Our Pre-Christmas, Free-Christmas Literariness!

Won't you join us at 7:30 p.m. on December 4th, for our pre-sneezonal literary get-together, featuring poetry, fiction, and the occasional snide remark? Homegrown Hamilton is the place, 27 King William Street is our address.

Mostly laudatory, always entertaining, pre-Scrooge, we are; expectations are high, for the talent we have. Our early winter line-up includes Jeffrey Donaldson, Jean Rae Baxter, Deborah Panko, Donna Langevin, Hal Niedzviecki, and Clara Blackwood. See you there, readers! We've books a-plenty!

Jeffrey Donaldson

Jeffery Donaldson teaches poetry and American literature at McMaster University. His latest poetry book is entitled Guesswork; he is the author of three previous collections: Once Out of Nature, Waterglass and Palilalia, which was a finalist for the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry. In 2011, Donaldson won a City of Hamilton Arts Award as Established Artist in the Writing category. In addition to producing numerous articles on poetry, Donaldson has co-edited a book of essays, Frye and the Word: Religious Contexts in the Writings of Northrop Frye. He lives with his family on the Niagara Escarpment near Grimsby.

Jean Rae Baxter

Jean Rae Baxter was born in Toronto, grew up in Hamilton, and spent much of her adult life in the Kingston area. She started writing full-time a dozen years ago, following a career in education. She writes for both adults and young adults. She has written three young adult novels, the second of which, Broken Trail (Ronsdale Press, 2011) recently received the 2011 Moonbeam Gold Medal, a U.S. award, for Young Adult Historical Fiction. Jean’s debut collection of short stories, A Twist of Malice, was published by Seraphim Editions in 2005; her second collection Scattered Light followed this fall. The Hamilton Spectator described this book as “an award-winning collection waiting to be crowned and one you-shouldn't miss.” Jean lives in Hamilton, where she is Co-chair of Hamilton Arts Council’s Literary Advisory Committee and serves as one of the organizers of the LiT LiVe Reading Series.

Hal Niedzviecki

Hal Niedzviecki is the founder of Broken Pencil Magazine and has published numerous works of social commentary, including

• The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors
• Hello I'm Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity
• We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture.

He has also published a novel, The Program, and Smell It, a collection of stories. Hal was the subject of the documentary "Peep Culture" which premiered in Canada and the U.S. in 2011. His most recent book, Look Down, This is Where it Must Have Happened was published in April in the USA and Canada.

Donna Langevin

Donna Langevin’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals such as The Antigionish Review, Arc, and Descant. She won first prize in the 2008 Ontario Poetry Society Spring Contest and first prize in the 2009 Cyclamens and Swords Contest. Her poetry books include Improvising in the Dark (watershed books, 2000) The Second Language of Birds (Hidden Brook Press, 2005), In the Café du Monde (2007), and two chapbooks: Songbirds of the Hours and The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea. In 2010 a suite of her poems appeared in the collection From O to Snow, along with work by Deborah Panko and Kate Marshall-Flaherty.

Clara Blackwood

Clara Blackwood is a Toronto-based poet and professional Tarot reader. Her first poetry collection, Subway Medusa (2007), was the inaugural book in Guernica Editions’ First Poets Series, which features first books by poets thirty-five and under. Her poetry has appeared in the Hart House Review, Quills, Rampike, Carousel, and in the UK magazine Dream Catcher. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Toronto. Her chapbook of tarot-inspired poems, Arcana, was published by Aeolus House in August 2011. Charged with archetypal symbolism, the poems in Arcana take the reader on a spiritual odyssey through the twenty-two major arcana in the Tarot.

Deborah Panko

Deborah Panko retired early from teaching English at the Toronto District School Board and moved east, settling in Cobourg. Hidden Brook Press published her first book of poetry, Somewhat Elsewhere in 2008. In 2010 a suite of her poems entitled “Assumptions” appeared in the collection From O to Snow, along with work by Donna Langevin and Kate Marshall-Flaherty.

