By Monica Miller

Grab your lunch, slip out of work/class, and hoof it over to the Teck Gallery at SFU Harbour Centre to hear a diverse array of local poets. On the third Wednesday of each month for the past year (except July and August), a mid-day reading series called Lunch Poems has taken place at SFU’s downtown campus. On Wednesday, March
20, 2013, SFU English professor Stephen Collis will read with former Writers’ Studio poetry mentor, Rachel Rose — both accomplished poets with new books out this year.

Lunch Poems was the brainchild of poet and Writers’ Studio graduate, Renee Sarojini Saklikar and Shauna Sylvester, executive director of SFU Public Square. “We got to chatting at a dinner in November 2011, and she invited me to come read at SFU,” explains Renee. They had a good turn out with a variety of students, staff, Writers’ Studio mentors, and even a former premier.

From there the idea snowballed, filling a void of poetry readings in the downtown core during lunchtime. Their muse — whose book was read at the inaugural event — is Frank O’Hara and his book Lunch Poems, commissioned by San Francisco bookstore-cum-publisher City Lights, as part of their avantgarde Pocket Poets series.

Here at SFU, a committee of volunteers arrange the monthly reading series. In addition to Renee, this team includes: Katherine McManus of the SFU’s Writing and Publishing Program; the director of the Writers’ Studio (first Betsy Warland and now Wayde Compton); Robin Prest, manager of public programming for SFU’s Centre for Dialogue; and Kim Gilker, SFU alumnus and employee of the International Centre of Art for Social Change.

The inaugural event took place on March 28, 2012, and featured Vancouver’s Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau, SFU alumnus and poet Daniela Elza, and more than 100 listeners with their lunches. One year later, attendees will be treated to what Renee describes as “pairing of lyric and language” poetry with Stephen Collis and Rachel Rose.
Renee calls Wayde Compton a “poet sommelier,” as he couples distinctive yet complimentary styles, and usually pairs an emerging poet with someone established.

Stephen Collis and Rachel Rose will both be reading from their latest books of poetry.

Collis’s book, To the Barricades, is hot off the press this month, and now he has to decide which poems are “reading poems.” To the Barricades is a continuation of The Barricades Project, a Life-Long Poem, which typically takes decades to write and is published over multiple volumes. This project began with Anarchive (2005) and The Commons (2008).

To figure out his reading poems, Collis says he will “lock [himself ] in [his] office, pace around, and read aloud” in an effort to “hear how it sounds and feels together.” He notes that it is important to combine the temporal and spatial, making an effort to have it echoe back to earlier in the reading so listeners feel fulfilled and it leaves them thinking.

Rose’s third book of poetry, Song and Spectacle, was published in the fall and shortlisted earlier this month for the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. She says it explores “how we live and see others and look with an unflinching eye at the world around us.”

Rose’s world has changed drastically in the past year. She has opened new professional doors, writing the libretto for the first lesbian opera, premiering as part of the Queer Arts Festival in August. She’s exploring more song-writing, combining her poetry with her brother’s musical talents.

Lunch Poems @ SFU has featured various poets over the past year including George Bowering, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Garry Thomas Morse, and Renee Saklikar, who emphasizes the that the event is about community building. “It’s strictly one hour, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., and completely free.” Readings are followed by a Q&A session.

By Monica Miller

Each year, authors from all disciplines at SFU publish hundreds of works, including articles, books, and research papers, as well as contributions to anthologies, journals, and textbooks. These authors are faculty academics, administrative staff, alumni, and even students. On March 26 the SFU Library will host the sixth annual Celebration of SFU Authors to recognize university-affiliated authors.

The event began in an effort to draw attention to books authored or co-authored by SFU members, which had a lower degree of discoverability compared to journal articles. The SFU Library hosts and supports peer-reviewed journal databases, which are then accessible through an open system independent from their source material.

However, there was no system in place to ensure bookrelated publications were also catalogued and added to the SFU Library Collection. The first annual Celebration of SFU Authors was in 2007.
That first year, more than 80 authors were included in the celebration, including literary bigwigs George Bowering and poet Roy Miki. The event honours any “faculty, students, staff, alumni and retired university community members who authored or co-authored a book, or its equivalent, within the past year.” This year includes 113 authors who have published more than 120 works, including Gail S. Anderson, associate professor and undergraduate program director in the School of Criminology, who also participated in 2007.

“It’s nice to be appreciated and to be recognized by the university,” says Anderson, who was the first full-time forensic entomologist in Canada. Her research has been used to identify victims, suspects, determining the cause of death, and recently, to help convict Robert Pickton. When she participated in the first Celebration of SFU Authors, “it was the first time I’d published a book, so it was neat for me to be involved.”

Her new publication is a textbook intended for police officers-in-training, and is coauthored by a retired police officer and a lawyer.
Over the past six years, the criteria for submissions to the celebration has changed as they have “redefined the parameters, updating and including new types of works” explains Chuck Eckman, dean of library services since 2010.

“Our default is inclusive rather than exclusive.” Works submitted now include “authored, co-authored, or edited books or chapters; illustrated books; musical compositions; art exhibit catalogs; and audio or video recordings.”

Last year was the first year they included an original translation: David Scott Hamilton was a finalist for the 75th annual Governor General Award for French to English translation of Nelly Arcan’s Coups de tete (English title: Exit). The submission form now inquires about any award nominations or accolades.

“Catherine [Louie] and Angela [Raasch] are the stars behind the project,” credits Eckman. They send out calls for submissions, obtain qualifying works, catalogue the submissions, prepare bibliographic data, coordinate the reception, and prepare marketing materials for the reception. Both individuals work for the SFU Library in the department of management and administration; Catherine is the library assistant and Angela is the manager of administrative services.

The bookstore is a quiet partner of the event. Most of these books will be added to the SFU Library Collection following the event, except in rare cases, such as children’s books or very specialized publications.

The event helps build relationships within the university community and celebrates faculty, staff, and alumni. All SFU-affiliated individuals are welcome to send in submissions, provided they are recent publications.

A book display will be placed in the WAC Bennet Library on the Burnaby campus in the third floor foyer. The Celebration for SFU Authors reception will take place on March 26, 2013 at 3:00 pm on the 7th floor of the WAC Bennett Library in the Wosk Room–Special Collections.