Books Read & Recommended, 2018

A very eclectic collection, read by the fire, on planes, in the garden. And/or heard, in bed…

Kate Atkinson, Transcription

Belinda Bauer, Snap

Carleigh Baker, Bad endings: stories *

Sarah Bakewell, At the existentialist café: freedom, being and apricot cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre [and others]

Sharon Bala, The Boat People*

Deirdre Baker, Becca fair and foul*

John Banville, Mrs. Osmond*

Linwood Barclay, A Noise Downstairs

Julian Barnes, The lemon table: stories

Billy-Ray Belcourt, This wound is a world: poems

Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists

Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Arboretum America: a philosophy of the forest; photographs by Christian H. Kroeger; foreword by Edward O. Wilson

Jill Bialosky, Poetry will save your life: a memoir*

Holly Black, Doll bones; with illustrations by Eliza Wheeler *

Leonard Cohen, The Flame

Christopher Paul Curtis, The journey of little Charlie

E.D. Blodgett, Transfiguration* 
E.D. Blodgett, Apostrophes: woman at a piano* 

George Bowering, No one (Not recommended~!)

Alan Bradley, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place*

Dionne Brand, Tessa McWatt, Rabindranath Maharaj, editors / Luminous ink: writers on writing in Canada

Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone*

Stephen Harrod Buhner, Plant intelligence and the imaginal

Steve Burrows, A tiding of magpies

Jessie Burton, The miniaturist: a novel *

Rhonda Byrne, The Power*

Heather Cadsby, Standing in the flock of connections

Anne Carson, Red Doc

Kate Cayley, How you were born: stories*

David Chariandy, Brother*

Svetlana Chmakova, Brave*

Noam Chomsky ; created and edited by Peter Hutchinson, Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott. Requiem for the American dream: the 10 principles of concentration of wealth & power /

Noam Chomsky; interviews with David Barsamian, Global discontents

Kim Clark and Dawn Marie Kresan, Canadian Ginger: an anthology of poetry & prose*

Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: an American tragedy*

Marina Cohen, The doll’s eye; illustrations by Nicoletta Ceccoli

Billy Collins, The rain in Portugal: poems

Cressida Cowell, The Wizards of Once*

Cressida Cowell, How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury. How to Train Your Dragon Series, Book 12. Read by David Tennant *

Lorna Crozier, What the soul doesn’t want: poems*

Tom Cull, Bad animals*

Rachel Cusk, Outline*

Rachel Cusk, Transit *

Rachel Cusk, Kudos*

Lauren B. Davis, The Grimoire of Kensington Market *

Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Hysteria *

Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance

Mai Der Vang, Afterland: poems *

David Demchuk, The Bone Mother

Patrick deWitt, French Exit    cd

Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves*

Jeramy Dodds, Drakkar Noir

Brian Doyle, editor. A sense of wonder: the world’s best writers on the sacred, the profane, and the ordinary

Norman Dubie, The quotations of bone

Esi Edugyan, Washington Black: A Novel

Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach*

Deborah Eisenberg, Twilight of the Superheroes *

Dave Eggers, Heroes of the frontier: a novel*

Dave Eggers, The monk of Mokha. Mokhtar Alkhanshali *

Cecilia Ekbäck, The midnight sun

Cecilia Ekbäck, Wolf Winter

Louise Erdrich, Future Home of the Living God *

Susan Faludi, In the darkroom*

1. A. C. Farrant, The days: forecasts, warnings, advice *

Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

Aminatta Forna, Happiness*
Aminatta Forna,The hired man*

Philip Freeman, Searching for Sappho: the lost songs and world of the first woman poet including new translations of all of Sappho’s surviving poetry*

Patrick Friesen, Songen*

Cornelia Funke, Ruffleclaw; illustrated by the author; translated by Oliver Latsch *

Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants; illustrated by Brett Helquist*

Jorie Graham, Fast*

Shari Green, Macy McMillan and the rainbow goddess *

Camilla Grudova, The Doll’s Alphabet

Lisa Halliday, Asymmetry*

Richard Harrison, On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood *

Paula Hawkins, Into the water

Elizabeth Hay, All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Memoir

Emma Healey, Stereoblind: poems  *

Emma Healey, Whistle in the dark*

Chris Hedges, Unspeakable: Chris Hedges on the most forbidden topics in America / with David Talbot

Sheila Heti, Motherhood *

Brenda Hillman, Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire*

Alice Hoffman, Survival Lessons

Alice Hoffman, The rules of magic*

Alice Hoffman, Here on Earth*

Robert Hogg, There is No Falling

Nancy Holmes, Valancy and the new world *

Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine*

Cornelia Hoogland, Trailer park elegy*

Emma Hooper, Our Homesick Songs*

Susan Howe, Debths

David Huebert, Peninsula Sinking *

Helen Humphreys, The ghost orchard: the hidden history of the apple in North America*

Helen Humphreys, Machine Without Horses

Kazuo Ishiguro, My twentieth century evening and other small breakthroughs: the Nobel lecture*

Walter Isaacson, Leonardo da Vinci*

Annie Jacobson, Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*

Maureen Jennings, Let darkness bury the dead: a Murdoch mystery *

Amanda Jernigan, Years, months, and days: Poems *

Jim Johnstone, editor. The next wave: an anthology of 21st century Canadian poetry

Kij Johnson, The Fox Woman *

The Journey prize stories: the best of Canada’s new writers

Han Kang, Human acts: a novel; translated from the Korean and introduced by Deborah Smith*

