We're showcasing the Coach House flash with titles from Andr Alexis, Sina Queyras, Brecken Hancock, Jen Currin, lise Turcotte and Harry Karlinsky

Here at Coach House Books, we've got more ink than the combined flesh of Motley Cre. So, on Thursday, April 3, Coach House wants to break out the irons and carve our spring authors' words onto you metaphorically speaking, of course. Our literary tattoo parlour? The Garrison 1197 Dundas St. West. We'll preview new fiction and poetry titles that we think are hella-tight.

Here's our Spring 2014 titles, ready to tattoo themselves on your minds:

- Andr Alexis - the acclaimed Toronto author will read from his lively, modern revision of the age-old genre of the pastoral. In the aptly titled Pastoral, Father Christopher Pennant is sent to the sleepy town of Barrow, a seemingly idyllic hamlet that is not without its secrets, such as a mayor walking on water and a talking sheep.

- Sina Queyras - 'Memory x Time,' is just one of the ink-worthy formulas the acclaimed poet and fierce Lemon Hound critic proposes in MxT. The poems within mourn the dead by turning memories over and over, by invoking other poets, by appropriating the language of technology, instruction, diagram and of elegy itself.

- Brecken Hancock - Hancock's debut collection, Broom Broom, plumbs the depths of such topics as doppelgngers, the Kraken, family conflicts and household accidents. You'll never look at a bathtub the same way after reading her multi-part history in 'The Art of Plumbing.'

- Jen Currin - one of Vancouver's favourite poets will be in Toronto to read from her incendiary melding of the surreal, the sensual and the political. School is an instruction manual for igniting transformation.

- Rhonda Mullins - lise Turcotte's recent winner of the Grand Prix du livre de Montreal, Guyana, has been freshly translated into English by Governor General's Award-nominated translator Rhonda Mullins. Mullins will be there to read from this blend of literary fiction and thriller, the suicide of a young Quebecois boy's hairstylist leads to the discovery of past secrets connected to the infamous Jonestown Massacre.

And though, he won't be attending himself, Harry Karlinsky's intriguing blend of fact and fiction, The Stonehenge Letters, will be read from by a special guest. Uncover the mystery of a secret Nobel Prize, reserved exclusively for Nobel laureates, to 'be awarded to the person who solves the mystery of Stonehenge.'

Short readings will be followed by music and general rolling and participation in good times. No on-stage tattoos or piercings will occur, but we'll have specially made temporary tattoos with which you can showcase your Coach House loyalty. Authors will be available for signings and conversation following the on-stage activities. Why not get take that Coach House author autograph down to the tattoo shop and get a custom sleeve done?

Coach House Spring 2014 Launch

Thursday, April 3, 2014

featuring readings by Andr Alexis, Jen Currin, Brecken Hancock, Rhonda Mullins and Sina Queyras

The Garrison, 1197 Dundas Street West

at Ossington

Doors at 8 p.m., readings at 8:45 p.m.

Free