I now have an opportunity to get more American eyes on Canadian poetry. Hooray! The first instalment of my review roundup running every 3 months appears today here. And it’s on the front page!
An incredible week. While home in New Brunswick, teaching medical educators how to foster learning amongst non-neurotypical learners, I received TWO notices of inclusion in the Best Canadian Series: poetry, for “How to lose the audience” originally published in The Malahat Review, & essay, for “Diagnosis Day” from The Fiddlehead. Both of these pieces concern difference, and it was a spiritual experience to read “How to lose the audience” to the assembled physician audience in the Miramichi. My thanks to Rowan McCandless and the ‘hat’s editorial board for selecting my work, and to the team at Biblioasis for keeping the ‘best’ series going.
May 31, Toronto, 8 pm, at Society Clubhouse, Wheelchair accessible.
Over 20 first year students in attendance, which is over 2/3 of this year’s class! Wow, and only made possible by our very inclusive dean. Below, the magical pizza that (look carefully!) is steaming out its goodness:
Interviewed in The Malahat Review concerning the lyric essay “Chasing Goffman” published in the current issue. My thanks to Kevin Macdonell and L’Amour! If you’re interested in pre-ordering the Palimpsest Press book of lyric essays that “Chasing Goffman” appears in, click here or use the WordPress method to contact me.
My new book of lyric nonfiction about a topic not yet explored in CanLit – non-neurotypical fatherhood of a non-neurotypical child – is now available for preorder from Palimpsest Press. Do click on this link to preorder!
Friends: I am one of three judges for the International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine. The prize has three streams, one for health providers, another for, let’s say, ‘regular’ people (poets like you!), and another for those under 18. If you are a health care person, or if you are a poet, consider submitting! Details are here. First prize in both the ‘open’ and health care categories is £1000. DEADLINE FEB 14! Last year a Canadian physician, Tamar Rubin, achieved third prize in the physician category. I happen to have read hordes of great poems by many Canadian poets that are health-themed over the years, and for their part, Canadian physician-poets are a bizarrely strong cohort in comparison to, say, America and the UK. We punch above our weight! Let’s go! Please spread the word, do submit.
Do consider supporting Pinhole Poetry by preordering their Fall Poetry Bundle (https://pinholepoetry.ca/shop-for-poetry-chapbooks/). I have a new chapbook – The Book of Names – coming out soon! Poets, Erin is lovely to work with.
I have a new article out in Image on Spencer Reese. Willard (an intellectually disabled man left behind in the expropriated land that would become CFB Gagetown), a character from my upcoming book The Reign with Goose Lane Editions , would say MOOOOOOON. How did they know – Appalachians, moon? My thanks to Nick Ripatrazone – check out his The Habit of Poetry, it rules, I learned so much.
Hello Fredericton friends & family, I hope to see you at Poetry Weekend this year, held at Memorial Hall UNB. Things kick off Friday w/ an event 7 pm. On both Saturday & Sunday there are poetry sets at 11 am, 2 pm, and 8 pm. I’m reading Friday 7 pm and Sunday 11 am. Do consider coming out to this historically important event that draws poets from all over the Maritimes & beyond; and consider saying Thank You or Way to Go or We Love Poetry Weekend to Ross Leckie, organizer. The festival would not have worked or lasted if it wasn’t somehow in alignment with spirit. That spirit is built upon the mighty legacy of Goose Lane Editions, the efflorescence of Fiddlehead Poetry Books. I love the fact that my home has such an incredible record of service and substance in Canadian poetry.
Shane Neilson 