On Wednesday, September 23, at The Small Music Centre, 108 Shaw St., Studio 101, Toronto, M6J 2W5, I will be participating in the launch of Jeff Bien’s new book of poems, In a Time of No Song. I wrote the introduction to this book for Jeff and for the publisher, Exile Editions. The doors for this event will open at 7:00 p.m. and the readings and musical performances will begin at 8:15.
The evening has been organized by the prominent World Music musician, Mercan Dede, a friend and admirer of Jeff’s, who has set some of the poems to music. Mercan and a group he’s assembled for the event will perform and sing some of these works. I will also read a pair of Bien’s poems, as will poets George Eliot Clarke, Rafi Aaron, and Natacha Aaron. Mercan has arranged for the evening to be filmed and made into a CD.
Here’s a bit of a video teaser for the book: