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The poetry scene in Vancouver is huge, and the amount of local talent staggering. On May 16 at the People’s Co-op Bookstore, poetry fans had the opportunity to experience some of the coast’s best poets with The Poetries: 5 West Coast Poets. The intimate night of readings featured work by Vancouver poets Jordan Abel, Jordan Scott and Chelene Knight, as well as Seattle poets Elizabeth J. Cohen and Deborah Woodard.

Jordan Abel kicked off the evening with a performance piece from his book Un/inhabited, a collection based off of passages from 91 Western Cowboy and Indian themed works. Abel selected words relating to the politics of land and ownership from these books to inspire his poems, paying particular attention to the terms “frontier” and “colony.” Rhythmic recordings of Abel’s voice intermixed throughout the performance, in sync at times, overlapping at others. The performance was humbling, with multiple voices resonating throughout Abel’s politically charged work. I’ve seen Jordan Abel perform before, but the way in which he hypnotizes his audience is always astounding.

Jordan Scott is another poet who reads his poetry with humbling beauty. Scott’s poetry plays with words and setting. He read from his most recent publication, Decomp, an “extended photo–essay and prose poem” written in collaboration with Stephen Collis. In contrast to Abel, Scott stood alone in front of the audience with his poetry on sheets of paper. But his poetry still read as performance; words bounced off the walls, forming vivid imagery in the mind to a rhythm like no other.

Chelene Knight, a graduate of SFU’s Writer’s Studio, was the third poet of the evening. Knight opened with a poem dedicated to a deceased friend and then moved on to read from her first book, Braided Skin. With a liquid voice, Knight read a selection of work focused on issues of race. She was expressive as she moved through her poetry with ease, reading also from her upcoming collection, Dear Current Occupant, which promises to be as exceptional as Braided Skin.

Next up was Elizabeth J. Cohen, the first Seattle poet to read. Using lyrical essay in poetic form, Cohen incorporated elements of biography and prose. Cohen is a magnetic performer; her poetry created an intimacy with the audience that was simply captivating.

Deborah Woodard, a Seattle-based translator and a poet, read last. Woodward uses erasure, a form of poetry that involves erasing words from existing texts, to create new works from borrowed words. Reading first from her own work, with poems such as “Maiden Flight” and “Gorilla Girl,” Woodard then moved on to a translated collection by Amelia Rosselli. Though originally written in Italian, the poems did not lose their eloquence when recited in English. Her vibrant performance was a strong finish to an incredible evening.

ROVE_Eevent__is

I meet with Vancouver-based artist, consultant and event planner Jamie Smith at her sunny Main Street studio above Gene cafe. Glancing out her window, I count six toques, two Hershel backpacks, and one beautiful, black fixed gear. Yep, I smile, turning back to my host, we’re definitely in Mount Pleasant.

People-watching aside, I’m here to interview Smith about ROVE, the community art walk she’s planning for May 22. From 6 – 10 pm this Friday, seven local galleries will open their doors to the public. Armed with ROVE maps—complete with instructions for finding the closest breweries, of course—ROVE-ers can gallery hop to their hearts’ content, mingling with artists, curators and other artsy folk. The best part? The entire event is 100% free.

SM: So tell me about ROVE. How did you get involved in the project?

JS: I made it up! It started when I went to Portland in the fall of last year. Every first Thursday of the month, they do an art night. There’s a map, and you walk around—it’s called the Pearl District—and it’s all really close together. That’s what I liked about it; it was going to galleries, but all in one area.

Some cities have these art walks every month. I think that’s a very exciting thing, because it becomes a part of people’s month; they have something to look forward to and they see a lot of different work. I thought that would be very cool for Vancouver.

At first, I was like, “Every first Thursday: ROVE!” but it’s so much work. So I’m doing as many as I can. They keep getting easier and easier, and hopefully, at the end, it will just keep going.

Rebecca Chaperon (on display at Gene Studios, 2412 Main Street)
Rebecca Chaperon (on display at Gene Studios, 2412 Main Street)

SM: Can you tell me a little about the event? The venues look amazing.

