KAREN MAC CORMACK

Date of birth: 17 March 1956 (Luanshya, Zambia)
Citizenship: Canadian/British

EDUCATION
1961–73 England and Canada.
1974–75 Instituto Nacional de Belles Artes, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

PUBLICATIONS
Books
2003   Implexures, Chax Press/West House Books, Tucson/Sheffield, USA/UK

2003   Vanity Release, Zasterle Press, La Laguna, Tenerife.

2001   At Issue, Coach House Books, Toronto, Canada. 
           Fit To Print (with Alan Halsey), Coach House Books/West House Books, Toronto/Sheffield, Canada/UK.

1997    The Tongue Moves Talk, Chax Press/West House Books, Tucson, Hay-on-Wye, USA/UK.1995 Marine Snow, ECW Press, Toronto, Canada.

1991    Quirks & Quillets, Chax Press, Tucson.

1989    Quill Driver, Nightwood Editions, London, Canada.

1987    Straw Cupid, Nightwood Editions, Toronto, Canada.

Chap-books
2003    Nothing By Mouth (reprint), Book Thug, Toronto, Canada.

2002    From a Middle (with Steve McCaffery), housepress, Calgary, Canada.

2001    from Implexures, housepress, Calgary.

1998    Multiplex (with Ron Silliman), Wild Honey Press, Bray, Ireland.

1984    Nothing by Mouth, Underwhich Editions, Toronto.

Anthologies
2001 Vectors: New Poetics, Robert Archambeau, ed, Samizdat Editions, Lincoln,NE,USA.
2001 Poesia Do Mondo/3, Edições Afrontamento, Porto,Portugal.
1999 POGONE, POG and Chax Press, Tucson.
1998 Moving Borders (Three Decades of Innovative Writing by Women), Mary Margaret Sloan ed., Talisman House, Jersey City.
1996 Carnival: a Scream in High Park reader, Peter McPhee ed., Insomniac Press, Toronto, Canada.
1996 Out of Everywhere: Linguistically Innovative Poetry by Women in North America & the UK, Maggie O’Sullivan ed., Reality Street Editions, London, England.
1995 The Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative North American Poetry: 1993–1994 , Douglas Messerli ed., Sun & Moon Press, Los Angeles.
1995 The Last Word, Michael Holmes ed., Insomniac Press, Toronto, Canada.
1994 The Art of Practice: Forty-five Contemporary Poets, Peter Gannick, Dennis Barone eds., Potes & Poets Press, Elmwood.
1986 Into the Nightlife,. David Lee, Maureen Cochrane ed., Nightwood Editions, Toronto, Canada.

Journals
1977–2005 Writing published in journals and magazines in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, Norway, Sweden, UK, USA.

RECORDINGS/DVDS
2004    University of Maine New Writing Series, (30 min. video), interview and reading. Series curated by Steve Evans, (Interviewer/Producer).

2004    Nothing By Mouth 8 min. film (1984, director Annette Mangaard) based on three poems in Nothing By Mouth converted to DVD with new Mac Cormack voice-over and new music composed and recorded by Keir Brownstone.

1996    LINEbreak (Interviews and performance from the literary edge (audio cassette), 30 min,WBFO 88.7 NPR News & Jazz, Charles Bernstein (Interviewer/Co-producer), Martin Spinelli (Producer/ Director).

1989    Quill Driver (audio cassette), 40 min, Nightwood Editions, London, Ontario, Canada.

PUBLISHED INTERVIEWS, DIALOGUES & RADIO & TELEVISION INTERVIEWS
2003   Up for Air, 104.4 with Rob Holloway, Resonance Radio, London, England (22 Oct.)

2001    Daytime, Rogers Television, London, Ontario, Canada (31 Jan).

2001 phillytalk 19 (with Allen Fisher), (17 Oct) http://phillytalks.org

2000    Queen Street Quarterly (Vol. 3, No. 4, Winter 2000), “Interview with Karen Mac Cormack” (by Stephen Cain), 53–61.
Sources (no 8, printemps 2000), Université de Orléans, France “An Interview with Karen Mac Cormack and Steve McCaffery” (by Antoine Cazé), 28–47.
Frames of Mind, CHRW 94.7, with Andreas Gripp, London, Ontario, Canada, 4 December.

