bpnichol.ca: news

“Small press is the guardian of literary culture and free speech.” – bpNichol

The bpNichol Chapbook Award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry published in chapbook form. The prize is awarded to a poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. The author receives $2,000 and the publisher receives $500. Awarded continuously since 1986, the bpNichol Chapbook Award is currently administered by the Meet the Presses collective.

Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of a chapbook of poetry in English published in Canada in 2012.

Poet Adrienne Gruber is the winner of the 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award for her chapbook Mimic, published by Leaf Press of Lantzville, B.C. Named for the late poet, novelist, and indie publisher bpNichol (1944-1988), the prize language poetry chapbook published in Canada in the previous year, as selected by a panel of judges. Administered by Toronto-­based small-press collective Meet the Presses, the prize is worth $2,000 to the winning writer.

In 2012, the Meet the Presses collective took over the administration of the annual bpNichol Chapbook Award, which was launched in 1996. Named for the late poet, novelist, and indie publisher bpNichol, the $2,000 prize is awarded to the author of the best poetry chapbook published in the previous year, as selected by two judges appointed by Meet the Presses.

Judges Bill Kennedy and Maggie Helwig — both writers themselves — made the tough choices this year.

The finalists for the 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award are:

Claudia Coutu Radmore for Accidentals (Apt. 9 Press)

2011 Honourable Mentions:
Kevin McPherson Eckhoff, Game Show Reversed (BookThug)

Toronto Poetry Vendors, Vol 2, No 1 (authors: Laurie D Graham, Sachiko Murakami, Aisha Sasha John, Linda Besner, Mathew Henderson, Nathaniel G Moore, Adam Seelig, Moez Surani, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Matthew Tierney)

Special mention for excellence in production: JackPine Press

The judges for this year’s competition were Maggie Helwig and Bill Kennedy.

A $2000 prize will be awarded for the poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of a chapbook of poetry in English published in Canada in 2011.

Chapbooks should be no less than 10 pages and no more than 48 pages.

Submissions should include a brief C.V. of the author, plus address, telephone number, and email address. Send to:

Meet the Presses / bpNichol Chapbook Award
PO Box 26, Station P, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S6

Conrad DiDiodato has recently written a poetic 'paratext' on bpNichol's "The Martyrology: Books 1 & 2". Using a single page from Gilles Deleuze-Felix Guattari's "A Thousand Plateaus" as a palimpsest, he has composed a series of poetic reflections on a single line from Book 2: "saint of no-names" against both the text and illustration found on Deleuze-Guattari's page.

We've just added images of the program for the Vivaxis production of bpNichol's musical comedy "Group." The first is the cover, and the second is the interior with notes about the production and the list of songs. Most of the cast were professional actors who were part of the community. Mary Beth Hall was often on the CBC children's show "Mr Dressup," and John Pepper and Maggie Shaw were regulars at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Click on "Images" and enjoy!

Congratulations to Gary Barwin (Inverting the Deer) and Sandra Ridley (Lift: Ghazals for C., JackPine Press, Saskatoon, SK) - both are winners of the 2009 bpNichol Chapbook Award.

Please come to the awards ceremony for the 2009 winner of the bpNichol Chapbook Award! For more information on the award, please see the page for the bpNichol Chapbook Award.

Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm
Location: Augusta House
152 Augusta Ave.2nd floor
(416) 977-8881

The second of three special issues of Open Letter is now available for purchase from Frank Davey. Please see the poster below for information on how to contact Davey and on the list of contributors.

bpNichol.ca has finally launched after years of planning and good intentions. If you read this message in time, you're encouraged to attend our launch event:

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Nicholback

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
8:00pm - 11:00pm
Supermarket
268 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, ON

Literary event at Supermarket celebrates three new pieces of Nicholmania from late Canadian author bpNichol