To date, I am the author of four books of poetry and literary essays. My poetics straddles long and sequential forms, translingualism, and collaborative and community-focused approaches to composition. My poetry debut Ekke won the 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the narrative long poem Hell Light Flesh was produced as an opera-film called Light (composer Jimmie LeBlanc, director Michael Hidetoshi Mori), premiered at the 2023 International Festival of Films on Art (FiFA). Voice, performance, and the curation of literary events form part of my writing process. Poetry does not only exist fetishized as text, but functions as an embodied and relational ecosystem of making, sounding, documenting, and remaking, frequently in dialogue with audiences. Some of this collaborative labour has materialized in an ongoing project of poetry reading organization called Deep Curation. Here I work with other contemporary poets, such as Oana Avasilichioaei, Kaie Kellough, Kama La Mackerel, among others, to design deliberately interwoven and discursive sounded and public-facing presentations of their work. At the current juncture in my development as an artist, I am applying what I have learned from collaborative performance and curation to the staging of my poetry through the medium of my own voice in live and archival situations. Although the latter is mediated through recording technology, my intention is to retain the minimalism of the human reading voice and not to dramatically alter its sonic scope and ability. My creative interests are increasingly melding with my interdisciplinary scholarly thinking and I hold a PhD in English Literature from Concordia University.
Credit: Francis Leduc
Books
I’mpossible Collab. Gaspereau Press, 2023.
G. Collaboratively written with Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi. Palimpsest Press, 2023.
Hell Light Flesh. Palimpsest Press, 2020.
Ekke. Palimpsest Press, 2018.
Chapbooks
Skin & Meat Sky. With images by Kadie Salmon. Knife Fork Book, 2022.
Unfurl. Gaspereau Press, 2019.
Wax Lyrical. Anstruther Press, 2015.
Anthologies
“Essay dwellers,” “Quidditief/Quiddity,” “Immaculate conception,” “A milk,” “Death will desperate,” and “To the woodcut above my writing desk.” Changing the Face of Canadian Literature: A Diverse Canadian Anthology. Ed. Dane Swan. Guernica Press, 2020.
“Om rond te tas / une tasse.” 30 Under 30: An Anthology of Canadian Millennial Poets. Ed. a.m. kozak. In/Words Press through Carleton University, 2017.
Poems
“Dead Air: Four Sonnets from a Crown.” The Stinging Fly, Issue 49:2, Winter 2023-2024.
“پروتز,” “Kuns-,” and “PROSthetic,” co-written with Khashayar "Kess” Mohammadi. Grain Magazine, 50th Anniversary Issue, 2023.
“Principle of Provenance” and “Fonds.” The Stinging Fly, Issue 46:2, Summer 2022.
“Sublime Curlicue.” Oomph!: Contemporary Works (Vol. 3), A Multilingual Anthology, 2022.
“Flower Agreement.” THIS Magazine, 2022.
A sound work based on extracts and versions from “G,” co-written with Khashayar "Kess” Mohammadi, was published as a digital performance through the TAP Centre for Creativity’s 42 x 81 series, January 2022.
“Cualidad y condición de lo que esplende,” three excerpts from Hell Light Flesh in Spanish translation by Daniel Saldaña París. Periódico de Poesía, 2021.
“Archiving Anxiety.” Canadians Read, 2021.
A sound work based on extracts and versions from “G,” co-written with Khashayar "Kess” Mohammadi, was published as a digital feature called “Fricatives” in Collusion Books’ 2×4^2 series, 2021.
“Water feature hydropathy.” Event Magazine 50:1, 2021.
“Evocación Lírica” and “Seres, no ser.” La Ballesta de Papel, two poems in Spanish translation by Ana Laura Alcalá Agüera. Issue 18, January 2021.
“Lungscapes,” “Shine a poem / poets ’n gedig,” “Mouthing mouth thing,” “-ing / ge-.” The Capilano Review, Translingual Issue, 3:42, Fall 2020.
Excerpt from “Ekke.” La Journée du Poème á Porter, La Poésie Partout, poem in French translation by Jonathan Lamy. 25 April 2019.