Thomas King, Cold Skies*

Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered

Larissa Lai, When Fox Is a Thousand *

Danielle LaPorte, White Hot Truth*

1. I. Larry, High risk*, Undercover*

Ursula K Le Guin, Words are my matter: writings about life and books, 2000-2016 with a journal of a writer’s week

John Le Carré, A delicate truth

League of Canadian Poets, Measures of astonishment: poets on poetry / presented by the League

Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice

David Lehman, Best American Poetry 2016

Donna Leon, Drawing conclusions: a Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery

Donna Leon, The Temptation of Forgiveness

Carrianne Leung, That time I loved you: linked stories

Deborah Levy, Things I Don’t Want to Know

Jennifer LoveGrove, Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes *

Helen M. Luke, Old Age: Journey into Simplicity

Helen M. Luke; edited by Rob Baker. Kaleidoscope: the way of woman and other essays* 

Harriet Alida Lye, Honey Farm*

Kari Maaren, Weave a Circle Round*

Anne McDonald, Miss Confederation: The Diary of Mercy Anne Coles*

Gregory Maguire, Hiddensee: a tale of the once and future Nutcracker *

Terese Mailhot, Heart Berries: A Memoir

Alice Major, Memory’s daughter

Mark Manson: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck*

Daphne Marlatt, The Collected Earlier Poems, 1968-2008. Edited by Susan Holbrook*

Monia Mazigh, Hope has two daughters *

Alexander McCall Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency *

Ami McKay, Half Spent Was the Night *

Steve McOrmond, Reckon*

W.S. Merwin, Sir Gawain and the green knight / a new verse translation*
W.S. Merwin, The river sound: poems

Anne Michaels, All We Saw*

Madeline Miller, Circe**

Valerie Mills-Milde, The Land’s Long Reach*

Thomas Moore, Ageless soul*

Naomi Novik, Uprooted*

John O’Donohue, Conamara blues: poems *

Michael Ondaatje, Warlight*

Helen Oyeyemi, Mr. Fox*

Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Richard Powers, The Overstory*

Meredith Quartermain, U girl: a novel *

Sina Queyras, My Ariel*

Matt Rader, Desecrations*

Judy Rebick, Heroes In My Head *

Elizabeth Renzetti, Shrewed*

Noah Richler, The candidate: fear and loathing on the campaign trail*

Eden Robinson, Trickster Drift*

Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens*

Damian Rogers, Dear leader *

Catherine Sheldrick Ross, Lynne McKechnie, Paulette M. Rothbauer, editors. Reading Still Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries, and Community *

Salman Rushdie, The golden house: A Novel *

Karen Russell, Vampires in the Lemon Grove *

Linda Rutenberg, The Garden at Night. Introduction by Christopher Dewdney*

Deborah Samuel, The extraordinary beauty of birds: designs, patterns and details

Richard Sanger, Dark woods. Biblioasis*

Sarah Selecky, Radiant Shimmering Light*

Maria Semple, Where’d You Go, Bernadette*

Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire*

Alexie Sherman, Thunder Boy Jr.*

Merilyn Simonds, Gutenberg’s Fingerprint: Paper, Pixels and the Lasting Impression of Books*

Linda Spalding, The Reckoning*

Barbara Shapiro, The Muralist

Sjon, From the Mouth of the Whale*

Ali Smith, Autumn*

Ali Smith, Winter*

Michael V. Smith, Bad ideas

Murdoch Neil Smith, Boo: a novel

Zadie Smith, Feel Free

Mark Strand, Eavan Boland, editors, The making of a poem: a Norton anthology of poetic forms

J.R. (Tim) Struthers, ed. Clark Blaise: the Interviews

Graham Swift, Tomorrow

Gillian Sze, Panicle

Wisława Szymborska, Map: collected and last poems; edited by Clare Cavanagh

Amy Tan, Where the past begins: a writer’s memoir*

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch*

Kim Thúy, Vi ; translated from the French by Sheila Fischman

Miriam Toews, Women Talking

Alexandre Trudeau, Barbarian Lost: Travels in the New China*

John Vaillliant, The Jaguar’s Children*

Alberto Villoldo, One Spirit Medicine: Ancient Ways to Ultimate Wellness*

Alberto Villoldo and David Perlmutter, Power up your brain: the neuroscience of enlightenment

Ocean Vuong, Night sky with exit wounds*

Clemantine Wamariya, The Girl Who Smiled Beads. (Julia Zave)

Elizabeth Waterston, Magic island: the fictions of L.M. Montgomery*

Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed: a novel

Anthony Williams, Medical Medium*

Deborah Willis, The dark and other love stories*

Oprah Winfrey, The wisdom of sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations. Oprah Winfrey*

Peter Wohlleben, The Inner Life of Animals*

Peter Wohlleben; translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp. The weather detective: rediscovering nature’s secret signs

Meg Wolitzer, The Female Persuasion*

Lauren Wolk, Wolf Hollow*

Erin Wunker, Notes from a Feminist Killjoy

,,, and still reading…

 

Giving Voice To Age

Double Vision, i

Age is the phase for integration as we enter
the violet sphere, embracing shadows in
whatever form they appear, welcoming all.
We wear our lives on our faces, to be read.

We have stood in bright glittering sunshine
long enough. We have given to the world
what the world required. Now we inquire
what we ourselves need to feel complete.

We enter understanding, standing under all
we have done, all we are. We rest in the full
spectrum of fulfilment, scanning the span of
a moment’s totality. Time out of time expands

to include our whole life, with its possibilities
realized or still potential, yet to be enacted,
expended to the rest remaining to us, doubling
to manifest or stay outstanding as life allows.

