Jim Johnstone is a Toronto-based poet, editor, and critic. He's the author of four previous books of poetry: Dog Ear (Véhicule Press, 2014), Sunday, the locusts (Tightrope Books, 2011), Patternicity (Nightwood Editions, 2010) and The Velocity of Escape (Guernica Editions, 2008), and the subject of the critical monograph Proofs & Equational Love: The Poetry of Jim Johnstone by Shane Neilson and Jason Guriel. He's also the winner of several awards including a CBC Literary Award, The Fiddlehead's Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, and Poetry's Editors Prize for Book Reviewing. Currently, Johnstone curates the Anstruther Books imprint at Palimpsest Press, and is an associate editor at Representative Poetry Online.
This week we celebrated International Women's Day, watched Canadian Heritage Minutes come back in a majorly literary way, sipped on mocktails inspired by Massey Hall, and picked up an old classic to read.
Jim Johnstone's latest collection, The Chemical Life (Vehicule Press), doesn't so much tiptoe around as dive head-first into experiences of mental illness and addiction. We pair prohibition-era mocktail The Pussy Foot with Johnstone's poem "As Conducted by Seiji Ozawa," ... Read more
Got a need for readings this week? We've got you covered.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, book, date, time, and address to hello@alllitup.ca to be included in our listings.
There's nothing scary about three season launches and two festivals this week (well, maybe that we don't have enough time to see them all!).
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, book, ... Read more
Don't miss festivals like Vancouver Writers' Fest, International Festival of Authors, Bookfest Windsor, and the Stratford Writers' Festival, all starting this week!
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, ... Read more
The Essential D.G. Jones is the latest in The Porcupine's Quill's series highlighting Canadian poetic voices, some forgotten but always essential. Editor Jim Johnstone, also a celebrated poet himself, kindly shares with us some of the mastery of D.G.'s poetry and where ... Read more
While most other retailers are preparing (taking cover) for the coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, we're just over here rearranging our bookshelves. You can get quality CanLit for great prices on All Lit Up all year round so it's pretty much business as usual around ... Read more
Guernica Editions has been publishing books that highlight the multicultural aspects of Canada since 1978. Started by Antonio D’Alfonso after a trip to Europe, he gave the press the name ‘Guernica’ after Picasso’s painting that has become a plea for peace. They strive ... Read more
National Poetry Month will soon be drawing to a close and we intend to finish it out with a few more fantastic Poetry Primer picks. Lucky number fourteen of our established poets is Jim Johnstone. He is the author of four collections of poetry, including his latest, Dog ... Read more
It’s National Poetry Month, friends! Hands up if you’re excited! Ours are definitely up, way up. 2015 marks our third annual blog series celebrating National Poetry Month but our first on All Lit Up.
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