“In limbo dovetail abode (Las Meninas pigeons).” long con magazine, Issue 1, 2019.
“Cityscape / Hairnet.” Lemonhound, Spring Creep Issue, 3.0.4, 2018.
“Words are poems and poems are poetry.” Vallum: Contemporary Poetry, 15:1, 2018.
“Detail (Cardamom)” and “Detail (Lepidoptera).” Grain: The Journal of Eclectic Writing, 45:2, Winter 2018.
“Discovery limits itself to an instant” and “Limbs in a hierarchy of difficulty.” The Fiddlehead, Issue 275, Spring 2018.
“Play date.” carte blanche, Issue 30, Summer 2017.
“This Catechism of Possession.” Literary Review of Canada, May 2017.
“The pragmatism of a girl entering a room,” “And when a single hair settles on the shoulder of a sweater,” and “Brushstrokes recline in postures of women.” CV2, Issue 39.4, Spring 2017.
“Title Poem” and “Anthropology (apology) of pencil lead.” Canthius: Feminism and Literary Arts, Issue 3, Winter 2017.
“Desire Lines.” PRISM International, Issue 55.2, Winter 2017.
“The poem is its own portrait.” Dusie: Tuesday Poem, 24 January 2017.
“Detail (Blue).” Minola Review: A Journal of Women’s Writing, 2017.
“An expanse of shivering bright.” New Poetry, September 2016.
“Las Meninas.” Parenthetical, Issue 15, September 2016.
“Ekke,” “Hairsplitting,” and “Words are sounds that sometimes pretend to have meaning.” Asymptote, July 2016.
“Ceiling Roses.” The Puritan, May 2016.
“I go to the poem alone.” Matter Monthly, October 2015.
“Porcelain Mary.” White Wall Review, Issue 30, 2015.
“Necessary negligence of affect” and “Feminists fuck like a real man.” Cosmonauts Avenue, October 2015.
“Version in which Philomela metamorphoses into a bird.” Scrivener Creative Review, Issue 37, 2012.
Dialogues
“rob mclennan: 2024 VerseFest interviews: Klara du Plessis.” periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. 18 March 2024.
“Aaron Schneider Interviews Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi and Klara du Plessis.” The /tƐmz/ Review. Issue 26, Spring 2024.
“Adjacent to (Many) Languages” reissued, in conversation with Sophie Seita. Amalgam 4. 2023.
“Text Creates Movement in Stillness,” in conversation with Kadie Salmon. LitNet (artwords series). 31 October 2023.
“Literary Curation,” in conversation with Elee Kraljii Gardiner. The Capilano Review, Issue 3:44, Summer 2021.
“Language is already a poem,” in conversation with Erín Moure. The Puritan, Issue 53, Spring 2021.
“Adjacent to (Many) Languages” reissued, in conversation with Sophie Seita. The Capilano Review, Translingual Issue 3:42, Fall 2020.
“An Interview with Klara du Plessis,” in conversation with James Lindsay. Open Book. 13 July 2018.
Essays and Reviews
The King of Terrors, Jim Johnstone. The Fiddlehead. (Forthcoming)
Kwewag Dreaming, Liz Howard. C-Mag 157: Kink. April 2024.
“Dominique Botha, Breyten Breytenbach and Peter Midgley se Self-Vertalings.” Klyntji. 26 Maart 2024.
“Productive Failure and the Process of Not Performing.” AELAQ Read Quebec Blog. 21 March 2024.
“Text as Sound: A Zigzag of Theory and Practice.” LitNet (artwords series). 31 October 2023.
“Oopstemming.” Turksvy: ’n Feministiese Brief in Afrikaans. 4 Junie 2023.
“Lyrical Poetry Is Lyrical Poetry.” Arc Poetry Magazine, Issue 100, Spring 2023.
Dream Rooms, River Halen; War Canticles, George Elliott Clarke; reiterations, Fortner Anderson; Wet Dream, Erin Robinsong. Montreal Review of Books, November 2022.
“Blue ink and the deferral of silence,” Looking for Livingstone. An Odyssey of Silence, M. NourbeSe Philip. Tripwire, Issue 18, 2021.