JS: I’m definitely excited about the venues; they’re great. There are people in Mount Pleasant always doing openings, always doing things. But something like this—like ROVE—really brings it all together. Hopefully we get a lot of people out who normally wouldn’t come to just one art opening.

SM: How do you choose the venues?

JS: It’s kind of been developing over time. The first time I did it, I just went to people that I knew were doing things in the area and tried to find places around here. And then throughout this time, people have actually come to me, which has been really nice. I’ve started going to openings at BAF (Burrard Arts Foundation) and Field Contemporary, so I just approached them and said, “This is what I do.” This is the first time I’ll be working with some of these galleries, but I think it will go well.

SM: Is there an overarching theme to the evening?

JS: The way ROVE works is that these spaces are doing their own thing all the time, so when I say I’m going to do a ROVE, it’s what they’re displaying at that time. It’s actually kind of nice because Kafka’s and Make both have photography showing, Field and BAF are all painters, in here (Gene Studios) we’re all painters, and then there’s Lawrence Yuxweluptun and Graeme Berglund. Lawrence is one of the most famous painters in Canada—a First Nations artist—so it’s a real treat that they’re going to be around. Actually grunt is doing a show of First Nations art as well. So there’s actually some really lovely cross-overs, but that was just luck. I’m really excited about it.

SM: What are you most excited about for this upcoming ROVE?

JS: What’s really cool is this time around, is that if you’re roving around and you have your map, you can go into Brassneck or 33 Acres and get a drink special. And then there’s the after party at 10 pm at the Projection Room, above the Fox.

People just need to go on the website and pick where they want to start. I think you should start at Gene Studios (2414 Main Street), because it’s central.It is an unique experience to see artist’s studios where the work is actually made. The other locations are galleries which is a more traditional way of viewing artwork.

Steven Hubert (on display at Field Contemporary, 17 West Broadway)
Steven Hubert (on display at Field Contemporary, 17 West Broadway)

SM: Do you have any other advice for first-time ROVE-ers?

JS: The event is from 6-10 pm, and you can definitely do it in that time. It’s fun if you start at the beginning, because then you have the full four hours. The breweries are going to get really busy, because it’s Friday night, so I’m encouraging people to actually get out here at 6 and start at Brassneck, even. Most locations are going to have some wine that you can buy. It’s seven galleries, so you can do it all in one night, and you shouldn’t be rushed. And it’s Friday night, which is fun!

SM: Why do you ROVE?

JS: What I like about ROVE are the conversations that happen, because instead of going to one show and seeing that work in one way, you’re going from location to location. It’s really interesting to have a comparative, where you can go and see photography and think, “Why did they take these photos?” and then you can go see a painter. They’re both artists, but why do they work so differently? I’ve heard lots of different things, like, “I really didn’t like that show,” and that’s good to hear, or “That was the best.” I think it’s interesting as artists that we can hear the feedback from people attending—especially from people who don’t always come out. The art scene, especially for opening nights, is a lot of the same people. I like ROVE because it’s a totally different crowd. You get a lot of different people who aren’t necessarily here because of art, but it can often become that. I’ve had people show up to [later] openings because they were there for the first time at ROVE, which is really amazing. We just want more people to come out.

SM: Will all the artists be attending on Friday?

JS: They should be. Definitely at the studios, and then the galleries have asked the artists to come. You’ll [also] meet the gallery owners and curators.

Mira Song (on display at Gene Studios 2412 Main Street)
Mira Song (on display at Gene Studios 2412 Main Street)

SM: What do you look for when you view art yourself?

JS: When viewing art, I think it’s looking at it really open-mindedly and taking it for what it is. But when it’s buying art, it’s just, you see it, and then you just feel something, and that’s really exciting. And I don’t think it matters who it’s by or why it’s there. It’s just those feelings.

I think buying original art is a very important thing for humans. Especially locally, if it inspires you and it’s a special night, I always encourage people to actually—actually—buy it! Because these are the stories you tell people when they come over for dinner, not the ones about the Ikea print.

