Join Shelf Life Books and University of Athabasca Press for the launch of "Abode" by Jun-long Lee!
You might remember Jun as our long-time events coordinator—now it's his turn to invite you to celebrate his debut collection of poems. Featuring guest readers Natalie Simpson and Nikki Sheppy, and hosted by Kyle Flemmer. Snacks and refreshments will be served!
"Abode" is a debut collection of interconnected poems that delve with vertiginous momentum into homes—both material and interior—lost and rediscovered from the inside looking in: they are excavations of nested domestic spheres furnished with the bricolage of ruin and decay. Lee takes readers through hallucinatory geographies, plant-haunted spaces, and dreamlike corridors flooded with water and light, accompanied by an ever-changing subject that cannot make itself feel at home in its body, its country, or its language.
Jun-long Lee is a poet, visual artist, and filmmaker. His poems have appeared in Contemporary Verse 2, The Malahat Review, Grain, Riddle Fence, Conjunctions, Jubilat, and elsewhere. Abode is his first book. He is based in Calgary (Moh’kinstsis) on Treaty 7 lands.
Kyle Flemmer is a writer, publisher, and digital media artist from Calgary, Canada in Treaty 7 territory. In 2014, he founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Company, a small press focused on experimental poetics and visual art. Flemmer’s books include Barcode Poetry, Supergiants, and TzAR: Pixel Art Anthology. His next, The Wiki of Babel, is forthcoming from the University of Calgary Press in 2026.
Nikki Sheppy is the author of the award-winning poetry collections, Fail Safe, and Grrrrlhood: a ludic suite. She lives in Calgary / Mohkinstas in Treaty 7 territory.
Natalie Simpson is the author of accrete or crumble (LINEbooks) and Thrum (Talonbooks). Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies, including The Best Canadian Poetry in English, and many chapbooks, most recently Anonymous Widow Anonymous Wife from Kyle Flemmer’s Blasted Tree press and post spell from Gap Riot press in Toronto.
You may also like the following events from Shelf Life Books:
- This Tuesday, 23rd September, 07:00 pm, Book Launch: Judith Pond in Calgary
- Next month, 21st October, 07:00 pm, TRIPLE LAUNCH: ryan fitzpatrick, Conor Kerr & Jason Purcell in Calgary
- This November, 8th November, 11:00 am, Zine Party- CALL FOR VENDORS in Calgary
Also check out other
Arts events in Calgary,
Literary Art events in Calgary.