Argo Bookshop -

If “BookThug seeks to publish innovative books of poetry, prose and creative criticism that extend the tradition of experimental literature”, then they have succeeded. With a stellar avant-garde/experimental catalogue and a “vision… to enrich and advance the tradition of experimental literature,” BookThug is emerging as one of the most dynamic small presses in Canada, with works that have received Governor General’s nominations and awards alike this past year.

For a limited time, the Argo will be hosting a table devoted to the productions of this fine publisher. We currently carry the following 11 titles:

Philip Hall’s Killdeer

Kate Eichorn’s Fieldnotes, a Forensic

H.D.’s Narthex & Other Stories

Erin Moure’s Pillage Laud

Meredith Quartermain’s Recipes from the Red Planet

Angela Carr’s The Rose Concordance

Jørgen Leth’s Trivial Everyday Things

Mark Goldsteins’s Tracelanguage

Bryan Sentes’ March End Prill

Catherine Mavrikakis’ Flowers of Spit

&

bp Nichol’s The Captain Poetry Poems Complete

BookThug’s publisher, Jay MillAr, has been working within and with the streams and communities of contemporary and experimental poetry in Canada for over fifteen years (we’re currently carrying his Mycological Studies and The Small Blue: Poems). A devoted soul if there ever was one: He is the author of five books, published by Coach House Books, Nightwood Editions, Mercury Press, and Snare Books; the co-editor of the magazine BafterC; and the propreitor of the online/itinerant bookstore Apollinaire’s Bookshoppe. He works alongside the accomplished and prolific (and beautiful!) editor and poet Jenny Sampirisi. Check out her online lit magazine Other Cl/utter, which displays superb plays with image and language, here.

Anyone looking for exciting and daring contemporary poetry from this country should check it out!

…Still skeptical? Let the authors of these fine books speak for themselves here, on BookThug’s website.

March 28th @ 7PM: A week from today, Bryan Sentes will be reading from and signing copies of his latest publication of poetry, March End Prill, published by Book Thug last year. Copies will be selling for $18.

The book is summarized to be a “periplum [a map constructed in the course of the voyage] songline that charts a way through our S.A.D. Zeitgeist to a thawing of the sources of speech song,” and this description is no shortage of promise for the reading. Sentes has filled his latest collection with rollicking word-work, disjointed phrases and combinations of words that give new meaning to portmanteaux. What we have here is a wonderful recalling of Roman Jakobson’s “organized violence on ordinary speech”, where Sentes is putting the hyper in hypertext, playing with typeface, allusion, personal account and structure, to mention only a few. Here is the first poem of the collection, A Cut to Bear Nigh Thought:

A Cut to Bear Nigh Thought

‘aieZeus I’m mercurial saturnine melancholic

wounduptight hypersensitive hys

terical the smallest slight sets me off

moon low as it gets tonight or not

night always surprisingly early

leaves yellow leprous black spotted

on Mount Royal paths no

rust twig snake warms in the sun

just lean grey squirrels hopping

how much “M39″ freezercoldRussianKartoffelsaft

mgsSSRI/daily melatonin orgone-spikes does it take?!

~

…For some contextualization, here is a link to Bryan Sentes talking about March End Prill. As for the author, he has published two books of poetry, Ladonian Magnitudes (DC Books, 2006) and before that, Grand Gnostic Central & other poems (DC Books, 1998). Sentes was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, earning a B.A. in philosophy (University of Regina, 1986) and an M.A. in English literature (Concordia University, 1990) before, during and after his residence there. Presently, he earns his living teaching English literature and composition at Dawson College and creative writing at Concordia University, both here in Montreal. He has read his poetry widely in both North America and Europe. Aside from poetry, he has published reviews, translations, and scholarship in the sociology of religion, mythology, and popular culture, and has conducted radio interviews with the likes of William Gibson and Martin Amis. He can be found on-line here.

Introducing Bryan Sentes, we have three writers. Here they are in order of appearance:

#1: David Bradford is a man of both mystery and letters.

#2: Jason Freure is a Montreal-based writer, a recent graduate of Concordia University, and a busboy on Crescent Street. He’s the author of Irving Layton Award-winning “St-Laurent Boulevard,” and has been published in The Maynard and the Show Thieves Anthology.

#3: Carina says “I am doing a Masters in Classical Studies. My thesis is going to be about the way that ancient Greek tragedy was used in South Africa during apartheid as a means to protest that regime and then after apartheid as a means to process what was and what could be. I mention Classics and apartheid because these things, though not always apparent, are the main preoccupations and influences in my writing. Besides that, I have lived in Montreal for a while now and like it just fine.”

So please, come on out and witness this extravaganza of excellence! Coffee and tea will be served! A trip to Grumpy’s will ensue!

That’s March 28th, one week from today. Doors at 7PM, and the reading will begin at 7:30PM. Free and open to all.

On Thursday, March 22nd we will be graced by the author Marielle Teasdale, who will be reading from her first book Undercurrents. It’s the story of Julia, a 36-year-old woman leaving urbania for what seems to be the greener pastures of art and rural settings, but gets more than she bargained for.

“Julia’s move to Hudson is an attempt to escape from the past, but she learns that we always carry the past with us. Whenever  her paintbrush touches the canvas, lost memories and truths she has avoided for years come flooding back to her with startling clarity. She must draw on her close friends – both old and new – and draw on untapped resources to find a path through the darkness to a more fulfilling life.

As Julia meets and comes to know Stone, the enigmatic owner of the art supply store where she buys her canvases, and Jane, the proprietor of the local coffee shop, she will come to trust those relationships in her time of need. Written to engage, entertain and inspire, the novel is intended for all readers interested in tales of soul-searching and personal discovery.”

Both a wonderful painter and now a entertaining author to boot, the Argo is pleased to have Teasdale come read. The doors will be open at 7PM to receive an audience, and the reader will promptly begin at 7:30. The author will be signing copies of her book (selling for $15), and wine will be served.

Hope to see you there!

Hello everyone!

We are holding our fourth monthly Open Mic on this upcoming Wednesday. The doors are at 7PM to coincide with our new hours, and the reading is scheduled to begin at 7:30. We hope to see both admirers and performers alike come out. A note to the performers: All is welcome. Poets, bring your lyrical poems, your conceptually avant-garde works, your slam poetry, your meditative haikus! Musicians are welcome to regale, storytellers are encouraged, dramatists are free to play, lecturers and essayists may openly expound!

The last open mic we held was a fantastic one, with contributions from award winners and dabblers, spanning into a full two hours of entertainment. We’re always happy to see so many talented individuals in the shop, and we’d love it if you could tell your friends and family to come as well. We have had a very supportive turn-out thus far, and hope to see the numbers grow.

We’d just like to take this moment to say thank you for all of the endearing experiences! Hope to see you this Wednesday!

Argo Open Mic #4, Wednesday March 14th, Doors @ 7PM.

Coffee, tea and cookies will be served.

A trip to Grumpy’s bar will ensue for live jazz!