The Writers' Trust of Canada Prize finalists are announced!

The Writers' Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that awards almost $150,000 in various categories. The winners will be announced Nov. 2 in Toronto.


The complete lists of nominees are:

Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize:
For the year's best novel or short-story collection: $25,000


1.) Trevor Cole, Practical Jean (McClelland & Stewart)

2.) Emma Donoghue, Room (HarperCollins Canada)

3.) Michael Helm, Cities of Refuge (M&S)

4.) Kathleen Winter, Annabel (House of Anansi Press)

5.) Michael Winter, The Death of Donna Whalen (Penguin Canada)

Writers’ Trust Non-fiction Prize:
For the year's best work of non-fiction: $25,000

1.) James Fitzgerald, What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son’s Quest to Redeem the Past (M&S)

2.) Ross King, Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution and the Group of Seven (Douglas & McIntyre/McMichael Canadian Art Collection)

3.) Sarah Leavitt, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me (Freehand Books)

4.) John and Mary Thebarge, The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma: An Exploration into How Life Organizes Itself (M&S)

5.) Merrily Weisbord, The Love Queen of Malabar: Memoir of a Friendship with Kamala Das (McGill-Queen’s University Press)

Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize:
Awarded annually to a new writer for a short story published in a Canadian literary publication: $10,000


1.) Devon Code, Uncle Oscar (The Malahat Review)

2.) Krista Foss, The Longitude of Okay (Grain Magazine)

3.) Lynne Kutsukake, Mating (The Dalhousie Review)





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THE WORD ON THE STREET: National Book & Magazine Festival

The 21st edition of the Toronto version of The Word on the Street: National Book and Magazine Festival takes place this Sunday, September 26, 2010, at Queens Park from 11am to 6pm. The event will be headlined by Booker Prize winning author Yann Martel (also featured in the current issue of TTQhere), and he will be reading from his latest novel Beatrice and Virgil on the Scotiabank Giller Prize Bestsellers stage at 4pm.

Help promote literacy in Toronto this coming Sunday, buy a book or magazine and READ!!! For more details on specific events, authors, and times check out the events website. Watch the video below for a taste of what happened at last years festival.






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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - ROGER KNOX

ROGER KNOX is a Toronto composer, poet, reviewer and music educator/researcher. His poetry appears in Rampike and The Toronto Quarterly, and he has reviewed for The Malahat Review and Prairie Fire Review of Books. Originally an award-winning classical pianist, his compositions have been commissioned by The Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council and broadcast on the CBC and on U.S. National Public Radio. He taught at McMaster University and Douglas College, and worked at Bloorview Kids Rehab as a music educator and researcher in the area of music technology for people with disabilities. Currently he reviews recordings of contemporary music for Whole Note and enjoys playing folk and blues harmonica.


TTQ- How would you best describe your writing style and do you feel that form is important when it comes to writing poetry?

RK- My style is still coalescing as I have written poetry seriously for less than two years, after attending a reading by Desi Di Nardo. I was a composer and pianist but left the professional music field because of disabling arm injuries. I write free verse and read the poems aloud over and over to get the right flow and sound quality. Probably the aural focus is associated with my musical background. The importance of form in my poetry now is in the timing, sequences and processes that shape the work, rather than in traditional forms.

TTQ- How would you best describe the local poetry scene in the city of Toronto and do you manage to attend many poetry readings, and do you find they inspire you and your writing in any way?

RK- I think the Toronto poetry scene is vibrant and exciting! People are very welcoming and willing to provide context, and it's been a great experience getting to know poets at readings. I go around once a month to connect and get a sense of what people are writing. But it is hard to take in a number of poems at one hearing and that is what leaves me unsatisfied. Maybe having an on-stage respondent to point up a few highlights after the reading would help.

TTQ- Do you feel riot police used too much force in dealing with protesters at the recent G20 protests this past June, and should there be a public inquiry? Do you find poets in Toronto to be far too apathetic when it comes to writing about socio-political issues or should we simply leave it up to politicians to incorporate change as they see fit?

RK- Yes, the police went overboard and that whole situation deserves a public inquiry, especially the role of the federal government. Socio-political issues are worth addressing in poetry when the poet's imaginative and expressive powers are up to the challenge. By now many of us, poets included, have reached a state of learned helplessness in the face of massive concentrations of wealth and abuses of power. Yet I think poetry and the readings and meetings associated with it are valuable spaces for dissent and raising of alternatives.

TTQ- Who is your favourite poet and why?

RK- Currently Eustace (W.W.E.) Ross. He is known for his imagery and is a nature poet. But poems like The Diver, The Walk and If Ice set up meditative and spiritual spaces that resonate with mindfulness work I have been doing. For me it is a process of settling into the poem and finding that although nothing much happens, everything has changed. Also Ross's own situation of having been shell-shocked and gassed in the First World War, yet emerging with this wonderful imaginative life, is very moving.

