Northern Exposure in the M-K

Well, I'm back from (and changed by) the remarkable Muskwa-Kechika Artist Camp in Northern British Columbia where I hiked and rode and camped with nine other artists to raise awareness about this unique wild place. The Muskwa Kechika Management Area is the largest untouched boreal forest in North America and is under threat of exploitation by big oil and gas companies. Artists of all disciplines are encouraged to attend the camp. The catch? Once you're out, you've got to create work that focusses on some aspect of the M-K. No problem.

Some notable alum include poets Sue Sinclair, Tim Lilburn, and Don McKay; naturalist Ben Gadd; travel writer and activist Shirley Roburn; and visual artist Brian Jungen. Special huge thanks to Donna Kane and Wayne Sawchuk who brought me out for the camp. And to all of you who were there, don't be strangers.

Want to see me at 6400 ft? Click here.

Want to go and see the M-K for yourself? Download the application form here.

Curio Reviewed at the Globe and Mail

The 2nd Edition of Curio: Grotesques and Satires from the Electronic Age got a glowing review in the Globe and Mail last week. The edition was redesigned and rereleased by Bookthug, Spring, 2009. In addition to a snazzy new cover and some significant rewrites, this edition includes an afterward by delightful avant garde poet K. Silem Mohammad from Ashland Oregon. 

For the love of poetry, click here to buy the book. 

God of Missed Connections at Agora Review

Thanks to Aaron Tucker at Agora Review who just put up a very nice-looking interview I did with Rob Mclennen after a short trip to Ottawa to help launch How the Light Gets In, an anthology of Canadian Poetry that was just released in Ireland. Here's a snippet from the interview,"

"I wanted to write the book I couldn’t find. When I began this project I found it fascinating how many (hundreds!) of academic texts, memoirs, interviews, short stories, poems, documentary films, videos, paintings, collages, sculptures, websites, blogs, etc. are dedicated to the history of Ukraine and of Ukrainians in Canada—yet very few of these resources are produced by Ukrainian-Canadian authors of my generation. And almost none of these are creative works."

Thanks, Aaron.