Edmonton Poetry Festival

This weekend is the Edmonton Poetry Festival and I'm very excited to be taking part in it. On Thursday evening, I'll be reading with 77(!) others at the Revenge of the Killer Blinks reading and then on Saturday I'll be reading at 3pm at the Three Bananas Cafe. You can check out the full schedule here. Looks like a fun weekend!

Shortlist!

I'm really excited to announce that All Things Said & Done has been shortlisted for the ReLit Awards, along with my tour partner, Gillian Wigmore. I knew my book had been on the longlist, but I really thought it wouldn't get any further than that. There were so many amazing writers and books on that list!

For those of you unfamiliar with the prize, it was started in 2000 by author Kenneth J Harvey and honours books published by Canadian independent literary publishers. The name is short for "Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, Relighting Literature." Check out the site to see who else made the lists.

Edmonton Reading

Hooray! My first reading in Edmonton. Please come by if you can.
(More information can be found here.)

Thompson Rivers University Reading

I will be reading in Room 163 in the Arts & Education building at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops at 7pm on Wednesday, October 3rd.

I'm pretty excited about this reading because this is where I took my first creative writing class and the oldest poem in my collection (Salinas) was written for that class. But I'm also a little nervous as I'm supposed to fill 50 minutes. That's a long time. The longest I've read for before is 20 minutes. I really hope people don't fall asleep or start throwing things at me. I think I might read a few poems from the collection I'm working on now, just to mix things up a bit.

If you're in Kamloops, please come. I'd hate to be reading for 50 minutes to just my husband and the woman who organized the reading.

"...unflinchingly displays scenes that are as uncomfortable and bittersweet as they are recognizable."

Another lovely review came my way today, and this time, I didn't even have to google myself to find it! The very generous Hannah Stephenson dropped me a line to let me know that she wrote a review of my book for Gloss Magazine. I thought that was very nice of her to do and I love that my little book has been reviewed in a fashion magazine. Please see all the nice things she had to say here.

Interview

Check it out: I've been interviewed!

Word on the Street

I'll be reading at the Poets' Corner at Word on the Street at Library Square in Vancouver on Sunday, September 30 at 2pm. It would be great if you could stop by. If you've never been to WOTS, you really should try to make it this year. It's one on my favourite Vancouver festivals because it's free and there are so many great readings and displays. Also, lots of cheap books to be bought. Come a earlier in the day and check out Jennica Harper reading to launch this year's Poetry in Transit at 11 am.

The WOTS program is available all over in any of the gazillion St*rbucks in Vancouver. I received mine in the mail last week and was both thrilled and completely embarrassed that they included a photo of me. Hope to see you there!