The Al Purdy A-frame Residency

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…

Many of you will have already learned the sad, sad news that poet, novelist and musician Steven Heighton has died at 60 from cancer. The accolades are well deserved. I’m not sure how old Steven was when he started visiting Al and Eurithe at the A-frame. Maybe in his twenties. The photos show his long…

AMELIASBURGH, Ont. – The Al Purdy A-frame Association is pleased to announce the writers-in-residence for the 2022-23 season at the A-frame in Prince Edward County. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, five writers-in-residence had been announced for the 2020 season. In consultation with the writers, the residencies have been rescheduled for 2022.…

Last year the A-frame Association launched online workshops, thanks to Ben Ladouceur. The response was really favourable. “Thanks for the amazing workshop — just so soul-soothing.” “The atmosphere was supportive, the prompts useful, and the example poems presented were both various and excellent. It was fun.” — 2021 Workshop Participants The Al Purdy A-frame Association…

Congratulations to A-frame alumna Sadiqa de Meijer, whose Alfabet/Alphabet has won the non-fiction category of the Governor General’s Literay Awards for 2021.  Alfabet/Alphabet, published by Palimpsest Press, is the record of de Meijer’s transition from speaking Dutch to English. The peer assessment committee — Sarah de Leeuw, Amanda Leduc and Evelyn C. White — had…

A-frame alumna Sadiqa de Meijer’s Alfabet/Alphabet has been shorlitsted in the non-fiction category of the Governor General’s Literay Awards for 2021. Congratulations! Winners will be announced on November 17. Alfabet/Alphabet, published by Palimpsest Press, is the record of de Meijer’s transition from speaking Dutch to English. “These lucid, penetrating meditations on language, loss, and identity…

Madhur Anand’s This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart was awarded the 2020 Governor General’s prize for non-fiction. The awards were delayed until June of this year because of the pandemic. Congratulations to Madhur, an A-frame alumna. “An innovative, moving account of three generations of a South Asian Canadian family as they negotiate time,…

Former A-frame residents are finalists for three 2020 Governor General’s Awards. Madhur Anand’s The Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (Strange Light/Penguin Random House Canada) is a finalist in the non-fiction category. Oana Avasilichioaei is a finalist in two categories: Eight Track (Talonbooks) in poetry, and The Neptune Room (Book*hug Press) in translation (Bertrand…

Due to the COVID pandemic, residencies for 2020 were deferred or split. We anticipate that it will take all of 2021 and well into 2022 to reschedule those writers. As a result, there will likely be reduced weeks available for this Call. Community projects will resume when public health officials signify that such activities are…