If you haven’t read or heard any of Eileen’s work, I can recommend that you look it up…now! (There are clips on YouTube.)Īs we left the theatre my mother commented that no one could say poetry was boring after listening to these poets. And really knows how to ‘perform’ poetry. Her performance was impressive and we thought no one else would top that.īut the last to read was Eileen Myles who has had over twenty books published. New Zealander, Hera Lindsay Bird, read from her award winning debut book of poetry. But two really stuck out – and from opposite spectrums in terms of their writing careers. It was wonderful – all four poets reading did a great job. 61 out of 93 in fact) at the Vancouver International Writers Festival. My mother and I attended a poetry reading, one of the many events (no. I’m looking forward to revisiting these classics. Then I couldn’t resist picking up the lovely reprints of two even older stories.

Told from the viewpoint of a first time ‘festie’ goer, the story is a delightful mix of humour and pathos. So I was able to relate to this novel with a deeper understanding of the politics of the whole event. I have recently read her latest non-fiction book, The Disappearing L, in which she devotes a large portion to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. In the used book section, there was this oldie by Bonnie J. But I did manage to find a few treasures. This time, however, they were in the midst of re-organising the bookshelves and a lot of the books were in boxes waiting to be put on the new shelving. I do just go in to look at the books (Really, Mum!). When I mentioned this to two lesbian friends of my mother, one of them said, “Oh, do they sell books?” (I guess they’ve only shopped in the ‘Art Emporium’ part…I didn’t know what this was a euphemism for until my first visit.) Whenever I’m in Vancouver (which isn’t that often, the last time was three years ago), I like to pop in to Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium.

The Disappearing L by Bonnie J. Morris