Maison Kasini announces the launch of Ribbon Pig, a literary project that will present and promote literature that focuses on contemporary issues, settings, and ideas. The centrepiece of the project is the quarterly release of the Ribbon Pig Volume, a limited-edition collection of writing, mini-books, and objects designed to offer a unique experience of interacting with the written word. The project maintains a website that features excerpts, interviews with writers, and other forms of literary expression. For Volume One, Guillaume Morissette served as the editor of the project. The poetry editor was Ashley Opheim. Aeron MacHattie served as the fiction editor for the project.
Ribbon Pig is a extension of Maison Kasini’s existing imprint, which publishes 7-10 titles per year, often focused on contemporary art. In September 2011, Maison Kasini published Hot Topic: Portraits of 20th Century Feminists by Kirsten McCrea. In October 2011, they published Printoptik by Carl David Ruttan, a lavishly illustrated book that explores the artist’s collage practice. The launch of Ribbon Pig is a significant step towards publishing more literature-oriented titles. In early 2012, Maison Kasini will publish The North Yorker by Alain Mercieca and I Am My Own Betrayal by Ribbon Pig editor Guillaume Morissette. Additional titles are in development.
“Maison Kasini is about making art and culture work,” said Maison Kasini Director Ric Kasini Kadour. “There is a natural connection between fine art and literature and they are similarly challenged by an increasingly dominant media culture that privileges hype over substance. I am excited to be working with Guillaume and the entire Ribbon Pig crew as they work to put forward an interesting and dynamic literary voice.”
Guillaume has been making a name for himself among literary circles in Montreal. His work has appeared in Maisonneuve Magazine, The Void Magazine, carte-blanche, Papirmasse, The Link, Lemonhoud, Lickety Split, internetpoetry, Poetry’s Own, Headlight Anthology, Soliloquies Anthology, among others.
Synapse described Guillaume’s writing this way: “His work portrays his ability to juxtapose sentences and words seamlessly, as he finds a way to fuse a classic format with modern vocabulary and ideas.”
“I think of my inner monologue, talking in silence to myself or reflecting on my actions, thoughts or behaviors, as the most important thing I ‘own,’” said Guillaume. “To me, the role of literature, or any kind of art-like entity, is to disturb the inner monologue, by displacing notions, adding or erasing concerns or to pinpoint what we knew but weren’t able to phrase.”
The first Ribbon Pig Volume is available at Kasini House Artshop. Contributors include Rosa Aiello, Mark Ambrose Harris, Lizy Mostowski, Cody Hicks, Rowan Cornell-Brown, Roland Pemberton, Alex Manley, Jacob Wren, Ashley Opheim, Trevor Barton, and Claire Milbrath.
