news | Wednesday April 27, 2011

Weather-Permitting, Poetry is in Bloom in BC!

National Poetry Month has been quite thrilling for Talonbooks.

First, we were notified that three of our poetry books were nominated in the same category for a BC Book Prize, Ken Belford for Decompositions, George Bowering for My Darling Nellie Grey, and Stephen Collis for On the Material.

(Stephen, Gina, and Gary – All Aboard for Terrace!)

Then the Northern Leg 2011 Book Tour kicked off, with Gina McMurchy-Barber, Gary Kent, and Stephen Collis starting in Terrace and also visiting Prince Rupert, Prince George, Quesnel, Smithers, and Kitimat.

(George Bowering accepting his award for literary excellence. Photo credit: Emily Megan)

And on the verge of setting off for the Okanagan Leg 2011 Book Tour, it was announced that George Bowering was the winner of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.

(Derek, George, and Julie, shooting the breeze in Salmon Arm)

Bowering went on to join Julie Flett and Derek Lundy, starting in Kamloops, and also visiting Salmon Arm, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, and Oliver.

(Stephen Collis at Books & Company in Prince George)

Then, we were delighted by the announcement that Stephen Collis had won the Dorothy Livesay Prize for Poetry for On the Material!


(Stephen Collis accepting his BC Book Prize. Photo credit: Emily Megan)

To round out the month, we reconvened at the Anza Club with Arsenal Pulp Press for our Triple Threat Book Launch. And the city was abuzz…for poetry! While hockey fans cheered on the Canucks in Game 7 of the first round downstairs, excited poemfans packed into the upstairs space to hear Proma Tagore, Cecily Nicholson, and Garry Thomas Morse read new poetry from their respective books, language is not the only thing that breaks, Triage, and Discovery Passages.

There will be more details to follow about our Vancouver launch, but this is an excellent time to thank the city and the province and the nation for its intense support of poetry!