SM: So all the art will be for sale?

JS: Yeah, it will be, but ROVE is definitely a community event. The hope would be that people would have this experience and want to purchase something, do, because supporting the artists just keeps these things going. But it’s really just about coming out and enjoying. Sales definitely happen, but it’s not the focus.

SM: What would you like to see more of in Vancouver’s art scene?

JS: The galleries here are doing a great job, and they’re showing really quality work, but I’d like to see more events like this that bring people out. I’d like to see an enlivened art scene, not just for people who feel really comfortable in it and go every week. I would just hope that events like ROVE make this possible.

 

This interview has been edited and condensed.
ROVE takes place May 22 from 6-10 pm in Mount Pleasant. For more information, visit ROVE’s website.

 

150505_PID-5 YR Poster - smallJoin Poetry Is Dead to celebrate five years of poetry and the launch of their 11th issue “Youth Culture.” Poets and performers will take on the subject of youth culture, from high school to Tiger Beat crushes.

Hosted by: Cynara Geissler & Daniel Zomparelli

Readings, Stand-Up and Performances by: 
Dina Del Bucchia, Sara Bynoe, Kayla Czaga, Cass Keeley, Richard Kemick, Curtis LeBlanc, Poetry Is Dead’s Drag sister Shanda Leer, Geoff Nilson, Shannon Rayne, Mallory Tater, and Alicia Tobin.

When: Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Where: Historic Theatre at The Cultch
1895 Venables Street, Vancouver

Tickets: $22.00 (adult) / $19.00 (student)
Tickets available at tickets.thecultch.com or at The Cultch box office.

All tickets include a one-year subscription to Poetry Is Dead.

Do you remember being a sweaty kid, sitting around your basement with other sweaty kids watching WWF (Now WWE), trying out sleeper holds on each other until your parents forced you all home? No? Doesn’t matter. That nostalgia will hit you like an elbow drop to the gut when you attend Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy. Comics Graham Clark and Ryan Beil host Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy at the Little Mountain Gallery, just off of Main Street: a show that can only be described as a couple of grown-up kids joking over the weirdest wrestling clips pulled from the internet. After attending a few of these nights, Sad Mag caught up with the hosts to find out more about the event.

Ring A Ding Dong Dandy
Photo by Graham Clark

Sad Mag: If someone was to attend Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy, what could they expect from the evening?

Ryan Beil: A collection of dynamite wrestling clips (curated by Graham Clark) projected on the medium screen with comedic comments sprinkled throughout.

Graham Clark: You can expect to laugh, first and foremost. You can also expect to learn at least one thing about wrestling. It’s Ryan and I providing a running commentary over classic wrestling clips. It’s a gas.

SM: When and why did you two start up this event?

RB: I don’t remember when but I remember why: because it made so much sense.

GC: We started the show a few years ago because both Ryan and I love wrestling. I kind of moved away from watching wrestling, and then when I started again, I realized how much I missed it. Also, after meeting some wrestlers, what stood out to me was how much the wrestling mirrored the comedy world: tough road gigs, little pay, and filled with people who can’t think of a better way to spend their time. The one difference is that these wrestlers live the road life but still have to be in shape. It’s insanity.

SM: Who is your favourite pro wrestler?

RB: Ultimate Warrior cause he’s the Ultimate. RIP.

GC: Oh man, this is a real Sophie’s choice. Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart brought me to wrestling, so they will always have a special place in my heart. As far as gimmicks go, Ravishing Rick Rude was my favourite. He would kiss a special lady he selected from the audience and then she would pass out. He also wore tights with his own face on them. As far as the best when it came to promos, I love me some Jake the Snake.

SM: In a wrestling match against each other, who would win?

RB: Graham. Cause he’d tickle. And he’s stronger.

GC: I would, because I would cheat. I would blind the ref then I would cheat.

