the culture mill

2011-12-03T17:55:00.001-08:00

2011-11-17T15:32:00.001-08:00

2011-11-06T10:59:00.001-08:00

Jake Kennedy is a poet, prose writer, andteacher. His work has appeared in a number of literary journals andanthologies. His chapbook, Hazard, is published by BookThug. Jake currently teaches in theEnglish Department at Okanagan College.

Winner of the 2010 Robert KroetschAward for Innovative Poetry, The Lateral is a highly original and experimental book from animble poetic mind. It includes an elegiac found-long-poem that gathers all the“Acker” keyword tags from the Flickr database and reapplies them aswords-of-lament for the revolutionary artist-writer Kathy Acker (1947-97), aseries of prose-poem-ruminations that contemplate the optimal conditions forthe poetry, and a section of poems that can only be described as the vulgar,unkempt cousin of Hugh Prather’s Notes to Myself.

“Not only does Acker’s legacy leadKennedy to produce more writing (art begets art, of course), but, aftertraversing through this landscape of visual imagery, his words lead the readerback to the real world.” — Broken Pencil

kevin mcpherson eckhoff’s visual poetry has appeared in the anthology BoredomFighters (Tightrope Books) and insuch magazines as dandelion and filling Station. A winner of the ShauntBasmajian Chapbook Award, he studied English literature at the University ofCalgary. He recently traded his life for a house in Armstrong, BritishColumbia, and a job teaching literature at Okanagan College.

Reading is slow, andwriting is slower. Words are old-fashioned. Why not consider the communicationof the future? In 1837, Sir Isaac Pitman began a sixty-year obsession withproducing a system of Shorthand that accurately and swiftly captures voice asevidence of the mind’s movements. In the 1950s, John Malone developed Unifon, aforty-character phonetic alphabet intended for international communication bythe airline industry. Both projects reached for artful utility, and both havelargely been forgotten.

In Rhapsodomancy, kevin mcpherson eckhoff remembers them. Exploringthese two phonic alphabets as image, these poems playfully interrogate therelationship between voice and visual poetry. Can pictures represent voice? Canunutterable writing express thought? Rhapsodomancy offers an imaginativeresponse to such questions via empty suits reciting onomatopoeia, lettersdefying the laws of reality, and drawings divining the future.

2011-09-08T14:26:00.001-07:00

2011-09-08T14:24:00.001-07:00

subTerrain

Call for Submissions – Prince George Spotlight Folio

Hello UNBC/Prince George! We’re looking for your creative written work – poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction. The winter issue of subTerrain will feature a Prince George Spotlight Folio featuring five pieces by UNBC/Prince George writers.

Authors of work selected for inclusion in the issue will receive paid publication (in print and online), be invited to take part in a reading event in Prince George. As well, they will receive 5 copies of the issue plus a one-year subscription to subTerrain.

How it works: Send your submissions, hard copy to:

Prince George Spotlight Folio (subTerrain) c/o Dr. Rob Budde University of Northern British Columbia 3333 University Way

Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9

(For hard copy submissions, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like your submission returned. All submissions not accompanied by a SASE will not be returned.)

When to Act: Now! Submissions will be accepted until Sept 30th, 2011. (postmark deadline) Guidelines: Submissions should be:

1. typed, double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11 paper 2. Fiction: a maximum of 3,000 words (2,000 or so is best for us) 3. Poetry: maximum 50 lines (including stanza breaks) 4. Creative Non-Fiction: a maximum of 4,000 words

For more info about subTerrain, check out www.subterrain.ca. You can also find us on Twitter & Facebook.

subTerrain gratefully acknowledges the BC Arts Council for their support of this project. Part II of our Regional Spotlight Portfolios will feature UBC Okanagan/Kelowna writers.

– PLEASE POST –

Strong Words for a Polite Nation. subTerrain charts the literary topography revealing some of the most talented and progressive writers on the Canadian scene. Readers have praised subTerrain for its willingness to publish “outlaw literature”— unconventional and progressive writing.

2011-09-08T14:23:00.001-07:00

Review of Belford's Decompositions by Camille Martin

2011-07-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Posted here.

2011-06-13T09:36:00.001-07:00

Adam Pottle, Thursday, June 23 at 7:00 pm, at Books & Company, Prince George Launch of Beautiful Mutants. In this jarring collection, Adam Pottle cracks open the world of disability, illuminating it with an idiom that is both unsettling and exhilarating. His subjects are gritty and multifarious: amputee sex swingers; drug-related shootings; institutionalized adolescents coerced into sterilization. Difficult as their circumstances may seem, Pottle's denizens learn to navigate the world with creative resolve, even defiance, searching for an identity that includes their disabilities rather than spites them. His poems scrape our nerves; they test and undermine poetic forms, challenging our own sensibilities in the process. Adam Pottle is a poet and academic who grew up in Prince George. He now lives in Saskatoon, SK.

2011-05-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

"What I am trying to do in my own writing is to produce an experience of language as a social material, evoking, in the process, material facts about language and rhythms within language that each of us knows as well as our own breath or the thud of our heart or the viscosity of our saliva. Such writing is often accused of being obscure, difficult, inaccessible, but this may be because preconceptions about what poetry should be like block out the very real experiences possible with language not tethered to stylistic conventions." -- Charles Bernstein

Raise-a-Reader Writers’ Camp – July 21-24, 2011

2011-05-17T10:51:00.001-07:00

Call for Workshop Proposals

Sponsored by UNBC and The Prince George Citizen

The RAR Writing Camp organizers are looking for workshop proposals from local writers, educators, and/or cultural workers. The workshops should be 1 – 3 hours but can consist of any number of activities, presentations, and interactions. The facilitator will be responsible for presenting the workshop twice, guiding two groups of 16 students, ages 15-18. The workshop should be writing-related but might involve a reading, workshopping student work, visual art, publishing, editing, genre discussion, field trips, performance, drama, tv/film, music, storytelling, collaboration, etc. No follow up contact with student will be required. The students attending the camp will be chosen during a region-wide contest. The camp will be held at the UNBC campus where there will be readings, films and other activities throughout the 3-day event.

The organizers will evaluate proposals on the basis of their content, organization, and fit with the camp as a whole. In your proposal please provide a brief bio and/or c.v. describing your training and background, a one-page outline of your proposed workshop, its goals and methods, and complete contact information.

Raise-a-Reader and its sponsors will pay $250 to each participating facilitator.

The deadline for submission is June 18, 2010.

For more information, please contact Rob Budde at rbudde@unbc.ca or 250-960-6693.

Send proposals, via email or standard mail, to:

Dr. Rob Budde

English Program UNBC

3333 University Way

Prince George BC V2N 4Z9

rbudde@unbc.ca

250-960-6693

2011-05-04T21:42:00.001-07:00

Dead Salmon Dialectics by Derrick Stacey Denholm

2011-04-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

Winner of the 2011 Barry McKinnon Chapbook Award

From the inside cover:

This long poem is a sophisticated, complex, and intensely knowledgeable representation of systems of language, ecology, and philosophy as it flows through the North Coast.

Barry McKinnon Chapbook Prize

2011-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all who submitted chapbooks for this year's Barry McKinnon Chapbook Awards! A testament to the vitality of our writing community!

Kael Walske, A Small City Dies
Kael Walske, An Affectionate Reality
Paul Strickland, Realism Versus Fair Play
K Darcy Ingram, Blunt Force
K Darcy Ingram, Red and Blue Striped Shirt
(Runner Up) Irene Fyvie, Convenience Store Pond
Alex Buck, Lead Balloon
Rachelle Durand, Hysteria
(2011 Winner!) Derrick Denholm, Dead Salmon Dialectics
Tyler Crick, This Author is Not Dead
Oriana Wesley, Letters from a Foreign Land
Nicole Moorehead, Exposure
Laine Bourassa, In an Apartment
Robyn Klassen, Inflection
Matt Partyka, Poems, 2010-211
Kelsey Livingstone, A Look Inside
Garett Svensen, Vivisections
KT Hawes, Good Social Animals
Andreea Mihis, Love is Falling
Trudi Verbaan-Versteeg, Peeling Back the Layers
Jenny Simpson, Caffeine Revolution
Hilary Crowley, A Summit Lake Winter

Thank you to Graham Pearce for hosting the event.

Ctrl - Z

2011-04-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ctrl - Z represents a cross-section of work done by the ENGL304 - Digital Art class held for the first time this past winter. Students were introduced to aspects of graphic design and illustration and asked to employ these principles to make 2D print art (i.e. not time-based or interactive art). The works were primarily created in either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or a combination of both.

