London poet and novelist Susan Downe is the next featured poet for London Open Mic Poetry Night, reading at the Mykonos Restaurant on Nov. 6th.

Susan Downe’s work (poetry and fiction) has appeared in Fiddlehead, Grain, Prairie Fire, Canadian Forum, and Pottersfield Portfolio, and is included in several anthologies.

Her first book of poems, a chapbook called ‘Between This . . . and This’ (Spanish Onion Press, 1998), dealt with her father's death and it’s effect on her mother. Her second book, ‘Little Horse’ (Brick Books, 2004) was shortlisted for the 2005 Gerald Lampert Award.

Downe's first novel, which also includes poetry, was just launched on Oct. 23rd, 2013. ‘Juanita Wildrose: My True Life’ (Pedlar Press is a reminiscent piece touching on motherhood, mortality, love and sex. 

“Whether she is writing about the loss of her breast, or the loss of a friend, about the pleasure of time with her grandchildren or the passion of making love to her husband, Susan Downe writes with a surety of voice that comes from looking at the world and words with a gracious honesty. These spare and graceful poems are love stories; even the title sequence, about Downe's struggle with breast cancer, is a loving celebration of the beauty, the fullness, the irrefutable blessing of being alive.” Brick Books

Susan Downe is a retired London psychotherapist. 

The second season of London Open Mic Poetry Night opens on September 4th, 2013. Frank Beltrano will be the featured poet.

 Frank is familiar to most London poetry aficionados, as he has been heavily involved in the scene here for the past eight years, ttending and organizing workshops and readings. He even made a large contribution to the success of the open mic by strongly suggesting (as did Andreas Gripp) that we use the Mykonos Restaurant as our venue. Otherwise, we might very well be meeting in some dingy bar. 

The first season of London Open Mic Poetry Night comes to a close  on June 5th, 2013. David J. Paul will be the featured poet.

David has two chapbooks:  Locomotive and Tender (Jamie Hamilton’s Pikadilly Press, 1977) and Spilling the Beans (Clarke Leverette’s Killaly Press, 1979). His one full-length book, Trapped Moonlight, was published in 2005 by Sheila Martindale and South Western Ontario Poetry.

On the fifth of June, David hopes to read more than a baker’s dozen’s worth of poems about dogs, birds, news events, writers and  desire—a little Eros and Thanatos at Mykonos.

1.     MORNINGS       

Tom Cull will be a featured poet at London Open Mic Poetry Night’s special April 24th event in celebration of National Poetry Month. He will read along with celebrated Canadian poet Frank Davey, followed by an open mic, at Landon Library in London’s Wortley Village, beginning at 6:30.

Tom Cull was born and raised in rural Southwestern Ontario. He is on the board of Poetry London and is a co-facilitator of their poetry workshop. Tom holds a PhD in English Literature from York University and is an adjunct professor at the Centre for American Studies at Western University. Tom 

Frank Davey sent me a copy of his latest book, ‘Spectres of London Ont’ (2012), ahead of his featured-poet reading at our National Poetry Month event on Apr. 24th at Landon Library. 

At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It’s the exact opposite of what I’m used to in poetry books (the black words on white paper, and the slow, intense struggle getting through them). This one is mostly pictures with a few words 

The legendary FRANK DAVEY, a resident of Strathroy, will be a featured reader at London Open Mic Poetry Night’s special April 24th National Poetry Month event at Landon Library in Wortley Village. 

Since 1963, Davey has been the editor-publisher of the poetics journal Open Letter, and co-founded the world’s first on-line literary journal, Swift Current, in 1984. A prolific and highly-esteemed author of numerous books of poetry and criticism (the latest published in 2012) Davey writes “with a unique panache as he examines with humour and irony the ambiguous play of signs in contemporary culture, the popular stories that lie behind it, and the struggles between different identity-based 

Christine Thorpe, a native of Penticton, BC, is the  Development Co-Ordinator for Poetry London. Before settling on English Literature as a field of study, Christine studied biology, mathematics and computer science. Her two books, A Rind of Sun (Serengeti Press, 2008) and Tendered Arms (Manifold Books, 2011) are co-authored with James Wood, whose drawings ``complete`` selected poems.

Her poems ``are addressed to `those who feel in each bright stream, the pull of an underground river`. Willing readers are drawn from personal crossroads into subtly strange lands where skies may be truly falling but the play of imagination endures. Each poem tells its own tale.``

Ms Thorpe will be the featured poet at the March 6th London Open Mic Poetry Night at Mykonos Restaurant at 7:00 pm. She will read from her book Tendered Arms (2011).

1.  What Passes for Conversation 

D'vorah Elias was born in Korea, abandoned by her mother there, and subsequently adopted to America, where she married the late physicist Vic Elias. Raising four children in London, Ms Elias has also, for her 25 years here, been a member of the Sheila Martindale poetry workshop, which includes some of the best poets of the area, including John Tyndall, who was our featured poet in January, and David J. Paul who will read on June 5th. She is also a playwright.

At the Feb. 6th, 2013, London Open Mic Poetry Night, Ms Elias read from her