 

Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy is coming up on Wednesday, May 13, 8:30pm at Little Mountain Gallery (195 East 26th Ave). You can follow @_LittleMountain on Twitter to keep up with their events. Or you can catch Graham Clark at the Laugh Gallery, every Monday at Havana’s Theatre on Commercial Drive.

The 5th annual Verses Festival is not a mere celebration of words, but a celebration of voices and viewpoints from poets across Canada. Since undergoing rebranding three years ago, the festival continues to get bigger and better each year. The recent transition has led to a more diversified festival lineup that includes a wealth of spoken word performances, slam poetry events, and poetry workshops spread throughout Vancouver for first timers and seasoned poets alike.

New to the event this year is a curated exhibit of visual poetry entitled That One Thing You Said,  a collaboration with local poetry magazine Poetry Is Dead. Tucked away inside a Latin American restaurant along Commercial Drive, the quaint gallery features works by five Canadian visual poets: Jordan Abel, Dina Del Bucchia, Lindsay Cahill, Helen Hajnoczky, and Eric Schmaltz.

14031994273_c3ca31a947_zThe exhibit blurs the lines between visual art and poetry while taking a closer look at how the role of language has shaped each poet’s worldview and relationships on an interpersonal, social and global level. Some pieces are illegible and undecipherable to the viewer, hinting at the transformative power of language as a tool for communication, or rather, the lack thereof. And isn’t this what poetry, at its core, really achieves? This art form is unique in that it can speak to readers without requiring them to fully understand the context of its symbolic reference points.

At the heart of the festival is the Hullabaloo series, a competitive youth slam that kickstarts the season. Fueled by spirited energy and infectious enthusiasm, aspiring teams engage in friendly interschool competition to see whose school has the best poetic chops and is most deserving of the coveted shark trophy.14012444024_5e7fe8981c_z

According to Hullabaloo Events Coordinator and local Vancouver poet RC Weslowski, it is important for today’s youth to get involved in the poetry scene because these events create situations where young people are validated and listened to in a way that goes beyond being seen as “target markets” for corporations. One of the most pleasant surprises for Weslowski is seeing youth poets surprise themselves with the power of their own wordsrealizing that what they have to say resonates with others, that their work can connect people on a larger scale.  

 

Get a sneak peek of this year’s festival line up at the Hulla-Verses Remixer opening gala this April 26 at 7:30 pm at the York Theatre.

The Verses Festival of Words runs from April 23 – May 3, 2015. For more information and  a complete schedule of events, visit the festival website.

Sister Spit began in 1997 as a lesbian-feminist spoken word and performance art collective founded by Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson. Since then, Sister Spit has toured North America’s theatres, universities, and festivals, performing at the Casto Street Fair, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and San Francisco’s LadyFest. Today, the legacy continues with Sister Spit: The Next Generation, a no longer exclusively female continuation of the original collective. Renowned writers and poets hit Vancouver’s Wise Hall on April 14 as part of Sister Spit’s 2015 North America tour.

Sister Spit
Sister Spit North America Tour

Hosts Esther Tung and April Alayon introduced Sister Spit and ran through the preliminaries of the night before passing the mic on to Virgie Tovar. Virgie, ‘a hot fat Latina femme’ writer and activist, M.C.’d the show and broke up the string of poetry with engaging, hilarious and quirky personal stories. An excellent story teller is rare to find, and she has the talent to unearth something sparkling and extraordinary in everyday life situations. Poets Myriam Gurba, Mica Signourney and Tom Cho surprised the audience with the diversity of their styles and their dedication to performance. Each artist was honest and unabashed, able to express their uninhibited thoughts through performance and movement. Sister Spit established a strong sense of community throughout the night; the audience was comprised mostly of friends, family and Commercial Drive locals, and all bathrooms were gender neutral.

The content of the program was generally amazing and, most often, hilarious. Poets’ use of voice, tone, volume, accents, facial expressions, and gestures added so much to their words; it was a completely different experience to watch, rather than read, their work. This is why Sister Spit is so brilliant; it is obvious that these artists belong on stage, sharing what they love and hate and think about the world. Their performances were inspiring, empowering, and educational, wrought with humour and strong opinion.