TTQ- What poetry related projects are you currently working on and should we expect a book of your poetry any time soon?

RK- I am doing my first reading at the Creative Spirit Art Centre Festival of disability arts in Toronto on October 23rd, which will incorporate a little music as well as poetry. No book yet. Maybe you publish when you are finally fed up with sending poems to journals! But until a book starts kicking in the belly I will stick to journal submissions.






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Save 15% on all online orders of TTQ6!!

Starting today, with the beginning of Fall upon us, lulu.com is offering a 15% off special on all online purchases of The Toronto Quarterly - Issue Six. Simply enter the coupon code: FALLREAD305 when you check out to save. This offer expires on October 15, 2010. Click (here) to order now.




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THE TORONTO QUARTERLY - ISSUE SIX (Interviews with Yann Martel, Chevy Stevens, Blue Jays pitcher Dirk Hayhurst and much much more)

The Toronto Quarterly - Issue Six has finally arrived!!

I want to thank everyone for their patience and continuous support of my small literary & arts journal. It's hard to believe that TTQ is now six issues old and has managed to survive and grow without the help of any government grants or private financial funding of any kind. Something that is unheard of these days with literary print journals in Canada. Sure, TTQ doesn't meet the prudent guidelines established by the more prominent literary journals in this country, but the plan all along was for TTQ to be a lot different from the rest. I think we have managed to stick to our guns, remain relevant, and be that alternative something that not many others aspire to.

Also, a special thank you to my newly appointed intern Caitlin Galway and music reviewer Charmaine Santos for all of their help in putting the new issue together. Thank you, ladies!!

In this issue we have interviews with the likes of Booker prize-winning novelist Yann Martel who discusses his recently released novel Beatrice and Virgil and his What Is Stephen Harper Reading? blog, Canadian author Chevy Stevens a virtual unknown in the literary world, who was signed to a lucrative contract by a leading New York publisher for the rights to her debut novel, Still Missing, discusses her transformation from selling teddy bears and real estaste to reinventing herself as a novelist, and Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher turned writer Dirk Hayhurst discusses his critically acclaimed The Bullpen Gospels, living with his wacky grandmother, and the perils of becoming a pro baseball player.



We have a wonderful mix of poetry from Desi Di Nardo, Sasenarine Persaud, Catherine Graham, Talia Zajac, Changming Yuan, Gregory Betts, J.J. Steinfeld, Marc Di Saverio, and many more as well as two Toronto Poets - 5 Questions Series interviews with Robert Priest and Dani Couture. There are also short stories from Janet Somerville, Daniel Aldana Cohen, Barbara Biles, Cullene Bryant, and Paul Healey.

Be sure to check out our new music section with a review of the 15th annual S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival in St. Catharines, Ontario and interviews with Canadian singer-songwriter Billy 'The Kid' Pettinger, and introducing controversial L.A. band The Bastard Fairies.




If you live in the Toronto area print copies can be purchased at three BookCity locations:

BloorWest Village - 2350 Bloor West - 416-766-9412

The Annex - 501 Bloor West - 416-961-4496

Yonge/St. Clair - 1430 Yonge St. - 416-926-0749

If you would like to purchase print copies online click on the following link:

www.lulu.com(click)


Kind regards,
Darryl Salach
TTQ






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NOTHIN’ BUT THE BLUES: The Johnny Winter Experience (Sunday, September 12, 2010) by Charmaine Santos

Upon stepping out of the train station and walking towards Mississauga’s Port Credit Memorial Park, I was immediately enveloped by echoes of howling guitars and bellowing ivory keys blasting through tavern windows and bouncing off the city walls. Beside me, a three-legged hound hobbled contentedly beside its master, and on both sides of the street were guitar bearing folks blending in well with the strolling Sunday crowd. The annual three-day South Side Shuffle Festival is reminiscent of a trip down Beale Street in Memphis, with blues musicians hollering in crowded bars bordering the narrow sidewalks, guiding the thickening procession towards the main stage. It was late into the afternoon and the anticipation intensified for the festival’s finale was nearing, and the headlining performer was none other than the blue albino himself: the legendary Johnny Winter.

A man came up to my friend and I once we secured a spot only a row away from the stage and asked, “Have you been to Johnny’s show before?” We shook our heads and noted his worn out t-shirt with a print of a young Johnny playing his ’63 Gibson Firebird on it. “Oh, I’d seen him about a million times! He doesn’t have as much energy as he used to, but he can still rock out!” My friend and I must have been two of the dozen youths scattered amongst a crowd of mature followers, all declaring to have admired Johnny since his prime. Many were cradling age-worn records slipping out of faded sleeves, and a few frantically flew off their seats at the sight of the blues legend stepping onto the stage. His fans are clearly devoted.

