Renison University College and the Elora Poetry Centre co-sponsored, with funding from the League of Canadian Poets and Canada Council, a virtual poetry performance by MLA Chernoff

     1.00—2.20 p.m.  Monday 31 January 2022 

MLA CHERNOFF (they/them/@citation_bb) was born at Women’s College Hospital in December of 1991––oops. They are a six-hundred-year-old Jewish, non-binary pome machine, a Postmodern Neo-Marxist, and (somehow) a PhD Candidate at the Neoliberal University of York University, where they once held a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship––no kidding.Their first chapbook, delet this, was released by Bad Books in 2018. Their second collection, TERSE THIRSTY, was released by Gap Riot Press in 2019. Their debut full-length collection of poetry, [SQUELCH PROCEDURES], is now available from Gordon Hill Press.

In [SQUELCH PROCEDURES], MLA Chernoff contemplates the ways that trauma, poverty, and strict gender norms rupture the concept of childhood. The tension of multiple meanings in the word “squelch” acts as a guide to Chernoff’s unique voice, which uses language to swaddle intrusive thoughts and mimic defense mechanisms such as avoidance, depersonalization, and derealization. [SQUELCH PROCEDURES] is an ambitious attempt to show how healing and regression are often indistinguishable, while the past is always predisposed to happen more than once: first as tragedy, then as farce.

croc E moses performed Rhythm as My Mother Tongue

Funded by The League of Canadian Poets and The Canada Council for the Arts

Co-sponsored by the Elora Poetry Centre & Gallery and Renison University College, University of Waterloo

Photo credit: Open Book Festival croc E moses – Open Book Festival

croc E read and recited a selection of material inspired by the interplay of the natural elements in Southern Africa and Grey County where he is presently based.

Here is the YouTube link to this event:

https://www.gordonhillpress.com/collections/titles/products/inappropriate

The Elora Poetry Centre & Gallery, in conjunction with Renison University College, University of Waterloo, hosted a synchronous panel discussion on Canadian literary appropriation. Growing out of interviews on this subject recently published in Gordon Hill Press’s In/Appropriate, this event was open to members of ARTS 130, friends of The Elora Poetry Centre & Gallery, and the general public.

The panel included Jeremy Luke Hill (publisher), Kim Davids Mandar (editor), and three contributors to In/Appropriate: Farzana Doctor, Wayne Grady, and Mahak Jain. (Please see links for biographies below.)

Here is the video link to the synchronous discussion:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZTRkZDZmNDktOWNkOS00MmFlLWJlNjEtNTAwZjRhYzI0YzQ1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22723a5a87-f39a-4a22-9247-3fc240c01396%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22f9f52fd2-fdcd-41ec-a954-ec07e9742d4b%22%7d

Assistance was provided by Victoria Feth of The Centre for Teaching Excellence at University of Waterloo.

The event was sponsored by two long-time friends of The Elora Poetry Centre & Gallery, Janice Ferri and Peter Skoggard.

The Elora Poetry Centre was excited to engage in present discourse on literary appropriation in Canada. It was our pleasure to host these five distinguished panelists who are helping to determine the direction that Canadian literature will take in the near future. In light of recent controversies that resulted in the publication of another important book on the current state of Canadian literature, Refuse: CanLit in Ruins, we want to be part of these discussions.

Here are the biographical links:

https://vocamus.net/press/authors/jeremy-luke-hill

https://www.gordonhillpress.com/products/kim-davids-mandar

read://http_farzanadoctor.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffarzanadoctor.com%2Fbio%2F

https://waynegrady.ca/

https://www.mahakjain.com/bio/

Book Launch: 29 June 2019, 4:00 p.m. Jeremy Luke Hill’s Poetry of Thought has been published by Interludes of the Elora Poetry Centre. Luke read from and signed his new chapbook. Music was by Adam and Rain, an acoustic duo who play folk/roots inspired original music, and uniquely interpreted covers.

Luke is the publisher at Gordon Hill Press, based in Guelph. He is also the Managing Director of Vocamus Writers Community, a non-profit community organization that supports book culture in Guelph.

He has written a collection of poetry, short prose, and photography called Island Pieces. Other works include three chapbooks of poetry called Can Con, Trumped, and These My Streets; two poetry broadsheets called Grounded and Indexical; and an ongoing series of poetry broadsheets called Conversations with Viral Media. He also writes a semi-regular column on chapbooks for The Town Crier. His writing has appeared in The Bull Calf, CV2, EVENT Magazine, Filling Station, Free Fall, The Goose, HA&L, The Maynard, paperplates, Queen Mob’s Tea House, The Rusty Toque, The Town Crier, The Windsor Review.

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