Thursday, August 28, 2008
Kensington Row Bookshop Announces Its Poetry Readings
Kensington Row Bookshop Poetry Readings, 3786 Howard Avenue, Kensington MD 20895. 301.949 9416. Last Wednesdays of the month at 7 pm, Jan-June and Sept.-Oct, plus Dec. 3, 2008. Come early to browse & chat. Refreshments provided. An open reading will follow. Free. Kensington Row Bookshop.
The next Kensington Row Bookshop Poetry Reading will be 24 September 2008, 7 pm, when Teri Ellen Cross and Michael S. Glaser will read their poetry.
Teri Ellen Cross, a Cave Canem Fellow, arranges the Folger Poetry Series. Her poems appear in Bum Rush the Page: a Def Poety Jam, Gargoyle, Gathering Ground: Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade, Growing Up Girl; and online in Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Torch.
Michael S. Glaser, Poet Laureate of Maryland, taught at St. Mary's College 38 years, and hosted the annual Poetry Festival there. His work appears in American Scholar, New Letters, prairie Schooner, and in his books and chapbooks, A Lover's Eye, Being a Father, Fire Before the Hands, and Remembering Eden.
On Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 7 pm, David Bergman, Ernie Wormwood, and Jody Bolz will read their poetry from Poetic Voices Without Borders 2.
The next Kensington Row Bookshop Poetry Reading will be 24 September 2008, 7 pm, when Teri Ellen Cross and Michael S. Glaser will read their poetry.
Teri Ellen Cross, a Cave Canem Fellow, arranges the Folger Poetry Series. Her poems appear in Bum Rush the Page: a Def Poety Jam, Gargoyle, Gathering Ground: Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade, Growing Up Girl; and online in Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Torch.
Michael S. Glaser, Poet Laureate of Maryland, taught at St. Mary's College 38 years, and hosted the annual Poetry Festival there. His work appears in American Scholar, New Letters, prairie Schooner, and in his books and chapbooks, A Lover's Eye, Being a Father, Fire Before the Hands, and Remembering Eden.
On Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 7 pm, David Bergman, Ernie Wormwood, and Jody Bolz will read their poetry from Poetic Voices Without Borders 2.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Lowell Mick White Wins the 4th Annual Gival Press Novel Award-2008
Gival Press is pleased to announce that Lowell Mick White of College Station, Texas has won the 4th Annual Gival Press Novel Award for his novel That Demon Life. White will receive $3,000.00 and his novel will be published in 2009. His manuscript was read anonymously and chosen by the final judge John Domini.
Advance praise:
"The slacker blonde has found her muse! In the hilariously disinclined attorney Linda, a no-account Austinite whose idea of legal research is a rerun of Law & Order, White has given us a transgendered update of the madcap Confederacy of Dunces. Indeed, you could say Dunces is done one better in That Demon Life, because this swift-moving new picaresque of work-avoidance takes us into the realm of sex. Amid the complications that flower so colorfully out of the death of Linda’s pet bird—you’ll scent a fresh and nutty bloom every few pages—we are treated to the kind of lust-besotted escapades that leave a county judge stumbling naked through the urban sprawl, poking up tabloid writers rather than Lone Star rattlesnakes. Amid all the unhinged carrying on, I’ll be darned if our Linda’s take-it-or-leave-it blasé doesn’t prove a moral center, and deliver a riotous epiphany."
—John Domini, judge for the Gival Press Novel Award & professor of English and Creative Writing at Grinnell College and author of several publications, including The Tomb on the Periphery
Biography:
White, currently a PhD student at Texas A&M University, is the author of Long Time Ago Good, which will be published by Slough Press. In addition, he has stories published in over two dozen journals, most recently in Callaloo, Iron House Literary Review, and Short Story. In 1998 he was awarded the Dobie-Paisano Fellowship by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Institute of Letters.
Finalists:
Patchwork
by Marc Graham of Castle Rock, Colorado.
Fire Hollow
by Melissa Zobel of Old Mystic, Connecticut.
Imperfect Enjoyment
by Kirk Combe of Granville, Ohio.
