Upstream with the Fish Quill Poetry Boat

For the past couple of years VIA Rail Canada has been transporting troubadours across the country with its popular On-Board Musician program. Now, a group of poets are travelling and performing on Ontario’s Grand River by canoe.

Starting Aug. 5, Linda Besner (The Id Kid, Véhicule Press), Asa Boxer (Skullduggery, Signal Editions), Jeramy Dodds (Crabwise to the Hounds, Coach House Books), Gabe Foreman (A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People, Coach House), Helen Guri (Match, Coach House), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals, Coach House), and Daniel Kincade Renton (Qwerty poetry editor), along with Toronto singer Abigail Lapell will participate in the Fish Quill Poetry Boat reading tour, paddling from Elora to Six Nations Grand River Territory.

Daily stops include Bissell Park Pavilion, Elora (Aug. 5), West Montrose Kissing Bridge, Woolwich (Aug. 6), Waterloo Region Museum (Aug. 7), O’Keefe Cottage Cafe & Ice Cream Parlour, Cambridge (Aug. 9), Brown Dog Coffee Roastery, Paris (Aug. 10), Brantford Arts Block (Aug. 11), and the Six Nations Chiefswood National Historic Site (Aug. 13). On Aug. 8, there’s a Paddle with the Poets Day, where the public is invited to join the paddlers, starting at 10 a.m. at Bingemans Camping Resort in Kitchener. Rental canoes are available.

Appropriately, the tour kicks off Aug. 4 at The Boat in Toronto. All performances start at 7 p.m. and are free.

Malla, Dodds take home Trillium Book Awards

Youth and inexperience won the day in the English-language categories of the 22nd annual Trillium Book Awards luncheon, which took place earlier this afternoon in Toronto. The $20,000 English Book Award went to The Withdrawal Method (House of Anansi Press), the debut short-story collection by 31-year-old Pasha Malla, while the $10,000 English Poetry Award went to Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House Books), the debut of 33-year-old Jeramy Dodds. (The Trilliums honour works by Ontario authors.)

Dodds, who lost the recent Griffin Poetry Prize to veteran A.F. Moritz, accepted his award by saying that he wished he’d brought a crash helmet in case he fainted at the podium, and that maybe he would use his prize money to buy one afterward. Beyond that, he simply thanked the staff of Coach House and his editor there, fellow Trillium nominee Kevin Connolly (who was shortlisted for his poetry collection Revolver), for encouraging him to press on with the collection even when it consisted of barely more than two poems.

Pasha Malla, meanwhile, accepted his award with his father at his side, and rather than talk about himself, he mostly talked about the new Pixar movie Up and the lessons it contains for budding authors. After his speech, Malla told Q&Q Omni that he is currently at work on his first novel, People Park, which is due out from Anansi sometime in 2010. He’s already completed about 150 pages, and he hopes to finish the rest when he does a residency later this year at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon.

Malla beat out several more high-profile authors – Nino Ricci and Helen Humphreys – as well as Ibi Kaslik and Charles Wilkins. The jurors for both English-language awards were Q&Q‘s own review editor Steven Beattie, publishing industry veteran Meg Taylor, and author Emily Schultz.

The French language awards, meanwhile, went to Marguerite Andersen for her novel Le figuier sur le toit (Éditions L’Interligne) and to Paul Prud’Homme for his children’s book Les Rebuts: Hockey 2 (Éditions du Vermillon).

English Book Award ($20,000):
Pasha Malla, The Withdrawal Method (House of Anansi Press)

English Poetry Award ($10,000):
Jeramy Dodds, Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House Books)

French Book Award ($20,000):
Marguerite Andersen, Le figuier sur le toit (Éditions L’Interligne)

French Children’s Literature Award ($10,000):
Paul Prud’Homme, Les Rebuts: Hockey 2 (Éditions du Vermillon)

Griffin Poetry Prize reaction

Some reaction to the Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist, unveiled yesterday, is trickling in. The Canadian Press interviews two nominees, Jeramy Dodds and Kevin Connolly, while the National Post has a backgrounder on this year’s selections. Q&Q reviewer and conflict watchdog Zachariah Wells says this is “one of the best Canadian shortlists I’ve seen…. Kudos to Michael Redhill, this year’s Canadian judge.”

Wells does add, however, “Given that the prize is funded by Anansi’s owner, it would have looked a lot better if Redhill had managed to shortlist but one of their books.” And the Toronto Star‘s Vit Wagner also notes the Griffin-Anansi link, though he doesn’t exactly press the point after Anansi president Sarah MacLachlan assures him that it’s a non-issue.

Quillblog’s take: it is an appearance of mild conflict, but probably unavoidable. Given Anansi’s commitment to poetry publishing, their titles deserve to be in the running, and if they’re in the running, they’re probably going to turn up on the odd shortlist. (It’s also worth noting that no Anansi title has won in the nine-year history of the prize.)