Merging poetry and historical records, Zits masterfully (re)creates a poetic view of the Frog Lake Massacre of April 2, 1885. His collage and cut-up techniques challenge the histories penned by the event’s recorders and reflect upon the difficult and painful complexities of past and present. He weaves together voices of Métis and First Nations participants, settlers, and military officials, using tape transcripts, historical accounts, memoirs, and footnotes to create a unique, non-narrative historiography of fragmented poetic language. This innovative work of literary montage digs deep into a historic period that continues to garner scholarly and public interest. Readers interested in poetry and Canadian history will find this an intriguing new collection.

Paul Zits' first book, Massacre Street (UAP 2013), was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award and the IndieFab Award for Poetry and went on to win the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry at the 2014 Alberta Literary Awards. He served two terms as Writer-in-the-Schools at Queen Elizabeth High School in Calgary, and taught creative writing to students in the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program. He is a regular instructor with the Writers' Guild of Alberta's WordsWorth Camp at Kamp Kiwanis, an instructor with the Edmonton Poetry Festival's Verse Project, and the Managing Editor of filling Station.

Paul Zits' profile page

• Winner, Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry
• Short-listed, Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award
• Winner, AAUP Book, Jacket & Journal Show, Poetry and Literature
• Short-listed, Book Design of the Year - Alberta Book Publishing Awards

"...Zits' book juxtaposes fragments of others' writing to invite readers to ponder the concept of reconstituting history when the low fog of racism attends cultural difference and shrouds events, when personal investments of witnesses to that history are so divergent, and when oral and written versions of events tell incommensurable stories."

Susan Gingell