The next time Sister Spit rolls into Vancouver, I’d like to be there, because I know that this brilliant collective will continue evolving, creating, and finding original ways to express itself to whomever they encounter along the road.

This month, the annual Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver welcomed exhibitions to galleries across the city. The festival focuses on celebrating local and international photography and lens-based art, making it a great way to get acquainted with Vancouver-based art galleries and artists.

The Hadden Park Map Exchange
The Hadden Park Map Exchange

On Friday, I attended the opening reception at Access Gallery for their exhibition Field Studies: Exercises in a Living Landscape. Walking into the gallery space, I was immediately confronted with a dozen maps of Hadden Park, a local park at the north end of Kitsilano Beach. The series of unconventional maps were produced by specialized practitioners and community members as part of the Hadden Park Map Exchange, a project orchestrated by local artists Rebecca Bayer and Laura Kozak. In this “field study,” each practitioner used the same template to organize the park according to his or her own background. Each map highlighted different aspects of the park, ranging from an exploration of the sensory experience of walking through it to a tally of electrosmog emissions in the area. By using identical templates for each map, the artists called attention to the subjectivity of individual interpretation. The collection successfully documented the inventive ways in which our everyday landscape can be experienced and imagined.

by Emilio Sepulveda
The Act of Constructing a Telecommuning Object by Emilio Sepulveda

The next wall housed a video installation by Eden Veaudry, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Vancouver. I watched as the artist’s hands wove together still photographs and tapestries on screen. Next to Veaudry’s work were beautiful weather kites by Emiliano Sepulveda, another Vancouver-based artist originally hailing from Mexico City. His works emphasized the way in which photography operates, documenting everyday landscapes through the interplay of light and colour. Both Veaudry and Sepulveda effectively used the gallery space to create a landscape of their own, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in their own perceptions of the works. Much like the Hadden Park maps, the installations encouraged viewers to develop unique interpretations and perspectives. The eye, these artists remind us, is just another lens with which to “capture” the environment.

 

Field Studies: Exercises in a Living Landscape takes place at the Access Gallery  until May 23rd. The related Hadden Park Open Field Mapping event will take place on May 9th, followed by and an artist talk on May 23rd.

Capture Photography Festival runs until April 29th. For upcoming events and current exhibitions, visit the festival website.

David Balzer’s thought-provoking new book, Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else (Coach House Press/Pluto Press), explores what it means for the verb “curate” to be adopted by popular culture. Whether liking a friend’s post on Facebook, purchasing a cookbook on Amazon, or interacting with one of Subway’s “sandwich artists,” we’ve all become “curators” of our own identities. And with the advent of the Internet, it seems like we have more power over the choices we make than ever before. But is that really the case? And if everyone is a curator, then what is art? Is there any room left for spontaneous experience?

Balzer tackles these massive existential queries in the pages of his book, and will be exploring them during a talk at Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery on April 10. Sad Mag’s Shannon Tien sat down with Balzer for a sneak peak of Friday’s event.

Balzer

Shannon Tien: Can you explain how the term “curate” has changed over time?

David Balzer: So there’s the traditional curator who studies art history, gets their PhD, does a museum studies certificate, and then they work in the back rooms of museums with restorers and they’re kind of custodians of art historical works. That isn’t really what I’m interested in.

I’m interested in the contemporary curator. That idea can be traced back all the way to the Roman Empire. The Latin root of “curator” means to care for something. So the curators in the Roman Empire were basically caretakers. Balzer Curationism

The curator has never been easy to define; it’s only nowadays that we think of the curator as a “real” job. So I argue that the curator becomes super contemporary when the curator’s asked not just to care for things, but to give value to them. That happens in the early to mid-20th Century. Then the real birth of the curator in terms of how we understand it happens in the conceptual art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. And at this point, curators are not just giving value to objects, but they’re also performing the value of art. That aspect of performance in curating is the thing I think is kind of key in understanding how curating transitioned from the art world to popular culture.