“Verso versus verso: Jordan Abel, Dionne Brand, and the Left-Hand Page.” Arc Poetry Magazine, Issue 100, Spring 2021.
Eight Track, Oana Avasilichioaei. Montreal Review of Books, Summer 2020.
“A Cocktail of Criticism: Reconsidering CanLit Review Culture.” The Town Crier, ed. Annick MacAskill, March 2020.
The Blue Clerk, Dionne Brand. Co-written with Alexei Perry Cox and Linzey Corridon. The Puritan, Issue 44, Winter 2019.
“Lofrede aan die nie-lees van Breytenbach se EK: ’n bespreking van ‘daardie ek gedig”’ uit (‘YK’) (1983).” LitNet, September 2019.
All Day I Dream About Sirens, Domenica Martinello. Montreal Review of Books, Summer 2019.
PERFACT, Nicole Raziya Fong. Montreal Review of Books, Summer 2019.
Authenticity is a feeling: My life in PME-ART, Jacob Wren. Montreal Review of Books, July 2018.
Ship of Gold: The Essential Poems of Émile Nelligan, Émile Nelligan, trans. Marc di Saverio. Montreal Review of Books, February 2018.
Rooms, Louise Dupré, trans. Karen Isabel Ocaña. Montreal Review of Books, February 2018.
Planetary Noise: Selected Poetry of Erín Moure, Erín Moure, ed. Shannon Maguire. Montreal Review of Books, Summer 2017.
Feel Happier in Nine Seconds, Linda Besner. Montreal Review of Books, Fall 2017.
Speaking Memory: How Translation Shapes City Life, ed. Sherry Simon. Montreal Review of Books, Spring 2017.
3 Summers, Lisa Robertson. The Rusty Toque, 2017.
Admission Requirements, Phoebe Wang. Debutantes, June 2017.
“Redefining a Whole: Klara du Plessis on Anne Carson.” The Operating System, April 2017.
If I were in a cage I’d reach out for you, Adèle Barclay. Debutantes, February 2017.
Under the Stone, Karoline Georges, trans. Jacob Homel. Montreal Review of Books, Fall 2016.
Congotronic, Shane Book. The Rusty Toque, June 2016.
page as bone-ink as blood, Jónína Kirton. Matrix Magazine, Issue 104, Summer 2016.
As Always, Madeleine Gagnon, trans. Phyllis Aronoff. Montreal Review of Books, October 2015.
Down, Sarah Dowling. PANK, August 2015.
Kern, derek beaulieu. PANK, August 2015.
Universal Bureau of Copyrights, Bertrand Laverdure, trans. Oana Avasilichioaei. Matrix Magazine, 2015.
Asbestos Heights, David McGimpsey. Matrix Magazine, Issue 103, Winter 2015.
“Alt Lit is Dead is anti-feminist.” Broken Pencil Magazine, Issue 66, Winter 2015.
For Tamara, Sarah Lang. Matrix Magazine, Issue 99, Fall 2014.
Film Poems, Redell Olsen. Lemon Hound, June 2014.
Editorial Work
Guest editor of special issue, “Poetic Systems.” Glyphoria, digital journal hosted by Metatron Press, 2023.
Quotes: Transcriptions on Listening, Sound, Agency. Co-edited with Emma Telaro. SpokenWeb, 2022.
Reperspirations, Exhalations, Wrapt Inflections, Aaron Boothby; Pareidolia, Alisha Dukelow; The New Alphabets, Virginia Konchan; Tell Everybody I Say Hi, Tess Liem; Exit Text, Geneviève Robichaud; Kawatare, S. Takatsu. Anstruther Press (chapbooks), 2017-2020.
Editor-in-chief of carte blanche, online literary magazine affiliated with the Quebec Writers’ Federation, 2017-2019.
Assistant editor of Vallum: Contemporary Poetry magazine, 2016-2017.
Guest editor of Hamilton Arts & Letters, 2017.
Edited Debutantes (reviews site for debut collections of poetry, co-founded with Aaron Boothby), 2017
Guest editor of special issue, “Writing in English from a Multilingual Perspective.” The Town Crier (thirteen essays), 2016.