July 15: Pivot with Philip Quinn, Angela Szczepaniak and Gillian Sze

How did this happen? So many SZ combinations have never descended upon Pivot in one evening! Please join us July 15 for poetry from Philip Quinn and Gillian Sze and fiction that reads like poetry from Angela Szczepaniak. Prizes will be awarded to those who can pronounce all three names in quick succession without stumbling.

Philip Quinn’s work has appeared in sub-Terrain, blood+aphorisms, White Wall Review, Front&Centre, Kiss Machine, Lichen journal, Broken Pencil, Snow Monkey and Anemone Sidecar. On-line appearances include: Laura Hird’s Showcase (www.laurahird.com), eli mae (www.elimae.com) The Shore Magazine (www.theshoremag.com) and Danforth Review (www.danforthreview.com). Jay Millar’s BookThug press published Quinn’s first collection of poetry, The SubWay, in November 2008. Sample poems can be found online at: www.philipquinn.ca. Books include: Dis Location, Stories After the Flood and The Double, a novel, published by Gutter Press. Upcoming: The Skeleton Dance, a novel, (Anvil Press) fall of 2009. Mr. Quinn lives in Toronto.

A doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo, Angela Szczepaniak is neck-deep in a dissertation on innovative poetry, detective fiction, and comic books. Her first book is a novel-in-poems, called Unisex Love Poems. In addition to publishing poetry and critical essays, she recently participated in a hygiene themed poetry-art project with LOCCAL, and as a result her visual poetry can be found on placards in some of the finest public restrooms in Seattle. At the moment, she lives in Toronto, where she thinks about being ravaged by time’s withered claw.

Gillian Sze is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She studied in Montreal where she earned an MA in creative writing at Concordia University in 2008. Her thesis, a collection of poems based on visual art from a range of cultures, is the basis of her newly released book, Fish Bones, published by DC Books. Gilliansze.com

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC.

Pivot alternative: Dennis Lee

I hope you’re all familiar by now with the amazing lineup of events at this year’s Scream Literary Festival – but just in case, here are a few of my picks (which, full disclosure, I will be participating in in some fashion or another…):

Chapters 11: The Bankruptcy Walking Tour

Yes, yours truly will be leading a group of mourners around the Annex this Saturday, July 4 to peel off the bakery and men’s clothing store facades of various businesses to reveal the dearly departed independent bookstores which once operated underneath. If you’re curious, grab your black umbrella and meet us at the Victory Cafe at 1. p.m.

If Hope Disorders Words: Dennis Lee Reprised – The Book-Length Reading

The annual book-length dinner is – strike allowing – happening in the atrium of the Toronto Archives on Friday July 10, featuring Dennis Lee reading from Civil Elegies, as well as Un and Yes/No. Not to be missed. Get your tickets for the dinner ($40 – yum) or just for the reading ($15) online at the link above or at any Type Books location before this Sunday – they’re going fast! I’ll save you a seat at my table

And of course there’s a ton of other stuff going on for just about any literary palate, so check out the schedule (if you haven’t already) or the Facebook group, natch.

Thanks,
Carey

Pivot takes a holiday

The series will take a break over the Canada Day holiday, coming back July 15. In the meantime, check out the best of local literary experimentation at the Scream Literary Festival, happening July 2 – 13, 2009. www.thescream.ca

Enjoy the summer!

June 17: Sonja Greckol, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Betsy Trumpener

Pivot is back June 17 with three women who write: Sonja Greckol, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Betsy Trumpener. Don’t miss it!

Sonja Greckol’s work has appeared in Literary Review of Canada, Canadian Literature, Dalhousie Review, CV2, Canadian Woman Studies, Fiddlehead and Matrix. She coordinates poetry for Women and Environments International Magazine. She has taught college and  university, studied order and disorder in jokes, done human rights and gender-based research and consulting, and continues to do local activism while she writes.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer is the author most recently of Perfecting. She also wrote The Nettle Spinner which was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award and Way Up: stories, which won a Danuta Gleed Award. She is the magazine editor for Bookninja.com and teaches both at the University of Toronto, and online through the New York Times Knowledge Network.

