extended hiatus

Due to expanded commitments to my small press, I've been forced to cut down on some other projects. I would be delighted if someone else came forward to carry on this blog. Meanwhile, I hope some of the links and contacts herein are of some use.

-RM

12/1/07

Keystone Chapbook Award: Harry Humes


Underground Singing: Poems by Harry Humes
Winner of the inaugural Keystone Chapbook Award, selected by Jeff Mann

Publication date: December 21, 2007

Now accepting preorders: please e-mail me to order your copy for $8 postpaid
A copy will be mailed to all entrants in the 2007 competition.

CFS: Last call: MPWA Journal

[per Dennis Toomey on behalf of the MPWA]:

Last call for submissions to the Mulberry Poets & Writers Association Journal. Submissions must be received by December 8th, and can be sent via e-mail [click here] or regular mail to MPWA, PO Box 468, Scranton, PA 18501.

Also, please do check out th MPWA website. Submissions for the site may be sent via e-mail [click here].

11/1/07

update: Craig Czury receives Fellowship

The Wilkes University Creating Writing Program has awarded the 2007 Norris Church Mailer Fellowship to Craig Czury. The fellowship is awarded annually to a graduate student in Wilkes University’s creative writing program who has shown artistic promise and demonstrates a commitment to public service in the local writing community and beyond.

For the complete article on Wilkes University's website, please click here.

9/1/07

Katie Hays & Erinn Batykefer: Bucknell: 9/25/07

Tuesday, Sept 25, 7 PM:

Two poets on staff at the Stadler Center for Poetry will read together on Tuesday evening in Bucknell Hall.

K A Hays, the 2007-08 Stadler Emerging Writer, earned an M.F.A. in the Literary Arts at Brown University and studied as an undergraduate at Bucknell and Oxford Universities. Her poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in Southern Review, Mid-American Review, Florida Review, Gray's Sporting Journal, Missouri Review, Antioch Review and other magazines. Hays is also a fiction writer and verse translator whose work in those genres has appeared in Hudson Review, Gulf Coast, Cimarron Review, and other magazines.

Erinn Batykefer, the 2007-08 Stadler Fellow, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Art History from the University of Delaware and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the Martha Meier Renk Distinguished Poetry Fellow. She is currently at work on first collections of both creative nonfiction and poetry; her poems and essays have appeared in such journals as Gulf Coast, Denver Quarterly, Threepenny Review, and Maisonneuve Magazine, among others. She is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information please contact the
Stadler Center for Poetry at 570-577-1853.

River Poets: Whitman Sampler: Bloomsburg: 9/11/07

[from the River Poets Calendar]

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 - Whitman Sampler - Danny Robinson of Bloomsburg town and University will conduct a multi-media presentation of a premier American poet, Walt Whitman. There could be chocolate, but there will definitely be words. Open Reading will follow. MC: Scott Hemingway.

G.C. Waldrep: Bucknell: 9/4/07

Tuesday, Sept 4, 7pm:

Poet G.C. Waldrep will read his poems in Bucknell Hall at 7 PM.

G.C. Waldrep holds degrees in American history from Harvard and Duke and a MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa. He is the author of Southern Workers and the Search for Community (2001 Illinois Prize for history), Goldbeater's Skin (2003 Colorado Prize for Poetry), The Batteries (a poetry chapbook from New Michigan Press), and Disclamor (due in September from BOA Editions). His poems have appeared in many journals, including Poetry, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Gettysburg Review, New England Review, Colorado Review, American Letters & Commentary, and West Branch. He has just joined the creative writing faculty at Bucknell University.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information please contact the Stadler Center for Poetry at 570-577-1853.

8/1/07

River Poets Planning Mtg: Bloomsburg: 8/28/07

The River Poets will hold their planning meeting at Panera on Tuesday, August 28 (dinner at 6:30, meeting at 7).

Butterfly Poetry Festival: Hazleton: 8/26/07

The 2007 Butterfly Poetry Festival will be held on Sunday, August 26 at the Hazleton Campus of Penn State University. This year's Festival is being sponsored by the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance Against Homelessness.

The poetry festival will explore "portraits in visual and verbal forms." The event will consist of two sessions, one at 1:00 PM and the second at 3:00 PM, with an intermission and informal gathering between the two sessions. Poets are invited to share their "portrait poems" in the first session. The poets and audience will explore the concept of portraits as represented in words. There will be an open reading of "portrait poems" which will be limited only by time. Poets interested in participating are asked to contact Salvadore DeFazio, the festival's organizer, at 570-455-3963 before the event.

