Hi, art lovers! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but every time Canada Reads comes around, the authors send us essays about where they like to write. This many years in, it’s tradition, and I won’t attempt to answer why folks (myself included) are always curious to read them. Where is the best place to write? A downtown studio? An empty house on the edge of the East Coast? Literally anywhere? I think I’m drawn to the question because it’s the literary equivalent of a “What’s in my bag?” feature, but I’ll always click through. And Writing the Land, a new documentary series that arrived on CBC Gem last week, kind of takes that premise and goes big with it, capturing some travelogue-worthy footage while shadowing 12 of the country’s top authors. Esi Edugyan, Joshua Whitehead and Uzma Jalaluddin feature in Episode 1, and you can stream the complete series right now.

Incidentally, the last few days at CBC Arts have been a smidge more literary than usual. Because Canada is the guest of honour at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, we’re presenting some special video programming that highlights work by acclaimed poets — performance videos (in English and French) that have been animated by different artists. More on that below the jump.

 
And because we promised you eye candy … 
Colour illustration of two figures against a white backdrop. The figure at the fore wears a black sweater, socks and white underpants. They stir a pot on a burner. Their head is abstracted, as though the paint were smeared upward. The second figure, at rear, is depicted in a similar abstracted fashion. Wearing a red sweater and black pants, they are seated and read a blue book.@agathebebe/Instagram
Curious about the artists who contributed to those poetry videos? A teaser for you: Montreal’s Agathe Bray-Bourret is one of them. 
@crissyarseneau/Instagram
White paper cut in the form of two clouds attached to a rectangle. At centre, a cut out in the shape of a cloud reveals painted strips of paper in a rainbow gradient.Mixed-media work by Vancouver’s Crissy Arseneau. And suddenly I feel as though my head is in the clouds … 
@clarecelesteart/Instagram
A female figure is photographed against a dark brown backdrop. She wears a garment and towering headpiece all made from colourful paper, collaged in the shape of flowers and tropical animals and birds.A collage you can wear! (The artist is Clare Celeste.)  
@sorayafarha/Instagram
Collage of an illustrated bird, pink flower and paint strokes in pink, blue and grey.Talking about collage, did anyone try the “positive vibes” craft project from last week’s newsletter? Soraya Farha did and she gets a gold star for tagging #cbcartsmakes on Instagram. (That’s how I found this cheerful cut-and-paste job of hers. Do the same if you want to share how you did!) 
Juan Ortiz-Apuy
Still life composition phtoographed on draped cowprint fabric.Midnight Confusion by Juan Ortiz-Apuy. (West Coast readers! Juan has a solo exhibition at Victoria’s Open Space gallery starting Oct. 30.) 
Marta Chudolinska
Black and white linocut print depicting two seated figures, one female one male. He plays a ukulele and she holds a paintbox and paintbrush. Facing each other, the details of their surroundings and bodies appear to blend into one another.This year’s Virtual Canzine is on right now and you can browse (and shop) the fair through Monday. (Psst! Here’s where to find more from Marta Chudolinska, the artist who made this linocut print.)

Read more at CBC Arts