ottawater: a city of romantics & optimists

Published to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the City of Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, "ottawater," and its chemical formula/logo "O2(H2O)," is a brand new poetry annual produced exclusively on-line, in both readable and printable pdf formats. An anthology focusing on Ottawa poets and poetics, its first issue appears in January 2005, 150 years after old Bytown became the City of Ottawa. Long seen as a town made only of bureaucrats and technocrats, and a more conservative poetics, "ottawater" simply wants to remind us of what work is happening, and has been happening for years, despite government types announcing every few years that the arts in Ottawa is about to begin. We say instead: we have always been here.

Edited by Ottawa writer rob mclennan, the first issue features work by various residents current and former, in both readable and printable pdf formats, including: Stephen Brockwell, George Elliott Clarke, Anita Dolman, Tamara Fairchild, Laurie Fuhr, Gwendolyn Guth, William Hawkins, Matthew Holmes, Clare Latremouille, rob mclennan, Max Middle, Peter Norman, Monty Reid, Chris Turnbull and Ewan Whyte, interviews with poets John Barton and Max Middle, and reviews of work by Stephen Brockwell, Peter Norman and Shane Rhodes, as well as artwork by Derrick Lacelle, Don Monet, Jeremy Reid, Jennifer Kwong, Sarah Dobbin, Juan Carlos Noria and designer Tanya Sprowl.

The launch party will be happening on Thursday, February 3rd at the Mercury Lounge, 56 Byword Street, Ottawa, from 8pm to 10pm, lovingly hosted by rob mclennan, who David Gladstone called "the poet laureate of Centretown Ottawa" in 1996 in The Centretown Buzz. There will be short readings by various of the contributors, including Gwendolyn Guth, Max Middle, Anita Dolman, Chris Turnbull and Peter Norman. After the readings, stick around and have a drink, as the program to follow is resident dj Trevor Walker hosting Mui Afro Funke, playing latin and African influenced musics, jazz funk, and house music later on into the night.

You can find the first issue here.