In progress…

Apt. 9 has been quiet publicly since our big move, but has been active inside our new digs. Three projects are nearing completion, and we have the photos to prove it.

First up is eating thistles by Peter Gibbon. Peter has long been active in Ottawa’s small press publishing community, seeing a wonderful body of work published in small runs passed from hand to hand. If you’ve been lucky, you already have some of his work on your shelf. Apt. 9 hopes this new book will consolidate the last few years of Peter’s work, and help to see his poems read by new eyes. Covers are printed and folded, editing is complete. Look for a launch in the near future.

Next up is the Wm Hawkins Folio, long in the works. The folio collects a descriptive bibliography of Hawkins’ catalogue, colour reproductions of four of the legendary poster poems from the 1960s (and one ad for the same), two newspaper articles from the 1960s, and a further poster poem from 1980.

Finally, a project that grew out of the Wm Hawkins Folio, Sweet & Sour Nothings by William Hawkins. While working on the bibliography, Richard Coxford of the Bytown Bookshop passed along a copy of an Anthos Anthology from 1980. In Anthos was a thirty five part serial poem by Hawkins. The poem was intended to be Hawkins then-next book (his seventh if we include his selected, The Gift of Space). The poem, however, was never published as a distinct object. None of the text of the poem is included his newer 2005 selected, Dancing Alone, nor is it referenced in available articles on bibliographies. In other words, Apt. 9 is lucky enough to be publishing a long-lost William Hawkins book. Newly edited by Roy MacSkimming, the book is an exciting addition to Hawkins’s available body of work, partially bridging the gap between 1976’s The Madman’s War and 2005’s Dancing Alone.

Look for an event to launch all three of these shortly.

As ever, Apt. 9 is pinching itself to have such wonderful titles to publish. We can’t wait until you have a chance to read them.

Cheers.