WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING NEW SUBMISSIONS FOR TTQ5!!!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:


SEND US 4-5 POEMS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US 1-2 SHORT STORIES (500-2500 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK AND PAINTINGS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOK/MUSIC REVIEWS (200-1000 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR INTERVIEWS WITH POETS/AUTHORS/MUSICIANS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOKS AND CD’S AND WE WILL CONSIDER REVIEWING THEM. (PLEASE QUERY US AND WE WILL PROVIDE MAILING ADDRESS INFO.)

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR TTQ5 IS: FEBRUARY 1, 2010.



send your submissions to thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Please note that The Toronto Quarterly does not compensate contributors to the magazine monetarily or with free print copies of TTQ. But we do provide all contributors with a free pdf file which is downloadable through lulu.com and your name in lights.







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THE POETRY PARADE

This past Sunday, The Annex Live in Toronto, was set ablaze with the sound of poetry. The event was called, The Poetry Parade, and was hosted by local Toronto poet - Desi Di Nardo and Canada's Poet Laureate - Pierre DesRuisseaux.

The venue itself had a nostalgic feel to it, quite reminiscent to that of a 60's coffeehouse, which seemed to set a distinct and necessary vibe to the evening as the more than 100 poetry enthusiasts settled into their seats.

The walls were furnished with the remarkable landscape art of Mario Ricci.

The night of entertainment then started promptly at 7pm with the sultry jazz sounds of Julie McGregor and Norm Amadio.




Pierre DesRuisseaux, then lit the match, reciting a few of his poems in both French and English, to stirring rounds of applause.




The momentum of the event continued, with impressive readings from Poets - Joe Cummings and Max Layton, both gentlemen feeding off the electricity of the room.




And then the most dazzling moments of the evening occurred, as 4 local high school students, winners of the High School Poetry Contest, sponsored by BookCity, were awarded their prizes and each read their winning poems.

This year's first place winner was, Kate Bornstein, a Grade 12 student at Rosedale Heights School for the Arts. Her poem, 'Dream Girlfriend,' spoke eloquently of a young woman discovering her sexuality.




And then, a Grade 9 student from Eastview Secondary School, Kyle MacDonald, stole the spotlight, as he confidently strided to the stage announcing to the audience, "If you don't like the poem I'm about to read, I've composed a new one on the back of the page, so just let me know." The ice was broken and he proceeded to read his second place winning poem, 'Lights Under a Bridge in Winter,' with incredible zest and ease.




Third and fourth place winners were Michelle Carter, a Grade 9 student from Rosedale Heights School for the Arts, with her poem, 'Torments,' and Lucia Bucataru, a Grade 12 student from Harbord Collegiate Institute, with her poem, 'Je suis d'un endroit.'

The evening closed with recently appointed Toronto Poet Laureate - Dionne Brand, reading two poems, one of which will be published in her forthcoming book of poetry due to be out in March 2010.



The Poetry Parade managed to set itself apart. Desi Di Nardo and Pierre DesRuisseaux, brought poetry back where it belongs, into the forefront of our thoughts and the hearts of our youth, back into the limelight for at least one November night, at The Annex Live in Toronto.













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TORONTO POETRY EVENT - AT THE ANNEX LIVE

Local Toronto poet Desi Di Nardo and Canada's Poet Laureate-Pierre DesRuisseaux will be hosting a poetry event on Sunday November 8, 2009 at 7pm. The event will take place at The Annex Live which is located at 296 Brunswick Avenue (just south of Bloor St.).

There will be poetry readings from:

Pierre DesRuisseaux (Canada's Poet Laureate)
Dionne Brand (Toronto's Poet Laureate)
Max Layton
Armand Garnet Ruffo

The musical entertainment will be provided by the local jazz duo of Norm Amadio and Julie McGregor.

Artist Mario Ricci will be displaying his artwork depicting Canadian landscapes.

Also, the winners of the High School Poetry Contest (sponsored by BookCity) will be announced.






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KATE MILLER HEIDKE!!!

I like to feature something musical in each issue of TTQ and in the last issue (TTQ4), I was fortunate to discover a very talented singer/songwriter from Australia, Kate Miller Heidke.

I discovered her on facebook: todays number uno social networking space. Kate wrote a tune lamenting the masses fixation with facebook and it hit home with many including yours truly.



And when the laughter finally subsided after viewing 'Are You F*cking Kidding Me, (Facebook Song)' I discovered she was genuinely a very talented musician.

From her early songs like, 'Apartment Song' to the songs from her current album 'Curiouser,'



Kate Miller Heidke is a force on the rise. Her new album has recently hit number one status in her native Australia along with her number one hit single, 'Last Day On Earth'



Heidke recently played some concerts for the first time in North America, opening up for Ben Folds. Her music has yet to hit the mainstream of pop music radio here in Canada and the US, but it's only a matter of time before Heidke and her music are easily recognized on the airwaves everywhere.

The Toronto Quarterly was fortunate enough to conduct the first ever print interview with Ms Heidke on this side of the Atlantic.



We at TTQ hope you will give her music a listen and check out our interview with Kate in TTQ4.


http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-toronto-quarterly---issue-four/5434580








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SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE FINALISTS REVEALED!!!

The short-list finalist for the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize were announced on October 6, 2009.

The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists are:

• Kim Echlin for her novel THE DISAPPEARED, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada
• Annabel Lyon for her novel THE GOLDEN MEAN, published by Random House Canada
• Linden MacIntyre for his novel THE BISHOP’S MAN, published by Random House Canada
• Colin McAdam for his novel FALL, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada
* Anne Michaels for her novel THE WINTER VAULT, published by McClelland & Stewart


The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the finalists. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Robinovitch.

The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize will be awarded live on Bravo and Book Television on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. CTV will re-broadcast the event the following day, November 11, 2009.
















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COMPLETE LIST OF FINALISTS FOR THE 2009 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARDS!!!

Here’s the complete list of finalists for the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Awards. The winners will be announced in Montreal on November 17, and the award presentation will take place November 26 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

English-language finalists:

FICTION

Michael Crummey, St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador), Galore (Doubleday Canada)

Annabel Lyon, New Westminster, The Golden Mean (Random House Canada)

Alice Munro, Clinton (Ontario), Too Much Happiness (McClelland & Stewart)

Kate Pullinger, London (UK), The Mistress of Nothing (McArthur & Company)

Deborah Willis, Victoria, Vanishing and Other Stories (Penguin Group Canada)



POETRY

David W. McFadden, Toronto, Be Calm, Honey (Mansfield Press)

Philip Kevin Paul, Brentwood Bay, Little Hunger (Nightwood Editions)

Sina Queyras, Montreal, Expressway (Coach House Books)

Carmine Starnino, Montreal, This Way Out (Gaspereau Press)

David Zieroth, North Vancouver, The Fly in Autumn (Harbour Publishing)



DRAMA

Beverley Cooper, Toronto, Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott (Scirocco Drama / J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Group)

Kevin Loring, Vancouver, Where the Blood Mixes (Talonbooks)

Joan MacLeod, Victoria, Another Home Invasion (Talonbooks)

Hannah Moscovitch, Toronto, East of Berlin (Playwrights Canada Press)

