- after almost two months of hard work and extreme frustration, i have just had 10,000 hard copies of the first english-chinese edition of Wisdom for Abundance 《豐盛的智慧》delivered from shenzhen to hangzhou (on aug 31), and another 20,000 copies to be delivered to the author's home in surrey, british columbia (around september 19). on the one hand, the author/representative delayed again and again in signing the contract and making the payments, while the printer keeps failing to honor their signed contract and refusing to deliver, or even to book the delivery of, the books on time. as a result, i have to suffer more losses of both time and money and go through a great deal more of unnecessary frustration. after i leave vancouver on sept 7, Allen has to take care of everything and makes sure all the books are delivered from the harbour to the author's home. fortunately, the printing quality is very satisfactory.
from this experience, i feel all the more strongly that it's so much easier and more enjoyable to deal with objects/words than with humans! as the translator, editor, proofreader, typesetter, publisher and printing/import agent of the book, how i love to touch every word, every page of it!
- i wrote more than 20 poems in august, half of them belonging to a serial poem titled 'boyhood buoys' about my early life experiences as a poor village boy in china. a few of them have already been accepted by different magazines. in fact, i had 18 acceptances by new outlets in august.
- towards the end of last month, i finished answering all the 6 interview questions raised by the editor of Dukool, a us-based monthly arts and culture magazine (in print) for Bengali-Americans across the globe. this is the 9th time for me to be interviewed by a literary publication, the first time by an english magazine for minority readers.
- the anthology titled The Revolving City, edited by Wayde Compton and Renee Sarojini Saklikar, published by anvil press, is to be released at sfu's public square on sept 23. my poem 'immigration' is included as a result of my participation in sfu's lunch poems program on dec 17, 2014. for more info: http://www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/lunchpoems or http://www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/upcoming-events/lunch-poems/the-revolving-city.html
- last but not least, i have committed myself today (on sept 1) to a 20-year donation plan to set up 'Yuans Poetry Bursary' in my alma mater the university of saskatchewan to support the study and/or publication of canadian poetry by esl authors. my purpose is to encourage new immigrants in canada to write their unique differences into poetry in english as their second language. i will never forget that it was u of s that offered me five years of scholarship while i pursued my graduate studies in english literature there. without the scholarship, i would not have been able to obtain my visa to leave china, let alone obtaining my ma, and phd in english. (columbia university offered me something to pursue a phd in tesol, but the funds were far from enough for me to get a visa to the states, while ubc offered me much less than u of s. that's why i eventually chose to attend u of s.) in other words, i want to show my lifelong gratitude for u of s in a committed way rather than sporadically. i will contribute an amount of $500 cdn to begin with, which i may increase gradually depending on my financial situation. also, i will encourage my posterity to continue the program after i die. as for the terms or requirements, i may change them over time.
- during my sojourn in my native place (where i somehow can never write a single stanza, nor do i even know how to speak english), i will take a solid rest, try to keep away from a screen, stay as close as possible to nature, and live in Great Compassion Temple for some time as a Buddhist monk.
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NOTICE:
as i am to stay between now and october 22 in my native place in china where i have no internet access, Poetry Pacific Press, as well as Poetry Pacific will take a vacation until then.
happy reading/writing!
with all best for a great golden autumn,
-yuan
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