Johnny was escorted onto the stage and remained seated for the entire show. Years of alcohol and drug abuse, a prolonged dependency on painkillers, and an accident leaving Johnny with a broken hip, confined him to a chair throughout the one and half hour set. However, those who know Johnny’s life story were not at all shocked and discomforted by how his past tribulations had visibly taken a toll on his body. As a matter of fact, with eyes gleaming and legs jittering with thrill, they were again witnessing Johnny as he was in Woodstock ’69. Although physically frail, the speed and accuracy of his playing still establishes his standing as one of history’s most influential guitarists, and the magnitude of his presence as he wails the blues from the pit of his gut, will continue to enthral listeners of each passing generation.



The night brought with it a feeling of nostalgia, as the now sixty-six-year-old Winter sang “Good Morning Little School Girl” with as much conviction as in his heyday. The crowd howled in delight and was even more electrified when “Red House” rang across the field and resounded across the city. Backed by his second guitarist Paul Nelson, bassist Scott Spray, and drummer Vito Liuzzi, Johnny spurred his lax listeners to leave their seats and jive their feet to “Mojo Boogie” and “Boogie Real Low” The lethargic Sunday afternoon quickly transformed into a lively evening. Johnny also played his cover of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” near the end of the night. The guitar slinger exhibited the infamous sliding technique that remains unmatched by today’s ambitious guitar players. He makes it look so easy!

As the evening came to a close, the audience quickly dispersed and I, still leaning on the metal barrier with my friend, became very determined to leave with a tangible memento of Johnny Winter’s show. Vito Liuzzi was packing up his drum kit when we made eye contact. By this time, the field was practically empty. I decided to take my chances and began motioning for his drumsticks. He shot a sharp grin and within a few quick seconds, a pair of sticks flew into our hands. Seeing the ecstatic disbelief on our faces, Vito laughed and waved a friendly good-bye. As my friend and I sat on the train on our way home, the significance of the night came as an unexpected hit as we examined the wear on each drumstick. We realized that with each passing year, our recollections of what had happened on that Sunday will become more surreal, but here was our proof. We had in our hands a piece of the timeless prodigy.



Charmaine Santos considers herself a full-time music aficionado, and an avid concert goer. She is a graduate of English and Literature at the University of Toronto. Several of her poems and prose have been published in the University of Toronto literary journal Scarborough Fair in 2009 and 2010. She resides in Markham, Ontario and is currently an English and creative writing instructor.



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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - S. McDonald (Confessions of an Empty Purse)

Toronto poet S. McDonald’s debut collection of poetry Confessions of an Empty Purse (Frontenac House, 2010) is a startling book of poems that uniquely splices all of the intricacies of an individual caught between genders, manifesting the depths of transition into one seamless, well manicured confessional. McDonald’s poems are written in an incredible narrative style, filled with semblances of normality, fantasy, and suicidal tendencies.

S. McDonald was born, raised and continues to relentlessly live in Toronto under the guise of what’s known as gender-neutral pronouns “ze” and “zir.” McDonald explains it was something that began a few years ago with some trans-people, in order to get away from the traditional “he” or “she,” to be more non-specific about not only what gender one is, but about gender in general. McDonald admits that the “gender-neutral pronoun” philosophy has not completely caught-on with all trans-people, sighting that many still have a lot invested in the male/female paradigm, but it’s a way of expression McDonald likes and finds useful.

Ze is the love child of Christine Jorgensen & John Rechy & the spiritual godchild of Jacqueline Susann, and has performed Zir’s alternative spoken word performance pieces at The Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s annual Rhubarb Festival, and at Paddy’s Playhouse.

Zir’s debut poetry collection Confessions of an Empty Purse (Frontenac House, 2010), was one of ten manuscripts chosen as part of Frontenac House's Dektet 2010 competition, using a blind selection process by a jury of leading Canadian writers: bill bissett, George Elliott Clarke, and Alice Major.

For more information visit S. McDonald’s blog @ www.smcdonaldpoet.blogspot.comhere and go to the Frontenac House website to order copies of Confessions of an Empty Purse @ www.frontenachouse.com here.

TTQ- The opening page of Confessions of an Empty Purse states "confessions of an empty purse is a poetic transmemoir of passion and fear, laughter, nightmares and dysphoria, preservation, degradation, dreams and pride...and it really happened. I was -am- there." Your poetry speaks a lot about suicide as well. Talk a little about your life trapped between genders. How are you feeling about yourself today and how therapeutic was it for you to write this book?



