An overdue roundup of some updates from my writing life.
The big news is that my second book of poetry, Sheets: Typewriter Works, is forthcoming from the mighty Invisible Publishing in October 2022. As per the official description:
“Sheets: Typewriter Works extends the minimalist explorations of Cameron Anstee’s first collection, Book of Annotations. Prompted by receiving the Olivetti Lettera 30 typewriter that belonged to poet William Hawkins after his death in 2016, the works in this book explore how small poems operate through the freedoms and constraints of the typewriter as both a decaying machine and a mode of composition. Through engagement with writers and artists like Jiri Valoch, Barbara Caruso, Leroy Gorman, Cia Rinne, William Hawkins, Dani Spinosa, Kate Siklosi, and Norman McLaren, Sheets: Typewriter Works re-embeds the minimalist poem in the typewritten page.”
The entire book was typed on Bill’s typewriter, and an erasure of his 1966 book Ottawa Poems is the centrepiece of the collection. Writing it pushed my meager typewriter skills to their limits and ultimately moved my writing further into a visual/concrete realm than it had been before. It is very much still a book of minimalist works, but ones that are perhaps expansive in ways that are new for my work. It includes an afterword and extensive notes, and I had the great pleasure of working with derek beaulieu as my editor. I also could not be happier with the cover design by Megan Fildes, which adapts a piece from the book, and am thrilled to be working with Invisible once again. Pearl Pirie asked me a couple questions about the book as part of a series of mini interviews she has been doing for forthcoming books, and the interview includes two pieces from the book if you’re interested in a preview (thanks Pearl!).
Launch plans and all the rest are still to be figured out, and I will share all of those details once they’re set, but in the meantime it is available now for pre-order from Invisible or from your local independent bookstore.
I am also delighted to say that some of the work in my dissertation has finally been published in print (reminder that you can read the whole thing for free here if you like). I contributed a chapter to Unpacking the Personal Library: The Public and Private Life of Books, edited by Jason Camlot and J.A. Weingarten. I am excited not only to see my research on jwcurry published, but also to be in such fine company (Alberto Manguel! Sherrin Frances! Linda Morra!). Thanks Jason and Jeff!
I recently contributed to a totally enjoyable roundtable discussion about chapbooks for the latest issue of Hamilton Arts & Letters, with questions from David Ly and answers from Ashley Obscura (Metatron), Adèle Barclay (Rahila’s Ghost), and myself. To my happy surprise, the entire issue turned out to be a “Canadian Chapbook Issue” (edited by Jim Johnstone and Shane Neilson) and included a lovely bonus–Jim Johnstone was kind enough to include Apt. 9 Press in his survey of Canadian micropresses. Thanks David, Jim, and HA&L!
And last but not least, I recently finished writing an essay (or at least finished writing a draft of an essay…) about Jessica Bebenek‘s amazing k2tog project, an essay that touched on risograph printing among many other things. Jessica then pulled a line from the essay and used it as demo text in a risograph workshop she was running, meaning that I now have a stack of very cool broadsides printed on a mix of off cuts at the riso studio of Concordia’s Centre for Expanded Poetics:
I’ve got a few of these, so if you’re interested in one send me a message.
Cameron Anstee 