Upcoming poetry events

Sunday, October 14

Daniel A. Hoyt and Kellie Wells

5:00 pm

Eighth Street Taproom, 19 E. Eighth St., Lawrence, KS

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Hadara Bar-Nadav, John Gallaher, and Elizabeth Clark Wessel

7:00 pm

A Common Sense Reading Series, Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, 1714 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Neil Shepard and Kevin Prufer

7:00 pm

The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tracy K. Smith (2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry)

7:00 pm

Rockhurst University, 54th Street and Troost, Kansas City, MO

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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Jim McCray and David Ohle

4:00 pm

A Common Sense Reading Series, Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, 1714 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Bayard Godsave and George McCormick

7:00 pm

A Common Sense Reading Series, Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, 1714 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO

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Friday, November 9, 2012

Jacqueline Guidry and Lisa Moritz

8:00 pm

The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO

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Monday, November 12, 2012

CA Conrad

7:00 pm

The Commons (Spooner Hall), The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Janice Gould

4:00 pm

Kansas State University's Little Theatre, Student Union, Manhattan, KS

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Friday, November 16, 2012

Hadara Bar-Nadav and Kathryn Nuernberger 

7:00 pm

The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO

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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Chandra Dickson and Brenda Sieczkowski

5:00 pm

Eighth Street Taproom, 19 E. Eighth St., Lawrence, KS

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Valzhyna Mort

7:00 pm

Rockhurst University, 54th Street and Troost, Kansas City, MO ($3 at the door. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.)

The setting

The setting should be: Topeka, Kansas

The history should be included, in interludes

Including LGBT rights, and AT&SF matters

The time is now

Fence Modern Prose Prize

Dear Friends,

Fence Books announces a new book contest, the Fence Modern Prose Prize, which awards $2,500 plus publication to a book-length work of prose. In 2013 the prize will be awarded to a novel.

We will be accepting entries during the month of November 2012. The submission fee is $28, and all entrants will receive a complimentary subscription to Fence. The winning manuscript will be published in the spring of 2014.

The inaugural Fence Modern Prose Prize will be judged by Rivka Galchen. Galchen's stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, Harper's, and elsewhere. Her novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, was published in 2008 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and was named a finalist for Canada's 2008 Governor General's Award. She currently teaches at Columbia University. Galchen is guest fiction editor of Fence's Fall 2012 issue, due out mid-November.

The Fence Modern Poets Series will be running in February of 2013 as per usual.

Please forward this announcement to all interested parties. Please direct any inquiries to robfence at gmail dot com.

Best,

Fence Books Editors

Things for my Antinovel

Not only will the story revolve around parents who divorce, the mother coming out and meeting another woman, and the son marrying a wife, but there should be the mother-in-law as tension. Also, a couple whose genders are unknown. "The one met another, as simple as that. They married in Ohio."

Other search phrases:
how they met, how my parents met, how we met, how my grandparents met

Other websites:
Jack Wu http://www.jpwu.info/index.html

Birthers versus Homebirthers

A Homebirther is someone who knows the truth about homebirths. A Birther is someone who doubts the President was born.

AWP Boston

Anyone else going to AWP in Boston?

NaAntinoWriMo

I plan on writing my Antinovel during NaNoWriMo in November.

Here are activities, either way. I plan on infiltrating.