Michael Nathanson, Winnipeg, Talk (Playwrights Canada Press)



NON-FICTION

Randall Hansen,Toronto, Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-45 (Doubleday Canada)

Trevor Herriot, Regina, Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds (Phyllis Bruce Books)

Eric S. Margolis, Toronto, American Raj: Liberation or Domination? (Key Porter Books)

Eric Siblin, Westmount (Quebec), The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece (House of Anansi Press)

M.G. Vassanji, Toronto, A Place Within: Rediscovering India (Doubleday Canada)



CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – TEXT

Shelley Hrdlitschka, North Vancouver, Sister Wife (Orca Book Publishers)

Sharon Jennings, Toronto, Home Free (Second Story Press)

Caroline Pignat, Ottawa, Greener Grass: The Famine Years (Red Deer Press)

Robin Stevenson, Victoria, A Thousand Shades of Blue (Orca Book Publishers)

Tim Wynne-Jones, Perth (Ontario), The Uninvited (Candlewick Press)



CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – ILLUSTRATION

Rachel Berman, Victoria, Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog , text by Tim Beiser(Tundra Books)

Irene Luxbacher,Toronto, The Imaginary Garden , text by Andrew Larsen(Kids Can Press)

Jirina Marton,Colborne (Ontario) , Bella’s Tree , text by Janet Russell(Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press)

Luc Melanson, Laval (Quebec), My Great Big Mamma , text by Olivier Ka, translation by Helen Mixter(Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press)

Ningeokuluk Teevee,Cape Dorset (Nunavut), Alego , text byNingeokuluk Teevee, translation by Nina Manning-Toonoo (Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press)



TRANSLATION – FRENCH TO ENGLISH

Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott, Montreal, A Slight Case of Fatigue (Talonbooks). English translation of Un peu de fatigue by Stéphane Bourguignon (Les Éditions Québec Amérique)

Jo-Anne Elder, Fredericton, One (Goose Lane Editions). English translation of Seul on est by Serge Patrice Thibodeau (Les Éditions Perce-Neige)

David Homel and Fred A. Reed, Montreal, Wildlives (Douglas & McIntyre). English translation of Champagne by Monique Proulx (Les Éditions du Boréal)

Susan Ouriou, Calgary, Pieces of Me (Kids Can Press). English translation of La liberté? Connais pas… by Charlotte Gingras (Les éditions de la courte échelle)

Fred A. Reed, Montreal, Empire of Desire: The Abolition of Time (Talonbooks). English translation of Le temps aboli : l’Occident et ses grands récits by Thierry Hentsch (Les Éditions du Boréal / Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal)



French-language finalists:

FICTION

Jean-François Beauchemin, Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs (Quebec), Cette année s’envole ma jeunesse (Les Éditions Québec Amérique)

Nadine Bismuth, Montreal, Êtes-vous mariée à un psychopathe? (Les Éditions du Boréal)

Dominique Fortier, Montreal, Du bon usage des étoiles (Éditions Alto)

Julie Mazzieri, Velone-Orneto (France), Le discours sur la tombe de l’idiot (Éditions José Corti)

Aki Shimazaki, Montreal, Zakuro (Leméac Éditeur / Actes Sud)



POETRY

Normand de Bellefeuille, Sainte-Pétronille (Quebec), Mon nom (Éditions du Noroît)

René Lapierre, Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu (Quebec), Traité de physique (Les Herbes rouges)

Hélène Monette, Montreal, Thérèse pour joie et orchestre (Les Éditions du Boréal)

Philippe More, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Quebec), Brouillons pour un siècle abstrait (Poètes de brousse)

André Roy, Montreal, Les espions de Dieu (Les Herbes rouges)



DRAMA

Evelyne de la Chenelière, Montreal, Les pieds des anges (Leméac Éditeur)

François Godin, Montreal, Je suis d’un would be pays (Leméac Éditeur)

Olivier Kemeid, Montreal, L’Énéide (Lansman Éditeur)

Louis-Dominique Lavigne, Montreal, Glouglou (Dramaturges Éditeurs)

Suzanne Lebeau, Montreal, Le bruit des os qui craquent (Leméac Éditeur)



NON-FICTION

Djemila Benhabib, Gatineau (Quebec), Ma vie à contre-Coran: une femme témoigne sur les islamistes (VLB éditeur)

Nicole V. Champeau, Ottawa, Pointe Maligne: l’infiniment oubliée (Les Éditions du Vermillon)

Claude Fournier, Saint-Paul-d’Abbotsford (Quebec), À force de vivre : mémoires (Éditions Libre Expression)

Céline Lafontaine, Montréal, La société postmortelle: la mort, l’individu et le lien social à l’ère des communications (Éditions du Seuil)

Charles Le Blanc, Gatineau (Quebec), Le complexe d’Hermès: regards philosophiques sur la traduction (Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa)



CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – TEXT

Jocelyn Boisvert, Hâvre-aux-Maisons (Quebec), Mort et déterré (Soulières éditeur)

Hervé Bouchard, Saguenay (Quebec), Harvey (Les Éditions de la Pastèque)

Pierre Chartray and Sylvie Rancourt, Longueuil (Quebec), Simon et le chasseur de dragons (Éditions du CHU Sainte-Justine)

Michèle Laframboise, Toronto, La quête de Chaaas, tome 2—Les vents de Tammerlan (Éditions Médiaspaul)

Matthieu Simard, Montreal, Pavel, épisode 1—Plus vivant que toutes les pornstars réunies (Les éditions de la courte échelle)



CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – ILLUSTRATION

Philippe Béha, Montreal, Ulysse et Pénélope, text by Louise Portal (Éditions Hurtubise HMH)

Gérard DuBois, Saint-Lambert (Quebec), Henri au jardin d’enfants, text by Gérard DuBois (Éditions du Seuil)

Janice Nadeau, Montreal, Harvey , text by Hervé Bouchard (Les Éditions de la Pastèque)

Pierre Pratt, Montreal, L’étoile de Sarajevo, text by Jacques Pasquet (Dominique et compagnie)

Rogé (Roger Girard), Montreal, La vraie histoire de Léo Pointu, text by Rogé (Dominique et compagnie)



TRANSLATION – ENGLISH TO FRENCH

Sylvie Nicolas, Quebec City, Lundi sans faute (Les Éditions Québec Amérique). French translation of Right Away Monday by Joel Thomas Hynes (Harper Perennial)

Paule Noyart, Bromont (Quebec), Le miel d’Harar (Leméac Éditeur / Actes Sud). French translation of Sweetness in the Belly byCamilla Gibb (Anchor Canada)

Hélène Rioux, Montreal, Certitudes (XYZ éditeur). French translation of Certainty byMadeleine Thien (McClelland & Stewart)

Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné, Montreal, Cartes postales de l’enfer (Les Éditions du Boréal). French translation of The Soul of All Great Designs byNeil Bissoondath (Cormorant Books)

Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné, Montreal, La veuve (Les Éditions du Boréal). French translation of The Outlander byGil Adamson (House of Anansi Press)









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THE NEW TORONTO POET LAUREATE IS DIONNE BRAND!!!

We at The Toronto Quarterly would like to congratulate Dionne Brand on being named the new Poet Laureate for the city of Toronto. It is an excellent choice!!