1987    In Other Words, CKLN 91.1, with Richard Truhlar, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2 January.

CD ROMS
Coach House Books Y2OK (1998), anthology, Coach House Books, Toronto.

GRANTS & AWARDS
2004 Canada Council Creative Writing Grant.
2003 Outreach Program, Canada Council (book launch travel grants).
2001 Toronto Art’s Council Writer’s Grant.
2001 Canadian Embassy Grant (Brussels).
2000 Canadian High Commission (London) Travel Grant.
2000 Canada Council Travel Grant.
2000 Canada Council Creative Writing Grant.
1999 Canada Council Travel Grant.
1997 Canada Council Travel Grant.
1997 Toronto Arts Council Writer’s Grant.
1992 Toronto Arts Council Writer’s Grant.
1991 Ontario Arts Council Works-in-Progress Grant.
1990 Toronto Arts Council Research & Development Grant.
1986–96 Writers’ Reserve, Ontario Arts Council.
1985 V Beyond the Ideo, Honourable Mention, Video Culture
International Competition, Performance Category, Toronto.

 
RESIDENCIES  
2002    Visiting Writer-in-Residence, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
2000-2001    Writer-in-Residence, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
2005     Another Language (Contemporary US-American Poetic Experiment in a Changing World), Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, Germany. 2002      L’application poétique, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
2002     Postmodernism in Practice Colloquium, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
2001      Poésie et Musique au XXe siècle, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
2000     Transgressing Boundaries and Strategies of Renewal in American Poetry , Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
2000     Language/Poetry/Performance, DeMonfort University, Leicester, England.
1999     Make it New (Again)Alternative Poetries 99, University College, Cork, Ireland.
1998     III Encontro Internacional de Poetas, Coimbra University, Coimbra, Portugal.
1997     Cambridge Conference of Contemporary Poetry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
1996     Assembling Alternatives (International Poetry Conference), University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire.
1995     Recovery of the Public World (Robin Blaser Conference), Institute of the Humanities, Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada
1994     The New Poetry in Canada and Elsewhere, International Poetry Conference, Institute of Canadian Studies, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands.

READINGS, GUEST LECTURESHIPS, SEMINARS, WRITING WORKSHOPS
2005
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada. John F. Kennedy Institut für Nordamerikastudien, Frei University Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universtität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

2004
New Works Studio, Toronto. York University, Toronto. State University of Maine, Orono, ME.
State University of New York at Buffalo, NY.

2003
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN.
York University, Toronto.
University of Arizona,Tucson, AZ.
Dinnerware Art Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
Small Publishers Fair, London, England.
Camden People’s Theatre, London, England.

2002
Poetic Research Series, Dawsons Book Shop, Los Angeles, CA. Lexiconjury Series, Toronto.
Ryerson Polytechnical University, Toronto.
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

2001
University of Western Ontario, London.
Université de Liège, Belgium.
Kelly Writers’ House, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
October Gallery, London, England.
University of Southampton, Southampton, England.
Institut d’Anglais (Paris VII), Paris, France.
Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France.

2000
York University, Toronto.
Universidad de Autonoma, Madrid, Spain.
Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
University of Western Ontario, London.
DeMonfort University, Leicester, England.

1999
Teachers and Writers Foundation, New York, NY.
Ryerson Polytechnical University, Toronto.
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
University College, Cork, Ireland.
Institut d’Anglais (Paris VII), Paris, France.

1998
University of Western Ontario, London.
Coimbra University, Coimbra, Portugal.
Cornershop, Buffalo, NY.
The Red Head Gallery, Toronto.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
Small Press Traffic, New College, San Francisco, CA.
Polytechnical University, Toronto.
One in the Other Gallery, London, England. 1997 University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA. Dinnerware Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
Sub-Voicive, London, England.
Sault Writers Group, Fireball Café, Sault Ste. Marie.
Algoma Writers Workshop, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie.

1996
Sub-Voicive, London, England.
University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire.
The Torpor Vigil Reading Series, Toronto.

1995
Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, BC.
Institute of the Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Cabaret Vert, A Space, Toronto.
The Rivoli, Toronto.
Hallwall’s Art Center, Buffalo, NY.
Guest lecturer, Ryerson Polytechnical University, Toronto.

