From the LA Times: "The
poet, translator and University of Michigan professor won admiration
from the MacArthur Foundation for 'rendering the beauty and meaning of
contemporary Arab poetry to an English reader and highlighting the
invaluable role of literary translation in bridging cultural divides.'"
Khaled Mattawa's most recent collection of original poetry, Tocqueville, was published by New Issues Poetry & Prose (2010).
Ecclesiastes
The trick is that you're willing to help them.
The rule is to sound like you’re doing them a favor.
The rule is to create a commission system.
The trick is to get their number.
The trick is to make it personal:
No one in the world suffers like you.
The trick is that you’re providing a service.
The rule is to keep the conversation going.
The rule is their parents were foolish,
their children are greedy or insane.
The rule is to make them feel they've come too late.
The trick is that you're willing to make exceptions.
The rule is to assume their parents abused them.
The trick is to sound like the one teacher they loved.
And when they say "too much,"
give them a plan.
And when they say "anger" or "rage" or "love,"
say "give me an example."
The rule is everyone is a gypsy now.
Everyone is searching for his tribe.
The rule is you don't care if they ever find it.
The trick is that they feel they can.
Khaled Mattawa was born in Benghazi, Libya in 1964 and immigrated to the
U.S. in his teens. He is the author of three previous books of poetry, Ismailia Eclipse (Sheep Meadow, 1995), Zodiac of Echoes (Ausable, 2003), and Amorisco
(Ausable, 2008). Mattawa has translated eight
volumes of contemporary Arabic poetry and co-edited two
anthologies of Arab American literature. He is currently a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poetry, and has received a Guggenheim
fellowship, an NEA translation grant, the Alfred Hodder Fellowship from
Princeton University, the PEN American Center Poetry Translation Prize,
and three Pushcart Prizes. Mattawa teaches in the MFA (Creative Writing)
Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
New Issues was established in 1996 by poet Herbert S. Scott.
Thank you to the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts and Bell's Brewery for their support of:
Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry
Thank you!
Fall 2013
Ain't No Grave
by
T.J. Jarrett
Permission
by
Katie Peterson
Slip
by
Cullen Bailey Burns
Spring 2014
Your Moon
by
Ralph Angel
Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes
by
Kerrin McCadden
Gazelle in the House
by
Lisa Williams
If you would like to take part in our new
Sound Cloud station, please email your
Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetrypoem
as an audio clip (AIFF, WAVE, FLAC, OGG, MP2, MP3, AAC, AMR and WMA
fileAIFF, WAVE, FLAC, OGG, MP2, MP3, AAC, AMR or WMA file) to:
new-issues@wmich.edu.
Dear Friends,
We are planning a number of events of celebrate the publication of Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry.
Readings are currently scheduled for Kalamazoo, Portage, Lansing, and
Ann Arbor; see details below. We hope you will be able to join us!
We are so excited to see this book come to life!
-New Issues
Book launch: Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI
Sunday, October 20th, 2:00 p.m.
featuring readings by:
David Cope, Kathleen McGookey, D.R. James, Daneen Wardrop, Elizabeth Kerlikowske,
Diane Seuss, Phillip Sterling, Amy Newday, Robert VanderMolen, Linda
Nemec Foster, Rodney Torreson, Cullen Bailey Burns, and Dennis
Hinrichsen
New Issues Poetry & Prose was established in 1996 by poet Herbert S. Scott.
Fall 2013
Permission
by
Katie Peterson
Slip
by
Cullen Bailey Burns
Ain't No Grave
by
TJ Jarrett
Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry
edited by
William Olsen
&
Jack Ridl
Dear Friends,
Kerrin McCadden has won the 2013 New Issues Poetry Prize for her manuscript Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes.
David St. John judged.
Kerrin wins a $2,000 award and publication of her manuscript in the spring of 2014.
Kerrin McCadden's poems have appeared recently in Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Green Mountains Review, Failbetter, Rattle
and elsewhere. She is the recent recipient of a National Endowment for
the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, as well as support from The Vermont Arts
Endowment Fund and The Vermont Studio Center. She teaches English and
Creative Writing at Montpelier High School in Montpelier, Vermont and is
an MFA degree candidate at Warren Wilson College. She lives in
Plainfield, Vermont with her two children.
Also accepted for publication:
In the Museum of Coming and Going by Laura Stott Dark~Sky Society by Ailish Hopper
The New Issues Poetry Prize is selected by a guest judge. Thank you to David St. John for judging our 2013 contest.
The 2014 New Issues Poetry Prize will be selected by Fanny Howe, author of more than 20 books of poetry.
Guidelines for the 2014 prize are available on our website.
Congratulations, Peter Covino!
Peter Covino won the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence for his collection The Right Place to Jump.
New Issues was established in 1996 by poet Herbert S. Scott.
We
are proud to announce we have received a grant from the Michigan
Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs to help support the production
of our forthcoming anthology:
Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry
Thank you!
Spring 2013
Pinwheel
by
Marni Ludwig
Phantom Camera
by
Jaswinder Bolina
The Most
Natural Thing
by
David Keplinger
Large White House Speaking
by
Mark Irwin
Fall 2013
Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry edited by Jack Ridl and William Olsen
Ain't No Grave
by
T.J. Jarrett
Permission
by
Katie Peterson
Slip
by
Cullen Bailey Burns
Dear Friends,
We have some great readings coming up next month--we hope to see you soon! -New Issues
Jean Valentine will read Tuesday, April 2nd at 8:00 p.m. at the Little Theatre.
The
Town & Gown Reading Series presents Iliana Rocha, Nancy Eimers,
Vanni Taing, Joel Newsome, Amy Newday, and Kathleen McGookey. Monday,
April 8th at 7:00 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Public Library.
The
Gwen Frostic Reading Series presents the New Issues Reading. Featuring
Mandy Keifietz, winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel, and Jaswinder
Bolina, winner of the Green Rose Prize for Poetry.
Our titles are available online through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Small Press Distribution.
The 2014 MacArthur Fellows 
Khaled Mattawa was born in Benghazi, Libya in 1964 and immigrated to the
U.S. in his teens. He is the author of three previous books of poetry, Ismailia Eclipse (Sheep Meadow, 1995), Zodiac of Echoes (Ausable, 2003), and Amorisco
(Ausable, 2008). Mattawa has translated eight
volumes of contemporary Arabic poetry and co-edited two
anthologies of Arab American literature. He is currently a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poetry, and has received a Guggenheim
fellowship, an NEA translation grant, the Alfred Hodder Fellowship from
Princeton University, the PEN American Center Poetry Translation Prize,
and three Pushcart Prizes. Mattawa teaches in the MFA (Creative Writing)
Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 
Kerrin McCadden has won the 2013 New Issues Poetry Prize for her manuscript Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes.
