Aqua Books Presents Mondo!Purdy 2009
February 17-21/09 Aqua Books
Armin Wiebe, Neil Besner, Dennis Cooley, David Arnason, Ron Robinson, Catherine Hunter, Deborah Schnitzer, Charlene Diehl, Rosanna Deerchild, plus our own Tim Higgins, Kate Bitney, Chandra Mayor, Ariel Gordon, and our sort-of-own Colin Smith. More to come
Al Purdy has been called Canada's unofficial poet laureate. Charles Bukowski once said of Purdy: "I don't know of any good living poets. But there's this tough son of a bitch up in Canada that works the line." Since his death in 2000, his wife has been taking care of their home, a cabin that "was the product of two months' worth of amateur carpentry and drunken squabbling between Purdy and fellow poet Milton Acorn". Now 84, Eurithe Purdy is putting it up for sale. We've posted a link to last summer's Globe story about the house on the Aqua Books Tumblelog. (Check out the pic of the octogenarian on the roof.) Since the article, a grass-roots movement to preserve the fifty year-old cottage where Purdy wrote his best work has been launched. Jean Baird (wife of poet George Bowering) and publisher Howard White founded the A-Frame Trust with the intent of preserving the house as a memorial to Purdy and a possible writing retreat for other writers. Fundraisers have been happening all over the country. It may seem a small thing to some, but as Canadians, we need to celebrate our heroes, just like the Americans do, no?
Heeding the call (and as Winnipeg's Poetry Hub), Aqua Books has declared a week of Al Purdy. February 17-21, 2009, Aqua Books will be presenting Mondo!Purdy, a week-long festival celebrating the life and work of Al Purdy. Mondo!Purdy will be the inaugural rendition of Mondo!Poetry, Manitoba's only annual poetry festival, which will happen every February. Mondo!Purdy will feature a performance workshop, Open Road Open Mic, a writing workshop, The Boxcar Chat panel discussion, and on closing night, the Mondo!Purdy Video Dance Party. The MDVDP will have a sweet silent auction where we will raise loads of money for Purdy House, but it will also be way fun and feature actual poets dancing. The list of confirmed writers is above, some of whom will be creating brand new work for this orgy of words. We're very excited to be hosting what will be the literary event of the season, so start talking amongst yourselves. Click the links above for the day-by-day schedule.
Al Purdy was born in Wooler, Ontario. Purdy went to Albert College in Belleville, Ontario, and Trenton Collegiate Institute in Trenton, Ontario. He dropped out of school at 17 and rode the rails west to Vancouver. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Following the war, he worked in various jobs until the 1960s, when he was able to support himself as a writer, editor and poet.
In the late 1950s, Purdy moved to Roblin Lake in Ameliasburg, Ontario, (South of Trenton in Prince Edward County) and this became his preferred location for writing. In his later years, he divided his time between North Saanich, British Columbia, and his cottage at Roblin Lake.
In addition to his poems and novel, Purdy's work includes two volumes of memoirs, the most recent of which was Reaching for the Beaufort Sea. He also wrote four books of correspondence, including Margaret Laurence - Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters and radio and television plays for the CBC. He was writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities, and edited a number of anthologies of poetry.
He wrote the introduction to the last book of poetry by his friend Milton Acorn, The Whiskey Jack. Purdy was also a long-time friend of American author Charles Bukowski. Bukowski once said: "I don't know of any good living poets. But there's this tough son of a bitch up in Canada that works the line."
Al Purdy died in North Saanich, B.C., on April 21, 2000. His final collection of poetry, Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy, was released posthumously in the fall of 2000.