Pattern your breath on the sound of moth wings, magnified and frenzied, as you fight for sleep. Here, in Wide slumber for lepidopterists, language cocoons itself, dreams itself, lures you with a promise of wings toward the killing jar. This is a poetic fantasia, an erotic nightmarescape that stalks language through the stages of sleep with a lepidopterist's vocabulary.

Narcolepsy, hypnic twitch, somnambulism: sleep is read here
through the life cycle of a moth, from egg to chrysalis to mounting
board. These poems, with their oneiric disquiet, embody the
suffocating tangle of sheets, the cocoon woven frantically
as teeth grind, the horror of a throat thick with wings
as you struggle to wake up.

Wide slumber for lepidopterists, poetry by a.rawlings

ISBN: 1552451690
Price: CDN $16.95
Pages: 112
Format: Paperback
Published: Spring 2006

WHERE TO BUY THE BOOK
Wide slumber for lepidopterists is available for order or purchase throughout bookstores in Canada and US. The following online locations also sell the book:
BELGIUM: Sterling Books
CANADA: Coach House Books + Apollinaire's Bookshoppe + Northwest Passages + McNally Robinson + amazon.ca
FRANCE: amazon.fr
ITALY: libraria universitaria
SOUTH KOREA: tmecca
USA: SPD + Powell's Books + amazon.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: a.rawlings is a poet, editor, and multidisciplinary artist. In 2001, she received the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing upon graduating from York University. Since then, she has worked with many literary organizations; highlights include co-founding The Lexiconjury Reading Series and developing creative writing workshops for youth. She recently co-edited Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press). angela spent her formative years in Sault Ste. Marie and now lives in Toronto.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Matt Ceolin was born in Sault Ste. Marie and studied visual arts in both Toronto and Windsor. Working with concepts of nature and environmental influence, he attempts to translate our interactions with and perceptions of our surroundings. Since 1998, he has also run a small private press under which he has bound over a dozen short edition titles. Matt currently resides in the forests of Algoma.

REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
Click the links to read the full articles.

"Rawlings spins filamental connections between insect modes of being and states of sleep by excavating the scientific and sensual language around each concept, then using the page to orchestrate back-and-forth movements between her two interests.... The unexpected juxtaposition of these two realms of animal experience is interesting enough, but rawlings's ability to reproduce, using the most clinical terms, the to and fro of a frankly copulative energy pulsing through both worlds is often breathtaking. Vulva rhymed with larva, parallels of penis to proboscis — this is one cool collection, a fresh combination of unashamedly brainy and unabashedly horny." — Sonnet L'Abbé, The Globe and Mail, April 2006

"... there is quotidian simplicity at Wide slumber's core. That Rawlings can bend that simplicity with killing jar-like distortions is proof of not only mischievousness but a profound new talent as well." — Brian Joseph Davis, eye, April 2006

"rawlings’ poems & performance are exciting. By exciting, I mean a thrill to see & hear.... “PUPA: PARASOMNIA” is perhaps the best sex poem (i.e., most sexy sex poem) I’ve heard, maybe ever. By extending her expression beyond everyday use of language & into the realm of sound art, rawlings’ work is a full-body experience.... Fucking fabulous." — T.L. Cowan, terminus1525.ca, April 2006

“Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists is a gorgeous poetic conceit. It’s beautifully produced, a kind of pocket-sized textual flicker book, with some lovely illustrations too. Its subject is sleep, its different stages and parasomnias, viscerally evoked using the language of lepidoptery in quite astonishing experimental configurations…. I rather loved the glossary at the end of the book too, mingling, as does the text, its specialist lexicons.” — Sarah Law, Stride Magazine, August 2007

"[T]he pure joy and pleasure of ferocity that rawlings attacks language with... is enough to marvel even the most seasoned readers." — Aaron Tucker, Black Ink, October 2006

"[Wide slumber for lepidopterists] is a gorgeously produced little thing... The writing has a dreamy, underwater quality." — Alison Calder, Winnipeg Free Press, June 2006

"Wide slumber is ambitious in integrating so many genres, and yet it does so with such aplomb. It is a very accomplished first book." — Suzanne Zelazo, The Danforth Review, May 2006

