October 20, 2009 Literary Arts

Fiorentino foiled again

Snare Books hooks up with Coach House Books to make book babies

by Jenn Hardy

Ian Goodman reads from his book of poetry, Generator. PHOTOS ROSE ATHENA

Sarah Dowling and Sina Queyras pose with Joy is So Exhausting and Prismatic Publics, respectively, at the Green Room.

For the third consecutive year, Montreal’s Snare Books and Toronto’s Coach House Books joined forces on what book launch host Jon Paul Fiorentino called the “cheap seats to a beautiful cultural exchange.”

On Oct. 18, Green Room on Saint-Laurent Boulevard set the stage for a double-trouble book launch. The venue was packed, all seats were taken and lots of floor space was used up by those left standing.

Writers who read excerpts for the crowd included David Derry, Sarah Dowling, Ian Christopher Goodman, Kate Hall and Sina Queyras.

A crowd favourite was the poem “Your First Timpani?” by Coach House Books’ Susan Holbrook. She read from her newly-published second collection of poetry, Joy Is So Exhausting.

Holbrook, who lives in Leamington, Ont., was introduced by Fiorentino as the woman who “put him in his place.” They were reading together at now-defunct Toronto series “lexiconjury,” when Holbrook upstaged funnyman Fiorentino.

“She opened my eyes to poetry that paid attention to the punch line,” he said later in an interview.

Holbrook set up the reading by telling the audience that the women would immediately understand her experimental poem, as would any man who was honest about what he used as bathroom literature.

“Number Two: Get into a comfortable Poseidon,” she read. “Most wimples either sit on the Toyota with knick-knacks apart, squat slightly with knitting needles bent, or stand with one football on the town clerk seep…”

If the above excerpt of this poem is not familiar, try comparing it alongside the instructions of the closest feminine hygiene product available.

“Foiled again,” Fiorentino exclaimed when Holbrook left the stage.

A very modest host indeed, Fiorentino had just been nominated for a Quebec Writer’s Federation High MacLenna Prize for fiction for his debut novel Stripmalling. He made no mention of his own nomination, but was quickly congratulated by audience members who shouted praise for “Jonny.” He later said he was shocked and appalled”—or maybe in “shock and awe”—of the nomination, recognizing that a comic novel may not always lend itself easily to a literary prize.

Stripmalling is illustrated by artist and Coach House publicist Evan Munday. Munday said his family was less than thrilled to see a Stripmalling character called “Evan Munday” appear in the book.

The character who shares his name—Evan Munday—is a young drug dealer who deals in the strip mall that character Jon works at. He is an aspiring cartoonist who isn’t the best of influences on Jon, getting him “really high” and seducing him. Towards the end of the book Munday becomes a Montreal escort. The real Munday said the book is a “highly fictionalized memoir.”

Fiorentino has had two poetry books published by Coach House and has a third on the way next year. Though his publishing company Snare Books has not been up and running for the same length as Coach House, he has hosted book launches with the Toronto company at Green Room for the last six years. It was three years ago that they decided to join forces.
He said it is very special—and perhaps unique—to a country like Canada, when two companies that should be rivals can come together in a spirit of community.