S. McDonald- Living between genders, from as far back as I can remember, made it difficult to lead what I would later call “an authentic life”. As I couldn’t live in the gender I felt I truly was (female) it left me with not wanting to really live my life, in any real way, at all. Many of those years were just empty space and not a small amount of self destruction.

Much of Confessions of an Empty Purse was written during the time in my life when I was trying to physically/emotionally transition in the world as a woman -- the highs and the lows and everything in between. It also brought to the surface memories from my childhood and adolescence that I hadn’t thought of in many years. That was a hard place to revisit but it also reminded me that, no matter how crazy it seems, I still had a very real hope then that once I became an adult I would indeed somehow become the woman I knew I was.

Hope. In my poem “transsexuals on parliament” I say that I was almost twenty at this point and everything still seemed possible/this would radically change and come crashing down about me when I did turn twenty. This did indeed happen and it more than set the stage for the next twenty-five or so years of my life. That’s why, even though as a Roman Catholic suicide was verboten, it was still something that was always there for me to touch and consider in a sort of “backdoor” way to deal with my gender dysphoria (which is, I know, a loaded term for some trans-people but one I‘m comfortable using in relation to myself).

Writing this book was, ultimately, a cathartic experience for me. When I began, I truly thought my life was headed in a very bold and definite direction, and by the time I’d finished it my life had taken some turns I hadn’t expected. I’d never presume to speak for any other trans-person but the decision I made not to transition, or rather detransition was both the defining sadness of my life and the reason why I’m still here.

TTQ- Is it a fair statement to call Confessions of an Empty Purse a kind of self-help book for others thinking about or living a transgender lifestyle? What kinds of feedback are you getting from the transgender community concerning the book?

S. McDonald- Honestly, I think Confessions of an Empty Purse reads more like a cautionary tale than a self-help book. They are, of course, very specifically my own experiences, but I think that if they can in any way “help” another transgendered person it might be that it’s a very different kind of narrative than what’s already out there. The fact that it doesn’t end with GRS (Gender Reassignment Surgery or “sex change”) and moving into living my life as a woman is in of itself unusual. There are many trans-people who ultimately don’t end up transitioning or, rather, detransition and our stories need to be heard too. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I still and always will self identify as transsexual. It’s just the way I’ve chosen to live out the rest of my life is different than how I’d hoped and planned. That’s life.

I’ve not gotten much feedback at all from the transgender community but I really believe that this has more to do with the type of person I am and the life I’ve had. I‘ve always lead a fairly isolated life with a profound need to be by myself and withdraw from the world. I’ve never been close to more than a few people at a time at any point in my life and being connected to a community of any kind just isn’t a part of my makeup.

One experience though: at the first book launch and reading the “Dekteters” did as a group in Edmonton this past Spring, two young trans-women came up to me after the readings were over. They had enjoyed my reading and had bought copies of my book, and brought them over for me sign for them. One was the “spokesperson” of the two as the other was much too shy to speak to me directly. It was a very touching moment for me, as in many ways I had written the book I whish I had been able to read at the same age as these two young trans-women were, and here they were, all these years later, buying this book that I had written. It had an odd feeling of reaching across time to the person I was, and whished I’d been able to become when I was in my twenties.

TTQ- The two prominent figures/hero's you mention repeatedly in your poems, are Dr. Renee Richards and your mom Mary who you lost in 1997. How big of a role did each of these two individuals play in your life and in your gender transformation?

S. McDonald- When I was a teenager the Dr. Renee Richards story broke big. She was all over the media for a time and was, in her words and I agreed, “the heir apparent to Christine Jorgensen”. She appeared on television and most prominently in People magazine. I read everything I could about her and with equal parts fascination and concern. As much as I loved the fact that suddenly there was this high profile transsexual saturating the media, Dr. Richards was somehow an affront to my highly judgmental and gender terrified teenage trans-psyche. I projected heavily on her all my own growing dread in facing the fact that I’d never be able to “pass” as a women and just what was that going to mean about my life and dreams to have a “sex change“ when I “grew up“.

Also, as much as I projected on her and judged her appearance she was, as I say in my poem “Dr. Renee Richards or: how I stopped worrying and learned to love the gender variant”, “she was she and that’s all that really mattered”. So, ultimately it didn’t matter how much I projected on her or disagreed with her view on this or that, it was the fact that she was a visible transsexual bravely out in the world in the 1970’s meant the world to me. That feeling was also extended to include other transsexuals of that era like Jan Morris, Mario Martino and especially, Canary Conn.