Basically, using “curate” as a verb—saying that you’re going to “curate” something, or that “I curated a collection of hats”—the Oxford English Dictionary traces that usage back only to the early 1980s. And the usage that they find for their draft edition is from the world of performance art, which I think is really telling. It’s a dance performance at this New York avant-garde space called The Kitchen being written about by The New York Times. From that point on you see the word “to curate” or “curated by” used in the context of dance or music festivals and then by the 1990s, when the contemporary curator becomes a really important part of the institution, that word is used more and more and then the Internet happens and everyone sort of appropriates its use.

ST: When exactly did our own cultural consumption become a curatorial act?

DB: You know the saying in retail, “The customer’s always right”? I think that it’s changed to, “The customer must always feel as if they’re choosing.” When you “curate” something you’re “choosing,” and businesses have really latched onto this as a means of superficially empowering consumers. I think we can pinpoint it in the late 1990s going past Y2K, when all of a sudden we were made to choose a lot as consumers. There’s deep sociological and demographic research that needs to back it up, but generally the Internet has become a fact of life for a lot of people. At the same time there’s a crisis in terms of cultural consumption. In the art world, art institutions are not being funded the way they like, and in other spheres such as book buying, for instance, you’ve got these huge chains emerging in the ‘90s like Borders and Chapters and they just swallow up the little brick and mortar stores. So culture’s getting really homogenized at the same time that everyone’s going online and wondering who they are and interacting with people in a more active and global way than ever before. But whenever I’m talking about “choosing” I’m being a little ironic because I think that the idea of cultural curating is not necessarily the most empowering thing in terms of giving us choice. It kind of provides us with this illusion of choice.

ST: Can you talk about the rise of “normcore,” or the idea that taste is irrelevant because the Internet makes everything available to everyone?

DB: I don’t think the idea of curating would ever become completely obsolete. But what I do argue—and these ideas are present in the work of K-HOLE, the group that birthed the term “normcore,” and they’re present in post-Marxist Italian theory—this idea that we’re online and we’re asked to perform what we like and what our taste is. But people who are thinking about it, who are aware of possibly inhabiting the Matrix or whatever, can easily sense that what we’re doing online is prompted by similar algorithms, and what we like is highly influenced by what other people like. In fact we’re encouraged to like what other people like. When we buy something on Amazon, Amazon tells us what other people bought in addition to what we’re buying as a prompt to see if we might want to buy that too. It’s a bit of disingenuous uniqueness that online curating promotes. And if you think of it for five seconds, you realize that the sorts of choices you’re being asked to make as a social media user are pretty flattening.

ST: Are algorithms robot curators? Are they the future of curating?

DB: Well in a way I think that the algorithm is curatorial but also anti-curatorial. If you program something that can do the choosing for you in a semi-cognisant way, this choosing is only based on what’s been chosen before. But I like the idea that a program can show us that curating is not the most unique or difficult thing that one can engage with. I think that it can really call into serious question our precious notions of what it means to curate. But I also think that a good thing to come out of it would be to bring us back to a more thoughtful meditation on what it actually means to curate or choose. It’s maybe the end point of this discussion where curating has reached such an accelerated moment that now we’re getting computers and software to do it for us.

ST: How has this book affected your own “curationism”?

DB: I think that as someone who as been a critic for a long time, who’s a voracious consumer of film, art, music, literature, and talks about it all the time, I’ve sort of reached a moment, and it was when I was writing the book—and maybe it had to do with a personal element of this [which] was that I just exited a very long term relationship that was very much built around the expression of taste—where I thought, “Why is taste so important? And why am I always trying to perform what I like for everybody? Why does it matter? Isn’t there a better way to engage with culture and show how much it means to me?” So this book maybe represents that existential crisis.

 

This interview has been condensed and edited. Catch David Balzer at Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery on April 10 at 7 p.m.

Throughout April, bookstores, libraries and publishers in BC are encouraging the public to “Read Local, Buy Local, Think Global” as part of a three-week campaign. Launched by The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (ABPBC), Read Local BC features more than 25 free events with local authors throughout the province, including nine fiction, poetry, non-fiction and children’s readings in Vancouver.

