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Bruce Jay Friedman plays published by 91��ɫ students

fmaquito — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Oscar-nominated screenwriter and accomplished American playwright Bruce Jay Friedman has a new collection of selected works coming out, and it’s being published by 91��ɫ’s Leaping Lion Books, which is run by students in the Professional Writing Program.

The launch of 3.1 Plays will take place Thursday, March 1, from noon to 3pm, at the Eleanor Winters Art Gallery, 129 Winters College, Keele campus. Friedman won’t be in attendance, but there will be a video message from him specially created for the occasion and 91��ɫ theatre students will perform excerpts from his book.

“Publishing an accomplished writer like Bruce Jay Friedman raises the profile of Leaping Lion Books,” says Alan Borenstein, Leaping Lion Books publisher and fourth-year professional writing student. “We’ve proven that we can work with any calibre of author, and put out a product worthy of your bookshelf.”

��峾��’s four works in 3.1 Plays are known for their sharp, black comedy and a punch of wit, and include the Obie award-winning play Scuba Duba: A Tense Comedy and Steambath. Both were off-Broadway hits. The other two plays in the collection are Sardines and The Trial. The plays are billed as capturing the surreal with a flair that is uncompromised by ��峾��’s ability to write real and flawed characters. His plays have delighted audiences since the 1960s and earned him rave reviews from The New 91��ɫ Times and The New 91��ɫer.

In addition to playwriting, Friedman has published six collections of stories, several novels, as well as a nonfiction collection. His novels include Stern (1962), A Mother’s Kisses (1964), The Dick (1970), The Current Climate (1989) and Violencia! (2002). A couple of his stories were also adapted for film – The Heartbreak Kid and The Lonely Guy.

Fourth-year students in the book stream of the Professional Writing Program of the Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, are required to take the Book Publishing Practicum course and participate in the publication of a real manuscript, such as ��峾��’s 3.1 Plays.

Bruce Jay Friedman

Just how the opportunity to publish ��峾��’s work came about was serendipitous. “When I was an editor at the University of Chicago Press, I published a collection of Bruce ��峾��’s essays titled Even the Rhinos Were Nymphos. We had been talking about another book, a collection of his plays, when I left Chicago in 2001,” says 91��ɫ English Professor Geoffrey Huck. “When a few years ago I put together Leaping Lion Books for the Book Publishing Practicum at 91��ɫ, I resurrected the idea with him, and he graciously agreed to let us publish.”

Friedman sent several plays and Huck chose four. “I wish we could have included more in the collection, but length – and hence cost – were considerations,” he says. “The students, along with course director Mike O’Connor, have done the rest. I hope other readers will find these plays as delightful as I have found them to be.”

Borenstein says the experience the publishing practicum provides is invaluable. “As jobs have become scarce for graduates in all fields, students are eager for a hands-on education and applicable skills. 91��ɫ’s publishing program simulates a professional working environment, in a program unique to Canada. With changes in how we read and receive information, the publishing industry is asking itself a lot of questions. We are the group of individuals who will provide the answers. That’s exciting.”

Having the opportunity to published ��峾��’s book means a lot, says Huck. “What I think Bruce’s and our other books prove is that the students in the Book Publishing Practicum are highly competent publishers. They are the future of book publishing, and they’re already showing their stripes.”

Everyone is invited to attend the launch. Refreshments will be provided and copies of the book will be available. There will also be a raffle courtesy of Leaping Lion Books sponsors for a chance to win gift certificates to the 91��ɫ Bookstore, gift certificates and merchandise from the Hard Rock Café, sunglasses from Anders & Flynt, tickets from Stage West Mississauga and a makeover from Kliks Beauty Centre. Sponsors also include the 91��ɫ Writing Department, Z-teca Gourmet Burritos, Blueberry Hill, ASRock America Inc. and NZXT Crafted Gaming Armor.

��峾��’s 3.1 Plays is available in print and in e-book format through Kobo Inc.