All the Diamonds in the World
by Mark Guscin of La Coruna, Spain.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Stephen S. Mills Wins the 7th Annual Oscar Wilde Award
Stephen S. Mills of Orlando, Florida has won the 7th Annual Oscar Wilde Award for his poem entitled Iranian Boys Hanged for Sodomy, July 2005.
.
Stephen S. Mills received a cash prize of $100.00 and his poem is posted on the Gival Press website (www.givalpress.com). In addition, his poem will appear in the anthology Poetic Voices Without Borders 2.
Winner of the 2008 Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award
Iranian Boys Hanged for Sodomy, July 2005*
We have their last photograph,
a magazine cutout of the blind-
folded boys, with nooses round
their necks and masked men
behind. Men with thick hands,
hands that keep everything
in order, everyone blind.
We let the picture drift around
the apartment like an omen
that will one day make perfect
sense. Some mornings I stick it
on the bathroom mirror before
you shave, the next you have it
on the fridge or tucked inside
my O’Hara Collected. Some nights
I slip it in a shoebox marked
“private” and forget we ever cut it
out, but by the following evening
it’s under our mattress as we make
love. Each time I thrust into you,
I’m thrusting into them, creasing
their boyish bodies, one only 16.
On Sunday morning I ask you
if you think the Iranian boys
loved each other like I love you
here in America where true love
must be complicated. You’re sure
they did, believe being hanged together
reeks of romance, of epic novels,
and Hollywood love stories, but
I fear it’s just a case of being
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All I can see are two terrified boys,
hands bound, about to be hanged
for public view. And I need to know
if it was quick. If the rope did what
ropes are meant to do or if the boys
found freedom in the dark
of their twitching eyelids?
Copyright © 2008 by Stephen S. MIlls.
*The poem refers to the event that occurred on July 19, 2005 when two young men (one rumored to be 16) were publically hanged in Iran for the crime of sodomy. They were held in prison for 14 months where they were beaten until they confessed to having gay sex. An estimated 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been put to death in Iran since 1979 when the ayatollahs took power. The incident was reported in The Advocate, July 2005.
Biography:
Stephen S. Mills recently completed his MFA in poetry at Florida State University. His poems have appeared in The Gay and Lesbian Review, Hoboeye Online Arts Journal, and on Juked.com. Others will soon appear in The New York Quarterly, The Broke Bridge Review, and The Quirk. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida with his partner and his dog and is a founding member of the Black Tarp Poetry Society.
Honorable Mentions:
Love Poem
by Christopher Nelson of Tucson, Arizona.
Whitman's House
by Brian Cromwall of Kupa'a, Hawaii.
My Indian Sappho/The Sappho in Me
by Nishi Chawla of Bethesda, Maryland.
Judge: Pablo Miguel Martinez, last year’s winner, who read the entries anonymously, served as the final judge.
***
.
Stephen S. Mills received a cash prize of $100.00 and his poem is posted on the Gival Press website (www.givalpress.com). In addition, his poem will appear in the anthology Poetic Voices Without Borders 2.
Winner of the 2008 Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award
Iranian Boys Hanged for Sodomy, July 2005*
We have their last photograph,
a magazine cutout of the blind-
folded boys, with nooses round
their necks and masked men
behind. Men with thick hands,
hands that keep everything
in order, everyone blind.
We let the picture drift around
the apartment like an omen
that will one day make perfect
sense. Some mornings I stick it
on the bathroom mirror before
you shave, the next you have it
on the fridge or tucked inside
my O’Hara Collected. Some nights
I slip it in a shoebox marked
“private” and forget we ever cut it
out, but by the following evening
it’s under our mattress as we make
love. Each time I thrust into you,
I’m thrusting into them, creasing
their boyish bodies, one only 16.
On Sunday morning I ask you
if you think the Iranian boys
loved each other like I love you
here in America where true love
must be complicated. You’re sure
they did, believe being hanged together
reeks of romance, of epic novels,
and Hollywood love stories, but
I fear it’s just a case of being
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All I can see are two terrified boys,
hands bound, about to be hanged
for public view. And I need to know
if it was quick. If the rope did what
ropes are meant to do or if the boys
found freedom in the dark
of their twitching eyelids?
