| Ottawa
Saturday June 20, 2009
- Rm 203, Jack
Purcell Community Centre (on Elgin, at 320 Jack
Purcell Lane)
- 12 noon to 5pm (opens at 11am
for exhibitors)
- Admission free to the public
Visit
website
*
Interview with rob mclennan
TDR: What can people expect at
this year's spring edition, ottawa small press book fair? Who is
reading the night before?
rm:
Many of the usual suspects will be at the small press book fair,
including bywords.ca, The Dusty Owl Reading Series, Chaudiere
Books, Buschek Books, jwcurry's Room 302 Books, In/Words and
above/ground press, as well as writer/artist Tom Fowler, making a
reapperance after a number of years, and Calgary's filling
Station, making their first small press fair appearance. I've
always found the fair a good place to get a sense of what is
happening in and around the city as far as literary writing is
concerned, and this fair will be no different, I'm sure.
The readings the night before the
fair include Gillian Sze (Toronto) and Nick McArthur (Montreal),
both of whom are launching first trade books, and former Ottawa
resident (now managing editor of filling Station) Laurie Fuhr
(Calgary), and poet Cameron Anstee (Ottawa). Fuhr hasn't read in
Ottawa since she moved away a number of years ago, and Anstee is
one of those young poets I expect to see better and better things
from over the next couple of years. I've been quite taken with
what I've heard so far.
TDR: how long have you been
doing the fair and how do you see it as part of the literary
community in Ottawa?
rm: I
started the fair back in fall 1994 with James Spyker, who then
moved to Toronto, and I've been running them solo twice a year
since. I consider it an essential part of the infrastructure of
the Ottawa literary scene, along with the TREE Reading Series,
Dusty Owl, the ottawa international writers festival, and various
other activity around the city. There is so much happening in
Ottawa these days, and this is one of the few venues that allows
people to see it there, all in front of them at once, available
for the taking. It also allows a number of producers the
opportunity to socialize with each other, and purchase/trade with
other vendors.
TDR: Who are some of the vendors
you expect to bring their a-game to the fair this year? who are
you excited to see?
rm:
I'm excited to see what Amanda Earl has been doing with her recent
chapbooks under AngelHousePress, a recent enterprise of hers, and
see what jwcurry has been up to, for example. It's always good,
too, to see what John Buschek has been making lately, the only
opportunity I really get to see such.
|
Toronto
Saturday June 13, 2009
- Toronto Reference Library
- 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Visit
website |
