the ottawa small press book fair; pre-fair reading

the semi-annual pre-ottawa small press book fair reading
lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
at The Carleton Tavern (upstairs)
Armstrong at Parkdale, Ottawa

Friday, November 27, 2009; doors 7pm, reading 7:30pm

with readings by:

Michael Dennis (Ottawa)
Spencer Gordon (Toronto)
Michelle Desbarats (Ottawa)
Garry Thomas Morse (newly in Ottawa)
& Lisa Pasold (Toronto)

author bios:

Michael Dennis is an Ottawa poet with several books to his credit, most recently Coming Ashore On Fire from Burnt Wine Press.

Spencer Gordon writes and publishes. More juicy details can be found at dangerousliterature.blogspot.com.

Michelle Desbarats was born in Winnipeg, grew up in Montreal and Charlottetown and resides in Ottawa. Her first book of poetry, Last Child to Come Inside, was published by Carleton University and McGill-Queen's University Press. Other publications include work appearing in Arc Magazine, Decalogue, Transpoetry, Burnt Toast, Speak!, Meltwater Review and on CBC Radio and at the Writers' Festival in Ottawa. Michelle was a finalist in the CBC Literary Awards. She has received writing grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa. She has also participated on Jury boards and as a judge for writing contests both in Canada and the US. Her work has been described as luminous and Don McKay, on the cover of the sold out Last Child To Come Inside, writes "This is poetry full of quick and acutely angled insight, moving with great sureness to glimpse the raven's wing inside the ordinary." Michelle is currently teaching poetry at Carleton University and working on two manuscripts.

Garry Thomas Morse has two books of poetry published by LINEbooks, Transversals for Orpheus (2006) and Streams (2007), and one collection of fiction, Death in Vancouver (2009) published by Talonbooks. His work has been featured in a variety of publications, including Canadian Literature, The Capilano Review, dANDelion, filling Station, memewar, The Vancouver Review and West Coast Line. Morse has received the 2008 City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist and has twice been selected as runner-up for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. After Jack, his poetic homage to Jack Spicer, will be available from Talonbooks in April 2010. He moved to Ottawa from Vancouver but a few short weeks ago.

Lisa Pasold has been thrown off a train in Belarus, been fed the world’s best pigeon pie in Marrakech, learned to polka at Danceland, and been cheated in the Venetian gambling halls of Ca’ Vendramin Calergi. She grew up in Montreal, which gave her the necessary jaywalking skills to survive as a journalist. Her first book, Weave, appeared in 2004 and was nominated for an Alberta Book Award; her second book of poetry is A Bad Year for Journalists, described as "critical, darkly funny and painstakingly lyrical" by The Globe and Mail. Her work has appeared in publications such as Billboard Magazine, The National Post, The Chicago Tribune, New American Writing, and Geist. Her first novel, Rats of Las Vegas, has just come out from Enfield & Wizenty.

for information on the book fair, starting the following day at noon, check here;