In the spirit of Read Local BC, and the sharing of stories, ideas and histories that are bound to transpire between Vancouverites, Megan Jones sat down with Poetry is Dead editor, Can’t Lit podcaster and Davie Street Translations author Daniel Zomparelli to discuss local books, literary events, and why he still chooses to live and write in Vancouver.

dzomp
Photo by Rob Seebacher

Megan Jones: So many dedicated, award-winning writers call Vancouver home, and many choose to publish locally. Our writing community is stronger and more supportive than ever, it seems. But for someone who’s not a writer or publishing industry expert, it doesn’t always feel that way—readings and book launches have the reputation of being exclusive and even intimidating. How can we involve and include the non-writing public more in Vancouver’s literary scene? Does it even matter?

Daniel Zomparelli: Yes, it does matter. It’s always nice to have people outside the literary community at events, and I’m interested in how to make that happen. For example, we try to create Poetry Is Dead events that get everyone interested [such as the well-attended “Humour Issue” launch, with performances from poets and local comedians]. Does it always work? No, but when it does, it’s a great event. There’s always ways to make readings less intimidating for people outside of the literary community, such as: host it at an interesting venue and have a cash bar. Also, maybe avoid words like “ontological” in your event info.

MJ: Vancouver-born authors often choose to relocate to Toronto or Montreal, where there’s proximity to New York, and comparably cheaper rent (and beer and wine, which is perhaps just as important). Why have you decided to stay in Vancouver?

DZ: I stick to Vancouver for several reasons, but the main reasons are my family and my anxiety. As you’ve pointed out, there’s a great community in this city, and as a result I have a strong support system. Rent and food might be expensive and I might constantly play chicken with my credit card bill, but there is something about being close to the ocean that keeps me calm. Like, at any point if I wanted to, I could just walk out to the ocean and keep going (I basically want to reverse TheLittle Mermaid myself). My friend Alicia Tobin said it best with “I missed my bus stop & got off at the ocean & let the waves of a million years of losses and victories wash over my tired body. Sorry I am late.” (Quote thanks to Rebecca Slaven).

MJ: How does the province of BC – its wilderness, people and cities – inform your work?

DZ: People and how they relate to each other and to nature and the city inspires and informs my work. I’m concerned specifically with happiness in my work, and considering how Vancouverites are sometimes conceived of as “cold,” there’s a lot to work with here. For this reason, I’m looking forward to the Read Local BC event, Roughing It in the Bush, because a lot of the readings will deal with BC’s landscape in unexpected ways. Plus some of the writers are major influences on my own poetics. I’m very excited about this event, which I happen to be hosting!

MJ: What’s one thing about BC’s publishing industry that you love, and what’s one aspect you’d love to see changed?

DZ: I love that work composed and produced in BC is not afraid of specificity. I love writing that explores small town histories, writing unafraid of locating a reader. Small presses within BC make this possible.

If I’m going to be honest about what I’d love to see changed, it would be the choice of author photos in books.

MJ: What local book are you currently reading? What’s your favourite BC book ever?

DZ: I’m reading Leah Horlick’s For Your Own Good. I just finished Matt Rader’s What I Want To Tell Goes Like This. I have said it before and I will say it again: Artificial Cherry by Billeh Nickerson is a fucking delight. If you haven’t purchased a poetry book before, give that one a try. One poem has the word “anal” more times than I’ve said it my entire life, and I’m anal-retentive.

MJ: What’s been your favourite literary event in Vancouver in the past year?

DZ: So far, my favourites are events put on by the Real Vancouver Writers’ Series. I’m obviously biased, since I’ve been a reader, but they always choose a great space and host so many amazing writers, and their events are always jam-packed. Plus, hosts and dreamboats Dina Del Bucchia and Sean Cranbury let me (and others, too) read whatever I want. The audience is always receptive.

