Uppal previews short-story collection in hand-made book

On Saturday, Feb. 19, from 8 to 10pm at the Victory Café, 581 Markham St. in Toronto, LyricalMyrical Press will launch Cover Before Striking, a chapbook by Priscila Uppal, professor of creative writing in the Division of Humanities in York’s Faculty of Arts.


Priscila UppalAbout the Book



Cover Before Striking is a large-sized, hand-made, 52-page chapbook (a form of published story or tract, popular in the 19th century) of one of the title pieces from a forthcoming collection of stories published by Doubleday Canada. This limited-edition book includes stunning new photography by Tracy Carbert on the front and back covers and sells for $25. Signed copies are available from Uppal, who can be contacted by e-mail at puppal@yorku.ca. There will also be an exhibition and sale of Carbert’s photographs and limited-edition prints.


About the author


Priscila Uppal, right, was born in Ottawa and in 2003 received her PhD in English literature at York, where she teaches creative writing. She has published four collections of poetry: Live Coverage (Exile Editions, 2003), Pretending to Die (Exile Editions, 2001), Confessions of a Fertility Expert (Exile Editions, 1999) and How to Draw Blood From a Stone (Exile Editions, 1998). Her work has also appeared in many Canadian and international journals. She is currently working on a novel, her second since the publication of The Divine Economy of Salvation (Doubleday Canada, 2002). Uppal is also co-editor of Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets (Mansfield Press, 2004), with Rishma Dunlop, professor of literary studies in York’s Faculty of Education.