Subscriber News: November 2023
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Dana Curtis. Her fourth full-length poetry collection, Directed by Lilly Obscure, was published in May by BlazeVOX Books. According to the author, "It is a novel in verse about fictional film director Lilly Obscure and screenwriter Dagmar Est, and contains many films and film tributes, both real and imagined." She kindly shares a sample poem here. Bin Ramke says of this book, "This book is full of visionary poetics, of poems which stare into various sorts of suns and films and pseudo-biographies; it is full of lenses, like scattered raindrops on windshields. But essentially it is a mad dance with imagination and fear and eros and error."
Congratulations to CB Anderson. She received the 2023 Jeanne Leiby Memorial Chapbook Award from the Florida Review for her story cycle Blue Lion Days, which will be published in May. These linked stories are set in a Maine milltown undergoing renewal on several fronts. Contest judge Melanie Bishop said, "this cycle is impeccably well-crafted and unified, with a thumping heart at its center." The 2024 contest, with a prize of $1,000 and publication, is open through Jan. 7.
Congratulations to John Ollom. He was honored this month with an Impact Award from Gay City News for his work as artistic director of Ollom Art/Prismatic Productions. John teaches dance and movement art in New York City and at workshops around the country. Visit his website to learn about his classes and books.
Congratulations to Robert Giron. His bilingual, inclusive version of the Psalter, Songs for the Spirit/Canciones para el Espíritu, was recently released by his imprint Gival Press. Episcopal theologian John Shelby Spong, author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile, called it "an extraordinary book." Prof. George Klawitter of St. Edward's University says, "Gone is the sexist language of these ancient prayers, and mercifully gone also is the violence that too often mars their beauty in their original language. Giron has done a service to all who have reverenced the psalms but have avoided them over the years because of their dated language."
Congratulations to Gary Beck. His poetry collection Discoveries was published by Purple Unicorn Media. This political poems address the crisis in American democracy and climate change, among other current issues.
Recent Publications
David Holper recently published his new collection of poems titled Language Lessons: A Linguistic Hejira. Using 109 untranslatable words from languages (mostly) other than English, the poet takes the reader on a spiritual journey through life, love, travel, food, and everything else. Each of the poems provides the untranslatable word, its language and definition, a poem that illuminates the word, and an illustration. Paperback and Kindle editions are available on Amazon. He kindly shares a sample poem here. Visit his website to learn more.
Joseph Stanton was featured on the Poets House website in their Hard Hat Reading video series.
Robbie Gamble's poem "On Learning That Malcolm X, as a Young Man, Cased and Robbed the Home of My Relative in a Boston Suburb" was published in The Decolonial Passage in September.
Annie Dawid's story "Not Drinking the Kool-Aid", an excerpt from her forthcoming novel about the 1978 Jonestown mass murder-suicide, was published at Half and One. The novel, titled Paradise Undone, will be published by InkSpot on November 18. Her article about this historical event was published in The Scotsman on October 24. The book was positively reviewed in the Wet Mountain Tribune on November 9. Also see her essay in The Jonestown Report about her path to publication. Annie has two events planned for her book launch in the UK. On Thursday, November 16, from 6:30-8:00 pm UK time, she will be reading at the Owl Bookshop, 207-209 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2JU. Attendance is free, but please RSVP to cathy@inkspotpublishing.com for catering purposes. On Friday, November 17, from 5:00-6:30 pm, Annie will read at ChipLitFest at the Town Hall, Chipping Norton, OX7 5NJ. All proceeds from ChipLitFest support literacy programs for children. In other news, her story "Sex and the Piano" appeared in Sequestrum's "Reprints" issue.
Gloria Mindock was interviewed by Doug Holder on his Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene blog about her collection Grief Touched the Sky at Night, published this month by Glass Lyre Press. The interview was also reprinted in the Somerville Times. The book was inspired by the war in Ukraine. Watch the book trailer here.
Duane L. Herrmann's poem "Landing Surprise", an ekphrastic response to a painting in the Keweenaw Interactive Art Walk, was published in September at Carrot Ranch. His poem "Perceptions" was included in It's All About Impact, the 2023 print anthology from the journal Children, Churches and Daddies. His poem "Late Summer Song" appeared in Spillwords. Five of his poems were published online in Lothlorien Poetry Journal in September. "Broken Rock" was published in the Topeka Geneological Society Quarterly. Harnisch Acres published two of Duane's poems in their Sept/Oct issue. "Air Whispers" appeared in Tiny Seed Literary Journal, which also reprinted his poem "Flames in Green" in their anthology Poetry of the Wild Flowers. Five poems were featured in Fevers of the Mind in their Poetry Showcase for October. "Texas Exit" and "Almost Meeting" were published in Dashboard Horus. Carrot Ranch and the Adirondack Center for Writing also posted several of his responses to their weekly poetry prompts.
Eva Tortora's letter to the editor was published in the New York Daily News on Aug. 30.
Judy Juanita was interviewed in Letters & Science, a publication of UC Berkeley, about her story collection The High Price of Freeways (Livingston Press, 2022). Judy says of the inspiration for her stories, "Some critics—geographers and historians—assert that the peak interstate construction period in the 1950s and 1960s was a deliberate design to marginalize slum neighborhoods. The catch is that these neighborhoods were full of black people, home to black-owned businesses in cities like St. Louis, Boston, Birmingham, and Oakland. When the freeways came, the businesses shut down."
Published: November 8, 2023