Mark your calendars -- NaNoWriMo 2012 events for Topeka KS

**If you would like to co-host any of these events, please email Lissa to volunteer!**
BOOK LAUNCH PARTY for 2012 Community Novel Project (featuring MANY Topeka wrimo writers!)
3-4 pm, Sunday, September 30, 2012 Marvin Auditorium, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
More here, including full text of novel and how to get involved next year: http://www.tscpl.org/community-novel
PREWRITING EVENTS
30 Days of PreWriting
Get started on planning your novel with this free ebook from D.L. Rose to guide you through the process. Discuss techniques with other fiction writers.
7-8 pm, Monday, October 1, Marvin Auditorium 101C, Topeka Public Library
Plot Outlines, Scenes and Dialogue
Review some basics of writing fiction. Discuss techniques with other fiction writers.
7-8 pm, Monday, October 15, Marvin Auditorium 101C, Topeka Public Library
KICKOFF EVENTS
How to Write a Novel in 30 Days
7-8 pm, Monday, October 29, Marvin 101BC
Fun and helpful advice from former participants, plus official swag (stickers) from NaNo headquarters and other inspiring goodies to get you through the month.
VIRTUAL KICKOFF—AND OTHER THINGS TO DO
Post encouragement and tips at Nanowrimo.org under the Kansas :: Topeka forums and join the Facebook group: Topeka Wrimos -- 50,000 words in 30 days.
Tell everyone you know, online and in real life, that you are preparing to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Invite them to do it too. The more the merrier and everyone can win!
COME WRITE IN: WRITE-A-THONS
Participants meet to add to their daily word count, compete in word wars, take writing dares and further their plots. Bring laptops for a creative and frantic writing session to help boost word counts.
1-5 pm, Sunday, November 4 Anton Room 204, Topeka Public Library
1-5 pm, Sunday, November 18 Menninger Room 206, Topeka Public Library
CAFFEINATE AND CHAT
Socialize with other NaNoWriMo writers, share ideas to get unstuck, grab a bite to eat and get inspired and caffeinated for more writing. (Then go write!)
6-7 pm, Wednesday, November 7
6-7 pm, Wednesday, November 14
Classic Bean, 21st and Fairlawn
FINISH LINE CELEBRATION Thank God It’s Over! Celebrate your amazing accomplishment with other writers before you return to your boring slow-paced post-NaNo life. 2-3 pm, Saturday, December 1 Millennium Café, Topeka Public Library
Contact Lissa Staley for more information
lysistratagirl@yahoo.com or estaley@tscpl.org
Visit the regional forums: http://nanowrimo.org/en/regions/usa-kansas-topeka

NaAntinoWriMo

"The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps." --#327 from Reality Hunger by David Shields.

Erasure and boundaries

As a student of mine is against erasure, noting how it is taking someone's words and altering/removing them, I was reminded how I hold this rule in writing workshops--that no one can mark through words as a means of saying "omit this."

Maybe the boundary is the difference between a work in progress and an artistic endevour on an existing work?

Maybe the omission is against a writer "we don't like?" I'm thinking The O MISSION REPO and Voyager.

Or an archaic piece, one like RA DI OS?

I'm going to go back to The Believer article from the beginning of this year to get another look.

Sound poets via facebook via Anne Boyer

Anne Boyer besides tracie morris and christian bok, other interesting contemporary sound poets?

Hanna Andrews caroline bergvall!

Anne Boyer totally, how could I leave her out.

Carmel Purkis Phil Minton, jwcurry, Paul Dutton, Jaap Blonk, Leevi Lehto ... will think of more ...

Carmel Purkis Angela Rawlings!

Valerie Loveland Everyone mentioned poets I already thought of. I am commenting so I can keep up with what everyone says.

Bob Holman Edwin Torres, Stephen Smith, Charlie Morrow, Jerome Rothenberg, Alurista

Lisa Robertson Stacy Doris-- her hour long sound piece (opera really) for Radio France, Parlement. And our work together as The Perfume Recordist. And up in Vancouver Catriona Strang.

Erin Lyndal Martin What about Alexis O'Hara? She's kind of a poet and of a musician. Plus she does sound installation artists. (If you want more info, I interviewed her here: http://euterpesnotebook.com/ellipsis-and-the-speakerbox-igloo-the-alexis-ohara-interview/)

Trisha Low a. rawlings and m. jantar's collabos are incredible - also jordan scott re: the stutter& traitorous bodies

Nada Gordon jap blonk!

Nada Gordon o, someone already said...

Stephanie Young jordan scott

Buck Downs Chris Mason

Kasey Mohammad Bonnie Jones

Janet Holmes Heidi Lynn Staples

Harold Abramowitz Mathew Timmons :)

Michael Sikkema michael sikkema

Johannes Göransson http://www.actionyes.org/issue16/eskildsen-rinne/eskildsen-rinne1.html

ACTION YES Online Quarterly

Bill Luoma Hazel Smith

Michael Sikkema Mike Basinski

CA Conrad Cris Cheek. He's amazing!!

Taylor Brady I don't know whether she calls herself a sound poet, but I'd put http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ute-Wassermann/160958007265285?ref=ts in this grouping if we're going to include Phil Minton (mentioned above). Also, at least on occasion, Geraldine Monk. And Wendy Kramer.

Asher Lewis not trad sound poetry, but search out & hear Sarah Dowling read from Security Posture, particularly snd particles from "Starlight Tour"--will make you a believer (in the oral)

Anne Boyer ok, this is fantastic. I'm just going to give my students this entire thread.

