April isn’t the cruelest month…

 

April is National Poetry Month. Each year, at this time, poetry blooms. All across the country, from Bonavista to Vancouver Island, from Nunavut to the Canada / U.S. border, poets will be taking to the streets, bars, cafés, bookstores, libraries, and classrooms to recite, emote, declaim and perform their poems for you and me.

 

And Poetry Quebec will be joining in this celebration with the launch of Issue #4 on April 1, 2010— no fooling!  This issue will celebrate not only the English language poets and poetry of Quebec, but those who work tirelessly to keep poetry alive. While most of them are poets themselves, some are not. They are a whole range of people from readings organizers to booksellers who carry poetry books and support local writers by featuring their books or hosting readings. They are poetry magazine editors, they are poetry book publishers, and they are teachers of poetry. The one thing they have in common is that they do it because they believe in keeping the spirit and community of poetry alive.

 

Some of what’s in store for PQ readers includes Vincent Tinguely’s roundup of reading venues in and around Montreal and an insider’s look at teaching poetry to reluctant high school students in Slovenia by Jason and Alenka Blake. PQ will also feature interviews with poets Mary di Michele and Susan Gillis as well as an essay about film and poetry by Antonio D’Alfonso, poet and publisher of Guernica Press, whose “poetic” film Bruco is being featured in a Los Angeles film festival.

 

Finally, Poetry Quebec will be launching its unique Virtual Library. Come and browse and be amazed!

 

We are taking this opportunity to solicit submissions from our readers about a favourite Quebec bookstore(s), magazine(s), and publisher(s). Write and tell us about your most memorable or forgettable reading (as a participant or spectator). To submit, go to the “Masthead”, click on the envelope icon and post and send.