Best Selling Books by Al Purdy

In this fascinating and funny collection of correspondence, Canada''s greatest poet lets it all hang out in spirited private exchanges with Pierre Trudeau, Carol Shields, Earle Birney, Anna Porter, Charles Bukowski, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Jack McClelland, Northrup Frye, William Golding, Darryl Sittler, Alistair MacLeod, Susan Musgrave, Irving Layton, Lynn Crosbie, George Bowering, Anthony Burgess, Joseph Brodsky and many other notables. Yours, Al is an uncensored, intimate glimpse into the life of Canada''s most celebrated poet. Al Purdy''s personal letters present the Can-lit scene as an ongoing conversation between members of a tight, supportive community spanning generations of talented writers. From generous encouragement to brash, unsparing insults--it''s all here, with responses from many recipients of his letters. Encompassing more than fifty years, the letters show Purdy at his best--and his worst.

To Paris Never Again is Purdy''s first collection of new writing ''s since 1994: fifty-one poems plus "Home Country," an essay of nostalgic anecdotes that provides a facinating background to much of the poetry. Here is the work of a major poet in the maturity of a long, eventful life, a voice steeped in the wisdom of age, yet responsive to the subtlest shadings of experience.

Winner of a BC 2000 Book Prize Canada needs more books like this. -Wireweed

Beardsley and Purdy examine one of English Literature''s true legends.

Poems commissioned for CBC radio''s literary series Anthology.

Includes 28 tapes of Purdy reading his poetry (Cariboo horses; Pressed on sand). Typescripts and drafts of poems. Typescripts and mimeographs of articles and plays for television and radio).

Laurier Poetry Pack #4 consists of 5 volumes from the Laurier Poetry series. Volumes contained in Laurier Poetry Pack #4: 9780889204904 The More Easily Kept Illusions; 9781554580385 Fierce Departures; 9781771121323 Sonosyntactics; 9781554580460 The False Laws of Narrative; 9781771124119 Social Poesis