Now is when to remember just who we entered
this world to become. To gather, to recollect, to
recall, to weave into a basket of plenty and pass
our basket of us as bequest on, nest for the next.

None of our history is lost. It lives in the present
as presence. We are the legacy we leave and
that which we’ve received, stretching back over
generations. We hold in our palms the prints

of past, present and unknown epochs to come.
What brings us to wisdom, this transmission
of all we are? Our grandchildren might hear
what our offspring may not yet have learned.

For our wisdom to ripen, we need shelter, a
place that respects us so we may continue
to live the love that is antidote to fear, free
of want. Where we can reflect upon, reflect

back gleams of insight gleaned from living
well, unhampered. May we listen to our body.
Despite the indignities our flesh is heir to, we
attend to aches in organs hitherto unknown

Double Vision, ii

Now we understand why old folks walk as
they do, not from choice, but because knees
don’t bend and ankles tend to give way. We
see our parents in the mirror and marvel at

the flight of time, knowing that inside we feel
thirty or forty max, on good days. We know
the limits our younger selves blithely ignored,
growing up, growing over the lump in our heart.

As we enter elderhood, may we burn up rather
than rust away, till we are entirely retread, ready
for whatever awaits. Retired, may we try again,
treating ourselves as well as we need be treated.

May our inner weather be sun-dappled no matter
what. May we recognize in the mirror the others
that we were, as we are. May we elders be seen
as lineage-holders, holding the mirror for the next

generation down the line and on. May we be heard.

Penn Kemp

“Giving Voice To Age”, the Winter issue of Sage-ing With Creative Spirit, Grace and Gratitude, P. 31. http://www.sage-ing.com/Sage-ing28.pdf

Photo: Colin Morton

Upcoming Events with Penn

Here’s my reading schedule for the next few months: I hope to see you!
All events are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 in London: Reading with Penn Kemp and Daphne Marlatt, 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. AHB-3R07, Western University. The Arts and Humanities Building is the old Ivey Business building, directly south of University College.

Saturday, March 10, 2018 in Toronto: Words and Music Salon, 12:30 to 3:30 pm. I’m reading 2:30-3:00 pm. The Tiki Room, the Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave. Sponsored by the League of Poets, Metro Reading in Public Places.

Thursday, April 19, 2018 in London: The launch of Local Heroes (Insomniac Press 2018) by Penn Kemp. The evening includes an exhibition tour with curator Amber Lloydlangston, followed by Penn’s reading @ 7:30 pm. The theatre will show several short videos on Local Heroes by Dennis Siren, Mary McDonald and Western’s Community Engaged Learning students.
6:30 to 7:15 p.m. – Curator Tour: Women’s Lives in Canada: A History, 1875-2000;          7:30 to 8:30 p.m. – Penn’s reading; and 8:30 to 9 p.m. – book signing.
Lecture Theatre, Museum London, 421 Ridout St N.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 8 pm: ‘ALT’ show, Victoria Poetry Project Caffè Fantastico, 965 Kings Road, Victoria, British Columbia V8T 1W7. Contact shayne avec i grec vegabard@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/vicslam/.

Friday, April 27, 2018 in Edmonton, Alberta:  Featured reader, “Wine and Wild Women Wordsmiths”, The Edmonton Poetry Festival. They match a wine to the poet. I’ve offered to be a full-bodied Red! https://edmontonpoetryfestival.com

Monday, May 28, 2018 in London, 7 to 8:30 pm: Women Trailblazers: Writers and Voices for Change: Heroes. A reading and lecture series celebrating Canadian women writers.
Featured guests: Judy Rebick and Penn Kemp, Stevenson & Hunt Room, Central Library, 251 Dundas Street.  Judy is reading from Heroes in My Head (Anansi) and Penn from Local Heroes (Insomniac).

With thanks to Debbie Okun Hill for her profile and updates:

https://okunhill.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/poet-profile-penn-kemp-and-barbaric-cultural-practice/

1/1/17 Re:Solution

May your 2017 writing be inspired!

This poem is in my book, INCREMENTALS, Pendas Productions.

Re:Solution

we

weir

Virgo

weird gong

we’re going too

we’re going to be

we’re going to begin

we’re going to begin right

we’re going to begin writing and

we’re going to begin writing and purr

we’re going to begin writing and purr form

we’re going to begin writing and performing

we’re going to begin writing and performing some

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time

we’re going to begin writing and performing some diamond

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time whinney

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time whinney lick

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time whinney lick trick

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time whinney lick trick light

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time whinney lick trick light D

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time when electric light decent

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time when electric light descend through

we’re going to begin writing and performing some time when electric light descend through

fin

fin grr

finger tip

finger tip on

finger tip off

onoffonoffonoff

finger tip om

finger tip onto

finger tip onto calm

finger tip onto calm phew

finger tip onto calm pew tore

finger tip onto calm pew turkey

finger tip onto calm pew turkey bored

finger tip onto calm pew turkey bord and

finger tip onto computer board hand set

finger tip onto computer board and set us

finger tip onto computer board and set us free

we’re going to begin writing some time when electric light descend through finger tip onto computer board and set us free

maybe

Penn Kemp

Photo credit: Playwrights Guild, at our Women and Media panel, Harbourfront,
Canadian Writers’ Summit, June 2016

How we are (in)formed!

Listening to http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/farewell-to-2016-robert-harris-on-albums-that-changed-your-life-2nd-annual-shut-up-i-m-thinking-word-game-1.3906841/the-music-that-changed-your-world-episode-1-1.3906953.

Robert Harris’s choices are interesting, and all too telling!