1994
Scream in High Park, Toronto.

1993
New York State Writers Institute, SUNY Albany, NY.

1992
Exeter College, Oxford University, Oxford, England.
Writers’ Forum Workshop, London, England.
Sub-Voicive, London, England.
National Book Festival (Cabaret Vert), Toronto.
Central Park Grill, Buffalo, NY, USA.
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA.

1991
State University of New York at Buffalo, NY.
Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, BC.
Canessa Park, San Francisco, CA.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
University of California at San Diego, La Jolla.
Short Term Residency, Chax Press, Tucson, AZ.
Tucson High School, Tucson, AZ.
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ.
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

1990
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto.
Founders College, York University, North York.
SAW Gallery, Ottawa.
The Ear Inn, New York, NY.
Guest lecturer, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC.

1989
Sub-Voicive, London, England.
Archeus, Cambridge, England.
New River Project, London, England.
Central Arts Collective, Tucson, AZ.
Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.
Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, BC.
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
Installation Gallery, San Diego, CA.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA.

1988
Intersection Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
McGill University, Montreal, PQ.
Ryerson Polytechnical, Toronto.

1987
d’Aboukir Reading Series, Paris, France.
Cobourg Gallery, Vancouver, BC.
Food for Thought Bookstore, Ottawa.

1985
Dream Class Poetry Workshop, Central Collegiate, Toronto.
On the Fringe (International Authors Festival), Toronto.
Art Culture Resource Centre, Toronto.
The Cameron Public House, Toronto.

1984
The Music Gallery, Toronto.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Currently Adjunct Instructor, English Department, State University of New York at Buffalo (as of January 2005).

PUBLISHING
Advisor(as of 2001) North American Centre for Interdisciplinary Poetics, formerly at York University, Toronto, currently at SUNY Buffalo.

Advisory Editor (as of 2000) Centre Interdisciplinaire de Poétique

Appliquée, Université de Liège, Belgium.

Contributing Editor 2002–2004 Queen Street Quarterly, Toronto. 1989–1995 AVEC, Penngrove, CA, USA.

Juror 2005 Scribblers Prize, SUNY Buffalo.

2002 Miami University Literary Awards, Miami University, Oxford, OH.

1994 Ontario Arts Council (Works in Progress), Toronto.

Member/Juror 1991 Toronto Arts Council Literary Committee, Toronto.

Consultant 1992 York Lanes Press (Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, North York). Assessment and development of publishing business plan.

EDITING (selected)
Books
Artists Talk 1969–1977, ed. Peggy Gale, The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, 2004. (editorial advisor)

Timely Death (Considering Our Last Rights), Anne Mullens, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, Toronto, 1996.

Videotexts , Peggy Gale, The Power Plant/Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Toronto/Waterloo, 1995.

Wire Wars (Get Me Long-Distance) , Lawrence Surtees, Prentice Hall Canada, Scarborough, 1994.

Music/Sound 1948–1993 (The Michael Snow Project), Art Gallery of Ontario/The Power Plant, Toronto, 1994.

Dan Graham’s Kammerspiel, Jeff Wall, Art Metropole, Toronto, 1991.

North of Intention (Critical Writings 1973-86), Steve McCaffery, Roof Books/Nightwood Editions, New York/Toronto, 1986.

Catalogues /Monographs
Every Time/Tout le temps, Peggy Gale, Montréal Biennale, CIAC Montréal, 2000.

Rise and Fall , Jan Allen, Wayne Baerwaldt, Nancy Campbell, Agnes Etherington Art Centre/Plug In Inc./Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Kingston/Winnipeg/Guelph, 1996.

Perspective 95, Christina Ritchie, Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto, 1995.

Kiki Smith , Jessica Bradley, The Power Plant, Toronto, 1995.

Naked State— A Selected View of Toronto Art, Louise Dompierre, The Power Plant, Toronto, 1994.

Around Wavelength (The Michael Snow Project), Philip Monk, Art Gallery of Ontario/The Power Plant, Toronto, 1994.

Robin Collyer: Idioms of Resistance, Philip Monk, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1993.

Robert Fones, Robin Collyer CARAMBOLAGE Biennale der Partnerregionen 1, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, 1992, Philip Monk, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1992.

