What's Been Going On Around Here

It's been pretty busy around here. Since I haven't had time to post as often as I used to, this post will begin a round-up of recent news. More will follow in subsequent posts.

First some Terrapin Books news. My new press has proven to be a very challenging enterprise and a very rewarding one. I'm proud to say that thus far we have one anthology in print, The Doll Collection, and four single author poetry books: Confessions of a Captured Angel by Neil Carpathios, The Persistence of Longing by Lynne Knight, Cutting Room by Jessica de Koninck, and Bluewords Greening by Christine Stewart-Nunez. Two more collections are in progress: The End of Grief by Patricia Clark and Route 66 and Its Sorrows by Carolyn Miller.

We've had two open reading periods and expect to have another one within a few more months. (Check the website for updated information.) The press saw a better than 30% increase in the number of submissions during the second reading period.

We've also already been receiving some poetry love from the poetry world. A review by Grace Cavalieri of Neil Carpathios' Confessions of a Captured Angel appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Dream Circuit, a poem by Lynne Knight from The Persistence of Longing, was featured on Verse Daily. And Viriditas, a poem by Christine Stewart-Nunez from Bluewords Greening, was featured at The Missouri Review online. Christine was also a featured poet at the South Dakota Festival of Books.

Two craft books, both edited by me, are also now in print: the original The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop is now available in a revised edition which includes a full table of contents (i.e., includes all poem titles and poets' names) and an Index at the back of the book. The brand-new sequel, The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop, has just been released. Here's what it looked like when the shipment of contributors' copies arrived:

Since arriving at my house, all books have gone out to contributors. Some books have been spotted in various places across the US. Here's one spotted at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Thanks to contributor Hilde Weisert for donating a copy of the book so that other poets might use it.

Check out the very nice "#1 New Release in Poetry Anthologies" that appeared at Amazon shortly after the publication of The Crafty Poet II:

That's what's been happening with Terrapin Books. More news coming soon.