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Break the Silence
Denise DeMoura
“For DeMoura ... the driving concern is social: She needs to ask us to consider abuse of all sorts – sexual, racial, environmental, et cetera – and its grave consequences, while also seeking to promote reconciliation.
DeMoura is necessarily abrupt and direct and serious, with poems intended for rapid-fire delivery ...
DeMoura is a voice for empowerment and against victimization of all sorts.... DeMoura’s poems are as pithily effective as prizefighters’ punches.”
— George Elliott Clarke, Halifax Sunday Herald
“Most disturbing book [at The Word on the Street-Halifax].”
— Allan Lynch, Atlantic Books Today
“Poet/performer Denise DeMoura considers hitch hiking one of the safer things to do. She writes out of a world of abuse and danger, hers and others, claiming not only survival but celebration. Rhythmic and rich in sound, her poems ask you to read them aloud — declaim, chant and fill up the silence of what is often unsaid.”
— Carmelita McGrath
“These poems engage important, even crucial, contemporary issues in an unflinching way. They are honest and courageous. Denise poses tough and interesting questions and is not afraid to say she may not know the answers. She reveals an engaged sensibility in a time and place where most are glib and unthinking. She pushes hard against illogical and therefore dangerous social barriers. Fearlessness seems her outstanding virtue.”
— Ron Lightbourne
Denise DeMoura is known as The Poet Hitch Hiker. From her base in Halifax, Nova Scotia, her articles appear in Rural Delivery, Atlantic Forestry Review, as well as in Mid Ocean News and Royal Gazette in her native Bermuda. Denise has also started a chapbook publishing venture, Hitching Poet Press. The author of the Heart-Beat of Healing (SpareTime Editions, Broken Jaw Press eBooks, 2000) chapbook, Break the Silence is her first full-length poetry collection.
April 2002 / 7” x 5.5” / 64 pp / poetry (BISAC: POE011000)
Broken Jaw Press
ISBN 1-896647-87-1 (tp) / $15.95
BJP eBook 38, ISBN 1-896647-88-X (PDF)
Book Tour
29 Sept: Reading @ Poet’s Corner Tent, Word on the Street Halifax, Pier 20
16 Nov, 3 pm: reading from Break the Silence (Broken Jaw, 2002) & launching Summer 2002 Celebrations (Hitching Poet Press) @ Alteregos Cafe, 2193 Gottigen St, Halifax NS
19 Nov, 2 pm: Reading @ Room 136, Cox Institute, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro NS
20 Nov, 5-5:30 pm: Radio – Interview on CHMA, Sackville NB
22 Nov, 7:30 pm: Reading – @ Struts Gallery, 7 Lorne St, Sackville NB
26 Nov: 7-8 pm: Radio interview – Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton’s Writing Show with host Joe Blades, on CHSR webcast and 97.9 FM, Fredericton – With guest co-host Ian LeTourneau. Interview with Denise Demoura, the Poet Hitch Hiker, from Halifax NS, author of Break the Silence (Broken Jaw, 2002)
28 Nov 3:30 pm: Radio interview – recorded for F-Words and Ms. Conceptions, CHSR webcast and 97.9 FM, Fredericton NB
28 Nov, 8 pm: Reading @ Gallery Connexion, Fredericton’s artist-run centre, 453 Queen St, Fredericton NB
16 March, 7:30 pm: Reading & the Bermuda book launch for Break the Silence. A “Chewstick” reading + open mic @ Champions Sports Bar, (above Locals) 73 Reid St, Hamilton, Bermuda. On the web Live at 8 pm (and stored) at www.bermynet.com
March 26, 12:30–1:30 pm: Lunch time lecture series presents Denise DeMoura, performing selections from Break the Silence, her first full-length book of poetry, and her various chapbooks. There’s a rumour she might also show some of her first rough-cut video. @ Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton City Hall.
4-10 April: Art Exhibition – “Bermuda Works” by Denise DeMoura and artist Don Trousell. Society of Bermuda Artists @ Hamilton City Hall, Hamilton, Bermuda
• Opening – 5;30 pm, 4 April
Peggy Walt, Interim Executive Director, Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association & Denise DeMoura @ WOTS-Halifax 2002. Photo by Shimon Walt
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