On Sunday November 6th Lit Live Strikes Again!

In November, Lit Live helps the gritLIT Literary Festival launch its new anthology of contest winners, by presenting Jamie Dopp and Elana Wolff and their award-winning writing. Join us and also hear Stan Rogal, Norma Charles, Alexandra Oliver, and Cornelia Hoogland read from their newest publications. Start time is 7:30 p.m. at the newly renovated Homegrown Hamilton venue, on the first floor of the Skydragon Centre: 27 King William Street in Hamilton. See you then!

Stan Rogal

Stan Rogal is the author of seventeen books: four novels, three collections of short stories, and ten books of poetry. A set of fifty selected poems entitled Dance, Monster appeared in May, 2011 from Insomniac Press. His latest novel Bloodline was also published by Insomniac this year. Born in Vancouver, Stan Rogal obtained a B.A. from Simon Fraser University, majoring in English and doing a double minor in Philosophy and Theatre. He moved to Toronto in 1987, where he completed an M.A. in English at York University. He ran the popular Idler Pub Reading Series for ten years and was the co-creator of Bald Ego Theatre.

Cornelia Hoogland

Cornelia Hoogland published two books of poetry in 2011, Woods Wolf Girl (from Wolsak and Wynn) and Crow (from Black Moss Press). Hoogland’s poetry has been shortlisted for the CBC literary award several times. The nominations were for selections from Cuba Journal (Black Moss Press, 2003) and for her her second and third books of poetry, You Are Home (Black Moss Press, 2001) and Marrying the Animals (Brick Books, 1995). Her recent awards include 2009 finalist for the Stephen Dunn Poetry Award in the USA; the Malahat Review Long Poem Competition; and Descant’s 2008 Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem. Hoogland is the founder and artistic director of Poetry London, an organization that brings prominent writers into lively discussion with London writers and readers. She teaches at the University of Western Ontario.

Alexandra Oliver

Alexandra Oliver was born in Vancouver and currently lives in Toronto. She has been nominated for a CBC Literary Award and the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry regularly appears in journals worldwide, and her first collection, Where the English Housewife Shines, was published in 2007 in London, England. She has performed her poems at Lollapalooza and The National Poetry Slam, and on CBC Radio One and National Public Radio, and was a featured performer and interviewee in the 1998 documentary, Slam Nation. Oliver is currently completing an MFA at the University of Southern Maine and co-editing (with Annie Finch) an anthology of poetry in non-iambic meters. A second collection of poetry is forthcoming.

Elana Wolff

Elana Wolff’s suite of poems “Meridian,” was the First Prize winner in the Poetry category of the 2011 gritLIT Writing Competition. Elana has published three books of poetry with Guernica Editions, as well as a duologue and renga collection co-authored with the late Hamilton-born poet Malca Litovitz, and a collection of essays on poems by Toronto-area poets. Elana’s third book, You Speak to Me in Trees, was awarded the 2008 F. G. Bressani Prize for Poetry. Her fourth book of poetry, Startled Night, will be launched at the end of November.

Jamie Dopp

Jamie Dopp's poetry, fiction, reviews and scholarly articles have appeared in many periodicals and journals, including The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, and Essays on Canadian Writing. He has published two collections of poetry, On the Other Hand (1996) and The Birdhouse, or (2002) as well as a novel, Prospects Unknown (2000). In 2007 he organized an international conference on hockey called Canada and the League of Hockey Nations. Out of this conference came a collection of essays, co-edited with Richard Harrison, called Now is the Winter: Thinking about Hockey (2009). He continues to play oldtimers' hockey in Victoria. This summer, Dopp won the gritLIT Writing Competition in the Fiction category for his short story "Little Fish."

Norma Charles

Norma Charles is the author of many books for children including the Moonbeam Bronze Medal Award winner The Girl in the Backseat, the Chocolate Lily Award winner All the Way to Mexico, and her latest book, Run Marco, Run. Norma now lives in Vancouver where she often walks along its many beaches and wonders about the people on huge freighters that anchor out in the bay. You can visit Norma on the web at www.normacharles.ca.

