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Coach House Books ISBN: 9781552455302 128 pp, Paperback $24.95 CAD Cover Art: Martin Wittfooth PREORDER SOME OF US MAY LIVE: Coach House Books |
SOME OF US MAY LIVE
Poetry book w/ Coach House Books, 2026
Leigh Kotsilidis’s full-length poetry collection, Some of Us May Live (Coach House Books), a follow-up to her first collection Hypotheticals, ambitiously intends to provoke new mappings of scientific knowledge as it relates to everyday experiences. In Some of Us May Live, scientific explanation is not reductive but an opportunity for empathy and delight, a shift of perspective that redefines the boundary between the personal and the general. These poems intervene into the ideas of the natural world through interrogations and interpretations of humanity as planetary force of change. At times conflating the reader's existence with animals, boulders, glaciers, oceans, black holes, Kotsilidis reveals a multitude of shifting perspectives. If the Anthropocene is a fable. If its plot is the raft of facts that underpin cosmic theory and climate change, evolution and zoology. If Wolf, Fox, and Bear bring us closer to understanding the stakes of our collective struggle against world devastation…well, then, some of us may live. The poems in Kotsilidis’s second collection dust off everyday experiences to reveal the gleam of cause and effect.
In this fragile moment, Some of Us May Live is both the call and the response.
Praise for Some of Us May Live
‘In Leigh Kotsilidis’s Some of Us May Live, the disconsolate song of the proverbial canary in the mineshaft is revitalized by the boisterous voices of fox, wolf, and bear, with grace notes of glaciers and black holes. Even suffused as they are with an awareness of imminent ecological collapse and of End Times looming (maybe), Kotsilidis’s poems are infused with wonder, music, and humour. These poems map small miracles, full of animal sense and empathy, “Be the ant / Become the spore” they implore.’
– Sylvia Legris, author of The Principle of Rapid Peering
‘Some of Us May Live engages with the signs of our richly troubled times with poems that are at once deeply serious and – how does Leigh Kotsilidis manage this? – playful. With fine-grained irony, insight, and wit, but without ever losing the bite of wonder at ecological interconnections, she documents our passage as “we wade at the edge / of what is beyond us.” These poems give voice to the textures of current existence: a collection to treasure for its acuity and lightly worn wisdom.’
– Don McKay, author of Lurch
‘Some of Us May Live seduces with its stunning epistemic raptures. Leigh Kotsilidis delivers an astonishing détournement of our scientific desires to know ourselves and the gorgeous universe in which we live. Here, humanized animals – Wolf, Bear, and Fox – collude with the everyday to reveal and revel in new patterns and formations of thought in the Anthropocene’s many catastrophes. With bold minimalism, Kotsilidis asks us to “wade at the edge / of what is beyond us” whether it is the “knowable loss” of death, zombifying parasites, or the neuro- and genetic networks that make each of us porous with meaning. Some of Us May Live bursts with scientific lyricism, insightful schisms, and sensuous data. Without a doubt, Kotsilidis has unmasked herself as a[n] [r]evolutionary poet. This collection is as vital a read for science communicators as it is for ecopoets, knowledge workers, and dreamers who seek new epistemic breaks to re-rupture, re-envision, and re-imagine our ecological condition.’
– Orchid Tierney, author of This Abattoir is a College
‘Some of Us May Live by Leigh Kotsilidis radically expands the call of ecopoetics to include the domain of cosmological wilderness. Reinterpreting scientific understanding, human experience, and animal behavior through an investigative poetics, Kotsilidis unearths the indeterminacy of reality from lockdown. Speculative, witty, lyrical, and elegiac, these pressurized poems vibrate at the event horizon of life and death, bringing into focus ethical and philosophical tensions between humanity’s apocalyptic effects on nature and scientific knowledge that requires us to imagine the unimaginable. Kotsilidis sees what otherwise cannot be seen: an expanding universe accelerating toward environmental, political, and cultural catastrophe on Earth.’
– Amy Catanzano, author of The Imaginary Present: Essays in Quantum Poetics
‘In this wise, opulent mashup of vocabularies, Leigh Kotsilidis summons Bear, Wolf – alongside many other kinds of living beings – and neural networks to tell her stories. The result is a beautifully readable set of questions about life suspended on the edge of the abyss. Enter her world of omnivorous curiosity.’
– Eleanor Wachtel, author of Random Illuminations: Conversations with Carol Shields
'Into the splayed ribcages of the animal world, into the chasms of the earth where oblivion is made and remade, Leigh Kotsilidis guides us through a weather of collapsing consciousness. Some of Us May Live is a conference of fauna, a cacophony composed with a consonant swiftness and rhythmic ferocity, in search of camaraderie. Situated at “the edge / of what is beyond us,” Kotsilidis is a poet who foretells of the collectivities – between species, between ecologies – that must be our horizon.'
– Michael Nardone, author of Convivialities
READ AN EXCERPT OF SOME OF US MAY LIVE HERE (coming soon!)
