On Canadian Poetries, Winnipeg poets Sally Ito and Jennifer Still discuss the workshops they facilitated that dealt with the topic of ekphrasis — “the poetic act of responding to a work of visual art through words.” Sally and Jennifer’s first workshop was based on the gallery exhibit Reconfiguring Abstraction, which featured work by artists Derek Dunlop, Dil Hildebrand, Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline and Holger Kalberg.

Celebrate National Poetry Month and find out what inspires, confounds and delights today's Canadian poets by following our Poets in Profile series. Today, Hamilton poet Marilyn Gear Pilling, also the president of the Hamilton Poetry Centre, tells us about the experience that led her to become a poet, the Robert Louis Stevenson poem that affected her as a child and the Toronto bathroom that unexpectedly inspired her poetry writing.

Marilyn’s newest poetry collection is A Bee Garden, which has just been released by Cormorant Books.

By rob mclennan

On April 3, 2013, Toronto-based writer and editor Peter Norman performed with 18 other poets as part of the 5th annual Poetry NOW competition. The judges for the event were current Toronto Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke, and Authors at Harbourfront Centre Director Geoffrey Taylor and Artistic Associate Jen Tindall. The event was near-capacity, and Toronto publisher Mansfield Press was well-represented, with authors Jim Smith and Lillian Necakov on the bill alongside Peter Norman, and Mansfield Press Editor Stuart Ross had even made the trip in from Cobourg, Ontario. The following morning, it was announced that Norman had won the top slot of the evening, which includes an invitation to read this fall at the 34th annual International Festival of Authors (which runs from October 24 to November 3, 2013), as well as an ad for his book in NOW Magazine. Four runners-up were also selected to be invited to the festival: Warren Clements, Christine McNair, Beatriz Hausner and Mathew Henderson.

Each year, the Canadian Science Writers’ Association gives out annual book awards to the best books in science writing. The association has officially announced the winners of its general audience award, which is awarded to the best science book intended for the general public and published in 2012, and the youth book award, awarded to science writing that is intended for children between the ages of eight and twelve. Fatal Flaws (HarperCollins Canada) by Jay Ingram, the former host of Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet, is the winner of the general audience book award. The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea (Kids Can Press) by Helaine Becker is the winner of the youth book award.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Quill & Quire is offering reviews of ten poetry collections, which can all be read on the website.

Celebrate National Poetry Month and find out what inspires, confounds and delights today's Canadian poets by following our Poets in Profile series. Today, Hamilton poet Amanda Jernigan tells us how learning Thai turned her into a poet, how a bad poem is like a kangaroo and how a poem that seems too off the wall to fit just might find a home.

Amanda Jernigan's second book of poetry, All the Daylight Hours, has just been released with Cormorant Books.

Samantha Haywood has been an agent with Transatlantic Literary Agency since 2004. The clients that she represents include award-winning and bestselling fiction and nonfiction writers. Samantha knows what matters in the Canadian literary landscape, and as today's Page Turner for Project Bookmark Canada's Page Turner Campaign, she offers some solid reasons why becoming a Page Turner is good for you and for CanLit.

Lemon Hound interviews Halifax poet Susan Goyette and Montreal poet Susan Gillis on their website. The poets are asked various questions about how they know they have truly made it as poets, how their critical faculties come into play in their poetry practice, the impact of the Writing Studios in Banff on their careers and the most exciting book they’ve read lately.

Adrienne Barrett is the author of The House is Still Standing (Goose Lane Editions), her first collection of poetry. Published on April 23, 2013, this book is filled with poems about charlatans, gingerbread men, children and savants. Adrienne will be in Waterloo reading from her new book on May 13, 2013 alongside Ailsa Kay, Andrew Faulkner, Andrew Kaufman, Amanda Leduc, Sara Peters and David Seymour. Click here for further details. She will also be launching her debut poetry collection in her hometown of Woodstock, Ontario on May 30, 2013. Head over to Open Book: Ontario’s Events page for further details.

Today Adrienne takes on the Open Book Dirty Dozen, which gives authors the chance to share 12 unexpected facts about themselves. In this interview, she explains how she feels when she returns to Toronto after not being there for a long time, tells us a funny story that her daughter loves to hear at bedtime and reveals her challenges when it comes to reading poetry.

CanLit Guides has posted “Poetic Visuality and Experimentation: A Brief Guide to English-Canadian Poetry” as part of their goal to introduce students to conversations surrounding Canadian literature. The guide highlights various topics related to reading poetry, such as close reading, poetry styles and how to read visual poetry.