The Al Purdy A-frame Residency

People have told us we built too near the lake “The flood plain is dangerous” they said And no doubt they know more about it than we do – but here wind pressed down on new-formed ice From “On the Flood Plain”   When Man Booker Prize winner Yann Martel read the Al Purdy A-frame…

PLEASE CONSIDER MONTHLY SUPPORT FOR THE AL PURDY A-FRAME WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM It’s been a long and challenging three years in the shadow of COVID, but thanks to the continued support of many we’ve kept the lights on and the doors open to the writers-in-residence program at the Al Purdy A-frame. A residency at the legendary…

Posted on the Al Purdy A-frame page today by David Fraser. Thank you, David. Making friends with Al Purdy Scraping sideways through factory door frames, Vancouver to St. Johns Ass in a sling peregrinations of an afflicted writer with his bride, the binding spine and glue that bound the Purdy book holding the pages together,…

Here’s a really exciting and unique opportunity: Our current writer-in-residence, Felicity Williams, along with the A-frame residency ensemble, is giving a community concert on Thursday, October 6. Some of you will know Felicity’s work from the Al Purdy Was Here Songbook. The concert – Listening to the House Dream of Trees – will be a…

Last month, we invited you to visit the Al Purdy A-frame on Saturday, Sept 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25. But the Ameliasburgh Fall Fair has reduced its events to one day – Saturday, September 24 – and so the A-frame Association has decided to follow suit. In the past, we have always opened to the…

After a three-year hiatus because of the pandemic, the Al Purdy A-frame Association is pleased and excited to announce an A-frame open house for Saturday, September 24, and Sunday, September 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The house, built by Al and his wife Eurithe, has been restored as a retreat for Canadian writers…

The Al Purdy A-frame Association is now accepting applications for residencies beginning in July 2023 and ending in June 2024. To apply, please go to the “The A-frame Residency” in the drop-down (About) menu. Applications must be submitted by October 21, 2022.

Festival Players of Prince Edward County this summer will stage The Shape of Home, a theatrical concert that investigates the life and work of Al Purdy, Canada’s unofficial poet laureate. Purdy’s quest to find beauty in unexpected places produced a body of work full of adventure, audacity and humanity. Created by award-winning artists Frank Cox-O’Connell,…

D.A. Lockhart, a resident this spring at the Al Purdy A-frame, has been shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award, sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets (LCP). Lockhart’s Bearmen Descend Upon Gimli (Frontenac House, 2021) is a contemporary myth told in lyric form. From the jurors: D.A. Lockhart’s cinematic novel-in-verse, Bearmen Descend Upon Gimli, features…