I’m also looking forward to the Read Local BC events. Basically all of my favourite writers are reading this month for the campaign, so I’m excited to see what happens at the events, especially An Evolving City with literary super duo Wayde Compton and George Bowering on April 9 at Pulp Fiction.

 

Read Local BC Events in Vancouver

Writing About First Nations with Jean Barman, Paige Raibmon and Jennifer Kramer
Tuesday, April 7 at 7 pm: Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street

Three celebrated UBC Press authors discuss their discoveries in research, how writing about First Nations people has changed over time, and the challenges and successes of the process.

An Evolving City: Writing Vancouver’s Past, Present & Future with George Bowering and Wayde Compton
Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 pm: Pulp Fiction, 2422 Main Street, Vancouver

Join two of Canada’s literary heavyweights for a conversation exploring Vancouver’s vast networks of people, streets, and change over time. From the storied streets of East Vancouver in the 1960s to a haunting, speculative vision of the city of glass, these two renowned authors reveal their probing impressions of a beloved yet flawed city.

Roughing it in the Bush Revisited with Jordan Abel, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Evelyn Lau, Daphne Marlatt, W.H. New and George Stanley

Wednesday, April 15th at 7:30 pm: Artspeak Gallery, 233 Carrall Street, Vancouver

As big industry and increased construction continues Vancouver’s sprawl into nature, do we give thought to how we invade and modify our own natures through technology? Or to what happens when wilderness creeps back in, reclaiming the crack of a sidewalk or the corner of an abandoned lot? Five Vancouver poets explore the ever-evolving representation of urban and rural spaces in Canadian art. Hosted by poet and Poetry Is Dead editor Daniel Zomparelli.

Secrets, Booze & Rebellion: Vancouver’s Unknown History with Eve Lazarus, Daniel Francis, and Aaron Chapman
Wednesday, April 15 at 7 pm, Lynn Valley Public Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Road

Discover the historical underworld of Vancouver and the adventures that took place in many of the buildings and streets still standing today. Three of the city’s finest historians share its rollicking history, from cops turned robbers, to rum-running entrepreneurs during prohibition, and the glamourous yet naughty history of one of the city’s oldest nightclubs.

Read Local BC Children’s Readings
April 13-18 with various authors and locations

 

“It’s time for men to step up and play a bigger game,” says Dwayne Klassen from centre stage at the Imperial last weekend. “We must own our authentic masculine power and be Champions to women, heroes to children and brothers to each other.”

In all honesty, I had no idea what to expect from Vancouver’s BIL Conference, an alternative and more accessible spin-off of the increasingly popular TED events. Klassen’s presentation on “Man Champions and Woman Heroes,” was just one of more than 60 to grace the stage at Vancouver’s second ever BIL Conference, which took place March 21 – 22. In under two hours, I watched presentations by a scientist, an entrepreneur, a politician and even an ex-monk. The best part? As a by-donation event, attending BIL was completely affordable.

“Unlike TED, our event is open to the public, widely accessible and fully participant driven. When participants arrive at the venue, they help with the creation of the event from setting up chairs to organizing the day’s schedule and everything in between,” says Michael Cummings, co-founder of BIL. “Everyone at the event actively shapes its outcome. It’s about building community and taking ownership of the event as their own.” Founded in 2007, this “unconference” has been hosted across the globe, in countries as far as Afghanistan, India, England, France, and Tunisia.

The schedule for BIL was as flexible as the admission price; speakers could sign up to participate as late as the day itself. In theory, says Cummings, anyone “knowledgeable or incredibly passionate about a certain topic” could opt to speak. Not that this diminishes the quality of the line-up; Luke Nosek (Founder of Paypal), George Whitesides (CEO of Virgin Galactic) and Blake Mycoskie (TOMS Shoes) are just three former speakers to have participated in a BIL conference. Highlights from this year’s conference include Beauty Night Founder and Executive Director Caroline MacGillivray on building a community around a cause; Green Party candidate Lynne Quarmby on science and activism; and General Fusion Founder Michael Delage on fusion energy.