View the bibliography
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (journals & small press):
2026 "Scientific Predictability," "Animal Sense", The Malahat Review, Issue 234
2014 “For Christ’s Sake”, Hazlitt online, Random House of Canada, weekly poem.
2013 Rare Birds (installation excerpts), Apogee Magazine, Spring 2013.
2012 The Best Canadian Poetry In English (Anthology), Tightrope Books. (1 poem)
2012 Flukes of Nature (excerpts), Event Magazine No. 41.2
2011 Hypotheticals (Coach House Books)
2011 “By Any Name,” “Before Meteorologists,” “The Tin Woodsman Turns Partisan,” “Rodeo Romance”, The Winnipeg Review, Issue 5, Fall.
2009 “what are we driving ourselves into”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2009 “Supposition No.1”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2009 “Supposition No.2”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2008 I.V. Lounge Nights (An Anthology featuring selected poets from the I.V. Lounge Reading Series), Tightrope Books. (2 poems)
2008 “Diagnoses”, Prism international. No. 47:1 Fall.
2008 “Roadside Hideaway,” Hot Dog: a bestiary.
2009 “Ambitious Birds”, Fevered Spring Almost Instant Anthology, Toronto Small Press Fair Group.
2007 The Hoodoo You Do So Well (Anthology), Littlefishcartpress. (4 poems)
2007 This Grace (Anthology), Littlefishcartpress. (10 poems)
2005 “Artificial Reef”, The Fiddlehead No. 226 Winter.
SELECTED READINGS:
2026 Festival de la Poésie, Montreal, QC
2025 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, Montreal, QC
2024 Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2024: A Matter of Time, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2017 Blanc de Blanc (Backyard Sessions), Montreal, Quebec.
2016 Port Credit Library, Mississauga, Ontario.
2016 The Garnet, Peterborough, Ontario.
2015 Café L’Insouciant (Lapalabrava Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Chez Boris (Lawn chair soiree Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Atwater Library (Quebec Writers’ Federation, Rapid-Fire Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Molly’s Coffee House (odd sundays Reading Series), Fredericton, New Brunswick.
2014 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
2014 High Park (The High Park Reading Festival, Toronto, Ontario.
2014 Café Résonance (Résonance Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2014 The Elora Poetry Centre (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2014 Atwater Library (The Atwater Poetry Project), Montreal, Quebec.
2013 The Sparrow (LitPop Reading Series #2), Montreal, Quebec.
2013 The Common (The Common Reading Series), Toronto, Ontario.
2013 Tranzac (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Toronto, Ontario.
2013 Beaver House (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2013 Historic Kissing Bridge (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), West Montrose, Ontario.
2013 Words Worth Books (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Kitchener, Ontario.
2013 Wired Up Pugs Café-Bistro (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Cambridge, Ontario.
2013 Cedar House (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Paris, Ontario.
2013 The Station Coffee House & Gallery (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Brantford, Ontario.
2013 Chiefswood National Historic Site (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario.
2013 Argo Books, Montreal, Quebec.
2012 The Corner Bookstore (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), New York City, USA
2012 Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), New York City, USA
2012 York University, Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Revival Bar, 783 College Street (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Niagara Artists Centre (Grey Borders Reading Series), St. Catharines, Ontario.
2012 Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario.
2012 Chiefswood National Historic Site (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario.
2012 The Station Coffee House & Gallery (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Brantford, Ontario.
2012 Brown Dog Cafe (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Paris, Ontario.
2012 Wired Up Pugs Café-Bistro (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Cambridge, Ontario.
2012 Gallery on the Grand (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Kitchener, Ontario.
2012 Historic Kissing Bridge (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), West Montrose, Ontario.
2012 Elora Farmers Market, Bissell Park (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2012 Tranzac (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Casa del Popola (The Golden Hour), Montreal, Quebec.
2012 Placebo Space (The Golden Hour), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 New York Mills Cultural Center, New York Mills, Minnesota, USA
2012 Lawnya Vawnya Festival, St. Johns, NL (more details TBA)
2012 Robson Reading Series, UBC, Vancouver, British Columbia.
2012 Art Bar Poetry Series, Paupers Pub, Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Cobourg Poetry Workshop, Cobourg, Ontario.
2012 Barnhill's Books, North Carolina, USA
2012 High Point University, High Point, North Carolina, USA
2011 Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, Boulder, Colorado, USA
2011 Equinox Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
2011 Coach House Toronto Fall Launch, The Dance Cave, Toronto, Ontario.
2011 The Artel, Kingston, Ontario.
2011 Montreal Fall Book Mega-Launch,The Sparrow, Montreal, Quebec.
2011 University of New Brunswick's Poetry Weekend, UNB Memorial Hall, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
READ AN EXCERPT OF SOME OF US MAY LIVE HERE (coming soon!)