The delicious Rosalind Russell sings, “Just throw your knowledge in his face… that’s the second way to lose a man…” And then George Gaynes sings for “his gentle girl, his quiet girl…” from On the Town, 1949. “We need no words./ She sees— she knows… Where is that special girl/Who is soft, soft as snow/ Somewhere /Somewhere, my quiet girl”.

Bernstein’s lyrics enforce the notion of ‘a gentle, quiet’ girl who is “a different kind of girl” from the “sharp, intellectual kind” usually picked. And so stereotypes are deeply embedded from childhood on… On the Town heralds in the ‘50’s!

Oh how things have changed… or not!

https://no1lyrics.com/song/one-hundred-easy-ways-483321
http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein:A_Quiet_Girl

“It happens over and over
I pick the sharp intellectual kind
Why couldn’t this time be different
Why couldn’t she – only be
Another kind – A different kind of girl

I love a quiet girl
I love a gentle girl”

Ah, the songs were out of context…I stand corrected, though I still question Robert Harris’s choices:)! “It was Betty Comden and Adolf Green who wrote the lyrics, Not Leonard! and if you watch the play, the hero changes his mind about the unquiet girl and gets Ruth! The song ends up being almost satirical in its proper setting.” Good to hear. 

Photo: Heidi Greco

Books read and recommended

An eclectic collection!  But then I started young:)

Books Read, 2015-6.  I’m surprised at the gender balance in books I’ve read over the last two years: I would have thought I’d read more women. You can tell I go on author-binges… Most books came from London Library, with my thanks.

David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous
Caroline Adderson, Ellen in Pieces
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah
Jussi Adler-Olsen, The keeper of lost causes
Jussi Adler-Olsen; translated by William Frost. The hanging girl
Carmen Aguirre, Mexican hooker #1: and my other roles since the revolution
Madhur Anand, A new index for predicting catastrophes: poems
Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Spawning Grounds
Alaa Al Aswany, The Automobile Club of Egypt

Kamal Al-Solaylee, Intolerable: a memoir of extremes

Isabel Allende, The Japanese lover: a novel
Martin Amis, The zone of interest: a novel
Amish, The secret of the Nagas

Andre Alexis, Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue
Andre Alexis, The Hidden Keys

Marguerite Andersen, The bad mother / translated by Donald Winkler
Donald Antrim, The emerald light in the air: stories
John Ashbery, Breezeway: new poems
Kevin Ashton, How to fly a horse: the secret history of creation, invention, and discovery
Kate Atkinson, Human Croquet
Kate Atkinson, God in Ruins
Kate Atkinson, Not the End of the World
Kate Atkinson, Started early, took my dog
Kate Atkinson, When will there be good news?  

Margaret Atwood, The Heart Goes Last
Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed
Margaret Avison, The essential Margaret Avison: [poems] selected by Robyn Sarah
Mona Awad,13 ways of looking at a fat girl
Ken Babstock, On Malice
Julianna Baggott, Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders
Marie Annharte Baker, Indigena awry
Sarah Bakewell, At the existentialist café: freedom, being and apricot cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre [and others]
Muriel Barbery, The Life of Elves

Jo Baker, A country road, a tree

Pat Barker, Noonday: a novel

Julian Barnes, Keeping an eye open: essays on art
Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time
James Bartleman, Exceptional circumstances: a novel
Gary Barwin, Yiddish for pirates: being an account of Moishe the Captain, his Meshugeneh life & astounding adventures, his Sarah, the horizon, books & treasure, as told by Aaron, his African grey p 110
Stephen Batchelor, After Buddhism: rethinking the Dharma for a secular age
Peter S. Beagle, We Never Talk About My Brother

Ann Beattie, The state we’re in: Maine stories

Linda Bender, Animal wisdom: learning from the spiritual lives of animals

Melanie Benjamin, The swans of Fifth Avenue
Elizabeth Berg, The dream lover: a novel

Nina Berkhout, The gallery of lost species

Wendell Berry, Our only world: ten essays

Clark Blaise, Essays on His Works, ed. J.R. (Tim) Struthers

Harold Bloom, The Daemon Knows: Literary Greatness and the American Sublime
Judy Blume, In the unlikely event
Giles Blunt, The hesitation cut
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: discovering the woman at the heart of Christianity
Cynthia Bourgeault, Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God

Erin Bow, The swan riders

Gail Bowen, What’s left behind
George Bowering, The world, I guess: poems
Joseph Boyden, Wenjack
Nadia Bozak, Thirteen Shells
Alan Bradley, Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
Alan Bradley, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d

Dionne Brand, Love Enough
Geraldine Brooks, The Secret Chord

Peter Brooks, editor with Hilary Jewett, The humanities and public life
Brené Brown, Rising strong
Brené Brown, Daring greatly: how the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead
Carrie Brownstein, Hunger makes me a modern girl: a memoir
Jan Bruce, Andrew Shatte, Adam Perlman, Mequilibrium: 14 days to cooler, calmer, and happier
Carol Bruneau, These good hands
Bill Bryson, The road to Little Dribbling: more notes from a small island
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names
Jessie Burton, The Muse

Steve Burrows, A Siege of Bitterns
Steve Burrows, A pitying of doves
Roberto Calasso, Ardor; translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon
Julia Cameron with Emma Lively, It’s never too late to begin again: discovering creativity and meaning at midlife and beyond
Peter Carey, Amnesia
Anne Carson, Glass, irony, and God; introduction by Guy Davenport
Anne Carson, Short talks; with a new afterword by the author and a new introduction by Margaret Christakos

Helen Castor, Joan of Arc: a history
Dana Chamblee Carpenter, Bohemian Gospel
Tracy Chevalier, Burning bright
Tracy Chevalier, At the edge of the orchard

Lee Child, Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel
Noam Chomsky, Who Rules the World?

