A native "Thumbody," RS Deeren is an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. His research interests include contemporary fiction, US working-class studies, and rural-urban dynamics. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in periodicals including The Great Lakes Review, Joyland, Midwestern Gothic, and more. Like some of his characters, he has also worked as a line cook, landscaper, lumberjack, and a bank teller. He received his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His debut story collection, Enough To Lose, was selected as a Michigan Notable Book in 2023, and it was published by Wayne State University Press.
https://www.rsdeeren.com/

https://wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814350409/

Marty Gervais and André Narbonne

About our guests: The Publishing Practicum is a different kind of University of Windsor English course. It’s like a year-long internship for a group of students who take one or two books per year through the steps of the publishing process from editing to book design to creating a promotional campaign and a book launch. Marty Gervais, journalist, author, Poet Laureate Emeritus and publisher of Black Moss Press, has supervised the program for more than 20 years. 2024 is his final year at the helm, and he’s turning it over to award-winning author and U of W professor Dr. André Narbonne. They’re both joining us today to talk about the history of the program, the two books that the Practicum launched this year, and what the future holds for this popular educational experience.

Usually at the end of the podcast, we have the author read a selection from the book. This time, we have readings from some of the poets who participated in the anthologies.

Where the Map Begins—
Kalie Chapman is a master’s student at the University of Windsor in English Literature & Creative Writing. She is currently working on a creative manuscript for her thesis, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). She has been published in three chapbooks, and was on the editorial team for at the end, beginnings by Christopher Lawrence Menard.

Peter James Billing. As a Poet, Author, Composer, Songwriter, Filmmaker and Incredible Dishwasher, Peter believes that a great idea at the top of a staircase stays there, if not jotted down. You may find him in deep thought in bank lines, or drifting off forming stories at cafes but always ready to listen and support artists in Windsor and Walkerville. Whether by Poe or Puck, rhyme or rhythm, pen or paper, a road hockey game may break out.

What Time Can’t Touch—

Barry Brodie is a poet, playwright, actor, director and teacher. He has written two books: The Language of the Star – Journals of the Magi and Tom Thomson – On the Threshold of Magic. His poetry has appeared in Amethyst Review and The Orchards Poetry Journal. He held the Chair in Religion and the Arts at Assumption University, co-founded Shō – Art, Spirit & Performance and currently teaches a course on the creative process at the University of Windsor.

Karen Rockwell is a lesbian poet, flash fiction author and accidental artist, who considers colour her home, chaos, a friend and words, her salvation. Author of Curious Connections, a chapbook of flash-fiction published in 2016 by Urban Farmhouse Press, Karen is published in journals and anthologies in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Recognition includes: First Place in Room’s 2013 Poetry Contest, and in Polar Expressions’ 2011 Story Contest; Second Place in Brooklin Poetry Society’s 2018 Poetry Contest, among others.


https://www.uwindsor.ca/english/317/practicum-courses

Colleen Coco Collins is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish, French, and Odawa descent, working in songwriting, performance, poetry and visual arts. She’s worked as a gallery director, in forestry, fossil preparation, and renovation; as an autism support worker, teacher, and women’s shelter counsellor. Her writing, music, and art practice centers on temporality, presumptions of sentience, subversion, rhythm, gesture, and more. Collins has studied at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Zealand, and Ireland. She lives in rural Mi’kma’ki, Nova Scotia amidst crows, coyotes, grackles, bees, humpback, lichen and fox. Sorry About the Fire is her poetry debut, published by Biblioasis.
https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-releases/sorry-about-the-fire/

Petra Kuppers is a disability culture activist and a community performance artist who uses somatics, performance, and speculative writing to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. She is the Anita Gonzalez Collegiate Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture at the University of Michigan, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, and codirector of the somatic writing studio Turtle Disco. Her third performance poetry collection, Gut Botany, was named one of the top ten US poetry books of 2020 by the New York Public Library, and it won the 2022 Creative Book Award by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Her fourth collection, Diver Beneath the Street - true crime meets ecopoetry at the level of the soil – was published by Wayne State University Press in 2024.

https://www.petrakuppers.com/
https://wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814351116/

Jade Wallace (they/them) holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Windsor, and writes poetry, novels, and short fiction, serves as the inaugural book reviews editor for CAROUSEL, and is co-founder of the collaborative writing entity MA|DE. Jade’s work has been published in literary journals internationally and has been shortlisted for the bpNichol Chapbook Award. Their writing has also been nominated for The Journey Prize. In addition to their own writing, Jade works on poetry and fiction editing, manuscript consultation, ghost writing, workshops, and readings. Jade’s debut novel, Anomia, adapted from their Governor General’s Gold Medal-winning thesis, will be released by Palimpsest Press in Spring, 2024.

https://jadewallace.ca/

https://palimpsestpress.ca/shop/

Our featured author in this episode is Jason McBride. We’re bringing you the recorded highlights of a recent book event, a talk by McBride titled: Autobiography, Autofiction, Autoeroticism. It took place in downtown Windsor and was hosted by The University of Windsor’s Humanities Research Group.

