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Sophomore collection of exquisite precision and musicality from a classically trained pianist
In Ordinary Hours, the follow-up to Karen Enns' Gerald Lampert Award-nominated first collection, That Other Beauty, we revisit Enns' rural Mennonite childhood, replete with the sensuousness ... Read more
Sophomore collection of exquisite precision and musicality from a classically trained pianist
In Ordinary Hours, the follow-up to Karen Enns' Gerald Lampert Award-nominated first collection, That Other Beauty, we revisit Enns' rural Mennonite childhood, replete with the sensuousness of "diesel fuel" and "hot peaches." Enns also explores the Mennonite exodus from Russia, tracking its faint but unmistakable reverberations in the daily lives of its survivors and revealing the redemptive character of that dailiness. Reading an Enns poem feels effortless: her rhythms and phrasing are so minutely calibrated that the poem unfolds as if of its own accord:
It was the ashtray on the arm of the chair,
books lining the stairs, tapping rain,
the smell of soup in the kitchen
and black bread and nothing more.
What exists, existed there.
The spirit floundering and being saved
again and again in the ordinary hours.
The fountain in the garden like a simple well,
the poplars, past the hedge,
the sommerhaus with its green roof.
~from "William Street Elegies"
Ordinary HoursKaren Enns grew up in a Mennonite farming community in southern Ontario. She currently lives and writes in Victoria, B.C., where she works as a private piano instructor. Her first book of poetry, That Other Beauty, was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award.
"Using unfussy language, Enns has a sumptuous knack for the visual and a stateliness of observation that allows for a slow, deep rhythm to be established across the poems ... "
~Jury Citation, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award
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Get into the late-fall launch groove with our featured readings and launches this week, including two Brick Books Classics launches in Victoria and Toronto.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including ... Read more
The eighth edition of our Poetry Primer series is brought to you by the most recent winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, Arleen Paré. She's chosen fellow Brick poet and Victorian Karen Enns as an emerging poet to watch.
Weeee're baaaack! Holidays are officially over, munchkins: bundle up in your warmest and head out to one of these great book events, happening across the country this week.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, ... Read more
This week in book events: Playwrights Canada Press celebrates their thirtieth anniversary with a party in Toronto; authors K.D. Miller, Diane Schoemperlen, Ray Robertson, and Matthew Heiti (among others) get wild at Waterloo's Wild Writer's Literary Festival; in Ottawa, Chaudiere ... Read more
This week in book events: in Toronto, the Harbourfront's International Festival of Authors kicks off; GG shortlisted poet Arleen Paré reads with Stephanie Bolster and Monty Reid in Quebec; John Reibetanz reads from his poetry collection at Bookfest Windsor — ... Read more
The fall is filled with fabulous literary festivals. Think author signings, readings, writing workshops — and the opportunity to discover great new books and meet Canadian publishers and editors.
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