Betsy Trumpener is an award-winning CBC News reporter, writer and radio documentary producer. She has lived in Iowa, Israel, Alberta, Ontario, Bavaria and the Black Forest. She now lives with her family between a wild swamp and a pipeline in Northern BC, where she covers the daily drama of British Columbia’s interior. Trumpener’s non-fiction and fiction have been published in the Guardian, Globe and Mail, This Magazine, NOW Magazine, Monday Magazine and the Malahat Review. She was the first annual writer-in-residence for the CBC arts show North by Northwest, and she has been awarded a Western Magazine Award for her magazine column, “North of Unreal,” a Jack Webster Award for Best Radio Feature, and a Jack Webster Africa Journalism Fellowship. The Butcher of Penetang (Caitlin Press, 2008) is her first book. It was shortlisted for the Writers’ Union of Canada’s Danuta Gleed Literary Award for short fiction earlier this year.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC.

June 3: Cancellation

Just a quick announcement that Marianne Apostolides has cancelled her appearance at Pivot tomorrow night. Please see post below for all the details on the three other readers on the bill.

Thanks!

Carey

June 3: Marianne Apostolides, Su Croll, rob mclennan and Steven Mayoff

Summer!

Marianne Apostolides is a writer and critic whose novel, Swim, explores the eroticism of language, food and family. Toronto’s Globe and Mail says the book is “handled with assured grace and dynamic lucidity, and gives much trust to the reader’s ability to move… through the nuance and harm of words.” Apostolides’ first book was published by W.W. Norton and translated into Spanish and Swedish. She lives in Toronto with her two children.

Su Croll’s first book, Worlda Mirth, was the winner of the Kalamalka New Writers competition, and was short-listed for a Gerald Lampert Award. Her latest book, Blood Mother, has just been short-listed for a Stephan G. Stephansson Award (the Alberta Poetry Prize) as well as the Canadian Author’s Association Poetry Award. She lives in Edmonton and is currently working on a novel.

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa. The author of over a dozen trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent titles are the poetry collections a compact of words (Salmon Publishing, 2009) and Gifts (Talonbooks, 2009). An editor and publisher, he runs above/ground press, Chaudiere Books (with Jennifer Mulligan), Poetics.ca (with Stephen Brockwell, poetics.ca) and the Ottawa poetry pdf annual ottawater (ottawater.com). He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com.

Steven Mayoff is originally from Montreal, has lived in Toronto for 17 years and currently makes his home in the bucolic splendor of Prince Edward Island.  His fiction and poetry have appeared in journals across Canada, such as the Dalhousie Review, CV2, the Windsor Review, Grain, Filling Station and the Malahat Review, as well as magazines in the U.S., Paris, Ireland and Algeria.  His first fiction collection, Fatted Calf Blues, was published this year by Turnstone Press.  His website is www.stevenmayoff.ca

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC.

May 20: Kevin Connolly, Lisa Foad and Nyla Matuk

Please join us for three fantastic readers to round off the month of May:

Kevin Connolly is a Toronto poet, editor, and arts journalist. Connolly’s first collection of poems, Asphalt Cigar (Coach House, 1995), was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award. His third collection drift (Anansi, 2005), won the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and his most recent book, Revolver (Anansi, 2008) is a finalist for this year’s Griffin Prize. He lives with his partner, novelist Gil Adamson, in Toronto’s east end.

Lisa Foad’s debut story collection, The Night Is A Mouth (Exile Editions, 2009), has been praised by the Globe and Mail as “a brand-new thing” – Foad writes “with courage and surprising panache.” And EYE Weekly, in its five-star review, declares, “her DeLillo-sized sentences create a linguistic tension that could cause the pages to flip autonomously.” Her creative work has appeared in Matrix, Exile: The Literary Quarterly, and Red Light: Superheroes, Sluts and Saints, and she contributes cultural commentary to a variety of publications, including the Globe And Mail, NOW Magazine and Xtra. Lisa Foad lives in Toronto and is at work on her first novel.

Nyla Matuk’s first book of poems, Oneiric, was published in February by Frog Hollow Press. Poems appear at the Greenboathouse Books archive of poets and in The Shore magazine, and her short fiction has been published in Event, Room of One’s Own and Alphabet City. Essays and journalism have appeared in Descant, Alphabet City, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, and numerous other magazines.

Note: Jordan Scott, previously listed, has had to cancel. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC

May 6: Pasha Malla, Camille Martin and JP Fiorentino and Evan Munday

May kicks off with a very special Pivot featuring Pasha Malla, Camille Martin, and Stripmalling co-authors JP Fiorentino and Evan Munday. Join us!

Pasha Malla is the author of The Withdrawal Method, a book of stories, and All Our Grandfathers are Ghosts, a book of poems.

