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ABOUT THE EVENTPlease join us for the launch of Cameron Anstee’s first book of essays, Footnotes: Case Studies in Canadian Small Press Bookmaking (Palimpsest Press, 2026)
Where: The Book Arts Lab at Carleton University’s MacOdrum Library (main floor, past the elevators)
When: 6:00pm-8:30pm, Friday November 6, 2026.
What:
• A short reading by Cameron (no lecture, promise!)
• Guest readings by Jessica Bebenek and Christine McNair (subjects of essays in the book!)
• Rare small press books for you to handle (carefully!)
• Access to the Book Arts Lab (come see it for the first time, if you haven’t had the pleasure yet!)
• The opportunity to use a letterpress (really!)
• Copies of Footnotes and other books for sale (of course!)
ABOUT THE BOOK
In Footnotes: Case Studies in Canadian Small Press Bookmaking, Cameron Anstee takes a deep dive to look at small press book makers in Canada from the 1960s onwards. His essays are a tribute to the people who have found ways to make books—and to persist in making books—celebrating work that is all too often un- or underacknowledged. Footnotes is an act of recovery, of bibliographic recuperation; it makes the case for looking at how small press books are constructed as objects and as ideas, and at how readers are asked to engage with these book objects in a constantly shifting cultural landscape.
The subjects include: Nil Press and the Blue R Hand Press (Robert Rosewarne, Fran Jones, William Hawkins, Al Purdy, and Alden Nowlan), Seripress and presspresspress (Barbara Caruso and bpNichol), Turnstone Press (Robert Kroetsch and Eva Fritsch), above/ground press (Christine McNair and rob mclennan), Broken Dimanche Press and the Centre for Expanded Poetics (Jessica Bebenek), and KEYBOARDS! (Justin Million).
ABOUT THE READERS
Cameron Anstee is the author of two books of poetry—Sheets: Typewriter Works (Invisible Publishing, 2022) and Book of Annotations (Invisible Publishing, 2018)—one book of essays—Footnotes: Case Studies in Canadian Small Press Bookmaking (Palimpsest Press, 2026)—and the editor of The Collected Poems of William Hawkins (Chaudiere Books, 2015). He posts photos of small press books in his collection on Instagram (@smallpress_bookshelf) and his third book of poetry is forthcoming from Knife Fork Book in 2027. He is the editor and publisher of Apt. 9 Press and holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Ottawa.
Jessica Bebenek is an interdisciplinary poet, bookmaker, and educator living between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and an off-grid shack on unceded Anishinaabe territory. Her most recent chapbook is You Don’t Get Out Much (2024) & her debut full-length collection, No One Knows Us There (Book*hug, 2025), was shortlisted for two Quebec Writers’ Federation’s awards and named a Best Book of 2025 by the CBC. @notyrmuse www.jessicabebenek.art
Christine McNair is the author of two books of poetry and a hybrid poetic memoir, Toxemia (2024). Her work has been shortlisted for the Archibald Lampman award, the City of Ottawa book award, the Robert Kroetsch award for innovative poetry, the Relit award, the bp Nichol chapbook award, and the Warland award for mixed genre work. Her book Charm (2017) won the Archibald Lampman award. She works as a book doctor in Ottawa.
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Event venue
MacOdrum Library, 1125 Colonel By Drive,Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Tickets
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