As the new year begins, I wanted to take a few minutes to collect some items related to Book of Annotations. I couldn’t be happier with how the book has been received and all that it has allowed me to do this year.

I’ve been lucky to see the book receive a number of positive reviews and acknowledgements, and want to extend my gratitude to everyone that took the time to read and engage with the book and everyone that has supported me in dozens of different ways during the past eight months (since publication) and fifteen or so years prior to publication.

I gave eight readings from the book this year (Ottawa, Toronto, Peterborough, Hamilton, Picton), and am working to line a few more up in 2019 (send me a message if you run a series somewhere!).

These broadsides are still available as well!

I should also point out that my very fine publisher, Invisible, is having a 25% off sale on their entire publishing catalogue–go stock up!

Reviews: Canadian Literature |  Prairie Fire | CV2 | Winnipeg Free Press | rob mclennan’s blog | Canadian Notes and Queries

Year-end Lists: Writer’s Trust (Ben Ladouceur) | Dusie (rob mclennan) | Pearl Pirie

Interviews: Invisible Reading Guide | CKCU Literary Landscape |The Small Machine Talks | Electric City | Poetry Mini Interviews | Invisiblog | All Lit Up

The book is also in all of these libraries, and you can even buy a used copy at the Strand in NYC.

Apologies if I’ve missed anything above.

The book continues to be out in the world, and it’s been a real pleasure to encounter it on shelves and to get some very generous notes from people that have read it. The book has also received a bit of press:

There is a brief review from Jonathan Ball in one of his regular poetry-round-ups in the Winnipeg Free Press: “Anstee’s poems work best when they isolate something that might otherwise pass unnoticed.”

Liam Burke was kind enough to host me on CKCU’s long-running show Literary Landscapes, which can be listened to here.

a.m. kozak and Amanda Earl had me on their podcast, The Small Machine Talks, just this past week. I’m biased, clearly, but I thought it was a fascinating conversation about a large number of my small press interests/neuroses, and I’m very grateful to them for inviting me to the show.

I answered five questions over at Poetry Mini Interviews.

I also answered five questions in Electric City Magazine in anticipation of an upcoming reading in Peterborough. I’m reading alongside long-time friend, collaborator, Accord-ian, and Peterborough force-for-good Justin Million. Saturday July 21, 2018, 6pm, at the Garnet.

Jeff Macklin, the man responsible for these broadsides (produced in response to poems from the book, and available for purchase here!) and for Jackson Creek Press, will also be there for “a short chat.”

As always, more to follow.

As of yesterday, my first trade collection, Book of Annotations is officially in the world. It is available for purchase directly from Invisible Publishing, from All Lit Up, from your local independent bookstore, from me, from anywhere else books are sold, and from upcoming readings.

I’m launching beside Eric Schmaltz (author of Surfaces) with special guest Dani Spinosa (of the exciting new Gap Riot Press) in Toronto on Thursday May 10. Details here: Facebook

My Ottawa launch is two days later in the Plan 99 Reading Series at the Manx, Saturday May 12, 5pm. Leigh Nash, publisher of Invisible, author of Goodbye, Ukelele, and wearer of many other hats (literary and otherwise) will be reading too! A third reader will be announced shortly. Detials here: Instagram / Facebook

rob mclennan recently wrote the first review of the book (thanks, rob!), available to read at his blog here: “There is such deliberate care to these poems, crafted and sculpted and incredibly small, some as deliberate as a single word.”

I was interview at the Invisiblog, here, and also wrote a short reading guide for the book, here.

Other reading details to follow (Peterborough and Hamilton are booked, others in the works). Drop me a line if you’re interested in a review copy. I would also love to come read in your town!

Well now look what came in the mail late last week…

Available for purchase directly from Invisible Publishing, from All Lit Up, from your local independent bookstore, from me, at a pile of upcoming readings (including the Toronto launch on May 10 and Ottawa launch on May 12, details to come), and anywhere else books are sold.

I am excited to be speaking at Kanada Koncrete in May. My paper, “.edarap!: Barbara Caruso’s presspresspress (1988-1998),” is coming along. Everyone in or near Ottawa should be finding a way to get to this conference. The full schedule hasn’t been shared yet publicly, but it is going to be fantastic.

My forthcoming first trade collection, “Book of Annotations,” is available now for pre-order. Check it out at Invisible Publishing’s website here. It is officially out on April 13, 2018, and launch details in different cities are currently being sorted out.

It can also be found in Quill & Quire’s spring preview, and in the 49th Shelf’s spring poetry preview.

The book is almost a book! More details to follow.

At long last, here is the finished dissertation. 283 pages, 131 footnotes, 3 appendices, 82, 954 words. Defended successfully on April 5, 2017, and now available in the University of Ottawa Research database:

Make Contact: Contributive Bookselling and the Small Press in Canada Following the Second World War

Danny Snelson‘s students at Northwestern have been writing some of Aram Saroyan’s minimalist poems on streets and sidewalks and other bits of infrastructure with chalk. What a lovely project! Chalk Saroyan

It was very kind of Ben Ladouceur to ask me some questions about Apt. 9 and small press things, and to let me ramble on in my answers. Thanks Ben, and thanks Open Book for publishing it!

The Same Aspirations Persist: An Interview with Cameron Anstee, editor of Apt. 9 Press

“In 2016, three of the five chapbooks nominated for the bpNichol Chapbook Award came from the same press, Ottawa’s Apt. 9 Press. One of those Apt. 9 Press nominees, Nelson Ball’s Small Waterways, ultimately took the 2016 prize. This is Game of Thrones-level nomination-domination, a formidable accomplishment for a single publisher. But are things like awards very important to Apt. 9 Press editor Cameron Anstee? In the interview below, Cameron lays out why he does what he does.”

I was putting this link aside to go back to later, and realized that I should really just share it publicly. It looks like a wonderful project from The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild’s Ottawa Valley Chapter:

CBBAG Ottawa: Books Arts