David W. McFadden's Collected Long Poems

In 2007, I had the thrill and honour of editing Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden for Insomniac Press. There I was, working on a Selected with the guy whose poetry changed it all for me when I stumbled on one of his books in a library at around age 15. Why Are You So Sad? was shortlisted for the Canadian Griffin Prize for Poetry.

Then in 2008, it was just as exciting working with Dave on a new collection of sonnets for Mansfield Press, where I'm the poetry editor. The book was brilliantly titled Be Calm, Honey. It got shortlisted for a Governor General's Award, McFadden's third such nod.

This past year I worked with Dave on the companion volume to the Insomniac Seletected. This one is called Why Are You So Long and Sweet? Collected Long Poems of David W. McFadden. It's a brilliant, insane, eclectic book. And, as with the previous two books, I learned a huge amount working with Dave, watching his revisions to poems he wrote years ago.

Here's the cover, featuring a very young Dave (photo by his father, William).



The book launches in Toronto on May 11, at the Magpie.

I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to work with my Canadian poetry hero three times. So far.

Over and out.