Ms Brand has published nine volumes of poetry including No Language is Neutral, short listed for the Governor General's Award; Land To Light On winner of the Governor General's Award and the Trillium Book Award, thirsty, winner of the Pat Lowther Award and a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize and most recently Inventory, a finalist for the Governor General's Award. Her poetry has been translated in Italian and French and is published in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Italy and Germany. Ms Brand is also a novelist winning the Toronto Book Award for her novel What We All Long For in 2006. Also in 2006 she was awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize, an award honouring individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the world of books and writing.

Dionne Brand reads from "thirsty"















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WE ARE NOW TAKING SUBMISSIONS FOR TTQ5!!!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:


SEND US 4-5 POEMS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US 1-2 SHORT STORIES (500-2500 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK AND PAINTINGS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOK/MUSIC REVIEWS (200-1000 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR INTERVIEWS WITH POETS/AUTHORS/MUSICIANS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOKS AND CD’S AND WE WILL CONSIDER REVIEWING THEM. (PLEASE QUERY US AND WE WILL PROVIDE MAILING ADDRESS INFO.)

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR TTQ5 IS: FEBRUARY 1, 2010.



send your submissions to thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Please note that The Toronto Quarterly does not compensate contributors to the magazine monetarily or with free print copies of TTQ. But we do provide all contributors with a free pdf file which is downloadable through lulu.com and your name in lights.










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TTQ4 NOW AVAILABLE AT A 3RD BOOKCITY STORE!!!

GOOD NEWS!! TTQ4 is now available at a 3rd Bookcity location (1430 Yonge St. at St. Clair) in downtown Toronto. The phone number is 416-926-0749. Get your copies while they last!!!







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TTQ4 IS NOW AVAILABLE!!! (TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW)

TTQ
ISSUE 4

Cover Art - Joe Rosenblatt - Catnip Madness #4

Michael D’Amico - AGO (photograph) - pg. 3
Editorial - pg.7
Luke MacLean - In the Fashion of 5:30’s Charm (short story) - pg. 8
Interview with Randall Maggs - pg. 10
Randall Maggs - No Country For Old Men - pg. 22
Heather Ann Schmidt - Book of Words - pg. 26
Gillian Sze - Orison - pg. 27
Gillian Sze - Recipe - pg. 28
Susie DeCoste - Weed Puller - pg. 29
Barry Spacks - Next Time - pg. 30
Owen Roberts - Stuck on a Feeling - pg. 31
Kerstin Oloff-Rodriguez - Streetcar Song - pg. 32
Darryl Whetter - Coprolites - pg. 33
Karen Correia Da Silva - The Older Man - pg. 34
Diego Bastianutti - Juggernaut - pg. 36
Robert Whiteley - Neruda - pg. 37
Tori Mongrain - Forest Installation (photograph) - pg. 38
Shawn Stibbards - What He Didn’t Hear When He Opened His Eyes - (short story) - pg. 39
Azure Edwards - (abstract art #2) - pg 46
Barry Friesen - Still Life (short story) - pg. 47
Joe Rosenblatt - brown property (drawing) - pg. 51
Lynn Atkinson-Boutette - Coffee-Date (poems of disability) - pg. 52
Lynn Atkinson-Boutette - Dressing Lynn (poems of disability) - pg. 53
Jonina Kirton - Lone Traveller - pg. 54
Marilyn Rumball - Gone - pg. 55
C.E. Chaffin - Desert Honeymoon - pg 56
Yaqoob Ghaznavi - April in Berlin - pg. 57
Nathaniel G. Moore - Donlands Avenue - pg. 58
Linda King - Fragments - pg. 59
Jessica Koranda - Peggy’s Cove (photograph) - pg. 60
Interview with rob mclennan - pg. 61
rob mclennan - Poem for Jasper Avenue - pg. 74
rob mclennan - Poem for Mother’s Day - pg. 75
Ania Vesenny - No Memory for Rats (short story) - pg. 76
Joe Rosenblatt - TQualicum Woods - noon (sketch) - pg. 78
J “Ocean” Dennie - The Art You Never See - pg. 79
Darrell Epp - Sweet Enough - pg. 80
Lisa M. Cronkhite - Not Yet - pg. 81
Catherine Owen - Pigeons - pg. 82
Robert Lietz - Accelerator- pg. 83
Joan Gelfand - Making Love in an Empty Apartment - pg. 84
Tara Stevens - Party Piece - pg. 86
Odarka Polanskyj Stockert - Immigrant - pg. 87
Lisa Josie Richer - Harlem Walk - pg. 88
Bonnie L. Nish -11 pm - pg. 89
The Buk and the Fox - by Hugh Fox - pg. 90
Hugh Fox - Remembering (James T. Farrell) - pg. 96
Hugh Fox - Kostiing - pg. 97
Alexis Lachaine - The Grocer’s Daughter (short story) 98
Michael McNamara - (artwork) pg. 104
James Albert Barr - Dream Desert Song - pg. 105
Janice Colman - At Book’s End - pg. 106
Keith Nunes - E-mail in the Cold - pg. 107
Andreas Gripp - Tiles - pg. 108
Talia Zajac - At Bloor and Avenue Road -pg. 109
Stephanie Bryant Anderson - Soap and Water - pg. 110
Joe Rosenblatt - The Boat - pg. 111
Alan Britt - End of Summer Poem - pg. 112
Donia Mounsef - Liquid Caresses - pg. 113
Leslie Vryenhoek - Cold Snap - pg. 114
J.S. MacLean - Geometry Class - pg. 115
Burt Rairamo - They Interfere - pg. 116
Martin e Durkin - Her Town - pg. 117
Patrick Connors - Me With You - pg. 118
Naoise Hefferon - Written Inside Singing Bowls - pg. 119
Allan Revich - July 1 - pg. 120
Azure Edwards - (abstract art #1) - pg. 121
10 Questions with Eva Moran - pg. 122
Ian Orti - King’s Town (short story) - pg. 128
Interview with Kate Miller-Heidke (music) - pg. 134
The 23rd Toronto Small Press Book Fair (review) - pg. 140
Contributor’s Page - pg. 144


Purchase Print Copies at these locations:

Bookcity (Annex) - Downtown Toronto 501 Bloor St. West 416-961-4496
Bookcity (Bloor West Village)-Toronto 2350 Bloor St. West 416-766-9412
McNally Robinson Bookstore- Toronto 1090 Don Mills Road 416-384-0084
Poet's Pulpit-Oakville - 2411 Marine Drive 905-825-3773





Order online here:


http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-toronto-quarterly---issue-four/6919861



Note: If you are interested in ordering a print copy of TTQ4 or any of our back issues, please e-mail me at thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com and put in the subject box, PRINT COPIES OF TTQ4.

Many thank you's to everyone that contributed to TTQ4...very much appreciated!!!!