On top of having to learn the digital architecture of these programs students were given further formal restrictions pertaining to each assignment: line, shape and colour (no free-form lines) for assignment 1 and text with/or not with shape and/or colour and/or line (again, no free-form lines) for assignment 2. For the final assignment they were asked to have a drawn/scanned or photographic element in combination with text, shape, colour and line (free-form permitted this time) to render their concept or idea.

The problem to be resolved here is that graphic design more times than not brings the form and content (the expression, the message) to the viewer, it is direct, quick and almost percussive in its effect. Art, on the other hand often asks the viewer to come to it, to be immersed and engaged, by being more subtle. So I have asked the students to try and make art by using design elements, parameters and digital design programs. This is parallel to asking for a musical ballad on a digital synthesizer switched to the drum module.

The works are by:

Andrea Fredeen, Dandan Lan, Gloria St.John, Gwynne Bilski, Jae Waller, Jan McEachen,

Jeremy Johnson, Jinyuan Hao, Joanna Smythe, Josh Shortt, Lakeysha O’Neill, Miranda Marcotte,

Yuqing Xu, Yusuke Harato.

The show runs April 11 - 30th, 2011 with a closing reception on Thursday the 28th at 7pm.

2011-04-01T21:18:00.001-07:00

BC Book Prizes On Tour

2011-03-29T12:38:00.001-07:00

BC Book Prize finalists are On Tour around Northern BC with FREE public readings at bookstores and libraries.

Authors touring Northern British Columbia are:

•    Stephen Collis, On the Material, shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
•    Gary Kent, Fishing with Gubby, shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award
•    Gina McMurchy-Barber, Free as a Bird, shortlisted for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

BC book lovers are invited to meet these award-nominated authors and purchase signed books at these free public events:

Northern Tour

Thursday, April 7 | TERRACE
7:00 pm | Terrace Public Library | 4610 Park Avenue

Friday, April 8 | PRINCE RUPERT
7:00 pm | Museum of Northern BC | 100-1 Avenue West

Saturday, April 9 | PRINCE GEORGE
6:00 pm | Books & Company | 1685-3rd Avenue

Monday, April 11 | QUESNEL
6:30 pm | CRD Library, Quesnel Branch | 101-410 Kinchant Street

Tuesday, April 12 | SMITHERS
7:00 pm | Smithers Public Library | 3817 Alfred Avenue

Wednesday, April 13 | KITIMAT
7:00 pm | Kitimat Public Library | 940 Wakashan Avenue

Ken Belford's Decompositions short-listed for the 2011 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

2011-03-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Upcoming readings/events:

2011-03-07T16:23:00.001-08:00

Thursday March 10

Caroline Adderson, novelist & short story writer

11:30 – 1:00 UNBC Rm 7-212

Monday March 14

Michael V. Smith, poet, novelist, and film-maker

8:00 UNBC Rm 7-158

Monday March 21

Tim Lilburn (ecopoet) and Sarah deLeeuw (PG poet, fiction and nonfiction writer)

7:30 UNBC Rm 7-158

Monday April 4

Nikki Reimer, poet

8:00 UNBC Rm 7-158

Fabulous set of readings

2011-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kelly Writers House, Philadelphia

Link: North of Invention: A Canadian Poetry Festival

Al Rempel's Poem in Transit

2011-03-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

See the poem here.

Poetry Award Shortlist

2011-03-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Cheers! PG poet Jeremy Stewart has been nominated (for the second time) for the The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry.

2011-02-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

2011-02-19T11:00:00.001-08:00

2011-02-13T23:48:00.001-08:00

2011-01-30T10:12:00.001-08:00

2011-01-16T18:01:00.001-08:00

2010-12-07T12:17:00.001-08:00

Cooley / McKinnon

2010-11-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

“Harvested from the prairies, Cooley's writing fiddles with forms, swerves among the vernacular, the comical, the meditative, the linguistic, and the personal. His work exudes a strong commitment to local and contemporary understandings of writing and a continued experimentation with his postmodernist leanings.”

Dennis Cooley-------------

---------------Barry McKinnon

8:00 pm Monday November 22, 2010 UNBC Room 5-184

Dennis Cooley taught in the English Department at the University of Manitoba. He has been active in prairie literature as teacher, editor, anthologist, publisher, critic, theses advisor, theorist, and as teacher of Canadian poetry. Cooley has published over 20 titles. A collection of critical material, The Vernacular Muse, considers in two of its essays the role of eye and ear in Canadian poetry.

Barry McKinnon was born in Calgary in 1944. After completing a masters at the University of British Columbia in 1969, he accepted a teaching position in the English department at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, where he taught until his retirement in 2006.__The author of eight poetry books and thirteen chapbooks, McKinnon was awarded the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Award for Pulp Log in 1991 and was shortlisted for a Governor-General's Award for The the in 1982. He publishes, designs and edits chapbooks for Gorse Press.

Enpipe Line - Communique 1

2010-11-03T14:23:00.001-07:00

Participate in Christine Leclerc's communal poetic response to the proposed Enbridge Pipeline. Go here for more information.

2010-10-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

2010-10-27T18:53:00.003-07:00

2010-10-27T18:53:00.001-07:00

2010-10-12T16:20:00.001-07:00

Jay MillAr Readings

2010-09-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

Jay MillAr is a Toronto poet, editor, publisher, and virtual bookseller. He is the author of False Maps for Other Creatures (2005), Mycological Studies (2002), and The Ghosts of Jay MillAr (2000). His most recent collection is the small blue (Fall 2007). In 2006 he published Double Helix, a collaborative "novel" written with Stephen Cain. Millar is the shadowy figure behind BookThug, an independent publishing house dedicated to cutting edge work by well-known and emerging North American writers, as well as Apollinaire's Bookshoppe, a virtual bookstore that specializes in the books that no one wants to buy. A long-time fixture of the Toronto writing and publishing scene, Jay has participated in such diverse projects as the UNBC/Via Rail Poetry Train, The Scream in High Park, Test Readings Series and Influency: A Poetry Salon. He is also the co-editor (with Mark Truscott) of BafterC, a small magazine of contemporary writing. Currently Jay teaches creative writing at George Brown College. Singled out in the introduction of The New Canon as a 'young firebrand' (which he reads as 'troublemaker') working against what people hold dear to the Canadian poetic tradition, Jay is one of Canada's voices of authority and risk on innovative, experimental, contemporary poetry.

Friday, October 1

1:00 pm UNBC 5-175

and

7:30 pm CNC 1-306

2010-08-24T22:36:00.001-07:00

2010-08-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Unfurled: Collected Poetry from Northern BC Women, forthcoming September 2010.

2010-08-10T22:36:00.001-07:00

See Josh Massey's new Blockbuster Poem series on The Tyee.

2010-08-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Nicely designed online mag called Branch.

2010-07-28T21:26:00.001-07:00

New Vancouver litmag Poetry is Dead.

2010-07-23T21:22:00.001-07:00

Video clips of Ken Belford and other Talon readers.

Dusie

2010-06-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

A new collection of Canadian poetry posted on the Swiss poetry website Dusie including work by derek beaulieu, George Bowering, Rob Budde, Emily Carr, Barry McKinnon, rob mclennan, Monty Reid, and Natalie Simpson.

2010-06-01T20:23:00.001-07:00

Dreamland is a magazine of writing from elsewhere—you can’t quite place it. Dreamland publishes poetry and prose (fictional and otherwise). It is based in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, once the location of the now long-defunct Dreamland Theatre for which the magazine is named. Dreamland is edited by Jeremy Stewart, Rob Budde, and Carly Stewart.

Dreamland is seeking writing for its first issue. Dreamland accepts poetry and prose. Send up to six poems or one prose piece (within a limit of 5000 words). Dreamland likes challenging, creative work in any form (or multiple forms); documentation of neglected arts scenes, writers, etc.; things we don’t expect. Dreamland welcomes visual art, but please query first. Be sure to include your name, address, and email address with anything you send to Dreamland. Upon publication, payment will be one copy of the print magazine with additional copies available at an author’s discount. For more information go to Dreamland. Send your best work to dreamlandeditor.

2010-05-20T12:17:00.001-07:00

Click here for larger image.

2010-05-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Click to see larger image

2010-05-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ekphrastic!

2010-04-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Gillian Wigmore is the winner of Lemon Hound's Ekphrastic Poem Context. See her poem and details here.

