rob's western adventures

I'll be a couple of weeks travelling west to promote my new poetry collection aubade; it means my blog activity might be more random than it usually is, but perhaps I'll see you on that long open road? & did you see that The Ottawa X-Press has this (plus a bunch of others by various familiar & friendly names) shortlisted for "best local blog" in their Best of Ottawa Readers' Poll? Vote here! Vote often!

Prince George BC: rob mclennan reads with Stephen Brockwell at the University of Northern British Columbia, Room 7-152. Thursday, November 2, 11:30am. Info: Rob Budde at rbudde@shaw.ca

Vancouver BC: rob mclennan reads with Stephen Brockwell (Ottawa) at Robson Square Bookstore as part of the Robson Reading Series, 800 Robson Street (between Hornby and Howe, down the stairs from the Art Gallery). Monday, November 6, 7pm. Info: rsquare@interchange.ubc.ca or 604 822 6453

Edmonton AB: rob mclennan features at the monthly Olive Reading Series, Martini's Bar & Grill, 9910 109 Street. Tuesday, November 14, 7pm. Open mic to follow, & a chapbook (distributed free) of each featured reader made for events. Info: tcowan@ualberta.ca

Edmonton AB: rob mclennan will be reading a combination of fiction and the long poem avalanche (a different reading than the night before) at the University of Alberta (HC L-3). Wednesday, November 15, 3:30pm. Info: Thomas Wharton at thomas.wharton@ualberta.ca

Calgary AB: rob mclennan reads with Douglas Barbour (Edmonton) at the Oolong Tea House, #110 10th Street NW (Kensington). Thursday, November 16, 6:30pm. Hosted by Jordan Nail and dANDelion magazine. Info: innocuous@shaw.ca

Winnipeg MB (NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS MOVED A DAY EARLIER FROM NOVEMBER 22ND TO NOVEMBER 21ST): rob mclennan reads with Winnipeg poets Karen Clavelle and Ariel Gordon at Aqua Books, 89 Princess Street. Tuesday, November 21, 7:30pm. Info: (204) 943 7555 (bookstore) or A. Gordon at janeday@mts.net

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg-based poet and editor. Recent projects include a collaboration with new music composer David Raphael Scott called Tranquility and Order that had its premiere simultaneously in Westminster United Church as a part of WSO's 2006 New Music Festival and via the airwaves as part of CBC Radio's Two New Hours. Palimpsest Press will publish a chapbook of Ariel's poetry in 2007. Karen Clavelle is a literary writer, poet, and publisher (Atelier 78), who spends part of every summer taking in equal parts of the prairie sun, wind, rain, grasshoppers, and the odd honey bee from Manitoba to Montana, on the back of a big black motorcycle. In addition to writing critical articles on prairie writers and a monograph on Dennis Cooley, she has written two long poems and several chapbooks (pachyderm press). With Atelier 78, she produced and published Three Days in Spain (2005), a small anthology of international writer's work. She is the producer of The Archaeology of Water (2004), a print project that brings together five prairie poets and two print-makers. Karen recently completed her PhD dissertation on the garden in prairie literature at the University of Manitoba where she presently teaches courses in Prairie and English Literature. In addition, she is working on an archival project; a collection of Mother Goose letters found in a tin box retrieved from an old granary; collaborating on a blind print project with print-maker Gordon Trick; and, from time to time, producing hand-made books. A new chapbook of her poetry is perpetually forthcoming with above/ground press.

Toronto ON: I still haven't figured out Toronto. I think I arrive late on Friday, November 24. Any suggestions? Or should I just hang out with Andy Weaver and have a drink or two?