There are three launches scheduled for Keeney's new books,聽First Woman (Inanna Publications) and You Bring Me Wings (ANTARES Publishing House of Spanish Culture). The first is Tuesday, Nov. 8 at The Art Bar at 8pm, second floor of the Paupers Pub, 539 Bloor St. W. in Toronto.

The second will聽be at 91亚色 on聽Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 3 to 4:30pm, as part of the Canadian Studies Speaker Series, in the Senior Common Room, 010 Vanier College, Keele campus, where she鈥檒l also read and discuss her creative work and research. The third launch by Inanna Publications听蹿辞谤听First Woman will聽take place Thursday, Nov. 24, from 6 to 8pm, at the聽College Street United Church, 452 College St. in Toronto.聽

Keeney draws her greatest inspiration from the intersection of cultures, whether between members of one family, intimate friends聽or peoples around the world. She is a constant traveller.聽This academic year alone, she was involved in conferences and arts festivals from Russia to Slovenia to Iran. As Keeney puts it, "I'm a wanderer...more of a cultural explorer than a tourist." And it is those wanderings that seep deep into聽the聽layers聽of her work, emerging as poems that often express a different way of seeing the world.

Left: Patricia Keeney

For You Bring Me Wings, Keeney travelled to Mexico City for a summer of imaginative conversation with Mexican poet Ethel Krauze that spilled onto the pages of their new book.聽This bilingual (English and Spanish) collection聽is infused with what 聽identifies as "poems and conversations around love, the creative process, the conditions of womanhood and the marginalization of two distinct cultures co-existing along the American border.鈥� The conversations explore approaches to writing poetry and living life fully. As聽writer Eva Tihanyi puts it in聽her introduction: 鈥淔inally a book that presents talking and poetry as a partnership, that dares to embrace its own 蝉耻产箩别肠迟颈惫颈迟测.鈥�

Keeney was one of the first Canadian writers to be given a grant under the North American Free Trade Agreement to open up areas of cultural exchange with Mexico.

Keeney's聽poems have been hailed as lyric and political, ranging from sexual love to individual relations, to confrontations with power and profound meditations on life and culture. In her First Woman collection of poems, she聽examines, at a "deeply personal level, the richly ambivalent experience of living in South Africa, for instance, and it explores the聽dynamics of family. So, the interior life is both personal and political, local and global.聽For me, there is no discrepancy in this," says the author of nine books of poetry and a聽novel.聽"The way we see things and the weight we give them determines their importance in our sense of who we are."聽

Keeney continued her investigation of cultural borders in Iran recently where it is mandatory for women, including foreign visitors, to wear a hijab. "The ambivalence I felt about this was echoed in some extraordinary conversations with women in academia and the arts around various kinds of repression in a society that is deeply divided. I am writing about it already," she says.

Left: Patricia Keeney sharing a traditional meal in Iran with her husband, 91亚色 theatre Professor Don Rubin, and a friend (left)

Her聽poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Chinese and Hindi. As a book and theatre reviewer, and an arts journalist for over 20 years, Keeney has written extensively in various Canadian and international publications, including The Canadian Forum, Maclean's magazine, Canadian Literature, Canadian Woman Studies, Arc Poetry Magazine, New Theatre Quarterly, based in London, England, South African Theatre Journal and Critical Stages, a web journal.

Some of Keeney鈥檚 previous work includes her first collection of poetry Swimming Alone (Oberon Press, 1988); a post-feminist novel,聽The Incredible Shrinking Wife (Black Moss Press, 1995); and Selected Poems of Patricia Keeney (Oberon Press, 2002). She is currently working on new fiction.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Uppal (BA Hons. 鈥�97, PhD 鈥�04) is the guest editor of this year鈥檚 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亚色 launch will take place Monday, Oct. 31, from noon to 2pm, in the Paul Delaney Gallery, 320 Bethune College, Keele campus.

As the series鈥� fourth editor, Uppal follows Governor General鈥檚 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.

鈥淲e write a lot of humorous poetry,鈥� says Uppal. The problem is there seems to be a bias toward the more serious poems. 鈥淗umour and comedy are not always appreciated for how hard they are to write.鈥� Take John Creary鈥檚 poem 鈥淗oroscopes鈥�: 鈥渢hat鈥檚 the kind of poem people would share with others and would put up on their bulletin boards.鈥�

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. 鈥淭his is the first anthology in the series with collages of text and images, as well as visual poetry by Christian B枚k.鈥� There is even a sound poem on the long list.

The short list of 50 poems is what鈥檚 published in the anthology, while the long list is bibliographic information for an additional 50 poems of note. 鈥淚鈥檝e tried to include a vast range of poems that would please any poetry reader,鈥� says Uppal.

To come up with the 100 poems, however, was no easy task. Uppal read everywhere. 鈥淚 dog-eared any poem I was interested in,鈥� says Uppal. 鈥淚 had two to three hundred poems by the end.鈥� And those had to be whittled down further still. 鈥淚 reread that stack several times. There were poems that were shoo-ins because they just stood out that much.鈥� She tried to choose a range of styles, subject matter and writing traditions that represented Canadians writing today. 鈥淚t was a really satisfying and interesting process,鈥� 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亚色 last year, called 鈥淏irth of the Rifle鈥�. Another is a delightful ode to fruit by Al Rempel, called 鈥淲e Love Bananas鈥�, and a beautiful parable by Tom Wayman, 鈥淔able of the Child Who Went into the Mountain鈥�, about a girl left alone at a cottage who is forced to kill a bear that breaks in. Later in life, it鈥檚 a man who comes after her.

Also in this year鈥檚 anthology are poems by Steven Heighton, Dennis Lee, Eric Ormsby, Patricia Young, 91亚色 humanities Professor Richard Teleky, Shane Rhodes, Jonathan Ball, as well as emerging poets Peter Chiykowski, who wrote 鈥淣otes from the Canary Islands鈥� about doing environmental research, Andrew Faulkner, who wrote the drinking poem 鈥淏ar Fight鈥� 鈥� what Uppal calls a 鈥減layful and surreal poem鈥� 鈥� Julie Cameron Gray, who wrote the tongue-in-cheek 鈥淲idow Fantasies鈥�, Sean Howard and Andrea Ledding.

鈥淚 now have some new favourite poets,鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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