Lit Live at the Skydragon Centre on October 2nd

Lit Live would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Artword Artbar for enabling us to do our September show on the Artword Artbar's main stage. (Thank-you, Judith and Ron for wonderful evening!)

In October, the action swings back to the newly renovated Homegrown Hamilton cafe, on the first floor of the Skydragon Centre, 27 King William Street. Gary Barwin hosts Lit Live on Sunday October 2nd. Here are the stars we have for you!

Glen Downie reports the Local News, his new collection of poems from Wolsak and Wynn.

Andrew Pyper introduces The Guardians, his latest novel from Doubleday Canada.

Brian Henderson reads from his latest poetry collection Sharawadji, published this year by Brick Books.

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst brings us her poetry in Apologetic for Joy, from Goose Lane Editions.

Patrick Bowman reads from his first novel Torn from Troy, released in 2011 by Ronsdale Press.

Merle Nudelman presents The He We Knew, published by Guernica Editions.

Glen Downie

Glen Downie was born in Winnipeg, worked in cancer care for many years in Vancouver, and now lives in Toronto. In 1999, he served as Writer-in-Residence at Dalhousie University's Medical Humanities Program. He has published fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and several collections of poetry, including Loyalty Management (Wolsak & Wynn, 2007) which won the 2008 Toronto Book Award. His most recent poetry book is Local News (Wolsak & Wynn, 2011).

Andrew Pyper

Andrew Pyper is the author of five internationally bestselling novels and a collection of stories called Kiss Me. His first novel, Lost Girls (HarperCollins, 1999) won the Arthur Ellis Award and his second, The Trade Mission (HarperCollins, 2002) was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The Toronto Star. Additionally, The Wildfire Season (HarperCollins, 2005) was a Globe and Mail Best Book and The Killing Circle (Doubleday Canada, 2008) was a New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year. His latest novel, The Guardians (Doubleday Canada, 2011), was a Maclean's national bestseller for the first seven weeks of its publication. Pyper last appeared in Hamilton in 2009 at the gritLIT Writing Festival.

Brian Henderson

Brian Henderson is the author of nine volumes of poetry, including a deck of visual poem-cards entitled The Alphamiricon. His latest collection, Sharawadji, was published by Brick Books this year. A previous collection, Nerve Language was nominated for a Governor Generals Award in 2007. His work, both critical and poetic, has appeared in a number of literary journals. He has a PhD in Canadian literature, is the Director of WLU Press, and he lives in Kitchener with his wife, Charlene Winger.

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst is a visual artist and writer. Her poems have appeared in several journals including The Antigonish Review, The Malahat Review, and Carousel. Her previous books include Anatomy for the Artist (Greenboathouse Press, 2009) and Excerpts from Gerald, God and the Chickens (Frog Hollow Press, 2008). She recently won The Malahat Review’s 2011 Open Season Award for Non‐Fiction. Her latest book is a colleciton of poetry, Apologetic for Joy, recently released by Goose Lane Editions. Jessica has been painting since she was four; her artwork has been exhibited across Canada. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner, her paints, her computer, and her small garden.

Patrick Bowman

Patrick Bowman was born in Ottawa and educated in Toronto. He has twenty years of writing experience, all of it in software, but has been fascinated by Greek mythology since stumbling over a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology in his father’s library as a child. Torn from Troy is his first book and came out in 2011 from Ronsdale Press. He lives in Toronto.

Merle Nudelman

Merle Nudelman is a Toronto lawyer and poet. Her first collection, Borrowed Light, won the 2004 Canadian Jewish Book Award for Poetry as well as a prize in the Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest. Her second book, We, the Women, was released last fall by Guernica Editions. Her latest book is The He We Knew, which includes a suite of poems about the homeless and the displaced and grapples with the ripples of a broken relationship. Merle’s poems have appeared in journals, newspapers and zines. She teaches memoir writing to adults.

