Jay MillAr is a Toronto poet, editor, publisher, and
virtual bookseller. He is the author of False Maps for Other Creatures (2005), Mycological Studies (2002), and The Ghosts
of Jay MillAr (2000). His most recent collection is the small
blue (Fall 2007). In 2006 he published Double Helix, a
collaborative "novel" written with Stephen Cain. Millar is the shadowy
figure behind BookThug, an independent publishing house dedicated to
cutting edge work by well-known and emerging North American writers, as
well as Apollinaire's Bookshoppe, a virtual bookstore that specializes in
the books that no one wants to buy. A long-time fixture of the Toronto
writing and publishing scene, Jay has participated in such diverse
projects as the UNBC/Via Rail Poetry Train, The Scream in High Park, Test
Readings Series and Influency: A Poetry Salon. He is also the co-editor
(with Mark Truscott) of BafterC, a small magazine of contemporary writing.
Currently Jay teaches creative writing at George Brown College. Singled
out in the introduction of The New Canon as a 'young firebrand'
(which he reads as 'troublemaker') working against what people hold dear
to the Canadian poetic tradition, Jay is one of Canada's voices of
authority and risk on innovative, experimental, contemporary poetry.
Selected Publications
Mycological Studies (Coach House Books, 2002) ISBN 1552451038.
The Ghosts of Jay MillAr
(Coach House Books, 2000) ISBN 1552459853.
the small blue (BookThug,
2003).
Double Helix: Initial Sequence
(with Stephen Cain) (housepress, 2002) ISBN 1894174623.
Hijinks: A Sequence from Double Helix
(with Stephen Cain (above/ground press, 2003) ISBN 1894214617.
The Heart of The Helix (with
Stephen Cain) (BookThug / Kitch In Ink Press, 2002).
Selected Anthologies
Pissing Ice: An Anthology of "New" Canadian Poets (editor,with Jon Paul Fiorintino), (BookThug,
2004) ISBN: 0-9735640-2-4
Books in Print
MillAr, Jay
the small blue, Poetry (Snare Books, 2007)ISBN: 978-0-9739438-4-9, $10.00
Double Helix (with Stephen Cain), Novel (The Mercury Press, 2006) ISBN: 978-1-55128-122-8, $16.95
False Maps for Other Creature, Poetry (Nightwood Editions, 2005) ISBN: 0-88971-203-4, $16.95
Mycological Studies, Poetry (Coach House Books, 2002) ISBN: 1-55245-103-8, $16.95
The Ghosts of Jay MillAr,
Poetry (Coach House Books,
2000) ISBN: 1-55245-985-3, $22.95
Jay MillAr, 53 Ardagh Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6S 1Y4
Phone: 416 769 4230
E-mail: jay@bookthug.ca
Website: jaymillar.blogspot.com
Link: www.bookthug.ca
Link: snarebooks.wordpress.com
Link: www.nightwoodeditions.com
Link: www.themercurypress.ca
Link: www.chbooks.com
Poet in the School
(Toronto)
phone: 416-769-4230
email: jay@bookthug.ca
Jay MillAr is a poet, editor, bookseller and publisher. Born in Edmonton in 1971, he was raised in London Ontario by his parents, a zoologist and a music teacher. For the past 11 summers he has collected data on white-footed mice in a woodlot near Tilbury Ontario for a population Biologist at Lakehead University. A small press advocate, MillAr publishes various things by himself and other under the imprint BookThug, and sells these books as well as other small press and poetically minded literature through Apollinaire’s Bookshoppe, an imaginary bookstore specializing in the books that no one wants to buy.Grade Levels: 9 - 12
Fees: standard
Classroom Approach:
Students do not need to be
familiar with my work in order to participate. Methods are flexible:
the workshopping of poetry as well as discussions and/or readings can
be designed around the particular needs and/or interests of the
classroom. Students will be encouraged to write and perform their own
work, and to think about poetry in both traditional and experimental
ways. Different areas of poetic form and composition can be discussed,
and examples from literary history can play a role in the discussion. I
also like to discuss the relationship between poetry and publishing,
including the creation of independently produced small press
publications with the students. I am also happy to give a reading of my
own work if that is of interest.