[Readings] Desi Di Nardo at Free Times Cafe

Guernica author and NOW HEAR THIS! writer in residence Desi Di Nardo will be reading at the Free Times Cafe on Wednesday, October 21, as part of the fourth installment of the HEAR/HEAR Reading Series. Doors open at 6 pm for dinner and drinks.

Free Times Cafe
320 College Street [map]
Toronto, Ontario

Also reading will be Larry Frolick and Mary-Lou Zeitoun.

Desi Di Nardo is the author of The Plural of Some Things, published by Guernica Editions.

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Appeal] OAC Funding Controversy Covered in the Canadian Jewish News

An article in the current issue of the Canadian Jewish News discusses the recent OAC funding cuts to Guernica Editions.

"Though serving the Italian community primarily," writes staff reporter Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf, "the publication also is home to a variety of ethnic wordsmiths, including a smattering of Jewish, award-winning authors and poets who are none-too-pleased by the provincial agency’s decision to reject this year’s grant application."

"[The withdrawal of funding] puts a financial strain on us,”publisher Antonio D'Alfonso is quoted as saying. “This isn’t a money-making job. Everyone who works with us works for peanuts... Are books like shoes, ham or potatoes? We are a literary press. We produce books about ethnic culture, cultural pluralism. This is a slow process. When we started, ‘multicultural’ barely existed as a term. Guernica was one of the first presses to deal with such issues.”

The full article can be read on the Canadian Jewish News website: http://bit.ly/4svYeP

[Appeal] Reader Responds to OAC

Tandem has published a reader response to the Ontario Arts Council's recent defense of this year's Guernica cutbacks.

[Review] Desi Di Nardo's The Plural of Some Things Reviewed in Prairie Fire

Guernica author Desi Di Nardo's latest collection, The Plural of Some Things, is reviewed by Roger Knox in the Praire Fire Review of Books.

"Desi Di Nardo's ecological poetic world extends beyond flora, fauna, and the inanimate to include human and spiritual interconnection," writes Knox. "These poems contain such powerful experiences that it is difficult to take our leave unaffected by them. We are enlightened by the discovery of a relationship of spiritual empowerment in 'Poetry on Lake Simcoe,' intrigued by mystery and the unconscious in 'The Abstract Night,' and enticed by sexual rapture in 'White Rain.' Whether confronting the dissembling self in 'Inner Landscapes,' dealing noncommittally with a parent's absent love in 'Forget You Not,' or expressing emotional repression in 'Red Spill of Adrenalin,' the poetry voices summon us to take heed. Meaningful interconnecting amid the surrounding turmoil becomes the most needful and redemptive process of all."

Read the full review at Prairie Fire.

The Plural of Some Things is available online or through Guernica's North American and European distributors:

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Interview] Antonio D'Alfonso Interviewed for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation

Guernica publisher Antonio D'Alfonso is interviewed by Swiss radio on emigration, bilingualism and culture.

Italian link: http://bit.ly/1T82YX

English link: http://bit.ly/ZfmqB

Antonio D'Alfonso founded Guernica Editions in 1978, and has edited over 450 hundred books by authors from around the world. He is presently a writer in residence at McGill University (French language and literature department).

To order books from Guernica Editions:

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Interview] Ten Questions with Catherine Black

Guernica author Catherine Black is interviewed this week on Open Book. "It’s your job to be curious about the world, even if it makes you look peculiar to strangers," advises Black, "and write every day like you’re practicing scales."

You can read the full interview on Open Book.

Catherine Black is the author of Lessons of Chaos and Disaster, available from Guernica Editions:

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Readings] Desi Di Nardo at Types

Guernica author Desi Di Nardo will be reading at Type Books on Monday, September 21, to celebrate Leonard Cohen's 75th birthday and the launch of Leonard Cohen: You're Our Man.

Type Books
883 Queen St. West [map]
Toronto, Ontario M6J 1G5
info@typebooks.ca

Also reading will be Rachel Delph, Catherine Graham, Laurie Graham, Penn Kemp, Max Layton, Goran Simic and Marcel Soulliere.

Desi Di Nardo is the author of The Plural of Some Things, published by Guernica Editions.

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Readings] Elana Wolff at Livewords

Guernica author Elana Wolff will be reading at Sage West for Livewords on Thursday, September 24.

Sage West
924 College Street [map]
Toronto, Ontario
8pm (but come early to get a seat)

Elana Wolff is the author of three collections of poetry with Guernica: Birdheart (2001), Mask (2003), and You Speak to Me in Trees (2006) - winner of the 2008 F. G. Bressani Prize for Poetry. Elana is also co-author with the late poet, Malca Litovitz, of Slow Dancing: Creativity and Illness, Duologue and Rengas (2008). A collection of short essays on contemporary poems, titled Implicate Me, is forthcoming with Guernica in 2009.

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Contest] Free Passes to Words Alive 2009

Guernica Editions has a few free passes to Words Alive 2009, held this September 20 at Sharon Temple Historic Site in Sharon, Ontario. Details on Words Alive can be found on their website or their Facebook group.

To get in for free, send us a message through Facebook, Twitter or our website. There's no skill-testing question, but we do ask that you be either a member of our Facebook group or a follower of our Twitter feed, so please include your name or username to be eligible! (An email address too, please, so that we can contact you if you win.)

Contact us before noon this Friday, September 11. We'll randomly pick from all entries. Good luck!

[Readings] Melanie Janisse at Zoots Cafe

Guernica author Melanie Janisse will be reading from her collection, Orioles in the Oranges, on October 6, 2009, at Zoots Cafe.

Zoots Cafe
1438 Dundas St. West [map]
Toronto, Ontario
October 6, 2009, 7:00pm

Books, drinks and other goodies available for sale.

Melanie Janisse is a native of Windsor, Ontario. She holds degrees Communications from Concordia University and Visual Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Now a resident of Toronto, Melanie keeps active as a visual artist, poet, designer and shop owner. Orioles in the Oranges, available soon from Guernica Editions, is her first collection of poetry. To order:

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)

[Readings] Antonio D'Alfonso, Hélène Rioux and Nadine Ltaif at The Yellow Door

Guernica authors Antonio D'Alfonso, Hélène Rioux and Nadine Ltaif will be reading from their works at the Yellow Door Poetry and Prose Reading (yellowdoor.org) on Thursday, October 15, 2009.

Hélène Rioux will be reading from her collection Intimate Dialogues (English translation to be read by Jonathan Kaplansky). Nadine Ltaif will be reading from her book, Changing Shores (English translation to be read by Christine Tipper). Antonio D'Alfonso is the founder and publisher of Guernica Editions, and has written over thirty books.

The Yellow Door
3625 Aylmer [map]
Montreal, PQ

Other featured writers include Mark Paterson, H. Nigel Thomas, Lesley Pasquin, Brian Campbell and Milton Dawes.

Doors open at 7:00pm, with readings beginning at 7:30. Admission (at the door) is $5.00.

Intimate Dialogues and Changing Shores are available from Guernica Editions, as well as from:

Order Online: Amazon.com
Canada: University of Toronto Press Distribution (800-565-9523)
USA: Independent Publishers Group (800-888-4741)
Europe: Gazelle Book Services (0-152-46-87-65)