Some of the hardest things to write about were anything to do with my mother. We had a very close and loving relationship and she was as supportive and understanding as she could be with this child she had that seemed to have come from another world. She was my first best friend and as I grew older we had a very “girl friend” like relationship. Even so, my transsexuality was not something we ever discussed. I didn’t really understand this until after she died. I was thirty-six and I had never made any real attempt to deal with my transsexuality as an adult and then I suddenly realized it was because it was something that I could do now because it couldn’t hurt or embarrass her. Even though I didn’t make a solid crack at transitioning until I was in my mid-forty’s I really don’t think I would ever have gone as far as I had if she’d still been alive. I still miss her, everyday.

TTQ- How difficult was the process in finding a publisher for Confessions of an Empty Purse, and how much of a charge was it to receive such favourable praise for your work from the likes of bill bissett, George Elliot Clarke, and Alice Major?

S. McDonald- When I sent my manuscript off to Frontenac House for their “Dektet” competition I knew that I was sending off the best of what I had to offer as a writer and poet. I knew that, no matter what happened, I had given it my all and I couldn‘t have asked for anymore from myself. Actually being chosen as one of the ten books to be published as part of “Dektet” was something else, though. It made me realize how much I really wanted not only to be published but for it to be these particular poems and stories. Knowing that the likes of the jury, bill bisset, George Elliot Clarke and Alice Major had such incredible things to say about my book was truly humbling. These are poets I’ve read and respected so for my work to be chosen by them was thrilling.

Oh, and as an added, wonderful bonus was my artwork being used for the cover of Confessions of an Empty Purse. I’ve always drawn all my life, but the only things I’ve ever drawn are women. Not in a strict or “realistic” portrait sense but from how I’m feeling that day. All the women I draw are representations of me of course and have a more or less a comic book flavour as one of my original inspirations for drawing came from my love of Betty and Veronica comic books. The artwork in those comics, especially in the ’60s and 70’s and specifically the work of the artist Dan DeCarlo had a profound effect on me, and absolutely informed the way I draw. It was so thrilling for me that when I asked Frontenac House if they’d consider using one of my pieces for the cover that they enthusiastically agreed.

TTQ- Do you find there to still be a lot of homophobia out there in the city of Toronto concerning the transgender community, and what future poetry projects are you planning or currently working on?

S. McDonald- There is still much homo/trans phobia in the world. I’m basically a loner and always have been and I’ve never, ever been much of a “group” person and as such have never felt truly connected to any “community” even though there have been times in my life that I’ve tried very much to connect myself to the gay and especially the trans community. There is such schism within the LGBT community at large and, from my experience, the individual communities themselves, and that’s something that I always found hard to deal with as confrontation tends to make me panic.

I’m collaborating on a play with my friend, the writer and poet, David Bateman, as well as a new collection of poetry that explores my decision ultimately to not transition and letting go of my dream to physically live my life as a woman, as well as delving deeper into my life with my mother and our/my Catholicism. Oh, and my love of black chiffon marabou trimmed nighties. I’m kidding.


S. McDonald reads from Confessions of an Empty Purse.







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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - NASHIRA DERNESCH

Nashira Dernesch studied Creative Writing at York University where she co-edited the literary journal Existere for three years. In 2006 she won the Art Bar Poetry Series’ Annual Discovery Night. Her first chapbook, It’s No Secret You’ll Feel Better (believe your own press), sold out within two days of publication and is now in its second printing. This Snowing Under, her newest chapbook, was recently published by The Emergency Response Unit. Her poems have also appeared in Prism International and Misunderstandings Magazine. She lives in Toronto and is currently at work on a full-length collection of poetry.


TTQ- You have said that the goal of your poetry is "to make a feast of all your losses." When did you come to this conclusion and do you find that writing poetry for you has been somewhat cathartic or therapeutic in many ways concerning how you deal with the struggles of everyday life?

ND- I know many poets will cringe at the idea of "poetry as therapy." It raises the specter of one's 14-year-old self, flagellating her soul onto paper in a heady cloud of African Violet incense. I admit that my adolescent catalogue includes poems titled with the likes of "Immaculate Sorrow" or various synonyms for the moon. Angst begs for creative expression; there's a consuming energy there entirely different from the energy of happiness and contentment, for me anyway. That said, I believe poetry is inherently cathartic; that moment where what has been distilled by the poem's language and structure reacts with the emotional chemistry of the reader. When I read a good poem, I feel that moment in my gut. It's physical. A less successful poem might appeal intellectually, but it won't transform me. The idea of "making a feast" of one's losses speaks to me as a human being who is, like other human beings, trying to make sense of what she has experienced, to find use in it, to figure out what the point was. And the thing about asking why is that you get to decide your own answer. You decide, whether you want to admit this or not, if you are the victim or the heroine, powerless or powerful. I am grateful and blessed by every last thing that has happened in my life because of what I do with it. One of the things I do with it is make poems.

TTQ- Do you think that growing up in St. Jacobs, Ontario, a relatively small community, helped or hindered your growth as a poet, and in what ways has living in Toronto inspired or changed you as a writer?

