Avant Canada presents a rich collection of original essays and creative works on a representative array of avant-garde literary movements in Canada from the past fifty years. From the work of Leonard Cohen and bpNichol to that of Jordan Abel and Liz Howard, Avant Canada features twenty-eight of the best writers and critics in the field.The book proposes four dominant modes of avant-garde production: ""Concrete Poetics,"" which accentuates the visual and material aspects of language; ""Language Writing,"" which challenges the interconnection between words and things; ""Identity Writing,"" which interrogates the self and its sociopolitical position; and ""Copyleft Poetics,"" which undermines our habitual assumptions about the ownership of expression. A fifth section commemorates the importance of the Centennial in the 1960s at a time when avant-garde cultures in Canada began to emerge. Readers of this book will become familiar with some of the most challenging works of literature - and their creators - that this country has ever produced. From Concrete Poetry in the 1960s through to Indigenous Literature in the 2010s, Avant Canada offers the most sweeping study of the literary avant-garde in Canada to date.

Published in 1994, "Crystallography" was a gem of a book, an instant hit that was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award. It has been unavailable for an ice age, and Coach House Books is proud to bring it back.

'Crystallography' means the study of crystals, but also, taken literally, 'lucid writing.' The book exists in the intersection of poetry and science, exploring the relationship between language and crystals - looking at language as a crystal, a space in which the chaos of individual parts align to expose a perfect formation of structure. As Bok himself says, 'a word is a bit of crystal in formation, ' suggesting there is a space in which words, like crystals, can resonate pure form.

Lucid, sparkling, a diamond of a book: "Crystallography" is a crystal-clear approach to the science of poetry from the author of "Eunoia."