On February 27th, Take Cover Books hosted a book launch for volume two of Give A Sheet Press (GASP), as part of the ongoing Highly Likely festival.

Originally launched by Chris Magwood in 1996, the recently revived publisher spotlights local authors by printing their submitted work on a folded 8.5 x 11’’ sheet, and providing them with International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). 

“Anything that you publish can become an official book,” Magwood told Arthur. “[I think] this is kind of fun, that you can take a single-piece-of-paper, homemade book, and turn it into something that has the same presence and weight in the industry as a formal book . . . It's a great way to build a community around writing that doesn't require all the formalities of the book publishing world.”

Author Avery Brown opened the evening with Blue Beard, a book of free-verse poetry. Many of her poem’s titles borrowed motifs from children’s literature, such as “Ugly Stepsister”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Mother Goose”, and “Goodnight Moon.” The use of these classic images combined with emotionally vulnerable storytelling made for a surreal listening experience.

“It feels cheesy to [say, but] I write what I feel in the moment,” Brown told Arthur. “When I'm having a big feeling, the way I process it is by writing about it.

“It's been really cool, because in undergrad, [I] was just [told] ‘No,’" she explained. “This was [a] last ditch effort to . . . try something. It's been wonderful. I always wanted to be a writer, so it's [a] dream come true.”

Brown’s reading was followed by Erica Richmond, who shared her book of non-fiction stories, Parenting After Suicide. This contained anecdotes of interactions with her children in the year following their father’s suicide, as well as drawings and a game of hangman. The book’s centrefold was a drawing of a house, titled “Grief Lives Here,” with a few lines of prose in each room. 

“Currently, my main focus is all around grief. Really messy, complicated grief, [and] the healing that can go along with it,” Richmond told Arthur. “There's always a focus on joy and humor as well within [that grief].”

Richmond spoke very highly of her experience publishing with GASP.

“Oh my gosh, this is so nice, because I did not have to make the hundreds of decisions I had to make when I published my own [books],” she said. “I just submitted the work and they did everything else . . . Andrew [Fitzpatrick] even figured out how to do a fold-out part of my book . . [Take Cover and GASP] are just wonderful to work with.”

After Richmond’s reading was a performance from the Newberrys, fronted by GASP Volume One Author David Newberry. The band’s soft rock explored themes of grief and change, and perfectly fit the mood set by the first two readings.

Up next was Kayleigh Mochan with a book of poetry titled Coming To In the Summer. Many of these poems conjured vivid images of katydids, tall grasses, and other hallmarks of summertime in Ontario. The collection also included “From Two Marys”, two whiteout poems forming a dialogue between Mary Oliver and Mary Shelley.

“The main focus of my writing is not so much writing [itself], but just being present,” Mochan told Arthur. “So half of the things in my poems are real, and half of them are me thinking about [my experience] while it’s happening, and about the nature around me.”

Like Brown and Richmond, Mochan thoroughly enjoyed the publishing process with GASP, especially as a new poet.

“It was honestly one of the best opportunities that I've seen, especially being so local and so . . . accessible and treating the author so well,” they remarked. “The books are $5 each, and all of that goes to the authors.”

“This is my second publishing event,” Mochan continued. “[With this process,] you get the editing side and you get the personal side. This is actually my first time reading my poems out loud at an event.”

The final reading was from author Jessica Westhead, whose short story Fragile, Shy Little People described a dystopian near-future as told by an apathetic bystander. Westhead wove various aspects of this world using the throughline of a bowling alley, which has become the centre of social life since “everything else is so expensive now.” The narrator describes a world where cooks have been replaced with robots, gardening is illegal, Value Village is unaffordable for most, and syphilis has become airborne. 

“I write a lot about characters who lack self-awareness, so that creates humour with dramatic irony, with the audience knowing what the character doesn't,” Westhead explained. “I also like to write about people who try to connect and have trouble connecting.”

Westhead was very enthusiastic about having “a tiny book with Give A Sheet Press.”

“I read from my last short story collection here in 2023, and that's when I met Andrew and Sean [Fitzpatrick],” she told Arthur. “[When] I saw that they were [re]starting GASP, I was very excited . . . because any opportunity to do a literary thing in Peterborough is very exciting.”

The evening concluded with a performance from Burs, a Toronto-based band whose ethereal vocals and guitar rhythms brought a strong sense of peace to the space. Their soft folk songs focused heavily on the importance of friendships, and drew lyrical inspiration from artists such as Gord Downie. Burs expressed gratitude for being able to play in a bookstore, as self-proclaimed “book lovers.”

The band was in good company in that regard; between sets and readings, festival attendees were milling about the store, examining the various titles on shelves and purchasing GASP zines of both volumes. 

“[Initiatives like GASP] show the community that writing matters, that it's a very valid and legitimate way of expressing yourself, and that people are interested in it,” Richmond said. “Take Cover has always been amazing at supporting the community at large, and I think this is just another example of the ways that they do that.”