"'a.rawlings writes a different kind of poetry. Her sensual first book Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists arouses not only its subject matter but the text itself, waking it — at times shaking it — from its sleepy slumber. Words rise and fall, sleepwalk and enchant, and the interplay of sound and silence alone will keep you reading." — Wanda O'Connor, Ottawa Xpress, April 2006

"'Affected by her background in dance and theatre, Rawlings’s text has a kinetic aspect, an awareness of the body and the breath, which is unusual in such linguistically innovative writing. She brings a vocabulary of dance and the body to her consideration of how to approach text as an active, moving site, asking, "How can sound translate into text, text into movement, movement into text? How can a page act as a stage for words?" " — derek beaulieu, Calgary FFWD, April 2006

"Dream words, words that are clear in dream, but when scribbled into a notebook are found to be meaningless in the morning. Or—not meaningless, but unfamiliar. Allowing words to break down and writing lines that mimic words but aren’t, forces the reader to appreciate the text. “Moth” does not equal the insect that lives in our world. “Moth” is a word which is an arrangement of symbols that represents an insect. If I then write “thmo,” you’re forced to think about what a word actually is, because “thmo” is not a word. Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists is very sensitive to how fragile language can be." — Adam Golaski, Open Letters Monthly, May 2007

"Inside the poems, inside the cocoon, as it were, individual words make no claim for meaning. They unfurl (23-29), they mimic (30, 40-41), they list (74-78), they take flight (68-71), and they simply lie on the page, like so much shed skin (84-86). These words, phonemes, morphemes, and poems—these poemes?—perform all of that, though not necessarily in that order, despite the sequential pagination, and not necessarily in order that readers are, mothlike, reborn." — Travis V. Mason, The Goose, November 2006

"In stages they grow, the larvae the caterpillars the signs the questions. The specimens the clusters the phonemes the patterns the organs. There's much agitated excitation in this textual universe, abundant with visual and verbal accretions, sexual binds, mental folds. The gestation of writing bodies." — Caroline Bergvall

"Collector and specimen, observer and observed, become one in this marvellously metamorphic text. Ms. rawlings's language — born of field and lab and other mysterious places — attains a lambent sensuality. These poems are luminous with intelligence, vivacity and beauty. Let the reader, entranced, be drawn to their light." — Steve Venright

Kate Greenstreet interviews a.rawlings about the first-book experience.

Dana Gagnier interviews a.rawlings on behalf of the Entomologist's Society of Ontario.

