George Murray | Poet

Publication: Literary Review of Canada

George Murray — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:15:49 +0000

Back at the turn of the century (!!!), I was the poetry editor for the Literary Review of Canada and, now that they’re celebrating their 20th year of publication, they’ve asked their former editors for contributions to a special anniversary issue. One of the poems from my upcoming book, Whiteout, is now on the stands. Also appearing this month, are three poems each in Event and The Fiddlehead.

Audio: The Once

George Murray — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:11:40 +0000

Here’s a bit I did on CBC with The Once, the Newfoundland folk band that turned a poem from my upcoming book, Whiteout, into an incredible song. The interview ran on (Canadian) Thanksgiving Day, and contains two fulls songs from their album, including the one I had a hand in, “Song for Memory”. Hope you like it!

News: Whiteout now available for pre-order

George Murray — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:05:38 +0000

My upcoming book for spring 2012, Whiteout, is now available for (WAY in advance) pre-order at a variety of e-retailers. I sometimes like to order books ahead of time, then forget that I ordered them, and then find myself pleasantly surprised when they arrive, apparently unbidden!

I link to the amazons over in the side bar to the right, but mostly because it’s just easy and many readers already have accounts there, making ordering a cinch. But like many authors, I feel a certain solidarity with small booksellers, and I’d prefer that you buy my books somewhere local and independent, if you can. If not, you can always order straight from my publishers (ECW for this book and Glimpse, but Nightwood and M&S/Random House before that). So, please find below a bunch of options for ordering online:

Canada:

McNally Robinson (most recommended)
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo (least recommended)

USA/International:

Powell’s (most recommended)
B&N
Amazon.com

Event: Reading in Vancouver

George Murray — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:24:47 +0000

I am reading and speaking and moderating as part of the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference starting next week. It’s my first time in Vancouver (really!) and I’m in some very good company. Check it out!

Translation: Glimpse in Italian

George Murray — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:48:17 +0000

A prominent European aphorisms site has translated a bunch of numbers from Glimpse and provided a little introduction, in Italian, on the poet. Very exciting. I lived in Italy for a while back in the 90s, and learned to speak the language. While I’m a pretty rusty speaker now, I can still read, and these translations seem quite good to my amateur eyes. Thanks to the proprietors of the site for their interest and for bringing Glimpse to a new language.

News: Poem Adapted to Song

George Murray — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:32:57 +0000

One of the poems I have in my upcoming collection, Whiteout, has just been released as a song on the new album of folk group The Once. It’s called “Song for Memory,” and I originally published it in The New Welsh Review. It was a great process working with the band to craft it into a song and I’m very pleased, in part because I was already a fan of the band before they asked me to participate. Who knew rock stars read poetry?!

You can listen to and order the album here, at their record label’s (Borealis/Universal) site. My song is the last in the list. In fact, the album is called “Row Upon Row of the People They Know”, which is the refrain from the song itself.

Publications: Fiddlehead, Event, Arts East, Pasture

George Murray — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:09:15 +0000

New this fall and winter will be several publications containing poems from my upcoming book, Whiteout:

Arts East, a mag out of Halifax, has one poem
Event, out of BC, has three poems
Fiddlehead, out of Fredericton, has three poems
Pasture, out of New Zealand, has three poems

Event was the first mainstream journal to print one of my poems, back in 96, with Fiddlehead only the next year. So it’s nice to be back in both.

Book: Whiteout, Spring 2012

George Murray — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:02:07 +0000

Here’s the cover for my upcoming book, Whiteout, due spring of next year from ECW. I hope you like it! I love it.

Event: BookCampTO

George Murray — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:38:49 +0000

I’ll be speaking at BookCampTO 2011, which is a gathering of Canadian book professionals, while wearing my Bookninja/pundit cap, August 20th in Toronto. If you’re a publishing type, I hope to see you there! If you’re not a publishing type, I hope to see you at the pub. I think I’m talking about web stuff and about grant writing from the creator perspective.

News: Publications

George Murray — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:06:47 +0000

A whole bunch of poems from my new manuscript will be appearing in various journals this summer and fall. Pasture, out of New Zealand, will be publishing three poems, Event, from BC, will be publishing four, and the newly revived Metroverse (poetry on buses in St. John’s) will be publishing one of the aphorisms from Glimpse. There are also 37 aphorisms from Glimpse in the special aphorisms issue of Hotel Amerika (Chicago) — and one of those aphorisms is the all the text on the back cover, in flow-y script, like James Geary’s is on the front (pictured below).