goin’ to california!

i am THRILLED to announce that I’ve been accepted to attend the Lambda Literary Foundation‘s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices! i’ll be in LA from july 28-august 4th to study poetry with Jewelle Gomez at the American Jewish University. this is the only workshop of its kind in the world, and i’m overwhelmed by the opportunity.

the LLF has offered me a half-ride scholarship of $825, and i’m to match that amount to cover tuition, room, and board. if you’re interested in making a donation to support me on this crazy adventure, i’ve got a sliding scale skill-share, including a manuscript evaluation service, set up based on amounts from $5-50. take a look at my donor page and consider helping me get to lez angeles to finish this master’s thesis! so much support has emerged in the past 24 hours already — all my gratitude. xo.

cuz i’m real

what a welcome! i’m so, so excited to be part of this event. check out that line-up!

Peter Dube is in town from Montreal and will read from his most recent book, The City Gates from Cormorant Books.

Jerry Haigh is traveling west from Saskatoon and will be reading from his new book, Of Moose and Men, published by ECW Press.

Leah Horlick grew up in Saskatoon and now calls Vancouver home. Leah is a superb poet and Poetry Editor at Prism International. (That’s me! What nice things they say).

Gurjinder Basran‘s book that won every single literary award imaginable, Everything was Goodbye, originally published by Mother Tongue Press was recently republished by Penguin Books.

Timothy Taylor is one of Vancouver’s finest living writers and we’re honoured to have him read with the RVWS again (Tim participated in the original Olympic Edition of the series way back in 2010. Tim’s most recent book is The Blue Light Project.

Questions, comments, concerns please contact Sean Cranbury: sean@booksontheradio.ca

poetry is dead, long live poetry

i’ve got a poem forthcoming in the upcoming queer issue of Poetry Is Dead! SWOON. there’s still time to get your submit on!

poetry is dead call for submissions: queer issue. deadline june 1st
For the sixth issue of Poetry Is Dead we welcome submissions from Queer writers, with a strong emphasis on Queer Canadian contributions. As always, Poetry Is Dead is interested in work that runs the gamut of forms—from spoken word to experimental language-focused work. In this issue you will see the likes of bill bissett, Lisa Foad, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Sarah Leavitt and Lydia Kwa. Deadline is fast approaching so get your submissions in.

the ins and outs of indies

what an honour and a privilege it was to participate in the Canadian Independent Poetry Slam tournament this past weekend, meeting new poets from across the country and performing old favourites with my hometown crew from saskatoon. commercial drive didn’t know what hit it! and my final rank was #14 out of Canada’s best 40 slam poets — not too shabby at all!

on friday last week, i posted a facebook note called “It Ain’t Fixed” in response to a misogynist comment i received after a slam bout. the response has been overwhelmingly supportive so far. as this seems to be relevant for many poets i know and love, i’m reposting it here.

gratitude to Rose Jang for the new header photo, and for documenting the VIPF in the midst of her own performances!

surprises, and the vancouver international poetry festival

at the last minute, i entered the Last Chance Slam to qualify for the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship last night…and won! what a surprise and an honour. all respect and gratitude to my crew of hometown poets from Saskatoon who are here in Vancouver to represent and throw down their heart’s work, and supported me last night!

check out the details for the Vancouver International Poetry Festival, and come see me tonight (Thursday) at the 7pm bout at Cafe Deux Soleils and tomorrow (Friday) at 9pm at Eternal Abudance! so much poetry, so little time!

new and exciting

it’s alive! final drafts have been submitted and i’m so proud to announce that my first book of poetry, Riot Lung, will be published by Thistledown Press in the fall this year. stay tuned for saskatoon and vancouver launch information!

in the meantime, i’m so excited to participate in Allison Moon’s event “LIT! queer. writers. drinking.” on April 20th at Rhizome! get your tickets in advance here. featuring Michael V. Smith, Lydia Kwa, Cathleen With, Daniel Zomparelli (of Poetry is Dead magazine), & Cass King — this is an all-star lineup I’m proud to be a part of!

check out my interview in the April issue of the Quill & Quire’s article “Lessons learned from a poetry MFA.” i reveal arcane trade secrets along with a snazzy headshot from my friend and homegirl photographer Maki.

my dear friend Alison Roth Cooley and I have had a new collaboration accepted into On Nights Like This: An Anthology of Comics By Survivors. what an honour! the deadline for submissions has been extended and i encourage you to submit your stories and strength to this important project.

night school

i’m thrilled to be part of a new community-level, low-barrier lecture initiative starting up at Rhizome this month!

Join us for the First Day of School!
March 29, 2012
7-9 pm
Rhizome Cafe
(http://www.rhizomecafe.ca/)

First Class:
Lian Beveridge (UBC, Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education)
Lesbian and Gay Picturebooks

Second Class:
Leah Horlick (UBC, Creative Writing)
No More Utopia: Violence Between Queer Women in Feminist Poetry

(RECESS!)
Third Class:
Colin Mills (Langara College, Geography)
Community, Society, and the Individual

$5-10 suggested donation at the door, nobody turned away.

quill & quire & queer

this morning i had a wonderful phone interview for a feature in the quill & quire on poets who have pursued graduate studies in creative writing! what a wake-up call look for the article in april.

in other news, the UBC queer conference was a dream – hanging out with academics & artists at the ocean’s edge of the ubc campus, and catching up on what’s been happening in queer research while i’ve been in the throes of the MFA! so far the thesis project has been well-received and it was affirming to hear queer women and co. tell me so.

tonight i’m excited to go celebrate five years of the thrilLITERATE reading series at rhizome! from the facebook event: “The thrilLITERATE Reading Series has showcased some of Vancouver’s most acclaimed queer and allied authors to raise funds for the women’s literacy program at WISH, a drop-in centre for female survival sex workers in the Downtown Eastside.” host amber dawn (author of Sub Rosa, one of my faves) has co-ordinated two amazing nights of poetry & storytelling, with writers including elizabeth bachinsky & larissa lai — it’s going to be an incredible friday and saturday evening.

so to speak!

a poem about rural saskatchewan, firearms, and my feminist mom is out in the current issue of “So To Speak: a feminist journal of language and art”! grab a copy; i’m thrilled to be published alongside their 2012 contest winners and poets like Anne Marie Rooney, and July Westhale — who has work featured in Glitter Tongue! (if you haven’t already checked out this queer & trans love poetry mecca project, do your heart a favour and get on it!)

queering ubc!

the rainbow flags are out in full force just in time for OUTWEEK next week at UBC! i have the privilege of presenting at the Queer U conference on february 15th; this year’s theme is “questioning progress, rethinking ideals.” as part of an afternoon panel on resisting heteronormativity through art, i’m looking forward to discussing a new series of poems i’m working on that seeks to investigate and break the silence around violence between queer women in feminist poetics.

there’s new video up on the watch page! nicole almond, three-time member of the saskatoon slam team and poetry homegrrrl extraordinaire, took some wonderful footage of my feature performance at home on december 18th – take a look!