E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

" Véhicule Press began in 1973 on the premises of Véhicule Art Inc., one of Canada's first artist-run galleries. The large space occupied by both the gallery and the press at 61 Ste-Catherine St. West was once the Café Montmarte--the renowned jazz club of the 1930s."  Forty years later, it has developed into one of the essential "small" presses of Canada - dynamically publishing local, provincial and national history, memoirs, guides, novels, short stories, essays, and, perhaps most impressively, poetry.  Anyone wanting to review a few new VP poetry books drop me a line .  As a small press publisher, I can only marvel at the stamina, dedication, and dash of madness that has kept this firm going through all the downturns of our times.  Congratulations are in order.  If you want to know what Montreal, and Quebec culture is like, here's a mainstay, a key stop on your reading tour.

Free Verse 2012 took place yesterday - the second year of the UK's biggest fair for small press publishers of poetry, lottery funded and organised by the great Charles Boyle .  It featured readings by Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell , and Jo Brandon , among many others.  And dozens of tables set up by presses small and larger, from Picador, Seren and Penned In The Margins, to Shearsman, Valley Press, Pighog, and our own Eyewear.  Salt and Faber and Bloodaxe gave it a miss.  The general buzz was wonderful - 7 hours of browsing and sharing, and interest in books.  We sold around 15 books, which is a bit slow, but good for us, as we met hundreds of poets and poetry readers, and were able to spread the word about forthcoming collections.  A few noteworthy negatives in a very positive day: one publisher when handed a free copy of our first publication waved it away, sneering he had no time for it.  Or there was the unbelievably grumpy, bearded, portly, old man ...

Heather Brett and Noel Monahan  - poet-editors - have been working on Windows Publications, from Ireland, for 20 years now, and have now published a celebration of this two-decades of effort to support local and wider poetry.  Such work is usually thankless, so I thank them here.  And note the anthology is worth buying, to support their work, and to read some very good recent poems by Irish poets known and new (perhaps) to you.  I am in the book, I should add, which is lovely; many others too, including Paul Perry, Patrick Chapman, Anne-Marie Fyfe, Nessa O'Mahony, Pat Boran , Leland Bardwell and Medbh McGuckian .

CB Editions , run by Charles Boyle , the poet and writer, has an updated site worth visiting.  A small press, they publish some very talented people, not least of whom is Christopher Reid .  Boyle will be reading for the Kingston-Oxfam Series in Marylebone, 29 September, 2010.

Clinic will be launching tomorrow, Wednesday 26 May.  Worth checking out.   Eyewear will review this new publication later this summer.

Eyewear often claims there are too many prizes, a little too much hot air in the establishment - but the Marks Awards seem genuinely progressive, supportive, and innovative, and actually do something helpful - support small presses and those most ephemeral of publications, pamphlets of poetry.  Here's an excerpt from the recent press release; especially glad to see Tom's book there, reviewed recently at this blog: "The British Library today announces the shortlists for the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets in partnership with the Poetry Book Society and with the generous support of the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. In their second year, the Awards celebrate the importance of the pamphlet form in introducing new poetry to readers in the internet age. Michael Marks Poetry Award Poetry pamphlet shortlist • The Terrors , Tom Chivers (Nine Arches Press). Eighteenth century hangman narratives... conducted by email. • The Titanic Café closes its doors and hi...

The British small press Flambard turns 20 this year and is having a celebratory evening at the famous Troubadour venue in London this May 10, featuring readings by Nancy Mattson , Rebecca Goss and Kelley Swain , among others.

I've received a flood of new books to read and put up for review at Eyewear , such as, as it happens, Flood , by AF Harrold , Sunflowers in Your Eyes: Four Zimbabwean Poets , and Arlene Lang's Seeing Birds in Church is a Kind of Adieu .  Also been sent the latest Peter Finch , from Seren, which I am pleased to have supplied a blurb for, on the back.  And much more.  Will try and get these looked at over the summer or sooner.