The second session will be introduced by Gary F. Clark, director of the Alliance Against Homelessness. Mr. Clark, a former professor of Art and Art History at Bloomsburg University, has focused his energies on photographing homeless people over the past few years. Since a recent interview by National Public Radio's Jennifer Ludden, Clark's Web page has had nearly one million visits. Viewers from around the world have responded and posted dozens of
comments concerning the photos. A presentation of photographs will be presented by Mr. Clark followed by a forum about the homeless. Insight into aspects of homelessness will be presented by a few experts in the field. The forum will then consider the amalgamation of poetry and photographs, the verbal and visual, to create a more comprehensive representation and understanding of the homeless. Gary Clark and Salvadore DeFazio will discuss their collaboration, and the hopes of expanding that collaboration among Pennsylvania's most influential poets.

Common Wealth Reading: DC: 8/6/07

Café Muse presents Barbara DeCesare, Joanne Growney, Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple.

The Word Works, in collaboration with Friendship Heights Village, presents at Café Muse on Monday, August 6, poets Barbara DeCesare, JoAnne Growney, Marjorie Maddox, and Jerry Wemple in a publications reading for COMMON WEALTH: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. Friendship Heights Village Center is located at 4433 South Park Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland. All Café Muse programs are free to the public and handicapped accessible. Café Muse opens at 7pm with refreshments and classical guitar music by Michael Davis; readings begin at 7:30.

BARBARA DECESARE is a 2003 Pushcart Prize nominee.
JOANNE GROWNEY’s chapbook, My Dance is Mathematics, was published in 2006 by Paper Kite Press.
MARJORIE MADDOX’s short story collection, What She Was Saying, was a finalist for the 2005 Katherine Anne Porter Book Award.
JERRY WEMPLE, co-editor of the Common Wealth anthology, is an associate professor of English at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Attending poets are invited to participate in an open reading that concludes the Café Muse program. A sign-up sheet will be available at 7:00 pm. The Word Works is a nonprofit literary organization publishing contemporary poetry in artistic editions and sponsoring public programs for more than 30 years.

7/1/07

Stillwater Music & Poetry Fest Planning Mtg: Bloomsburg: 8/1/07

The next planning session for the Stillwater Music and Poetry Fest is set for Wednesday, August 1, 7 PM at the Town Perk Cafe in Bloomsburg. Please attend if you'd like to help with planning the festival (slated for September 14-15 in Stillwater.

For further information, please contact event organizer Kevin Clark at (570) 925-2347.

CFS: Keystone Chapbook Award

SEVEN KITCHENS PRESS
2007 Keystone Chapbook Award – for Pennsylvania Poets

Prize: $100 plus 25 copies.
Submission deadline: Postmarked between June 17 and August 17 of each year.
Eligibility: Open to all Pennsylvania poets [see complete guidelines below].

COMPLETE GUIDELINES:
Any poet who was born, has lived, or currently lives in Pennsylvania is eligible to submit to the Keystone Chapbook Award. (Your manuscript does not have to treat Pennsylvania as its subject.) Additionally, poets living elsewhere may submit manuscripts which do show a strong connection to Pennsylvania.

Submit a paginated manuscript of 16-20 pages (not including front matter) of poetry. Include two cover pages: one with the manuscript title, author name, address, e-mail and phone number; the second cover page should have the manuscript title only. Include a table of contents page. Include, if applicable, an acknowledgments page for work previously published.

Please include, on a separate page, a brief (100-150 words) biographical note, which must address your specific connection to Pennsylvania (if you do not currently reside here).

The author’s name should not appear in the manuscript.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but you must notify us promptly if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Submissions must be posted between June 17 and August 17. The winning manuscript will be announced on or before October 15, at which time the name of the final judge will be announced. Manuscript finalists will also be announced, and may be eligible for spring/summer publication in the Keystone Chapbook Series.
Manuscripts will not be returned. E-mailed submission is preferred, but you may send via regular mail.

Do not staple or bind your manuscript. If you are sending by mail, please use a binder clip and mail flat in an 8.5 x 11 envelope. If you are sending by e-mail, please send one document in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .rtf files are ideal); you must include the words “Keystone Chapbook” in the subject line of your e-mail. Include a $12 reading fee with each manuscript you submit. Multiple submissions are acceptable. Checks should be made payable to Ron Mohring. Online payment may be made via PayPal to sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com. Each entrant will receive one copy of the winning chapbook, to be published on or before December 31.

The winner will receive $100 and 25 copies of their chapbook. Additionally, the publisher will distribute ten review copies and will solicit online reviews of the chapbook.

Send your manuscript—by e-mail, as a Microsoft Word attachment, to: sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com; or by mail to Ron Mohring, Publisher & Editor; PO Box 668; Lewisburg PA 17837.

