Dream Rooms
Bookhug Press, Fall 2022.
“These pages are like the best conversations I have had with poets, relentlessly pushing through the mystery together. There is no choice but to learn a new way to hold what we think we know or drop it on the ground. ‘When you hurt one of us you hurt us all,’ writes River Halen in a book I would buy for you if I knew you, driven to share this brilliant conversation.”
—CAConrad
“Can a book deflect predators? Is the book the place where the body can take a new posture, training itself to become a gentleman, an atmosphere, a counter-product, a galaxy? “There is no limit to how much you can learn about electricity” is one of the many sentences or lines in Dream Rooms that both absorbed and emitted attention, the strong and sometimes overwhelming energy that accompanies what the writer calls emergence. ‘Nothing alive belongs to anyone.’ Yes.”
—Bhanu Kapil
—CAConrad
“Can a book deflect predators? Is the book the place where the body can take a new posture, training itself to become a gentleman, an atmosphere, a counter-product, a galaxy? “There is no limit to how much you can learn about electricity” is one of the many sentences or lines in Dream Rooms that both absorbed and emitted attention, the strong and sometimes overwhelming energy that accompanies what the writer calls emergence. ‘Nothing alive belongs to anyone.’ Yes.”
—Bhanu Kapil
“A quick-witted, momentum-filled, tender rebellion of a book.”
—Chase Joynt
“Unique and mesmerizing”
—Bay Area Reporter
“One of this book’s many major achievements is its delightful continual configuration of everyday objects (wearing fuzzy white socks so ailing bunny feels at home; a broken razor leaving one very hairy leg shaved, one not) into a procedural for unbounded being. A voice moves from rental room to room, unspooling a life lived with divinely smudged or entangled boundaries between human and animal, between friendship and love, between prescribed and transitioning gender. Dream Rooms is a marvellous confection of the author’s definition of “revolution”—a series of small, courageous, flawed attempts to risk everything.
—Gail Scott
—Chase Joynt
“Unique and mesmerizing”
—Bay Area Reporter
“One of this book’s many major achievements is its delightful continual configuration of everyday objects (wearing fuzzy white socks so ailing bunny feels at home; a broken razor leaving one very hairy leg shaved, one not) into a procedural for unbounded being. A voice moves from rental room to room, unspooling a life lived with divinely smudged or entangled boundaries between human and animal, between friendship and love, between prescribed and transitioning gender. Dream Rooms is a marvellous confection of the author’s definition of “revolution”—a series of small, courageous, flawed attempts to risk everything.
—Gail Scott
About
River Halen is an
award-winning, transgender writer of Catalan and Danish descent living in
Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. Their poems and essays dealing with relation,
ecology, transformation, and sexuality have been published widely in Canada, as
well as in the U.S., Australia, and in translation in Japan. Their first book, Match,
was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and t
heir most recent book, Dream Rooms, a collection of
essays and poems, was shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize and selected by
Renee Gladman for Artforum Magazine as a top-ten pick of the year.
River has been a full-time freelance arts worker since 2011, editing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for large and small presses. They are an acquiring editor for Brick Books and have taught sessionally in the Toronto Metropolitan University publishing program.
River has been a full-time freelance arts worker since 2011, editing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for large and small presses. They are an acquiring editor for Brick Books and have taught sessionally in the Toronto Metropolitan University publishing program.
Other Publications
excerpt from Thunderhead
—fiction published in Capilano Review Spring 2024
The Enemy
—poem published in Arc 94 Polymorphous Per Verse Issue (2021) and in Best Canadian Poetry 2022
Subjects on Which My Love Doll Could Conceivably Have Opinions
—poem published in Lemon Hound Anthology (2019)
I Looked for the Exit, Found a Sleeve
—chapbook published by Skyebound press (2018)
Speech
—poem published in Malahat Review 205 (2018); winner of the PK Page Founders’ Prize
Six Boxes
—essay published in Capilano Review 3.36 (2018) and in Best Canadian Essays 2019
Some Animals and Their Housing Situations
—story published in Monkey Business vol. 7 (2017) and as a chapbook by The Elephants press
—fiction published in Capilano Review Spring 2024
The Enemy
—poem published in Arc 94 Polymorphous Per Verse Issue (2021) and in Best Canadian Poetry 2022
Subjects on Which My Love Doll Could Conceivably Have Opinions
—poem published in Lemon Hound Anthology (2019)
I Looked for the Exit, Found a Sleeve
—chapbook published by Skyebound press (2018)
Speech
—poem published in Malahat Review 205 (2018); winner of the PK Page Founders’ Prize
Six Boxes
—essay published in Capilano Review 3.36 (2018) and in Best Canadian Essays 2019
Some Animals and Their Housing Situations
—story published in Monkey Business vol. 7 (2017) and as a chapbook by The Elephants press
Self Love
—poem published in Toronto Review of Books (2017)
Reason
—poem published in The Elephants (2017)
Horseplay: Some Poses in Search of Love
—essay published in Brick 97 (2016) and in Monkey vol. 14, translated to Japanese by Motoyuki Shibata
American Dream Versus Russian Doll
—poem published in This magazine (2016); shortlisted for a National Magazine Award
Here Come the Waterworks
—chapbook published by Bookhug press (2015)
Microphone Lessons for Poets
—chapbook published by Bookhug press (2015)
Match
—book published by Coach House Press (2011); shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, longlisted for the Re-Lit Award
—poem published in Toronto Review of Books (2017)
Reason
—poem published in The Elephants (2017)
Horseplay: Some Poses in Search of Love
—essay published in Brick 97 (2016) and in Monkey vol. 14, translated to Japanese by Motoyuki Shibata
American Dream Versus Russian Doll
—poem published in This magazine (2016); shortlisted for a National Magazine Award
Here Come the Waterworks
—chapbook published by Bookhug press (2015)
Microphone Lessons for Poets
—chapbook published by Bookhug press (2015)
Match
—book published by Coach House Press (2011); shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, longlisted for the Re-Lit Award
Performances
Arc 94, The Polymorphous per Verse issue launch
June 16, 2021
I read my poem “The Enemy” at an event that also features Cameron Awkward-Rich, CAConrad, Jiaqing Wilson-Yang and SJ Sindu. Hosted by Trish Salah and Ali Blythe. My reading begins at 3:40.