2010-04-22T21:11:00.001-07:00

21st ANNUAL LITERARY WRITES COMPETITION

2010-04-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Federation of BC Writers

Category:        Creative Non-fiction
Deadline:        July 25, 2010
Judges:           Anthony Dalton, author & Canadian Authors Assoc. National President
Sylvia Taylor, author & Executive Director, Federation of BC Writers

First Prize: $500, Fed workshop of your choice,publication in WordWorks
Second Prize: $300, publication in WordWorks
Third Prize: $150, publication in WordWorks
Winners will be read their pieces at the Word On The Street Festival in Vancouver on September 26, 2010.
The competition is open to all BC writers and residents.
Entries must be original work, not previously published in any form. Copyright remains with the author.
Maximum 2,000 words per entry. No limit to number of entries.
Blind judging in effect: do not include your name on the manuscript.
Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, 12 font, Times New Roman, pages numbered consecutively and stapled together, title in the footer of each page.
Include a cover letter with your name, address, telephone, e-mail and the title of your piece(s).
Manuscripts will NOT be returned; they are destroyed at the end of the competition.
No e-mail submissions.
Contest results posted on The Federation of BC writers website in September 2010.
Entry fee: $15 for Federation members and $20 for non-members. There is no limit to the number of entries an individual may submit but each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee. A person may win only one prize.
Make cheque payable to The Federation of BC Writers.
All contest entries must be postmarked by July 25, 2010

Mail Entries & fees to:
Literary Writes 2010
The Federation of BC Writers
PO Box 3887, Stn Terminal
Vancouver, BC V6B 3Z3

2010-04-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

2010-04-07T08:12:00.001-07:00

2010-04-01T20:51:00.001-07:00

The 2010 Pat Lowther Award Shortlist:

2010-04-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is given for a book of poetry by a Canadian woman published in the preceding year, and is in memory of the late Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

Elizabeth Bachinsky for God of Missed Connections (Nightwood Editions)
Ronna Bloom for Permiso (Pedlar Press)
Sina Queyras for Expressway (Coach House Books)
Damian Rogers for Paper Radio (ECW Press, a misFit book)
Laisha Rosnau for Lousy Explorers (Nightwood Editions)
Karen Solie for Pigeon (House of Anansi Press)

2010 Pat Lowther Award Jury: Gloe Cormie, Maureen Hynes and Rhea Tregebov

Chapbook Award reminder--deadline April 2!

2010-03-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Reminder: Deadline April 1!

2010-03-28T20:44:00.001-07:00

Upcoming Readings/Talks

2010-03-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Three UNBC/CNC literary events coming soon:

Denise Chong –
Monday, March 22, 2010 –
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
in the Bentley Centre room 7-172

Denise Chong’s new book, Egg on Mao, a story of human rights in China, examines the life and fate of a bus mechanic who defaced the iconic portrait that overlooks Tiananmen Square during the protests in 1989. Acclaimed for her ability to weave personal stories into their complex social context, she is best known for the Canadian classic, The Concubine’s Children, a story of her family divided between China and Canada, one of the first book-length narratives about life in the Chinatowns of Canada. Denise’s next book, The Girl in the Picture was a tale about the napalm girl, one of the most famous casualties of the Vietnam War, about the war itself and the war-torn country.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Prince George, Denise began her working life in the federal Finance department, going on to serve as senior economic advisor in the office of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In 2001, UNBC awarded Denise an honorary doctorate. She lives in Ottawa.

Hiromi Goto –
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 –
1:00 – 2:20 pm
in AGO 7-158
(Meet and Greet with the author will be held for students, faculty and interested individuals from 12:00 – 1:00 pm in ADMIN 3026)

Born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, her family emigrated to Canada in 1969, settling in British Columbia. She studied at the University of Calgary and now lives in Burnaby, British Columbia. Goto's first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms, won a 1995 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was co-winner of the 1996 Canada-Japan Book Award. Her novel The Kappa Child won the Tiptree Award for gender-bending science fiction. Her other books include The Water of Possibility, for young adults, and Hopeful Monsters, short fiction. Hiromi's latest novel, Half World is an adventurous, genre-bending fantasy of shape-shifting characters, tortured half lives, and redemption.

Sabine Bitter & Jeff Derksen –
Friday, March 26, 2010 –
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
in AGO 7-158

Sabina Bitter has collaborated with Helmut Weber on projects dealing with architecture as a frame for spatial meaning which are at the interface of architecture, new media technologies, and systems of representation. Educated at University for Applied Arts in Linz with Laurids Ortner, their artistic works focus on emergent sites and overlaps of architecture, urban developments, communications systems and modes of artistic and cultural production as they are mediated through photography, video and new media technologies.

Recently the three (Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, Helmut Weber) formed Urban Subjects as a cultural collective with the goal of researching and developing artistic projects focusing on urban issues. "Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade" is edited by Urban Subjects.

&

Jeff Derksen with Barry McKinnon -
Friday, March 26, 2010 -
7:30
in 1-306 CNC

Jeff Derksen is a poet and author of several books including Down Time, Dwell, and Transnational Muscle Cars. He works with an interdisciplinary view of culture and globalization in the 20th century. It deals with the relationship of cultural production (what Raymond Williams called "creative practices") and the nexus of social, political, economic and cultural forces that constitute globalization. His areas of special interest are national cultures and the role of the state in the era of globalization; cultural imperialism and the politics of aesthetics; the poetry and poetics of globalized cities; the emergent global cultural front (in a general cultural context and in avant-gardes); culture and gentrification in global-urban spaces; architecture and urbanism; cultural poetics, cultural studies, & cultural geography.

All events are free and open to the public. Reading sponsors include the Canada Council for the Arts, the UNBC Arts Council, the UNBC/ECU Bachelor of Fine Arts Program, and CNC.

Yinka Dene

2010-03-09T23:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a great rich site about Dakelh language and culture.

Kennedy Wins! Kennedy Wins!

2010-03-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

"Snare Books is pleased to announce that Jake Kennedy, of Kelowna BC, is the winner of the 2010 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. Kennedy’s collection of poems entitled The Lateral will be published with Snare Books in the fall of 2010. This year’s judge was Sina Queyras."

In the Land of the Head Hunters

2010-03-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Taras Polataiko

Prince George Premier Screening
(HD Video 24:52 min 2008)

Thursday, March 11, 2010
11:30 am
UNBC Room 7-150

In the Land of the Head Hunters (2008) documents a screening of Edward Curtis’s eponymous film for the descendants of the cast on the Kwakiutl reserve in the north of Vancouver Island.

• • •

Conceptual artist Taras Polataiko has consistently addressed political history and memory. Polataiko has exhibited world-wide, including Sao Paulo Biennale (Brazil), Korean Biennale (South Korea), Antoni Tapies Foundation (Spain), Volta 5 (Switzerland) and Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal. He taught art at the University of Saskatchewan and lectured at the U of T, UBC, ECUAD, OCAD, U of Vic, U of Calgary, U of S, Trent University, U of Manitoba, and U of Newcastle (Australia). He is represented by Priska C. Juschka Fine Art (New York), Galerie U7 (Frankfurt), and Barbara Edwards
Contemporary (Toronto).

In(ter)ventions: Literary Practice At The Edge: A Gathering

2010-02-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

February 18, 2010 - February 21, 2010

Prince George Report

Ken Belford and I drove down to this conference at the Banff Center for the Arts. We were headed to Calgary for readings at Mount Royal University and Pages in Kensington and happened to hear about this conference so decided to take it in.

The roads were amazingly clear so driving was easy and chatting with Ken, about everything from types of rivers to poetry composition to cooking techniques, is always a privilege and treat.

The conference’s mission was to “create a context for the demonstration and discussion of cutting-edge literary practice. In a mixture of panels, papers, readings, performances, and more, participants will explore digital literature, interactivity, collaboration, cross-disciplinary work, formal innovation, ‘uncreative’ writing, new modes of dissemination, and literary pedagogy.” It accomplished this in all sorts of ways. I did not connect with all the readings/presentations but could appreciate what many folks were up to. The conference risked becoming a “Boys with Toys” conference with a lack of social engagement. It was disappointing that the conference did not recognize or acknowledge the Nakota-Stoney First Nation and the gathering was very Caucasian by any measure. I do not think this is an accurate reflection of post-avant writing in Canada and the United States. But the work was astounding: from Nick Montford's "ppg" poem producing programs, to Christian Bok's DNA coded poem in a apocalypse-resistant virus, to Jen Bervin's stitch and weaving poetry, to Adeena Karasick's irrepressible and irreverent "I Got a Crush on Osama" video that had the American poets flustered (after she played it, Nick Montford gasped "Holy cow!").

Highlights of the conference were readings by Erin Mouré reading from her new book 0 Resplandor,

Larissa Lai reading from Automoton Biographies,

Fred Wah reading from Sentenced to Light,

Wah has a new website with many of his books free in digital format.

Jake Kennedy and his best friend K-Mac talking about their community novel project Death Valley,

and Charles Bernstein reading from his forthcoming book All the Whiskey in Heaven.

Bernstein’s reading was one of the best I have been to in years. He began with a raucous wry reading of “Thank You for Saying Thank You” and ended with the tear-jerking “All the Whiskey in Heaven,” a poem for his daughter Emma Bee Bernstein who passed away last year.

