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The exciting news that closed up 2024 is glowing me into 2025 ... my first Pushcart Poetry Prize nomination, with thanks to Brownstone Poets for nominating everafter !
January in California ... working on putting the final flourish on my upcoming first full manuscript, after three chapbooks.
Thanks to Marissa Prada of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for offering to publish this collection with Read or Green Press.
January publications and readings: from Ireland, Poems from County Clare and Far Beyond, with three of my poems.
A Moonstone tribute to T.S. Eliot
To correspond with the birth of this iconic poet, Moonstone Press put out a call for submissions. They accepted and published my poem "hollow", which I was pleased to share in the online launch.
It was an honour to be asked to read an advance copy of Dorothy Bentley's collection, Nature Divine, and provide my endorsement.
My new poem, "He Drew a Gun", has been accepted to an upcoming anthology against Gun Violence in the States.
Brownstone Anthology 2025
I have submitted a new poem written here by the Pacific Ocean, "The Sequence" for the upcoming Brownstone Anthology.
Community Involvement
I have been invited to present in a Francophone school through my involvement with Poetry in Voice, Les Voix de la Poésie in late February.
Feature Readings
I was Feature Poet for two readings online ...
March 3rd, for New York's
Oceanside Library's series
Poetry Near and Afar
(my reading starts at 23:30)
and March 13th at Parkland Poetry. I read from my collection of poems inspired by a visit to Portugal last summer.
I will share a recording of the reading when it becomes available.
There is also an amazing opportunity to present in a French and English celebration of poetry as Une invitée d'honneur, Le Printemps des Poètes, at the University of Calgary on Wednesday, March 19th.
Along with Susan Ouriou, I participated in a radio interview conducted by Mireille Langlois, animatrice of the Radio-Canada programme Culture et Confiture, in preparation for Le Printemps de Poésie, on the morning of Saturday, March 15.
Culture et confiture, Émission du samedi 15 mars 2025
La poésie à l’honneur à Calgary
Radio Interview
with Stephen Donohue,
The Poetry Joint on CJSW
in which I discuss my thoughts about the why of poetry, the power of poetry, and share some beauties by Li-Young Lee and the late Eavan Boland, as well as some of my own poetry.
It will be aired on March 19th.
Pop-Up Poetry at Calgary's Memorial Park Library
It was an honour to be invited to participate in this event, creating poetry for visitors on a manual typewriter!
Taking Part in the AICW Panel at Librissimi in Toronto on May 3rd
The AICW, the Association of Italian Canadian Writers, has accepted my proposal to share my poetry at the Librissimi celebration in the city of my birth. Pictured: il Salotto della Poesia, featuring Josie Di Scascio-Andrews and Pietro Sostegno, moderator par excellence Domenico Capilongo, poet Silvia Falsaperla and myself.
Tesoro Anniversary Invitational
Tesoro showcases poets every Sunday during May.
I was among those reading on May 11.
Presenting in Italy!
I am thrilled that my proposal to present an academic paper on two Italian Canadian writers, Caterina Edwards and Silvia Falsaperla at the Canadian Association for Italian Studies conference in Bologna, Italy has been accepted!
There was also the opportunity to participate in a roundtable and present my poetry about my family and place of origin from In My Father's House.
I had a piece accepted to Moonstone Press's 2025 Haiku Anthology, and a blackout poetry piece in
"Silence is Consent".
In addition, my California poem, Pelican's Prayer was engraved onto a picnic table in the legacy project, the Coburgh Ontario Picnic Table Anthology.
We lost a poet in our extended community, David C. Brydges. I was moved to write a tribute piece, which was published on the Ontario Poetry Society website, a poem entitled When a Poet Dies.
Other exciting travel news ... my proposal to present in Charlottetown in late June, at the Accentifest conference, The Many Accents of Italy in the World, has been accepted!
And beyond ...
Three poems published in the
Fixed and Free Summer Anthology:
Another Lullabye for Insomniacs
the setting of the old sun
Mosterio de Santa Clara-a-Velha
In August, I participated again in Calgary's yearly When Words Collide Festival. I organized and am taking part in two events: As Feathers Fall, a presentation and workshop of haiku and tanka sequence writing based on our 2024 publication with fellow Magpie poet, June Read; and Naughty Night Reads, an afterhours collaboration of diverse local poets!