ND- Growing up in St. Jacobs, I wasn't aware of a community of poets, writers, or artists. I didn't know of anyone reading poetry, let alone writing it. That was my impression. Much of my early experience of poetry came from reading the Songs of Solomon and Psalms in the bible, and from going to our tiny but wonderful public library. My parents and grandmothers were readers, and my Grampa Dernesch was a closet songwriter who encouraged me to write lyrics. My mom gave me my first real journal when I was nine, but I had been making books earlier than that, which she would bind for me with her sewing machine. My dad had a library of classic texts about astronomy, philosophy, physics and evolution. Words, reading, and self-expression were and are a huge part of my family's life, and that has shaped me as a poet and person. But, St. Jacobs is a small town, and in many ways I feel my family didn't fit in with the community. My parents didn't go to the Mennonite church I went to with my Grama, whose husband likewise stayed at home. My parents later divorced. Additionally, we were a working class family in a solidly middle class town. This isn't something my parents suggested-- I'm not sure how they feel, as they both, though remarried, still live there. But as a child I felt alienated by that community, and knew I would move somewhere metropolitan, where difference would be the norm. I feel like poetry allows me to say things that would be unacceptable to say in St. Jacobs, and at the same time, coming from there helps my poetry stay grounded. I have no desire to write what will only be appreciated by PhD candidates. My primary motivation as a poet is to be honest, not clever, and I feel like a big part of that is informed by where I'm from. On the other hand, Toronto has educated me, both formally and informally, and has helped me craft better writing, especially from the point of revision. I have a network of writers, editors, and publishers here which affords me the assistance and opportunity that St. Jacobs didn't.

TTQ- Do you feel that it is important for a poet to get out and read their work to a live audience, and what benefits do you feel that you receive personally from reading your poetry live? Do you still get nervous before a reading?

ND- I do think it's essential to share your work if you want to grow as a poet, but I don't think it's necessary to read it in front of an audience per se. But it can help. By gauging the attention of the audience, you can see when you're doing something right in the poem, and when you've faltered. You have to read your poems aloud to hear the rhythm, how it's flowing, where the line breaks really are. At the same time, it's important to read your work to an audience after you've really worked on it. I'm not a big fan of open mic nights where a person gets up and says "I wrote this 5 minutes ago and it's probably not very good." Why then are you wasting our time? Revision is an essential part of writing, and I feel it's disrespecting the reader/listener when a writer doesn't take the time to do it. I love giving readings and while I might come across as confident and composed, I do get insanely nervous before I read. It doesn't matter how many times I've done it. I'm in the bathroom every 5 minutes before I take the stage, but when I'm on stage, I'm fine. It's like acting. These are my poems talking, not me, in a way. I can hide behind the voice of the work.

TTQ- Do you make a concerted effort to incorporate socio-political issues into your poetry, and do you find today that most poets are more apathetic in terms of their involvement in the community at large?

ND- I make a concerted effort to write as truthfully as I can, and to do it to the best of my ability. The socio-political issues I have written about, such as class, gender, sexual identity, and the division of labour, arose out of the details of my life, and weren't something that I was consciously trying to write about. There are other issues I'm passionate about, like eradicating homophobia and racism, that I've never written about, perhaps in part because I feel that as a straight white woman I might be perceived as a fraud, or worse, that I'm appropriating someone else's experience. I'm absolutely not saying that someone outside of that experience can't write about these issues and effect change. But I personally have trepidation about how to handle it in my own work, and haven't figured it out yet. In terms of poets today being more apathetic to the community at large, or towards socio-political issues, I don't think that's true at all. Dani Couture, Michael Fraser, Jacob Scheier, and Priscila Uppal are all poets who engage deeply with socio-political issues and the community, and that's only looking as far as my address book.

TTQ- You worked for a time as a co-editor for Existere for three years. How important is the survival of literary journals in Canada, and do you think it's vital that the Canadian government step up to the plate and help assure their survival?

ND- How shall I say this without being crucified? I do believe it's extremely important that our government financially encourage the production of our literary journals. I hate having our arts funding cut, and stood among my striking teachers way back when Bill 160 was being passed. At the same time, I don't feel hopeless in the face of funding cuts to literary journals. Many are going online, like The Toronto Quarterly, and many other small presses are springing up that are financed by the meager livelihood of their excellent editors. It seems like almost everyone has a zine, or a blog, or both. I feel that the arts community is incredibly resilient and will withstand a lack of funding. Of course I hate seeing our indie bookstores close, or our small magazines go under. But, after an evening at one of our fabulous poetry reading series, when I'm walking home past our many, many homeless, I am worried, but not about the fate of our literary journals.


