This is the second edition of award-winning Nisg̱a’a poet Jordan Abel’s second collection of poetry, Un/inhabited, which maps the terrain of the public domain to create a layered investigation of the interconnections between language and land.
Abel constructed the book’s source text by compiling ninety-one complete western novels found on Project Gutenberg, an online archive of public domain works. Using his word processor’s Ctrl+F function, he searched the document in its totality for words that relate to the political and social aspects of land, territory, and ownership. Each search query represents a study in context (How was this word deployed? What surrounded it? What is left over once that word is removed?) that accumulates toward a representation of the public domain as a discoverable and inhabitable body of land.
Featuring essays by Project Space founder Tracy Stefanucci and independent curator Kathleen Ritter – the first pieces of scholarship on Abel’s work – Un/inhabited reminds us of the power of language as material and invites us to reflect on what is present when we see nothing.
"…the way in which he hypnotizes his audience is always astounding."
—Navneet Nagra, sadmag
"What is most interesting about Un/inhabited is the ambiguity that complicates the more obvious metaphors linking text with land and reading with resource extraction.”
—Canadian Literature
news | 2022-06-17
Indigenous History Month
…by Annie York, Richard Daly, and Chris Arnett 6. Un/inhabited by Jordan Abel 7. Iron Peggy by Marie Clements 8. …
news | 2020-04-07
The 2nd edition of Jordan Abel's Un/inhabited has arrived!
…poet Jordan Abel’s second collection of poetry, Un/inhabited , has arrived from the printer! Un/inhabited maps … the first pieces of scholarship on Abel’s work – Un/inhabited reminds us of the power of language as material … Mi’gmaq and settler descent. Pick up your copy of Un/inhabited today! …
news | 2016-07-14
Tonight in New York City, the Poets House Poetry Publication Showcase opens New York City
…Impeccable Regret by Judith Fitzgerald, Injun and Un/inhabited by Jordan Abel, Pound @ Guantánamo by Clint …
news | 2016-02-17
Jordan Abel’s new book is here!
…stands as a companion to Abel’s previous book, Un/inhabited , which was composed using similar methods and …
news | 2016-01-20
A look at what’s coming this spring
…Jordan Abel, a natural follow-up to last year’s Un/inhabited, is a long poem composed of found text from …
news | 2016-01-05
Best of 2015
…earlier poems of Fred Wah, and Jordan Abel’s Un/inhabited, are among CBC’s favourites. And now a few other … stick, the phrasing causes slaps or shivers.” Un/inhabited was also yesterday listed as one of 10 BC books …
news | 2015-12-08
CBC’s Best Books of 2015
…earlier poems of Fred Wah, and Jordan Abel’s Un/inhabited , are among CBC’s favourites. Hooray! …
news | 2015-04-24
We Have Liftoff! (Photos from Talon’s Spring 2015 Poetry Launch in Vancouver)
…in his mask in front of projected spreads from Un/inhabited Jordan Abel, the second reader, advised the … audience to approach his latest book, Un/inhabited ($24.95), as they might a map: rather than trying … against a backdrop of projections of spreads from Un/inhabited. In the words of one audience member, “poetry …
news | 2015-04-10
Horses Records’s Talonbooks
…Talon poetry titles, from Jordan Abel’s new Un/inhabited to Nikki Reimer’s recent DOWNVERSE , and other …
news | 2015-02-04
Q&Q Shouts Out to Meredith Quartermain and Jordan Abel
…short stories, I, Bartleby , and Jordan Abel’s Un/inhabited . Pauline Johnson, Robin Blaser, Daphne Marlatt, … Vancouver poet Meredith Quartermain. (source) Un/inhabited (Talonbooks), the second collection from Nisga’a … reading, and sociological groundwork.” (source) Un/inhabited is available now for $24.95. Watch for I, …
Useful Links
Latest Tweets
Phone: (604) 444-4889
Outside Vancouver: 1 888 445-4176
Fax: (604) 444-4119
Website: www.talonbooks.com
Email: info@talonbooks.com
Talonbooks gratefully acknowledges the unceded, Traditional, and Ancestral Territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including those of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations, on which we are privileged to live, work, read, and write.
Talonbooks is thankful for the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Copyright Talonbooks 1963-2023
If you have any questions or comments about this website, contact the webmaster.