In this NBN episode, I speak with acclaimed poet Laurie D. Graham about her new book of poetry, Calling it Back to Me (McClelland & Stewart, 2026). Listen to the episode here: newbooksnetwork.com/calling-it-b... @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social @lauriedgraham.bsky.social #poetry
Laurie D. Graham
@lauriedgraham.bsky.social
https://linktr.ee/lauriedgraham
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I’m back in my old haunt of London, Ontario, to read with dear friends/poets/candidate for city council/revered chapbook publisher Tom Cull and Karen Schindler at Little Wren Books, a place I’m very excited to see for the first time. Hope you’ll join us!
Much thanks to Geoff Martin and the Creek Collective for putting together this event in celebration of Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice, published by @caitlinpress.bsky.social and edited by @yvonneblomerwrites.bsky.social, and for including me and my book in the festivities!
We had a brief paparazzi moment at the end of last night‘s reading! My enduring thanks to Kevin Irie and @staranise99.bsky.social and @ronnabloom.bsky.social, and to all who came yesterday during one of Toronto's so-far rare warm May evenings, came inside to listen to poetry.
Lovely to be with these poets!
Four poets. Barbara Tran @staranise99.bsky.social @palimpsestpress.bsky.social Laurie D. Graham @lauriedgraham.bsky.social Ronna Bloom @ronnabloom.bsky.social + Kevin Irie #KevinIrie @ualbertapress.bsky.social #earliertonight
On May 27 at Flying Books in Toronto, I'll be reading alongside three poets whose newest books I admire: @ronnabloom.bsky.social (In a Riptide, Brick Books), @staranise99.bsky.social (Precedented Parroting, @palimpsestpress.bsky.social), and Kevin Irie (Evacuations, @ualbertapress.bsky.social).
A one-reading-per-week routine thru May: Edmonton, Victoria, Kingston, Toronto, with admired writers—@lizjohnston.bsky.social, @njcullen.bsky.social, @staranise99.bsky.social & @ronnabloom.bsky.social—in wonderful bookstores (@audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social & @russellbooks.bsky.social). Will I see you?
This week at Take Cover Books in Peterborough, ON! Don't miss a triple book launch for @lizjohnston.bsky.social (The Fall-Down Effect), @jenniferlovegrove.bsky.social (The Tinder Sonnets), and @lauriedgraham.bsky.social (Calling It Back to Me). Thursday, April 30, 7pm. takecoverbooks.ca/events
We careen toward May, and I'm told it looks more like December in Edmonton, but I send this to all my people there: I'll be at @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social on May 9 to introduce my new book to its home, and I'm excited to share the afternoon with fellow poets Lisa Martin and Jaspreet Singh.
One week till I introduce my new book to Nogo/Ptbo, the place where these poems found their footing. Join @lizjohnston.bsky.social & @jenniferlovegrove.bsky.social and me as we celebrate our books together, the reading and the writing of them, at the beautiful Take Cover Books in East City.
Fellow @brickliterary.bsky.social editor @lizjohnston.bsky.social, fellow @uguelphcwmfa.bsky.social alum Aga Maksimowska, and I are all bringing out books this spring, and we’re hitting the road in joyous celebration. Looking so forward to spending time in Ottawa. Till Saturday, friends.
Through spring, I get to bring out Calling It Back to Me with friends and writers I admire. Here’s my next friendly April event, this Sunday afternoon with Rob Winger at the beloved, iconic @blueheronbooks—well worth the trip to Uxbridge, hopefully Sunday—will I see you?—but really any day.
"Pray for us in this hour of our scraping by, in this hour of our ice-cream cone in the car together." #TodaysPoem #poetry #NationalPoetryMonth from A Good Closing by @lauriedgraham.bsky.social from Calling It Back to Me (2026 McClelland & Stewart) www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/807189...
This is Calling It Back to Me’s release day, though the book, stacks of them (or boxes? how are they housed?) have been sitting in a warehouse (where?) for a month, and they've been trickling into this world with me in tow, into this present, this March, this reluctant, catastrophed spring.
