Page Fright: A Literary Podcast

Sachiko Murakami talks about their latest poetry collection, Render.  Andrew discusses form and trying to figure out how to write with it. It's a wonderful time! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Sachiko Murakami is the author of Render (2020), The Invisibility Exhibit (2008), Rebuild (2011), and Get Me Out of Here (2015). As a literary worker, she has edited poetry for various presses, worked for trade organizations, hosted reading series, organized conferences, sat on juries, and judged prizes. She lives in Toronto. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University and an MA in English from UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Andy Verboom discusses his new poetry collection, DBL.  Andrew talks about Andy's early influence on him as an aspiring writer. It's a joyous occasion! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Andy Verboom is from subrural Nova Scotia and lives in K'jipuktuk (Halifax). He is the publisher of Insomniac Press and Collusion Books and the co-founder of long con magazine. His poetry has won Frog Hollow’s Chapbook Contest and Descant’s Winston Collins Prize, been shortlisted for CV2's Young Buck Prize and Arc's Poem of the Year, and appeared in Prism, The Puritan, Vallum, and elsewhere. DBL is his sixth chapbook. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University, and is pursuing an MA in English at UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Annick MacAskill discusses her new poetry collection, Murmurations.  Andrew talks about how e.e. cummings made him leave business school. It's a great time all around! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Annick MacAskill is a poet and the author of Murmurations (Gaspereau Press, 2020). Her debut collection, No Meeting Without Body (Gaspereau Press, 2018), was nominated for the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and shortlisted for the J. M. Abraham Poetry Award (Atlantic Book Awards). MacAskill has been a finalist for the CBC’s Canada Writes Poetry Prize, The Fiddlehead‘s Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, Grain Magazine‘s Short Grain Contest, The New Quarterly‘s Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest, and other literary honours. Her writing has appeared in journals and anthologies across Canada and abroad, including The Humber Literary Review, Best Canadian Poetry 2019, Canadian Notes & Queries, Plenitude, Grain Magazine, Prism, Versal, Room Magazine, The Stinging

Conyer Clayton discusses her new poetry collection, We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite. Andrew asks Conyer about her awesome titles. It's a blast! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Conyer Clayton was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and now happily calls Ottawa home. She has six chapbooks: Trust Only the Beasts in the Water (above/ground press), /(post ghost press), Undergrowth (bird, buried press), Mitosis (In/Words Magazine and Press), For the Birds. For the Humans. (battleaxe press), and The Marshes (&Co Collective, 2017). She released a collaborative album with Nathanael Larochette, If the river stood still, in August 2018. Her work appears in ARC, Prairie Fire, The Fiddlehead, The Maynard, Puddles of Sky Press, and other publications. She won ARC's 2017 iana Brebner Prize, placed third in Prairie Fire's 2017 Poetry Contest, and received honourable mention in The Fiddlehead's 2018 poetry prize. She is a member of the sound poetry ensemble Quatuor Gualuor, and writes reviews

Kevin Spenst returns to talk Hearts Amok: A Memoir in Verse. Andrew celebrates a year of Page Fright. It's a fun episode for all! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Kevin Spenst, a Pushcart Poetry nominee, is the author of Hearts Amok, Ignite, Jabbering with Bing Bong (both with Anvil Press), and over a dozen chapbooks including Pray Goodbye (the Alfred Gustav Press), Ward Notes (the serif of nottingham), Flip Flop Faces and Unexpurgated Lives (JackPine Press), and most recently Upend (Frog Hollow Press). His work has won the Lush Triumphant Award for Poetry, been nominated for both the Alfred G. Bailey Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, and has appeared in dozens of publications including Event, the Malahat Review, subTerrain magazine, Prairie Fire, CV2, the Rusty Toque, BafterC, Lemon Hound, Poetry is Dead, and the anthology Best Canadian Poetry 2019. He co-organizes the Dead Poets Reading Series, and teaches Creative Writing at Vancouver Community College. He l