September 4th at the Artword Artbar

Due to construction on King William Street and renovations at the Skydragon Centre, Lit Live has moved to the Artword Artbar for the opening of our 2011-2012 season. Date: Sunday, September 4th. Address: 15 Colbourne St., Hamilton. Start time is at 7:30 p.m. See you soon!

Daniel Scott Tysdal reads from The Mourner's Book of Albums, published in the Fall of 2010 by Tightrope Books.

Jack Hannan reveals poetry both selected and new in his collection Some Frames, from Cormorant Books.

Lolette Kuby brings her new novel Writing Personals, recently released by Vehicule Press.

Jenn Farrell introduces us to The Devil You Know, her latest collection of short fiction from Anvil Press.

Shane Rhodes challenges expectations and language itself with Err, his collection of poetry from Nightwood Editions.

Daniel Scott Tysdal

Daniel Scott Tysdal is the author of The Mourner’s Book of Albums (Tightrope 2010). His first book of poetry, Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method (Coteau 2006), received the ReLit Award for Poetry (2007) and the Saskatchewan Book Award for Best Book of Poetry (2006). His work has earned him honourable mention at the National Magazine Awards (2003) and the Matrix Lit Pop Award for Poetry (2010). He currently teaches creative writing and English literature at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Jack Hannan

Jack Hannan is a poet and the sales manager at McGill-Queen’s University Press. Though he's been an important part of the publishing industry for over 40 years, Hannan has been one of Canadian poetry’s best-kept secrets. The release of Some Frames (from Cormorant Books), makes available the best of Hannan's new work as well as a number of remarkable poems that only appeared in limited-edition chapbooks and magazines during the late 1970s and 1980s. Hannan’s poetry, which has been compared to Stephane Mallarmé’s and John Ashbery’s, is mysterious and fluid, hermetic and hypnotic, evoking the crescendo of a music score or the emotional pull of an oil painting.

Lolette Kuby

Lolette Kuby came to Canada in 1999 after quitting her job in the English Dept. of the Cleveland State University, and she taught at Humber College during her first year in Toronto. Now freelance editing and her own writing take all her work time. Her first full-length collection of poems, Set Down Here came out in 2002, and another collection, Inwit, followed in 2003. Her other books include An Uncommon Poet for the Common Man: A Study of Philip Larkin's Poetry, and Faith and the Placebo Effect: An Argument for Self-healing. Her short story collection Out of Cleveland was released in April 2007. Her new novel, Writing Personals, was published in 2010 from Vehicule Press. She is a member of PEN America.

Jenn Farrell

Jenn Farrell is the author of two collections of short stories: The Devil You Know (Anvil Press, 2010), and Sugar Bush & Other Stories (Anvil Press, 2006). Her stories have previously appeared in Prism, subTerrain, West Coast Line, and Forget magazines. She has acted as reader and editor for several winning entries in the 3-Day Novel Contest, and in 2006, made her broadcast debut as a judge for Book Television's coverage of the event. Jenn was born and raised in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario. She is a graduate of the Langara College Publishing program and Douglas College Print Futures: Professional Writing program. She currently resides in Vancouver where she works as a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.

Shane Rhodes

Shane Rhodes is the author of Err (Nightwood Editions in 2011), The Wireless Room, Holding Pattern, and The Bindery (all with NeWest Press). Shane’s awards include an Alberta Book Award for poetry, two Lampman-Scott Awards, the P. K. Page Founder's Award for Poetry, and the most recent National Magazine Award for poetry. Shane’s poetry has also been featured in the anthologies Breathing Fire II, Seminal: Canada’s Gay Male Poets, and Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 and 2011.

Lit Live Needs a Little Help!

Lit Live seeks volunteers for fun jobs like:

• · readings host
• · booking agent for visiting authors
• · funding administrator
• · publicity and promotions director
• · weblog administrator.