Urban Inscriptions, Michèle Thériault, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1991.

VIDEO
Consultant LIVING DUSTS (multidisciplinary), Steve McCaffery, Western Front Media Production, Vancouver, 1991, 3/4 in, colour, 40 min.

Producer V Beyond the Ideo (performance), Steve McCaffery, Underwhich, Toronto, 1984, 3/4 in, colour, 30 min.

Producer The Audio Corridor (documentary), Ian Lazarus, (with the support and assistance of Panasonic Canada), 1983, 3/4 in, colour, 30 min.

ARTS / PUBLISHING
ADMINISTRATION
Acting Managing Editor 1988 The Coach House Press, Toronto:

Assistant to Publisher 1984–87 Moos Publishing, Toronto.

Administrative Coordinator 1984–87 Gallery Moos, Toronto.

Self-employed Partnership 1976–84 Silkscreen print business, Toronto

PUBLISHED REVIEWS & CRITICAL ARTICLES
West Coast Line, Number Five (25/2) Fall 1991, review of Jeff Derksen’s Downtime, 135–137.

“Innovation’s Inventory (some starting points along the way),” hardPressed Poetry the journal, (Ireland) Issue 2, 1999, unpaginated.

 “Effet de cygnificants: le pli et la pratique interdisciplinaire,” Le Rossignol Instrumental (Poésie, Musique, Modernité), eds. Jean-Pierre Bertrand, Michel Delville, Christine Pagnoulle, (Leuven-Paris-Dudley, MA: Peeters Vrin, 2004, 139–150).

“Mutual Labyrinth: a proposal of exchange,” Architectures of Poetry, eds. Maria Eugenia Diaz Sanchez, Craig Douglas Dworkin (Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, 2004, 109–116).

REVIEWS / ARTICLES / CRITICISM ON MY WORK/ MEDIA COVERAGE
Toronto Star, 4 May 1986, Judith Fitzgerald (Nothing by Mouth).

High Performance (USA), Summer 1986, Marina La Palma (V Beyond the Ideo).

Ottawa Citizen, 13 June 1987, David Lewis (Straw Cupid).

Toronto Star, 25 July 1987, Lesley McAllister (Straw Cupid).

Small Press Review (USA), October 1987, Andrew Levy (Straw Cupid).

Poetry Canada Review, Summer 1988, Anita Hurwitz (Straw Cupid).

Canadian Book Review Annual, 1988, Ellen Pilon (Straw Cupid).

American New Writing (USA), 1989, David Detrich (Straw Cupid).

Innovations (USA), 1991, “Articulations Transcendent (Innovative Writing: The New

Generation),” David Detrich (Quill Driver).

Fragmente (UK), 1991, Number 4, Caroline Bergvall (Quirks & Quillets).

Linear A (UK), Number A, December 1992, Johan de Wit (Quirks & Quillets).

Witz (USA), Spring 1993, Clint Burnham (Quirks & Quillets).

Open Letter, Eighth Series, No. 8: Winter 1994, “Q’s, Queues and Cues: Quibbling with Sentences in Quirks & Quillets by Karen Mac Cormack,” Christian Bök (Quirks & Quillets).

Open Letter, Eighth Series, No. 9: Summer 1994, “An Eglected: Writing Toronto in the Eighties,” Victor Coleman.

Open Letter, Eighth Series, No. 9: Summer 1994, “Qued Up: Karen Mac Cormack’s Quirks & Quillets,” Jeff Derksen.

Verb, Volume 1, Number 4, December/January 1995/6, Clint Burnham (Marine Snow).

Small Press Traffic Newsletter(USA), # 17 Spring 1996,“Quirkes & Quilits,” Loss Pequeño Glazier (Quirks & Quillets).

American Book Review (USA), Vol. 17, No. 5, June –July 1996,“Making Poetry Happen,” Scott Pound (Marine Snow).

University of Toronto Quarterly, Volume 66, Number 1, Winter 1996/7, “Poetry,” Michael Boughn (Marine Snow).

Sulfur (USA), #40 Spring 1997, “From Revelry to Revery,” Pierre Joris, (Marine Snow).

Canadian Book Review Annual, 1996-1997, Bert Almon, (Marine Snow).

