Black Moss Press

You can tell that a book of poetry is important when the hall in which it’s launched is packed to capacity ten minutes before the reading is even scheduled to start. – Windsor Review

Read the Windsor Review account of the launch of Mary Ann Mulhern’s When Angels Weep, a collection of poems that outline the abuses of Father Charles Sylvestre, a priest who had been bounced around Southwestern Ontario, abusing little girls at every stop, moving whenever the local authorities became suspicious. He had been victimizing children for decades before finally being turned over to police. He was found guilty of 47 counts of sexual assault, spending his last few days in a jail cell, dying alone in prison.

Black Moss Publisher Marty Gervais is interviewed on Heart of a Poet. See the trailer on YouTube.

Get 64 pages of great poetry at a great price – $10 with books in our new 64/10 series. We are launching the series with books by two award-winning Canadian authors Laurence Hutchman and John B. Lee.  

When Angels Weep deals with one of the most damaging and controversial issues facing the Roman Catholic Church and the largest settlement for sexual abuse in Canada’s history. The book, written by a former nun

Mary Ann Mulhern, tells the stories of four victims of the late Father Charles Sylvestre, who was found guilty of 47 counts of sexual abuse over a 40-year period in churches in Chatham, London, Sarnia and Windsor. He died in prison serving a three-year sentence.The book chronicles the abuse and the ways it has affected these four women into adulthood, giving them a voice as they speak out against what they experienced. Their stories are similar to those of many other victims who spoke to the author but are unable to come forward and share their experiences publicly. We are donating 10 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of Mary Ann’s book to a charity established for the prevention of sexual abuse of minors.

Black Moss writers were invited to Louisville to read at the Jazz Club. These included Br. Paul Qenon of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Marty Gervais, Marilyn Gear Pilling , Mary Ann Mlhern and John B. Lee.

Jon Flieger won the Souwesto Chapbook Contest sponsored by the Windsor Review Magazine and Black Moss Press. He reads his new book, Never Sleep With Anyone From Windsor, at a launch at Pause Cafe in Windsor in the spring 2007. 

For the third consecutive year, Black Moss Authors read in Paris to overflow audiences at Shakespeare and Company, the renowned English language bookstore on the left bank. This time, Marty Gervais, publisher of Black Moss Press, took with him a group of writing students from the University of Windsor. Accompanying him, too, were John B. Lee, a poet from Brantford, Ontario, and Susan McMaster, a writer from Ottawa. 

Black Moss authors have read their work to standing room only crowds at Shakespeare & Company, the renowned English bookstore on the left bank in Paris. Plans are underway to make this annual tour. On this trip made in 2005,  the authors Roger Bell, John B. Lee, Carlinda D’Alimonte, Emmanuelle Vivier, Marilyn Gear Pilling and Mary Ann Mulhern accompanied Marty  Gervais, Black Moss publisher to Paris.