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

3/1/09

Sarah Manguso: Bloomsburg: 3/30

Monday, March 30, 7 PM: Award winning author Sarah Manguso will read Monday in the KUB Hideaway on the campus of Bloomsburg University as part of the Big Dog Reading Series. Her memoir describes a nine year bout with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare auto immune disorder.

Sarah Manguso is the author, most recently, of the memoir The Two Kinds of Decay (2008), named an Editors' Choice by the New York Times Sunday Book Review and a Best Nonfiction Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle. The paperback is forthcoming this spring.

"If art can be described as the path one takes toward some form of compassion, this distilled and luminous book offers us one such map. An exploration of a body at a particular moment in its history, narrated by an unsparing yet appealing consciousness, The Two Kinds of Decay brings the reader to a place of grace and compassion that is absolutely breathtaking."-Nick Flynn

"One of the most movingly humane books I have read in a long time; it is a hard-earned vision of life, every word grounded in both body and soul."-John Burnham Schwartz

Manguso's other books include the story collection Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape (2007), one of three volumes in McSweeney's One Hundred and Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box, and the poetry collections Siste Viator (2006) and The Captain Lands in Paradise (2002), named a Favorite Book of the Year by the Village Voice. Her writing has appeared in Conjunctions, the London Review of Books, the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, the Paris Review, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and three volumes of the Best American Poetry series.vIn 2008 she received the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa, the Pratt Institute, and the Graduate Writing Program at the New School. Born and raised near Boston, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

8th Annual MPWA Regional Poetry Contest: March 30 DL

8th Annual MPWA Regional Poetry Contest

The Mulberry Poets & Writers Association (MPWA) announces its Eighth Annual Regional Poetry Contest:
  • The overall winner of the contest will receive a $100 cash prize.
  • Two other winners will share $75 in cash prizes -- $50 for 2nd place and $25 for 3rd place.
  • Several poets will be recognized with an Honorable Mention.
  • Judges will be Tara Shoemaker Holdren, Dr. David Elliott, and Susan Jaffer.
  • All winners will be invited to present their poetry at a public reading on or about Saturday, July 11, 2009, in Scranton, PA.
  • All winning poems will be published in the 2009 online edition of The MPWA Journal.
  • For further information, contact the contest coordinator, Richard Aston of Wilkes-Barre, at 570-829-3163 or by e-mail at astonrj@yahoo.com.

Contest Rules: Open to former and current residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania, except for MPWA Board members and previous first place winners.

  • Each entrant is limited to a maximum of three poems.
  • The entrance fee is $2 for each poem submitted.
  • An individual may win in only one of the first, second, or third place categories.
  • If more than one of his or her poems rank in a winning category, only the highest will be counted for that person.
  • Each poem must be original and unpublished.
  • Each poem should be typed on a 8½ x 11" paper, single spaced, except for intentional spacing.
  • Each new poem should start on a new sheet of paper.
  • If it exceeds one page, please staple the pages together.
  • Each poem should take a maximum of 3 pages.
  • List the title(s) of your poem(s) in a cover letter including your name address, email, and phone.
  • If untitled, use the first several words.
  • Do not put your name on the poem.
  • Keep a copy of your poem; submitted poems will not be returned.

Send submissions to: MPWA Poetry Contest; P.O. Box 468; Scranton, PA 18501.

  • The contest postmark deadline is March 30, 2009.
  • Winners will be notified by June 1, 2009.

Justin Vitiello & Ellen Peckham: Philadelphia: 3/28

Saturday, March 28, 2 PM: The Mad Poets Society Fox Chase Reading Series will feature poets Justin Vitiello and Ellen Peckham at 3 Sisters Corner Café, Corner of Barnes and Loney Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19111 . To read the poets work please visit Fox Chase Review.

Justin Vitiello is a Professor Emeritus of Italian at Temple University. He received his B.A. from Brown University (1963) and, after a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Spain (1963-64), he did his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (English, Italian, Spanish) at the University of Michigan (1964-70). He has published numerous scholarly articles on and translations of medieval, Renaissance and modern Italian, Sicialian and Spanish poetry. His books (including those listed below that are for sale directly from him in autographed copies) are: Il carro del pesce di Vanzetti (poems, 1989), Vanzetti's Fish Cart (poems, 1991), Sicily Within (essays, 1992), Italy's Ultramodern, Experimental Lyrics: Corpo 10 (1992), Poetics and Literature of the Sicilian Diaspora; Studies in Oral History and Story Telling (1993, reprinted in 1998), Labyrinths and Volcanoes: Windings Through Sicily (essays, 1999), suicidio di un poeta etnico/suicide of an ethnic poet (poems, 2004), Labirinti e vulcani: nel cuore della Sicilia (essays, 2005), and amapolas y cardos/poppies and thistles (poems and poetic sketches of Spain, 2006). He is presently working on another book of poetry in Spanish and English dealing with his recent experiences in Latin America and two other lyric volumes in Italian and English touching upon his family's anarchist and tragic history.