Ken and I went on to read in Calgary. Only challenge: two vegetarian poets on the streets of Calgary on a Sunday night! Luckily we found a magical shisha bar with fabulous fattoush!

Local artist Phil Morrison and his creative headspace

2010-02-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

Post North II : For Science

2010-01-22T00:10:00.000-08:00

McKinnon / Thompson Launch

2010-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

Coldsnap: The Prince George Winter Music Festival

2010-01-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

FRIDAY, JAN 22

THE RAMADA HOTEL

DELHI 2 DUBLIN

With special guests: Prince George’s Out of Alba

SATURDAY, JAN 23

THE RAMADA HOTEL

THE LEE BOYS

With the Freedom Singers Choir from Prince George, British Columbia and special guest Maureen Washington from Victoria, British Columbia. ( Formerly of Prince George )

.

SUNDAY, JAN 24

THE PRINCE GEORGE PLAYHOUSE

JOEL PLASKETT

With special guest: Hanna Georgas

Monday, Jan 25th
ArtSpace @ 8pm
“FOLK FUSION” ~ Admission by Donation

Rose Wood & The Thorns
Dawn Boudreau
Clann Cara
Eric Tompkins & Neda Jelali
Stamo!
Maureen Washington

Tuesday, Jan 26th
ArtSpace @ 8pm – Admission by donation
“TEACHERS AND STUDENTS” ~ Admission by Donation

Ray Bourque
Benedict Beattie & his Delightful Gang
Kevin Hutchings
Mike Footit
22-9
The Exit Glow
Concerns of Royalty

Wednesday, Jan 27th,
Artspace @ 8pm
“MOTLEY CREW” ~ Admission by Donation

Chris Camilli
John Rogers
Out of Alba
Shae Morin
The Lee-Wai Yu Band
Jeremy Stewart and Erin Arding
The 3 Amigos

THURSDAY, JAN 28
ART SPACE
.

DALA

MARTYN JOSEPH

FRIDAY, JAN 29 @ THE RAMADA HOTEL

MAURICE
NDIDI ONUKWULU
THE RED STICK RAMBLERS

SATURDAY, JAN 30

THE PRINCE GEORGE PLAYHOUSE

.
THE GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS

Special guest: The Liz Beattie Band

.

The Lasting Page

2010-01-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

Distinguished Canadian poet P.K. Page has passed away.

P.K. Page biography and links.

Bannock, Borscht and Sushi

2010-01-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

Dr. Marilyn Iwama will be giving a presentation on the cultural significance of food next week at ArtSpace above Books and Company in Prince George. The presentation, entitled

Bannock, Borscht and Sushi: Do These Genes Make Me Look White?

explores the relationship between food and identity, and the ways in which deciding what goes on the dinner table is being used as a means to define Canadians. She will also be looking at food as a cultural flashpoint and stabilizer. The talk is part of UNBC’s “Anthropology in our Backyards” lecture series.

“In the Canada of 2010, grocery chains stock kim chee and naan next to the perogies and chorizo. We also attend boundary-blurring festivals, such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy Day,” says Dr. Iwama, who has a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. “Claiming and recognizing ‘our’ food is becoming harder and harder. What havoc have immigration, intermarriage and intercultural adoption wreaked in the kitchen - and does it matter?”

“In an increasingly diverse society with families piecing together various culinary and cultural traditions, deciding what will be served has become increasingly daunting,” says Dr. Iwama. “I suggest that Canadians are not only dining out on our changing society, we are also counting on food to define it.”

Dr. Marilyn Iwama was born in Nipawin, Saskatchewan of Cree, Saulteaux, Métis and Mennonite descent. She has worked as a registered nurse, lay minister, insurance underwriter, researcher, and poet. She has focused her academic interests on the transformation of culture and the interweaving of Indigenous and Western knowledge. Marilyn and her husband, George Iwama (who is of Okinawan and Japanese descent), have three sons.

See more in this PG Citizen article.

The presentation will be held at

ArtSpace (1685 - 3rd Avenue)
on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 7pm.

It will be open to the public and all are welcome.

issuu

2010-01-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Check out wink books new online portal here.

Canada / UNBC Reads

2009-12-20T00:13:00.000-08:00

Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" which takes place on CBC radio airing the week of March 8 to March 12, 2010. Five prominent advocates defend their choice for the book that they believe all of Canada should read.

Again, this year the Geoffrey R. Weller will be holding its own campaign. Five prominent UNBC personalities have chosen a book that they believe all of the UNBC community should read. Each reviewer will prepare an argument hoping to win you over to their chosen book. A copy of each of these books will be placed on 1 week Reserve in the Library in early January giving you an opportunity to read them for yourself.

Voting will take place throughout the rest of the semester and the UNBC winner will be announced on April 2nd.

Vote for the book that you think all of UNBC should read online or by completing at ballot at the Circulation Desk of the Geoffrey R. Weller Library.

The UNBC Reads Book Choices:

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje (Chosen by Darcy Helkenberg)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Chosen by Tracy Summerville)
The Rider by Tim Krabbe (Chosen by Ian Hartley)
Tyndale's New Testament by William Tyndale
(Chosen by John Young)
Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davis (Chosen by Gohar Ashoughian)

Vote Here!

CBC Canada Reads Campaign

For more information on the CBC Canada Reads Campaign, click here.
The CBC Canada Reads Book Choices and Reviewers

Fall on your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald - Defended by Perdita Felicien
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland - Defended by Roland Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon
Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott - Defended by Simi Sara
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy - Defended by Samantha Nutt
Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner - Defended by Michel Vezina

Poetry Cage Match?

2009-12-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen it yet, this is a debate between Christian Bok and Carmine Starnino about Canadian poetry and the tension between traditional and experimental forms. Two white guys in suits. I dunno. It is kinda sad all around and I think poetry can easily move into more productive, engaged forms of thought.

Polataiko Openings in New York and Toronto

2009-12-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

In New York at 79th St and 5th Ave, in a gorgeous-looking venue, across the street from the Metropolitan Museum:

and in Toronto at Barbara Edwards Contemporary where Taras' film In the Land of the Head Hunters was featured:

Two other pieces were included in the show: a photography series called Human Locomotion and an installation called Kyiv Classical .

2009-10-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Declining America
book launch & reading
Wednesday, December 2
7:30 pm
Nancy O's
1261 3rd Ave

click here for a Declining America reading by Rob Budde

2009-10-14T20:47:00.001-07:00

The 4th Annual UNBC Aboriginal Writers and Storytellers Festival

2009-10-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

This year's festival was the best yet. It was held September 30 - October 3rd at UNBC and other sites in Prince George. This 4th and final festival in the cycle of festivals was called "Calling All Warriors." The purpose was to call out aboriginal men to protect their communities and especially women in the context of so much recent violence against aboriginal women.

Aboriginal authors who came from out of town to the festival were (left to right):

Janet Marie Rogers, Joanne Arnott, Eden Robinson, Richard Van Camp, Cherie Demaline, Neal McLeod, (not pictured) Garry Gottfriedson, and Richard Wagamese.

Once again the festival was a fine mix of performance, storytelling, readings, song, music, and sharing.

Look for next year's festival as we reinvent and restart another cycle of words, nations, and friendship.

Writers on the East Line

2009-10-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

A reading to introduce and appreciate the railway and sawmill communities along the Canadian National Railway line east of Prince George. The line closely follows the upper Fraser River for some 275 kilometers from Prince George to Tete Jaune Cache, British Columbia.

Through the eyes and words of those who have written about this fascinating area, attendees will appreciate the varied views of the physical, historical and cultural landscape. Featured speakers include:

Cecil Giscombe
lives in Berkeley and teaches at the University of California. His poetry books include Two Sections from Practical Geography, Prairie Style, and Giscome Road, among other titles. His memoir, Into and Out of Dislocation, is an account of his search—through central British Columbia—for traces of his “old arrivant” John Robert Giscome, for whom the Giscome Portage was named. His book-in-progress, Railroad Sense, is a poetry and prose work about train metaphors and references.

Kyle Kusch,
through his graduate thesis research and his employment with UNBC's Rural and Small Town Research Programme, has participated in numerous projects regarding the social health and well-being of the East Line communities. He has also conducted numerous oral history interviews for UNBC's Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project. His particular interest is in migration patterns in central British Columbia. An avid map collector and long-distance walker, he continues to reside in his hometown of Nakusp, British Columbia.

Barry McKinnon
lives in Prince George and Tumbler Ridge. He taught for over thirty years at CNC and is publisher of Gorse Press. His many books include I Wanted to Say Something, Sex at Thirty-One, The the, The Centre, and Pulp Log, among others. The the was short-listed for the Governor General's Award; Pulp Log won the Dorothy Livesay Prize. His writing is included in many anthologies, among which is The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse. He is a life-long jazz fan.

