Matthew Thorburn on "The Poet and the Poem"

Check out the Library of Congress website for an interview/reading with Matthew Thorburn, author of Subject to Change. The Poet and the Poem is now online. Scroll down the page to find the link to his webcast.

Geoff Rips Reads from The Truth at The Twig

Geoff Rips, winner of the 2006 AWP Award for the Novel, will be reading from his novel, The Truth, on April 30 in San Antonio.

Time: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 5:00 p.m. / Location: The Twig Book Shop , 5005 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209

Sandra Beasley Wins the 2008 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award

Sandra Beasley, author of the newly-released Theories of Falling, has been awarded the 2008 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. The Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, administered by Poets & Writers Magazine, introduces emerging writers to the New York City literary community and dishes out an all-expenses-paid, weeklong trip to the city, during which the authors meet with literary agents, editors, publishers, and writers, and give a public reading.

Each year, a new state is chosen to participate in the program and writers from that state are invited to submit their work. For this year's award, Washington D.C. was selected. Outside judges choose one poet and one fiction writer for this prize. Willett Thomas, also of Washington D.C., won the prize for fiction.

Press Release from Poets & Writers.

In Memory: Julie Moulds Rybicki

New Issues lost a dear friend and poet this past Tuesday, April 8, when Julie Moulds Rybicki passed away after a failed bone marrow transplant. Her battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma lasted sixteen years, and she was a fighter. A woman of extraordinary talent and impossible positivity, Julie's poetry reflected her ability to be both brutally honest and yet find the fantasy and beauty in every situation.

The poems of Woman with a Cubed Head (New Issues, 1998) were called "unflinching, funny, and wise" by Denise Duhamel. Vince Gotera of North American Review said in a review, ". . . we are aware that a life-and-death struggle is going on: chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, 'anti-fungal mouth medications,' the indefatigable love of a husband.”

"The Woman with a Cubed Head" by Julie Moulds on the New Issues website.

Read the Kalamazoo Gazette's story on Julie.

Photo by Mary Whalen.

Theories of Falling Unveiled at The Writer's Center

Sandra Beasley's long-awaited first book of poetry will be unveiled at her reading this Sunday, April 13. Sandra will be reading with Kyle Dargan, author of Bouquet of Hungers (University of Georgia Press) at The Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815, at 2 p.m. Find more information on their website.

Pineda Reaches Critical Mass

Check out Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle board of directors for a brief interview with poet Jon Pineda, winner of our 2007 Green Rose Prize for his book The Translator's Diary. SMALL PRESS SPOTLIGHT: JON PINEDA

Also check out two poems recently posted on Poetry Daily: "First Snowfall" and "My Sister, Who Died Young, Takes Up The Task"

April is National Poetry Month

New Issues is a proud sponsor of National Poetry Month. Check out their website.
New Issues's NPM web page.
New Issues poetry on the NPM website:
"Cherry Tomatoes" by Sandra Beasley