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In this ambitious long poem, Alice Major exemplifies the redemptive force of story. Through the light-hearted interplay of such literary touchstones as Chaucer, The Thousand and One Nights, and Greek myth, readers meet receptionist Aphrodite, Sheherazad in PR, and Pandora, expectant grandmother from accounting, who gather to share tales during coffee breaks from their male-dominated engineering firm. Literary pilgrims, lovers of narrative and long forms, or fans of Major's past explorations are certain to find redemption here. Alice Major exemplifies the redemptive power of story in this ambitiously allusive long poem.

In this ambitious long poem, Alice Major exemplifies the redemptive force of story. Through the light-hearted interplay of such literary touchstones as Chaucer, The Thousand and One Nights, and Greek myth, readers meet receptionist Aphrodite, Sheherazad in PR, and Pandora, expectant grandmother from accounting, who gather to share tales during coffee breaks from their male-dominated engineering firm. Literary pilgrims, lovers of narrative and long forms, or fans of Major's past explorations are certain to find redemption here.

A prodigious body of innovative writing behind him, Robert Kroetsch turns to a starker lyrical mode in Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait. Oscillating between the many moods of a human heart that has lived through so much-from whimsy and scorn through desire, longing, lust, love, and serenity-these sketches mark a candid walk through the tortuous corridors of the poet's remembering, and exemplify the rehearsed dictum of an old teacher: "Every enduring poem was written today." Simply put, "This book is not an autobiography. It is a gesture toward a self-portrait, which I take to be quite a different kettle of fish." -- Robert Kroetsch, from the Introduction Governor General's Award-winning author shows through stark lyric how "every enduring poem was written today." With a prodigious body of innovative writing behind him, Robert Kroetsch turns to a starker lyrical mode in Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait. Oscillating between the many moods of a human heart that has lived through so much--from whimsy and scorn through desire, longing, lust, love, and serenity--these sketches mark a candid walk through the tortuous corridors of the poet's remembering, and exemplify the memorable dictum of an old teacher: "Every enduring poem was written today." "This book is not an autobiography. It is a gesture toward a self-portrait, which I take to be quite a different kettle of fish." --Robert Kroetsch Walking Backwards in a Blizzard It was part of our education, learning to lean on the wind, trusting the wind, learning to be the hypotenuse. Trigonometry, our teacher explained, is the study of angles. Late for school is a failure to connect two points with a straight line. The blizzard sealed our eyes, we said. We had to walk backwards in order to see-- our tracks in the snow, the shape of the wind. The past, we argued, must be a curved line. Walking backwards in the driven snow, we had arrived, by our calculations, early to class. About the Author Born in Heisler, Alberta, Robert Kroetsch published his first novel, But We are Exiles in 1965, and his book The Studhorse Man (1969) won the Governor General's Award for Fiction. He has steadily elaborated his indelible mark on Canadian writing ever since with his fiction, non-fiction, poetry, teaching, and scholarship. He lives in Leduc, Alberta. "Recognizing that memory is fiction, Kroetsch tells a lot of tales, from childhood through adulthood...but the portrait that evolves is multiple, protean, impossible to pin down. The poems range from comic-philosophic meditations on writing through slightly satiric comments on our all-too-human behaviour to lovely, deliberately and intelligently nostalgic memories.... [Kroetsch] keeps writing new fictions of self, and offers his readers in Too Bad one more brilliant addition to his oeuvre." Douglas Barbour, Edmonton Journal, February 28, 2010 "Too Bad straddles the line between memoir and self-creation, replete with Kroetsch's trademark playfulness and ambiguity. In his long and successful literary career, [Kroetsch] has always resisted assignment to tidy category or transparent meaning.... Too Bad is true to form in its provocation and elusiveness.... Too Bad asks the reader to join in the act of self-creation. 'We connect the dots. That's kind of what I'm asking the reader to do. And they might connect in different ways.'" Geoff McMaster, ExpressNews, February 22, 2010 [Full article at: http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/print.cfm?id=10827] "...poet, novelist, critical theorist, ex-professorial old-age pensioner, mischievous trickster and certifiable genius Robert Kroetsch, perhaps one of a half-dozen - oh, okay, maybe eight, tops - distinguished word-workers permanently ensconced in the penthouse of lyrical perfectitude, especially when it comes to versifyin', particularly when it comes to his freshest collection, the bloody brilliant Too Bad. Too much. Simply way too much too good too great." Judith Fitzgerald, The Globe and Mail, May 7

Woudstra's literary essays, rooted in personal experience and travel, are long and loving looks into the mysterious heart of Africa. Her writings explore topics as diverse as volcanic eruptions and wild trees, African art and ritual, life in Rwanda, and turtle eggs in warm sand.