View the bibliography
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (journals & small press):
2026 "Scientific Predictability," "Animal Sense", The Malahat Review, Issue 234
2014 “For Christ’s Sake”, Hazlitt online, Random House of Canada, weekly poem.
2013 Rare Birds (installation excerpts), Apogee Magazine, Spring 2013.
2012 The Best Canadian Poetry In English (Anthology), Tightrope Books. (1 poem)
2012 Flukes of Nature (excerpts), Event Magazine No. 41.2
2011 Hypotheticals (Coach House Books)
2011 “By Any Name,” “Before Meteorologists,” “The Tin Woodsman Turns Partisan,” “Rodeo Romance”, The Winnipeg Review, Issue 5, Fall.
2009 “what are we driving ourselves into”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2009 “Supposition No.1”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2009 “Supposition No.2”, Prairie Fire No. 30:3.
2008 I.V. Lounge Nights (An Anthology featuring selected poets from the I.V. Lounge Reading Series), Tightrope Books. (2 poems)
2008 “Diagnoses”, Prism international. No. 47:1 Fall.
2008 “Roadside Hideaway,” Hot Dog: a bestiary.
2009 “Ambitious Birds”, Fevered Spring Almost Instant Anthology, Toronto Small Press Fair Group.
2007 The Hoodoo You Do So Well (Anthology), Littlefishcartpress. (4 poems)
2007 This Grace (Anthology), Littlefishcartpress. (10 poems)
2005 “Artificial Reef”, The Fiddlehead No. 226 Winter.
SELECTED READINGS:
2026 Festival de la Poésie, Montreal, QC
2025 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, Montreal, QC
2024 Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2024: A Matter of Time, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2017 Blanc de Blanc (Backyard Sessions), Montreal, Quebec.
2016 Port Credit Library, Mississauga, Ontario.
2016 The Garnet, Peterborough, Ontario.
2015 Café L’Insouciant (Lapalabrava Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Chez Boris (Lawn chair soiree Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Atwater Library (Quebec Writers’ Federation, Rapid-Fire Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2015 Molly’s Coffee House (odd sundays Reading Series), Fredericton, New Brunswick.
2014 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
2014 High Park (The High Park Reading Festival, Toronto, Ontario.
2014 Café Résonance (Résonance Reading Series), Montreal, Quebec.
2014 The Elora Poetry Centre (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2014 Atwater Library (The Atwater Poetry Project), Montreal, Quebec.
2013 The Sparrow (LitPop Reading Series #2), Montreal, Quebec.
2013 The Common (The Common Reading Series), Toronto, Ontario.
2013 Tranzac (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Toronto, Ontario.
2013 Beaver House (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2013 Historic Kissing Bridge (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), West Montrose, Ontario.
2013 Words Worth Books (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Kitchener, Ontario.
2013 Wired Up Pugs Café-Bistro (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Cambridge, Ontario.
2013 Cedar House (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Paris, Ontario.
2013 The Station Coffee House & Gallery (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Brantford, Ontario.
2013 Chiefswood National Historic Site (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario.
2013 Argo Books, Montreal, Quebec.
2012 The Corner Bookstore (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), New York City, USA
2012 Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), New York City, USA
2012 York University, Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Revival Bar, 783 College Street (The Best Canadian Poetry Anthology), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Niagara Artists Centre (Grey Borders Reading Series), St. Catharines, Ontario.
2012 Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario.
2012 Chiefswood National Historic Site (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario.
2012 The Station Coffee House & Gallery (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Brantford, Ontario.
2012 Brown Dog Cafe (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Paris, Ontario.
2012 Wired Up Pugs Café-Bistro (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Cambridge, Ontario.
2012 Gallery on the Grand (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Kitchener, Ontario.
2012 Historic Kissing Bridge (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), West Montrose, Ontario.
2012 Elora Farmers Market, Bissell Park (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Elora, Ontario.
2012 Tranzac (Fish Quill Poetry Boat Reading Tour), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Casa del Popola (The Golden Hour), Montreal, Quebec.
2012 Placebo Space (The Golden Hour), Toronto, Ontario.
2012 New York Mills Cultural Center, New York Mills, Minnesota, USA
2012 Lawnya Vawnya Festival, St. Johns, NL (more details TBA)
2012 Robson Reading Series, UBC, Vancouver, British Columbia.
2012 Art Bar Poetry Series, Paupers Pub, Toronto, Ontario.
2012 Cobourg Poetry Workshop, Cobourg, Ontario.
2012 Barnhill's Books, North Carolina, USA
2012 High Point University, High Point, North Carolina, USA
2011 Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, Boulder, Colorado, USA
2011 Equinox Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
2011 Coach House Toronto Fall Launch, The Dance Cave, Toronto, Ontario.
2011 The Artel, Kingston, Ontario.
2011 Montreal Fall Book Mega-Launch,The Sparrow, Montreal, Quebec.
2011 University of New Brunswick's Poetry Weekend, UNB Memorial Hall, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