Word, July 1997, “Never tongue tied,” Christian Bök, (The Tongue Moves Talk).

Poetry Quarterly Review (UK), Winter 1997, “In and Out of Detail,” Tilla Brading, (The Tongue Moves Talk).

Box Kite (Australia), Vol. 1, No. 1, 1998, Ashley Hicks, (Out of Everywhere).

Common Knowledge (USA), 7:2, 1998, Paul Hoover, (The Tongue Moves Talk).

Word, January 1999, “Your Daily Cubism,” Christian Bök, (Fit to Print).

Broken Pencil, Spring 1999, HN, (Fit to Print).

Quill & Quire, March 1999, “Headliners,” Devin Crawley, (Fit to Print).

Books in Canada, Vol. 28, # 5, 1999, “Haydn Intersections of Sense,” Paul Dutton, (Fit to Print).

David Jones Journal (UK), I.3, 1999, “Recycling News Papers,” Nick Sawyer, (Fit to Print).

Poetry Quarterly Review (UK), Summer 1999, “co/LLBORATE/HABIT,” Keith Jebb, (Fit to Print).

Terrible Work (UK), Issue 9, Autumn 1999, Oliver Ahern (Fit to Print).

Point (UK), 2000, Anne Price-Owens, (Fit to Print).

textellaneous, http://w3.tvi.cc.nm.us~mrhigns/textellaneous.htm, Mary Rising Higgins (Fit to Print)

Scene magazine, “Karen Mac Cormack: the writer is definitely in,” 14 December 2000, Andreas Gripp.

http://www.uct.ac.za/general/monpaper/2002no07/canpoets.htm University of Cape Town News, 8–15 April 2002.

Mike Basinski, review of Implexures, January 2004, http://www.the-hold.com/basinski.html

PN Review (UK), “Landscapes And Emblems,” Issue 156, Volume 30, Number 4, March-April 2004, David Kennedy (Implexures).

Stride magazine (UK) http://www.Stridemagazine.co.uk April 2004, “West Is the Best,” Thomas White (Implexures)

The David Jones Journal (UK), V. 1/2, Winter 2004/Spring 2005, David Annwn (Implexures)

Poetry Salzburg Review (Austria), 7, Winter 2004/2005, “Six from West House,”Glyn Pursglove (Implexures)

BOOK CHAPTERS & ARTICLES ON MY WORK
Bruns, Gerald, “Karen Mac Cormack Among the Pagans,” forthcoming in a special issue of The Gig

_____ in The Material of Poetry: Sketches for a Philosophical Poetics, (The University of Georgia Press, 2005)

Lecercle, Jean-Jacques, “La Narration a fait beaucoup de mal: le poetique Deleuzienne de Karen Mac Cormack et Steve McCaffery,” Revue de l'AFEA (Paris), 2005.

Perloff, Marjorie, “After Free Verse,” Poetry on and off the Page: Essays for Emergent Occasions (Northwestern University Press, 1998)

_____. in Close Listening: Poetry and the Performed Word, Charles Bernstein ed. (Oxford University Press, 1998)

 ––––– in 21st-Century Modernism: The “New” Poetics, (Blackwell Publishers, 2002)

 Nichols, Miriam, “Tensing the Difference: Daphne Marlatt, Karen Mac Cormack, and Susan Howe,” Tessera, Volume 27, Winter 1999, 39–54.

Ma, Ming-Qian, “‘Aim Without a Target’: Karen Mac Cormack and the Poetics of the ‘Objectless Subject’,” to be presented at the 2000 MLA Convention, 27–30 December, 2000, Washington, D.C., USA

 Mc Caffery, Steve, “Temporality and the New Sentence: Phrase Propulsion in the Writing of Karen Mac Cormack,” Prior to Meaning: The Protosemantic and Poetics (Northwestern University Press, 2001)

 Quance, Roberta, “Stein-Ways: Karen Mac Cormack’s Marine Snow,” presented at 1 Simposio Internacional de Estudios Canadienses, 12–14 November, 1997, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain.

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS (VIDEO)

V Beyond the Ideo
Special Collections, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA.
Video Library, State University of New York at Binghamton, NY.

The Audio Corridor
Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England.