Join me in celebrating the launch of The Best Canadian POETRY 2016 next Wednesday, November 30th, at the Harbourfront Centre. I will read alongside a host of poets whose work appears in the ninth edition of this now-classic anthology from Tightrope books. Readers include: Dani Couture, Lynn Crosbie, Helen Humphreys, Laurie D. Graham, Steve McOrmond, …
I will be reading with poet and playwright, Donna Langevin and poet and memoirist, Ariane Blackman at the Art Bar on Tuesday, October 25 at 8:00pm. The Art Bar is Canada’s longest running poetry-only weekly reading series. The show has recently relocated to the Free Times Cafe, 320 College Street, Toronto. Come for the readings! And, stay …
October 25th, 8pm : Langevin, Blackman, and Moritz at The Art Bar @ The Free Times Cafe Read More »
And yet it was this sense of poetry as a type of thinking that drew me to A Houseboat on the Styx and solidified my decision to devote the bulk of my literary activities to poetry. It seemed necessary to disavow all that my early life had been built on, but I had an awareness that doing …
Join me on Saturday, October 15 for the launch of Ruth Pierson’s Untranslatable Thought [Anstruther Press, 2016] at the Abbozzo Gallery in Toronto [401 Richmond, West, Suite 128, just east of Spadina]. The event begins at 2:00pm. The launch will be followed by an ekphrastic poetry reading featuring several poets, including Pierson, Richard Greene, Phoebe Wang, and myself. The Gallery will be …
In July, I attended a conference at UC Berkeley dedicated to the life’s work of Jacques Ellul, the French philosopher, sociologist, law professor, lay theologian, and Christian Anarchist. The conference took place from July 6 to 8, 2016 at the Faculty Club on the Berkeley campus. Entitled Politics without Illusion, Revolution without Violence, the 3-day event …
The High Window is a new quarterly review of poetry co-founded by David Cooke and Anthony Costello. It publishes poetry in English from poets in the UK and around the world. In addition, each issue contains an editorial, a literary essay, poems in translation, poetry reviews, and an occasional feature. I am pleased to have …
Great News! To celebrate National Poetry Month, Anansi is offering 25% off of almost all of their poetry titles this April. Among these, you’ll find my own Sequence, The New Measures, The Sentinel, and Night Street Repairs. Look, there’s The Sentinel in Anansi’s recent Instagram post: Why not take a second and check out Anansi’s Poetry Sale?
This week, PRISM magazine published a conversation I had with James Wood, entitled: “In poetry, what is learned is of the blood”: An Interview with Award-Winning Poet A.F. Moritz.” Here’s a sampling of the questions Wood asked me: What inspired the writing of your most recent collection, Sequence (House of Anansi, 2015)? How do you see the new book’s relationship …
My Conversation With James Wood In This Week’s PRISM Read More »
Last Fall, I had the pleasure of reading at the Resonance Series in Montreal. Klara Du Plessis has curated the monthly readings at Resonance since 2013. When putting together a night, she aims to pair young, upcoming and established writers, and to complement poetry with prose. Not bound by style, all text-based projects of quality are welcome. …
Read “Creating Despair” On The Resonance Reading Series Archives Read More »
In 2012, I delivered the Anne Szumigalski lecture of the League of Canadian Poets. This talk, now an essay, “A Garden Is Not a Place: Poetry and Beauty,” has just become available in the new book, Measures of Astonishment: Poets on Poetry, published by the League of Canadian Poets in conjunction with the University of …
This Wednesday, March 23, at 8pm, I’ll be reading at the Pivot Reading Series along with fellow writers Tajja Isen, Alessandro Porco and Daniel Kincade Renton. Pivot, hosted by poet Jacob McArthur Mooney, runs every other Wednesday at 8pm at The Steady Café in Toronto. The series features both established and emerging writers from across Canada. You can learn …
Pivot Reading Series this Wednesday, March 23, 8pm, The Steady, 1051 Bloor Read More »
Authentic, lived experience is the means by which humanity can heal ‘the rift/between aspiration, delusion and your body’: the physical world manifests the spiritual and enables humans to ‘produce your own style or faith.’ The Toronto novelist, poet and critic, James W. Wood has reviewed my book, Sequence, for Stand magazine, a co-production of the …
James W. Wood reviews Sequence for Stand Magazine Read More »
As part of Brick Books’ ongoing Celebration of Poetry, Elena Wolff has written about my book, Sequence. In reading Sequence I feel myself brought into an ongoing conversation—deep and old, yet new and ever-present. Immediate and accessible, yet challenging too. It resists interpretation, provokes interpretation, and personalization. I am drawn to locating myself within the work. …
Elana Wolff Reads Sequence and Presents a Distillation Read More »
