Friday, October 30, 2009

Jericho Brown Wins Whiting Award

Congratulations to Jericho Brown, author of Please, on receiving a 2009 Whiting Writers' Award, given to recognize emerging writers. "The awards, which are $50,000 each, totaling $500,000, have been given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career." Joan Kane and Jay Hopler also received the award for poetry.

"Jericho Brown and Salvatore Scibona Among Whiting Award Winners" on the Poets & Writers website.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Accepting Submissions: 2010 New Issues Poetry Prize for a first book of poetry

New Issues is taking submissions for the 2010 New Issues Poetry Prize, an award given to a first book of poems. The winner will be selected by guest judge Linda Gregerson, author of Magnetic North. The winner will receive a $2,000 award and publication. The press often chooses additional manuscripts from the finalists to publish. Manuscripts are read blind.

Previous winners of the New Issues Poetry Prize include Judy Halebsky for Sky=Empty, selected by Marvin Bell; Justin Marks for A Million in Prizes, selected by Carl Phillips; and Sandra Beasley for Theories of Falling, selected by Marie Howe.

Guidelines:
* Eligibility: Poets writing in English who have not previously published or self-published a full-length (48+ pages) collection of poems. Chapbooks are okay.
* Please include a $15 reading fee. Checks should be made payable to New Issues Press.
* Postmark Deadline: November 30, 2009. The winning manuscript will be named in April 2010 and published in the spring of 2011.

Visit our website for complete guidelines.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Natasha Trethewey Interviews Jericho Brown

Natasha Trethewey interviews Jericho Brown for Southern Spaces: An interdisciplinary journal about the regions, places, and cultures of the American South. This interview was conducted on September 5, 2009, during the Decatur (Georgia) Book Festival.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

VPR Reviews PLEASE

Susanna Childress reviews Jericho Brown's Please for Valparaiso Poetry Review, Vol XI, No. 1. A taste: "The poems are smart and raw, but readers will recognize this as distinct from clever or pitiable, in part because the writer does not ask his readers to recognize them as such. Any insight, any complexity here is the result of intricate tonal and metaphorical maneuvering, crafting, nuance: questioning and requiring all at once, the way the word please is both a desire and a demand." For the complete review, visit www.valpo.edu/vpr

Friday, October 9, 2009

Linda Nemec Foster on Verse Daily

Linda Nemec's poem "The Field Behind the Dying Father's House" was featured on Verse Daily. The poem is from Foster's recently published collection Talking Diamonds.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

New Books: Talking Diamonds by Linda Nemec Foster

Talking Diamonds by Linda Nemec Foster, part of the Inland Seas Poetry Series funded by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

"A humanist at heart, Linda Nemec Foster has demanded from her poetry an artfulness that engages ordinary life. With each new book her work has continued to mature, deepen, console, surprise, and Talking Diamonds is as wise as it is lovely."
—Stuart Dybek

Linda Nemec Foster received her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College in Vermont. She is the author of eight collections of poetry including Living in the Fire Nest, Amber Necklace from Gdańsk, and Listen to the Landscape.

Buy Talking Diamonds from Amazon.com and Spdbooks.org.

Publication Date: Oct 5, 2009
$15.00 paper | 75 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-930974-85-2

Thursday, October 1, 2009

New Books: Missing Her by Claudia Keelan

Missing Her: New poems by Claudia Keelan

In poems performed via scat singing, via documentary, poems devoted to the sui generis, Missing Her redefines the elegy as a seeking statement.

"Keelan's work, always politically engaged, here takes a tender and personal turn. Much of what is mourned in these interwoven elegies is private, close in, but even the larger, more public themes — the Vietnam War, Jesus, the oil industry, September 11 — are brought to an intimate scale. The central long poem 'Everybody's Autobiography' achieves a masterful fusion of political history, personal responsibility, and communal grief. A deep-feeling collection not afraid to look loss in the face."
—Cole Swensen

"Missing Her is Keelan's sixth collection of poems. Parts of it will stay with you long after reading..." Vince Corvaia, NewPages.com

Available through Amazon.com and Small Press Distribution

Publication Date: October 5, 2009
$15.00 paper | 79 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-930974-86-9