New Books: The Memory of Water by Jack Myers

The Memory of Water
by Jack Myers

Foreword by Mark Cox
$15.00 paper
ISBN: 978-1-930974-98-2
Publication Date: April 2011
Buy: Amazon.com | spdbooks.org

The career of Jack Myers (1941-2009) spanned five decades, during which time he authored/edited nineteen books of and about poetry.

"What a wonderful gift to have these last poems by Jack Myers. It is a book I wouldn’t be without. Jack was a quintessentially American poet. He wrote in a distilled American idiom with a wiseguy humor that is truly wise. He honored the past, and the future, too, but knew a poet's work was to strive for the elusive eternal present. Poetry, for Jack, is the art of the elusive, which is where mystery resides. Poetry, for Jack, was making up his prayer. He knew he might never arrive at some all-explaining religion, but, damn, he had a beautiful prayer." —Stuart Dybek

May Day LAUNCH PARTY for Jack Myers's final (and finest) collection of poems The Memory of Water. Poems will be read by family, friends, colleagues, students, and admirers of his work.
May 1, 1-2:30 p.m. at The Writer's Garret
Upstairs at Paperbacks Plus
6115 La Vista Drive, Dallas, TX 75214

Now in Paperback: Merit Badges

Merit Badges
by Kevin Fenton

AWP Award Series in the Novel
Judge: Jim Shepard

Follow four friends as they move from The Brady Bunch to Seinfeld, from junior high to middle management. There is Quint, whose rebellion frays into self-destruction; Slow, who struggles to become the world's first teenage father figure; Chimes, who fears losing his friends while picking up a 7-10 split; and Barb who escapes the conformity of Minnisapa only to find herself returning by dark of night. You will feel as if you've always lived in Minnisapa, Minnesota. And you will never underestimate nice kids from the Midwest again.

"An impressive vitality, droll wit, and affecting nostalgia lift Fenton's first novel about four high school pals growing up together during the 1970s in the fictional town of Minnisapa, Minn. . . . Eminently readable prose . . ."—Publisher's Weekly

$15.00 paper | 233 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-936970-03-2
Available April 2011
Buy: Amazon.com | spdbooks.org

Also visit:
Merit Badges @ New Issues
www.meritbadgesthenovel.com
Merit Badges the Novel | Facebook Group

KBAC Poets in Print: Nick Demske and Anne Shaw

On April 16, 2011, 7 to 9 p.m. Nick Demske and Anne Shaw present readings from their work on Saturday, April 16. Broadsides featuring their work created by artists Lauren Scharfenberg and RobE will be for sale and signing along with other works by the poets. This reading is free and open to the public. Refreshments are served. Doors open at 6:30. The reading begins at 7 p.m.

Nick Demske lives in Racine, Wisconsin, and works there at the Racine Public Library. He was awarded the 2010 Fence Modern Poets Series prize for a self-titled manuscript that will be published in November of 2010. His work has appeared in Conduit, Sawbuck, Moria, Pinstripe Fedora, Action Yes and elsewhere. Nick is a curator of the BONK! Performance series and is an editor of the online venue boo: a journal of terrific things. Visit him sometime at http://nickipoo.wordpress.com/

Anne Shaw is the author of Undertow (Persea Books), winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Harvard Review, Black Warrior Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Drunken Boat, Green Mountains Review, and New American Writing. She has also been featured in Poetry Daily and From the Fishouse. Her extended experimental poetry project can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anneshaw.

Kalamazoo Book Arts Center

326 W. Kalamazoo Avenue, Suite 103A

Kalamazoo, MI

Celebrate National Poetry Month

New Issues Press is a proud sponsor of National Poetry Month.

Visit www.poets.org to see our spring poetry books featured:

Northerners by Seth Abramson
The Memory of Water by Jack Myers
Undone by Maxine Scates
Journal of American Foreign Policy by Jeff Hoffman

Khaled Mattawa's Translation Shortlisted

Adonis: Selected Poems (Yale University Press), written by Adonis, translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa has made the international shortlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Congratulations to Khaled Mattawa, author of Tocqueville (New Issues, 2010).

Talking Diamonds Reviewed

Oriana Ivy reviews Linda Nemec Foster's Talking Diamonds on the blog Writing the Polish Diaspora: News and information for Polish Writers and Writers of the Polish Diaspora.

Linda Nemec Foster certainly has the eyes that are always ready for miracles, and the words with which to describe them. Through her, we see that life is indeed a glorious burden - with equal emphasis on "burden" and "glorious."

Intrigued? Read the whole review here: writingpolishdiaspora.blogspot.com