Margaret Christakos, Her paraphernalias: on motherlines, sex/blood/loss & selfies
Dawson Church, The genie in your genes: epigenetic medicine and the new biology of intention

George Elliott Clarke, The Motorcyclist

Joan Clark, The Birthday Lunch

Ann Cleeves, Thin air

Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine, Stronger together: a blueprint for America’s future

Bruce Cockburn, Rumours of glory: a memoir
J. M. Coetzee, The good story: exchanges on truth, fiction and psychotherapy

Michael C Corballis, A Very Short Tour of the Mind: 21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain

Daniel Allen Cox, Mouthquake, Arsenal Pulp Press
Joan Crate, Black apple: a novel

David Cronenberg, Consumed
Lynn Crosbie, Life Is About Losing Everything
Lorna Crozier, The wild in you: voices from the forest and the sea
Michael Crummey, Hard light Michael Crummey, Little dogs: new and selected

Amy Cuddy, Presence: bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges
Michael Cunningham, The snow queen: a novel
Michael Cunningham, A Wild Swan: And Other Tales
Michael Cunningham, A home at the end of the world
Kayla Czaga, For Your Safety Please Hold On
Roald Dahl, The BFG
Ram Dass, Polishing the mirror: how to live from your spiritual heart
Meghan Daum, The unspeakable: and other subjects of discussion
Lauren B. Davis, Against a darkening sky

Lydia Davis, Can’t and Won’t
Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy
Don DeLillo, Zero K
Patrick deWitt, Undermajordomo minor
Louis de Bernières, The dust that falls from dreams: a novel
Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

Elisabeth de Mariaffi, The Devil You Know
Sadiqa de Meijer, Leaving Howe Island
Emily Dickinson, http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/the-online-emily-dickinson-archive.html
Annie Dillard, The Abundance
Diane di Prima, The Poetry deal
Michael Dirda, Browsings: a year of reading, collecting, and living with books
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before we visit the goddess

Sean Dixon, A God in need of help: a play in two acts (or five, if you think about it)
Sandra Djwa, Journey with no maps: a life of P. K. Page
Anthony Doerr, All the light we cannot see: a novel
Norman Doidge, The brain’s way of healing: remarkable discoveries and recoveries from the frontiers of neuroplasticity
Emma Donoghue, The Wonder

Mark Doty, Deep lane: poems
Marilyn Dumont, The Pemmican Eaters
Kat Duff, The Secret Life of Sleep
Wayne W. Dyer, Memories of heaven: children’s astounding recollections of the time before they came to earth

Umberto Eco, The Book of Legendary Lands
Umberto Eco, Numero zero
Danticat Edwidge, Untwine: a novel
Dave Eggers, A hologram for the king: a novel   And film.
William Egginton, The man who invented fiction: how Cervantes ushered in the modern world

Normandi Ellis, Dreams of Isis: a woman’s spiritual sojourn
Marina Endicott, Close to Hugh
Karen Enns, Ordinary hours
Karen Enns, That Other Beauty
Anne Enright, The Green Road
Louise Erdrich, LaRose
Joel Faflak & Sky Glabush, editors. (Re)imagining Regionalism

Elena Ferrante, My brilliant friend. Book one, Childhood, adolescence
Elena Ferrante, The story of a new name
Elena Ferrante, Those who leave and those who stay
Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child
Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Australian Booker prize
Tim Flannery, Atmosphere Of Hope: The Search for Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am

Karen Joy Fowler, We are all completely beside ourselves
Jonathan Franzen, Purity
Antonia Fraser, My History: A Memoir of Growing Up

Antonia Fraser, editor. The pleasure of reading: 43 writers on the discovery of reading and the books that inspired them

Diana Gabaldon, Written in my own heart’s blood
Diana Gabaldon, The Outlandish Companion Volume Two

Neil Gaiman, The sleeper and the spindle
Neil Gaiman, The view from the cheap seats: selected nonfiction
Jonathan Galassi, Muse
Mavis Gallant, A fairly good time: with green water, green sky

Steven Galloway, The confabulist
Connie Gault, A beauty

Elizabeth George, A Banquet of Consequences: A Lynley Novel
Anne Giardini and Nicholas Giardini, Startle and illuminate: Carol Shields on writing

Camilla Gibb, This Is Happy
Douglas Gibson, Across Canada by story: A Coast-to-Coast Literary Adventure
William Gibson, The Peripheral
Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Sky Gilbert, St. Francis of Millbrook
Philip Glass, Words without music: a memoir
Susan Glickman, Safe as houses: a mystery
Louise Glück, Faithful and virtuous night
Michael Golding, A poet of the invisible world
Natalie Goldberg, The great spring: writing, Zen, and this zigzag life
Katherine Govier, The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel: a novel

Catherine Graham, Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects
Laurie D. Graham, Settler Education
James Grainger, Harmless
Germaine Greer, White beech: the rainforest years
Philippa Gregory, The king’s curse
Philippa Gregory, The Taming of the Queen
Philippa Gregory, Three Sisters, Three Queens
Nicola Griffith, Hild
Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies
Sara Gruen, At the Water’s Edge
Hanif Kureishi, The last word
Louise Bernice Halfe, Burning in this midnight dream

