Superbia: Sincere Thanks
Superb work by a wide range of talented people has made Influency Salon burst its dreampipes and flow into virtual space.
I’d first and foremost like to thank all the poets who have guested at Influency sessions to date, and who’ve agreed to engage in the critical reception of their colleagues. Their work has inspired and enlivened all of us.
Additionally, over the last four years, a community of passionate poetry respondents has formed through the Salon. Fourteen of these generous, self-driven, wide-thinking individuals have joined the inaugural Editorial group of Influency Salon online, and I am very grateful and very excited about their participation. It takes a long while to build an actual cultural community; one day you recognize that it’s happened. Superbia. Thank you to the brilliant and willing Editorial Group of Influency Salon.
Deep thanks and regard for the kind, visionary and meticulous Mike Stringer, our web designer. He is a steady and unflappable sailor. The Salon is incredibly lucky to have his expertise, and his affinities for poetry content. Thank you, Mike.
Sincere acknowledgement to everyone at Coach House Books for their support of this project, and for managing an initial grant application that produced funds to seed the web design of the site and support fledgling editorial initiatives. We sincerely thank Alana Wilcox and Christina Palassio, in particular, for this administrative support and the OMDC for its grant funding. Coach House Books is the online launching pad for Influency Salon and will remain our Cloud Nine!
I’d like to offer grateful acknowledgement to the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program for its support from 2006 onward for Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon. The course has been lucky to have unique financial support in the form of writers’ honoraria for our guest poets, classroom space on the St George campus, and administrative support for the registered sessions. I’d like to thank Lee Gowan, Creative Writing program director, and administrative guru Bill Zaget for their ongoing steadfastness, good humour and likemindedness, as well as the SCS in general for its capacity to meet poetry’s moment.
TransCanada Institute is another truly valued sponsor of Influency Salon. With the assistance of the Institute, led by Director Dr Smaro Kamboureli, we will be able to extend web design and development for the online magazine, remunerate some editorial development, and intellectually fortify the project in the form of textual contributions by Dr Kamboureli to the Salon over the first year. I am thrilled to collaborate with TransCanada Institute, and to bring Influency Salon into community with thinkers across the country, to work toward new interactions among poets, theorists, critics, readers, and cultural workers across the arts.
April 2010 is a good birth date; Influency Salon is wet around the ears in the best possible way. Thank you to everyone who visits. Please take your time in our company, and spread the word about this new baby: a new online magazine committed to engaging a wider community in conversations about contemporary Canadian poetry. There’s time for poetry, here, and a few amorous winks.