Flowers? Check. Chocolate? Check. Poetry? House of Anansi’s got you covered. Their collection of Special Edition Poetry, which includes my own Sequence, will make the perfect gift for your Valentine. Each limited-edition hardcover book included in the collection was printed and bound at Coach House on bpNichol Lane in Toronto, in a limited edition of only 50 printings each. …
Sequence Special Edition with a Hand-Lettered Valentine Read More »
The result is a long poem that at different times appears modern and ancient, common and rare, solitary and communal. The effect works beautifully. What makes it so engaging? The answer seems to rest in a series of risky stylistic choices made by the author. As I said before, the reviews for Sequence are pouring …
Events and moments slip the bonds of chronology to find connection, or sequence, through their common essence.. The reviews for my book, Sequence, are starting to pour in. Take a look at Alison Goodwin’s review on ARC Poetry Magazine’s website: Alison Goodwin, The Search for Wonder, A.F. Moritz’s Sequence.
… Star systems were conceived and died in the silences between each two. New Poetry published a new poem of mine today. It’s called “The Clock.” I hope you’ll read it and enjoy it! Then, …
I am excited to be a part of the launch of The Best Canadian Poetry 2015 at the International Festival of Authors. This event takes place at 7:30 p.m. on October 30th on the Lakeside Terrace at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. This year’s Best Canadian Poetry 2015 in English was edited by Jacob McArthur Mooney …
I have an essay and two poems in the October 2015 edition of The Volta online. This edition was edited and introduced by Johanna Skibsrud and John Melillo. Do read their fantastic introduction, The Art of Losing, and have a look around at the full complement of this month’s writers. Here’s a link to my …
As part of my visit to Montreal next week, I will be delivering a lecture on the campus of McGill University entitled The Sequential Poem: Formal and Philosophical Dimensions. This lecture, which is sponsored by McGill University and the Canada Council via the Writers’ Union of Canada, will take place on Tuesday, October 13, at …
On Tuesday, October 13, I will do a solo reading in Montréal at the Résonance Reading Series. This event features my new book, Sequence, and begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Résonance Café, 5175 Avenue du Parc. Call 514-360-9629 for more information.
Along with fellow poet Jenny Sampirisi, I will be a featured reader at the first Fall 2015 installment of Toronto’s Hot-Sauced Words reading series. When? This Monday, September 28, at 7:30 p.m. Where? C’est What! Say What? James Dewar’s Hot-Sauced Words series has a new home: C’est What, 67 Front St. East (at Church St.) a popular resto-bar and …
I’ll be one of the readers at the High Park Reading Festival on Sunday, September 27, in Toronto. This event will run from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at High Park’s picnic site #19, located just south of the Grenadier Restaurant, across Colbourne Lodge Road. Each of the approximately 20 poets will read for about 5 minutes. …
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 …
I will be reading from my new book, Sequence, at the Tree Reading Series in Ottawa on Tuesday, September 8. The reading begins at 8:00pm, but there is a publishing workshop with Avonlea Fotheringham at 6:45 if you’d like to arrive early. Both the workshop and the reading take place at Black Squirrel Books, 1073 …
On Tuesday, July 7, I will read with other contributors at the Toronto launch of Earth and Heaven: An Anthology of Myth Poetry, edited by Amanda Jernigan and Evan Jones, and recently published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd. The free event will be held at 6:00 p.m. at No One Writes To The Colonel, 460 College St., …
On Thursday, June 18, at 2:00 p.m., at Toronto’s Northern District Library, I will be reading from my new book, Sequence, along with fellow poets Ian Burgham (Midnight, Quattro Books), Chris Chambers (Thrillows & Despairos, Wolsak & Wynn) and Catherine Graham (Her Red Hair Rises With the Wings of Insects, Wolsak & Wynn). Orchardviewers June …
Words & Music is an hour-long weekly program on WMNR radio in which Will Duchon reads poems and pairs them with music he feels reflects the soul and energy of each poem. On Friday, May 22, Duchon featured my poem, “Better Days,” from The Sentinel, on the show, following it up by some “Reflections” by Duke Ellington. The …
On Sunday, May 24, from 6:00 – 8:00pm, I will be reading with Catherine Graham and Ian Burgham at the Windup Bird Café [382 College Street, Toronto]. At this celebration of all things Scottish, all three poets will be reading work inspired by Scotland or written by Scottish poets. Preceding the readings, the café will …
An Evening of All Things Scottish at the Windup Bird Café Read More »
Along with fellow Anansi poets Erin Mouré and Karen Solie, I took part in a special Poetry Month Q&A for Open Book Toronto. You can find that interview here: Poetry Month Special: Talking with Anansi Poets A.F. Moritz, Erin Mouré and Karen Solie.