You have to live close to Hamilton Ontario and be able to attend our series on the first Sunday of every month (excepting January, July, and August). These are all volunteer positions, but in lieu of salaries we offer fun times, the opportunity to meet some of Canada’s leading writers, and a chance to be inside one of Canada’s well-respected and long-running reading series. We have a close-knit group producing the show at the moment and we’re looking for a few reasonable people fill out our team and contribute a few hours per month. Plus, aren’t these really authoritative job titles? Yeah, we thought so.

Please express your interest in joining our merry little band by sending your email to:

cpannell3@cogeco.ca

Thank-you!

See You . . . In September

The Lit Live organizing committee would like to thank our visiting writers and our faithful audiences for making our recent season such a success. While the reading series will close down for the summer, we will return on the first Sunday in September when we present Shane Rhodes, Daniel Scott Tysdal, Lolette Kuby, Jenn Farrell, Michael Lithgow, and Jack Hannan. Please mark the 4th of September in your calendar as the night we'll all get together again at our favourite hangout, Hamilton's Skydragon Centre. As usual, the start time is 7:30 p.m. We'd hate to have to start without you!

Jump into June at Lit Live

On June 5th, Lit Live helps you into the summer reading season with six outstanding poets with as much diversity between them as can be imagined. Please put Sunday, June 5th, @ 7:30 p.m. at the Skydragon Centre, 27 King William Street, Hamilton, on your calendar, and then get your hungry mind down there for a great evening.

Garry Gottfriedson, Domenico Capilongo, Susan McCaslin, Jacob McArthur Mooney, Penn Kemp, and Anne Simpson will concentrate the octane of poetry for you in one unforgettable night!

Garry Gottfriedson

Garry Gottfriedson, a member of the Secwepemc First Nation, lives in Kamloops, BC. He is a self-employed rancher with a Masters degree in Education from Simon Fraser University. His published works include Glass Tepee (Thistledown Press, 2002), which was nominated for a First People's Publishing Award 2004, and Painted Pony (Partners in Publishing, 2005) which was his first children’s story. In 2006 he published a collection of cowboy and Indian heritage poems entitled Whiskey Bullets (Ronsdale Press). His latest book is Skin Like Mine, which was shortlisted for the Canadian Authors Association Award for poetry in 2011. In Skin Like Mine Garry Gottfriedson offers a suite of poems that peel away the skin of contemporary first nations society to reveal an inside view of individual experience.

Susan McCaslin

Susan McCaslin is a prize-winning poet who has published fourteen volumes of poetry. Her most recent is Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press, 2011), a contemporary reworking of the Demeter and Persephone myth. Susan has edited two poetry anthologies and is on the editorial board of Event magazine. She is currently a full-time writer living in Fort Langley, British Columbia completing a book of essays called Spirit Talks. She has facilitated workshops on the mystics and is at work on a book on the contemporary relevance of mysticism. You can reach Susan at www.susanmccaslin.ca

Anne Simpson

Simpson received her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Queen’s University, and a diploma in Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Subsequently, she worked as a CUSO volunteer English teacher for two years in Nigeria. She was the co-winner of the 1997 Journey Prize, awarded for her short story "Dreaming Snow." Her second collection of poetry, Loop (2003), was the winner of the 2004 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. Her second novel, Falling (2008),a Canadian bestseller, was the winner of the Dartmouth Fiction Award. It was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has also written a book of essays on poetics, The Marram Grass: Poetry and Otherness (2009). During 2009-2010, Simpson was Writer-In-Residence at the Saskatoon Public Library.

Penn Kemp

Poet/performer Penn Kemp is the first Poet Laureate of London, Ontario. She has published twenty-five books of poetry and drama, had six plays and ten CDs of sound opera produced as well as several award-winning video-poems. Some of these can be sampled at ww.mytown.ca/pennkemp. Kemp was the Canada Council Writer-in-Residence at the University of Western Ontario for 2009-10. Her project there was a DVD, Luminous Entrance: a Sound Opera for Climate Change Action (Pendas Productions, 2010). Five of her sound operas have been performed at London's Aeolian Hall Summer Soirees, at the University of Western Ontario, and at festivals in Glastonbury, India, and Brazil. She hosts the literary program Gathering Voices on CHRW radio.