Phil Hall, Conjugation

Garth Risk Hallberg, City on Fire
Jane Hamilton, The excellent Lombards

Thich Nhat Hanh, Inside the now: meditations on time
Thich Nhat Hanh, Love

Graham Hancock, Magicians of the gods: the forgotten wisdom of Earth’s lost civilisation
Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale
Rick Hanson, Meditations to change your brain: rewire your neural pathways to transform your life

Michael Harris, Party of One: Stephen Harper and Canada’s radical makeover
Teva Harrison, In-Between Days

Nadia Hashimi, When the moon is low
Paula Hawkins, The girl on the train
Elizabeth Hay, His Whole Life
Seamus Heaney, Human Chain
Steven Heighton, The waking comes late

Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne Shapton & 639 others ; Women in Clothes
Carl Hiaasen, Skink no surrender
Tomson Highway, Fox on the ice
Tomson Highway, Caribou song
Tomson Highway, A tale of monstrous extravagance: imagining multilingualism
Oscar Hijuelos, Twain & Stanley enter paradise
Geoffrey Hill, Somewhere is such a kingdom; poems 1952-1971
Lawrence Hill, The Illegal
Lawrence Hill, Dear Sir, I intend to burn your book: an anatomy of a book burning

Jane Hirshfield, Ten windows: how great poems transform the world
Jane Hirshfield, The beauty: poems
Jane Hirshfield, editor, Women in praise of the sacred: 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women
P.C. Hodgell, The God stalker chronicles
Alice Hoffman, The Marriage of Opposites
Linda Hogan, Intimate nature: the bond between women and animals / edited by Linda Hogan, Deena Metzger, and Brenda Peterson

Nick Hornby, Funny Girl
A. E. Hotchner, Hemingway in love: His Own Story

Michel Houellebecq, Submission

Liz Howard, Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent

Tom Howell, The Rude Story of English
Helen Humphreys, The Evening Chorus
Aislinn Hunter, The World Before Us
John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant
Eowyn Ivey, The snow child: a novel
Eowyn Ivey, To the Bright Edge of the World

Greg Jenkins, Theban oracle: discover the magic of the ancient alphabet that changes lives
Maureen Jennings, Dead Ground In Between

Erica Jong, Fear of dying
Heidi Julavits, The Folded Clock
Paul Kalanith, When Breath Becomes Air
A.L. Kennedy, On writing
Christine Kenneally, The invisible history of the human race: how DNA and history shape our identities and our futures
Michael Kenyon, Astatine
Wab Kinew, The Reason You Walk
James King, Inward journey: the life of Lawren Harris

James King, The life of Margaret Laurence

Laurie R. King, The murder of Mary Russell: a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes

Mary Russell’s War And other stories of suspense

Stephen King, Finders keepers: a novel
Michael Kinsley, Old age: a beginner’s guide
Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything
Marie Kondo, Spark joy: an illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up

Marie Kondo, The life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, All the Broken Things
Hanif Kureishi, The Last Word
Jhumpa Lahiri, In other words; translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein
M. Travis Lane, Crossover

Patrick Lane, Washita
Lori Lansens, The Mountain Story
Harper Lee, Go Set a Watcher
Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the craft: a twenty-first-century guide to sailing the sea of story

Ursula K Le Guin, The lathe of heaven: a novel

Donna Leon, Falling in love
Donna Leon, The waters of eternal youth
Ben Lerner, 10:04
Ben Lerner, The hatred of poetry

Christopher Levenson, Night vision
Stephen Levine, Becoming Kuan Yin: the evolution of compassion
Tim Lilburn, The names

Tracey Lindberg, Birdie
Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, Spontaneous evolution: our positive future and how to get there from here
Alex Lloyd with Ben Johnson, The healing code: 6 minutes to heal the source of your health, success, or relationship issue ’
Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora
Ben Macintyre, A spy among friends
Gregory Maguire, After Alice
Emily St. J. Mandel, Station Eleven
Alberto Manguel, Curiosity
Dennis Maloney, Listening to Tao Yuan Ming
Hilary Mantel, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

Stephen Marche, The Hunger of the Wolf
Yann Martel, The High Mountains of Portugal

Garth Martens, Prologue for the age of consequence
Giuseppe Mazzotta, Reading Dante
Colum McCann, Thirteen Ways of Looking
Ian McEwan, The child in time
Ian McEwan, Nutshell

Ami McKay, The Witches of New York
Don McKay, Angular Unconformity
Robert McKee, Dialogue: the art of verbal action for the page, stage, and screen
Sean Michaels, Us Conductors
Valerie Mills-Milde, After Drowning
David Mitchell, Slade House
Tara Mohr, Playing big: find your voice, your mission, your message
JLisa Moore, Open: stories
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
Toni Morrison, God Help the Child
Erin Moure, Kapusta
Jane Southwell Munro, Grief notes & animal dreams
Jane Munro, Blue Sonoma
Colleen Murphy, Armstrong’s war
George Murray, Glimpse: selected aphorisms
Susan Musgrave, A taste of Haida Gwaii: food gathering and feasting at the edge of the world

Ralph Nader, Unstoppable: the emerging left-right alliance to dismantle the corporate state
Azar Nafisi, The republic of imagination: America in three books
Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts

Pablo Neruda, Isla Negra / poems by Pablo Neruda; edited by Dennis Maloney
Christiane Northrup, Goddesses never age: the secret prescription for radiance, vitality, and well-being
Joyce Carol Oates, Soul at the white heat: inspiration, obsession, and the writing life

Edna O’Brien, The Little Red Chairs
Flannery O’Connor, A prayer journal
Nuala O’Connor, Miss Emily
Alexandra Oliver, Let The Empire Down
Mary Oliver, Blue horses
Mary Oliver, Dog songs: thirty-five dog songs and one essay
Mary Oliver, Felicity
Alice Oswald, Memorial: a version of Homer’s Iliad; with an afterword by Eavan Boland

