Agnes Walsh Publishes Book Of Plays

Answer Me Home: Plays from Tramore Theatre (Breakwater Books, 2011) is a collection of plays written by Agnes Walsh. Tramore was founded in 1999 by Walsh and Arlene Morrisey, to promote the oral history and cultural traditions of the Cape Shore, Newfoundland.

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Rattling Books has two audio book collections of poetry by Agnes Walsh. Going Around with Bachelors is an MP3 download, available courtesy of Brick Books and the author (click here for more information, and to listen to an excerpt). In the Old Country of My Heart is available as an audio CD and an MP3 download (click here).

Canadian audiobooks produced by Rattling Books in Newfoundland and Labrador

Agnes Walsh Writes and Directs New Tramore Productions Play

Poet and playwright Agnes Walsh's new play, "Come Here Til I Tells Ya," will debut on July 24 at the Cuslett Arts Centre, in Cuslett, on the Cape Shore of Newfoundland. Read more about the play or about Tramore Productions.

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Agnes Walsh's poetry collections, In the Old Country of My Heart and Going Around with Bachelors, are available in audio format from rattlingbooks.com.

Canadian audiobooks produced by Rattling Books in Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Site: Agnes Walsh

Agnes Walsh was raised in Placentia, on the west side of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. She now divides her time between St. John's and Patrick's Cove, around the Cape Shore from Placentia, not far from the gannet sanctuary at Cape St. Mary's. She has published poetry in several magazines and anthologies and, recently, on the buses of St. John's. Her first book of poems is In the Old Country of My Heart, published by Killick Press of St. John's in 1996. Time Before Thought, her autobiographical collaboration with Mercedes Barry and Andy Jones, appears in Stars in the sky morning: Collective Plays of Newfoundland and Labrador, edited by Helen Peters...

To read the rest of this entry by writer and editor Stan Dragland, please click here.

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Agnes Walsh is the author of two collections of poetry, In the Old Country of My Heart and, most recently, Going Around with Bachelors. Both are available as downloadable MP3s (read by the author) from Rattling Books.

Canadian audiobooks produced by Rattling Books in Newfoundland and Labrador

Agnes Walsh Nominated for Prestigious Canadian Poetry Prize

Poets shortlisted for two national prizes; National Poetry Month kicks off
from the Canadian Press

TORONTO — Writers making the short lists for two national poetry prizes were announced Tuesday at a launch event for National Poetry Month.

In the running for the $1,000 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for a first book of poetry: "Radius of Light," by Joshua Auerbach; "Making Bones Walk," by Alex Boyd; "Wolf Tree," by Alison Calder; "Contrary Infatuations," by Dymphny Dronyk; "Ride Backwards on Dragon," by Kim Goldberg; and "The Sweet Fuels," by Erin Knight.
The $1,000 Pat Lowther Award for a book of poetry by a Canadian woman: "Wolf Tree," by Alison Calder; "The Crooked Good," by Louise Bernice Halfe; "Two Hemispheres," by Nadine McInnis; "Shell," by Olive Senior; "Quick," by Anne Simpson; and "Going Around With Bachelors," by Agnes Walsh.
The winners will be announced June 21 in St. John's, N.L.
National Poetry Month, established by the League of Canadian Poets in 1998, brings together schools, publishers, booksellers and other groups to celebrate poetry.

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Going Around with Bachelors (as well as Agnes' first collection, In the Old Country of My Heart) is available as an audiobook from Rattling Books.

Agnes Walsh Reading in Regina

from The Leader-Post

Five Canadian poets laureate will be reading from their works Wednesday in the Student Commons of Campion College at the University of Regina.

The poets laureate are Robert Currie, Louise B. Halfe, Lorri Neilson Glenn, Agnes Walsh and Glen Sorestad.

The event, which is to begin at 4 p.m., is open to the public and everyone is welcome. Admission is free.