Domenico Capilongo

Domenico Capilongo was born in Toronto, grew up in Vancouver and Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and then returned to Toronto where he completed his education. He is a karate instructor as well as a former Ontario Karate Champion and National Black Belt Medalist. He has lived in Japan and traveled throughout Asia. He teaches high school creative writing and alternative education. In 2004, he won an honourable mention in The Toronto Star Poetry Contest and his work has been nominated for the Journey Prize. His first collection of poetry, I thought elvis was italian, came out with Wolsak and Wynn in 2008. His second poetry collection, entitled hold the note was released in the Fall of 2010. It is a wide-ranging collection unified by a jazzy, syncopated writing style—it is dynamic, sometimes experimental, often playful, yet always passionately engaged, sensual and visceral.

Jacob McArthur Mooney

Award-winning author Jacob McArthur Mooney’s debut book of poetry was the much acclaimed The New Layman's Almanac. A respected poetry commentator and critic, he writes the popular Vox Populism blog, and was a panelist for the National Post’s Canada Also Reads competition. A Nova Scotian now living in Toronto, he is a recent graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing programme at the University of Guelph-Humber. Mooney's latest book is Folk, a poetry collection that inquires into the human need for frames, edges, borders, and probes contemporary challenges to identity.

In May, Five Bloom at Lit Live

On Sunday, the First of May, at the Skydragon Centre at 7:30 p.m., Lit Live takes great pleasure in presenting five writers to whet your appetite for the summer reading season.

Steven Heighton brings both poetry and fiction: Patient Frame and Every Lost Country published by House of Anansi and Knopf Canada respectively.

George Bowering also has poetry and short and long fiction for our audience, offering short stories in The Box (New Star Books) and poetry in My Darling Nellie Grey (Talonbooks).

Robert Sutherland takes us on Survivor's Leave, his latest YA novel, published by Ronsdale Press.

Steven McCabe brings his poetry collection the Hierarchy of Loss, published by Ekstasis Editions.

David Clink reads from his new collection of poetry, Monster, recently unleashed by Tightrope Books.

Steven Heighton

Steven Heighton published two books in 2010: a novel, Every Lost Country, and a poetry collection, Patient Frame. Both books appeared on a number of "best of year" lists and the novel has been optioned for film. His 2005 novel, Afterlands, appeared in six countries; was a New York Times Book Review editors’ choice; a best of year choice in ten publications in Canada, the USA, and the UK; and was also optioned for film. His poems and stories have appeared in such publications as London Review of Books, Poetry, Tin House, The Walrus, and Best English Stories and have received four gold National Magazine Awards. He has also been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award. This fall, ECW will publish a small collection of his memos and fragmentary essays called Workbook, and next spring Knopf Canada will bring out a new collection of his short stories. You can reach him at www.stevenheighton.com

George Bowering

George Bowering is a veteran poet and fiction writer. He has won a Governor-General's Award in poetry and another in fiction. He has won the Canadian Author's Association award in poetry, and the bpnichol Prize for chapbooks. He is an officer of the Order of Canada, and of the Order of British Columbia. He has honorary degrees from UWO and UBC. He was the first Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada. His most recent book of poetry is My Darling Nellie Grey (Talonbooks, 2010), his most recent book of short fiction is The Box (New Star, 2009), and his latest novel (forthcoming) is was Pinboy (Cormorant).

