Never More There (Nightwood Editions, 2009)
I’ll be reading in Corner Brook tomorrow to promote my first poetry collection, Never More There. This will be my first visit to CB and I have to say I’m looking forward to it. I hear there’s an enthusiastic arts community there, which makes sense due to the presence of Grenfell College and the Faculty of Arts there.
The details are available on the college website, but incase you’d rather get them from the horse’s mouth (or in this case fingers), see below:
Stephen Rowe reading from Never More There
Jennifer’s Barroom (on Broadway)
Corner Brook, NL
April 1, 8:00pm
Books will be available should you feel inclined to take one home with you.
This is a few days late, but you’ll still appreciate that Jessica Grant has won this year’s Winterset Award for her novel Come, Thou Tortoise. Here’s a link to the telegram article. Congrats to Grant, who I heard read at the SPARKS festival back in Janurary, where she surprised me with her light, yet exciting reading style.
The runners up both received $1,000: Michael Crummey for Galore and Lisa Moore for February.
Just a quick note to say I’m reading in Whiteway, Trinity Bay tomorrow. There is an afternoon-long arts event happening, with visual and literary artists taking part. Books will be available, should the desire to have one strike anyone attending the festivities. More to come in the next couple of days.
Whiteway March Hare
Memorial Centre, Whiteway, Trinity Bay
Saturday 27 March, 12:00 pm
Randall Maggs (image: mun.ca)
Good news for Randall Maggs. His Night Work: The Sawchuk poems, about Terry Sawchuk the great NHL goalie, has just won the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award. The website of the Shevchenko Foundation describes the vision of the award:
The vision of the Shevchenko Foundation for the Kobzar Literary Award is to foster cultural development in Canada through the Literary Arts and create opportunities for all Canadian writers to explore Ukrainian Canadian themes that are relevant to Canadians.
Presented biennially, the $25,000 prize ($20,000 to the author; $5,000 to the publisher) recognizes a Canadian writer who best presents a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit through poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction, or young people’s literature.
This is an incredible accomplishment for Maggs and one that helps show Night Work is about more than hockey. I’ve been reading it myself lately and, though I’m not the hockey fan I used to be, I’ve enjoyed it very much. It’s less about the sport, in my opinion, and more about the man, who Sawchuk was, how people viewed him, and how he viewed himself.
I’m lucky to be attending a small reading/presentation Maggs is giving next week here in Gander. I’ve seen him read a couple of times, but this should be an excellent evening.
Never More There (Nightwood Editions, 2009)
March and April are gearing up to be a busy period for yours truly. I’ve got some writing projects that need to be done, both personal and professional, as well as some committee work. Some upcoming readings during this period:
The March Hare – “Eric’s Time”
Albatross Hotel, Gander
Thursday 11 March, 7:30 pm
Whiteway March Hare
Memorial Centre, Whiteway, Trinity Bay
Saturday 27 March, 2:00 pm
Reading at The Barroom
Corner Brook
Thrusday 1 April, 8:00 pm
In addition to this, I’ll be playing at the Gander Curling Club, Saturday 13 March, for Paddy’s Day celebations. If you like Irish/Newfoundland folk music then come on out and enjoy yourself (I certainly will be).