Betsy Warland discusses her new book of prose poems, Lost Lagoon / lost in thought. Andrew asks Betsy about how to find inspiration for a poem. It's a great time all around! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Betsy Warland has published 12 books of poetry, creative nonfiction and lyric prose including her best-selling 2010 book of personal essays, Breathing the Page— Reading the Act of Writing. In April of 2016, Oscar of Between—A Memoir of Identity and Ideas was launched by Caitlin Press’ new imprint, Dagger Editions. Reviews have called it “an achievement,” “truly luminous,” and a “tour de force.” In 2013, Warland created a new publishing template called Oscar’s Salon. An interactive salon that features excerpts from her manuscript Oscar of Between, Guest Writers and Artist’s work, the salon also includes a Featured Reader each month as well as readers’ comments. Warland co-founded with Myrna Kostash the Creative Writers Nonfiction Collective in 2004 that holds an annual conference for

Yvonne Blomer comes on the show to discuss Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds. Andrew is intrigued by the task of editing a poetry anthology. It's a wonderful time for all! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Yvonne Blomer is the author of a travel memoir Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur, and three books of poetry, as well as an editor, teacher and mentor in poetry and memoir. She served as the city of Victoria poet laureate from 2015-2018. In 2018 Yvonne was the Artist-in-Residence at the Robert Bateman Centre and created Ravine, Mouse, a Bird’s Beak, a chapbook of ekphrastic ecological poetry in response to Bateman’s art. In 2017 Yvonne edited the anthology Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (Caitlin Press) with poets responding to their connection to the Pacific from the west coast of North America, and as far away as Japan and New Zealand. Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds is the second in a trilogy of water-based poetry anthologies coming out with Caitlin Press. She

Matthew Walsh discusses their book, These are not the potatoes of my youth. Andrew is blown away by Matthew's editing technique. It's delightful! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Matthew Walsh hails from the eastern shore of Nova Scotia and has twice travelled by bus across Canada. Their poems may be found in the Malahat Review, Arc, Existere, Matrix, Carousel, and Geist. Walsh now lives in Toronto. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University, and is pursuing an MA in English at UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Friend of the show John Elizabeth Stintzi returns to discuss their new books, Vanishing Monuments and Junebat! Andrew talks about getting back into poetry during quarantine. It's a delight! ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- John Elizabeth Stintzi is a novelist, poet, & teacher who was born and raised on a cattle farm in northwestern Ontario. Their work has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Watermill Center, and has been awarded the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and The Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize. Spring of 2020 saw the publication of both their debut novel Vanishing Monuments (Arsenal Pulp Press) and their full-length poetry debut Junebat (House of Anansi). Stintzi’s work has been published throughout the United States and Canada, in places like Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead (see: Magazine Publications), and Best Canadian Poetry. They are also the

Lauren Turner talks poetry, quarantine, and The Only Card in a Deck of Knives. Andrew asks about editing practices. It's a joy. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Lauren Turner is a disabled poet and essayist. She wrote The Onl Card in a Deck of Knives (Wolsak & Wynn 2020) and the chapbook, We're Not Going to Do Better Next Time (knife | fork | book, 2018). Her work has appeared in Grain, Arc Magazine, Poetry is Dead, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Puritan, canthius and elsewhere. She won the 2018 Short Grain Contest and was a finalist for the 2017 3Macs carte blanche Prize. She lives in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal on the unceded land of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University, and is pursuing an MA in English at UBC. He writes poems, book reviews, and hosts this very podcast.

