.’”

Read the complete piece here.

news | Friday October 18, 2024

cop city swagger on CBC Books

The new poetry collection cop city swagger by Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize–winner Mercedes Eng is on CBC Books’ fall reading list! cop city swagger juxtaposes the police’s and the city of Vancouver’s institutional rhetoric with their acts of violence against marginalized people, presenting a panoramic media montage of structural harm and community care.

Check out all of CBC Books’s recommendations here.

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we the same
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