Darryl Salach
Editor - TTQ














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MEGAN HAMILTON SPEAKS ABOUT RECORDING HER NEW ALBUM - SEE YOUR MIDNIGHT BREATH IN THE SHIPYARD

I thought that I'd share an interesting videotape, courtesy of youtube. It's with Megan Hamilton and she talks a bit about the recording of her recently released cd - See Your Midnight Breath In The Shipyard. The video is filmed in a kind of home movie format that I found to be rather cool and it was insightful to boot. Her cd was reviewed in TTQ3 and Megan and her band (The Volunteer Canola) have been playing some shows here and there in the Toronto area over the course of the summer. Check out her album, you won't be disappointed!!! Click this link to view the video:

For more info concerning Megan, visit her website:

http://www.meganhamiltonmusic.com/index.html









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THE TORONTO QUARTERLY - TABLE OF CONTENTS - ISSUE 3

THE TORONTO QUARTERLY - ISSUE 3 (MAY, 2009)

COVER ART -
GEOGIANA MARCU

INTERVIEWS -
DESI DI NARDO
STEPHEN MORSE

SHORT STORIES -
CHARLES BLACKSTONE

FLASH FICTION -
MEG POKRASS

POETRY -
DESI DI NARDO - 3 poems
STEPHEN MORSE - 2 poems
AINE MACAODHA - Memories
JANICE BRABAW - Future

EWAN WHYTE - 2 poems
FELINO SORIANO - Painter's Exhaltations
IPHIGENIA SEVERINOVA - Untitled Film Still
SEAN HILL - Juggernaut
SARAH TEITEL - Advice
LYN LIFSHIN - 2 poems
ROBERT KLEIN ENGLER - 2 poems
ZACHARY BUSH - 1 poem
KATE MARSHALL FLAHERTY - The Sponge Poem
GREGORY GUNN - Sapphire - Omened Love
EDWARD KANERVA - Aleatoric Smile
CAROLYN SRYGLEY-MOORE - 1 poem
SCOTT WANNBERG - There's a Homicide
J.J. STEINFELD - A Theory of Education
ELIZABETH HOWARD - Was it Mars Above Your Apartment?
ELANA WOLFF - Two in Raluca's Waiting Room
TAMIR BAR-ON - Exile
TRISH HARRIS - A Cool April Night
DAVID DANNOV - Sleaze
HOWARD GOOD - Self Help
ALEXANDRA OLIVER - What You Want the Doctor to Tell You
MICHAEL SALCMAN - The Apprentice Surgeon
DAVID OPRAVA - The Dawn
HELLER LEVINSON - The Road to Comb Road
ROBERT WHITELEY - Crossword
MELANIE PIERLUIGI - 2 poems
DANIELE PANTANO - 4:36 AM
RYAN BIRD - The Doors
TIM TOMLINSON - 2 poems
CORRINE BAILEY - Death, Stephen King Style
AMANDA JOY - To Applause
KEVIN CRAIG - Beneath the Constellations
LAURA SILVER - PIER GIORGIO DI CICCO (poem)
ROBIN RICHARDSON - The Leprosaria
KENNETH P. GURNEY - Bear Market
LIZ WORTH - 2 poems
ERIKA MOYA - To Touch
DONALD ILLICH - Remembrance Day
JAMES H. DUNCAN - Fresher Diamonds
JORDAN ABEL - Dear Skin Drum Floating Down a River
LINDA MERCER - Keep the Change
CONNIE POST - Cold Front
BLAIR TREWARTHA - Softening the Mould
DIANA M. RAAB - The Library
JANICE COLMAN - When Garth Ass-Fucks My Soul
PAUL MABELIS - Innuendo
PETRA WHITELY - Skin
MATTHEW HALL - A Pattern of Settlement
BERNICE LEVER - Privates
MILO MARTIN - Stegosaurus
PATRICK M. PILARSKI - Place Names
AMANDA J. BRADLEY - Seed
JANN EVERARD - 2 poems
DAVID LEVINSON - Le Monde
JOHN GREINER - Song of the Pornographer
ROGER KNOX - Road Racing

PHOTOGRAPHY -
KAREN SCHULMAN DUPUIS
DAWNA WRIGHT
LAURA SILVER

ARTWORK -
CHARLES MOFFAT
LORETTE C. LUZAJIC
NATALIE REIS

MUSIC REVIEW -
MEGAN HAMILTON - See Your Midnight Breath in the Shipyard (written by Darryl Salach)

buy your copies here:

Bookcity (Annex) - Downtown Toronto501 Bloor St. West 416-961-4496
Bookcity (Bloor West Village)-Toronto2350 Bloor St. West 416-766-9412
McNally Robinson Bookstore- Toronto1090 Don Mills Road 416-384-0084
Poet's Pulpit-Oakville2411 Marine Drive 905-825-3773
Also, order TTQ3 online at:

Lulu.com http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-toronto-quarterly-issue-three/6774479

amazon.com (USA only) http://www.amazon.com/TORONTO-QUARTERLY-ISSUE-THREE-Darryl-Salach/dp/B002ACXDO6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249433953&sr=8-1

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REMEMBERING: AL PURDY.....to Paris never again

I was flipping through my copy of Al Purdy's, "to Paris never again" and was astounded and reminded of the man's remarkable talent. Sure, Al Purdy was always recognized as one of the most prolific poets of modern time to ever hail from the Great White North.

His majestic lines were recognized by the most prominent of literary figures around the world.

Even Charles Bukowski of all people, appreciated the man from Ameiliasburgh, Ontario. Buk described him in this way, "I don't know of any good living poets. But there's this tough son of a bitch up in Canada that work's the line."

They both came from similar backgrounds, working menial, labour-intensive jobs, traveling from place to place, up until they were both finally able to make a living with their writing full-time.

They both corresponded with one another over the years spurring each other on - it was up to them to spread the word - or so they thought.

Looking back, they were right, it was that precious gift they left to all of us, brief glimpses of ourselves, their words of living and longing touching us in just the right places, so eloquently crafted.

Both have been gone for many years now, and the well it is dry, no one seemingly able to carry on the torch poetically today. Sure, some try, but to no avail...the honesty in poetry today has burned away into the labyrinth of the setting sun.

There will always be a shortage of greatness in this dour world, be it in academics or in sport...and we will continuously mourn the loss of such icon's until the next one suddenly appears out of the malaise, not unlike an epiphany of the almighty God himself.

For now, we are only left with his words, the words of Al Purdy, and for many that is enough. Mighty words indeed, from a wordsmith who will be studied hundreds of years from now, and remembered as the most accomplished Canadian poet to have ever lived.

Rest in peace my friend, rest in peace.

- Written by Darryl Salach (editor-The Toronto Quarterly)

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SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR TTQ4 IS AUGUST 1, 2009!!!

Just wanted to remind everyone that, AUGUST 1, 2009, is the deadline for submissions to TTQ4. Any submissions received later than August 1, will be considered for issue 5. Listed below are the current submission guidelines:


SEND US 4-5 POEMS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US 1-2 SHORT STORIES (500-2500 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK AND PAINTINGS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOK/MUSIC REVIEWS (200-1000 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR INTERVIEWS WITH POETS/AUTHORS/MUSICIANS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOKS AND CD’S AND WE WILL CONSIDER REVIEWING THEM.

send your submissions to thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Please note that The Toronto Quarterly does not compensate contributors to the magazine monetarily or with free print copies of TTQ. But we do provide all contributors with a free pdf file which is downloadable through lulu.com and your name in lights.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR TTQ4 IS: AUGUST 1, 2009







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MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE ANTHOLOGY - SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!!