Curtis LeBlanc talks poetry, working on a novel, and his new poetry book: Birding in the Glass Age of Isolation. Andrew picks a poem about Free Willy from Curtis' book to kick off the episode. Everything goes swimmingly. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Curtis LeBlanc is a poet and writer residing in Vancouver, BC. He is the author of Little Wild (Nightwood, 2018) and Birding in the Glass Age of Isolation (Nightwood, 2020). His work has appeared in Joyland, Geist, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, EVENT, PRISM International, Prairie Fire, Grain, and elsewhere. Curtis holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He is the recipient of the Readers’ Choice Award in the Arc Poem of the Year competition and has been shortlisted for The Walrus Poetry Prize. He’s also the co-founder and Managing Editor of Rahila’s Ghost Press. He is currently at work on his first novel. ----- Andrew French is an author from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in

Dave Bidini talks about his writing all across the world. Andrew is stoked to talk to the writer behind a song in his thesis. It's a great time for everyone. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Dave Bidini is a Canadian musician and writer. Originally from Etobicoke, Ontario, he was a founding member of the rock band Rheostatics, and currently performs with Bidiniband. In addition, he has published several books about music, travel and sports, and has written feature journalism pieces and columns for numerous Canadian magazines and newspapers. He is the only Canadian to have been nominated for all three of Canada's main entertainment awards, the Gemini Award for television work, the Genie Awards for film work and the Juno Awards for music, as well as being nominated on Canada's national book awards program, Canada Reads. Bidini is also Editor in Chief, President and Chair of the Board of West End Phoenix. ----- Andrew French is an author who was born and raised in North Vancouver, British

Amanda Leduc discusses her new book of essays, Disfigured. Andrew commends Amanda for pulling some really obscure fairy tales. Put this episode on while you take a basket of goodies through the wolf-infested woods to your grandmother. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Amanda Leduc is a disabled writer and author of the non-fiction book DISFIGURED: ON FAIRY TALES, DISABILITY, AND MAKING SPACE, out now with Coach House Books. She is also the author of the novel THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY MEN, published in 2013 by ECW Press. Her new novel, THE CENTAUR’S WIFE, is forthcoming with Random House Canada in the spring of 2021. Her essays and stories have appeared in LitHub, The Rumpus, Little Fiction | Big Truths, The National Post, Open Book Ontario, and other publications across Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia. She has previously been longlisted for both the CBC Nonfiction Prize (2019 and 2014) and the CBC Fiction Prize (2014), the StoryQuarterly Fiction Prize (2015), the Thomas Morton Mem

David Ly returns to talk about his new book, Mythical Man. Andrew thinks it's way too funny that David's book is 69 pages. Curl up six feet away from others for this Self-Isolation Special. ----- Order Mythical Man here. ----- David Ly is a writer and poet based in Vancouver, BC He holds a Bachelor of Arts in World Literature, English, and Creative Writing, and a Master of Publishing degree from Simon Fraser University. His poetry has appeared in a range of magazines and anthologies, including The Puritan, PRISM International, and The Temz Review. His chapbook, Stubble Burn (Anstruther Press, 2018), has been noted by writer Kai Cheng Thom as poetry that speaks “… to the existential crises not only of queer people of colour, but of masculinity in general at a time when men of all kinds are being challenged to look within themselves and recognize both the monstrous and the divine that live there.” (PRISM international). David’s full-length poetry collection Mythical Man is out now with Palimpsest Press. ----- A

Rob Taylor chats about writing, reading, and editing poetry. Andrew is still thinking about Rob's crab story (it's been weeks since recording). Call the gardener in to listen with you, it's fun for everybody. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Rob Taylor lives in Port Moody, BC with his wife and children. He is the author of Oh Not So Great: Poems from the Depression Project (Leaf Press, 2017), The News (Gaspereau Press, 2016) and The Other Side of Ourselves (Cormorant Books, 2011). In 2017 The News was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and in 2010 the manuscript for The Other Side of Ourselves won the Alfred G. Bailey Prize. Rob is also the editor of What the Poets are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation (Nightwood Editions, 2018) and the guest editor of Best Canadian Poetry 2019 (Biblioasis, 2019). In addition to his books, Rob is the author of six poetry chapbooks, most recently The Green Waves: Poems from Roblin Lake (845 Press, 2019) and Łazienki Park (The Alfr

