Marty Gervais launches Available Light: Poems from the South Shore @ Biblioasis, w/ Micheline Maylor + Peter Norman

Dear Windsor! Don't forget to mark the date! Tomorrow night we will be hosting our last in-house event until next Fall. Join us in welcoming poet Micheline Maylor, poet/novelist Peter Norman, and Windsor Poet Laureate Marty Gervais at Biblioasis at 7PM!

Windsor Poet Laureate and publisher of Black Moss Marty Gervais, author of best-selling local history books Rumrummers and Ghost Road, will be launching his brand-new poetry chapbook (and the inaugural publication in our occasional South Detroit Chapbook/Broadside series), AVAILABLE LIGHT: Poems from the South Shore. 2014 Pat Lowther Memorial Award Finalist Micheline Maylor will be launching WHIRR & CLICK (Frontenac, 2014), a collection of vividly rendered lyric poems that delve into the realms of memory with gravity and grace. Peter Norman will be launching his debut novel EMBERTON (Douglas & McIntyre, 2014), a comic gothic thriller featuring an illiterate man who enters the revolving doors of a prestigious dictionary company looking for a job and someone who can finally teach him how to read, and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. Refreshments and snacks will be available. We hope to see you there.

Marty Gervais launches Available Light: Poems from the South Shore @ Biblioasis, w/ Micheline Maylor + Peter Norman

Dear Windsor! We are thrilled to be keeping the great readings rolling into the summer with this last in-house event before we adjourn until Fall, featuring poet Micheline Maylor, poet/novelist Peter Norman, and Windsor Poet Laureate Marty Gervais on June 11th.

Windsor Poet Laureate and publisher of Black Moss Marty Gervais, author of best-selling local history books Rumrummers and Ghost Road, will be launching his brand-new poetry chapbook (and the inaugural publication in our occasional South Detroit Chapbook/Broadside series), AVAILABLE LIGHT: Poems from the South Shore. 2014 Pat Lowther Memorial Award Finalist Micheline Maylor will be launching WHIRR & CLICK (Frontenac, 2014), a collection of vividly rendered lyric poems that delve into the realms of memory with gravity and grace. Peter Norman will be launching his debut novel EMBERTON (Douglas & McIntyre, 2014), a comic gothic thriller featuring an illiterate man who enters the revolving doors of a prestigious dictionary company looking for a job and someone who can finally teach him how to read, and ends up getting far more than he bargained for. Refreshments and snacks will be available. Poems of élan as well as Kafkaesque puzzles at Biblioasis!

Black Moss Night, Tomorrow!

Hi, folks. Just a quick note to say that tomorrow evening is the night we're throwing our impromptu-yes-less-than-a-week's-notice-but-what-the-heck-FUN party on behalf of Black Moss. It's been a whirl of a week. Come on out, people! Drink our wine and eat our raw fish. Listen to a few local legends. With readings from Marty Gervais, Penny-Anne Beaudoin, Mary Ann Mulhern, Vanessa Shields, and more. Tomorrow! Bookshop! Bring Friends! Dogs! Children! Here's the Facebook page. Clickclickclickit!

Black Moss Night at Biblioasis

Happy Monday, folks! Here are a few bits and bytes to tide you through this (extremely blustery) February afternoon.

1. We're happy to announce that this Sunday we're having an informal celebration in honour of Black Moss Press here at the bookshop. 6 p.m. Join us as we raise our glasses to this legendary local institution and the authors that make it special. RSVP on Facebook today!

2. Ray and I made it back safely from the WDET studios this morning. As a little memento? The attached. Craig Fahle remains as awesome and impressive as ever (and in this picture Ray may or may not be reading an article about Girls.) You can listen to the episode, called "Stories of the Underground Railroad," online here.

3. We've had a new interview with Alexander MacLeod go up on the Numéro Cinq blog. Check out Benjamin Woodard's questions on physicality, layering, research, construction, and more.  Plus there's that funny picture of Alex knee-deep in what I'm fairly certain is a septic tank.

