Now available from Apt. 9 Press, Minutiae by Nelson Ball.

Ball is a hero of the small press in Canada, and it is truly an honour to have worked with him producing this chapbook. His Weed/Flower Press and related activities have long been sources of inspiration at Apt. 9 Press, and I am particularly delighted that Minutiae has some material connections to Ball’s work in the 1960s. The cover drawing is a portrait of the poet drawn by Barbara Caruso that was originally reproduced and distributed with Ball’s seminal book, Force Movements, published by bpNichol’s Ganglia Press in 1969.

Minutiae is available for purchase here, and you can read more about it here.

Apt. 9 is printing again. Details to follow:

We are sold out of virtually all of our chapbooks, which is one of the best problems a chapbook press can have. If you’re looking for any of our backlist titles, head over to Apollinaire’s Bookshoppe where you’ll find a number of those titles (and a couple broadsides) still available.

Rhonda Douglas’ How to Love a Lonely Man was reviewed by rob mclennan at his blog: “There are some deep hopes, bad fortune and ill-fated choices within the lines of these poems, and hers is a narrator that wishes for something that even she knows is not nearly enough. It’s as though her narrator exists in a kind of Victorian longing: a blend of pessimism, romantic ideals and pragmatism.”

I also managed to completely miss this wonderful re-visiting of Apt. 9 chapbooks by Sandra Ridley and Leah Mol from Ryan Pratt at his always-interesting dead letter birds. It is a thoughtful consideration of both titles, as well as of the experience of collecting and discovering things you’d forgotten were on your shelves: “The motivation behind collecting – anything, really – can be likened to filling a blank horizon with inspired muses; the desire to create a richer lens to look at life through. Hopefully I’ll find some spare time to share more of these older titles as the weather cools. I owe them as much.” A belated thank you, Ryan!

And finally, after Stephen Brockwell launched his full trade collection, Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books, this past Friday in Ottawa, I was inspired to write up some notes on Apt. 9 chapbooks that have found second homes in trade collections. If you’re interested, you can read it here.

Apt. 9 will be hitting the road in November to set our books up on a table at the Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market. We made this trip a few years ago and it was a wonderful time. If you’re in or near Toronto on Saturday November 16, you’ll want to swing by the Tranzac Club to see what all these amazing presses have been up to. We’ll have the remaining copies of our most recent titles, and whatever is still available from the backlist. See you soon, Toronto!

We’re getting closer to the launch (Friday at 7pm!), and some further bits of press are starting to appear.

Apt. 9 was profiled at Apt. 613 (a publication whose name we think highly of). Thanks to Alejandro Bustos for including us in his ongoing profiles of Ottawa’s literary scene.

Spencer Gordon was interviewed by Pearl Pirie on Literary Landscapes (CKCU 93.1) last Thursday. You can listen to the audio here.

At the Small Press Book Fair this past Saturday, Liana Voia interviewed a huge number of the presses who were selling their wares. Apt. 9 was among them, and you can watch the interview on youtube now. There were two pieces about the book fair during the build up–one at Weird Canada and one at Apt. 613.

Jesslyn Delia Smith and Rhonda Douglas will be interviewed on Click Here with Mitchell Caplan (CHUO 89.1) on Wednesday. Tune in at 5pm! We’ll have the audio here once it is posted following the show.

 

See you on Friday!

Hey, the new books are finished and ready!

As our launch gets closer, there are a number of related readings and events on the schedule:

Monday October 7 | Rhonda Douglas is reading at the Ottawa Public Library along with Monty Reid, Chris Jennings, Deanna Young, David Groulx and rob mclennan. 7pm at the Main Branch.

Thursday October 10 | Spencer Gordon will be on Literary Landscapes on CKCU 93.1 with Pearl Pirie. 6:30pm.

Friday October 11 | Rhonda Douglas will be reading at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair Pre-Fair Reading. 7pm at the Carleton Tavern. Rhonda’s How to Love a Lonely Man will be on sale.

Saturday October 12 | The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair! Your first chance to buy all three new books.

Wednesday October 16 | jesslyn delia smith and Rhonda Douglas will be interviewed by Mitchell Caplan on Click Here on CHUO 89.1. 5pm.

