Jack, Nathan, Brian, Tom – and the Media, Part II
An Insider’s View of the NDP Leadership Convention (continued)
By Louise Tremblay Matchett

So how are the organizers of the $50,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize doing? You might remember the announcement and my piece here on March 28, 2011
What has happened since is the publication of a longlist of almost 150 poems in October. It would have been 150 except that a few were disqualified as they had been published previously. The names of all the poets on the longlist are on the site now, and a Longlist e-Anthology published by Véhicule Press will be made available shortly for free download.
A shortlist followed on November 17. You can check out the 50 shortlisted poets, among whom are several Canadians. Two poems per day from the shortlist are now appearing on the prize site, along with MP3s of most of the poems in the poets' own voices.
The winning poem will be announced Thursday, December 15, at 7 p.m. EST.
An as-yet-unnamed “prominent US artist” has agreed to do a broadside of one of the shortlisted poems. That announcement, too, on December 15. “This is all part of our hope to bring attention to new poetry,” says prize director Len Epp.
© Linda Leith 2011
An Insider’s View of the NDP Leadership Convention (continued)
By Louise Tremblay Matchett

“I tell you. I fell in love with a tree. I couldn’t not. It was in blossom. It was a day like other days and I was on my way to work, walking the same way as usual between our house and the town” (Ali Smith).
Well, I fell in love with Scotland. I couldn’t not, although flowering trees had little to do with it.
Pitched battles between publishers and librarians are not going to help anyone survive the digital revolution.

Chantal Ringuet, who has written a series of Letters from Israel on this website, has just published Under the Skin of War (BuschekBooks, Ottawa), a collection of poetry inspired by the work of British photographer Don McCullin. The launch takes place this evening at Librairie Le port de tête, 6 - 8 p.m.