Nashira Dernesch reading her poem - "What You Want" at livewords, June 25 2009 at Cervejaria in Toronto.








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DARWIN'S BASTARDS: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow - selected and edited by Zsuzsi Gartner

Zsuzsi Gartner is the editor of a new weird and wonderful collection of short stories from twenty-three of Canada's finest writers called Darwin's Bastards: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow (Douglas & McIntyre, 2010).

Gartner manages to combine darkly humourous dystopian visions with social satires and fabulist tales questioning in the introduction: "What would Darwin make of what has become of natural selection with humankind's aspirations to godlike dominion over all creation? The wolf indeed dwells with the lamb: in an emboldened new world of pharmaceutical and technological wonders, of changes wrought by environmental degradation, aren't we all Darwin's bastard children?"

The lineup of authors in this collection is stellar and includes Douglas Coupland, Yann Martel, Heather O'Neill, Annabel Lyon, Sheila Heti, Timothy Taylor, and the first short story in over a decade from William Gibson.

Zsuzsi Gartner is the author of the critically acclaimed short story collection "All the Anxious Girls on Earth", and former senior editor at Saturday Night magazine who now is the creative director of Vancouver Review's Blueprint B.C. Fiction series. She won the 2007 National Magazine Award for Fiction and is the recipient of numerous awards for magazine journalism. She now lives in Vancouver.










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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - EWAN WHYTE

photo by Starla Bontecu


Ewan Whyte is a writer and translator residing in Toronto. He has written reviews for the Globe and Mail and the Books in Canada. His short stories, poetry, translations, and essays have been published in literary journals and magazines and he has read his translations of Catullus on public radio in the US. His translation of the poetry of Catullus was published in 2004. He has recently completed a book of poetry and is translating the complete odes of Horace.


TTQ- You recently wrote the forward to Art or War: The Bullet Paintings of Viktor Mitic (Tightrope Books)click. How did you come to know of Mitic's artwork and what is it you find most appealing about him as an artist?



EW- I found out about Viktor Mitic's art from the front cover of the Toronto Sun. It is unusual for a piece of contemporary art to make the front cover of a major newspaper. It was his portrait of Jesus called Hole Jesus in calming blues and black outlines and shot with with actual bullet holes in ordered lines along its outlines. A painting of the Jesus figure shot with bullet holes may be startling to some. To others, it may seem perfectly appropriate. The effect of the bullet holes showing through as white against the lighter blues of Hole Jesus creates a vibrant effect, reminiscent of a religious shroud. The yellow halo is a complementary colour to the blue, and the strength of the yellow- gold with flecks of red creates harmonious contrast. There is a patient, mystical feel to this work despite the bullet holes. It is exactly what an executed religious figure that pointed ceaselessly to the human dangers of “mimetic desire” would be: calm. There is a short documentary about his “bullet Painting” by Laurie Kwasnik which will be released later this year.

The deliberate destruction of the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan[1], by religious extremists in central Afghanistan in 2001 inspired Viktor Mitic to say, “it is incredibly shocking that people would destroy something of that significance, something which is one of a kind in the world, which means so much to others. It’s like tearing out part of someone else’s heart.” At that moment he wondered, could the process work in reverse “Can guns ever be used to create something beautiful?” In the bullet paintings of Viktor Mitic, we are presented with guns as tools for the creation of works of art. Guns, aside from being the weapon of choice for combatants in every modern war, are represented everywhere in popular culture and have become the overwhelming symbol of pure power, (a godlike power), the power of life and death.

The medieval cathedral in Europe was once a symbol of the immense power of life and death both politically and spiritually. Roland Barthes compared the impact of the mid-twentieth- century automobile as the “creation of its age” to the way the cathedral dominated the European imagination in an earlier age. For our time, it is the gun, or, more specifically, the handgun that commands our immediate fascination and attention (interestingly the cathedral the car and the gun are all creations of anonymous artists). The act of shooting a painting may appear excessively violent or even obsessive. Its psychological impact is intense, especially when the shooting is so professionally done. Viktor Mitic, shoots his paintings from close range, with a hard surface behind the canvas to get a small, even, perfectly rounded bullet- hole effect. By hanging the painting some distance from a hard surface and shooting it with a shot gun, he creates larger, sprayed holes to achieve a sort of “loose brush” effect with bullets. His gunshot paintings are carried out with what can be described as industrial speed.

However, there is a sense of harmony in the closure, or linking of spaces, between the bullet holes and the burn marks they make. If we didn’t know better, this planned symmetry may make us ask the unexpected question:. “Did a gun make this line of holes that works so well with the composition of this painting?” There is a feeling of a boundary being permanently crossed by these acts of “violent” creation and the effects are significant. Viktor Mitic’s bullet paintings remind us that so much in ordinary, daily life is controlled or sublimated violence, and that this too can give birth to a significant aesthetic experience.