Robert Sutherland

Robert Sutherland is one of Canada’s most successful Young Adult novelists, having brought out many books with publishers such as Scholastic and HarperCollins. His latest, Survivor’s Leave developed from his experience during WWII when he served as an anti-aircraft gunner on a Loch Class frigate (HMCS Loch Morlich). When his ship was in dry dock in London for repairs, he experienced the German V-1 bombing. His first literary success was a novel published in the Toronto Star Weekly in 1960. When he returned to writing in the 1980s he decided to follow advice he had received on rejection slips –‘suggest you try writing for teens’. He rewrote the story that had been published in the Star. Mystery at Black Rock Island, published by Scholastic, was an immediate success and was the first of five books about two teenagers named David and Sandy. He is the author of fourteen novels, some of which have been translated into French, Norwegian, Swedish, German and Korean. Robert now lives in Westport, Ontario.

Steven McCabe

Steven McCabe is a poet, author, visual artist and filmmaker living in Toronto, Ontario. He is the author of five books of poetry: most recently Hierarchy of Loss (Ekstasis Editions 2007). He has illustrated books and magazines with fine-line ink drawings, created public murals and exhibited paintings on canvas and paper, collaborative art, and mixed media sculpture. He teaches art and creative writing workshops in both private and public schools. He recently directed and wrote his first short film titled My Story is Not My Own, a video-poem metaphorically examining the theme of grief. You can reach Steven at www.stevenmccabe.ca

David Clink

David Clink was the Artistic Director of the Art Bar Poetry Series for three years, and Artistic Director of the Rowers Pub Reading Series its first three seasons. He is a widely published poet. He edited the anthology, A Verdant Green (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2010). His first book of poetry was Eating Fruit Out of Season (Tightrope Books, 2008). His second book, Monster (Tightrope), a collection of strange, dark, surreal and unusual poems, was launched in November 2010.

April Powers Literary with gritLIT @ Lit Live!

It's here! On Sunday, April 10th, you'll witness the event collaboration of the year between gritLIT, Hamilton's Literary Festival and Lit Live, Hamilton's monthly reading series. The Skydragon Centre on King William Street will host a dynamic line-up of six outstanding writers in the closing event of the gritLIT weekend. (April 7-10).

Remember, for April only, Lit Live will hold this special event on the second Sunday of the month.

Shaena Lambert reads from her novel Radiance, published by Random House Canada.

Jean Rae Baxter reads from Broken Trail, the second novel in her young adult trilogy, recently launched by Ronsdale Press.

Howard Richler delves into Strange Bedfellows: The Private Lives of Words published by Ronsdale Press.

Roy Miki's most recent collection of poetry is There, published by New Star Books.

Catherine Graham reads from her poetry collection Winterkill, released in 2011 by Insomniac Press.

Ian Burgham parses The Grammar of Distance for us, his latest collection of poems from Tightrope Books.

Shaena Lambert

Shaena Lambert’s novel Radiance was both a Globe and Mail and Quill and Quire best book and was a finalist for the Rogers Writers Trust Award and the Ethel Wilson Award. Her collection of stories, The Falling Woman was published to critical acclaim in Canada, the UK and Germany, and was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Award. Her stories have appeared recently in Zoetrope: All Story, The Vancouver Review, and Best Canadian Stories 2010. Other stories are
forthcoming in Ploughshares and Best Canadian Stories 2011. She lives in Vancouver, where she teaches at The Writers’ Studio at Simon Fraser University.

Jean Rae Baxter

When anyone comments that there is a contradiction in producing two very different kinds of writing, Jean Rae Baxter’s answer is that life is full of contradictions. In literature it is called irony, and irony is at the heart of her first collection of short stories, A Twist of Malice, which was published to critical acclaim in 2005. At the same time that she was writing short stories about the dark side of apparently everyday lives, she was working on an historical novel about a courageous Loyalist girl during the period of the American Revolution. This novel, The Way Lies North, was released in the fall of 2007. For her second novel, she returned to crime. Her literary murder mystery, Looking for Cardenio (2008), centred upon the discovery of an old manuscript that might be a lost play by Shakespeare. For her third novel, she returned to historical fiction. Broken Trail (2011) follows some of the characters who appeared in The Way Lies North, focusing upon the plight of the native people during the American Revolution. With the publication of The Runaways in 2012 she will complete her trilogy dealing with this historical period. As before, she has interspersed novel writing with the crafting of short stories. A second collection of short fiction, Scattered Light, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2011.

