Writers Festival Scheduled in Milwaukee

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, School of Continuing Education is hosting its annual Spring Writers Festival on Saturday, March 9, at  161 West Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee.  Details, including registration information is at:

http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/conference.cfm?id=561

Please visit the Council for Wisconsin Writers website at http://www.wiswriters.org.

 

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Two Poets to Read in Coloma

The following comes from poet Barb Cranford who runs a reading series at Coloma Hotel in Coloma:

POEM-WRITING PAIR WILL READ AT COLOMA HOTEL IN MARCH

On Wednesday, March 13, at 7 pm, two powerful women poets will read their work for the Original Voice program at the Coloma Hotel.

Cathryn Cofell and Karla Huston, both from Appleton,  have been collaborators since 2000, with poems in Rhino, Indiana Review, and Quiddity, among others.  The duo has been anthologized in Saints of Hysteria and exercised in Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry and in many workshop settings.  Between them, they have published twelve chapbooks, two broadsides, one music/poetry cd, oodles of interviews and essays.  They’ve won many writing awards and received a boatload of Pushcart nominations including one win for Karla.

 

They will read from Split Personality, their first collaborative chapbook, and just to prove they are not perpetually connected at the hip, each will share a few of her own, including selections from Karla’s new collection, A Theory of Lipstick due soon from Main Street Rag, and from Cathryn’s collection, Sister Satellite, due late June from Cowfeather Press.

The Original Voice is a free event held at the Coloma Hotel, 132 Main Street, Coloma the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m.  The evening starts with a featured guest artist who shares ideas and inspirations and presents a half hour or so of his/her own work. This is an opportunity for creative people to introduce poems, books, chapbooks, or CDs or to try out some new work on an audience.

 

Following the featured guest, the microphone is available to anyone who wants to take part. Both unseasoned and experienced performers are urged to make brief presentations––two or three of their own poems or songs, a short essay, or a couple of pages of prose. 

 

For more information or to sign up as a featured presenter, contact Barb Cranford at (608) 564-7701 or Julie Eger at (920) 787-7663. No need to sign up to take part in the open mic, just come.

 

2013 ORIGINAL VOICE FEATURED PRESENTERS

March 13    Karla Huston & Cathryn Cofell   

April 10    Bob Nordstrom

May 8    Fran Rall.

June 12    F.J. Bergman

July 10    Richard Swanson

August 14    Lou Roach

September 11    Jim Pollock 

October  9    Ed ASchultz

November 13    Ralph Murre & Sharon Auberle

WWA Director to Speak

Wisconsin Writers Association director Jennifer Turner is coming to McMillian Library on Feb. 28. at 7 p.m. Go to this link, http://voiceofwr.com/2013/02/19/mcmillan-library-presents-the-director-of-the-wisconsin-writers-association/ for details.

And visit the Council for Wisconsin Writers website at http://www.wiswriters.org.

Revised WLA Award News

The following is from WFOP’s Cathryn Cofell-Mutschler and corrects earlier information she provided about this award program:

My email earlier today opened up a floodgate of questions, and also a follow up that the WLA’s deadline is actually a month earlier than I’d initially thought.  So, a REVISED announcement below, with answers to the majority of questions I received AND a modified date to send directly.  NOTE:  I am the mere messenger; if you have additional questions, please go to the website below and/or contact someone with the WLA cuz I’m pretty sure I don’t / won’t have the answer!

 The WLA committee is looking for copies of poetry collections (published & copyrighted in 2012, at least 32p. long*, and in a couple libraries–or on the way to being added to a couple libraries’ collections), by March 1.

While they are reviewing books in the library system, if you want to be sure your book is considered, send a copy to:

Literary Awards Committee

Wisconsin Library Association

4610 S. Biltmore Lane, Ste. 100

Madison, WI 53718-2153

This year the committee is having a difficult time getting publications they were notified had been released in 2012.  They need to have copies of books by March 1 to complete the review process.

You are also strongly encouraged to have your book(s) available at a few libraries around the state. While not mandatory, an award given by the WLA will take into consideration the accessibility of your book in the public inter-library loan system.   That way, patrons anywhere in the state have a much greater chance of accessing the items.  No one is expected to donate a book to every library in the state, but I would personally encourage you to donate one to your local library and one or two elsewhere in the state.

It is certainly possible that you are not interested in the WLA awards or that you have no desire to donate any copies of works to local libraries or the literary committee. If, however, you didn’t know about these obstacles to consideration, then it’s time to get cracking!