Ellen Peckham has read, published and exhibited in the U.S. , Europe and Latin America . She frequently uses both art forms in a single work, the text decorating and explicating and the image illuminating. Her archives of drafts, edits and art are collected at the Harry Ransom Center For The Humanities and a 7-minute visual biography, Parallel Vocabularies, is available on DVD and via her Web site.

Poetry Ink--100 Poets Reading: Philadelphia: 4/5/09

Sunday, April 5, from 1 to 6 PM:
Moonstone Arts Center presents the 2009 Poetry Ink event--
One hundred poets will read. Each reader gets 3 minutes; that's 5 hours of poetry! We supply the coffee, you bring the desserts. For 2009, the readings will be in regular alphabetical order, A to Z. (We did reverse order in 2008).

Final registration deadline is Friday, March 27.

If you're excited to present your work at this event, please click on the link below and fill out a registration form today or just send us an email saying you plan on reading. Please also forward this message to others who might be interested.

www.robinsbookstore.com/events/040509.html

Lynn Emanuel & Karen Lillis: Pittsburgh: 3/26

Thursday, March 26, 7 PM: Pittsburgh poets Lynn Emanuel and Karen Lillis will read at the TeCafe Reading Series:

2000 Murray Avenue at Beacon -- Pittsburgh, PA. 412-422-8888. Free. Open Mic to follow if time allows.





POESIS: New group at West Chester University

"The mission of POESIS at West Chester University is to give students the opportunity to convey ideas, thoughts & feelings through written word and verbal expression. As students face the challenges in their lives, POESIS is available to nurture creative, intellectual and social growth. POESIS will encourage, motivate and provide the opportunity for literary growth, public performance and self-expression, as well as create an uplifting campus presence that enhances the college experience."

Click here to visit the POESIS blog (also listed at right in PA Poetry Links).

Lynn Emanuel: Johnstown: 3/19/09

Thursday, March 19, 7:30 PM: Poet Lynn Emanuel will read in the J. Irving Whalley Memorial Chapel on the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown campus.

Emanuel is the author of Hotel Fiesta, The Dig, Then Suddenly— and the forthcoming book of poetry Mob and Torch. Her work has been featured in the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best American Poetry, and The Oxford Book of American Poetry. Also a distinguished teacher and editor, she has been the recipient of numerous awards for her poetry, including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a National Poetry Series Award.

Emanuel’s appearance is part of a poetry series begun in 2004 and made possible by a generous endowment from UPJ alumna Esther Goldhaber Jacovitz. This event, coordinated by UPJ’s major in Creative and Professional Writing, is free of charge and open to the public. A book signing will follow.

Paul Siegell: Pittsburgh: 3/19/09

Thursday, March 19, 8:30 PM: The University of Pittburgh Poetry Club presents a reading by poet Paul Siegell.

Location: 501 CL.

Paul Siegell is the author of Poemergency Room (Otoliths Books, 2008) and the forthcoming jambandbootleg (A-Head, 2009). He is a staff editor at Painted Bride Quarterly and has contributed to The American Poetry Review, BlazeVOX, Coconut, No Tell Motel and other literary and online journals. You can find his blog "ReVeLeR @ eYeLeVeL" at http://paulsiegell.blogspot.com. Siegell got his B.A. in English Writing in 2000 from the University of Pittsburgh.

This reading is free and open to the public.

John Poch: West Chester: 3/18/09

Wednesday, March 18, 7:30 PM: Poet John Poch will give a reading at West Chester University's Poetry House, located at 823 South High Street in West Chester, PA.

For more information, please contact coordinator Jamie Smith at 610-436-3235 or e-mail at poetry@wcupa.edu.

River Poets: Bloomsburg: 3/10/09

Tuesday, March 10, 7:30 PM: Come join the River Poets' monthly reading event at Phillips Emporium, 10 East Main Street in Bloomsburg. Theme: Poems in remembrance and honor of Ervene Gulley. Open reading to follow.

MC: Angela Runciman.