Howard Richler

Howard Richler is a journalist who has written many books on language: Can I Have a Word with You? (Ronsdale Press, 2007), Global Mother Tongue: The Eight Flavours of English (Véhicule Press, 2007), A Bawdy Language: How a Second-Rate Language Slept Its Way to the Top (Stoddart, 1999), Take My Words: A Wordaholic’s Guide to the English Language (Ronsdale Press,1996), and The Dead Sea Scroll Palindromes (Robert Davies Publishing, 1995). Richler makes his home in Montreal.

Roy Miki

Roy Miki is a writer, poet, and editor who lives in Vancouver. He is the author of numerous publications, including Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice (Raincoast 2004), a work that explores the Japanese Canadian redress movement through a creative blend of personal reflection, documentary history, and critical examination. He is also a poet with four books published. His third book of poems, Surrender (Mercury Press 2001), received the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Most recently, he has co-edited, with Smaro Kamboureli, Trans.Can.Lit: Resituating the Study of Canadian Literature (Laurier Press 2007) and edited Roy Kiyooka’s The Artist and the Moose: A Fable of Forget (LineBooks 2009). He is currently completing “Mannequin Rising,” a book-length series of poems and photo collages that probe the internal effects of commodity culture (forthcoming from New Star Books). He received the Order of Canada in 2006 and the Order of British Columbia in 2009.

Catherine Graham

Catherine Graham is the author of three collections of poetry. She completed an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University in England while living in Northern Ireland. Graham now lives and writes in Toronto, where she teaches creative writing, is active in several arts organizations, and designs and delivers workshops on creativity for the business and academic community. You can visit her at www.catherinegraham.com Her latest book of poetry, Winterkill, was published by Insomniac Press in 2011.

Ian Burgham

Ian Burgham was born in New Zealand, raised in Canada, and has lived and worked in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He has published three collections of poetry, the latest of which is entitled The Grammar of Distance. His poems have appeared in Prairie Fire, Contemporary Verse 2, The New Quarterly, The Literary Review of Canada, Queen's Quarterly, the League of Canadian Poets, dANDelion, Harpweaver, Precipice, Jones Avenue, and Ascent Aspirations. His new poetry collection, A Weight of Bees, is to be launched in London, England and Toronto in 2012. He divides his time between Toronto and Kingston.

Marching in to Lit Live in March

Don't be concerned about lions and lambs coming in and going out. You simply must not forget forget March 6th, when Lit Live marches on and rocks the Skydragon Centre in the heart of Hamilton. Start time is 7:30 p.m.

Antony di Nardo presents poetry from Alien, Correspondent, his most recent collection from Brick Books.

Jeff Seffinga releases his inner tiger, with his latest book release, All We Like Cats, from Serengeti Press.

David Helwig will cozy up or frighten us out of our wits, with Mystery Stories, his latest publication from Porcupine's Quill.

Marc di Saverio will vocalize from his latest poetry collection, Sanatorium Songs, published lately by Cactus Books.

Julie Berry will give a demonstration of The Walnut-Cracking Machine, her new book of poems from Buschek Books.

Ann Elizabeth Carson takes on The Risks of Remembrance and triumphs over them in her new book from publisher, Words Indeed.

Antony di Nardo

Antony Di Nardo has published two books of poetry, Alien, Correspondent (Brick Books) and Soul on Standby (Exile Editions) His work has appeared in journals across Canada and internationally. He has recently returned from Beirut where he taught at International College. Alien, Correspondent, documents Di Nardo's experience of the Middle East as "a clear-eyed witness" and "epitomizes the empathy required to be its perfect correspondent." On the other hand, Soul on Standby reveals another side to this poet, where the lyric and the narrative combine to tell "stories of a wry seriousness undercut by the slyly hilarious." He'll be reading from both books this evening; as well he has a new manuscript, Nothing to Declare.