Mile End Poets’ Festival
Nov. 22, 2018
Flamenco dancer Katherine McLeod choreographed and performed a dance to accompany my long poem “I looked for the exit, found a sleeve,” punctuating its soundscape with footwork and other effects.
Published in my book Dream Rooms, “I looked for the exit” was originally written as an incantation/ritual/tantrum for coming into trans identity. In it, a clothes moth infestation provides an opening to think more expansively about gender, ecology, accountability, and the universe.
Katherine and I subsequently performed the piece at La Vitrola on March 17, 2019, at an event that also featured readings by Nadia Chaney and Marcela Huerta, among other performers.
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![Performance at Mile End Photo Festival, 2018. Photos by Michael Kovacs]()
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June 16, 2021
I read my poem “The Enemy” at an event that also features Cameron Awkward-Rich, CAConrad, Jiaqing Wilson-Yang and SJ Sindu. Hosted by Trish Salah and Ali Blythe. My reading begins at 3:40.
Mile End Poets’ Festival
Nov. 22, 2018
Flamenco dancer Katherine McLeod choreographed and performed a dance to accompany my long poem “I looked for the exit, found a sleeve,” punctuating its soundscape with footwork and other effects.
Published in my book Dream Rooms, “I looked for the exit” was originally written as an incantation/ritual/tantrum for coming into trans identity. In it, a clothes moth infestation provides an opening to think more expansively about gender, ecology, accountability, and the universe.
Katherine and I subsequently performed the piece at La Vitrola on March 17, 2019, at an event that also featured readings by Nadia Chaney and Marcela Huerta, among other performers.
Some other past performances
BGSQD (New York), Words and Music (Montreal), Knife Fork Book (Toronto), Wolfe Island literary festival (Kingston, Ontario), Tree reading series (Ottawa), the Box Salon (Toronto), International Festival of Authors (Toronto), Atwater Poetry Series (Montreal), Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference, Caesura (Edinburgh), a house reading curated by Corina Copp (Brooklyn), Fish Quill Poetry Boat tour (eight readings along the Grand River in Ontario, with travel by canoe)
BGSQD (New York), Words and Music (Montreal), Knife Fork Book (Toronto), Wolfe Island literary festival (Kingston, Ontario), Tree reading series (Ottawa), the Box Salon (Toronto), International Festival of Authors (Toronto), Atwater Poetry Series (Montreal), Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference, Caesura (Edinburgh), a house reading curated by Corina Copp (Brooklyn), Fish Quill Poetry Boat tour (eight readings along the Grand River in Ontario, with travel by canoe)
Awards & Press
Awards
Elgin Award
—nominated, 2024
A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry
—shortlisted, 2023
PK Page Founders’ Prize for Poetry
—won (2018)
National Magazine Award
—shortlisted (2017)
—nominated, 2024
A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry
—shortlisted, 2023
PK Page Founders’ Prize for Poetry
—won (2018)
National Magazine Award
—shortlisted (2017)
National Magazine Award
—nominated by a publisher (2013)
Rosemary Shipton Award for Excellence in Book Editing —won (2012)
Trillium Book Award for Poetry
—shortlisted (2012)
ReLit Award—longlisted (2012)
—nominated by a publisher (2013)
Rosemary Shipton Award for Excellence in Book Editing —won (2012)
Trillium Book Award for Poetry
—shortlisted (2012)
ReLit Award—longlisted (2012)
Press
Artforum: Top Ten by Renee Gladman
The Poetry Project: Review by Spencer Williams
Montreal Review of Books: Review by Klara du Plessis
Bay Area Reporter: Fall Books Preview
Review by August Thompson
The Poetry Project: Review by Spencer Williams
Montreal Review of Books: Review by Klara du Plessis
Bay Area Reporter: Fall Books Preview
Review by August Thompson
Autostraddle: Rainbow Reading
Autostraddle: Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way, Fall 2022
49th Shelf Most Anticipated: Our 2022 Fall Poetry Preview
Bookhug Press Fall, 2022, Nonfiction Preview: Dream Rooms
Autostraddle: Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way, Fall 2022
49th Shelf Most Anticipated: Our 2022 Fall Poetry Preview
Bookhug Press Fall, 2022, Nonfiction Preview: Dream Rooms