books

2011. T’aimer, voyager / To love you, to travel

Bilingual artist book (hand made) comprising 62 haiku and tanka by JB ; concept and 17 illustrations by Claire Dufresne.

Dedicated to Adena.

Limited edition of eight copies numbered and signed by the artist and the poet.

ISBN : 978-2-9812573-0-7 ; legal deposit: July 2011

Copies in the Conservation Collection at the Bibliothèque & Archives nationales du Québec in Montréal and at Library & Archives Canada in Ottawa.

Towards the end of November 2011, one may consult a copy of the book on site in the Diffusion Collection in the BAnQ in Montréal located at 2275 Holt Street.

Click here to see the Cover and the case T'aimer,voyager, To love you, to travel; Production Sheet in French

For more of Claire Dufresne’s art books and sculpture-books, please visit her bilingual gallery-workshop: Claire Dufresne Ming Gallery

2010. D'âmes et d'ailes/of souls and wings

This bilingual collection, a suite in seven movements containing 91 poems, deals with themes dear to tanka – a Japanese poem of 31 syllables (5-7-5-7-7) arranged, in the West, on five lines: sapphic love, family, friendship, travel, aging, loneliness, the beyond. The parallels between the cycles of Nature and life are constant.

With sensitivity, tenderness and sincerity, Janick shares a Life’s journey similar to that of many contemporary women... despite its twists and turns.

of souls and wings is introduced with a HERstory of tanka since the 9th century. Ten poetesses and two women translators are honoured: in ancient Japan, from the era of Heian-kyō (794-1185): Ono no Komachi, Michitsuna’s Mother, Sei Shōnagon, Murasaki Shikibu, and Izumi Shikibu; and from the era of Kamakura (1185-1335): Abutsu-ni.
From 20th c.: YOSANO Akiko from Japan; Judith Gautier and Kikou YAMATA, two translators from France.
Then, the first French-language tanka poetess, Jehanne Grandjean (1880-1982).
Finally, two contemporary poetesses from Japan, TAWARA Machi and Mayu.

Cover: D’âmes et d’ailes/of souls and wings

Published in both English and French by Éditions du tanka francophone

To read all of the critics and comments on this very site,, please click on 'English Media'.

2003. Humeur… Sensibility… Alma… – haiku / tanka. Carte blanche, Montreal

Short poems portraying various moods: sexual, sensual, amorous, unfaithful?, tumultuous; epilogue included. A travel through sensibilities: instances of magic, lunar years, timeless memories.

75 poems in French including 15 translated into English (by Jo-Anne Elder and Jonathan Kaplansky) and 15 others in Spanish (by Rosa Batista); 5 illustrations by Diane Desmarais

JB: one of the winners of the Montreal 1st Festival of Edible Books. Inspiration for pastry-chocolate student, Gabrielle Cadieux-Leblanc of the Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec.

1988. L’en-dehors du désir. Éditions du Blé, St-Boniface, MB.

55 short and longer poems including 5 illustrations by Diane Desmarais.

A lover’s journey in 5 positions.

1988. Guide to Gracious Lesbian Living

Edited and published by Adena Franz, Lilith Publications, Montreal

Collection of 12 short stories by 12 women authors among them a text-play by JB, Alice, Gertrude and Friends.

Abstract: 6 women friends, while dining, converse on separatist feminism.

Translation from French by Susanne de Lotbiniere-Harwood.
Illustration: Diane Desmarais

feature articles

2012. Chiaroscuro - LGBT Tanka. US

Published by Atlas Poetica a contemporary tanka journal as a Special Feature, US 2012

The virtual Collective Work contains 25 selected poems from 25 poets from 9 different countries. The feature includes Biographical Sketches of the poets. To read the on-line issue, please click LGBT Tanka Chiaroscuro, edited & introduced by Janick Belleau

Background of the ATPO Special Feature:
The call for submissions asked for Poets to have a positive outlook on LGBT. (One does not need to be a LGBT person. One however might have friendly or parental, professional or social links with a person of this community). The Editor accepts a pseudonym for poets who prefer to remain anonymous.

The title Chiaroscuro is a veiled reference to Torikaebaya Monogatari (literal translation: If only I could exchange them story) written around the 12th century in Japan by Anonymous (man or woman, to this day, one does not know). The story is graced with approximately 80 tanka in the French version which has been translated by Renée Garde in 2009 as Si on les échangeait. Le Genji travesti.

To learn more about this novel (characters, themes, authorship, translations), please click the links below:
in English, Torikaebaya Monogatari ;
en français, Torikaebaya article de Sachiko Takeda traduit en français par Sumie Terada

presentations

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