4/1/07

CFS: Pittsburgh Poets: DL 6/1/07

[reprinted from the Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar]

Along These Rivers: Poetry and Photography from Pittsburgh will be an anthology showcasing outstanding work of Pittsburgh area poets and photographers.The book project is endorsed by the Allegheny Conference Pittsburgh 250 and promoted during the city's 250th birthday. Michael Wurster & Judith R. Robinson will edit the anthology.

Send up to 4 poems on any subject (2 copies of each poem) by 6/1/07. Include your name and contact information on each poem. Poems with not be returned. Poets will be notified in four months. Those selected receive 2 contributer's copies.

Send poems to: Judith R Robinson; Michael Wurster; Quadrant Publishing, LLC; 4712 Bayard St.; Pittsburgh PA 15213

CFS: Watershed: A Journal of the Susquehanna

Watershed: a Journal of the Susquehanna is an interdisciplinary annual print and online journal, with its debut issue slated for late 2007 publication. The journal’s mission is to promote the culture, history, environment, literature, and art of the Susquehanna watershed region, which includes parts of upstate New York, much of Pennsylvania, and parts of Maryland leading to the Chesapeake. We seek thought-provoking nonfiction on regional history, cultural and environmental issues, and top quality and inventive poetry and fiction. While contributors need not reside in the Susquehanna region, the work must evoke the Susquehanna and its hills, valleys, and, most importantly, its people. Of course, these influences could be as varied as the geography of the watershed.

Prose should be double-spaced, while poetry may be single spaced. Black and white artwork and photography should be reduced to a 5” by 7” format (or smaller if appropriate) and sent as electronic files. Electronic submissions are preferred, with text in MS Word format. Submission deadline is July 15. Contributors will receive three copies. For more information, contact Jerry Wemple via email at jwemple@bloomu.edu.

3/1/07

Poetry Ink Reading: Philadelphia: 4/1/07

Sunday, April 1, 2PM: Poetry Ink: Celebrating Poetry with 100 Poets Reading at Robin’s Bookstore, Philadelphia.

Asian American Poetry Panel: Bucknell: 3/20/07

Tuesday, March 20, 4 PM in the Smith Library (Vaughan Literature Building) at Bucknell:

Asian American Poetry and the Poetry of Marilyn Chin: A Panel Discussion featuring Poet-in-Residence Marilyn Chin.

Chin will jion visiting scholars John Gery, Adrienne McCormick, Lisa Sewell, Afaa Weaver, and Xiaojing Zhou in a discussion of Asian American poetry and Chin's role as one of its pioneers. Panelists will consider such issues as the Asian American voice, the blancing of Asian and American heritages, the influence of traditional poetics, and the role of politics. Time will be allotted for audience questions.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information please call the Stadler Center for Poetry at 570-577-1853, or see our website.

Open Mic: Pottsville: 3/18/07

Sunday, March 18, 3-6 PM: Third Sunday open mic at All Things Good, Pottsville next to the Pottsville Free Public Library. Featuring Marlene Rowe, Founder of Stray Dog Poets and Deborah Filanowski. Open mic to follow.

Black Diamond Writers Network: Tamaqua: 3/17/07

[reposted courtesy of Janet Locke in Bloomsburg]

Saturday, March 17: Black Diamond Writers Network meets in the Tamaqua Library from 10 to 12. This month the meeting is followed by a workshop. Here are the details:

Have you ever wanted to write about a story about something that’s important to you or a life-changing event that occurred in your life? Would you like to learn more about writing a memoir? If so, join us at My Back Pages: A Memoir Writing Workshop. The workshop runs from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 17, 2007 at the Tamaqua Public Library, 30 S. Railroad Street. Donna Searle, professional writing coach and owner of Writing Workshops by Design, will present the workshop following the regular monthly meeting of the Black Diamond Writers’ Network where she will speak on journaling.

Searle opened a writing studio in September 2005 at Reading’s GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. She holds weekly writing workshops for adults and teaches a graduate-level summer course in conjunction with West Chester University. Searle also writes with students at Lauer’s Park Elementary School. Searle personally writes poetry for public occasions and art shows and her nonfiction work has been published in periodicals and newspapers. She currently pursues publication for her first children’s picture book.

Cost for the workshop is $12 for Black Diamond Writers’ Network members and $15 for non-members. To register for the workshop, download an application from
www.taplpa.info, visit the Tamaqua Library or call 570-645-3059. Deadline for paid registration is March 14, 2007. Seating is limited, so register early. For more information about the workshop or the Black Diamond Writers’ Network, call Kathy at 570-645-3059.