In his talk, Jason McBride discussed his first book, Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker, the result of a ten-year project that produced a biography of the punk-rock era experimental novelist. Kathy Acker’s novels have been described as “visionary” and “transgressive,” with titles that include Blood and Guts in High School; Empire of the Senses; and Pussy, King of Pirates. She wrote about love and the limitations of language, as well as gender, sex, capitalism and colonialism.

Jason McBride is a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, The Believer, The Village Voice, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Hazlitt, and many others. He lives in Toronto, and he recently wrote a piece on Windsor for an article in Maclean’s called THE GREAT ESCAPES: 10 Places in Canada to Visit Right Now.

The event and the recording took place at the University of Windsor’s School of Creative Arts. We’d like to thank Jason McBride, the author, as well as Dr. Kim Nelson, Director of the Humanities Research Group, and Trevor Pittman from the School of Creative Arts for their assistance in putting this podcast together.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Eat-Your-Mind/Jason-McBride/9781982117023

https://macleans.ca/culture/travel/best-places-to-travel-in-canada/

Carlos Anthony is a screenwriter, producer, and novelist who addresses the historically silenced experiences of Black men. With a background in Advertising and Marketing, he learned effective communication and storytelling. Through diverse work experiences, he empathized with individuals from various backgrounds, observing the impact of factors like education, class, culture, and immigration status on masculinity. As a survivor of loss, abuse, and addiction, Carlos draws from his personal struggles, using art as a healing tool to break generational curses. He lives in Windsor, Ontario with his family and is involved in various initiatives, including directing operations at the Windsor Black International Film Festival and co-founding the Millennial X filmmaking program. Carlos' creative work spans web series, short films, best-selling novels, essays, and viral short story series, exploring themes such as Black adolescence, fatherhood, relationships, addiction, and more. Shades of Black, published in 2023 by James Lorimer & Company, is his first novel.
https://formaclorimerbooks.ca/contributor/carlos-anthony/

George Singleton is a Southern author who has written ten books of short stories, two novels, an instructional book on writing fiction and a collection of essays. He was born in Anaheim, California and raised in Greenwood, South Carolina. In 2011 he was awarded the Hillsdale Award for Fiction by The Fellowship of Southern Writers. Singleton was inducted into the Fellowship of Southern Writers in April 2015, and was awarded the John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence in 2016. His latest collection of short fiction is The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs from Dzanc Books of Michigan.
https://www.dzancbooks.org/all-titles/p/nonprofit-martyrs

Also in this episode:
we want to briefly highlight an upcoming annual event in the Windsor literary community. It’s the annual book launch evening for the Publishing Practicum program at the University of Windsor. It’s a unique educational program where thirty students collaborate each year to edit, publish and launch a book.

This year, the Practicum is publishing two books with Black Moss Press, both poetry anthologies about our local communities. Where the Map Begins explores our roots through the neighbourhoods of Windsor. The anthology What Time Can’t Touch captures the spirit of Amherstburg through its history. Look for a full episode on the Publishing Practicum and these two anthologies in an upcoming episode of All Write in Sin City.

If you’re looking to hear some talented local poets, the launch celebration for both books will take place on April 2nd at Mackenzie Hall, starting at 7 p.m. Admission is free. Now, we have two selections of the poetry in the books read by their authors.

First, we have Peter Hrastovec. He is a Windsor-born University of Windsor law and literature grad, with three published poetry books, his most recent being There Will Be Fish (Black Moss Press, 2022). Previous books include Sidelines and In Lieu Of Flowers. He also contributed to the anthologies Because We Have All Lived Here and In The Middle Space with the University of Windsor Publishing Practicum. He is the current Poet Laureate for the City of Windsor. Peter teaches and practices law. He and his wife, Denise, have three children and four grandchildren.

Peter reads his poem, Kanata House, from the Windsor anthology, Where the Map Begins.

Rawand Mustafa, is a Palestinian Syrian writer living in Windsor, Ontario. She received her MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor. Rawand draws inspiration from social justice causes, and she is particularly impassioned by the struggles and resilience of Palestinians living in exile or under occupation.

Rawand reads her poem, Outside In, from the Amherstburg anthology, What Time Can’t Touch.