2019 Book Awards: Longlists

The League of Canadian Poets is proud to present the 2019 Book Awards Longlists, including the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Raymond Souster Award. 2019 GERALD LAMPERT MEMORIAL AWARD SHORTLIST Awarded annually since 1981, the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is given in the memory of Gerald Lampert, an arts administrator who organized author tours…

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Review: This Kind of Thinking Does No Good | By Alison Smith

Gaspereau Press | 2018 | 64 Page | $18.95 | Purchase online Review by Annick MacAskill Cerebral, funny, and insightful, Alison Smith’s third full-length poetry collection, This Kind of Thinking Does No Good, reads as an extended response to the feminist maxim “the personal is political.” Picking up on many of the themes and tensions…

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Fresh Voices 15: Graham Ducker, Archana Sridhar, Bradley A. Ramsey

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Fresh Voices, a project from and for the League’s associate members. The League’s associate members are talented poets who are writing and publishing poetry on their way to becoming established professional poets in the Canadian literary community. We are excited to be taking this opportunity to showcase the work of…

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Review: Insomnia Bird by Kelly Shepherd & Fox Haunts by Penn Kemp

Insomnia Bird by Kelly Shepherd Thistledown Press | 2018 | 112 Page | $20.00 | Purchase online Fox Haunts by Penn Kemp Aeolus House | 2018 | 98 Page | $20.00 | Purchase online Review by Alice Major In two recent collections, urban wildlife becomes a context for poets exploring the relationship of human and…

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Poetry in Union 2019: Railway Lines and Valentines

A bearded man faces a woman; they are sitting on the same side of a table that has a lamp and flowers.

The League of Canadian Poets and Toronto’s Union Station are excited to present Poetry in Union: Railway Lines and Valentines, a public art experience.

At this event, seven of Toronto’s strongest, most diverse and most talented poets provided personalized poetry on request to reflect participants’ own experiences and stories. This was a unique opportunity to interact directly with an artist to create a romantic valentine’s gift, celebrate a friend, experience, or key moment.

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Review: Shards of Crystal | By Fern G. Z. Carr

Silver Bow Publishing | 2018 | 98 Page | $23.95 | Purchase online The Musicality of Stars: Shards of Crystal Reviewed by Cynthia Sharp. Originally published on Canadian Poetry Review’s Facebook page. I’ve been a fan of Fern G. Z. Carr’s work for years, whether it’s orbiting Mars or in literary journals through the globe.…

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Review: Practical Anxiety | By Heidi Greco

Inanna Publications | 2018 | 104 Page| $18.95 | Purchase online Double the Pleasure: Heidi Greco’s Practical Anxiety Review by Susan Ioannou When Inanna Publications announced Heidi Greco’s newest collection Practical Anxiety, it blurbed that the poems “dwell in the hearth of domesticity.” I was intrigued by the title, especially if the poems might relate…

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Review: Checking In | By Adeena Karasick

Talonbooks | 2018 | 96 Page | $16.95 | Purchase online  Reviewed by Jake Marmer for Tablet Poetry, at its core, is a mystical endeavor: an encounter with the web of language that holds our consciousness. This is true even if the poem, on the surface, seems like a series of puns about Facebook, the…

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