The arrangements were a bit of a scramble. Nelson Ball attended only the Brantford reading; he has never done public readings and currently has health problems that affect his breathing and endurance. Brian David Johnson read from Nelson’s book in Brantford, Mansfield editor Stuart Ross in London, Toronto and Cobourg, and j w curry in Ottawa. The Toronto launch was delayed by an hour by a fatal truck accident on the 401 that partly blocked Stuart’s route from Cobourg. Christine Miscione was recovering from a recent case of pneumonia, and bowed out after that
We had discovered at the first event that all four of the new Mansfield titles welcome being read aloud. Christine Miscione’s novel is a first- person narrative by a young woman confused by her sexual experiences with what appear to be narcissistically masculine men; Laura Farina’s poems can be either charmingly whimsical or grippingly dark; Nelson Ball’s short, seemingly fragile poems all contain sudden surprises that their three stand-in readers were each able to spring and share.
Stuart reported that our books were most in demand in Ottawa, followed by Toronto, Cobourg and Brantford. He also vowed not to schedule another book launch against the Grey Cup Game.
A few poems from my book, and an interview with me about them, are still up on the London Poetry Openmic website, right here.
FD