The Globe and Mail re: my interview with Christian Bök
June 15, 2009
I haven’t seen it “on the stand” yet myself, but apparently The Globe and Mail enjoyed my interview with Christian Bök, which is apparently available now. Read what James Adams had to say, in “On the Stand: A Weekly Roundup of the Best Magazine Reads”:
THE BELIEVER
June ’09
Poetry doesn’t sell but Christian Bök’s poetry does. His last (and most recent) book of poems, Eunoia, has been printed at least 19 times in Canada since Anansi launched it in 2001 [in fact, Eunoia was published by Coach House Books, not Anansi -- Jonathan], and today sales in this country alone total more than 20,000 copies. These are the sorts of numbers one usually associates with a strong fiction seller, not a five-part book of experimental verse, seven years in the writing, where each part is devoted to words containing only one of the five vowels.
Bök, a Toronto-born literature prof at the University of Calgary, is currently hard at work on his next poetic endeavour, The Xenotext Project. As described here to interviewer Jonathan Ball, it sounds like something out of a Don DeLillo novel. Simply put (if it, in fact, can be put that way), Bök proposes to write a poem that he would translate, by encipherment, “into a sequence of genetic nucleotides,” then implant in an unkillable, evolution-resistant bacterium. “I guess that this is a kind of ambitious attempt to think about art, quite literally, as an eternal endeavour,” he says. Or at least one lasting the next 6 billion years at which time the sun is expected to explode.
Okay, say, “Huh?” if you wish. But it all makes sense (I think) when you read his explanations. Bök’s one of those uncommonly lucid guys who can speak on complex matters in fully formed paragraphs with sprinkles of piquant metaphor (i.e., “To write a poem nowadays is to knit a doily for a candy dish.”).
— James Adams
Guy Maddin and George Toles interview
June 11, 2009
I stumbled across an old interview I did with filmmaker Guy Maddin and his scriptwriter George Toles, circa The Saddest Music in the World (2003). Co-wrote this with David Navratil for the US magazine Script.
Interview with Christian Bök in The Believer
June 8, 2009
The newest issue of The Believer contains an interview I conducted with poet Christian Bök , concerning his poetry/genetics art project, in which Bök intends to write a poem that will, essentially, become a living organism that would still be on this planet when the sun explodes. You can preview an excerpt from the interview here (it contains Bök’s bio and an excerpt from later in the interview, about his book Eunoia, although most of the actual interview concerns his forthcoming Xenotext Experiment) or check out the issue’s table of contents here. And then go buy a copy for yourself and one for your literate dog.
Honourable Mention for The Eye Collector
June 3, 2009
In other news, I received an honourable mention for the Alberta Screenwriters Initiative, for my screenplay The Eye Collector. This is a revision of my MA thesis (The Sandman), a loose and quasi-surreal adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story The Sand-man. Later in the year, unless a grant interferes (let’s hope!) I will be further revising this screenplay and then adapting it further, into a graphic novel that will be illustrated by GMB Chomichuk (check out his Alchemical Press). Thank you to the jury and all involved, and congratulations to the winners and the other honourable screenwriter. The press release is below.
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Calgary based screenwriter, Kirk R. Miles is this year’s recipient of the Alberta Screenwriters Initiative for his screenplay, Shadow Makers. Second and third finalists for the award are Robert de Chazal for Marry Me! Inc., and George Szilagyi for Hockey Stories for Boys. Now in its third year, the Alberta Screenwriters Initiative is presented as a joint partnership between the Writers Guild of Alberta and the Alberta Film Partners. The initiative is supported by proceeds from the Annual Film and Television Industry Wrap Party
The jury also would like to acknowledge two honourable mentions for this year: Seeing the Light by Eileen Bell and The Eye Collector by Jonathan Ball.
The Alberta Screenwriters Initiative was created in 2007 by the Alberta Film Partners to facilitate the development of screenwriters in this province. The Initiative recognizes the importance of story in the creation of filmed entertainment and the necessity to actively encourage and develop the voices of Alberta writers in film.This annual prize awards avid Alberta screenwriters a first prize of $1000 and a professional workshop with a carefully matched experienced story editor or screenwriter. The 2nd and 3rd place winners receives story notes, editorial feedback and $500.00 and $250.00 respectively.
For more information about the Alberta Screenwriters Initiative, please visit www.writersguild.ab.ca
(Calgary) Reading at Stuart Ross book launch
June 3, 2009
I will be reading fiction at the launch of Stuart Ross’s new collection of short stories, Buying Cigarettes for the Dog. I just finished reading this book, which is the most fun and unusual book of stories I’ve read for far too long. No wheat and sad animals here (although there is a shifty poodle). The press release from the event organizers, Freehand Books, is below, and the Facebook page for the event is here.
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We’re throwing a big ole’ Wednesday night party to celebrate the Calgary launch of Buying Cigarettes for the Dog, Stuart Ross’s latest collection of short fiction, with special guests Jonathan Ball and Helen Hajnoczky.
There will be good food, mind-blowing juggling, amazing readings, and a bar.
You should come.
STUART ROSS published his first literary pamphlet on the photocopier in his dad’s office one night in 1979. Through the 1980s, he stood on Toronto’s Yonge Street wearing signs like “Writer Going To Hell: Buy My Books,” selling over 7,000 poetry and fiction chapbooks. A tireless literary press activist, he is the co-founder of the Toronto Small Press Book Fair and now a founding member of the Meet the Presses collective, Poetry Editor at Mansfield Press, and Fiction & Poetry Editor at This Magazine. He is the author of two collaborative novels, a previous collection of stories, and six full-length poetry books. He has also published a collection of essays, Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer (Anvil Press), and edited the anthology Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence (The Mercury Press). Stuart has taught writing workshops across Canada. He lives in Southern Ontario.
JONATHAN BALL is a writer, filmmaker, and scholar, currently completing his PhD at the University of Calgary. He studies Canadian literature and creative writing, and has taught classes on experimental fiction and 20th century horror. His first book of poetry, Ex Machina, will be released by BookThug in December 2009. BookThug will also release his second book, The Words of the Book (co-written by kevin mcpherson eckhoff), in 2010. His short film Spoony B has appeared on The Comedy Network, and his screenplay Way of the Samurai (co-written with David Navratil) was rewritten and directed by Joseph Novak as the feature film Snake River, to be released independently. He is the former Managing Editor of Dandelion magazine, the former film/video section editor at Filling Station, and the former short films programmer for the Gimli Film Festival.He also writes the humour column Haiku Horoscopes.
HELEN HAJNOCZKY is a Calgary poet and student at the University of Calgary.