All of us listening, hearing your voice, in your voice scorched prairie, the solace of touch, the rent regions of the heart, the place without place, all of us waiting, knowing you will say, Now read us a poem, your quick smile saying, Invent us, quickly, invent us, again. -Robert Kroetsch, from "To Eli Mandel." A prodigious body of innovative writing behind him, Robert Kroetsch turns to a starker lyrical mode in Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait. Oscillating between the many moods of a human heart that has lived through so much-from whimsy and scorn through desire, longing, lust, love, and serenity-these sketches mark a candid walk through the tortuous corridors of the poet's remembering, and exemplify the rehearsed dictum of an old teacher: "Every enduring poem was written today." Simply put, "This book is not an autobiography. It is a gesture toward a self-portrait, which I take to be quite a different kettle of fish." -- Robert Kroetsch, from the Introduction

The Hornbooks of Rita K, Robert Kroetsch's first volume of new poetry in more than a decade, is a brilliant collection of mysterious fragments. Where has Rita gone and who is reconstructing her oeuvre? Written with wit and playfulness, Hornbooks is a welcome new work from one of Canada's best writers.

The Hornbooks of Rita K, Robert Kroetsch's first volume of new poetry in more than a decade, is a brilliant collection of mysterious fragments. Where has Rita gone and who is reconstructing her oeuvre? Written with wit and playfulness, Hornbooks is a welcome new work from one of Canada's best writers. Poet Rita Kleinhart disappeared from the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt on June 26, l992 at age fifty-five. She has not been seen alive since. All that remains of Rita are mounds of poems: finished, unfinished, and unfinishable. But where has Rita gone? As her "intimate friend" Raymond sorts through the papers in her abandoned ranch house, the fragments whirl and dissolve into a mystery, a romance, a primer, a fiction. Written with wit and playfulness, The Hornbooks of Rita K is a welcome new work from one of Canada's leading writers. Home is a door that opens inward only. So how will you get out, stranger? I say to myself. Perhaps I was only suggesting, she said, smiling mischievously, that words are a lock, not a key. Then how do you explain, I said, not smiling at all, that every time I peek in at your keyhole, I get a shiner? [Hornbook #40] Shortlisted for the Governor General's Award "Robert K offers readers a zanily brilliant and hauntingly austere series." Judith Fitzgerald, The Globe & Mail "Kroetsch shows how brilliantly a wily intelligence can slip the bonds of expectation to create surprising and challenging new work." Harry Vandervlist, Quill & Quire "Intellectually taut and supremely tricky." Shawna Lemay, The Edmonton Journal "This book of poetry is a trip--you do not want to miss it." Sheri-D Wilson, ARC: Canada's National Poetry Magazine, Summer 2002 "In The Hornbooks of Rita K, acclaimed poet and prose writer Robert Kroetsch explored his own alter ego, as well as the idea that regardless of where or how far we wander from our roots, a little corner of home stays with us.... It is a rare treat to encounter an author whose work exudes the confidence to use language so playfully and still tell a story. Typically, Kroetsch laughs off any notion that he is widely regarded as an icon of Canadian literature. 'That's someone else,' he says. But no one else could have written The Hornbooks of Rita K." Vern Clemence, The StarPhoenix "Kroetsch's narratives are never traditional. In The Hornbooks of Rita K his story develops by accretion, or the slow process of sedimentation, as Raymond shuffles Rita's poems and his commentary into piles. This shuffling allows Kroetsch's playfulness to shine and offers its own occasion for wry commentary.... The Hornbooks of Rita K marks a welcome return of one of Canada's foremost poets." Richard Henry, SUNY Potsdam, World Literature Today "Of all the writers working in Canada today, Robert Kroetsch is perhaps the one who exerts more quiet influence than any other--and on a national scale. A superb mentor, a wonderful editor, and tirelessly generous to the literary community, Robert Kroetsch is a truly outstanding model and mentor as an artist, an intellectual, and an educator. Hundreds of students and writers can attest to his influence." Aritha VanHerk, University of Calgary "Renowned for exploring the external landscape (i.e., the prairie), Kroetsch focuses more on the internal landscape. Rita K reads more like a story with a beginning, middle and end....[I]t's Kroetsch at his finest and absolutely worth a read." Treena Kortje, Winnipeg Free Press "Rita's poem and Raymond's notes and emendations, a hall of mirrors in which Kroetsch himself does and doesn't appear, are a poetic anti-treatise, a comic primer and poignant meditation on versions of authorship and meaning, on what gets in and out through the back door of intentions, on what gets left behind on longing and lines around reflected eyes. True to Kroetsch's inimitable form, The Hornbooks of Rita K resists quotation and summary....[T]he book also contributes to fascinated reading and out loud laughs..." FastForward "Novelist, po

Woudstra's literary essays, rooted in personal experience and travel, are long and loving looks into the mysterious heart of Africa. Her writings explore topics as diverse as volcanic eruptions and wild trees, African art and ritual, life in Rwanda, and turtle eggs in warm sand. Intense, introspective essays explore African magical practice, the forest, and wildlife. "…lyrical and gritty, unflinching and tender." -Shawna Lemay? B&W photos, map