Karen Weiser Me too!

Brenda Iijima oh, Julie Patten!!

Cris Cheek danny snelson

Misogyny in assignments

I'm coming to realize I am changing my stance on how to deal with students who say or write things that would offend, harrass, etc. others. Often, I ask someone to leave the room and have a conference with that student. However, maybe bringing up a discussion first, especially when considering writing, allows for all voices to be heard around how we read, interpret, respond, etc. to issues. After all, for many students, it is their first true chance to be heard, as well as share beliefs without exposure to other beliefs.

The person who brought up the incident:

A student submits (what appears to be) a rap w/misogynistic lines for a poetry workshop. What to do about it, w/o wrecking the workshop?

 

One of the best responses:

I've had this happen. In one class, long ago, women students lingered after the final class of the semester and set about burning a misogynist poem that had been workshopped! I'd lean toward business as usual, but first of all talking about the possibility of people (uh, that would be women) getting triggered, saying that people are free to leave anytime in any class if the subject matter is triggering them, then taking a strong stand yourself, expressing your own point of view on the poem strongly at the point where it seems right, keeping the discussion focused on the poem not the writer, talking about whether there are limits on what should be presented in a classroom, whether context and audience matter, just repeatedly emphasizing that your job is to watch their backs but also not to censor them, and then following up by bringing in some poetry that talks back to the issues in the poem and perhaps doing that for other students' poems as well. And talking to him in private, before and after.

 

My final response:

Thanks for this discussion! I'm coming to realize the open discussion approach--the learning experience--allows for that dialogue that rarely happens outside of a campus.

 

My previous responses had to do with protecting students. I made many posts. I hadn't realized how much the previous issue from last month affected me.

"I TALK, TALK, I TALK to you"

I am a TALK scholar for the Kansas Humanities Council and last night was my first TALK Book Discussion, held in Bonner Springs. Kim, the director, is doing amazing work there! The overall theme for this season is the 1930's, so we covered All the King's Men.

It was a warm reception, truly, and thirteen people joined for the discussion. I want to thank all of the people: Ramona, Sharon, Ted, Mike, Sarah, Joann, Jane, John, Twila, Karen, Carol, Donna, and Donna's husband! I still need to know his name!

That was a funny way to start, as Donna said she lost her husband--once in a conversation and secondly during introductions. She said he had read the book, too. I offered my sympathy, thinking she had lost him recently, but it was the lost, as in "he's around here somewhere" lost, and not the "lost" widowed sense. I noted my relief.

Overall, KHC is an amazing organization that truly fits the mission, as they "promote understanding of the history, traditions, and iideas that shape our lives and strengthen our communities." It was a pleasure to discuss how the novel truly applies to our lives, too, and to see a community come together via a book.

Thank you, Kim, for your invitation!

1913 First Book Prize

I am honored that Rae Armantrout selected me as a finalist. I love Scott McFarland's work (I remember it from DIAGRAM), so I can't wait to read his first book!

http://1913press.blogspot.com/2012/09/1913-prize-results.html

http://thediagram.com/11_6/mcfarland.html

We are delighted to announce that Rae Armantrout has selected  

“O, Human Microphone” by Scott McFarland 

for publication by 1913 Press as winner of 2012’s 1913 Prize for 1st Books!

There were so many wild, wonderful, and truly exquisite submissions, and we thank everyone who entered.

We’d especially like to honor the following 12 finalists, whose first books are exciting news of what’s afoot:

Finalists:

Eric Amling

Junior Clemens

Dennis Etzel Jr.

Leora Fridman

Leif Haven

Lauren Ireland

Drew Krewer

Ji Yoon Lee

Stephanie Luczajko

Athena Nilssen

Andrew Terhune

Elizabeth Clark Wessel

The editors would also like to recognize the following truly wonderful semifinalists whose stunning work stood out in the mix:

Semifinalists:

Stephanie Anderson

Elaine Bleakney

Raymond Johnde Borja

Wendy Burk

Loretta Clodfelter

Thomas Cook

Jeanine Deibel

Jane Gregory

Christine Herzer

Jen Hyde

Steven Karl

Paula Koneazny

M. Mack

Stephen Mead

Juan Daniel Millan

Alexandra Nichols

Frances Justine Post

Afton Wilky

We wish all those who entered the best of luck, and we look forward to reading you in the years to come.

Very best,

1913