MJ Tribute Anthology

literary. thoughtful. intelligent.

deadline

August 29, 2009

editor Lorette C. Luzajic

http://www.thegirlcanwrite.net/

Eulogies, poems, short stories, theories, thoughtful inquiries, what Michael Jackson meant to you, essays. No dead pedophile jokes. I don’t shy away from difficult subjects but I expect intelligent inquiry and reflection. Michael’s music, legend, symbolism, spirituality, cultural significance, psychology, history and more. Be creative. Be emotional. Be smart. What does MJ’s fame say about our culture? Why was he the one? Why did society turn on him, and then turn right back at death? What does fame do to a person? How does celebrity serve us in everyday life? Does Michael’s reclusive nature separate him from the superstar mask? What does plastic surgery or addiction mean? Contrast Michael to other celebrities, focus on his work and talk about one song or video and what’s inside it, or address how his life or death made you feel personally and why.

This is a labour of love, so I cannot pay you. You will be fully credited for your piece, if chosen, with a bio paragraph and links to your websites or other contact info that you prefer.

Thanks so much.

Lorette C. Luzajic

email questions and submissions to thegirlcanwrite@hotmail.com

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GEORGIANA MARCU – AN ARTIST ON THE RISE!!

I recently had the opportunity to interview, Georgiana Marcu, a young artist from Montreal, Quebec.
Her painting, "I Plan to Swallow Buttons" recently graced the cover of The Toronto Quarterly.
Marcu's paintings are quickly becoming more well-known in literary and art's circles across Canada and North America.
I hope my interview manages to uncover a little of the mystic that is, Georgiana Marcu.
Please visit the following web pages for more tid bits, gmarcu.com and gmarcu-art.blogspot.com.

- Darryl Salach (The Toronto Quarterly)






TTQ- Can you give us a little more background as to who, Georgiana Marcu is as a person? Where did grow up and go to school?

GM- I was actually born in Eastern Europe and moved to Canada with my parents when I was 12. I grew up as an only child and most of the time I had to find my own way of entertainment that didn't involve much interaction with my parents. I was brought up by my grandparents, in the outskirts of Bucharest, in a little home that my grandfather built with his own hands after the previous house got bombed during World War II. I thought that was a fascinating story and this little three room house was my home for most of my childhood. To think about it, that little very poor and limited environment made me who I am today. I don't remember watching much TV, I was thrown out of the house to play in the garden. When I got bored as a kid, I was told to either go do something outside, or I was given a piece of paper and crayons to play with, or I was sometimes given tools to make things and I'd create little doll furniture pieces for my dolls.
I was really shy as a child but thrived to break out of my shell and for that I'd always follow the trouble-maker kids in the neighbourhood, much to my grandma's horror to see me hang-out with the local Gypsy kids.

TTQ- Do you remember when you first became interested in art, be it painting or photography?

GM- I don't remember at what age this happened but early on, I think I was 2, my parents repainted my bedroom in our apartment and for some reason I was left alone to nap, or was in time-out. I remember finding some pencils and started drawing on the walls because I seemed to find comfort in creating some sort of creatures on the walls of my room. Maybe I wanted to create imaginary friends that would keep me company on my frequent time-out sessions. My parents never repainted the room and those drawings stayed there until we moved to Canada.

TTQ- Tell us about the first painting you ever painted and where is it hanging now?

GM- I don't remember exactly, but my suspicion is that the first I ever sold was this ugly painting I did of an imaginary face. Someone in Ireland bought it on impulse. I really do wonder if she still has it.

TTQ- How does one become an 'artist' in your opinion? Is it something you learned or is it passion?

GM- I don't think you can 'become' an artist. I think creativity is something you're born with. Sure, drawing and painting is a skill you can learn. You can learn to copy Dali and learn to paint like the Masters, but you can't learn to compose your own painting or to purposely create an interesting painting based on what you're thinking. But some people try and I think fail and it's that little thing that seperates the people who know how to draw from those who are artists.

TTQ- You once described painting in this way, "you paint when you don't feel like painting." What did you mean by that, exactly?

GM- I don't remember saying that. With my art, my ideas and moods change all the time, and this was probably one of those optimistic moments when I thought that painting when the moment wasn't there would be a good idea. That's not usually my moto. I generally don't paint if I don't feel the flow, because I tend to ruin a lot of paintings this way. This is the main reason I haven't painted in 2 months, the mood just hasn't been there. I have many unfinished pieces and I feel like the mood used to start them up is way past gone and overdue, that if I continue now, they'll take on another personality. I'd have to reorganize my thoughts and possibly begin again, but what was started will not be finished in the same light.

TTQ- I'm curious about your first set of 'bird series' paintings. Was there a particular theme you were trying to capture in that series and where are the paintings now? Is it true you destroyed them?

GM- The 'bird series' wasn't based on a 'theme', it was based on my personal life. The series was done during one of the winters a few years ago, and it pretty much represented the aftermath of an event. The birds represent my mind and heart and life as it were during that period of time. I felt dead and like a ghost. I'm normally a very cheery and happy person. Feeling so emotionally dead was unnatural for me. It was like I wasn't flying. It also went in the comparison to the death of nature that occurs during winter, the darkness and the cold. I think that was the longest winter for me. I don't really remember anything about that winter, except me staying up all night painting these gigantic birds.
None of the paintings from this series survived because of the whole idea behind them. I had them sitting around for a long time, and that following summer, I decided not to continue the project and erase them. It was like a healing process to erase the birds, thus erasing the memory of where they came from. I thought that having them around was really attracting negative energy for me and to move on I had to destroy them.
They actually all live behind these new paintings I've made since. No canvas was slashed, but new things went on top. Actually, one of the birds lives behind the "Royal Poinciana" painting I made that summer.


TTQ- You have a new series called, 'new yellow birds', and your painting, 'I plan to swallow buttons' was chosen for the cover of TTQ3. I understand the series was inspired by the poetry of Desi Di Nardo. Tell us about that and have you written poetry yourself?


GM- The new yellow birds were a series I tried to do at the request of Desi Di Nardo. She was quite disappointed that the old birds had been destroyed and she asked if there was a chance I could be inspired again to paint the birds from reading her poetry. I think the new series was a combination of her poetry, my choice of a bird that I thought would match the person I think Desi is, and a bit of the old birds. "I plan to swallow buttons" - the unfortunate demise of a bird fallen in love. Many of the old birds had these empty hollow bodies, the new birds are intact and they look whole and feel as though they still have a soul.
Actually, I do write poetry...I really don't know how to continue this thought. There's not much to say about my poetry. It's there. Nobody reads it. I don't share much of it. I always have words and lines flowing through my head, I just choose to not always write them down.

TTQ- Not only are you a painter, but photography plays a big part in your life as well. Why are both genres so important to you?