I would like to share with you all the poems in the newest issue of @reviewcanada.bsky.social, from Jill Solnicki, Lara Chamoun, Y. S. Lee, and P. W. Jarungpiterah. I am so glad the LRC hosts poets.
Thank you for Sublime, @yvonneblomerwrites.bsky.social & @caitlinpress.bsky.social, and for Sweet Water and Refugium before this. Glad to share space with so many poets in these anthologies. Here, a few faves, from @thisisannick.bsky.social and others.
I have two Toronto sneak previews of Calling It Back to Me coming up next week, and this one is for my dear east-siders. I hope you’ll join Cori Howard, @elizabethruth.bsky.social, @elamin.bsky.social, and me at Queen Books on March 19.
wildroofjournal.substack.com/p/calling-it... Check out our new Substack post to preview Laurie D. Graham's forthcoming collection, Calling It Back to Me. In these searching, spare, and resonant poems trace the story of Graham's great-grandmothers’ lives before and after they left their homelands.
Calling It Back to Me: New poetry by Laurie D. Graham
Preview Calling It Back to Me, a clear-eyed witnessing of familial history from two-time Trillium Book Award finalist Laurie D. Graham
wildroofjournal.substack.com
Poets of Nogo/Ptbo! I hope you’ll come to Take Cover Books for the first in a series of workshops @laurairock.bsky.social is putting together. You bring an heirloom, a photo, a memory, a well-worn piece of lore. Our goal: to get closer to what’s not contained in it. (See link on bio for more.)
🌾 Calling It Back to Me 🌾 by Laurie D. Graham, forthcoming with McClelland & Stewart, March 24, 2026 Request a review copy: www.riverstreetwriting.com/join-river-s... #poetry
I’m thankful to Nancy Jo Cullen for inviting me to contribute to this special ecopoetics issue of @arcpoetry.bsky.social, letting me think through what the heck I do with my days. To find this lovely butterfly in the mailbox with the snow piled high all around.
"To understand that I am present here, that I am sensed, that the soil feels me, that the mourning dove knows my species better than I know its species" #TodaysPoem #poetry from Fast Commute by @lauriedgraham.bsky.social (2022 McClelland & Stewart) poetryinvoice.ca/read/poems/f...
Fast Commute | Poetry in Voice
Fast Commute by Laurie D. Graham The meteorologists are pleading with us to keep checking back through the storm, ice pellets making a carpet two, three inches thick, this pale beach we walk on, this ...
poetryinvoice.ca
Leaving home as inherited condition. Displacement as engine of industrial ag. Whatever became of my great-grandmothers. What they became when they landed here. What they thought or believed, couldn’t say, couldn’t do. Our present chews holes in shared memory. This will be my fourth book.
Long hiatus through the summer and fall, but another missive will reach you Friday morning. lauriedgraham.substack.com
Post #3 summarizing our survey of #literarymagazines in Canada. We found that while litmags contribute significantly to writers & literary publishing, they are working with very limited resources. The large majority in our survey have no full-time paid staff. Read the full report: litmags.ca/survey/
Post #2 highlighting results of our survey. #Litmags are a significant contribution to writing communities and the publishing industry in Canada. We estimate that litmags publish 3,000 to 4,000 authors/yr & pay $250,000 to $500,000 in contributor fees. See full report at litmags.ca
How do #litmags in Canada operate? How to they support writers & publishers? What challenges do they face? We asked these questions and more in our survey. Full results are here: litmags.ca/survey/. #publishing #literary #canada
Really glad to have a piece in the newest issue of @thenewquarterly.bsky.social, with @globalecochange.bsky.social, @ronnabloom.bsky.social, and many others. Thank you to Pamela Mulloy for inviting me to contribute. Thanks also to the juvenile squirrel for coming to pose for a photo.
Excited to talk shop next week with my fellow litmag editors. All info can be found on the #TWUC website: writersunion.ca/webinars/how...