Subscriber News: January 2017
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Jessica Goody. Her debut poetry collection, Defense Mechanisms, was released this month by Phosphene Publishing. Many of the poems are odes to her adopted Lowcountry home in South Carolina. Others detail her experiences living with a handicap: due to birth defects, Goody has cerebral palsy. "I believe that well-chosen words are the greatest agents of change," the author says. She kindly shares a sample poem here.
Congratulations to Vernita Hall. Her first chapbook, The Hitchhiking Robot Learns About Philadelphia, won the 2016 Moonstone Arts Center Chapbook Contest and will be published by Moonstone Press. The most recent submission period for this $300 prize was August 1-October 14. Contest judge Afaa Michael Weaver commented: "In a broad display of approaches in craft, the poet visits the history of Philadelphia in a manner reminiscent of steampunk aesthetics. Jules Verne meets W.E.B. DuBois in a time traveling romp back and forth from The Souls of Black Folk to today's evening news. This is fresh and ambitious writing, a collection that brings a view eschewing nostalgia and romanticized ways of looking at history. Instead it plops the reader squarely in the present with the past as a spectator looking on with renewed wisdom. Voices in the formation of the A.M.E. church and Bill Cosby's lost son find a common place here, along with many other subjects, subjects making a diverse populace." The release party will be held on Wednesday, January 18 at 7:00 PM, at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA. She kindly shares a sample poem here.
Congratulations to Rick Lupert. Rothco Press is releasing three new collections of his poetry: Professor Clown on Parade (poems written in Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut), Romancing the Blarney Stone (poems written in Ireland), and Donut Famine (poems written in New Orleans). The press is offering a special sale of all three books plus his spoken-word album, Rick Lupert Live and Dead, for $50. Visit his website for sample poems and upcoming readings. Rick was the featured poet in the January 2017 issue of Caught in the Net from the UK-based writers' resource site The Poetry Kit.
Congratulations to Tricia McCallum. She won the January poetry contest at Goodreads for "The Things I Learned as a Bartender". Tricia will give a poetry reading on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 PM, at the Haynes Library, Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas. Tricia is a Huffington Post blogger and Pushcart nominee. Visit her website for samples of her work.
Recent Publications
Winning Writers contest judge Judy Juanita's essay collection De Facto Feminism: Essays Straight Outta Oakland (Equidistance Press, 2016) was favorably reviewed by Chris Stroffolino in Konch Magazine, a journal of radical politics and culture, produced by Ishmael and Tennessee Reed. Kirkus Reviews also gave the book a positive write-up, saying "her incisive comments on black life's contradictions make this essay collection a winner."
William Luvaas was the subject of a review essay by Daniel K. Green in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The piece discussed his new novel, Beneath the Coyote Hills, in the context of his body of work.
R. Bremner's poems "Belock", "Hamilton", "Bentley", and "Laura Nyro" were published in Peacock Journal. "Kelly 3" was published in The NY Literary Magazine.
Published: January 8, 2017
