Coming Soon to London, ON – Black Mallard Poetry Series

Let’s dust off the microphones and bring out the sign-up sheets! Live poetry events are back!

If you love poetry and reside in or within driving distance to London, Ontario, Canada, mark your calendar for the first Wednesday of every month. There’s a new “live” poetry series being planned for this city and I’m expecting it to draw a crowd especially from those poets who have been patiently waiting for more literary events to return on a regular basis.

This new monthly series will spotlight two featured poets, followed by an open mic in which anyone can sign-up and share some work.

Black Mallard Poetry Series will spotlight two featured poets, followed by an open mic at Mykonos Restaurant, in their popular patio location on 572 Adelaide Street North. The event will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free. 

This week, I chatted with Black Mallard Poetry Series curator Andreas Gripp about some of his personal goals and his plans for this new series.

Andreas, I’m so glad that poetry events are returning to Mykonos Restaurant and that established and emerging poets will have a home to share their work in a welcoming environment. You’ve planned several literary events in the past, including the Mykonos Open Mic Poetry Series in 2019, the Red Lion Reading Series in Stratford in 2021, and more recently special event readings with other poets in the London area. Where did the idea for the new series come from, why did you decide to organize it, and where did the name Black Mallard come from? 

I thought there was a need for a locally-focused reading series here in London. There are so many talented poets in this area and as you may know, it’s not always easy getting invites to do a featured presentation. I originally thought of going with just one featured poet every month, then began thinking how many bards there are in this vicinity and decided to go with two a month, as well as have an open mic, which Mykonos, of course, was known for. Since the pandemic put a close to the last incarnation of the restaurant’s monthly series, I thought the timing to try another one was good, with all of us emerging from our covid cocoons. 

Several poets from London, who were first noticed reading at the Mykonos open mic, graduated to doing a featured spot, then had chapbooks and debut full-lengths published within a few years. I’m always excited to hear and read the work of a new poet I might not be familiar with yet—and this series will be a platform for that to continue. 

In Conversation with London Poet Andreas Gripp

“It is my hope to assist in raising the profile of poetry in this region and to emphasize through readings and events that it is an inclusive art open to all.”* – Andreas Gripp

London poet and publisher Andreas Gripp is one of the hardest-working writers that I know.

This week, I chatted with the Synaeresis: arts + poetry magazine editor and Mykonos Open Mic Poetry Series organizer about his involvement with the literary community and his thoughts about poetry’s future in such a busy (and noisy) digital era.

Gripp wears many hats. In addition to organizing the new Mykonos Open Mic Poetry Series, editing the digital literary magazine Synaeresis, publishing books for and with Harmonia Press, he can also be seen sharing work from his own poetry collections.

Andreas, you’ve been part of London, Ontario’s poetry community since 1994 and during that time you’ve worn many hats. Recently you took on the role as the organizer for the new Mykonos Open Mic Poetry Series which is being held on the second Tuesday of every month. Why is a poetry reading series (like the one you are organizing) so important to the community?

London has always been in need of a place where poets of varied experience, as well as newcomers, can share their work. Without a literary open mic, the opportunities are few and far between (if at all). It’s where we meet old friends and new talent. The featured reader is someone who has taken their craft further than simply writing on paper and keeping it in a box. It’s a poet who has shared their work publicly, in print or digitally, and can be inspiring to those of us who may not be there yet.

Spotted in London, Canada: A weekend of WORDS

Bravo to the driving force behind words: The Literary and Creative Arts Festival held October 24 to 26 at Museum London, the London Public Library, Western University and the Covent Garden Market in London, Ontario, Canada. More information about the festival can be found on their official website here.

For those interested in poetry, check out #PoetryLab starting tonight (Sunday, October 26 at 5:30 p.m.) at the Museum London, Theatre. It is the closing event for the festival.

Sunday, October 26 in London, Ontario

Laurie D. Graham’s Rove (Hagios Press) was a 2014 Finalist, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, for best first book of poetry published by a Canadian in the preceding year. Her poem suite “Settler Education” was shortlisted for the 2014 CBC Poetry Prize. If you missed Laurie at the Book Fair, see her at tonight’s Poetry Lab event.

Below are some snapshots of the Book Fair held yesterday (Saturday, October 25) at Covent Garden Market!

Local Authors’ Book Fair at Covent Garden Market in London.

