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| What's Not So New? |
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| Toronto Star article by Judy Stoffman about recent news of Callaghan publication of Short Stories and recent CBC TV events. |
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| Morley Callaghan: The Complete Short Stories in Two Volumes. McArthur & Company. April 2003. (300 pg. each!) |
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| Callaghan novels reissued in hardcover. This will be the first time a Canadian novelist will have an entire collection re-issued in Canada. (2004-2005 Update...Books are being done in soft cover... oh well. |
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| Greely survives blackout as power was restored approx 2:55am Friday, August 15, 2003. Hope all is well with you! |
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| I got to meet Frances Itani at the National Library of Canada. Her latest book is 'Deafening'. The auditorium was packed for her reading from the novel. She signed 7 of her books for me, too. A beautiful night for the launch of her novel. Her whole family was in attendance. |
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| The Ottawa International Writers Festival (October 2-11, 2003). I am a member and have bought a full pass this year. Promises to be the best year yet for the organizers. |
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| When I do go downtown Ottawa to work I eat at the Elgin Street Diner. Try the cream of tomato soup or any of the soup of the day for that matter. One of the only restaurants I go to where the staff say, "The usual?" Very friendly staff and well prepared food open 24 hours a day. |
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| Phew! The Ottawa International Writers Festival is now over. I attended 23 events in all from 2-11 October. Got to rub shoulders with some of the best writers in Canada (and get my books signed.) Among the many outstanding people I met were: Melanie Little, Kate Taylor, Oni the Haitian Sensation; Alan Cumyn, Gil Courtemanche, Anne Ireland, David Gow, Stuart Ross, John Metcalf, Roy MacSkimming, Kerri Sakamoto, Clare Latremouille, bill bissett, Isabel Huggan, George Elliott Clarke, Chester Brown, Joe Sacco and of course, the people's poet, rob mclennan. There were some outstanding moments such as Clare Latremouille's reading... her beautiful reading blew me away. During a celebration of Talon Books bill bissett proved to be nutty as a Christmas fruit cake: he is like Pauly Shore's older brother. "Excellent!" He was entertaining nonetheless and has not changed. The poet Oni is perhaps the coolest person on earth. She introduced me to George Elliott Clarke prior to the Festival Jam on the last evening. She also co-hosted the well attended Festival Poetry Slam. This had to be the most fun evening of the event with awesome performers, notably nth digri (AKA Anthony Bansfield) and Alexis O'Hara. Chester Brown, known for his Graphic Novel/comic book bio of Louis Riel, seemed nervous on stage and was a disappointment relative to his co-performer, Joe Sacco (Palestine/The Fixer) who gave an enteraining presentation of his cartoon works. The beer, in the stubby bottles, was always ice cold and very available. The bookseller onsite was fully stocked and did brisk business, too. All in all the events organizers put on a great show once again this year. All the volunteers made everyone feel welcome. |
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| Gordon Sheppard will be in Ottawa doing a reading from his latest novel, Ha! A Self-Murder Mystery. The venue is the National Library of Canada on Wednesday, November 5, 2003 at 7:30pm. Afterword: Tonight, I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Gordon Sheppard read from his book, HA!. And, all to briefly, I had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife, Marguerite Corriveau (Gordon's Morning Star and Mystical Rose). Another gentleman I was fortunate to meet was none other than Brian Nolan, author and former producer of ABC Network News. His literary praise of the book appears on the back of the dust jacket. I will be sure to soon drop by his bistro, that he runs with his wife, on Sparks Street here in Ottawa. (I said to myself, I thought a recognized his name when I looked in my home library and found a copy of King's War: MacKenzie King and the Politics of War 1939-1945 that I got when I was a history undergraduate at Concordia University back in '88.) Sheppard recently launched his book in Montreal on Wednesday, October 29th at the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and will be appearing in Toronto and Vancouver shortly. Do pick up and read a copy... it is like jumping off a floating dock in the middle of a familiar lake of your childhood memories. You can swim safely near its tether and enjoy the security that the proximity provides, or risk wading farther away and try to touch the bottom to see how deep you can go. Metaphors aside, it is better to use Sheppard's own words from his 1969 essay, Violence and the French Canadian Male, an early critique of Aquin's first two novels, "We all must try to understand how to be worthy of it." * * Canada: A Guide to the Peaceable Kingdom, ed. William Kilbourn. p192. |
| As part of the Plan 99 reading series, Stuart Ross will give a reading and a poetry workshop at 5PM in The Manx pub. Admission is free. (Stu was a great performer as usual.) location: 370 Elgin Street website: www.hunkamooga.com |
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| Undercurrents - Mysterious Notations from Everyday Life: Noreen Mallory December 4, 2003 - January 11, 2004 Espace Trois Montréal based artist, Noreen Mallory has made a personal selection of paintings and monotypes from the many series of works that she has produced over the past thirty years. We are offered a view into the artist's underlying activity of forming images out of personal experience. Thus, while "Undercurrents" shows us images of a family summer cottage where kids swim and fly kites we are also aware of the artist's acute observations mingling with her use of materials such as paint, pastel or graphite. Other images of people riding the metro show one example of the artist's personal experience within the urban landscape. Everyday life, for the artist, provides a mysterious drama. Mallory's early experience of working in costume and set design for the Stratford Shakesperian Theatre and early live TV is evident in her attention to the over all drama of settings for her figures as well as the smaller details of clothes. Painting for Book Covers Many of Mallory's paintings have appeared as cover images for books by the Canadian author Hugh Hood among many others. Of special interest is a section of the gallery showing as many as six of the artist's alternative images from which the publisher made a final selection. www.noreenmallory.com |
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| I recently picked-up a copy of Mordecai Richler's Wicked We Love originally published under the title The Acrobats. This edition is from Popular Library Edition #677. Originally sold for 25 cents, the sub-title reads, "They Turned Life Into An All-Night Party". Good Girl Art illustrated covers front and back. The true first edition, London: Deutsch July 1954; First US edition, September 1954. This Popular Library #677 paperback edition, July 1955. |
| I have a photo from my Strange Fugitive website appearing in The November 24th issue of Canadian Business Magazine. The photo is of the Dust Jack of Morley Callaghan's first novel. It is the 75th anniversary of both the magazine and the novel dating back to 1928. Please click here to see the images from the magazine and my commentary. |
| Pictures of Noreen Mallory from Friday January 9th, 2004 at the Saidye Bronfman Centre. |
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| Thursday, February 26th The Small Press Action Network of Ottawa presented the Factory Reading Series at 7:30PM in the Gallery 101 studio. The guest readers were jwcurry and Maria Erskine. Absolutely the essence of concrete poetry in Canada today. Curry initially delivered an academic tract on concrete and visual poetry and read other guttural pieces, then finished by 'reading' verses into a black roasting pan filled with water. Spectacular Performance! Clare Latremouille--if you're reading this--please get your novel finished... |
| Royal Caribbean Cruise Feb. 2003. What a trip. Would I do it again? If I win the lottery!!! Ups: nice balcony views; great food. Downs: one week is too short; booze is not included; too much food for any human to consume in two months let alone seven days. I was weak-willed and was tempted especially by the ribs. So good. |
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