2016
REVIEW: LOOK AT HER | BY VANESSA SHIELDS
Black Moss Press | 106 pages | October 2016 | Purchase online Review by Ronnie R. Brown — In this, Shields’s second collection of poetry (she has also written a memoir and edited an anthology), the focus is solidly on women. It is Shields’ aim to examine, explain and investigate the female of the species…
Read MoreCHAPBOOK REVIEW: BRIAN PURDY'S BLACK INK: PORTRAITS
April 2016 | Big Pond Rumours | 24 pages review by Bianca Lakoseljac — Brian Purdy’s Black Ink: Portraits is an eclectic collection of whimsical poems, each composition a moment in life. The poem “Goddess Sculpture, Greek, circa 540 BC” is a stirring contemplation of the liaison between the artist and the woman who inspired…
Read MoreREVIEW: A HOUSECOAT REMAINS | BY TINA BIELLO
Guernica Editions | 106 pages | Fall 2015 | $20.00 | Purchase online Review by Vanessa Shields — What happens to a family when aging and disease become its main storyline? In an attempt to keep the heart and mind connected, memories become medicine and hope sews them together. Tina Biello’s A Housecoat Remains is the quilted result…
Read MoreREVIEW: WAITING ROOM | BY JENNIFER ZILM
BookThug | 104 pages | April 2016 | $18.00 | Purchase online Review by rob mclennan, originally published in the Small Press Book Review — MUSE IN AUGUST Her muse for poetry is an old woman. She declares this on an island in the wilderness—it doesn’t matter where as long as it’s either Ontario or Québec. She says…
Read MoreREVIEW: TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER | BY RAOUL FERNANDES
Nightwood Editions | 96 pages | March 2015 | $18.95 | Purchase online Review by Clay Everest — Raoul Fernandes’s debut collection Transmitter and Receiver by Nightwood Editions is an amazing collection that explores intimacy and interconnectedness. The poems are fragments, bits that are collected and re-purposed by Fernandes, like the friend from the poem “Mixtape” who…
Read MoreREVIEW: OBSERVING THE MOON | BY SNEHA MADHAVAN-REESE
Hagios Press | 88 pages | November 2015 | $17.95 | Purchase online Review by Ayaz Pirani — In Observing the Moon Sneha Madhavan-Reese offers plain-speech poems unruffled by pretence. Gratuitous poetic moves are at a minimum in this tender, accessible book that keeps getting warmer in your hands. The first stanza of the four-part title poem displays…
Read MoreREVIEW: A JAR OF FIREFLIES | BY JOSIE DI SCIASCIO-ANDREWS
Mosaic Press | 108 pages | September 2015 | $15.95 | Purchase online Review by Debbie Okun Hill, originally published in Verse Afire and on Debbie Okun Hill’s blog. — Canadian poet Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews collects memories like she collects sea glass along the shore. It’s her quiet polishing of word gems that first drew me to…
Read MoreREVIEW: A MORE PERFECT [ | BY JIMMY MCINNES
BookThug | 124 pages | April 2015 | $18.00 | Purchase online Review by William Kemp, originally published in issue 7 of (parenthetical). — Jimmy McInnes’s A More Perfect [ is the type of book of poetry that I’m secretly jealous of. It’s the type of book of poetry I wish I could write, but fear…
Read More2016 Book Awards: Winners
The League of Canadian Poets is proud to present the 2016 Book Awards Winners, including the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Raymond Souster Award. Learn more about the 2016 awards and celebrate the poetry of 2015: Congratulations to the winners, shortlisters, longlisters and publishers! 2016 GERALD LAMPERT MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER Awarded annually…
Read MoreTHAT’S A WRAP: NPM16
It feels like we woke up yesterday and National Poetry Month was just beginning, but somehow it’s May tomorrow and we have to wrap up our celebrations. We’ve had such a great month celebrating poetry, both online and in events across Canada, and seeing what other organizations orchestrated for our favourite month! We’ve definitely missed…
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