The Burning Alphabet by Barry Dempster
$12.00
Winner 2006 CAA Jack Chalmers Poetry Award.
Shortlisted 2005 Governor General’s Award for Poetry
Longlisted for the 2006 ReLit Awards
An unswerving dedication to emotional and spiritual honesty, clear-eyed recognitions rendered without pomp
8.75 x 5.5 Inches | 144 Pages
Publication Date: May 11, 2005
Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781894078429
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EPUB + PDF $12 |
The Burning Alphabet confirms and extends Barry Dempster’s reputation as one of Canada’s most respected poets. Underpinning these poems, as in his previous work, there lies an unswerving dedication to emotional and spiritual honesty, clear-eyed recognitions rendered without pomp. In one section, “Sick Days”, he focuses on that “other place” of chronic illness. Other poems present arguments against suicide, and explore the tropical wonders of a woman’s closet. The closing section renders, with great candour and poignancy, the powerful love-hate relationship with an aging father. Dempster writes as though it were simply natural to have speech and song cohabit with such grace.
Praise for The Burning Alphabet:
“In The Burning Alphabet, mood, with all its elaborate subtleties and manifestations, both in sickness and in health, constitutes a metaphysics. I feel as though I’ve lived an entire inner life in these pages, wrenching, dark, and amazingly sweet.” — Roo Borson
“Barry Dempster’s The Burning Alphabet is a skillful navigation and sometimes irreverent meditation on illness, loss and the transitory. It hums with honesty and unexpected delight.” — Jury Citation 2005 Governor General’s Award for Poetry
“Few if any poets encompass the range, the dynamism, and the spectrum of emotional colours Barry Dempster does. The Burning Alphabet bravely tackles such potentially demoralizing matters as chronic illness, the chasm between father and son, suburbia, and the gross derangements of our society with a combination of tender rambunctiousness, broad deep humour, and a fervent zest for the possibilities of language and for re-imagining life’s bewilderments that’s unparalleled. Barry Dempster creates word music that is both delightfully insightful and memorable.” — Jury Citation 2006 CAA Jack Chalmers Poetry Award
About the Author
Barry Dempster was born in Toronto, Ontario, and educated in child psychology. He is the author of two novels, a children’s book, three volumes of short stories and eighteen collections of poetry. He has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award twice; for his first book, Fables for Isolated Men, and for The Burning Alphabet, which won the Canadian Authors Association Award for poetry. From 1990 to 1997, he was Poetry and Reviews Editor for Poetry Canada. In 2010 and 2015, he was a finalist for the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and in 2014, he was nominated for the Trillium Award for his novel, The Outside World.
He has been on the faculty at The Banff Centre as mentor for the Writing Studio, Wired Writing and Writing with Style programs; has conducted master classes all across the country and as far away as Chile; and has been the Writer-in-Residence at the Richmond Hill Public Library twice. For years, he was also a Senior Acquisitions Editor with Brick Books.
His most recent books include Invisible Dogs, Tread & Other Stories and the soon to be published Being Here: the Chemistry of Startle from Frontenac House. Barry currently lives in the Greater Toronto Area with his wife, Karen.
Visit Barry’s website.
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