branta

By way of explaining the two-week work stoppage.

I spoke with Sharon McCartney about her recently published collection of poetry For and Against. She read three poems from the book, we discussed the duality of the title and listened to her tea carafe serenade us in the kitchen. Click through to find the podcast.

The warm weather is here… the beginning of summer? Perhaps. In any case the vacation mind is surely awakening for some of us. If your getaway time is still well off perhaps a few brief virtual escapes might hold you over until you can set foot in some faraway land. Here are some interactive views of The Sistine Chapel, British Histories courtesy of the BBC and The Smithsonian’s current exhibits.

If you’ll recall a while back we posted a feature about the Lettercult blog. It was call to typographically minded folks to submit letter designs for, unsurprisingly, 26 weeks. We are now up to “F.” I’ll let you figure out what week that makes it.

Because, firstly as Canadians, secondly as Atlantic Canadians, we are especially prone to feelings of pride when someone outside our geographic specificity (or on bad days, our own family) takes note of the good job we are doing. To whit here is a Torontoist profile of Chad Pelley’s excellent Salty Ink blog covering Atlantic Canadian literature.

‘Atlantic Canada Reads’ is the brainchild of award-winning St. John’s writer Chad Pelley, who is hosting the six-week long contest on his website Saltyink.com. Pelley says he was inspired to put the tournament together by two similar national bouts; CBC Radio’s ‘Canada Reads’ and The Afterword’s ‘Canada Also Reads’ competitions, and is looking for readers across the country to nominate themselves to defend their favourite Atlantic Canadian book, by May 28th.

Runs May 13-15
Includes Readings by: Beth Powning, Tess Gerritsen, Herb Curtis, Clyde Wray, Robert S. Dinning, Kathy-Diane Leveille, Tom Crothers. Plus many different workshops, roundtables, presentations for folks of all ages. Homebase is at the Saint John Public Library.

Goose Lane Editions announces the launch for Roger Burrow’s new book Birding in New Brunswick, which will be followed by a series of public presentations and book signings. Burrows will visit libraries around the province to discuss bird watching or “birding”. These events are free, open to the public, and books will be available for purchase.

So let’s be clear: the primary motivation for this self-exposé is neither ego nor the desire for absolution for some wrongdoing about to be discovered. I have not sinned against y’all. Purely and simply I don’t have a Feature Post to go to right now. Since early May is a transitional time for many lit types, what with finishing school terms or the commitments that go along with new books, spring deadlines and the like, tossing together something for Branta is no one’s top priority. Except for mine, of course. Although that’s not entirely true for reasons to be revealed.