31.12.17

Greg's 2017 Roundup

Hello, friends! It's that time of the year again where I emerge from the darkness and return to post on this trusty blog.

Now I know I don't regularly post here anymore. That does make me a little bit sad, so I'm hoping to change that in 2018! It might not be every week, but here's to making a return to the blogosphere!

In the meantime, you can still follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook (here and here), and on Instagram

So, in this spirit, I would like to continue the tradition of writing up a roundup of what I've been up to in 2017 and my End of the Year Reading List. I can sometimes forget to count my blessings, so writing a list like this is a good way to remember all the things I am grateful for.

I'm still hard at work on my manuscript-in-progress devoted to the life and work of Beaver Hall Group member, Anne Savage, but I'm happy to say that I'm in the piecing the manuscript together stage and starting to send pieces from it out to journals and contests.

I continued to lead various workshops around Montreal, partnering with Blue Metropolis' Quebec Roots project for the first time, as well as continuing to work with VSEAL, Vallum Magazine's Outreach Program. I also became a mentor through the Montreal-based arts mentorship startup, Mentorly. If you or someone you know who could benefit from a writing mentor through one-on-one online sessions, check out my profile here.

I taught Imaginative Poetry Writing at the Thomas More Institute this past fall, inspired by my experiences learning under the late Paul Violi in New York at Columbia University and at The New School. It's been my dream to develop this course and it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've ever had as a teacher!

Looking forward to 2018, I'm teaching Basic Essay Writing at the Thomas More Institute again this winter, and I have several projects lined up, including a very special one in partnership with Container (stay tuned for more details on that soon)!

I am particularly thrilled that my forthcoming poetry collection, Blackbirds, is being published as a pamphlet in Spring 2018 through London-based, Eyewear Publishing! I'm planning on making my way to England for the launch, so stay tuned for more event details soon!

Oh, of course, I can't forget that my dear daughter, Rosemary, is also a published poet now, too! Her poem "Candy Bandits", written when she was six, appears in the 2018 Rattle Young Poets Anthology! We're so so proud of her!

I am, indeed, grateful and thankful for so many things this year:

Selected Publications, Readings, Podcasts, and Miscellaneous from 2017

Inventions: Lullaby of Wordland, Le Cagibi, Montreal, January 26, 2017

"The Protest", Fallujah, February 6, 2017

Featured on "A Recommended Reading List For Trump's America", The Rumpus, February 8, 2017

"Our Blood Spans Continents", Low Word, February 17, 2017

Profile on Greg Santos by Mikayla Castello, a publishing student at Centennial College in Toronto, March 6, 2017

A featured reader, Visual Arts Centre Reading Series, Montreal, May 16, 2017

A featured reader, Joseph Sherman Memorial Reading for new League of Canadian Poets Members, Toronto, June 11, 2017

A featured reader, The Words and Music Show, Case del Popolo, Montreal, June 25, 2017

Anita Anand & Greg Santos, Episode 8, Inside the Frozen Mammoth Podcast, September 12, 2017

A featured reader, Slackline Creative Arts Series, Burdock, Toronto, September 24, 2017

Four poems, including "The Bridge" and "November 10, 2016" featured in the AmeriCanadian issue Matrix Magazine, September, 2017

Host for carte blanche issue 31 launch, Resonance Cafe, Montreal, October 25, 2017

AELAQ Holiday Pop-Up Book Fair, Le Monument National, Montreal, November 26, 2017

"Parents, Finish These Sentences", The Feathertale Review, Issue 20, December, 2017

Books I read in 2017 that I thoroughly enjoyed, and would recommend you read, too!

Why Poetry, Matthew Zapruder
The Hatred of Poetry, Ben Lerner
Behold Things Beautiful, Cora Siré
How Do I Look?, Sennah Yee
even this page is white, Vivek Shraya
First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung
Lady Crawford, Julie Cameron Gray
Flightpaths: The Amelia Earhart Poems, Heidi Greco
The Mechanics of a Gaze, Branka Petrovic
Panicle, Gillian Sze
Shenzheners, Xue Yiwei

Books on my to-read list for 2018!

Bicycle Thieves, Mary di Michele
The Original Face, Guillaume Morissette
Cheer Up, Jay Ritchie, Jay Ritchie
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and The Lonely Hearts Hotel, Heather O'Neill
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Sanders
Swing Time, Zadie Smith
Sour Heart, Jenny Zhang

What did you enjoy reading this year? What's on your to-read list for next year?

Thanks for reading and best wishes for 2018, friends!

-- GS

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