Copyright © 2008 by Stephen S. MIlls.
*The poem refers to the event that occurred on July 19, 2005 when two young men (one rumored to be 16) were publically hanged in Iran for the crime of sodomy. They were held in prison for 14 months where they were beaten until they confessed to having gay sex. An estimated 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been put to death in Iran since 1979 when the ayatollahs took power. The incident was reported in The Advocate, July 2005.
Biography:
Stephen S. Mills recently completed his MFA in poetry at Florida State University. His poems have appeared in The Gay and Lesbian Review, Hoboeye Online Arts Journal, and on Juked.com. Others will soon appear in The New York Quarterly, The Broke Bridge Review, and The Quirk. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida with his partner and his dog and is a founding member of the Black Tarp Poetry Society.
Honorable Mentions:
Love Poem
by Christopher Nelson of Tucson, Arizona.
Whitman's House
by Brian Cromwall of Kupa'a, Hawaii.
My Indian Sappho/The Sappho in Me
by Nishi Chawla of Bethesda, Maryland.
Judge: Pablo Miguel Martinez, last year’s winner, who read the entries anonymously, served as the final judge.
***
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Poets & Writers, Inc. Sends Out Calls for 2 Awards
Here's a notice from Linda Rondinelli of Poets & Writers regarding 2 awards:
Poets & Writers (P&W) is inviting nominations for the 2009 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award and the 2009 Editor's Award.
The Writers for Writers Award, established by P&W in 1996, recognizes authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.
The Editor’s Award is a new award which will recognize a book editor who, over a sustained period of time, has made an outstanding contribution to the publication of poetry or literary prose.
Attached please find the nomination forms with the award criteria. Nominations are due by Monday, September 15, 2008. The winners will be announced in November and the awards will be presented at our annual dinner in March 2009.
Thank you for helping us expand our list of nominees and recognize the work of deserving writers and editors.
Linda Rondinelli
Development & Marketing Manager
Poets & Writers, Inc.
90 Broad Street, Suite 2100
phone: 212.226.3586 x201
fax: 212.226.3963
lrondinell@pw.org
Poets & Writers Organization
Poets & Writers (P&W) is inviting nominations for the 2009 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award and the 2009 Editor's Award.
The Writers for Writers Award, established by P&W in 1996, recognizes authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.
The Editor’s Award is a new award which will recognize a book editor who, over a sustained period of time, has made an outstanding contribution to the publication of poetry or literary prose.
Attached please find the nomination forms with the award criteria. Nominations are due by Monday, September 15, 2008. The winners will be announced in November and the awards will be presented at our annual dinner in March 2009.
Thank you for helping us expand our list of nominees and recognize the work of deserving writers and editors.
Linda Rondinelli
Development & Marketing Manager
Poets & Writers, Inc.
90 Broad Street, Suite 2100
phone: 212.226.3586 x201
fax: 212.226.3963
lrondinell@pw.org
Poets & Writers Organization
Gregg Shapiro To Read from Protection on August 20th
August 20, 2008
Gregg Shapiro reads from his debut book Protection
with poets Dan Vera and Francisco Aragón
at 7.30 PM
Intersection Reading Series
Sponsored by the American Poetry Museum
at Honfleur Gallery
1241 Good Hope Rd, SE
Washington, D.C.
202.536.8994
Gregg Shapiro reads from his debut book Protection
with poets Dan Vera and Francisco Aragón
at 7.30 PM
Intersection Reading Series
Sponsored by the American Poetry Museum
at Honfleur Gallery
1241 Good Hope Rd, SE
Washington, D.C.
202.536.8994
Monday, August 11, 2008
Poetry Reading on Sunday, August 17th at Busboys & Poets in Arlington
Sunday Kind of Love August 17, 4-6 pm
Featuring poets Kim Roberts and Thomas Sayers Ellis
Busboys and Poets (14th & V Streets), Langston Roomwww.busboysandpoets.com
The series is hosted by Katy Richey and Melissa Tuckey. Sponsors include Busboys and Poets and Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
As always, bring your poems for the open mic!