GM- I think photography is more of an obsession. My vegetable drawer in my fridge is full of old film rolls. I have a camera in my bag all the time and I take thousands of pictures of the same subject at different times of the day, different light, different moods. I particularly like to photograph utility poles and I find fascinating sparking in different light conditions. They're even better if they're decorated in ivy. Photography is a way for me to observe. I'm a big observer of what's going on around me. I take photographs and repeat and overlap, and over time this merged into what looks like a collection of memories, much like people's minds. They take and retain information, images, sounds, words, and they overlap and merge into each other and blur and confuse each other's information. I find that fascinating. The more confusing a photograph is, the better because I like to recall when and where it was taken, and what mood I was in when I took the shot, a process that's much like recalling a personal experience from the past, and it very much relates to painting as well.

TTQ- I've read that you enjoy traveling. Is that where you draw your inspiration from, visiting different places and cultures? Tell us about some of the places you visited recently?


GM- Traveling is part of my curiosity to observe people and hear different stories and see different colours. When I travel, it's like a surreal experience because I have this crazy idea that once you leave a place, it just stops in time and it stops developing from that moment you leave it, because that's where your memory ends. It's hard to explain how I think about things. Traveling is a source of peace and inspiration for me. My inspiration comes from the memories I live when I travel and also the photographs I take. I don't like rushed voyages. I like to take my time and observe everything, watch people and the way they live their lives and retain that information. I like going to quiet places that don't really get many tourists so that the people are pure and untouched by their need and desire to act a certain way to pleasure tourists.

TTQ- Have you decided that art will be your chosen career?


GM- I think art is already my chosen career even though I can't live off of it yet. But things will change I'm sure. I'd like to just travel and paint. Maybe paint a little bit in each corner of the world so I can say someone everywhere has a little piece of my art.
I think my goal will be reached when I sell my art or photography more regularly.

TTQ- What interesting projects are you currently working on?

GM- It's a shame to say, there's no painting that I'm working on. I'm shooting lots of film and playing with different cameras. Sometimes, I just shoot film and not develop it for months. I recently acquired expired film from 1983. It's slide and I'm not quite sure what will come out of it, if anything. It's so old, I could end up with blanks, but I love the mystery behind expired film. It's just awaiting a really fun summer adventure to photograph.





































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Facing down the enemy

Globe Books exclusive
Facing down the enemy

Poetry waves a flower in the face of utilitarian age, says the noted critic (and self-proclaimed candidate for the Oxford Professorship of Poetry) James Wood. And it is the guardian of language. So why doesn't it get the respect we owe it, Woods ask in his often hilarious speech at last week's Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony


James Wood

Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009 10:23AM EDT

Custom dictates that an after-dinner speech should be amusing, but I want to talk briefly this evening about a serious subject: I mean the Oxford Professorship of Poetry. Most of you will know that the post is currently vacant, following first the withdrawal of the Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, and then the brief appointment and resignation of the poet Ruth Padel, under scandalous circumstances: anonymous packages containing information about Mr. Walcott's sexual harassment of students were mailed to Oxford academics; and Ms. Padel, though at first professing blameless ignorance, seems to have had a hand in the dirty tricks.

The field is wide open.

I am using this speech to announce my candidacy as the next Professor of Poetry at Oxford. You may ask what my qualifications are. You may ask, but I may not tell you; and besides, I rather resent the implication that one must have qualifications. For the record, I have written a few poems over the years, and I fancy that some of them are quite good, better indeed than some of the so-called verse being so lavishly hosannaed tonight. Let me share with you something I wrote at the age of 10; it was published in my school magazine above my name:

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

I'll be honest and admit that my father helped me a little with this poem. When I look back, its diction seems a bit old-fashioned, and that half-rhyme of “eye” with “symmetry” seems lame. But it wasn't long before I was sounding edgier, more modernist. Here is what I wrote, again with my father's help, when I was 14:

Come in under the shadow of this red rock
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

I still think that's a pretty good effort for a 14-year-old and his zoologist dad to have come up with. On arriving in Toronto yesterday, I sat down, this time without my father's help, to pen this short lyric:

Toronto, city of maples stretched across the sky,
And the vivid ghost of Northrop Frye,
You do not lie, you do not lie
What jagged extremities you pose:
In summer as warm as Karachi,
In winter as cold as Kiev;
The home of Michael Ondaatje,
And lately, Michael Ignatieff.

It is true that I'm better know as a critic than as a poet, but I am what Wordsworth called his brother, John – a “silent poet.” And if everyone's a silent critic, everyone's a silent poet. The other day, The New York Times carried a reader's letter from someone called Anne Tolstoi Maslon. Apparently, Ms. Maslon is a novelist. Usually, when The Times runs a letter from someone who is a published writer but not an especially famous one, a descriptive assertion in italics follows the name, using the formulation: “The writer [i.e. of this letter] is a novelist/poet/playwright.” I was struck by the letter from Anne Tolstoi Maslon, because in her case it was followed by the line: “The writer is the novelist.” Not a novelist, but the novelist. I mean no disrespect to her work, but I have been unable to find any fiction by Anne Tolstoi Maslon. Now this set me thinking. If Anne Tolstoi Maslon, buoyed no doubt by the prestige of her middle name, could simply assert, “The writer is the novelist,” why could I not submit my candidacy to Oxford, thus: “James Wood. The critic is the poet.”

Of course, I have other qualifications, too. I am an accomplished teacher, a mellifluous lecturer, and have no known history of sexual harassment. (A foolish plagiarism charge brought against me and my father a few years ago was thrown out and declared “frivolous.”) I am younger than Christopher Ricks (the former Professor), and thinner than Susan Boyle (also rumoured to be interested). Every poet who has a go at the Oxford job needs a campaign team, and I am here to announce it: my father, still going strong at 82, will be my chief of staff (he has also generously agreed to deliver one of my lectures at Oxford); one of the Griffin Trustees, Robin Robertson, will be in charge of the day-today running of the campaign; and the Griffin Trust has very kindly offered to pay for the considerable costs – thank you, Scott.


“ Finding a poetry review in a popular newspaper is now like trying to find classical music on American radio ”

We are able to laugh at all of this because the Oxford debacle offered the spectacle of serious people acting foolishly. It was painful, not least because it allowed journalistic mockery of two worlds easy to mock: academia and poetry. Britain's increasingly anti-intellectual culture was delighted to find that, indeed, the fights within such worlds are all the fiercer because the stakes are so low. How hilarious to be squabbling over a few lectures, a few thousand pounds

Would the journalists have laughed in the same way if novelists and not poets had been squabbling? I doubt it. For poetry has suffered a crucial shrinkage of respect: I mean the disappearance of serious mainstream poetry reviewing. Finding a poetry review in a popular newspaper is now like trying to find classical music on American radio – one faint station can be heard on FM, maybe, but the reception is lousy, and it is always Mozart anyway. The New Yorker, where I write, used to employ Helen Vendler as a regular poetry critic; now it is rare for that magazine to devote 4,000 words to a poet. The New York Times employs a poetry reviewer whose last long piece was about the verse of Clive James.

What has consumed the space? The great, fat, greedy monster of the novel, which sucks all the vital nutrition away for itself. The big prizes – Griffin excepted – are for novels, the big advances are for novels, the author interviews are for novelists. Fiction is business, poetry isn't. (Years ago, novelists used to speak of having a novel “accepted” by a publisher; now they talk about “selling” it.) Suppose Geoffrey Hill publishes a new collection. He will get reviewed, of course, but at what length and with what seriousness? But when Ian McEwan publishes his new novel, he can expect 20 to 30 reviews in newspapers and magazines, many of them searching essays of several thousand words.