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Going Around with Bachelors by Agnes Walsh, published by Brick Books, is available as a digital download on the Rattling Books website (the print version can be found on Brick's website). Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart, is available as an audio book from Rattling Books.

Brick Books Update on Agnes Walsh's Tour

Coast to Coast to Coast: On the Road with Two Poets Laureate

Poets Laureate Agnes Walsh (St. John's, Newfoundland) and Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Halifax, Nova Scotia) started out in Edmonton (January 21) reading with Alice Major and Ted Blodgett, the city's first and current Poets Laureate respectively. From there the poets made their way to Yellowknife (January 23 & 24), Whitehorse (January 25 & 26), Salt Spring Island (January 29) to read with local poet Christine Smart, and Victoria (January 30) where they appeared with that city's Poet Laureate Carla Funk. They were very well received in all the cities and led a workshop in Yellowknife and Whitehorse as well as reading from their own work.

In March they are back on the road again with stops in Regina (March 5) and Saskatoon (March 6) where they will read with current Saskatchewan Poet Laureate Robert Currie as well as past Poets Laureate Glen Sorestad and Louise Halfe. In Toronto (March 10) Neilsen Glenn and Walsh will read with the city's current Poet Laureate Pier Giorgio Di Cicco and will be joined by Poets Laureate Liz Zetlin of Owen Sound and John B. Lee of Brantford. In Ottawa (March 11) the poets will read at the Tree Reading Series.

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Going Around with Bachelors by Agnes Walsh, published by Brick Books, is available as a digital download on the Rattling Books website (the print version can be found on Brick's website). Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart, is available as an audio book from Rattling Books.

Article on Agnes Walsh in The Edmonton Journal

Literary Previewfrom The Edmonton Journal
By Richard Helm

EDMONTON -- Some people will try to tell you that poetry is seizing the public mind these days like never before, that rhythm and rhyme somehow illuminate these querulous times.
Agnes Walsh holds no such illusions. She agrees that poetry is an "excited language," as it's been described by writer John Steffler, but she knows it's a language that only a minority of us will ever choose to speak.
"To me poetry has always been a special kind of thing, and by that I certainly don't mean elite. But it's a rare kind of bird," says Walsh, the inaugural poet laureate for St. John's, N.L.
"You can put poetry on the buses and all that, and it's going to catch the eyes of people, but I don't think it's ever going to be anything more than what it is."
Just what it is should be on grand display at Catalyst Theatre tonight when Walsh and her barnstorming companion, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, team up for a night of readings with local poets Ted Blodgett and Alice Major, Edmonton's current and past poets laureate, respectively. The four are part of a growing club across the land. There are now 19 poets laureate in Canada, including the parliamentary poet laureate, provincial laureates and municipal laureates like Walsh and Neilsen Glenn, the official bard for Halifax...

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

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Going Around with Bachelors by Agnes Walsh, published by Brick Books, is available as a digital download on the Rattling Books website (the print version can be found on Brick's website). Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart, is available as an audio book from Rattling Books.

Agnes Walsh Nominated for Book Award

Agnes Walsh's second poetry collection, Going Around with Bachelors, has been nominated for the 20th annual Lambda Literary Award for poetry.

The Lambda Literary Foundation is America’s leading organization for LGBT literature. Their mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians – the whole literary community."

"Lambda Literary Awards are presented in twenty-one categories . In determining whether a book should be nominated, consider that the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on the quality of the writing and the LGBT content of the work. The sexual orientation of the author is secondary."

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Going Around with Bachelors, published by Brick Books, is available as a digital download on the Rattling Books website (the print version can be found on Brick's website). Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart, is available as an audio book from Rattling Books.

Hynes, Walsh and Winter at Word Fest

Rattling Books Authors Infiltrate Word Fest

Three Rattling Books authors will form the Newfoundland contingent at this year's Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival. Joel Thomas Hynes, Agnes Walsh and Michael Winter will be appearing at the Word Fest 2007. For a listing of all featured authors, please follow this link. For a complete festival event listing, click here.