Thomas Sayers Ellis is author of The Maverick Room (Graywolf Press 2005) and his poems have appeared in Poetry, Best American Poetry, Tin House, The Washington Post, and The Nation. He is a contributuing
writer/editor to Poets & Writers and Waxpoetics, as well as the new curator of Verse/Reverse, a monthly pairing of poet and cultural critic. Ellis is currently working on The Go-Go: People in the Pocket in Washington, DC, a book of photograpghs. He lives in DC in the Summer and NYC in the Fall, Winter and Spring; and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Lesley University Low Residency MFA program.
Kim Roberts is the editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly and co-editor of the Delaware Poetry Review. She is the author of two books of poems, The Kimnama (Vrzhu Press, 2007), and The Wishbone Galaxy (WWPH, 1994). She has been featured in numerous anthologies, including Letters to the World (Red Hen Press), American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon University Press), Cabin Fever (The Word Works), Poetic Voices Without Borders (Gival Press), DC Poets Against the War (Argonne Hotel), Hungry As We Are (Washington Writers Publishing House), and The First Yes: Poems About Communicating (Dryad Press) and published widely in literary journals. Her research on the literary history of Washington DC, focusing on such writers as Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, has been published in scholarly journals as well as in walking tour brochures. Kim is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DC Commission on the Arts, and the Humanities Council of Washington, and writers' residencies from eleven artist colonies. Her website is www.kimroberts.org.
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Other Local Events "Poets in the Park" - August 16, 8 pm On Saturday, August 16, Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, is hosting its first annual "Poets in the Park" event, an evening of poetry connected to nature, people, and local history. The park invites writers from throughout the DC area to participate in this event, which will be treated like an open mic. The deadline for submission is this Friday, August 14.
Submissions to prwi_info@nps.gov. Contact Janelle Esposito at 703-221-7181 for more information.
Featuring poets Kim Roberts and Thomas Sayers Ellis
Busboys and Poets (14th & V Streets), Langston Roomwww.busboysandpoets.com
The series is hosted by Katy Richey and Melissa Tuckey. Sponsors include Busboys and Poets and Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
As always, bring your poems for the open mic!
Thomas Sayers Ellis is author of The Maverick Room (Graywolf Press 2005) and his poems have appeared in Poetry, Best American Poetry, Tin House, The Washington Post, and The Nation. He is a contributuing
writer/editor to Poets & Writers and Waxpoetics, as well as the new curator of Verse/Reverse, a monthly pairing of poet and cultural critic. Ellis is currently working on The Go-Go: People in the Pocket in Washington, DC, a book of photograpghs. He lives in DC in the Summer and NYC in the Fall, Winter and Spring; and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Lesley University Low Residency MFA program.
Kim Roberts is the editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly and co-editor of the Delaware Poetry Review. She is the author of two books of poems, The Kimnama (Vrzhu Press, 2007), and The Wishbone Galaxy (WWPH, 1994). She has been featured in numerous anthologies, including Letters to the World (Red Hen Press), American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon University Press), Cabin Fever (The Word Works), Poetic Voices Without Borders (Gival Press), DC Poets Against the War (Argonne Hotel), Hungry As We Are (Washington Writers Publishing House), and The First Yes: Poems About Communicating (Dryad Press) and published widely in literary journals. Her research on the literary history of Washington DC, focusing on such writers as Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, has been published in scholarly journals as well as in walking tour brochures. Kim is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DC Commission on the Arts, and the Humanities Council of Washington, and writers' residencies from eleven artist colonies. Her website is www.kimroberts.org.
--------------------------------------------------
Other Local Events "Poets in the Park" - August 16, 8 pm On Saturday, August 16, Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, is hosting its first annual "Poets in the Park" event, an evening of poetry connected to nature, people, and local history. The park invites writers from throughout the DC area to participate in this event, which will be treated like an open mic. The deadline for submission is this Friday, August 14.
Submissions to prwi_info@nps.gov. Contact Janelle Esposito at 703-221-7181 for more information.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
The Olympic Committee and USA Should Protest the Chinese Olympics
The decision by the Chinese government to revoke gold medalist Joey Cheek's visa to attend the upcoming Olympics in China should be condemned and the Olympic Committee should censure the host.