Trelle A. Morrow
contributed postmarks to Postscript '90: commemorating 75 years of postal history in the Fraser-Fort George Region (published by the Fraser-Fort George Museum Society in 1990). His new book, Sternwheelers on the Upper Fraser (published by CNC Press) documents the era during which sternwheelers operated on the Fraser. The book is especially concerned with the social contexts of this time (1863-1921) and includes examinations of “resource exploitation, railway development and settlement.” Trelle Morrow is a retired architect; he lives in Prince George.

J. Kent Sedgwick
has researched, written, and published extensively on central British Columbia history and geography. He came to CNC in 1970 to teach geography and then worked, for many years, as a city planner for Prince George, where he continues to live. He is now an Adjunct Professor of Geography at UNBC. His new book, Giscome Chronicle, documents “the rise and demise” of the village of Giscome, one of the key East Line towns. He is one of the founders of the Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project.

Marilyn Wheeler
was born in Britain but came to Canada fifty years ago and now lives in McBride. Her book, The Robson Valley Story: A Century of Dreams, came out in 1979. The book, extensively revised and updated to include new oral histories, was re-published in 2008 and had its launch at the Beanery restaurant in McBride’s still-active railway station. She operates a sheep farm at McBride and has been a justice of the peace and a marriage commissioner and has been active in the field of public health. Marilyn Wheeler’s particular interest is the history of railroads.

Admission: $10 plus tax .Please call (250) 563-7351 to reserve a seat (seating is limited) and/or for more information.

2009-09-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

influencywest

2009-09-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

The KSW and the Downstream Project present: InfluencyWest!

The KSW and the Downstream Project with the support of the Canada Council for the arts are proud to present the InfluencyWest Literary Salon.

This fall we are pleased to offer an exciting lecture and reading series modeled on the highly successful Influency Reading series curated by Margaret Christakos. We share her dedication and enthusiasm for bringing poetry and readers together in dangerously close proximity with the goal of revising the relationship between readers, writers and text.

Facilitators: Jordan Scott and Jason Christie

Location: Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Room 410b

Time: 7:00pm

Cost for the entire run: $20 – $30 (Sliding scale in full effect). If the cost is prohibitive, please let us know. We will not turn anyone away.

Schedule

October 14th: Introductory Session
October 19th: Ken Belford on Lisa Robertson
October 20th: Lisa Robertson on Ken Belford
October 28th: Kim Duff on Larissa Lai and Rita Wong
November 10th: Larissa Lai and Rita Wong on Kim Duff
November 12th: Stephen Collis on Oana Avasilichioaei
November 19th: Oana Avasilichioaei on Stephen Collis
November 26th: Final Session

2009-09-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

Marguerite Pigeon readings

2009-09-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Marguerite Pigeon is a writer of poetry and fiction. Since completing her MFA at the University of British Columbia in 2004, she has been working as an editor of academic publications while completing this collection of poems and her first novel. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals, including subTerrain, The Capilano Review, dANDelion, Grain, and Taddle Creek. Originally from Blind River, Northern Ontario. She currently lives in Vancouver.

Inventory is a collection of 58 object poems. Taking as a starting point the reciprocal relation between subjects and objects, the book explores the unique way that objects appear in an individual consciousness. Each object in this Inventory exists on its own and also reflects the author’s experience, from the mundane stapler and tea bag, to the mysterious, extinct dodo bird, to entities that blur the line between person and thing.

In this way, the collection highlights the often hidden dimensions of the objects we encounter, including their temporal, political, locational and psychic aspects. It offers an opportunity for readers to reconsider their own investments in what, by dictionary definition, should be static categories.

Monday, Sept 21st

UNBC at 1:00PM in Rm 10-4558
CNC at 7:30PM in Rm 1-306

'Democratas'

2009-09-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

"P.G. will speak through portrait"

Written by Christine Skorepa
Citizen staff
Wednesday, 02 September 2009

There is an art project being created one photograph at a time at the Farmers' Market over the next several weeks in order for a whole community to tell a story.

The idea is to take snap shots of the citizens of Prince George holding up a sign with their favourite word on it and gather the photos all together to make one statement of who we are.

Last week there were 80 people who participated and only one word was repeated. Can you guess what it was? That's right, it was “love” - but only used three times and written in three different languages.

Dr. Rob Budde, who works at the University of Northern British Columbia is a poet, creative scholar, and cultural worker, Hardy Friedrich, poet, journalist and photographer and Denielle Wiebe, poet and masters student at UNBC, are working together on this project called ‘Democratas’ - voice of the people.

Each portrait will have a face and a word, an expression, a handwritten declaration of identity and the changing Prince George light that will be placed side-by-side on a large wall like a collective poem stating who we are, explained Budde.

"I'm always a bit dissatisfied with the way Prince George is represented in the media, especially in the South," said Budde. "Stereotypes come through and I thought, how can I counter that with a portrait of Prince George that is more organic and from the people - that's how I came up with the name ‘Democratas’, thinking about democracy and the voice of the people. Instead of votes it's a word."

Budde thought collecting up to 1,000 portraits with just a word and a face and displaying them all on a big wall would give us a picture of Prince George not otherwise seen.

Budde does not know where the exhibit will be displayed because he does not know how big the display will be. Some suggestions include the Two Rivers Gallery, city hall, UNBC, the airport, or even as a mobile unit could be considered. He doesn't even know how many portraits will be enough. Someone suggested 600 as Prince George sits at 600 feet above sea level.

When Budde, Friedrich and Wiebe set up at the Farmers' Market last week, Budde found people's reaction to it surprising in a couple of ways, he said. "It was a bit easier than I thought it would be," Budde said. Physically setting up the photos went well.

"The second surprise was how tentative people were," said Budde. "People were reluctant to come up to the table." And people would say they would have to come back after choosing the perfect word.

"There were some very rich, powerful words and each word tells its own story," said Budde. There were two that stood out for him when a police officer wrote the word 'shepherd' and an older Aboriginal man who just lost his mother, wrote 'mother'.

Visit the Democratas table at the Farmers' Market on Saturday, Wilson Square at Third and George Street to become a part of this work of art.

Arts Funding Cuts

2009-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

The arts community, including many theatre companies in Vancouver, rely heavily on gaming for funding. What that means is, non-profit organizations (which includes many arts organizations) get grants for operating and projects from revenue that the goverment makes off of lotteries, bingo and the like.

On August 14, the government instituted a freeze on this money, pending a review. This freeze was lifted on August 24, but yesterday, many companies learned that grants that they were relying on for the next year or two have been cut.

Dear Friends of Arts and Culture,
Today is black Friday for our province’s arts and culture industries.
We are learning today that most arts and culture organizations who did not receive their gaming grant before the BC Liberal’s instituted their unannounced freeze will likely be getting zero dollars this year.
For some groups that can mean they will lose up to $100,000 in funding, and the money will likely not be there for organizations next year either.
Some groups will fold, others will go into massive debt, and others will lay off staff and cancel programs.
Some organizations had been guaranteed 3 years of funding by the government, and were waiting for the second year of funding after spending on the programs the government guaranteed them would be funded – and are now told they won’t receive it, and will have to re-apply.
This has come about because of the government’s budget lie.
They said the deficit would only be $495 million before the election despite top economists, and the Official Opposition’s warnings and now after the election acknowledge it will be much bigger.
One month before the election campaign kicked off I asked the Minister responsible about the province’s commitment to arts and culture and he said ‘there is no reason for the member to suggest that funding that has taken place in the past is somehow or other in jeopardy in this next fiscal year. It is not in jeopardy. This is assured funding during very, very challenging times.’
He also said in response to my first letter to the arts community about the government’s
plans to cut arts funding by 50% ‘The member goes on to say in this letter to the arts and culture community: “After the election, the budget will then decline by about 50 percent.”
That also is just wrong, and the member has no substantiation for saying that.”
The Minister’s statement is now proven to be a lie, and a lie that will cost us all economically, socially, and culturally.
From government reports we learn that BC Gaming’s investment in arts and culture is going from 19.8 million to somewhere in the area of 10.9 million, although none of this will go to people who have applied to gaming as it’s being used for the first time to pay for the BC Arts Council’s usual programs whose funding has been cut.
The government’s direct Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts budget is set to decline 50% next year, and possibly more depending on what comes out in the budget on Tuesday. on the whole it looks like a nearly 75% cut to arts and culture investment in BC. We’ll know more on Budget day, and I will let you know when I hear anything.
Can you pass this e-mail on to all of your contacts, and let me know what you are receiving from Gaming, and the BC Arts Council? Also please let me know if you are on multi-year funding, and were supposed to be getting your grants, but are now not and what this will do to your organization.
I will continue to stand for a strong creative economy, and support arts and culture organizations province wide.
We know that for every dollar invested by the province the province makes $1.38 back in taxes. That is sound economics.