Sarnia’s historical fiction writer Bob McCarthy shares information about his latest book Case 666: Travesty of Justice – the Elizabeth Workman Story (Quinn Riley Press) http://robemcca.wix.com/bobmccarthy#!case-666/cuw9

 

Harmonia Press specializes in work by well-known London poet Andreas Gripp. Also featured are works by Carrie Lee Connel, Dorothy Nielsen and Gregory Wm. Gunn.

Copies of Tarnished Trophies (Black Moss Press) by Debbie Okun Hill were spotted at one of the Book Fair tables.

Watch this blog for more literary news, reviews, and profiles. In the meantime, support your local Ontario arts community. Check out future events here.

“It is Easy to Read Short Stories” or Is It?

Ask Toronto writer Carol Malyon and the narrator of one of her published stories.

Entertaining….

Last Saturday during Sarnia’s Bluewater Readings Series, Malyon pulled an empty chair from the audience, sat down, got comfortable and joked about reading from her children’s picture book. She made the adults laugh and relax. As a novelist, poet, short story and children’s picture book writer Malyon has often shared her work on stage and with others. She knows how to hold an audience’s attention and she did.

“It is easy to read short stories,” she said reading the first line of “Pencils” a whimsical yet heart-wrenching story from her book Lovers & Other Strangers (The Porcupine’s Quill). “There are lots of them around. Some of them could be true; they could have happened already or be happening right now.”

In her story, the narrator touched on the act of strangers reading stories by others strangers. “You don’t know the author” she read.

          So how do writers feel about sharing their work?

Afterwards in a private dinner conversation, Malyon explained it isn’t easy for authors to find locations to read short fiction. “Poets are lucky. Most of the reading series and open mics in Toronto and other large centres tend to focus on poetry. Whenever, I have a chance to read my short stories, I grab it.”

Celebrating Out-of-Town and Local Talent

Sarnia’s Bluewater Reading Series mixes both poetry and fiction as well as celebrates both local and out-of-town talent. Malyon was one of four writers spotlighted in May.

Linder & Deahl: Two Canadian Poets Travelling Hand-in-Hand with New Book

Something magical ignited in Al Purdy country when Canadian poets James Deahl and Norma West Linder saw each other during a weekend launch of the Hidden Brook Press anthology And Left a Place To Stand On: Poems and Essays on Al Purdy.  Their friendship grew stronger and this Saturday, May 10, they will be in Sarnia, Ontario to launch their first collaborative work Two Paths Through the Seasons.

This Bluewater Reading Series event will also feature readings by London Poet Andreas Gripp who will launch his latest book The Better Kiss (Harmonia Press) and Toronto’s short story writer, novelist, poet and children’s picture book author Carol Malyon will read a short story from her book Lovers & Other Strangers (The Porcupine Quill).

Below is a reprint of my review* on Linder and Deahl’s new book:

Two Paths Through the Seasons: Poems by Norma West Linder and James Deahl will be officially launched in Sarnia, Saturday, May 10 as part of the Bluewater Reading Series.

Two Paths Through The Seasons
Poems by Norma West Linder and James Deahl
Cyclamens and Swords Publishing (Israel), 2014, 44 pp
ISBN 978-965-7503-15-7

Review by Debbie Okun Hill

North wind howls during this mid-March blizzard and thoughts drift to a familiar poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” written in 1922 by Robert Frost. This American poet often described nature and the solitary traveler in his writing. In an earlier poem “The Road Less Taken” he penned the lines: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,/And sorry I could not travel both.”

When Canadian poet James Deahl started his poetic journey, Norma West Linder was already five years ahead of him and strolling down a different path. Season after season passed until the fork in their travels lead them both to a literary event in Brighton, Ontario. Since then, they have travelled extensively side-by-side and hand-in-hand to poetry readings from Edmonton in the west to the Canadian east coast then south to Philadelphia in the United States.

Now thanks to Cyclamens and Swords Publishing in Israel, their first poetic collaboration has resulted in a 44-page book: Two Paths Through The Seasons. Not only does the collection showcase some of their best work written during the long and separate literary careers of these seasoned poets but it demonstrates the mystical charm that occurs when two writers weave their personal and poetic lives together.

As individual writers each could be considered a legend in his/her own field. Deahl who lives-breathes poetry is most prolific as the author of 22 literary titles. Linder who is better known as a novelist, started writing poetry in her forties. Her poetic career now spans over 40 years with fourteen poetry books to her credit.
To review their work is a daunting task.