New Releases
And the river, too
The river defines us. This book of photography by City of Windsor Poet Laureate Emeritus Marty Gervais and poems from poets laureate across Canada, explore what it’s like to live on the South Shore of the Detroit River. This is Windsor. This is our song, or album, or journal, our way of seeing the world that sets us apart from the rest of the country.
The river defines us. This book of photography by City of Windsor Poet Laureate Emeritus Marty Gervais and poems from poets laureate across Canada, explore what it’s like to live on the South Shore of the Detroit River. This is Windsor. This is our song, or album, or journal, our way of seeing the world that sets us apart from the rest of the country.$26.00
Claudio D’Andrea
Claudio D’AndreaStories in the Key of Song is a mix of literary styles and subject matter, ranging from realistic portrayals of characters to horror, surrealism to meta fiction. The stories have been written over the past 10 years and D’Andrea says just as he appreciates a variety of styles in listening to music and playing the drums, he wanted to dabble in different writing approaches.
$24.95
What Time Can’t Touch
A Love Letter to Amherstburg
A Love Letter to AmherstburgAmherstburg is a town absolutely brimming with life and love. It’s in every little shop on every little street. It’s in every voice that calls a friendly “Hello!” as you pass. This collection of poetry is for a town just minutes away from Windsor, but entirely its own. Experience the stories and voices that echo through the walls of each building and the love of each generation – the tales that not even time can touch.
$24.95
Where The Map Begins
Celebrating the city of Windsor
Celebrating the city of Windsor“The lines of these poems urge us to look at ourselves. This is our story, mapped in the patterns of roads, houses, and storefronts that reach out from the river.” ~ Marty Gervais, Windsor’s Poet Laureate Emeritus
“Where The Map Begins offers a unique tour of an exquisitely storied city. Each poem reads like a love letter to a shared moment in time.” ~ Teajai Travis, Windsor’s multicultural storyteller
Featuring poems from: Peter James Billing, Kalie Chapman, Ellie Csepregi, Peter Hastovce, Chidera Ikewibe, Karl Jirgins, Lenore Langs, Dan Macdonald, Irene Moore Davis, André Narbonne, Serafina Piasentin, Laurie Smith, Jovan Stefanov, Lana Talbot
World of Difference
By Sudbury’s first poet laureate Roger Nash
Sudbury’s first poet laureate, Roger Nash, in this new book wrestles with the big issues of the day including what we are doing to our environment. But the language isn’t political, isn’t contentious. Instead, it seeks to move the reader to paying attention, finding ways to recognize the inherent beauty in the world around us. As the renowned poet and critic Bruce Meyer says, “Roger Nash is more than a poet of whimsy. His eye for delicate detail and beauty, coupled with a natural gift for insight, synthesis, and deep understanding, transform the poems … from mere records of life into penetrating statements on the human condition.” His language, too, is “celebratory, intimate, elegiac – and challenging,” says Ottawa poet Susan McMaster.
Grounded
Susan McMaster
Ottawa poet Susan McMaster, according to Anna Yin, Mississauga’s inaugural Poet Laureate, is one who paints the world around her with vivid and lively images that betray the wisdom from birds, plants and family members. “Home is where love resides…and Susan hums music from sun and moon, from masked life and mused dreams.” And as you venture into this newest collection, readers will find that wisdom of a poet whose lifetime has been spent in careful poetic attention to the smallest and most meaningful moments around her, what she views as the foundational elements that keep us grounded yet alive.
In The Middle Space
A marriage of Windsor’s public art and poetry
Thirteen authors from various backgrounds all come together to celebrate Windsor’s public art by sharing their stories in poetry In The Middle Space.
“This anthology is a marriage of public art and poetry – in essence, living art,” says Marty Gervais, Windsor’s poet laureate emeritus.
André Narbonne’s Lucien & Olivia longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The debut novel from marine-engineer-turned-English-Professor André Narbonne has been long-listed for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Lucien and Olivia is a comic statement on the beautiful waywardness of life. Built on scenes of discovery and error, the novel satirizes the transactional view of human relations that has elbowed its way into our lives by way of contemporary political discourse.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize highlights the best of Canadian fiction. Lucien and Oliver was one of 14 selected from 138 books read by the jury.