See this and more at http://artofthebiz.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/local-arts-community-rallies-in-the-face-of-massive-cuts/

2009-08-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 25th DE COMP reading videos here.

‘DEMOCRATAS’

2009-08-25T19:51:00.001-07:00

A portrait of Prince George -- one person at a time

Rob Budde, Hardy Friedrich, and Denielle Wiebe
(and anyone else who wants to help out)
are taking photographic portraits of Prince Georgians
at the Farmers Market (3rd & George St.)
beginning Saturday August 29.

Faces and language saying something about who we are collectively

‘Democratas’ takes a picture,
a snapshot of citizens of Prince George
holding up their ‘favourite word’

Each image will be a face & a word:
an expression, a handwritten declaration of identity
and the changing Prince George light

Placed side-by-side, ‘Democratas’ will be
a collective poem written on a large wall
to the world, saying ‘we are here, now
hear our words’

De Comp Reading

2009-08-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

I Like Canada and Canada Likes Me

2009-08-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

two rivers gallery

Theresa Sapergia: I Like Canada and Canada Likes Me
OPENING NIGHT: August 20

Artist’s Talk: Theresa Sapergia – 7:30PM

After Party – 8:30PM

Sounds, summer, and sushi provided by Sendo Sushi Factory.

(Theresa Sapergia, Untitled (detail of preparatory sketch), 2009. Coloured Pencil on paper.)

Sapergia teaches in the UNBC / Emily Carr BFA Program.

2009-07-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

DECLINING AMERICA is a series of long poems which depict
“america” not as a nation but as a linguistic strategy. The long
poems range from overtly political (“my american movie”) to
language-based (“software tracks”). Many of the poems were
written while traveling America (the nation) and while reading
Jean Baudrillard’s America (the book). The poems here hold
the view that the cultural imperialism of the united States has
essentially rendered Canada ‘America’ (the regime).

Advance orders welcome here.

2009-07-30T15:28:00.001-07:00

Richard Van Camp in PG

2009-07-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

July 21, 2009
10:30am - 11:11am
Family Storytelling with Richard Van Camp

Families, join us at the library for an hour of Storytelling with reknowned author and storyteller, Richard Van Camp! Richard is a member of the Dogrib Nation and was recently recognized as the Wordcraft Storyteller of the Year. He has written 3 children's books (as well as novels and short stories for adults) and will share oral stories with us.

"An opportunity not to be missed!"

Ages: Families
Free Drop-in
July 23, 2009
7:00pm - 9:00pm

For Adults: Meet Author & Storyteller Richard Van Camp
Calling all aspiring teen and adult writers! Come out to hear author and storyteller Richard Van Camp. A lively interactive session on developing the skills you need to be a writer including writing graphic novels. Richard currently teaches creative writing with an aboriginal focus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. As an author and storyteller, Richard has presented at many festivals and workshops across the country including the Vancouver Storytellers’ Festival and the Winnipeg Writers’ Festival. This presentation is a great opportunity for writers and those interested in the writing process to hear a dynamic speaker.

"Don't miss your chance to meet a dynamic and charismatic writer and storyteller!"

Ages: Teens and Adults
Free Drop-in

http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca/events#events

The Line Has Shattered

2009-07-15T19:20:00.001-07:00

Revisiting Vancouver’s Landmark 1963 Poetry Conference

George Bowering / Pauline Butling / Clark Coolidge / Judith Copithorne / Maria Hindmarch / Robert Hogg / Lionel Kearns / Bernice Lever / Daphne Marlatt / Michael Palmer / Jamie Reid /
Fred Wah

The 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference was actually a three-week credit summer course offered by the University of British Columbia and organized by UBC English professor Warren Tallman and poet Robert Creeley. It featured lectures, readings, panel discussions and writing workshops by Charles Olson, Creeley, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov and Margaret Avison—in Roy Miki’s words, some of “the most influential voices of the generation described as the ‘new American poets.’” The Conference marks the beginnings of a truly transnational “North American” poetic avant-garde: many of the “student” participants have gone on to have far-reaching impact on Canadian and American poetry, as they include figures such as George Bowering, Daphne Marlatt, Fred Wah, Michael Palmer, Clark Coolidge, and Phyllis Webb. Consistently referred to as “landmark,” “monumental,” and a “defining moment in the history of North American poetry,” The Line Has Shattered brings together 12 original participants 46 years later for a day of discussion and readings.

Friday August 14 2009

SFU Harbour Centre (515 West Hastings), room 1700 (Labatt Hall)

Panel discussion: 1-3pm

Readings: 7-10pm

Moderated and Hosted by Stephen Collis

Sponsored by the SFU Department of English

PG Arts and Culture Downtown

2009-06-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

After the success of the Bridges Festival (see program of events here) and upon hearing the many discussions that occurred, it seems to me that a downtown cultural revolution is in order. This turnaround very well may occur because of the initiatives began at the recent Smart Growth symposiums (see smart growth website), a new commitment and energy at the Community Arts Council (website), and a renewed commitment to the arts by UNBC (for example, the BFA Program).

I would urge all arts and culture organizations to lobby the City and District hard to make a greater commitment to arts and culture in the city above and beyond the status quo of doling out money to the six stalwarts of PG culture (as good as they are). In the past, arts initiatives have stalled because of a lack of cohesive and sustained pressure; it's time for organizations to work together and really transform what has been a city that has underachieved in the arts.

Here is one of the conceptualizations that came out of the SGOG charettes:

Just imagine our walkable, inclusive, and sustainable downtown!

Bridges Festival

2009-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Detailed Schedule

---Day 1: Thursday, June 11, 2009

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Keynote Address: Will Garrett-Petts
"Narrative Constructions of the Small City."

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Panel discussion: “Why Support the Arts?”
Sharon Cochran – Performing Arts Center
Wendy Young – Community Arts Council
Frank Peebles – The Citizen
George Harris – Two Rivers Gallery

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Coffee Break

3:30 pm – 4:15 pm: Presentation: “Okal Rel Universe: The Creative Campfire of
Science Fiction”

4:15 pm – 5:00 pm: UNBC First Nations Center story telling and performances;
Paul Michel & friends

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Dinner Break

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Formal Welcome followed by Marcel Gagnon performance

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm: UNBC Bridges Rotunda art exhibition and reception

---Day Two: Friday, June 12, 2009

9:00 am – 10:00 am: Panel Discussion: “Where Do Arts Fit in Public Education?”

Carolyn Holmes – Two Rivers Gallery
Julian Wittaker – College of New Caledonia
Linda Naess – BC Teacher’s Federation
Gerde Blok Wilson – SD #57 Art Advisor

10:00 am – 10:30 am: Coffee Break

10:30 am – 12:00 pm: Panel Discussion: “Feeding Artists in Small Cities”

Julie Fowler – Island Mountain Arts, Wells, BC
Betty Kovacic – CNC Visual Arts and Private Instructor
Judy Russell – Dance Studio Owner and Instructor
Elizabeth Aman Hume - Prince George Symphony Orchestra

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch Break

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Panel Discussion: “Archiving Northern BC Archives and Digital
Collection”
Ramona Rose – UNBC Archives
Marc Saunders – Prince George Public Library
Bob Campbell – The Exploration Place

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Panel Discussion: “Organizing Culture, Arts and Community”

Joan Chess – River’s Day Festival
Jo Beattie – Coldsnap Festival
Jennifer Ferries – Millar Addition Citizen’s Coalition
Jovanka Djordjevich – Community Garden, film festivals, etc.

