No Work Finished Here: Rewriting Andy Warhol by Liz Worth

When Andy Warhol’s a, A Novel was first published in 1968, The New York Times Book Review declared it “pornographic.” Yet over four decades later, a, A Novel continues to be an essential documentation of Warhol’s seminal Factory scene. And though the book offers a pop art snapshot of 1960s Manhattan that only Warhol could capture, it remains a challenging read. Comprised entirely of unedited transcripts of recorded conversations taped in and around the Warhol Factory, the original book’s tone varies from frenetic to fascinating, unintelligible to poetic.

No Work Finished Here: Rewriting Andy Warhol by Liz Worth attempts to change that, by appropriating the original text and turning each page into a unique poem. In remixing a, A Novel into poetry using only words and phrases from each piece’s specified page, Worth sets the scene for the reader, not unlike eavesdropping in a 24-hour diner, with poetry full of voices competing to be heard, hoping for just a sliver of attention at the end of a long, desperate night.

True to Worth’s style, the poems in this collection hiss and pop with confessional whispers while maintaining the raw, distorted qualities originally captured on tape and documented in a, A Novel. Warhol fans, archivists, and academics, as well as readers of confessional and conceptual poetry and fiction, will jump at the chance to be a part of the Factory in-crowd in No Work Finished Here: Rewriting Andy Warhol.

Praise for No Work Finished Here: Rewriting Andy Warhol

“Liz Worth’s collection of poems is a testament to both her artistry and daily discipline. In an age of diminished attention, her perseverance in daily poem—making by mining the same source over and over reminds us that artists can be a model of life without distraction—how to go deeper and deeper until you find yourself looking back at you.” —Heath Allen, composer of Andy, A popera

“What if you tore apart the city’s tenderloin; if you seized its ephemera and—before burning all the sweet voodoo—collected the best, and most brilliant cuts?  This is Liz Worth’s stylish master-nightmare, No Work Finished Here. This is ‘the start of something true.'”—Lynn Crosbie, author of Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Press Coverage

CBC Books Fall 2015 Poetry Preview Selection

Quill & Quire Fall 2015 Poetry Preview Selection

49th Shelf Most Anticipated Fall 2015 Poetry Selection

“Liz Worth has created an epic, that even removed from the context of rewriting Andy Warhol’s A, a novel, stands on its own as a collection that expertly portrays all of our fears and worries and struggles public and not-so-public in these concise, gut-punchingly beautiful little portraits in time.” —William Kemp, (parenthetical)

“Saying wow isn’t saying enough… No Work Finished Here gains immediate entry into that lovely pantheon of absolutely essential Canadian poetry classics.” —Michael Dennis, Today’s Book of Poetry

“Warhol would be the first to say, in his wrinkly voice, how excited he was that Liz Worth had done this to his novel. He might have even said something clever like, “It should have just been poetry all along.” —Nathaniel G. Moore, subTerrain Magazine

Liz Worth: How I Wrote No Work Finished Here —CBC Books

Interview with Liz Worth  —CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers

Liz Worth on Warhol as inspiration and writing through grief —Quill & Quire

Interview: Liz Worth —Verbicide

Character Study: Warhol’s Ondine —All Lit Up

“Chappy Hour” Spotlight on No Work Finished Here —All Lit Up

Video: “Chillin’ With Dylan: Liz Worth” —Vimeo

Most Engaging Books of 2015 —derek beaulieu’s blog

“I also much admired the ambitious starting point of Liz Worth’s poetry collection No Work Finished Here. Worth remixes the text of Andy Warhol’s A, a Novel into a series of poems. ” —Anakana Schofield selects No Work Finished Here as a favourite book of 2015 for CBC Books

Liz Worth is a Toronto-based author. Her first book, Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond, was the first to give an in-depth account of Toronto’s early punk scene. She has also released a poetry collection called Amphetamine Heart and a novel called PostApoc.