Subscriber News: October 2021
Recent Honors
Congratulations to Ruth Thompson. Her collection of poetic spiritual channelings, Quickwater Oracles, will be published in December by Two Fine Crows Books, an imprint of Saddle Road Press, and is now available for pre-order. She kindly shares an excerpt here. Publishers Weekly says of this book: "In this philosophical, nature-minded collection of free verse, poet Thompson (Whale Fall & Black Sage) opens up about her experiences channeling a wide range of beings...These voices encourage Thompson to write, remind her to find joy in the world around her, and push her to reconsider her sense of her self as isolated...Readers open to paranormal insights will enjoy Thompson's idiosyncratic, unconventional poems and her mind-bending exploration of what the world could look like with some creative reorienting."
Congratulations to Chen Du. With co-translator Xisheng Chen, she has released an English-language translation of contemporary Chinese poet Yan An's A Naturalist's Manor, which was recently published by Arizona-based literary press Chax Books. The translators will be reading from this collection at an online event on October 24 (6:00 pm in Tucson, 9:00 pm in New York, and 9:00 am on the 25th in China). Find the registration link to this and other events in the Chax Books newsletter.
Congratulations to Judy Juanita. Her poetry collection Manhattan my ass, you're in Oakland (Equidistance Press, 2021) won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. This prestigious award series honors literature published in the past year that reflects the rich diversity of American culture. Ishmael Reed says of this poetry book, "Juanita gives the history of Oakland before the expulsion of Blacks from the city by the banks, the police and Jerry Brown...[She] stands up for a city that is more than a place where surrounding cities dump their trash." Meanwhile, her story collection The High Price of Freeways won the Tartts Fiction Award and will be published in June 2022 by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama. The deadline for this $1,000 prize for a first book of short stories is usually December 31, but was extended to March 15 this year.
Congratulations to Mark Scheel. His latest novel, The Potter's Wheel, was published by Clarendon House Publications in September. The Potter's Wheel follows a Kansas farm youth caught up in the street culture of Hollywood in the 1960s and the hard life lessons he encounters. Mission Magazine, a Kansas regional news magazine, interviewed him about the book (go to page 11 of the Sept/Oct 2021 digital issue). Read more about Mark's books here.
Congratulations to J.C. Todd. Her fifth poetry collection, Beyond Repair, was published in September by Able Muse Press as a special selection of their 2019 Able Muse Press Poetry Book Award. These poems explore the traumatic effects of war on women, both the civilians and combatants in war zones. She kindly shares a sample poem here. Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa says of this collection, "J.C. Todd's Beyond Repair is woven of war and aftermath. Survival lives in the blood-wit of each turn in this wrought collection, singing and daring the heart awake." J.C. tells us, "I appreciate that Winning Writers nudges me to expand my reach, to try new publications and contests, including the Able Muse Press contest that led to this publication."
Congratulations to J Brooke. Eir poem "Self-Portrait at Age 9 as Albert Cashier" was a semifinalist for the 2021 Oscar Wilde Prize from Gival Press and was published in ArLiJo #153 (October 2021). This contest for poems about the LGBTQ experience gives a $100 prize; the most recent deadline was June 27.
Recent Publications
Kayleb Rae Candrilli's craft essay "Seed Banks & Perennial Poetics" was published at Harriet, the blog of the Poetry Foundation. Candrilli compares the artistic process of hoarding and upcycling fragments to the skills we will need in a post-apocalyptic, post-capitalist society. "What is a junkyard if not a land filled with opportunities to transform our waste?"
John Reinhart has reissued an expanded version of his poetry chapbook Horrific Punctuation, originally published by Tiger's Eye Press. John says, "Horrific Punctuation is where commas scratch poisoned marks in blood on oblivion, Thor makes an enthusiastic appearance! shotguns make dark holes to mark the end...or maybe the beginning of something new. Zombies, harpies, Odin, Schrödinger's cat, Hermes, yetis, the Loch Ness Monster, and more nightmares are here to remind you that while punctuation can be bad, sometimes it is horrific." He kindly shares a sample poem here.
Gail Thomas is offering two online poetry workshops through Pioneer Valley Writers this winter: "Taking Shape: Experimenting with Form in Poetry" in November, and "Revising and Polishing Your Poems" in December.
Yvonne has several poetry publications to report. "Way of the Cross" and "The Sound of Music" appeared in Pennsylvania English, Vol. 40.2 (Fall 2020). "Food Travels" was published in Qwerty, Vol. 43 (Summer 2021), a literary journal from the University of New Brunswick. The theme of this issue was "Food x Identity". "Charles Speaks of Shearer Cottage" was included in the anthology From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry (Bass River Press). Three sonnets from her poem sequence "The School of Clara Ward" appeared at On the Seawall. These poems were inspired by the life of Aretha Franklin's mentor, Clara Ward, who spawned several schools of American popular music in the 1930s-50s with innovations in singing, composing, and arranging. "Cell Division" was published in Held Magazine, Issue #2 (2021), the journal of the University of Guelph. "Pilgrimage, 2009" appeared in the online anthology Atelier of Healing. "Eviction, 1956" was published in Toho Journal Online (Winter 2020). "Somewhere, 1950" and "Family Tree" appeared in Misfit Magazine, Issue #32 (Spring 2021). Her sestina "Angels We Have Heard on High" was published in Carousel, Issue #45 (Summer 2021).
Emily Rose Cole, Geffrey Davis, and Julie Marie Wade will be reading their Pablo Neruda Prize-winning poems online on Wednesday, October 27th at 7:00 p.m., CDT. Celine Aenlle-Rocha, Rilla Askew, and Paula Closson Buck will read their Katherine Anne Porter Prize-winning stories online on Saturday, November 6th, 2:00 p.m., CDT. Both of these contests are sponsored by Nimrod International Journal. Visit their website to see all events and register.
Katie Bickham's "The Thing Worth Saving" was the poem of the week for September 13 at the Missouri Review.
Annie Dawid's story "Marceline Baldwin Meets Jim Jones", an excerpt from her novella Mrs. Jim Jones: One Possible Biography, was published on the website "Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and People's Temple", a project of San Diego State University.
Phyllis Klein's new website, Phyllis Poetry, has launched. Visit it for upcoming dates and Zoom links for her "Poets in Conversation" reading series.
Konstantin N. Rega's poem "Milk on his chin" was published by Milk Carton Press. He has begun writing a regular column on jazz music for Entropy Magazine; the first one, a review of Marc Johnson's album Overpass, was published in August. Recently hired as the Assistant Editor at Virginia Living Magazine, Konstantin writes a book column supporting local authors (focusing on Southern writers/fiction) and local bookstores.
Michael House's books Love Is for Christians and Hospitable are available on Lulu.com.
Brian M. Mich's book Bargains, Budgets, Discounts & Deals—Eking Out in Brutal Times: A Saver's Almanac is available on Amazon in print and e-book editions. Visit his poetry blog, Monkeys with Typewriters Productions.
R.T. Castleberry's poem "Grey Cars" was published in Book of Matches, Issue #3 (Fall 2021).
Published: October 10, 2021