Camille Martin, a Toronto poet and collage artist, is the author of Sonnets (Shearsman Books, forthcoming) and Codes of Public Sleep (BookThug, 2007). Her poetry has been published in numerous journals in Canada, the United States, the U.K., and Australia. Her current work in progress is a long poem (working title: “The Evangeline Papers”) based on her Cajun/Acadian heritage and her recent visit to Nova Scotia, where she participated in an archaeological dig at Beaubassin and researched Acadian and Mik’maq history and culture. Her website is www.camillemartin.ca.

Jon Paul Fiorentino is a writer and editor. His first novel is Stripmalling (ECW, 2009). His most recent book of poetry is The Theory of the Loser Class (Coach House Books, 2006). He is the author of the poetry book Hello Serotonin (Coach House Books, 2004) and the humour book Asthmatica (Insomniac Press, 2005). His most recent editorial projects are the anthologies Career Suicide! Contemporary Literary Humour (DC Books, 2003) and Post-Prairie – a collaborative effort with Robert Kroetsch, (Talonbooks, 2005). He lives in Montreal where he teaches writing at Concordia University and is the editor of Matrix magazine.

Evan Munday is an illustrator whose work has appeared in books and magazines, including Toronto Life, This Magazine, Alternatives Journal and Broken Pencil. He is the publicist for Coach House Books and is currently at work on a graphic novel, Quarter-Life Crisis, set in a post-apocalyptic Toronto in which everyone except the twenty-five year-olds have died.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club,
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC

April 22: Stacey May Fowles, Liisa Ladouceur and Michelle Winters

Join us for the second and last Pivot of Poetry Month on April 22 with Stacey May Fowles, Liisa Ladouceur and Michelle Winters.

Stacey May Fowles is the current publisher of Shameless Magazine and the Circulation Director at The Walrus. Her first novel, Be Good, was published by Tightrope Books in 2007. This Magazine called it “probably the most finely realized small press novel to come out of Canada in the last year.” In fall 2008 she released an illustrated novel, Fear of Fighting, and staged a theatrical adaptation of it with Nightwood Theatre. Her writing has appeared in various magazines and has been widely anthologized in Nobody Passes: Rejecting The Rules of Gender and Conformity; First Person Queer; Yes Means Yes; and I.V. Lounge Nights.

Michelle Winters is a translator and technical writer from Saint John, New Brunswick. She is a founding member of Just in a Bowl Productions with whom she has co-written and performed two plays, Unsinkable and The Hungarian Suicide Duel. She devotes herself to fiction now, but still enjoys a nice set of stage directions.

Liisa Ladouceur is a poet and arts & entertainment reporter from Toronto who loves dead things and arcane words. She has performed her multimedia presentation of poetry based on street signs across North America, been published in the IndiePolitik anthology Strong Words: Year One (2006) and is the editor of Nuit Blanche: Poems for Late Nights (Royal Sarcophagus Society, 2007). Her first poetry collection, On Tenterhooks, was published by Burning Effigy Press in 2008. Her latest work is Alive! The Sideshow Sonnets, an illustrated collection of sonnets about carnival freaks published the House of Pomegrantes Press. http://www.therss.com/liisa

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club,
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC

April 8: Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Derek McCormack and Andrew Steinmetz

Start April off with some exciting poetry and fiction from Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Derek McCormack and Andrew Steinmetz. Bring a friend!

Elisabeth de Mariaffi’s poetry has been published in a fat handful of Canadian journals, including the Antigonish Review, CV2, Descant, Prairie Fire and PRISM; she was also the recipient of the 2007 Lina Chartrand Award for poetry. Her first-ever published short story is appearing in the spring issue of The New Quarterly and new fiction is also forthcoming, at some undisclosed time, in the Fiddlehead. All of this proves, once and for all, that she is a two-trick pony; that’s right, a pony with two tricks. Elisabeth is an MFA student in the Guelph-Humber program.

Derek McCormack’s most recent novel is The Show That Smells (ECW Press, 2008). His last novel, The Haunted Hillbilly, was named a best book of the year by both the Globe & Mail and Village Voice, and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction. He lives in Toronto.

Andrew Steinmetz strums the guitar and pushes a pen for a living. Steinmetz is the editor of Esplanade Books, the fiction imprint at Véhicule Press. He is the author of a memoir, Wardlife: The Apprenticeship of a Young Writer as a Hospital Clerk and two collections of poetry, Histories and Hurt Thyself. Eva’s Threepenny Theatre (Gaspereau Press) is his first novel. In an unusual fiction about family memoir, Steinmetz tells the story of his great-aunt Eva who performed in one of the first touring productions of Bertolt Brecht’s play, The Threepenny Opera, in 1928.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009
8 p.m. at the Press Club,
850 Dundas Street West
Hosted by Carey Toane
PWYC