Cara Nelissen talks about how she wrote a chapbook of poems while simultaneously working on a novel. Andrew gets inspired to collect playing cards. The episode is to poetry readers what shiny things are to crows. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Cara Nelissen is a queer writer currently living on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. She’s an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia and the Reviews Editor at PRISM International. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Plenitude, CV2 and Vallum. In her free time, she plays bass for Vancouver rock band Swamp Romance and likes to wander around the forest. Pick up Cara's chapbook, Pray For Us Girls, here. ----- Andrew French is an author who was born and raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University, and is pursuing an MA in English at UBC. He writes poems, book reviews,

Kyla Jamieson discusses writing poetry after a brain injury. Andrew gets a sneak peek at Kyla's forthcoming book. It's a really nice time. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Kyla Jamieson lives and relies on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Kind of Animal (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2019) and was longlisted for the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in magazines and anthologies throughout North America, including Room Magazine, The Vault, ELLE Canada, Peach Mag, The Maynard, Plenitude, and The Account.  Her debut full-length poetry book, Body Count is forthcoming from Nightwood Editions in April 2020. The book placed third in the 2018 Metatron Prize for Rising Authors. Read more about Body Count here. ----- Andrew French is an author who was born and raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia. French holds a BA in English from Huron University College at Western University, and i

Five poets answer each other's questions. Andrew is just excited to be there. It's the best, and they've got the book to prove it. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Order Best Canadian Poetry 2019 here. ----- Ellie Sawatzky lives, writes, and borrows dogs in Vancouver. She was a finalist for the 2019 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, and is the author of the poetry chapbook Rhinocentric (Frog Hollow Press, 2018). Her work has appeared in CV2, Room, The Puritan, The Matador Review, Prairie Fire, Little Fiction, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from UBC's Creative Writing Program, and writes a series of writing prompts called IMPROMPTU on Instagram (@impromptuprompts). ----- Laura Matwichuk lives in Vancouver. Her first book of poetry, Near Miss, was published by Nightwood Editions in 2019. ----- Dallas Hunt is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty Eight territory in Northern Alberta. He has had work published in The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry Magazi

Adèle Barclay talks all things poetry. Andrew is stoked to talk about Adèle's new book. It's fun for all. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Adèle Barclay’s writing has appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Heavy Feather Review, The Pinch, Fog Machine, The Puritan, PRISM international, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2016 Lit POP Award for Poetry and the 2016 Walrus Readers’ Choice Award for Poetry and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut poetry collection, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You, (Nightwood, 2016) was nominated for the 2015 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry and won the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Her second collection of poetry, Renaissance Normcore, was published by Nightwood Editions in fall 2019. She was the Interviews Editor at The Rusty Toque, a poetry ambassador for Vancouver’s Poet Laureate Rachel Rose, and the 2017 Critic-in-Residence for Canadian Women In Literary Arts. She is Arc Magazine‘s Poet in Residence

Chimedum Ohaegbu talks about trying out poetry. Andrew is excited to chat about different styles of writing. It's a great time all around. ----- Listen to more episodes of Page Fright here. ----- Chimedum Ohaegbu (she/her/hers) attends the University of British Columbia in pursuit of hummingbirds and a dual degree in English literature and creative writing. She’s Uncanny Magazine’s managing editor, a co-founder of FEMMES Interactive, and a recipient of the full 2017 Tan Seagull Scholarship for Young Writers. Her professional fiction debut was longlisted for the Nommo Award for African Science Fiction and Fantasy, and she also holds a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry. She loves tisanes, insect facts but not insects, every single bird and magpies especially, and orchestral music. Her fondness of bad puns has miraculously not prevented her work from being published in Strange Horizons, This Magazine, SAD Magazine, The /tƐmz/ Review, and The Capilano Review, among others. ----- Andrew French is an a