I’ll be reading with Patrick Friesen and Stan Rogal at the Art Bar Poetry Series next Tuesday, April 28, 8pm, at the Black Swan Tavern, 154 Danforth in Toronto. Come one, come all!
As part of their celebration of National Poetry Month, CBC Books hosted a “Quickie Couplet Contest” on April 7th. Followers on Twitter and Facebook were invited to complete couplets whose first lines were provided by eleven Canadian poets. I was lucky enough to be one of those eleven poets. Here’s my couplet! How would you …
To celebrate National Poetry Month and the launch of my collection, Sequence, I took part in the CBC’s Magic 8 series of interviews. I had the pleasure of responding to questions posed by the following writers: Lynn Coady, J.B. McKinnon, David McGimpsey, Johanna Skibsrud, Kim Thùy, Alan Bradley, Charlotte Gray, and Shani Mootoo. Read the full article, …
To celebrate this month’s release of my new collection, Sequence, Anansi Poetry editor Damian Rogers met with me at the Royal Ontario Museum for a one-on-one interview. This interview is now available as Anansi’s inaugural poetry podcast! Here’s a link to the Anansi Poetry Podcast site. And here’s Anansi’s Soundcloud file: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/200192584″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” …
My new book of poems, Sequence, is now in print! Order the Book from Anansi now! Or, join me at the Toronto and Ottawa launches and purchase your copy in person! Sequence Anansi, April 9, 2015 from the publisher In Sequence, the reader accompanies the poet step after step and breath after breath through a haunting and …
I’ll be launching my new book, Sequence, at the Anansi Poetry Bash in Toronto on April 15 and in Ottawa/Quebec on April 16. These are free events. Please come out and celebrate!!! TORONTO April 15, 2015, 7pm, free Tranzac, 292 Brunswick, Toronto, ON Readings by Shane Book, A.F. Moritz, Erin Moure, Karen Solie, and David …
Anansi Poetry Bash 2015: Toronto and Ottawa Dates Read More »
Quill & Quire has given Sequence, my forthcoming book from Anansi, a starred review. Of the book, Candace Fertile writes: The contemporary long poem as conceived by Moritz includes several aspects: epic, lyric, collage, montage, narrative, and meditation. The title suggests movement, and the poem is all about movement, both physical and emotional, although the overall …
On March 25, I will be reading with my student, Nicole Grimaldi, at this year’s Creative Writing Gala, showcasing students and mentors in the University of Toronto’s MA in the Field of Creative Writing. We will be joined by Charles Foran and his student Liz Windhorst Harmer. The Department of English will also announce the winner of the …
Welcome to the site. Please be sure to check out the Books Page and its three subsections: Forthcoming, In Print, and Out of Print/Special Order. Over the next few months, I’ll be adding more content to this and other sections of the site. Look for archival reviews, audio and video recordings, an extended bibliography and a …
Sequence has been featured on CBC’s Canlit 2015: 15 poetry collections to look for in 2015! Here’s what the CBC had to say about Sequence: The 19th poetry title by the former Griffin Poetry Prize winner and one of the country’s most revered living poets, Sequence offers a haunting world of intense observation. Built as one long poem, …