• Geoff Bouckley, light designer. Geoff is a theatrical designer and manager who has participated in a diverse range of productions spanning the genres of theatre and dance across Canada.  He has been involved in over 60 productions to date with companies such as Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Cat-In-The-Box Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Mocean Dance, Moonhorse Dance, Carlos Bulosan Theatre, Green Tea Collective, Definition: Blood, Spark Productions, Buddies-In-Bad-Times Theatre, Platform 9, Corpus Dance Projects, The Empty Collective, Praxis Theatre, Theatre Gargantua, 2B Theatre, Black & Blue Dance Projects, and Toronto Dance Theatre. His designing has taken him to Europe and coast to coast in Canada with extensive tours of Eastern Quebec and Ontario. Geoff has taught at and is a graduate of York University’s Theatre Program.
• Amanda Brugel, performer. Amanda was born in Montréal and raised in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. She attended York University on a Fine Art Talent Scholarship and made her onstage debut in Theatre Ephemera's Noir at Theatre Passe Muraille. Recent theatre credits include TEN THINGS (SummerWorks '06) and El Paso (Factory Theatre). Amanda has guest-starred on many television shows, including Doc, This Is Wonderland, Kojak, Naked Josh, Wild Card, Kevin Hill, G-Spot, The Newsroom, Leap Years, and Soul Food. Although  uncoordinated to the untrained eye, Amanda's first passion was ballet, and she's an avid runner and salsa enthusiast. Keep an eye out for Amanda in the film K.A.W., in theatres November 2006.
• Matt Ceolin, conceptual designer. Matt was born in Sault Ste. Marie and studied visual arts in both Toronto and Windsor. Working with concepts of nature and environmental influence, he attempts to translate our interactions with and perceptions of our surroundings. Since 1998, he has also run a small private press under which he has bound over a dozen short-edition titles. Matt’s visual work appears in Wide slumber for lepidopterists (Coach House Books, 2006).
• Mika Collins, performer. Mika performs, writes, occasionally produces, and gets into other mischief. Selected acting credits, in theatre: Diane Flack’s By A Thread (Montreal Fringe), X (Vanguard Theatre), Landscape (Concordia University), Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Measure for Measure (Resurgence Theatre). As a writer/performer, Capturing Freedom, (SummerWorks ’05). In film, Perfect Pitch (Reel World Film Fest), and Above and Beyond (CBC) and upcoming I Didn’t Do It (Bravo). As a writer, Mika was recently a resident at the Banff PlayRites Colony with Capturing Freedom and is now working on her second play. Mika has studied Fine Arts at Concordia University and is a graduate of George Brown College Theatre School.
• Conor Green, director. An actor and playwright, Conor has been recognized for both his dramatic and comedic performance. He was nominated in consecutive years (2004-05) as Best Actor at the Merritt awards for his work in David Gow’s Cherry Docs, as well as for the Tim Sims (Second City) Award as best up-and-coming comedian in Canada in 2003. His newest play, Soul Alone (co-written with Anthony Black), recently received its premiere production at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre. Next up for Conor is the Theatre Gargantua / Mirvish Productions co-pro of Michael Spence’s e-DENTITY at the Royal Alex Theatre in 2007.
• Susanna Hood, movement designer. Susanna is a compelling and virtuostic performer in dance and music. She began her career as a member of the Toronto Dance Theatre from 1991 through 1995. Independently, she has performed the works of various Toronto choreographers, created singing/dancing roles with Autumn Leaf Productions, acted on film for filmmaker Philip Barker, created music for the dance works of Louis Laberge Coté, Rebecca Todd and Eryn Dace Trudell, collaborated extensively with composers John Oswald and Nilan Perera, and performed widely as an improvisor both in dance and music. Her collaborative projects as well as her own choreography and music compositions have been presented throughout Toronto, nationally, and internationally on stage and in film since 1991. In the fall of 1998, she was one of two recipients of the K.M. Hunter Emerging Artists Awards in Dance. In June 2006, Susanna received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for her performance in he latest solo work She's gone away.
• angela rawlings, performer. angela is a poet, editor, and multidisciplinary artist who has presented work throughout Canada and the U.S. In 2001, angela received the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing. She has worked with a variety of arts organizations, including The Mercury Press, The Scream Literary Festival, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Sumach Press, Word: Canada’s Magazine for Readers + Writers, Harbour Front Dance Studio, Theatre Gargantua, and The Lexiconjury Reading Series. In 2005, angela hosted the poetry documentary series Heart of a Poet, and also produced the successful Patron’s Pick Toronto Fringe show On the Money. She recently co-edited Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press, Fall 2005), and her first book-length collection of poetry is Wide slumber for lepidopterists (Coach House Books, Spring 2006).
• Richard Windeyer, sound composer. Richard creates music, sound, and visuals for experimental theatre, radio, film, and integrated media projects. He is co-artistic director of Dora Award-winning experimental performance collective bluemouth inc. presents and a member of Finger, a technology-based music performance trio. For more info, visit www.richardwindeyer.com.

Early incarnations of spoken and sound poetry have been performed with a.rawlings by the following talented, brilliant, and gifted artists.

