Episode 3 – Interview with Jennifer Pederson

The Small Machine Talks, Episode 3

hosted by a.m. kozak & Amanda Earl,

with special guest, Jennifer Pederson

Recorded on Sunday, September 4, 2016

We explain the name of the podcast. Anne Carson’s influence. Jennifer talks of Eliot, Ginsberg and Ottawa poets. Jennifer tells us about a brand new initiative for Sawdust. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what. We learn about the rationale behind the Sawdust Reading Series Poem-Off contest and Sawmills, the workshop addition. We talk about how to foster a sense of community, the literary scene’s book culture. We talk about the importance of space, layout, sound, venue in setting the tone of a reading.

Amanda praises The Sawdust videos that Jennifer creates. We discuss sound vs form. We debate the distinction between poetry and music, the musicality of poetry.

She mentions her participation in the AngelHousePress Close Reading Service for New Women Poets. Jennifer talks about the importance of the way the poem looks on the page.

Jennifer discusses her hotel fetish and its connection to a new poetry project.

We discuss the economy of Jason Christie’s poetry, the lattice-work of Frances Boyle’s poems at Sawdust. We welcome back the Tree Reading Series with a new venue. We celebrate the return of Plan 99, a reading series for contemporary Canadian literature that takes place at the Manx Pub, the darling of literary types, and not just because it lacks big screen tvs. We mention the Puritan’s new summer issue. We talk about our upcoming Tree workshops.

We feature Commonplace: Conversations About Poetry and Other People, Rachel Zucker’s WTF-style podcast. We discuss duende and Claudia Rankine. Preparation vs winging it in podcasts. We talk about the Maynard, an online poetry journal created by students of Simon Fraser University. Aaron shows off two recent poetry book purchases from a Kingston used book store. We ooo & ahhh. We drink water but wish we were drinking beer.

We list upcoming and past events in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Barrie and Peterborough. We attempt to figure out the meaning of the word “wayzegoose” and wish we could attend one. We decide Ottawa needs a Word on the Street festival. We list upcoming calls for submission. Amanda urges everyone to submit to Bywords.ca, which is experiencing a submission lull. We forget to mention the upcoming In/Words reading on Wednesday, September 28 at the Clocktower Pub, featuring Suzanna Derewicz.

We commend Perfect Books, a wondrous bookstore on Elgin Street, for extending its poetry selection and for top-shelfing Ottawa poets. We thank you listeners, each other and our sound engineer Charles. We agree to reconvene in early October for Episode 4 with a new guest. We fail to thank those of you who share the link to our podcast on social media, so we’re thanking you now!

Index

Introduction (0.00)

Jennifer Pederson interview (01:55)

Recent Events (27:00)

Internet Round Up/Recent News (43:37)

Podcast: Commonplace (46:30)

The Maynard (49:55)

Current Reads (57:05)

Upcoming Events/Calls for Submission (1:02:25)

Links

Bywords.ca – News / Calls for Submission

In/Words Magazine and Press

Sawdust Poetry Series

Sawdust videos on youtube

Tree Reading Series

Gruff Rhys: Hotel Shampoo

Ontario Arts Council Writers Reserve Program

Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry : Dorothea Lasky

Dorothea Lasky: “What is Color in Poetry or Is It The Wild Wind in the Space of the Word?” – 2013 The Bagley Write Lecture Series on Poetry, excerpt in Poetry

Word on the Street

Mentions:

i-view

Sawdust

Slackline

Gary Barwin

Pour Boy

Tree

Steven Ross Smith

In/Words

Blue Mondays

Caroline Bergvall

VerseFEST

Jennifer Londry: Life and Death in Cheap Motels, a collaboration with R.D. Roy

recent events

Jason Christie

Frances Boyle

In/Words

Tree

James Moran

Jennifer Mulligan

Ontario Arts Council Writers Reserve Program

Jennifer Mulligan

Emily Ramsay

Venus Envy

Arc Poetry Magazine

Justin Lam

Doug Dumais

Ian Martin

Blue Mondays

Emily Stewart, Ottawa Arts Review

Factory Reading Series – Jenna Jarvis

the Carleton Tavern

Urban Legends

House of Paint

Metatron

Facilitate

Common Readings

Ashley Elizabeth-Best

Coach House