On Saturday, I hosted a poetry reading in the Paul O’Regan Hall at the Halifax Central Library. This event took place from 2 to 4-ish pm, and featured sixteen poets published through Opaat Press: Nanci Lee, Nolan Natasha, Jaime Forsythe, Anna Quon, Tiffany Morris, Ben Gallagher, Sam Sternberg, Sappho (in my translation), Margo Wheaton, Cory Lavender, Jimmy T Cahill, Matt Robinson, Clare Goulet, Johanna Gibson, Alice Burdick, and Andreae Callanan. According to the library staff who were on site, there were approximately 120 people in attendance.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never organized such a well-attended poetry event before. All credit, in my opinion, to both the Halifax Public Library (particularly librarian Elliott Gish) and the poets who were reading.
I’ve copied below my opening remarks from this event, which, and I’m starting to repeat myself (see below), brought me a lot of joy. I hope to find a way to write about the particular incarnation of joy this press brings me–at times, it seems at once a hobby, a service, a new art practice.
More soon.
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Thank you, Elliott.
I’m very happy to be here today. I organized this event to celebrate two years of Opaat Press, and more importantly, the poets I have published over the press’s first eight seasons.
Opaat Press publishes limited-edition poetry pamphlets that feature one poet’s poem at a time. Over its first eight seasons, Opaat Press has put out thirty-nine pamphlets showcasing work from authors across Atlantic Canada. These pamphlets are hand-folded, hand-stamped, and hand-numbered. Opaat pamphlets have sold to readers in all of Canada’s provinces and in the United States, have been put up in windows and on bulletin boards, and have been mentioned in the press and in the Nova Scotia legislature. Though ephemeral in nature, published in limited editions of 50 copies each, most Opaat pamphlets are now held in the collections of Cape Breton University’s Library, thanks to the efforts and enthusiasm of librarian Martin Chandler. And of course, poems published as Opaat pamphlets have later appeared in poets’ full-length books and elsewhere.
In the most recent season, Opaat pamphlets were not sold but were exchanged for donations to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the Sameer Project, raising over $1500 and $500 for these causes, respectively, for a collective total of over $2000 Canadian dollars. In previous seasons, Opaat pamphlets raised money for the Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia and Out of the Cold.
I often think of something I heard the great Dionne Brand say on the CBC. “Poetry is not a way to make a living; it’s a way to make a life.” (I tried to look up this quotation but couldn’t find it; my apologies if the phrasing isn’t precise.) Opaat Press has never been, for me, a money-making venture. It’s a micropress–my big ambition has been to break even.That being said, I believe very strongly in paying artists for their work, and have always paid the poets who publish with Opaat.
I’ve found myself repeating lately that running this press (soliciting work from poets I admire, designing and printing the pamphlets, folding them, stamping them, numbering them, addressing them to readers across the country, buying stamps, walking to the mailbox, and leaving them in little free libraries–and, even better, the big free library) brings me a lot of joy in a way that few things do these days. I’ve never aimed to make a living with Opaat Press, but it has made my life sweeter.
Much gratitude to the readers and supporters of Opaat, and eternal gratitude to the writers I’ve worked with for trusting me with their words. I am very proud of the poems I publish; it means a lot to me when readers reach out to mention specifically the high quality of the poems featured each season. Thank you Nanci Lee, Nolan Natasha, Jaime Forsythe, Sue Goyette, Anna Quon, Tiffany Morris, Ben Gallagher, Alison Smith, Sam Sternberg, M. Travis Lane, Chris Bailey, Luke Hathaway, Sappho, Rebecca Salazar, Margo Wheaton, Fawn Parker, Cory Lavender, Katie Fewster-Yan, Jimmy T Cahill, Laurelyn Whitt, Triny Finlay, Matt Robinson, Sadie McCarney, Sylvia D. Hamilton, Anna Swanson, Bren Simmers, Lisa McCabe, Asha Jeffers, Clare Goulet, Ian LeTourneau, Johanna Gibson, Colleen Coco Collins, Alice Burdick, Nicholas Selig, Andreae Callanan, Ambrose Albert, and A. Light Zachary. (Because they couldn’t all be here, I told myself I would at least say all their names aloud.)
I’m really looking forward to today’s readings.
First, a few more quick thank yous: thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts, the Writers’ Union of Canada, and the League of Canadian Poets for providing funding for several of our readers. Thanks to Bookmark, beloved indie bookstore, for being here to sell copies of our readers’ books. And finally, thank you so much to Halifax’s Big Free Library and particularly librarian Elliott Gish for the warmest of welcomes.
Today we’re going to progress by season, with each poet reading the poem published as their Opaat pamphlet, as well as other work, should they choose…
Annick MacAskill 