There are at least two effects of this shrinkage. One is that, pragmatically speaking, poetry has less muscle, less heft, less public presence, than it should have. “Not bad, for a poetry reading,” is how people talk, already twisted into a cringing posture of self-disrespect. The second is that the crucial function of criticism – to explain texts – is not going on in the world of poetry. The middleman – the critic – has been capitalistically excised, and the poem and its audience stare at each other across a vast ignorant space. Recently I heard the poet Robert Pinsky and the thriller writer Elmore Leonard on the radio. Pinsky had just reviewed Leonard's new novel. (Tellingly, we can't imagine Leonard reviewing Pinsky, for that would seem, commercially speaking, like the master dressing his own valet.) Pinsky said that some of Leonard's prose had the compression of verse, then asked the novelist if he read much poetry. No, was the reply – it's too difficult to get into.

The longer poetry is absent in this way, the harder it is for it to find its way back into popular comprehension and respect.

There are things we can do. Prizes like the Griffin are important – valuable in themselves, they also function within the marketplace to give poetry a bit of a swagger, like carrying a piece. We must lobby – polite word for shame – literary editors to carry more poetry reviews (I myself intend to start writing poetry reviews at The New Yorker). We should embarrass our novelist friends – why is it okay to be up on David Foster Wallace but not on John Ashbery?

Poetry waves a flower in the face of a highly utilitarian age. That great secular hybrid, pragmatic evolutionary psychology and neuro-aesthetics, is busy telling us that art is a slightly puzzling evolutionary superfluity. Art is defended as “cognitive play,” crucial for the evolutionary development of homo sapiens. Art, for such people, must always somehow be justified. But poetry sings the song of itself, and offers a musical gratuity. Just as no one should have to justify, in pragmatic terms, playing the piano or listening to Bach, so no one should have to justify reading Keats or Wallace Stevens. And I am not making the weak case that poetry evades or exceeds such pragmatic cost-counting, but that it challenges such utilitarianism, makes it doubt itself. It faces down the enemy.

Poetry can justify itself, of course (as music can), and might do so thus: Poets guard the language. They are the archivists, the philologists of the language, alert to what Virginia Woolf called “language with roots.” I find that poets are routinely better versed (the pun is instructive) in the history of their art than are contemporary novelists. Think, for a second, of how important at present this guardianship has become. In the last few years, there has been nothing less than a war on words. On the one hand political euphemism has been rampantly deployed (“collateral damage,” “waterboarding,” “rendition,” “stress procedures”); on the other hand, those skilled in verbal nuance have been derided as prissily “professorial” (President Obama was routinely mocked during the election as a mere “man of words”), and the very inability to use language with precision has been held up as a mark of authenticity (George Bush, Sarah Palin). And just as Orwell feared, there has been a direct link between a shifty and immoral use of language and a shifty and immoral politics. Poets have a public function just as much as a private one.

When Robert Lowell published his book of free translations, Imitations, Vladimir Nabokov, a literal translator, was enraged. “How would Mr. Lowell like it,” he asked, “if I translated his fine phrase ‘leathery love' into Russian as ‘the large football of passion'? ”

There has been a lot of passion, poetic passion, on display here tonight. Once all this is over, and the wine glasses have been cleared away, and the winners have banked their cheques and the losers pawned their sorrow, let us punt that large football of passion across the field and into the enemy's goal.

James Woods is a novelist and a literary critic for The New Yorker magazine. This is the text of the speech he gave at the Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony in Toronto last week.

The Toronto Quarterly - Issue Three now available at amazon.com!!!

Good News!!! The Toronto Quarterly - Issue Three is now available at amazon.com and the shipping charges are very reasonable. Also, the second issue of TTQ is available at amazon as well. Click below to order:

The Toronto Quarterly - Issue Three (Interviews with Desi Di Nardo and Stephen Morse)

http://www.amazon.com/TORONTO-QUARTERLY-ISSUE-THREE-Darryl-Salach/dp/B002ACXDO6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243690889&sr=8-5

The Toronto Quarterly -Issue Two (Interviews with Jessica Blau, Heather Haley and Richard Todd)

http://www.amazon.com/Toronto-Quarterly-2-Darryl-Salach/dp/B002AD52YE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243690889&sr=8-3

TTQ3 is NOW AVAILABLE at the BOOKCITY (BLOOR WEST VILLAGE) LOCATION!!!!

Here are the locations where you can purchase TTQ3:

Bookcity (Annex) - Downtown Toronto
501 Bloor St. West
416-961-4496

Bookcity (Bloor West Village)-Toronto
2350 Bloor St. West
416-766-9412

McNally Robinson Bookstore- Toronto
1090 Don Mills Road
416-384-0084

Poet's Pulpit-Oakville
2411 Marine Drive
905-825-3773

Also, order TTQ3 online at:

Lulu.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-toronto-quarterly-issue-three/6774479

The Toronto Quarterly – Issue Three is now available.

Hello Everyone!!! We are pleased to announce, The Toronto Quarterly – Issue Three is now available.

For this issue, I had the pleasure of interviewing, Canadian poet, Desi Di Nardo who has recently released a book of her poems, ‘The Plural of Some Things’ (Guernica Editions Inc.). Also, we have an incredible interview with Stephen Morse, ‘The Last American Beat,’ who sat down with Louis Bourgeois and Zachary Bush to discuss the beat poets of the 60’s and the current state of poetry in America.

There are also some well known and not-so-well-known poets in this issue, such as: Lyn Lifshin, Robert Klein Engler, Michael Salcman, Ewan Whyte, Elana Wolff, Tamir Bar-On, Petra Whitely, Melanie Pierluigi, Kevin Craig, Robin Richardson, Bernice Lever, Roger Knox and many, many more.

We have a music review of Megan Hamilton’s new cd, ‘See Your Midnight Breath in the Shipyard’.

There is also, wonderful artwork from Georgiana Marcu, Charles Moffat, Natalie Reis and Lorette C. Luzajic.

The new issue will be available online, through lulu.com. The cost of print issues will remain a $6.00 plus shipping and the pdf file download is FREE to everyone. We also have a limited number of print copies available at Bookcity (Annex location) in downtown Toronto; they will be priced at $10.00 per copy.

Here is the link to order through lulu.com:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-toronto-quarterly-issue-three/6774479

Here is the address for Bookcity (Annex): (on the south side of Bloor St. between Bathurst St. and Spadina Ave. at Brunswick.)

Bookcity - Annex
501 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Phone # 416-961-4496

Just a reminder. We are now taking your poetry, short stories, artwork, photography, book and music review submissions for issue four of The Toronto Quarterly. The submission deadline is August 1, 2009. Send your submissions to: thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Enjoy the new issue of TTQ, everyone!!!

Sincerely,

Darryl Salach

-Creator and Editor

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR TTQ4!

We are now taking submissions for TTQ4. The submission deadline will be August 1, 2009.


