THREE NEW BOOKS! Ottawa poet, editor, and performance poet Susan McMaster has performed across Canada and abroad, and has published some 20 books and recordings, including:

Pith and Wry: Canadian Poetry, ed. (Scrivener Press, Fall 2010) collects vigorous new work in a wide variety of voices and styles by 45 active and engaged writers.

Paper Affair: Poems Selected & New (Black Moss 2010) draws from Dark Galaxies, The Hummingbird Murders, Learning to Ride, Dangerous Graces, Uncommon Prayer, Until the Light Bends (Lampman-Scott and Ottawa Book Awards shortlists).

Crossing Arcs: Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me (Black Moss 2009, 2d ed. 2010) pairs poems with quotes from Susan's mother Betty Page and photos by Marty Gervais. Workshop or reading requests for caregiver, educational, medical, or other groups are welcome: contact the author.

EVENTS, FALL 2010
4 November, Windsor – "The Moss Boss and Friends", reading with Black Moss poets, Marty Gervais, Moderator, for Bookfest Windsor, at the Art Gallery of Windsor, Wilkinson Room, 7:30 pm.
6 November, London – Reading with Betsy Struthers and Penn Kemp, for Poetry London, London Public Library, Fred Landon Branch, 167 Wortley Rd, 2 pm.
7 November, Hamilton – Reading with Betsy Struthers for Lit Live, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William St., 7:30 pm.
23 November, Ottawa – Launch of Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry (Scrivener Press, 2010), 6:30 pm, in conjunction with the TREE Reading Series, Arts Court Library, refreshments, short contributor readings, followed by the TREE reading at 8 pm with P&W contributors Dave Margoshes from Saskatchewan and Colin Morton from Ottawa.

McMaster’s 2007 memoir, The Gargoyle's Left Ear: Writing in Ottawa, recounts founding Branching Out, the first Canadian feminist/arts magazine; performing and recording with First Draft, SugarBeat, and Geode Music & Poetry across Canada and on shows such as Morningside, As It Happens, WordBeat, Richardson's Roundup, and GO!; and organizing projects like Convergence: Poems for Peace, which brought art-wrapped poetry to Parliament Hill. Her poetry has been published in numerous literary publications and anthologies. Editing projects include Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry, Waging Peace: Poetry & Political Action, Dangerous Graces: Women's Poetry on Stage, Bookware: Ottawa Valley Poets, Siolence: Poets on Women, Violence & Silence, and Sugar Mule: The Canadian Issue. Trained as a journalist, McMaster has hosted radio shows and written numerous articles, reviews for publications including Maclean's and The Citizen. Her essays appear in the anthologies I Feel Great About My Hands, Re:Generations – Canadian Women Poets in Conversation, and Basements and Attics: Explorations in...Canadian Women's Archives, among others. McMaster worked for two decades at the National Gallery of Canada, founding Vernissage magazine and editing art catalogues and publications. She continues to take on occasional projects through SUMAC Editing & Writing.

UL: Susan McMaster, 1988. CL: Susan and Betty, 2009 (ph: M. Gervais). LL: Susan with Alrick Huebener, TREE 2008 (ph: Mary Lee Bragg). UR: Working on Gargoyle, France 2007 (ph: M. Gervais). UR below: "Mother" poems under Maman, National Gallery 2007 (ph: Ian McMaster). CR: Launching The Gargoyle's Left Ear with manager Stephane, Glebe Meat Market 2008 (ph: A. Huebener). LR: Reading at Leacock Poetry Festival, Orillia, 2010 (ph: Mark Tearle). Hi-res photos available on request.