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April 10, 2021Raise your shields: performance boundaries for poets
Thanks so much to everyone who reached out to say that Thursday’s post resonated with you. Today we’re building on our poet boundaries by extending them from the Internet to the stage—before, during, ...
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May 04, 2021Governor General's Literary Award Shortlists Announced, Including Another Nomination for The Dyzgraphxst by Canisia Lubrin
This morning, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the Governor General's Literary Award shortlists. It's an exciting set of lists, with strong representation for independent publishers, including ...
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June 10, 2021GG Winning Poet Arleen Paré's New Collection Examines the Impact and Legacy of Early Friendships
Arleen Paré's First (Brick Books) appropriately takes us back to the beginning: both the beginning of identity and connection in the search for a friend from long ago (the first one she ever made), and ...
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October 15, 2021MUSE ON THE LAM
Today’s post is about what to do when your muse goes AWOL. When your muse is a contrarian like mine is, getting them to show up for work often requires lengthy debates. Who has that extra time?The ...
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October 21, 2021Read the Late, Great Don Domanski's Poem "Homeworld" from His Final, Posthumous Collection
Governor General's Literary Award winning poet Don Domanski, who passed away in 2020, is remembered for his ability to combine epic themes of environmentalism and metaphysics with his trademark intimate, ...
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October 22, 2021RIDING THE WAVES
Marigold stood, held up her fist and struck a defiant pose as she recited William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus.” Out of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever ...
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October 25, 2021WE MOVE
While doing life, Nigerians use the slang “we move” to capture the dogged determination needed to plow through difficult situations. It’s a clarion call for better.Over the years, I have come across ...
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January 14, 2022Why 2022 Is a Year of Remembering
In the last week of December 2021, I tried to remember what I had done during the year. I couldn’t remember. I had life-changing experiences – started a PhD, completed my first term successfully, ...
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March 28, 2022What's Beyond: Writing as an Actor, Part 2
One of the important exercises we do in theatre is called “What’s Beyond.” It’s a Viola Spolin exercise to help actors understand the full, inner life of their characters. Viola Spolin is credited ...
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April 14, 2022"The List/ of Things I’ve Done/ for My Body is Too Long" Read an Excerpt from Nisa Malli’s Bold Poetry Debut, Allodynia
Allodynia, Nisa Malli’s follow up to her bpNichol Award winning chapbook, Remitting, is a tense, powerful collection that grabs the reader with razor-sharp, elegant forays into themes of pain and ...