SEND US 4-5 POEMS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US 1-2 SHORT STORIES (500-2500 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK AND PAINTINGS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOK/MUSIC REVIEWS (200-1000 WORDS) WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR INTERVIEWS WITH POETS/AUTHORS/MUSICIANS WITH A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

SEND US YOUR BOOKS AND CD’S AND WE WILL CONSIDER REVIEWING THEM.



send your submissions to thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Please note that The Toronto Quarterly does not compensate contributors to the magazine monetarily or with free print copies of TTQ. But we do provide all contributors with a free pdf file which is downloadable through lulu.com and your name in lights.

The NaPoMo Questionnaire: Desi Di Nardo

The Toronto Quarterly will be having an in depth interview with local Toronto poet, Desi Di Nardo, in the upcoming Spring issue. She recently released her first book of poetry, 'The Plural of Some Things' (Guernica Editions Inc.). She was also chosen poet of the day this week in theNational Post.


Gord Downie may not want to know what the poets are doing, but we do। April is

National Poetry Month -- NaPoMo -- and to celebrate The Afterword is introducing readers to poets from across the country। Check back here each day to discover a new poet, and (more importantly) be sure to buy their books.

Desi Di Nardo's work has been featured in numerous North American and international journals and anthologies, plus some unique places: printed on Starbucks coffee cups and featured as part of the Toronto Transit Commission's Poetry on the Way initiative। She published a collection titled The Plural of Some Things last year.

Can you remember the first poem you ever wrote? What was it about?

I always remember writing poetry, even from a very early age, but Rainbird in the Annex is the first poem I wrote when I began my writing about eight years ago। Fittingly, it deals with the influence and essentialness of place for a writer and the shaping of one’s voice or craft based on what that writer or artist defines as “home.” It was also one of my first published poems and was included in the Poetry on the Way series on the TTC.

Who's your favourite living poet -- Canadian or otherwise -- and why?

There are so many brilliant poets who are the backbone of what Modern Poetry in Canada is today but unfortunately those poets who I care to choose are no longer with us। As for a favourite living poet, I don’t have one, though there are a handful of poets whose style I appreciate. P. K. Page is one. Another is Pier Giorgio Di Cicco for his wry wit and magical way of personifying unlikely matter. And someone whose work I’ve only been recently acquainted with is Tim Lilburn whose poetical charm is heavily entrenched in landscape and the natural world.

Who's one poet you pretend to know but in reality have never, ever read?I don’t have to think too long on this one। Geoffrey Chaucer। To date, it baffles me to think I passed his course।

If you could get everyone in the world to read one poem, what would it be?Hands down – Al Purdy’s The Last Picture in the World। It is starkly still, sad, and impossibly beautiful. What's the poetry collection you'd take on a desert island?Probably any one of Pablo Neruda’s collections. I can’t think of anyone else’s voice I’d more want to share the island with.

Novels are always being adapted into movies। What are some poems that deserve the Hollywood treatment?

I’d like to see The Prelude by William Wordsworth made into a flick and presented at Cannes with Malcolm McDowell, the main actor from Clockwork Orange, as the lead. Actually, I can’t believe it hasn’t been done already!
What's the most exciting thing happening in poetry these days?More and more poetry is reaching people who might otherwise not be readily exposed to it। Not only is the poetical word alive and well but there are more opportunities and venues for performances and readings, a larger number of poets mentoring students in schools, greater community involvement, and much more accessibility for those interested in getting published on the Net.

What poetry blog or website do you read every day without fail?

I have to confess I don’t। I’m afraid I’m not the most techno-savvy person when it comes to the Internet. So if it doesn’t concern retrieving emails or typing out my poems from longhand, I determinedly try to stay away.

What are you working on next?

I just released my new book of poetry this past December and am finally settling down to continue with a 2nd book of poetry. The timing couldn’t be better. April is not only National Poetry Month. It’s a time when the snow melts, the clouds part away, the birds beckon, and the slight colouring of growth appears once again. -->

New Voice on the Scene by Patrick Connors

New Voice on the Scene By Patrick Connors The Toronto Quarterly is truly a testament of the electronic age। This new literary offering is available primarily at
www.lulu.com. You can either download a free pdf file from the site, or order it in print for 6 dollars plus shipping. I found the second issue in the Book City outlet located at 501 Bloor Street West in Toronto , where several copies are being marketed on a trial basis for the low, low price of only ten dollars.
Edited by Darryl Salach and Melanie Pierluigi, it includes short short stories (literary vignettes), artists, interviews, book and music reviews, and photography. However, the mainstay of the magazine is poetry.
There are no fledgling poets to be found. Most have been widely published in chapbooks, full collections, and respected magazines such as CV2, Shenandoah, and The Malahat Review. All have strong singular voices you are bound to remember.
Near the beginning is ‘Metamorphosis’, by Amy L. George. This is a coming-of-age piece about a woman who was not “girly” enough for her mother, complete with vivid images of clothing and seductive walks. Towards the very end is ‘The Artist Autumn’, by Lise Whidden. With a precise eye she draws the sketch of a single Mom and the men who do not stay, accentuated by heightened language and quality of thought.
Right around the middle is Rob Mclennan, full member of the League of Canadian Poets. ‘Leaving Alberta ’ is about the notion of how “you can’t go home again,” something I can relate to from my experiences living in different municipalities of the GTA. While his experience is far more wide-ranging than mine, I feel like he is speaking to me in a manner we can both understand. Directly adjacent to this is ‘Another (Short) History of I,’ which combines a line from Jean Paulhan with the depiction of a pub where the narrator represents one-third of the patrons in attendance, listening to Johnny Cash and The Tragically Hip on the jukebox. All this, and more, in only seventeen lines!
Another facet which makes TTQ so unique and yet so of this age is that the editors support a Facebook page. As of March 3, 2009, 1770 members belong to this group. Compare his to the American Poetry Review which, after 35 years, has a circulation of 14 000 (according to its own webpage). TTQ seems to be well on its way!
Submissions for issue three are being received via the e-mail address of thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com. The deadline for consideration is April 1, 2009, and the guidelines can be found on the Facebook page.
How does a literary magazine survive supported by a non-formalized, imperfect medium like the internet, without widespread circulation, advertising, or page numbers?
In the immortal words of Muhammad Ali, reprinted next to this exciting new periodical's table of contents: “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
So, take a chance, and be a part of the beginning of what could be something special! Link to issue 1: http://www.lulu.com/content/3888882 Link to issue 2: http://www.lulu.com/content/5722843

NEW LOOK TO TTQ3!!!

The Pinup Girl feature has been retired from The Toronto Quarterly. We tried it and thought a change would be appropriate at this time.

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR TTQ3-SPRING ISSUE 09!!

Here are our submission guidelines:SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY OPEN FOR ISSUE 3!

3-5 poems sent as an attachment or in the body of the e-mail.

1 short story/column with between 200-1500 words maximum.

send us your drawings/paintings/photographs.let us know if you would like your music or books reviewed.

send us 5-10 photographs if interested in being a TTQ pinup girl. Please include a brief biography and photographers copyright.please send us previously unpublished work and be sure it is your own.attach a brief biography of yourself for us.

send your submissions to thetorontoquarterly@hotmail.com

Please note that The Toronto Quarterly does not compensate contributors to the magazine monetarily or with free print copies of TTQ. But we do provide all contributors with a free pdf file which is downloadable through lulu.com.