Recent Releases
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Our authors tell the stories of the people, places, events and passions that are important to Canadians. In the process, they make literature and narrative poetry accessible and relevant.
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Recent & Notable
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Something Else
From God’s Angle
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Little Miracles
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The Mission
Grace of Falling Stars
Profiles & Insights
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We bring literature to life
Hockey arenas… factory floors… city buses…
Black Moss and our authors make Canadian literature and poetry a part of everyday life, bringing new perspectives and ways of looking at day-to-day life and reaching out to audiences in unexpected ways.
Black Moss launches an exploration of a way of life that has disappeared, what we are losing and what we have lost.Although I despise the word “lifestyle” the connection between agriculture and the wilderness, cultivation and culture, are very relevant and there is an entire way of life vanishing.
The ironic parallel for me as a writer is the disappearance of poetry in the life of the people. Once upon a time, when education was committed to the making of a well-rounded, fully engaged mind, my Uncle John, a shepherd who could quote Virgil and Shakespeare, is now gone. Even the educated classes don’t seem to realize the importance of the contemplative, slow thinking, lingering and deepening experience, and the entertainment of agitprop performance pieces. – John B. Lee
Black Moss uses narrative literature and poetry to chronicle the events, lives and experiences unique and important to Canadians. The Family Farm is one of the first three of these themed explorations that can be found in Poetry in Life on this site.
News & Events
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Stories in the Key of Song: Book Launch
Black Moss Press is proud to present "Stories in the Key of Song", Claudio D'Andrea's debut work of short fiction. Please join us Thursday Sept 12th at 7PM, at the Caboto Club, to launch this amazing collection of stories.
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Spin-Off Event: What Time Can’t Touch Amherstburg Launch
If you're not familiar with the publishing practicum class at the University of Windsor, it's an excellent class led by Marty Gervais in which students publish a book themselves and launch it at the end of term. The University of
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Book Launch: Where the Map Begins & What Time Can’t Touch
Date and time Tuesday, April 2 · 7 - 10pm EDT Location Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre 3277 Sandwich Street #W Windsor, ON N9C 1A9 Agenda 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Book Launch and Dramatic Reading Performance 9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Meet and Great with Authors The evening will feauture notable guest speakers, a
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In the Writers’ Room: Salon & Workshop
Join us In the Writer's Room for Poetry, Prose, Writing, & Conversation with John B. Lee, Kim Conklin, & Michael Mirolla. Hosted by Marty Gervais, Poet Laureate Emeritus for the City of Windsor, Sunday April 23rd, starting at 3pm, at
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Tea & Poetry: In the Middle Space
Celebrate poetry month with Tea & Poetry at River Bookshop’s Hole in the Wall! Our host, Marty Gervais has invited four local authors to read from the newest Black Moss Press poetry collection, In the Middle Space. This anthology is
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Windsor lawyer Peter Hrastovec named Windsor’s new poet laureate
Windsor lawyer Peter Hrastovec has been chosen Windsor’s next poet laureate by the City of Windsor. He will serve in the position until 2027. Born in Windsor, the son of immigrants, Peter describes himself as a proud Canadian. The practising
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A Manor of Words – 10 years of Poetry at the Manor
This new anthology celebrates 10 years of Poetry at the Manor, the unique poetry event at Windsor's historic Willistead Manor. This anthology brings together the work of poets from across the country who have read to standing-room-only crowds in the
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Windsor’s Homecoming
Join us for our homecoming at the Windsor Club. Featuring SEVEN Black Moss Press authors in a night so fun we can't just call it a reading. This is going to be a Poetry Party! Mary Ann Mulhern Vanessa Shields Peter Hrastovec Laurie Smith Christopher
Thank you to the City of Windsor for its support and encouragement of our press and building community awareness of and support for Canadian literature in Windsor.
