Freehand Books will be celebrating the Fredericton launch of Jesse Patrick Ferguson’s debut collection of poetry, Harmonics, on Thursday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Westminster Books (445 King Street). Jesse will read from and answer questions about his collection, and snacks and light refreshments will be served. This is a free event and open to the public.
Harmonics is an exciting addition to contemporary Canadian poetry, in which Ferguson brings music and poetry into conversation with each other. Modelled on the fundamental tones and overtones of the harmonic series, poems in Ferguson’s arrangement riff on one another, and words, phrases, and images resonate sympathetically, with all the energy and buzz of a firmly plucked mandolin string. In the words of Griffin Poetry Prize winner Anne Simpson, “[h]ere’s a poet who shows us how to put an ear to the world and listen.”
Ferguson was born and raised in Cornwall, Ontario. He holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Ottawa, and he currently resides in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he is a poetry editor for The Fiddlehead. He is the author of five poetry chapbooks: Near Cooper Marsh (Friday Circle, 2006), Old Rhythms (Pooka Press, 2006), Commute Poems (Thistle Bloom Books, 2006), catch a bird (above/ground, 2006) and phoney phonemics (No Press, 2007).
His work has appeared in prominent Canadian and international periodicals like Grain, Arc, The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, Magma Poetry (UK), Harper’sPoetry Magazine and , and he was a finalist for the 2009 CAA/BookTelevision Emerging Author Award. He is interested in folk music, and he plays several instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, violin, pennywhistle, bodhran, djembe and harmonica.
Freehand Books is based in Calgary, Alberta. Freehand was named the 2009 “Alberta Publisher of the Year” by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and was a finalist for the Canadian Bookseller’s Association 2009 Libris Award for Small Press Publisher of the Year. We publish a select list of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.
For more information or to arrange author interviews, please contact Sarah Ivany at sivany@broadviewpress.com or by telephone at 403.452.4662 / 587.777.5553. More information can also be found at www.freehand-books.com.
