It’s difficult to describe A Nice Place to Visit. Some will say it’s not a book of poetry at all — but that’s just because it’s funny and has reviews of bad movies and advice on things like love. Also, it’s a kind of travelogue: you get to go to Costa Rica and look at plants and and stuff and think more about love. And oh yeah, the book tells you who not to sleep with — that’s very important. And have you ever heard of John Wildman, the guy who starred in the Canadian hit movie My American Cousin” Well, there’s an ode to him. There are memorable lines like “Lois and Fran gave me a frying pan.” (But you probably won’t like it if you haven’t heard of Parker Posey. You have heard of Parker Posey, right?) Mostly it’s about things you’ll always remember — like that summer when the boys in Montreal were all wearing underwear that said “Home Of The Brave.” You know . . . It’s a nice place to visit — but I wouldn’t want to live there.

Sky Gilbert is a writer, director, and drag queen extraordinaire. He was co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (North Americaâ??s largest gay and lesbian theatre) for 18 years. His hit plays include The Dressing Gown, Drag Queens on Trial, Play Murder, The Emotionalists, and the Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning The Whoreâ??s Revenge. His first three novels: Guilty (1998), St. Stephenâ??s, (1999) and I Am Kasper Klotz (2001) were critically acclaimed. ECW Press published Skyâ??s first collection of poetry, Digressions of a Naked Party Girl, in 1998, and his theatre memoir, Ejaculations from the Charm Factory, in 2000. His second book of collected poems, Temptations for a Juvenile Delinquent, was published by ECW in 2003. He was recently the recipient of the Margo Bindhardt Award (from the Toronto Arts Foundation), the Silver Ticket Award (from the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts), and the ReLit Award (for his fourth novel, An English Gentleman), and also recently received a PhD from the University of Toronto. By day, Sky holds a University Research Chair in Drama and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph.

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