For more information about Leaping Lion Books, 3.1 Plays or Friedman, visit the Leaping Lion Books �ɱ��ٱ�.��

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Bruce Jay Friedman plays published by 91��ɫ students appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Professor Priscila Uppal edits 2011 edition of The Best Canadian Poetry

fmaquito — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Who knew that deep in the Canadian psyche lay a penchant for poems about bears, guns, drinking, war, fruit and Adam & Eve? Well, if you’d spent almost every waking second for two months reading thousands of poems from over 50 journals as 91��ɫ English Professor Priscila Uppal did, that’s just one of the things you’d learn. You’d also learn that Canadians have a delightfully quirky and playful sense of humour.

Uppal (BA Hons. ’97, PhD ’04) is the guest editor of this year’s Best Canadian Poetry in English series (Tightrope Books) set to launch Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 7pm at , 783 College St. at Shaw St. in Toronto. The 91��ɫ launch will take place Monday, Oct. 31, from noon to 2pm, in the Paul Delaney Gallery, 320 Bethune College, Keele campus.

As the series’ fourth editor, Uppal follows Governor General’s Literary Award-winner Stephanie Bolster, Griffin Prize winner A.F. Moritz and Lorna Crozier. The 2012 guest editor will be announced at the first launch. Poet Molly Peacock, the author of six volumes of poetry, is the series editor.

“We write a lot of humorous poetry,” says Uppal. The problem is there seems to be a bias toward the more serious poems. “Humour and comedy are not always appreciated for how hard they are to write.” Take John Creary’s poem “Horoscopes”: “that’s the kind of poem people would share with others and would put up on their bulletin boards.”

In addition to humourous works in the 2011 edition of Best Canadian Poetry, Uppal was determined to look beyond lyrical poems to some more avant garde work. “This is the first anthology in the series with collages of text and images, as well as visual poetry by Christian Bök.” There is even a sound poem on the long list.

The short list of 50 poems is what’s published in the anthology, while the long list is bibliographic information for an additional 50 poems of note. “I’ve tried to include a vast range of poems that would please any poetry reader,” says Uppal.

To come up with the 100 poems, however, was no easy task. Uppal read everywhere. “I dog-eared any poem I was interested in,” says Uppal. “I had two to three hundred poems by the end.” And those had to be whittled down further still. “I reread that stack several times. There were poems that were shoo-ins because they just stood out that much.” She tried to choose a range of styles, subject matter and writing traditions that represented Canadians writing today. “It was a really satisfying and interesting process,” says Uppal.

Left: Priscila Uppal

As for the Canadian penchant for bears and guns and fruit, Uppal decided to include the best poem for each category. So there is a poem, a philosophical mediation, by 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize-winner Karen Solie, who taught at 91��ɫ last year, called “Birth of the Rifle”. Another is a delightful ode to fruit by Al Rempel, called “We Love Bananas”, and a beautiful parable by Tom Wayman, “Fable of the Child Who Went into the Mountain”, about a girl left alone at a cottage who is forced to kill a bear that breaks in. Later in life, it’s a man who comes after her.

Also in this year’s anthology are poems by Steven Heighton, Dennis Lee, Eric Ormsby, Patricia Young, 91��ɫ humanities Professor Richard Teleky, Shane Rhodes, Jonathan Ball, as well as emerging poets Peter Chiykowski, who wrote “Notes from the Canary Islands” about doing environmental research, Andrew Faulkner, who wrote the drinking poem “Bar Fight” – what Uppal calls a “playful and surreal poem” – Julie Cameron Gray, who wrote the tongue-in-cheek “Widow Fantasies”, Sean Howard and Andrea Ledding.

“I now have some new favourite poets,” she says.

Uppal is the author of eight books of poetry, including Winter Sport: Poems (2010) and Traumatology (2010); the novels To Whom It May Concern (2009) and The Divine Economy of Salvation (2002), as well as a critical study on elegies, We Are What We Mourn (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009). In 2010 she was CANFund poet-in-residence during the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics.

For more information, visit the website.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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