Monday, March 27, 2017

The Doll Collection on the road

This past Sunday a group of poets whose poems appear in The Doll Collection anthology met at the Albert Wisner Library in Warwick, NY, to read selections from the book. Arranged and hosted by contributor Mary Makofske, the reading was a wonderful event. The library, selected as the Best Small Library in America, is lovely. The librarian had arranged for a display of dolls in wall cases. Additional dolls were brought by the poets and audience members.

We had a total of eight poets. Each poet read her own poem, plus one more by a different poet in the book, so we had lots of variety. Although I do not have a poem in the book, I had the pleasure of reading Susan Rich's poem "Potato Head." Here are some pictures from the day.

Kim Bridgford read her poem "Chewed-On Barbie." Her second poem was "Playing Drunks at Age 7" by Kyle Potvin from Massachusetts.

Jessica de Koninck read her poem "The Golem." Her second poem was "The Pregnant Doll" by Nicole Cooley who also wrote the book's wonderful Introduction.

Jane Ebihara read her poem "In the Milk House." She then read "Broken Doll" by Susan Terris 
from California.

Mary Makofske read her poem "Bambi." Her second poem was "Operation Teddy Bear" by Jeffrey Harrison from Massachusetts.

Charlotte Mandel read her poem "After Torrential Rain." She then read "The Family" by Chana Bloch from California.

Susanna Rich read her own "This Child Left" and then "Paper Doll" by Susan Laughter Meyers from South Carolina.

Hayden Saunier displayed a flip doll, then read her poem "Flip Doll: Red Riding Hood." Her second poem was "Secrets" by Elaine Terranova from Pennsylvania.

Some dolls brought by poets

Happy Poets

Available in the Terrapin Bookstore
or
Available at Amazon
 


Saturday, March 4, 2017

Bits and Pieces


Last month I attended the AWP Conference in Washington DC. I wanted to introduce the world of writers to my new press, Terrapin Books. So signed up for a table in the Book Fair, packed up all the books the press has published in the past year, and drove myself to DC. Three of my poets were there to sign their books. Jessica de Koninck, Patricia Clark, and Christine Stewart-Nunez each had a signing at the table on Friday morning. I also booked a room in the Methodist Church across the street from the Marriott Marquis and on Thursday evening hosted a Terrapin reading there. Each of the three poets read from their books. They were followed by 14 poets from The Doll Collection. I also participated in a panel on small press anthologies. This included four other publishers and was moderated by Lucille Lang Day. Each of us spoke about our press and our anthologies. This was the first time I ever served on an AWP panel. I enjoyed it and wasn't particularly nervous. I sold a bunch of books at the table and met lots of people.


Speaking of anthologies, Terrapin Books has committed to publishing another one. This one will be co-edited by Jason Lee Brown and Shanie Latham. The topic will be donuts! Our submission window at Submittable will open on April 1 and will remain open thru May 31. So think donuts, eat donuts, and write donuts. And check out the Guidelines.


One last thing that I found quite delicious—my poem "For the Love of Avocados" was featured by Ted Kooser on American Life in Poetry, week of February 20. Please pay a visit. The poem is from my most recent poetry book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement.  I've also had a lovely new review of my book. It's by Sherry Chandler and appears in Phoebe.

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