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm: Coffee Break
3:30 pm – 5:00pm: Panel Discussion: “Culture in the Small City--Other Views”

Jake Kennedy – UBC Okanagan
Blanca Schorcht – UNBC Quesnel
Greg Lainsbury - Northern Lights College, Fort St. John
Sheila Peters

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Dinner Break

Location Change: Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Poetry Reading – “The Poetry Train –Return Trip”
Jake Kennedy
Ken Belford
Betsy Trumpeter
Sheila Peters
Mary MacDonald
Greg Lainsbury
Si Transken

Location Change: Books and Co.
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm: Local singers and songwriter evening hosted by Jeremy Stewart

--Day 3 - Saturday, June 13

UNBC Lecture Theatre 7-150: 10:00 am – 3:30pm
Prince George Public Library Sponsored Local Author’s Marathon
10:00-10:30 John Harris
10:30-11:00 Rob Bryce
11:00-11:30 Keith Billington
11:30-12:00 Linda Williams
12:00-12:30 Contributors to ORU anthologies
12:30-1:00 Vivien Lougheed
1:00-1:30 Nowell Senior
1:30-2:00 Mike Nash
2:00-2:30 Mark Shegelski
2:30-3:00 Jeremy Stewart
3:00-3:30 Marilyn Wheeler
3:30-4:00 Currently open

9:00 am – 10:00 am: Presentation: “How Does Local Government Fit Into the Arts?”
Doug Hofestede – City of Prince George
Rene McClosky – Regional District of Prince George

10:00 am – 10:30 am: Coffee Break

10:30 am – 12:00 pm: Panel Discussion: “Sense of Place: Location and Cultural
Narratives”
Jeremy Stewart
Shana Schwentner
Andreas Hahn
Rob Budde

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch Break
Cultural Compass Fashion Show

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Panel Discussion: “Finding Health, Wellness and Spirituality
Within the Arts”

Greg Beattie – UNBC Wellness Center
Moses Kostomo

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Presentation: “Voices and Visions: Art as an Alternative Voice
for Subaltern Women”
Si Transken & Dahne Harding

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Coffee Break

3:30 pm – 5:00pm: Performance: Street Spirits Theatre Company

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Closing event followed by dinner break

Location Change: Two Rivers Art Gallery
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Artist’s talk: Claire Kujundzic; reception and after party

2009-06-04T10:13:00.001-07:00

UNBC BRIDGES FESTIVAL OF ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAM

2009-06-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Days: June 11-13, 2009
Place: UNBC Bentley Center

ONGOING EVENTS AT UNBC

* Prince George Regional Library sponsored Author’s Marathon (Saturday)
* Community arts & cultural information and displays, arts, crafts and more.
* Art exhibits – UNBC Bridges Rotunda; UNBC and CNC student show and sale;
AWAC art exhibition
* Wellness Center ‘Stress Busters’ art activities
* The Exploration Place slideshow
* Prince George Railway and Train Museum model railway bridge display

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS

Friday
* Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum: (6:00 pm – 7:30) pm
Poetry reading – “The Poetry Train – Return Trip” Rob Budde and Co.
*Books and Co. – local singer songwriter evening: (8:00pm – 9:30pm)

Saturday
*Prince George Community Arts Council Studio Crawl: (2:00pm – 5:00pm)
*Two Rivers Gallery – artist’s talk and reception (7:00pm – 9:00pm)

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Thursday June 11th : UNBC Bentley Center – program begins at 1:00 pm with keynote address, panel discussion, Okal Rel Universe presentation, UNBC First Nations Center music and story-telling. Official welcome. Performance by Marcel Gagnon at 6:00 pm. Bridges Art Exhibit opening and reception at 7:00pm in the UNBC Rotunda Gallery.

Friday June 12th: UNBC Bentley Center - program begins 9:00 am with panel discussions continuing throughout the day. Poetry event at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum at (6:00 – 7:30 pm). Local singer and songwriter evening at Books and Company from (8:00 pm – 9:30 pm).

Saturday, June 13th: UNBC Bentley Center - program begins at 9:00 am. Panel discussions, research presentation, Street Spirits Theatre performance. Program closing 5:00 pm. Prince George Public Library sponsored UNBC Local Author’s Marathon:
(10:00am-3:30pm). Community Arts Council Studio Crawl: (2:00 pm – 5:00 pm). Two Rivers Gallery: artist’s talk and reception: (7:00 pm – 9:00 pm)

Coming to PG in August: DE COMP

2009-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

by Stephen Collis & Jordan Scott

DE COMP is a book to be collaboratively written by Stephen Collis and Jordan Scott. It will include a variety of texts, including lyric poetry and prose narratives, that explore issues of locality, ecology, and the continuing impact of human beings on the environment. The project will unfold in two main stages. First, in the Summer of 2009, the authors will travel to five distinct BC ecosystems and communities: the coastal rainforest (on Vancouver Island’s west coast), the Fraser River Delta/Vancouver, the Carribou/Chilcotin, the Rocky Mountains, and the North. In each ecosystem a copy of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species will be placed in an outdoor location, to be left there for one year. Poetry and prose narratives about the region and the authors’ practice will be composed, and readings will be given in each area (ideally, Victoria, Vancouver, Kamloops, Nelson, and Prince George). The authors will then return to the same sites one year later (Summer 2010), collect the books left exposed in the local ecosystems, compose new work (in part based upon what has happened, physically, to the exposed texts), and once again give readings based on the project. DE COMP itself will then be assembled using the poetry and prose narratives composed on the two trips, and written in response to Darwin’s book and the physical record of what has happened to the books left exposed around the province.

We have chosen to use Darwin’s Origin for several reasons. The book remains one of the most influential interventions in our understanding of the “natural” world and our place in it. Conveniently, 2009 also happens to be the 150th anniversary of its publication. At the core of Origin is the issue of “variation”: how does variation (evolutionary difference) between and within species occur? In our project we will submit Darwin’s book itself to the variations of climate and ecosystem within British Columbia. We will thus bring the “variations upon a theme” typical of the arts into dialogue with the “variations” tracked by biologists and naturalists in the physical environment.

Our intention is thus to use the book, quite literally, as a “touchstone” for writing poetry on ecological issues. What is often now referred to as “ecopoetry” is based on the notion “that poetry derives from the living earth as surely as our human bodies and minds do” and “that poetry itself can manifest the intricate, adaptive, and evolving balance of an ecosystem” (Ecopoetry ix). The “decomposition” of Darwin’s text is an opportunity to reflect poetically upon the ecological degradation of our contemporary environments. “Decomposition” becomes a poetics and writing strategy—a mode of making new texts out of the decomposing bodies of other texts. We decompose, in order to compose our return to the material word and world. Our taking Darwin’s book into “nature” is a way of reversing the usual flow of ecopoetry, in which “nature” is brought into text via human reflection and description. By doing so we hope to produce work which moves beyond the typical dualisms that keep the processes of the human degradation of the environment going.

Forthcoming from New Star

2009-05-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Two new Northern BC books:

Prince George's Barry McKInnon's long-awaited In the Millenium

and Terrace's Simon Thompson's debut book Why Does It Feel So Late?

2009-05-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

2009-05-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Robin Blaser

2009-05-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009

"The poems of the Holy Forest are points on a map of a cosmos that does not exist in historical terms, that cannot exist, yet that must exist, if we are to make it to a Century 22 that is more than the name of a clothing store. The points form a constellation that we are not quite ready to apprehend but through which we are already formed. We grope and we stumble, but then, out of the blue or black or ultra suede, something unexpected happens: we are ensnared by the encounter."
--Charles Bernstein

"the last words in Robin's The Holy Forest: 'language is love.' much as he could rail against the misuses of language, the terrible injustices we inflict on one another, he worked always towards that open potential that pure-pitch words can offer, the sheer loving openness of a mirroring intelligence in language. now his 'window-heart' has shattered & we have lost a great spirit. so thankful his words live on."
--Daphne Marlatt

Books of Poetry:

The Moth Poem (San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964)

Les Chimères: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon (San Francisco: Open Space, 1969)

Cups (San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1968)

Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror (London: Ferry Press, 1974)

Image Nations 13 & 14, Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering (North Vancouver: Cobblestone Press, 1975)

Harp Trees (Vancouver: Sun Stone House & Cobblestone Press, 1977)

Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse (Vancouver: W. Hoffer, 1981)

Syntax (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1983)

The Faerie Queene and The Park (Vancouver: Fissure Books, 1987)

Pell Mell (Toronto: Coach House Press, 1988)

The Holy Forest (Toronto: Coach House Press, 1993)

Nomad (Vancouver: Slug Press, 1995)

Wanders, with Meredith Quartermain (Vancouver: Nomados, 2002)

EPC Resources
Readings at Pennsound
Persky on Blaser

Al Purdy A-Frame Residency

2009-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

I am involved in developing a residency program at the historic Al Purdy A-Frame on the south shore of Roblin Lake, a mile or so from the village of Ameliasburgh in Ontario. I worry this is going to be a very Ontatio-centric program so hoping to spread the word out west. Please pass on the information.

The A-Frame

So we built a house, my wife and I
our house at a backwater puddle of a lake
near Ameliasburg, Ont.
. . .
Working on my own A-frame we pounded nails
and sawed boards, cussing and seating a little
without money for electricity or plumbing
three lamps together and you might read a book
chopping thru winter ice for water
—Al Purdy, “In Search of Owen Roblin”

The list of people who travelled to the A-frame (if it would be possible to compile a comprehensive list) reads like a who’s who of Canadian letters—Margaret Atwood, Earle Birney, George Bowering, Lynn Crosbie, Dennis Lee, Steven Heighton, Patrick Lane, Margaret Laurence, Jack McClelland, John Newlove, Anna Porter, Elizabeth Smart, and the list goes on and on.

