The Fish Quill Poetry Boat, which launches this Thursday August 4 at the Boat at 7pm with a free show featuring readings from six participating poets and a live set by the incomparable Abigail Lapell (whose charming beautiful album Great Survivor was released in April), has to be Canadian-ist literary event since the real Bohemian Embassy tried to put on readings at Rochdale College. Eight brave poets are exchanging pens for paddles and are set to drift down the Grand River by canoe, stopping to give poetry readings and reapply their bug repellent. The only thing that would make this idea more Canadian-ish would be changing rivers from the Grand to the French, dressing in sashes and singing voyageur songs, retracing the North West Co. trading route back across the continent to Athabasca pass. This somewhat shorter trip from Elora through contraband tobacco country towards the greasy shores of Lake Erie is still no small feat. Press release after the throw:

A group of Montreal and Toronto poets are setting out on the Grand River for a reading tour by canoe early this August. From August 5 to 13, eight performers in four canoes will paddle from Elora to Six Nations Grand River Territory, stopping in various towns to give public readings at cafes, galleries and local heritage sites along the journey. They're kicking off the tour with an event in Toronto (at The Boat, 262 Augusta Avenue) on Thursday, August 4.

Among the canoe crew:

- Linda Besner (The Id Kid)
- Asa Boxer (Skullduggery)
- Jeramy Dodds (Crabwise to the Hounds, shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, winner of the Trillium Book Award for Poetry)
- Gabe Foreman (A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People)
- Helen Guri (Match)
- Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals)
- Daniel Kincade Renton (Qwerty poetry editor)
- Abigail Lapell (musical performer)

Scheduled stops for Fish Quill Poetry Boat are Elora's Bissell Park Pavilion on August 5th, West Montrose Kissing Bridge on August 6th, Waterloo Region Museum on August 7th, Cambridge's O'Keefe Cottage Cafe & Ice Cream Parlour on August 9th, Paris's Brown Dog Coffee Roastery on August 10th, Brantford Arts Block on August 11th, and the Six Nations Chiefswood National Historic Site on August 13th. All performances are at 7 pm and free of charge.