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from Rattling Books:

The unabridged audio edition of Down to the Dirt, Joel Thomas Hynes' award winning first novel, is narrated by Joel Thomas Hynes, Sherry White and Jonny Harris; Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart is narrated by the author and features ballads sung by Simone Savard-Walsh and pump organ music by George Morgan; Michael Winter's acclaimed novel, The Big Why, is currently available for pre-purchase at a 30% discount and is narrated by Robert Joy.

Launch of Agnes Walsh's New Poetry Collection

Review of Going Around with Bachelors from the StarPhoenix, Saturday, June 02, 2007

Going Around with Bachelors Poetry Launch

Brick Books invites you to the launch of Going Around with Bachelors, Agnes Walsh's second poetry collection. The launch will take place at the Emma Butler Gallery, 111 George Street West, on Thursday, June 7 from 5:00-7:00 pm. Refreshments will be served.
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Going Around with Bachelors was published by Brick Books in 2007.

The unabridged audio edition of Agnes Walsh's first poetry collection, In the Old Country of My Heart, narrated by Agnes Walsh with unaccompanied ballads by Simone Savard-Walsh and pump organ interludes by George Morgan, is available here from rattlingbooks.com

Love Songs at the Ballad Session: February 22, Crow's Nest, St. John's, Newfoundland

Join Anita Best et alia

this THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 at 8 p.m.

at

THE CROW’S NEST BETWEEN WATER AND DUCKWORTH, St. John's, Newfoundland where like every place else, Love is often Lost but may be Found again and between the two, a trail of ballads.

Come along and sing a song or just sit with your pint and listen. If you don’t want to sing, you can recite. Anything goes!

A small donation is requested to cover the costs of renting the space.

Hosted by Linda Byrne, Eleanor Dawson and Anita Best

To get in the mood, listen here to Simone Savard-Walsh singing the ballad ( Fair Fannie Moore). This recording of Simone comes from the Rattling Books poetry CD by Agnes Walsh In the Old Country of My Heart.

When I Married Halldór Laxness, a poem by Agnes Walsh

When I Married Halldór Laxness
(for Sam B.)

I watched the froth go down and the yellow liquid rise to meet it. I twisted the glass around and it tipped over and spilled on his arthritic knee. I looked to the side and didn’t apologize. His beautiful bony fingers flicked off the foam in separate particles as if it was incidental lint he had finally noticed.

The decision is yours now.
He rubbed the liquid into his pant leg. I sighed. Either decision I make will kill something.

And so, you want to hang in this ether land forever?
Yes.

And if I pulled your hair?
And if I scalded your mouth?
And if I made a teepee of birch billets with you in the centre?

Look at me.
No.
He went away.

Next night the phone rang.
I’ll meet you at Glacier and First Point. You must be exact.
I’ll be there for three evenings.
For three nights I wore myself ragged but couldn’t find where.

Friday evening the doorbell rang. He handed me two books by Aksel Sandemose. I put my fingers exactly where his warm fingerprints still lingered on the top book and closed the door. I read and waited.

(There was a tidal wave and a woman went from window to window with a candle in her hand as her house floated out the bay. They rescued her in St. Lawrence.)

When you are ready, if ever, light your own candle.
Two years later, my hand shook as I held the match. His hair had
 greyed around the temples and he crippled shyly.

Five years later, two babies look hauntingly like him. He is chopping wood in the backyard. He stops.

Look at me. I fooled you years ago. Glacier is in Iceland and I tore out all the pages where it was written in that book. Do you regret that we called the babies Abstract and Zero? Come feel Aunt Hilda and Didymus under my fingernails.
His gentle laugh ripped the night sky, and I got pregnant again.

This poem is from the collection In the Old Country of My Heart written and read by Agnes Walsh.  The audiobook recording was produced by Rattling Books in Newfoundland.  The author's reading was recorded in the church in Patrick's Cove.