At a WWCollide workshop, I created a logo
using the line. Thanks to Adrienne Adams
for the inspiration!
On October 9, I was honoured to present at Owl's Nest
Books for the launch of fellow writer Jim Jackson's newest,
Our Lady of Highways. I shared a few new poems, inspired
by his title to his music: Our Lady of the Truckstop, and
The Patron Saint of Lost Words.
On October 23rd, I co-featured at Fixed and Free in Albuquerque, New Mexico with fellow poet Charles S. Cobean. Charles and I are working on a collaborative manuscript of poems to be published in 2026 by Gold Wake Press.
I submitted a hallowe'en-themed haiku to the haiku journal, Sense and Sensibility in the US, and was thrilled to learn that it was chosen for publication.
Sense & Sensibility Haiku Journal, a monthly journey in a theme that's 17 syllables or less https://sensesensibilityhaikujournal.wordpress.com/
On October 31, The League of Canadian Poets published my poem The Floating Clares, written on my trip to Portugal in 2024, in their Fresh Voices online series.
The day finally arrived! On November 5th, I launched
The Moon and All Her Faces live at Calgary's ShelfLife Books,
with guest feature readers Weyman Chan, Telmo Dos Santos,
Vivian Hansen, Stuart Ian McKay, Nash Lott, Patti Lott, and
musical guest Sonia Deleo.
Amazing follow-up news .... The Moon and All Her Faces was listed
on the Book Publishers' Association of Alberta as a Calgary Bestseller.
This joins ranks with my previous three publications, also Calgary
Bestsellers: The Cowichan Series and In My Father's House.
Delightful!
November 6, serving our local poetry community. As a member of the board of the Single Onion Reading Series, the longest reading series in Calgary, it is my role to help find feature poets for the Open Mic Poetry Night, publicize the monthly reading event, and
co-host. Here is a shot of me and co-host Paul Marshall.
As big a thrill as it is to share my work, it is an incredible experience to sit back
and enjoy the poetry.
On Saturday November 9th, I participated in an online
reading from The Moon and All Her Faces in the Tesoro
Invitational Reading with sister poets met in New Mexico
in 2024. Fellow readers: Stacy Ardis Dyson, Marissa Prada,
Teresa Gallion, Shockie Grant, Shelly Barnett, and Ericka Floyd.
On November 12, I returned (virtually) to San Francisco
to be the feature reader at Sacred Grounds. My thanks to
Dan Brady for the warm welcome, and the chance to share
my poems with this incredible group.
Here is a video prepared to promote this event:
On Thursday, November 13th, I was among
the contributors to FreeFall magazine invited
to read and share at Owl's Nest Books
in Calgary. A wonderful gathering!
On Saturday November 15th, I was a feature reader at the 40th Anniversary of Woolf's Voices.
On November 27, I travelled to read from my new collection live in Stony Plain for the Parkland Poets reading series, along with co-features Max Vandersteen and Lesley Vandersteen. Despite the snowfall, it was a lovely turnout, a very warm reception.
In Stony Plain, I picked up my copy of Outlying Voices
Volume 7, the yearly anthology for Parkland Poets.
I was pleased to see my poem, Before Awakening,
included.
On Saturday, December 6, I participated
in the online launch of the 2025 Brownstone
Anthology, which includes my poem
The Sequence, written in January 2025
in Leucadia, California.
Exciting and unexpected news! I have been nominated
for the Haiku Foundation Touchstone Award for my
Sense and Sensibility Haiku!
On Sunday December 14, I was one of four feature readers, sharing from The Moon and All Her Faces in the Cultivating Voices Live Online Poetry Series New Book Showcase.
My reading starts at about 10 minutes.
I was invited to participate in the December launch of the 40th
Anniversary Anthology of the AICW, The Nuances of Love, in Toronto.
Wonderful news to wrap up a productive and fruitful
year: two of my poems from The Moon and All Her Faces,
My Mother Speaking to my Father, and The Kindness of
Combing, have been nominated for the 2026 Pushcart Poetry
Prize!
They are here! I received shipment of my first full-length poetry manuscript: The Moon and All Her Faces, from publisher Marissa Prada of Read or Green Books.
The official launch will be held in November at ShelfLife Books in Calgary. There are also a number of readings planned, both live and online.
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