Friday October 18 | The new chapbooks are launched with a reading from all three poets. 7pm at Raw Sugar.

 

***Note: The time has been moved forward 1 hour–the reading will begin at 7pm sharp.***

The details have been sorted for our Fall launch, and we couldn’t be more excited. Rhonda, Spencer, and jesslyn will be reading from their new chapbooks on Friday October 18 at 7pm at the always-wonderful Raw Sugar Cafe. We hope that you can make it out to celebrate with us! Full details are available in the image above, and there is a Facebook event here if you’re inclined to RSVP for these things.

Jeff Blackman’s Apt. 9 chapbooks So Long As The People are People has been receiving some good press recently. JM Francheteau wrote this thoughtful, positive review over at his blog. Jeff also had the opportunity to answer 12 or 20 questions at rob mclennan’s blog. Thanks to JM and rob! We’re always looking for venues to send review copies to. Let us know if you’re interested in any of our available titles!

In other exciting news, Apt. 9 author Christine McNair was shortlisted for the 2013 Archibald Lampman Award for her debut trade book, Conflict, published by Bookthug. She’s got our vote! Congratulations, Christine, and congratulations to the other finalists!

See you at the Ottawa small press book fair on October 12. That’ll be your first chance to pick up our new titles. Each will be available for purchase on the website following the official launch on October 18.

Apt. 9 recently launched our above/ground press interview chapbook at the 20th anniversary party of rob mclennan’s tireless press. It was a great celebration of rob’s accomplishment over twenty years and Apt. 9 was thrilled to play a small part in the festivities. See Pearl Pirie’s photos of the reading here.

As Apt. 9 begins its own fifth year of operation, we have three exciting new books in the works:

the grass is a yard now, again | jesslyn delia smith

CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY | Spencer Gordon

How to Love a Lonely Man | Rhonda Douglas

The books will be ready in October. We’ll have them on the Apt. 9 table on October 12 at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair, before launching them formally the following Friday, October 18 at Raw Sugar Cafe in Ottawa. We’re also planning to make a trip to Toronto in November to sell our wares. Details of each event and of each book to follow as they become available. In the meantime, a teaser photo of the covers:

Apt. 9 is also dipping its toe back into the world of online commerce. Our Etsy shop is up and running again. Books in print can now be purchased online here. We’ve got six books up there now in limited quantities that reflect their availability.

See you in October!

This month, Apt. 9 Press is thrilled to be publishing an extended interview with rob mclennan: I simply began: above/ground press at 20. rob’s above/ground press is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in August 2013. For any small press activity, this would be a stunning accomplishment. In Ottawa, a city that hasn’t always been as active as some others in the Canadian landscape, it takes on greater significance. Apt. 9, so often concerned with its Ottawa-specific context, could not let this anniversary go by without doing something to mark the occasion. So, we set up with rob over email for eight weeks and asked him about the origins of the press, what was happening in Ottawa when he got going, what his ambitions were, what they’ve become, what he’s proud of and what he regrets, how many staplers he’s gone through, how he’s funded the entire operation for twenty years, the material aesthetics of what he does, and an awful lot more.

The chapbook will be ready and available on Friday, August 23 at the above/ground press twentieth anniversary reading at The Mercury Lounge. rob is still lining up his readers, but from what we’ve heard so far you won’t want to miss it. We’ll post all the details here as they emerge.

Congratulations, rob, and congratulations, above/ground press! Hey, you can almost drink in the US.

Christine McNair’s Apt. 9 Press chapbook, pleasantries and other misdemeanours, has garnered some attention recently. Related to the chapbook launch at Raw Sugar in June, Christine was profiled at Open Book: Ontario. The chapbook made it onto Pearl Pirie’s ongoing 95 Books project, with Pearl admitting a “soft-spot” for the sequence “the problem of orchids.” Christine also has a feature reading in Ottawa this week. She will be appearing with rob mclennan in The Reading Series (In/Words), hosted by Dave Currie for the final time this month. Full details are here.

The June installment of the Ottawa Small Press Fair also resulted in one more bit of media attention. Centretown Buzz wrote a feature article on the twice-annual event and Apt. 9 was happy to be interviewed alongside so many of the fair’s stalwart and exciting attendees.

Fall plans go on. An announcement should be along shortly.