• Ciara Adams. Ciara trained at the Guildhall School of Music And Drama in London, England. She remained in the U.K. for a number of years after graduation, working as an actor, singer and director. In that time, she worked at/for The Royal National Theatre, Southwork Playhouse, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Northern Stage (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), The Contact Theatre (Manchester), she also co-created TITLE Productions. Since returning to Canada in 2002, Ciara has worked with Theatre Gargantua (Raging Dreams, e-DENTITY) and bluemouth inc. presents (What the Thunder Said, Something About a River, Memory of Bombs). She also directed Glenn Christie in the Toronto, Freefall Festival in 2004. For more info, visit www.ciaraadams.com.
• Lori Nancy Kalamanski. An Ottawa native, Lori Nancy has been fortunate to work on a variety of projects on stage, in voice-over and in film and tv. Most recently, she starred in the title role of Victor, Victoria at the Stirling Festival Theatre. In spring 2007, she is very proud to reprise her role in Theatre Gargantua’s critically acclaimed production of e-DENTITY – a multimedia, physical theatre piece about the Internet at the Royal Alexandra Theatre as part of the 2006-7 Mirvish season. Last year, she worked for the Mirvishes in Ted Dykstra’s new musical workshop Evangeline. Prior to that, she toured the Canadian Fringe circuit with her own show The Amazing Fox Sisters.
• Alexis Milligan, performer. Alexis has been performing with Canada’s leading international puppetry theatre, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia for the last five years. This work includes tours in Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Mexico, Newfoundland, and most of the USA. Other roles include: Ensemble Cast Member in the world première of e-DENTITY (Theatre Garagantua); Rachel Richards in The Invisibility of Eileen (Theatre NorthWest); Isabella in Fool’s Gold (Meta-Physical Theatre); Swimmy, Fredrick, and Inch By Inch; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; When Dinosaurs Dine By Moonlight (Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia). Alexis is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and was a soloist dancer with the Halifax Dance Young Company and Coastal Dance Theatre. 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
 “Our approach to Wide slumber for lepidopterists will be cautious yet head-on; with its jagged teeth and side-set eyes, this would seem the safest way to draw near such an experimental manuscript. We intend to hold the book by its thorax and force a pin between its wings, mounting it in low-moisture conditions to prevent mould. How does a text fall asleep? How does text eat itself? Specify comma, question mark? and Do we dream the same? The answer is five seconds of lighting and love like..." — Conor Green

UPCOMING EVENTS for a.rawlings
Toronto: Nuit Blanche (September 29, 2007) + HUMA 2900 @ York University (January 28, 2008) + Canadian Writers in Person @ York University (March 13, 2008)
Reykjavik, Iceland: Nyhil Poetry Festival (October 13 & 14, 2007)
Prince George: UNBC (November 1 & 2, 2007)
St. Catharines: Grey Borders Reading Series (November 8, 2007)
Kingston: Queen's University (November 15, 2007)
Peterborough: Performance Poetry Symposium (March 2, 2008)
Madison (WI): Felix Reading Series (February 7, 2008)

a.rawlings' RECENT EVENTS

2007, solo readings
Montreal: Pilot Reading Series
Toronto: Toronto WordStage + Strong Words Reading Series + Riff/Raft + DRAFT Reading Series + Onward, Ho (Buddies in Bad Times) + The Scream Literary Festival (Science & Poetry Panel)
Vancouver: UBC PRISM International Reading Series

2006, solo readings
Brandon: E-poetics Symposium + Just Buffalo Reading Series
Buffalo: Shift & Switch Book Launch
Calgary: Calgary International Spoken Word Festival + NoD and dANDelion Launch
Fredericton: Shift & Switch Book Launch
Halifax: Shift & Switch Book Launch
Hamilton: Coach House Book Launch + GritLit Festival
Kingston: Red School House Poetry Primer + Wolfe Island Literary Festival
Mahone Bay: Shift & Switch Book Launch
Montreal: Shift & Switch Book Launch + Coach House Book Launch
New Yok City: belladonna* Reading Series + Poets House
Ottawa: Shift & Switch Book Launch + Ottawa International Writer's Festival
Philadelphia: Shift & Switch Book Launch + Moles Not Molar Reading Series
Toronto: Hot-Sauced Words Reading Series + Word on the Street + Live Poets Reading Series + The Box Reading Series
Vancouver: PRISM Launch
Windsor: Shift & Switch Book Launch
Winnipeg: McNally Robinson Book Launch

Theatre Commutiny's RECENT EVENTS
2006, sound poetry performances
Toronto: Harbourfront Centre's Hatch: Emerging Performance Projects + Scream in the Square + The Scream Literary Festival + Coach House Book Launch + Nuit Blanche

E-mail: theatre@commutiny.net