For over 40 years Warren Tallman, reader, critic, mentor, friend, confidant, host and impresario to writers all across North America has remained “in the midst” of the poetic discourse that time and again restores the body of his great goddess, Mother Tongue. He has been almost single handedly responsible for introducing the work of Canadian poets and writers to an international audience which now recognizes this work as some of the best and most important in the English language.

In this companion volume to the 1976 special issue of Open Letter, “God awful Streets of Man,” Warren Tallman introduces the reader to a world of literary companionship that has shaped the language and thought of late twentieth century North America.