“Perchance to dream,” JC’s poem in response to “Amy and the Queen” by Atlanta artist Debbie Walker-Lass, appears in the November 2022 issue of the online literary journal, THE LIGHT EKPHRASTIC.
Walker-Lass’s image “Cherish Togetherness Forever,” responds to JC’s found poem, “Recovery efforts,” written under her pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss. The five-line poem draws words unaltered from one day’s obituary articles and death notices in the Toronto GLOBE AND MAIL.
Here is the link to their collaboration: https://thelightekphrastic.com/walker-lass-sulzenko-november-2022/
“I am grateful to Editor Jenny O’Grady’s for her choice of the artist with whose work I could interact and for this opportunity to be published in November’s THE LIGHT EKPHRASTIC.
“I revel in writing ekphrastic poems, which gives me both freedom to take an image to heart and respond to it without any restrictions on how, but also demands I respect my partner artist’s original creation.
“Debbie and I chose not to discuss how we were approaching each other’s work while we were doing so. It is always a wonder to me when I first see the artist’s visual interpretation of my words. There is both suspense and mystery in the process.
“I thank Debbie Walker-Lass for this collaboration–a unique experience which resonates deeply.”
JC’s love for ekphrastic poetry isn’t new. She wrote for and curated poetry for the exhibition and chapbook Ekphrasis at Blizzmax Gallery, participated in the County CollAboRaTive exhibition and collector’s book, and co-authored a chapbook of collaborative ekphrastic poems, SLANT OF LIGHT, with Carol A. Stephen, with whom she has a full manuscript, BREATH OF SKY AND WATER, seeking a publisher.
Most recently, her cento “Repeatedly, now in a dream,” was a finalist in The Poets Corner’s Ekphrastic Pairings: poetry, paintings and photography event. Here’s a link to that November 13 program from Maine: https://www.thepoetscorner.org/events/ekphrastic-pairings . JC’s reading as A. Garnett Weiss appears at around the 35-minute mark.
The County Reads: JC Sulzenko Presented ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD April 18 in Picton
JC was delighted to be one of five debaters in this year’s The County Reads on April 18 in Picton, Prince Edward County.
On the eve of the Authors Festival, the in-person audience enjoyed hearing debaters argue why their Canadian book published during the last 5 years should be read by everyone in the County. The audience then voted via secret ballot and chose?
NOT JC’s selection, C.S. Richardson’s All the Colour in the World. “I chose to champion All the Colour in the World, a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize, because I couldn’t put it down. And it’s not a whodunnit,” JC explained. She suggested the book is not only a good story but is innovative in the way it uses facts and tidbits from history, the arts, science, culture and literature to illuminate and illustrate, to inform the story and its characters. And in the sensuous way it incorporates the colour palette.
Here’s a link to the event on the Prince Edward Public Library’s website to learn what books were promoted:
https://www.peclibrary.org/countyreads/
JC congratulated winning debater Ernie Margetson, whose title Where the Falcon Flies by Adam Shoalts, won the day. That author will read at the Picton Branch of the Library later in May.
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