Cynthia Ozick, Metaphor & Memory
Cynthia Ozick, Critics, monsters, fanatics, and other literary essays

Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
P.K. Page, Kaleidoscope: selected poems
Kurt Palka, The Piano Maker
Orhan Pamuk, A strangeness in my Mind Being the Adventures and Dreams of Mevlut Karatas, a Seller of Boza, and of His Friends, and Also a Portrait of Life in Istanbul Between 1969 and 2012 From Many Different Points of View
Tim Parks, Where I’m reading from: the changing world of books
Sooyong Park; foreword by John Vaillant, Great soul of Siberia : passion, obsession, and one man’s quest for the world’s most elusive tiger
Priya Parmar, Vanessa and Her Sister
Ann Patchett, This is the story of a happy marriage
Ann Patchett, Commonwealth

Molly Peacock, Alphabetique, 26 Characteristic Fictions
Soraya Peerbaye, Tell: poems for a girlhood

Louise Penny, The nature of the beast: a Chief Inspector Gamache novel
Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning

David Perlmutter, Brain Maker: the power of gut microbes to heal and protect your brain—for life

Alison Pick, Between gods: a memoir
Jodi Picoult, Leaving Time
Stephen Pinker, Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
Richard Powers, Orfeo
Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
Terry Pratchett, A slip of the keyboard: collected non-fiction
Terry Pratchett, Mrs Bradshaw’s handbook: an illustrated guide to the railway by Mrs Georgina Bradshaw; produced in association with Ankh-Morpork & Sto Plains Hygienic Railway.
Terry Pratchett, The shepherd’s crown

Terry Pratchett, The Long Cosmos

Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer: a guide for people who love books and for those who want to write them

Annie Proulx, Barkskins

Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh, The path: what Chinese philosophers can teach us about the good life
Edna O’Brien, The Love Object

Edna O’Brien, The Red Chair
Lisa Randall, Dark matter and the dinosaurs: the astounding interconnectedness of the universe

John Raymond, Tin House, The world split open: great authors on how and why we write

Paula Reeves. CD, Lighting the Forbidden Lamp: A Woman’s Journey to the Self: The myth of Eros and Psyche Retold

Paula Reeves, CD, Every Woman’s Story Cinderella and Her Sisters: The Shadow Side of Envy

Monty Reid, Meditatio placentae: poems
Raziel Reid, When Everything Feels Like the Movies
Ruth Rendell, The girl next door
Ruth Rendell, Dark corners
Nino Ricci, Sleep
Adrienne Rich, Diving into the wreck: poems, 1971-1972

Adrienne Rich, The dream of a common language: poems 1974-1977

Tanis Rideout, Arguments with the lake
Tanis Rideout, Above all things
Marilynne Robinson, Lila
Marilynne Robinson, Balm of Gilead
Jennifer Robson, Moonlight over Paris: a novel
Leon Rooke, The April poems
Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
Robbie Robertson, Testimony

Peter Robinson, When the Music’s Over

Catherine Sheldrick Ross, Lynne (E.F.) McKechnie, and Paulette M. Rothbauer, Reading matters: what the research reveals about reading, libraries, and community

Hannah Rothschild, The Improbability of Love

J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I and II
Armand Garnet Ruffo, Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird
Rumi, Soul fury: Rumi and Shams Tabriz on friendship / translations by Coleman Barks
Salman Rushdie, Two years, eight months and twenty-eight nights: a novel
Sarah Ruhl, Dear Elizabeth: a play in letters from Elizabeth Bishop to Robert Lowell and back again
Richard Russo, Everybody’s Fool
Oliver W Sacks, On the move: a life
Robyn Sarah, My Shoes Are Killing Me

Jocelyne Saucier, And The Birds Rained Down
John Ralston Saul, The Comeback
Lisa Robertson, Cinema of the present
Paul Savoie, Nocturnes

Lisa Scottoline, Keep Quiet
Nazneen Sheikh, The Place of Shining Light – House of Anansi
Stacy Schiff, The Witches: Salem, 1692
Stacy Schiff, Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov): portrait of a marriage
Anakana Schofield, Malarky
Anakana Schofield, Martin John

The Shambhala Sun and Andrea Miller, editors, Buddha’s daughters: teachings from women who are shaping Buddhism in the West
Barbara Shapiro, The Art Forger

Dr. Vandana Shiva, Sacred seed / introduction; essays by Patriarch Bartholomew, Pir Zia Inayat-         Khan, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Leonard Shlain, Leonardo’s brain: understanding da Vinci’s creative genius

Jane Smiley, Some luck
Jane Smiley, Horse heaven
Jane Smiley, Early warning
Jane Smiley, Golden age
Alexander McCall Smith, The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café
Alexander McCall Smith, Sunshine on Scotland Street: a 44 Scotland Street novel
Alexander McCall Smith, The novel habits of happiness
Alexander McCall Smith, What W.H. Auden can do for you
Ali Smith, Artful
Ali Smith, How To Be Both
Ali Smith [collected by], The book lover
Dominic Smith; The Last Painting of Sara De Vos; narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Murdoch Neil Smith, Boo: a novel
Patti Smith, The M Train
Tracy K Smith, Life on Mars
Tracy K Smith, Ordinary light: a memoir

Wilbur Smith, Desert God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt
Mary Soderstrom, River music: a novel
Karen Solie, The road in is not the same road out

