27 May, 2010

Elise Partridge in Winnipeg

As writer in residence at the Winnipeg Public Library, I invited Vancouver poet Elise Partridge to Winnipeg for a couple of events in spring 2010. Elise is the author of two wonderful collections of poetry that everyone should read, Fielder’s Choice (Signal) and Chameleon Hours (Anansi).

Elise has published widely in lit mags that are very hard to get into–Poetry (Chicago), the New Yorker, Slate, and many other places in Canada and the UK. With her wide experience, and recent work as a (virtual) resident poet for Arc magazine, I thought it would be fun to have a public talk about poetry and publishing. We did that on April 13 at the Manitoba Writers’ Guild classroom. We had a public conversation about poetry at the Winnipeg Public Library on April 14, at which Elise again read her work. A few dozen people attended both events, Elise sold and signed books, we had drinks at the King’s Head, and you should have been there if you weren’t.

Note that I’ve crudely altered the sign in the photo below to reflect the MB Writers Guild‘s new address. Thanks to John Toone for the photo.