As a child, Micheline Maylor moved into a farmhouse that had belonged to the uncle of Canadian poet Raymond Knister. Growing up, she was surrounded with rumours and stories surrounding Knister’s life and, as an adult, she decided to dig up more details.
    Knister drowned in Lake Saint Clair in 1932 while on vacation with his wife, Myrtle Grace, and their young daughter. His wife claimed that he’d been boating by himself, fallen into the lake, become tangled in weeds and drown. The 1949 publication of Collected Poems of Raymond Knister complicated the story, however, with a preface by Dorothy Livesay claiming that Knister had committed suicide because he was hopelessly in love with her.
    “I got caught up in the different perspectives on his death,” says Maylor. She began to write poems in three different voices: those of Raymond, Myrtle and Dorothy. “They all sound very different; Livesay has a quickness and sharpness to her voice, while Raymond is more steady and long. Myrtle was very much a blank slate for me, because there wasn’t a lot of literature surrounding her, just a few journals.”
    Maylor’s first collection of poetry, Full Depth: The Raymond Knister Poems, was recently published by Wolsak and Wynn, and she has her official Calgary launch at McNally Robinson on August 9, 7:00 pm, accompanied by fellow W&W author Richard Harrison.
    My time as the flywheel reading series’ curator is done, and it’s time to celebrate the changing of the guard! All of flywheel’s past curators – me, Christopher Blais and ryan fitzpatrick – join the new team – Emily Elder, Bronwyn Haslam and Natalie Zina Walschots – for a jam-packed evening of innovative poetry and prose. Prizes, beer and Chris Blais in a dress – what more could you want? Join us at McNally Robinson on August 2, 7:00 pm.
    Prairie grain elevators are quickly becoming a rare sight, but Joshua Soles keeps the memory of these rural skyscrapers alive in Changing Horizons: Grain Elevators of Alberta, a photographic archive of these proud structures. He shares his work at McNally Robinson on August 3 at noon.
    Isn’t it a pain when you’re reading your dictionary, looking for a good time, and come across a mood-killing word like “disembowel”? Phil Minaar has your answer: The Positive Dictionary, which only collects words with positive connotations. Come learn the softer side of “abolish” at McNally Robinson on August 4 at noon.
    WordFest has managed to snag Jane Urquhart for this year’s festival, as the 2007 Banff Distinguished Author. Urquhart is the internationally-acclaimed author of six novels, including The Whirlpool, Away and The Stone Carvers. Watch for her at WordFest 2007, October 9 to 14.
    Attention, writers of speculative fiction! EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing wants submissions for Tesseracts Twelve, the latest volume of its popular anthology series. The publisher is looking for longer stories, 10,000 to 20,000 words, in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror – y’know, speculative stuff. The submission deadline is February 1, 2008. Full details can be found at www.lostpages.net/t12.
    Single Onion needs more Onions. If you’d like to help steer Calgary’s longest-running reading series, e-mail Kirk Miles at kmiles@nucleus.com.