Carolyn Marie Souaid, This World We Invented
Julia Spencer-Fleming, I shall not want
The Spoken Arts treasury. Volume II: 100 modern American poets reading their poems
William Stafford, Ask me: 100 essential poems
David Staines, editor. The worlds of Carol Shields

Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road
Ricardo Sternberg, Map of dreams
Mark Strand, Collected Works
Mark Strand, Eavan Boland, editors, The making of a poem: a Norton anthology of poetic forms
Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton

Cordelia Strube, On the shores of darkness, there is light
J.R. (Tim) Struthers, ed. Clark Blaise, Essays on His Works

Noah Strycker, The Thing with Feathers
Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
Margaret Sweatman, Mr. Jones
Graham Swift, England and other stories
Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday
Magda Szabo, The door; introduction by Ali Smith
Wisława Szymborska, Map: collected and last poems; edited by Clare Cavanagh
Diana Tamblyn, From the earth to Babylon, Book one, the story of Gerald Bull & the supergun
James Tate, Dome of the hidden pavilion : new poems
Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith
Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to walk in the dark: because sometimes God shows up at night

Patrick Taylor, An Irish doctor in peace and at war: an Irish country novel
Madeleine Thien, Do not say we have nothing

Joan Thomas, The Opening Sky
Judith Thompson, White biting dog & other plays
Russell Thornton, The hundred lives
Kim Thúy, Ru
Sara Tilley, Duke
Colm Toibin, Nora Webster
Colm Tóibín, On Elizabeth Bishop
Colm Toibin, Brooklyn

Kim Trainor, Karyotype
Tomas Tranströmer, The great enigma: new collected poems; translated from Swedish by Robin Fulton
Rose Tremain The American Lover
Linda Tucker; foreword by Andrew Harvey. Saving the white lions: one woman’s battle to save Africa’s most sacred animal
Anne Tyler, The beginner’s goodbye
Anne Tyler, A Spool of Blue Thread
Anne Tyler, Vinegar Girl
Luis Alberto Urrrea, Into the beautiful North : a novel
Jane Urquhart, The Night Stages
David Usher, Let the elephants run : unlock your creativity and change everything
John Vaillant, The Jaguar’s Children
Guy Vanderhaeghe, Daddy Lenin and Other Stories
Mario Vargas Llosa, The discreet hero
M. G Vassanji, Nostalgia: a novel
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Anima Mundi
Norah Vincent, Adeline: a novel of Virginia Woolf
Colleen Wagner, Home

Jo Walton, Among Others

Sarah Waters, The paying guests

Phyllis Webb, Peacock Blue, The Collected Poems

Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

Robert J. Wiersema, Black Feathers
E. O. Wilson, The meaning of human existence
Simon Winchester, Pacific: silicon chips and surfboards, coral reefs and atom bombs, brutal dictators, fading empires, and the coming collision of the world’s superpowers
Kathleen Winter, Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage
Michael Winter, Into the blizzard: walking the fields of the Newfoundland dead
Jeanette Winterson, The gap of time: The Winter’s Tale retold

David Whyte, The house of belonging
Kym Wolfe, Conversations with the artist Philip Aziz
Tom Wolfe, The Kingdom of Speech

Susan J. Wolfson, Reading John Keats
Marion Woodman’s CD, Emily Dickinson and the Demon Lover

Marion Woodman’s CD, Holding the Tension of Opposites

Marion Woodman’s CD, Rolling Away the Stone

Marion Woodman’s CD, Sitting by the Well

Marion Woodman and Robert Johnson’s CD, When Souls Meet

Richard B. Wright, A life with words: a writer’s memoir
Richard B. Wright, Nightfall
Ronald Wright, The gold eaters

Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

Alissa York, The Naturalist
Deanna Young, House Dreams
David Zinczenko, Zero belly diet

Concrete Poetry in Concrete

Cementing relations with Guerilla Poetry!

For further information, contact Open Mic, http://www.londonpoetryopenmic.com/news and sign the Petition!

London Letter for Concrete Poetry

Dear London Arts Council,

The Sidewalk Poetry project to stamp poems into wet cement is delightful, innovative and almost literally ground-breaking. As an initiative new to Canada, it would stamp London on the poetry map in a very concrete way. It’s pop-up poetry that will last as long as the sidewalk does. Such poems will give folks pause, a moment to slow down and enjoy the word. Poetry of the people and by the people. A word, not written in water as poet Keats feared, but in cement! Poetry is eternal, and cement is the next best thing.

I heartily endorse this exciting initiative, especially as it comes from local poets and poetry lovers, Western students and Open Mic: another way of  connecting town and gown.

“I am writing to show my support for the Sidewalk Poetry project proposed by the London Open Mic Poetry organization. I believe that this is an exciting creative project that will benefit the community of London in many ways.

To quote Open Mic: “The project offers an opportunity for the city to support literary culture throughout all areas of the community. It opens new doors for engagement with poetry for all demographics, making it accessible and adding a new dimension to readership. The project will help develop interest in poetry for younger generations by bringing it into their lives outside of the dictated school atmosphere, and allowing them to discover poetry on their own terms, making it a part of their lives as they read the same poems regularly while they grow up. The project will also foster community involvement in the arts, and offer poets the honour of making a lasting impression upon their city. I believe that this project is an excellent opportunity for this city, and I eagerly await the chance to witness it unfolding in the future.”

Yes, indeed!

Yours in poetry,

Penn

Your inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of London

525 Canterbury Road, London ON N6G 2N5
http://www.mytown.ca/pennkemp

 

 

Image by Steven McCabe in our Dream Sequins, Lyrical Myrical Press