livewords welcomes Heather Cadsby, Sandy Pool and a. rawlings to read on Thursday January 28th at the Black Swan, 154 Danforth Avenue, just east of Broadview (map). Readings commence at 8 p.m.

Heather Cadsby is the author of four books of poetry. Her most recent book, titled Could be, was published in October 2009 by Brick Books. Her poems have appeared in such publications as Grain, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, PRISM international, CV2 and The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008.

Sandy Pool is a writer and classically trained theatre artist who lives in Toronto.  Sandy holds a degree in Theatre and English from the University of Toronto, as well as a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Her work work has been published in many literary journals across Canada including The Antigonish Review,The Capilano Review, Contemporary Verse 2, dandelion, and Sub-terrain.  She has been shortlisted for the Matrix Lit Pop award and has been recently supported by a Writer’s Work In Progress grant from the Ontario Arts Council. Sandy also writes Opera librettos, and has been comissioned by Tapestry New Opera Works.  Currently, Sandy teaches at Humber College, and is also working as a voice-over artist for productions in Canada and the United States. Her fist book “Exploding Into Night” was just released with Guernica Editions in December.

a. rawlings is a poet, editor, and multidisciplinary artist who has presented and/or published work in Canada, Belgium, Iceland, and the United States. Her poetry has been translated into French, Icelandic, Korean, and Spanish. In 2001, Rawlings received the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing upon graduation from York University. She has worked with The Mercury Press, The Scream Literary Festival, Sumach Press, Word: Canada’s Magazine for Readers + Writers, and The Lexiconjury Reading Series. In 2005, Rawlings hosted the poetry documentary series Heart of a Poet. She is also co-editor of Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press, 2005), an anthology featuring over forty emerging poets from across the country. Rawlings’ first book, Wide slumber for lepidopterists was published in spring 2006 by Coach House Books. In November 2006, Theatre Commutiny staged a full-length performance of the book as part of Harbourfront Centre’s Hatch: Emerging Performance Projects series; Rawlings performed in and co-produced the show. In April 2007, Wide slumber for lepidopterists received a nomination for the Gerald Lampert Award for Best First Book of Poetry. The book was also awarded Alcuin Award for Book Design, and was listed in The Globe and Mail’s top 100 books of 2006. In Autumn 2008, Belgian composer Sebastian Bradt created a choral score entitled X Our Rotten Beauties that uses text from Wide slumber for lepidopterists. Rawlings recently received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship, and is currently working on literary projects called EFHILMNORSTUVWY, Rule of Three, and Cochlea. She spends 2009 and 2010 creating and developing work in Belgium, Canada, and Iceland.

Cento Open Mic Contest

In poetry, a cento is a work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors but set in a new form or order–see John Asbery’s “The Dong with the Luminous Nose”

So the contest is open to all who bear centos with them, on a first come, first serve basis: Sign Up at 7:30 p.m.

$50 prize for the winning poem as determined by our judges

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