What is the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival Collection?

Every two years the International MONTREAL ZEN POETRY FESTIVAL brings world-renowned poets, translators, Zen monks and scholars to Montreal to celebrate and share the expression of Zen in poetry. An important part of each festival is the gathering together of invitees' work in a slim volume with a limited numbered edition of 400 (300 for 2007), beautifully designed by Linda Gustafson, of Counterpunch, and edited by Meg Taylor. In 2007, the publication words have no meaning, masterfully printed at Coach House Press, brought together poets and translators David Budbill, Steve Sanfield, Red Pine, Joanne Kyger, Sonja Arntzen, and Leonard Cohen. We are currently hard at work assembling the words of our 2009 line-up for our second collection, forget the words! These pages will feature the work of Shin Yu Pai, Chase Twichell, Peter Levitt, Seido Ray Ronci, David Hinton, Dennis Maloney, and Stephen Addiss.

Why Should You Support the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival Collection?

The MONTREAL ZEN POETRY FESTIVAL brings together international talent for a niche gathering unlike any other. The festival collection is an artistic means of sharing the world of Zen poetry.

We have raised $500 through two grassroots events and we need to raise $1900 more to cover printing costs for the 2009 collection by February 18, 2011. About half of our 400 copies are for purchase and the other half are gifted to our donors and invitees; the income from the purchase of the volume goes towards funding the current festival.

The festival is organized by seven poets/playwrights/actors who practice at Enpuku-ji, and is entirely volunteer-run. 

The Festival and Enpuku-ji Zen Centre

The Zen Centre, founded in 1995 and previously known as Centre Zen de la Main, is an urban residential Zen temple in the Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal. The festival is part of the centres Zen Expression programme that introduces the practice and cultural traditions of Zen Buddhism to the community-at-large.

The collections are dedicated to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi, oldest living and actively teaching Zen Master at 103.