And it wasn’t just those aspiring to be poets who were welcomed. Poets, publishers, booksellers, academics, pool players, students, radio broadcasters, journalists, photographers, painters, and readers made their way to Ameliasburgh. Linda Crosfield reports the following story: "Over dinner the other night, I mentioned to my husband that I was writing a letter to support the initiative to preserve Al’s house. ‘I went there once,’ he mused, ‘it was 1972, the summer Judie and I drove across Canada with the kids. She grew up around there so we were able to find the place. Al wasn't home, but his wife was, and she opened her house to us as I explained how I’d taken courses from Al at Simon Fraser and was a big fan of his poetry.” This is how Al's house has always been, according to those who have found their way there.

The house draws people in. It's a pilgrimage to see the country, search out the places Al mentions in the poems, find the church spire and the site of Roblin's Mill, visit the Purdy Library in Ameliasburgh, cross the street to stroll down Purdy Lane to the graveyard where Owen Roblin and Al Purdy are buried along with the other pioneers of Prince Edward County—Al’s book-shaped gravestone bearing the inscription “This is where I came to / when my body left its body / and my spirit stayed / in its spirit home."

Continuing the Tradition—Writer-in-Residence Program

The residency program for the A-frame was designed by poets David Helwig, Steven Heighton, Karen Solie and Rob Budde. The poets were selected to include a broad poetic sensibility, geographical reach, breadth of experience with residency programs, knowledge of Purdy’s work and personal experience of the property. Both David and Steven were long time friends of the Purdys and spent many decades visiting Roblin Lake.

To begin, the residency will operate for 8 months, from April 1 to November 30. Later the winter months may be added. The A-frame will provide time and a place to work that is attractive and of historic significance. Writers can apply for a term of one to three months. The residency will be open to all writers, but preference will be given to poetry and poetry projects. The jury will also consider proposals for a one month project in critical writing about Canadian poetry each year and will be open to unusual and creative ideas for residencies.

Travel to Ameliasburgh will be paid. Those awarded the residency will be given a stipend of $2500 dollars a month while living in the A-frame, and will be free to spend their time on their writing. Residents will be expected to give one public reading or lecture for each month of their stay—presumably in one of the larger communities nearby, Picton, Belleville, Kingston—and to consider other reasonable requests. All this will be organized in collaboration with the Prince Edward County and Quinte Arts councils. The house is somewhat isolated, but the local liaison will be able to help with occasional rides for those who don’t have a car. Residents will be offered a temporary library card for the excellent library at Queen’s University in Kingston, where many of Al Purdy’s papers are held. Those awarded a residency will be asked to donate at least one copy of one of their books to the Residency Library. Writers in residence will also be encouraged to make themselves known at the Purdy Library in Ameliasburgh and to donate a book. They may also wish to discuss with the local liaison the possibility of working with local schools.

For more information about the project, contact Jean Baird at jeanbaird@shaw.ca or 604-224-4898.

Donations can be made by cheque, made to “The Al Purdy A-frame Trust” and mailed to:
4403 West 11th Ave.
Vancouver BC
V6R 2M2
(Tax receipts will be issued for amounts over $50)

The Butcher of Penetang Shortlisted

2009-05-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce the shortlist of nominees for the twelfth annual DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD. The Award recognizes the best first English-language collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2008.

Judges Merilyn Simonds, J.J. Steinfeld, and Rudy Wiebe shortlisted the following nominees:
Ian Colford: Evidence (The Porcupine’s Quill)
Pasha Malla:The Withdrawal Method (House of Anansi Press Inc.)
Rebecca Rosenblum: Once (Biblioasis)
Ahmad Saidullah: Happiness and other Disorders (Key Porter Books Limited)
Betsy Trumpener: The Butcher of Penetang (Caitlin Press)

"The five shortlisted books exhibit an exhilarating array of voices and styles, presenting stories ranging from the idiosyncratic and fanciful, to the satirical and exotic, to the hard-edged and realistic; these works comment on the human condition in insightful, inventive ways that show the short story is thriving in Canada."

The Award consists of cash prizes for the three best first collections, with a first prize of $10,000 and two additional prizes of $500. The winners will be announced in Calgary, Alberta on May 23, 2009, during the Alberta Literary Awards at the joint Annual General Meetings of The Writers’ Union of Canada and The Writers Guild of Alberta. Their names will be posted on the Union’s website (www.writersunion.ca).

A Northern BC Literature Quiz – Part 3

2009-05-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pony up!

1. Which of the following couples are not Northern BC writing couples?

a) Ken Belford and Si Transken
b) Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane
c) Rob Budde and Debbie Keahey
d) John Harris and Vivien Lougheed

2. Which is an early Prince George novelist?

a) Sinclair Ross
b) Frederick Philip Grove
c) Robert Harlow
d) Sheila Watson

3. Longtime Terrace teacher George Stanley was acquainted with what famous San Francisco writer?

a) Jack Kerouac
b) Jack Spicer
c) Robin Skelton
d) Kurt Vonnegut

4. What author published a recent Caitlin book oddly titled (flood basement?

a) Rob Budde
b) Ken Belford
c) Jeremy Stewart
d) Sarah de Leeuw

5. What Northern BC writer recently won the CBC Literary Award for nonfiction and was published in En Route magazine?

a) Rob Budde
b) Ken Belford
c) Jeremy Stewart
d) Sarah de Leeuw

the culture mill

Review of Belford's Decompositions by Camille Martin

Raise-a-Reader Writers’ Camp – July 21-24, 2011

Dead Salmon Dialectics by Derrick Stacey Denholm

Barry McKinnon Chapbook Prize

Ctrl - Z

BC Book Prizes On Tour

Ken Belford's Decompositions short-listed for the 2011 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

Upcoming readings/events:

Fabulous set of readings

Kelly Writers House, Philadelphia

Link: North of Invention: A Canadian Poetry Festival

Al Rempel's Poem in Transit

Poetry Award Shortlist

Cooley / McKinnon

Enpipe Line - Communique 1

Jay MillAr Readings

Dusie

Ekphrastic!

21st ANNUAL LITERARY WRITES COMPETITION

The 2010 Pat Lowther Award Shortlist:

Chapbook Award reminder--deadline April 2!

Reminder: Deadline April 1!

Upcoming Readings/Talks

Yinka Dene

Kennedy Wins! Kennedy Wins!

In the Land of the Head Hunters

In(ter)ventions: Literary Practice At The Edge: A Gathering

Local artist Phil Morrison and his creative headspace

Post North II : For Science

McKinnon / Thompson Launch

Coldsnap: The Prince George Winter Music Festival

FRIDAY, JAN 22

THE RAMADA HOTEL

DELHI 2 DUBLIN

SATURDAY, JAN 23

THE RAMADA HOTEL

THE LEE BOYS

.

SUNDAY, JAN 24

THE PRINCE GEORGE PLAYHOUSE

JOEL PLASKETT

Monday, Jan 25thArtSpace @ 8pm“FOLK FUSION” ~ Admission by Donation

Tuesday, Jan 26thArtSpace @ 8pm – Admission by donation“TEACHERS AND STUDENTS” ~ Admission by Donation

Wednesday, Jan 27th,Artspace @ 8pm“MOTLEY CREW” ~ Admission by Donation

THURSDAY, JAN 28ART SPACE.

DALA

MARTYN JOSEPH

SATURDAY, JAN 30

THE PRINCE GEORGE PLAYHOUSE

.THE GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS

.

The Lasting Page

Bannock, Borscht and Sushi

issuu

Canada / UNBC Reads

Poetry Cage Match?

Polataiko Openings in New York and Toronto

The 4th Annual UNBC Aboriginal Writers and Storytellers Festival

Writers on the East Line

influencywest

Marguerite Pigeon readings

'Democratas'

Arts Funding Cuts

‘DEMOCRATAS’

De Comp Reading

I Like Canada and Canada Likes Me

Richard Van Camp in PG

The Line Has Shattered

PG Arts and Culture Downtown

Bridges Festival

UNBC BRIDGES FESTIVAL OF ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAM

Coming to PG in August: DE COMP

Forthcoming from New Star

Robin Blaser

Al Purdy A-Frame Residency

The Butcher of Penetang Shortlisted

A Northern BC Literature Quiz – Part 3

Monday, Jan 25th
ArtSpace @ 8pm
“FOLK FUSION” ~ Admission by Donation

Tuesday, Jan 26th
ArtSpace @ 8pm – Admission by donation
“TEACHERS AND STUDENTS” ~ Admission by Donation

Wednesday, Jan 27th,
Artspace @ 8pm
“MOTLEY CREW” ~ Admission by Donation

THURSDAY, JAN 28
ART SPACE
.

.
THE GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS