We asked the seven MFA alumni publishing books this spring what they’re reading. Here’s what’s on Shane Neilson’s list:
“At the moment I'm trying to think through celebrity in poetry, so I'm reading Lorraine York's Literary Celebrity in Canada (UTP, 2007) and Margaret Atwood and The Labour of Literary Celebrity (UTP, 2013). Joel Deshaye's The Metaphor of Celebrity: Canadian Poetry and the Public, 1955-1980 (UTP, 2013) is helpful too. Outside of academic texts, for prose I'm reading Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness (Knopf, 2004) and Swing Low (Vintage, 2000) and for poetry I'm still in awe of Marc di Saverio's small book of haiku with Anstruther Press, Death Calls (2014). I want to maintain my hate for haiku, but my resolve is weakening when reading Marc's work.”
Shaving Off His Face, Shane’s new collection of poetry, was released on March 31 by Porcupine’s Quill.
He will be reading from the new book at the Cobourg Poetry Weekend on April 11. In Toronto, you can see Shane at the Pivot Reading Series on May 6, at The Steady at 8pm.