Saturday, February 2, 2008

It’s the BOOKMAGSUPERFAIR! The small fair for great presses, featuring Éditions Rodrigol, Oie de Cravan, Quartannier, Poètes de Brousse, Mille Putois, Les Éditions de ta Mère, Ectropion and others. Yes, space will be tight but it’s a brilliant opportunity to discover the publications that big stores and chains don’t carry. And a chance to chat up editors and publishers at small presses, since they’re all too poor to hire staff and will probably be there to meet, greet — and sell — in person.

In French. In 2002, in despair over his guitar playing, Jérémi Mourand formed the four-piece trash-rock band that now bears his name and continued his quest for the killer line. His guest is the prolific and nonchalant multi-instrumentalist Navet Confit, who admits he records whatever comes into his head. His specialty is odes to insignificance, swinging from new music, grunge and rock to pure pop and folk, all with a psychedelic backbeat he openly embraces.

In French. We can’t let John Giorno go home without introducing him to some of our best French-language poets. It’s also an opportunity to revive the intensity of those evenings where poets put their texts and voices — but also their silences, fears, hesitations and shamelessness — to music. The poets we’re expecting are all superb writers, winners of dozens of awards. But mainly they’re completely at home on stage (they’ve been taking the plunge for years). With Louise Dupré, Élise Turcotte, François Charron, Jean-Marc Desgent, Jean-Paul Daoust and Geneviève Letarte.

Of course, if we want this encounter to come off, we need musicians. The alert kind. The ones who know it’s not about adding a bit of colour to the words, it’s about connecting with the energy, the rhythm and the breath. In this department, we’ll be “en Cadillac” as they say, with Bernard Falaise, Michel F Côté and Fred Boudreault. They’re old friends of the FVA and we never get tired of listening to them. The host for the evening will be Zen poet José Acquelin. John Giorno will also read, and then hear French versions of his work delivered by local poets.

Never been to a poetry night? Or if you have, were you disappointed? A word of advice. Don’t miss this one.

Open mic, bilingual.