4. Today's February Freebie, in celebration of the Black Moss event on Sunday night, is Marty Gervais' Ghost Road and Other Forgotten Stories of Windsor. Visit our FB page, like that status update, share it, enter, and win!

K. That's it. That's plenty! Till tomorrow.

Local haunt(ing)s

Marty Gervais, having hacked and elbowed
his way through a corn field, stands triumphant
on the Ghost Road itself.
(See? Real historians don't let rain—
or corn husks—get in their way.)

Happy Monday, all! Just a quick word to say that Marty Gervais' Ghost Road and Other Forgotten Stories of Windsor launches tomorrow, chez nous. Marty's book was written up this weekend in the Star—"Stories of Local Haunts"—so if you want to catch an early glimpse of the book, be sure to check it out online. Same with the writeup on the UWindsor Daily News.
Speaking of ghosts (or, okay, of death): Emily Keeler took a look at Nadine McInnis's Blood Secrets late last week, and had a couple things to say about the "rippling shock of loss that connects each story to the next," and the way Nadine "puts you on the inside of these characters, mapping their meaty interiors." Check out the National Post online for more!

A Good Week for Poetry in Windsor

The Books & Boxes BiblioBash
1520 Wyandotte St. E.
BIBLIOASIS HEADQUARTERS!!
Thursday Sept. 27
7PM
FREE

Well gosh it's been a good week for the poets in Rose City. Last night was Marty Gervais' celebration of Poets Laureate from across the country, held in the poshest of posh laureate style at Willistead Manor, and featuring readings from Elizabeth Zetlin, John B. Lee, Bruce Meyer, Hugh MacDonald, and Roger Nash. ("Poetry," said Hugh, when asked where he found the courage to read his poems out loud, "is a way to expose yourself without getting arrested." Worth the price of admission right there.)

Want more? This weekend Sho Art is showcasing the work of six local poets in a program called Scattered Ecstasies, which features dramatized performances and original local artwork, and includes poetry from our own Sal Ala. 

Last but not least. Of course. You know where this was headed. In between Marty's spectacular spectacular and Sho's show, you'll find our first-ever-totally-thrilling-can't-wait-for-it-to-get-here-Biblioasis-headquarters-BIBLIOBASH, where we fete our new building and celebrate four astounding new books. "I've got a new slogan for you," said Martin Deck of the Windsor Bookstore last night. "Let's get Bibliowasted."

Ha.

You know what the books are by now if you've been reading along. I won't go on about them any more. But time IS running out to see the BiblioBash Tour: there's Oshawa tonight, if you missed Toronto yesterday, and of course there's Windsor tomorrow. Check out our FB page for details and to RSVP! Spread the gosh-dang word! It's going to be a really special thing, and I for one can't wait. 

The Phog Lifts

Morning, all. Or afternoon is it? We're all in a daze here, now that the authors have left us. There was a small but impassioned crowd last night at the Phog: they sighed along for poor Stephen when Sabrina Donaldson (that dreadful girl!) poached his soccer MVP award; they learned, delightedly, what boustrophedonic means; and they're all now wiser in the art of eluding royal huntsmen. Here are some photos from the event (taken for us by the inimitable Marty Gervais). More on tonight's reading soon! In the meantime: Claire Tacon (In the Field), Amanda Jernigan (Groundwork), and Mike Barnes (The Reasonable Ogre). 

The Rumrunners: Globe & Mail Bestseller

Title	Author	Publisher
The Ascent of Money	Niall Ferguson	Penguin USA
The Lost City of Z	David Grann	Knopf Doubleday
The Diary of a Young Girl	Anne Frank	Random House
Start-up Nation	Saul Singer	McClelland & Stewart
The Diary of Anne Frank	Anne Frank	Random House
Bones of the Hills	Conn Iggulden	HarperCollins
A People's History of the United States	Howard Zinn	HarperCollins
Citizens of London	Lynne Olson	Doubleday Canada
The Meaning of Matthew	Judy Shepard	Penguin USA
The Rumrunners	Marty Gervais	Biblioasis

Rumrunners: The Launch