Six @ Lit Live, Feb 5

New year, new books, new literary fun!

Come one, come all to Lit Live on February 5th at the Skydragon Centre, Homegrown Hamilton division, at 27 King William Street. 7:30 p.m. we start. Please don't be late!

Russell Smith might make us all Girl Crazy, reading from his novel of the same name, published by Harper Collins Canada.

Gary Barwin pops out Franzlations and The Obvious Flap, recent collaborative poetry published by New Star Books and Bookthug publishers, respectively.

Rebecca Rosenblum awakes us to The Big Dream, her latest collection of short fiction from Biblioasis.

Adam Sol takes us towards and beyond Jeremiah, Ohio, his novel in verse published by House of Anansi Press.

Maria Meindl reads from recent work and her most recent book, Outside the Box: the Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, published by McGill-Queens University Press.

Laura Lush presents her much-anticipated fourth book of poetry, Carapace, newly published by Palimpsest Press.

Russell Smith

Russell Smith is a novelist and cultural commentator. He is also the author of eight books, seven of them fiction. His early novels, How Insensitive (1994) and Noise (1998), are satirical, comic portrayals of big-city life and the sexual mores of young people. How Insensitive was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. His book of short stories, Young Men, followed in 1999. The opening story in that collection, "Party Going", won the Canadian National Magazine Award for fiction in 1997. His 2004 novel Muriella Pent was shortlisted for the Rogers Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Impac Dublin Award, and named as Best Fiction of 2004 by Amazon.ca.

Smith writes two weekly columns for The Globe and Mail: one on culture and the arts, and the other, an advice column for men. His most recent novel, Girl Crazy (HarperCollins Canada), a darker work with thriller elements, was called “hot, steamy, ruthlessly lucid” by Barbara Gowdy and “chatty, funny, sex-loving” by David Gilmour. Quill and Quire called it “a story of scathing insight.” He is now adapting it for the screen for New Real Films of Toronto.

Gary Barwin

Gary Barwin writes and performs fiction, visual and concrete poetry, music for live performers and computers, text & sound works, and literature for children and young adults. He has performed in Canada, the USA, Japan, and in Europe. Barwin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and emigrated to Ottawa in the early 1970s. He graduated from York University with a BFA in Music and a BA in Creative Writing in 1985 where he studied writing with bpNichol and Frank Davey and music with David Mott, James Tenney, and Trichy Sankaran. Barwin received a PhD in Music Composition from SUNY at Buffalo in 1995. Barwin has been a teacher at Hillfield Strathallan College and at McMaster University. His most recent books are:

• The Porcupinity of the Stars, 2010.
• The Obvious Flap, a poetry collaboration with Gregory Betts, 2011.
• Franzlations: the Imaginary Kafka Parables, a poetry collaboration with Hugh Thomas and Craig Conley, 2011

He is also the author of numerous chapbooks, and pamphlets, many from his own serif of nottingham editions. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies. He lives in Hamilton with his wife and three children where he directs the Niagara Regional Rhyme Gland Laboratory for the National Rhyme Institute.

Rebecca Rosenblum

Rebecca Rosenblum’s fiction has been short-listed for the Journey Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the Danuta Gleed Award. She was herself a juror for Journey Prize number 21. Her short-story collection Once, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and was one of Quill and Quire’s list of 15 Books That Mattered in 2008. Her first chapbook Road Trips, was published by Frog Hollow Press in 2010. Her second collection The Big Dream, was recently published by Biblioasis. The Big Dream is a collection of stories linked by the office building where all the characters work, and the trials of the company that employs them. Rebecca blogs at www.rebeccarosenblum.com

Adam Sol

Adam Sol is an Associate Professor of English at Laurentian University in Sudbury. He is also the author of three poetry books. His first, Jonah's Promise (2000) was published by Mid-List Press in Minneapolis after winning their First Series Award. His subsequent books were published by House of Anansi Press. His second, Crowd of Sounds (2003), won the Trillium Award for Poetry. His latest, Jeremiah, Ohio (2008) is a novel in verse, wherein the poet reinvents the Biblical prophet and doomsayer Jeremiah for the postmodern age, and sends him on a reeling road trip through the strip malls and back roads of the United States with an ordinary, everyman for a companion. He is also the author of numerous essays and reviews.

Maria Meindl

Maria Meindl is the author of Outside the Box: the Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew from McGill Queens University Press, a story “The Last Judgment” from Found Press, and “Rules,” an essay in an anthology on death published by Creative Non Fiction. Other essays by Maria have appeared in The Literary Review of Canada, Descant, and Musicworks. She has made two radio series for CBC’s program Ideas: Parent Care, and Remembering Polio. She is the founder of Toronto’s Draft literary reading series (now in its seventh season) which features work by new and established writers. Maria blogs at Body Language.

Laura Lush

Carapace is Laura Lush’s fourth book of poetry. Her first book, Hometown, was nominated for the 1992 Governor General's Award for Poetry. Her other poetry books are Fault Line (Signal, 1997) and The First Day of Winter (Ronsdale, 2002). She has also written a book of short fiction, Going to the Zoo, which was published by Turnstone Press in 2002. She teaches creative writing and academic English at U. of T.'s School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Guelph with her son, Jack. You can learn more about Carapace, Laura's latest book at her publisher's website.