Christopher Gudgeon will launch his debut poetry collection, Assdeep in Wonder, at Shelf Life Books (1302-4th Street SW) in Calgary March 23, 2017, 7 pm.
ASSDEEP IN WONDER is a collection of heartbreaking and hilarious poems by "Canada’s answer to Billy Collins." Raw and immediate, Gudgeon explores themes of addiction, sexuality, loss, love, and wonder in equal measures. In simple love poems like "Let’s start small, my darling," everyday anthems like "Future Tops of America," and visionary dreams like "The Revelations of Donald Trump," Gudgeon tackles the tyranny of identity, the mystery of desire, the strictures of gender and the absurdity of homophobia in a style that’s hypnotic and highly accessible.
There are also laments and homages to Canadian writers both dead and alive — from Milton Acorn and Al Purdy to bill bissett, David McFadden, Paul Quarrington and bpNichol — while in his epic poem "Canadian Tourister," Gudgeon mischievously unpacks every Canadian-ism to ever drop from our wind-chapped lips.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chris Gudgeon is an author and poet and screenwriter. He’s contributed to dozens of periodicals – including Playboy, MAD, National Lampoon, Geist, Event, and Malahat Review – and written seventeen books, from critically acclaimed fiction like Song of Kosovo and Greetings from the Vodka Sea, to celebrated biographies of Stan Rogers and Milton Acorn, to a range of popular history on subjects as varied as sex, sexuality, fishing and lotteries. Gudgeon has more than 150 professional TV and film credits including creating, writing, and producing the Gemini-award winning series Ghost Trackers and the documentary, The Trick with the Gun. In his varied career, Gudgeon has worked a variety of jobs across Canada, the United States, and Europe including psychiatric orderly, rent boy, bartender, rock musician, rodeo clown, TV weatherman, and youth outreach worker. Gudgeon, who is bisexual, has been in an open relationship with musician/self-help guru Jasper Vander Voorde since 2009. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Victoria, B.C.
