Editor’s Notes

Hi everyone and welcome to the August issue.

This month as you'll see, the selection committee has narrowed it down to one poem for your reading pleasure. The author of this month's poem, Dean Steadman, is one of the organizers of Ottawa's Tree Reading series and is highly active in the literary community.

In addition to the poem, you'll also find a summary of the Bywords Summer Reading by Catharine Carroll in the local scene section. I was pleased at the excellent turnout, the great poetry and the music of John Carroll. (I don't think he and Catharine are related.)

I had to take part in a small press panel as part of the recent Ottawa Art Bazaar organized by David Emery, former editor of In /Words. It was informative and useful to hear the various ideologies and methods of each small press that participated: above/ground press, Chaudiere Books, Dusty Owl, In/Words, and the Puritan, along with Bywords. The editors of each press have passionate visions about how to run their presses and what they are trying to achieve and they do so very well. It was an honour to have Bywords represented on the panel and to be among these visionaries.

Here are the values that I believe in and hold myself accountable to as managing editor of Bywords.ca and the Bywords Quarterly Journal:

1. Bywords supports and participates in the public funding system for art to encourage its dissemination and publication.
2. Bywords has confidence in its editors and their ability to publish their writing in literary journals in Canada and beyond, should they desire.
3. Bywords publishes poetry that reflects the diversity of styles of the poetic literary canon, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, skin colour, beliefs or poetic reputation of contributors.
4. Bywords supports and encourages a strong small press publishing community within Ottawa, in Canada and throughout the world, and respects the various ideologies and methods of the members of the small press to provide readership with valuable and artistic creative works.
5. Bywords supports and encourages all facets of Ottawa's literary community by promoting activities without bias or personal preference of its editors.

Thanks to Victoria Vernell for voting with me this month. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at events coming up in the next month.

If you'd like to send comments, opinions, suggestions or an early autumn leaf to me, please e-mail me at editor@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl