The 35th Annual IFOA Festival is now underway! In 2006, IFOA introduced its travelling programme, IFOA Ontario, which brings IFOA literary events to numerous cities throughout Ontario, presented by a consortium of organizations across the province known collectively as Lit on Tour.
IFOA’s Poetry NOW winner Catherine Graham's fifth collection, Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects (Wolsak and Wynn), is a moving and passionate tribute to two deceased poets. Catherine will be joining authors Michael Crummey, Nick Cutter and Helen Humphreys on November 6th as part of IFOA Parry Sound in partnership with Parry Sound Books.
Today, Catherine speaks with Open Book about reading at IFOA for the first time, the place in Ontario that grounds her and putting on her "extrovert hat."
Open Book:
Tell us about what you’ll be reading at this year’s festival.
Catherine Graham:
I’ll be sharing poems from my most recent collection, Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects, deconstructed glosas inspired by two poets who, sadly, are no longer with us: the Canadian poet P. K. Page and the Irish poet Dorothy Molloy.
OB:
Have you attended IFOA in the past? If so, what is your favourite memory? If not, what are you most looking forward to?
CG:
My favourite IFOA memory is when I read there for the first time. The event was a tribute reading for Barbara Gowdy put on by Descant Magazine. Barbara was my first creative writing instructor and I read the piece I’d written for Descant about my experience, the impact she had on me when I attended her summer class at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (where I now teach). I was thrilled to be a part of that celebration.
OB:
Tell us about a favourite spot or area in Ontario.
CG:
There are many but two come to mind. The first is the water-filled quarry I grew up beside, an image that continues to feed my work. Unfortunately, I had to sell this property when I was a young university student after my parents’ untimely deaths. I haven’t seen the quarry in years but its impact on my imagination continues.
The other place is the Lake Huron town, Southampton. We used to cottage there as a family when I was a little girl. Whenever I go back there I am comforted by childhood memories. I’m taken back to a time when I had loving parents. Visits there ground me.
OB:
How do you manage the shift between being a solitary writer and a public reader? Is there a learning curve?
CG:
As an introvert and naturally shy person I have to put on my “extrovert hat” during readings. Practicing beforehand helps—what poems I’ll share and what order. Rather than think about “all eyes on me” I focus on the poems—the words and rhythms—and let them do the work. I’m told time and time again that I don’t look nervous so it seems I hide it well. Winning the IFOA’s Poetry NOW competition was a confidence booster too.
OB:
What is your favourite part about going on tour with a book?
CG:
Having listeners connect to my poetry.
OB:
What are you reading right now?
CG:
Instructors at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (where I teach) are offered a free course each year. I’m currently taking Ovid’s Metamorphoses: His “Garden of Delights.” I’ve read Ovid before (Tales of Ovid by Ted Hughes) but I haven’t read Metamorphoses from cover to cover. I love being immersed in his wickedly vivid transformations.
Catherine Graham is an award-winning instructor at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Winner of the IFOA’s Poetry NOW competition, her most recent collection, Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects, was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Poetry Award and the CAA Poetry Award. Her work is anthologized in The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol IV & V, The White Page / An Bhileog Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets and has appeared or is forthcoming in The Fiddlehead, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Ulster Tatler, The Humber Literary Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Prairie Fire and The Malahat Review. Visit: www.catherinegraham.com
For more information about Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects please visit the Wolsak and Wynn website.
Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
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