O Spam, Poams: Rob Read's new book of poems, which is a collection of the very best of the first two years of Daily Treated Spam, is available exclusively online from Apollinaire's Bookshoppe.

Contact: 519-666-0168
Prompt e-mail reply from: readrobread@gmail.com

Download a printable PDF of this media kit here.

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April 15, 2006 - Book Thugs Storm Parliament Hill

Independent press BookThug brings unique poets to Ottawa and Kingston

April is the cruelest month, as T.S. Eliot would have it, but this April will prove to breed more than 'lilacs out of the dead land.' Jay MillAr, poet, and publisher of BookThug, is celebrating the launch of several new books in Ottawa, on April 26th at 8:00 pm at Richard Fitzpatrick Books and in Kingston on Thursday, April 27th, at 8:00 pm at the The Sleepless Goat, 91 Princess Street.

MillAr's merry band of pranksters promise to enthuse and enthrall. Readers will include Rob Read, Gregory Betts, Daniel f. Bradley, gustave morin and Jay MillAr himself.

For the second time this year, spam poet Rob Read will visit the capital to promote his book O Spam, Poams: Selected Daily Treated Spam, which features poems made exclusively with content from junk e-mail Read has received. Each day, instead of being frustrated with incoming spam, Read has decided to "take these lemons in my inbox and make lemon meringue pie." Once the spam has been modified by taking out words and adding line breaks, the poem is sent back out to a growing number of subscribers who sign up for free at www.dailytreatedspam.com.

Gregory Betts' new book Haikube - a collaborative collection of poems from a sculptural project of the same name made in collaboration with Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel. The Haikube is a fully rotational object loosely based on the Rubik's cube, only with words instead of colours. Each side of the cube is designed to always produce a standardized haiku. Betts' previous book, also published by BookThug, is If Language, an adventure in anagrams. Each of its fifty-six chapters uses the exact same letters - though in varying order.

With the rather unusual title A Boy's First Book of Chlamydia, Daniel f. Bradley has expanded beyond the numerous channels of the Canadian small or micro press scene with this, his first full-length work to date. Collecting the best of Bradley's poetry from 1996-2002, this book finally brings a larger public to this unsung poet who has been actively honing his voice in Toronto for over 20 years. While in Ottawa, Bradley will also launch his new book BEFORE THE GOLDEN DAWN by david uu by Daniel f. Bradley, published by the legendary Ottawa press CURVD H&Z.

The mysterious gustave morin recently performed by reading poems written on CDs - which were then cooked in a microwave - and yes, it was dangerous as it sounds. morin's first 'book with a bar code' A Penny Dreadful, came out to rave reviews in 2003, and his new book, The Etcetera Barbecue features further explorations in concrete poetry - concise and detailed, these poems blur the borders between poetry, collage, and visual art as they make meanings in ways familiar to us from all three of those directions.

MillAr will also read from his work, which ranges from the experiments of Mycological Studies (Coach House Books, 2002), to the contemplative narratives of his most recent book False Maps for Other Creatures (Nightwood Editions, 2005). Judging from his recent smash hit reading at the Test reading series in Toronto, MillAr makes for an event not to be missed.

Contact Rob Read directly:
Weekdays: 416-736-2100 ext 40635
Evenings and Weekends: 416-651-5450
E-mail: readrobread@hotmail.com
BookThug/Apollinaire's Bookshoppe website: http://www.bookthug.ca
Website: www.dailytreatedspam.com
Gustave Morin's Etcetera Barbecue online: http://www.apollinaires.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=apollinaire&Product_Code=1884
&Now/Lake Forest Literary Festival website: http://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/programs/engl/andnow/

Review copies and hard copies of the media kit are available on request.

Read is available for interviews about:

* Spam Poetry; found poetry; general views about poetry
* Growing up in rural Ontario; current life in urban Toronto
* Why O Spam, Poams isn't being sold in 'big box' mega-bookstores
* Prior publishing history and Read's own publishing house Produce Press

Keywords: culture, computers, technology, books/literature, poetry, reviews, arts, entertainment, spam, junk e-mail.