TTQ- Your first book Catullus Latin/english Bilingual Edition (Mosaic)click was the translation of the poetry of Catullus and was published in 2004. Most recently you have been working on translating the complete odes of Horace. What is it you find so fascinating about both of these poets, and how has translating their poetry had a positive affect on your own poetry?

EW- Both of these poets are great poets but for very different reasons. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly called Horace in English, was born in what is now Venosa in the south west of Italy in 65 BCE. His father was a freedman (a freed slave) who managed to acquire modest wealth of which a considerable amount of it he spent educating his young son. The youthful Horace was sent to Rome and later to Athens to study philosophy and rhetoric. He fought in the battle of Philippi against the future emperor Augustus, who, years later, was to become his patron. Horace wrote epodes, satires, epistles and a work on the art of poetry but it is for his odes with their remarkable lyric beauty that he has been admired in every age. He died in 8 BCE. Catullus by contrast is generally everyone’s favorite literary madman of the ancient world. He was colourful in his poetic descriptions of urban Roman life during the dying years of the Republic and are a treasure of ancient literature (His book survived in a single copy). He satirized (Julius) Caesar and Cicero magnificently and in the end his sense of invective humour may have gotten him killed. This general kind of reading teaches humility as a writer and a realization that as George Steiner observes it is hard to make a scratch of a brick on the wall of history. These two poets are for all time, few are. A Catullus poem even made it on the subway in Toronto's “poetry on the way” public poetry program. (Catullus Poem 5), Let us live and love /not listening to old men’s talk. /Suns will rise and set /long after our little light /has gone away to darkness. /Kiss me again and again./ Let me kiss you a hundred times,/ a thousand more, again a thousand/ without rest, losing count, /so no one can speak of us and say /they know the number of our kisses. I have just finished writing a book of original poetry and comparing it to Horace or Catullus is a sobering prospect.

TTQ- How important is reading your poetry to a live audience and do you have a few favourite venues or poetry events that you enjoy reading at most?

EW- There is a long tradition of poetry readings going back to ancient Greece and even Plato saw fit to make fun of the extremes of poetry readings in one of his dialogues. Seamus Heaney’s wife is on record as having said there is no such thing as a short poetry reading. In listening to recordings of poetry readings from the early twentieth Century to our time it is quite clear there has been a change in the way poetry has been read publicly. The many once very much followed poetry recordings by Robert Speight in the fifties and sixties would not be possible today. There are other influences of course today. The theatrical bombast reading style was really brought in by Dylan Thomas in the early 1950’s. I think reading poetry in bars with wait staff moving about and talking to heavy drinking patrons is emblematic of the state of poetry today. I find reading in bars less enjoyable than other reading venues.

TTQ- What are your thoughts concerning the recent G20 Summit protests in Toronto? Do you feel there should be a "public inquiry" concerning the way riot police treated protesters and bystanders?

EW- I think there will not be an inquiry as it would leave authorities vulnerable to too many future checks. The Roman satirist Juvenal has a great ling on that “and who shall guard the guardians themselves.” I think watching the police kill Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport and then lie about it is not so uncommon. That case is just more public as the police in question were caught discussing how to “bend the truth” about it afterwards.

TTQ- What role should the poets of Toronto play in bringing more attention to the public's grievances concerning social and political issues, or do you feel there is too much apathy within the poetry community?

EW- In Byron’s era poetry outsold fiction several time over. Poets are somewhat marginalized in our time. It is no longer a possible fantasy to be as Shelley famously stated "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." I don’t think there will be a reversal of this any time soon. The bigger problem is most poets are not intellectuals and really do not understand political economics beyond an emotional reaction. I think the poetry community in Canada with a few exceptions is not really up to the challenge of leadership in this area. I think there are journalists like Gwynn Dyer and people in the documentary film community in Toronto who are. That said, I think it is great when poets get involved and try to do whatever they can for the public good.









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RUSSELL SMITH - GIRL CRAZY (The Movie)

Russell Smith's latest novel Girl Crazy (HarperCollins, 2010), the story of a college teacher's obsession with a young 20-year-old stripper, is headed for the big screen, with production expected to begin in Toronto sometime next year.

The film is being backed by Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger of New Real Films. Their latest project is Bruce McDonald's "Trigger," which will screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Smith is also known as an arts columnist and male style decoder at the The Globe and Mail, and has authored other books How Insensitive, Muriella Pent, Diana: A Diary in the Second Person, and he has also been commissioned to write the screenplay for the film. “I swear and promise I’m not trying to get into movies just to meet hot chicks,” Smith said in a statement. “People have often told me my books read like blueprints for screenplays, so I’m very excited to be trying my hand at a real one.”







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