A reading by some of the contributors to “And Left a Place To Stand On“, an anthology of poetry and essays on Al Purdy. 100% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to the A-frame Trust to preserve Al Purdy’s A-Frame on Lake Roblin.
Readers include bill bissett, James Deahl, Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni, Katherine L. Gordon, Richard (Tai) Grove, Carol Malyon, Honey Novick, Jeff Seffinga, and Stan White. Sunday October 18 at 2:oo pm at Artword Artbar, 15 Colbourne Street, Hamilton ON.
Video by Henry Martinuk below of the bill bissett portion of the reading:
www.alpurdy.ca
So we built a house, my wife and I
our house at a backwater puddle of a lake
near Ameliasburg, Ont.
–Al Purdy €œIn Search of Owen Roblin€
And that A-frame house, made out of second-hand lumber and original poetry, became the most famous writer’s house in the country. Hundreds of writers and their housemates found their way to Roblin Lake to visit the Purdys and talk about poetry and history while downing beer or wild grape wine. Coleridge and his friends had their lake country, and now the Canadian poets would have theirs. A lot of poetry and prose came out of that hard-to-find place.
To prevent its second-hand wood from ending up on someone’s scrap heap, and with the blessing and support of Al’s widow, Eurithe Purdy, The Purdy A-frame project is raising funds to purchase and preserve the property, create an endowment and establish a poet-in-residence program.
Interview with Richard Grove in HMagazine about the anthology