For more information, visit:  http://wla.wisconsinlibraries.org/read/awards 

* Table of contents, illustrations, etc., typically do not count in the 32p. The committee realizes that poetry collections may have artwork that may be integral to particular poems, but the collection as a whole needs to have a substantial amount of poetry. If you have a work that is slightly shorter than 32 pages of poetry, you can still submit it for consideration. It generally won’t be disqualified based on a few pages, but you do need to be aware that the body of poetic work will figure into consideration.

 

WLA Book Award News

The following is from our friend Cathryn Cofell-Mutschler with the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets:

Are you eligible for the Wisconsin Library Association Book Award?

The WLA committee is looking for copies of poetry collections (published & copyrighted in 2012, at least 32p. long, and in a couple libraries–or on the way to being added to a couple libraries’ collections), by April 1.

Send material to:

Literary Awards Committee

Wisconsin Library Association

4610 S. Biltmore Lane, Ste. 100

Madison, WI 53718-2153

This year the committee is having a difficult time getting publications they were notified had been released in 2012.  They need to have copies of books by April 1 to complete the review process.

The books must ALSO be available at libraries–meaning that there should be copies at at least a few libraries around the state. That way, patrons anywhere in the state have a much greater chance of accessing the items.  A quick search in Worldcat, for example, showed them me that in the entire state, there is only 1 copy of a few of the latest books by stellar poets. These can’t go through inter-library loan yet and so members of the committee–and the public–can’t get these books.

It is certainly possible that you are not interested in the WLA awards or that you have no desire to donate any copies of works to local libraries or the literary committee. If, however, you didn’t know about these obstacles to consideration, then it’s time to get cracking!

Poetry News from WFOP

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Cafe in Appleton (233 E. College Ave) on the third Monday of most months.  Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the featured reader(s), followed by an open mic open to anyone who wishes to read 1-2 poems.

 Monday, February 18, 6:30 p.m. – Fiction Like Poetry: Abby Frucht and Don Jesse Wydeven

 Abby Frucht lives in Oshkosh.  Her first book of stories, Fruit of the Month, won the Iowa Short Fiction prize for 1987.  She has since published five novels and just recently a new collection, The Bell at the End of a Rope, from which she will read to us a story about a poet.  She has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a New Voices Award, a Kay W. Levin Short Non-Fiction award from Council for Wisconsin Writers, and has served on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts for nearly 20 years.

 Don Jesse Wydeven is an Appleton area short story writer and poet.  He is a long time member and the facilitator of the Pros On Prose writers group, and has read his short stories and poetry at the Atlas Coffee Mill & Café Dinner Theater, as well as at other coffee houses and area libraries.  He has been published in Pet Buzz Magazine and Irish Stew.  Don finds inspiration in frequent visits to Door County and our National Parks, as well as in everyday life, love, and death.  Don has published a chapbook of poetry, titled Blood Red Roses, and is currently working on a second chapbook, tentatively titled Blessings and Curses of Greater and Lesser Gods.  Here is a sample poem:

 Lost

 I was just seven years old

 When I lost both my parents.

 It was at the Milwaukee Zoo

 Near the lion’s cage.

 I walked around the enclosure

 To get a better look.

 My parents wandered off

 In the opposite direction.

 When I looked around

 They were nowhere to be found.

 I saw a sign that read:

 “Lost children in the Lion House.”

 Deciding that lost parents

 Might also be found there

 I went inside.

 And there they were

 Both looking very worried

 That they would be lost forever.

 But, of course, I found them.

 And to this very day they insist

 That I was the one who was lost!

 ON DECK AT HARMONY – 2013 

 ******************************************************************

 Mar 18           Bobbie Lovell and Michael Koehler

 Apr 15            Marilyn Annucci and Susan Elbe

May 20           Laurel Mills and Marilyn Potter                      

 OTHER READINGS IN THE REGION 

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 FEBRUARY 18 (MON) LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY:   NEED MORE POETRY AFTER HARMONY?  Lawrence University is featuring a poetry reading by C. S. Giscombe, Monday, February 18, 8 pm at Kohler Gallery, Wriston Art Center, 613 E. College Ave, Appleton.  The reading will be followed by a book signing and reception.  C.S. Giscombe earned degrees from Cornell and SUNY Albany, before going on to write several collections of poetry and to edit the magazine Epoch. He has taught at Cornell, Syracuse University, and Penn State, and he is currently on the English faculty at UC Berkeley. His poems have appeared in Callaloo, Another Chicago Magazine, and New American Writing among other places. His most recent collection is Prairie Style (Dalkey Archive, 2008).

 F

EBRUARY 26 (TUES), APPLEBLOSSOM BOOKS, OSHKOSH FEATURES DR. ALFRED KISUBI:  Distinguished professor of Education and Human Services at UW-Oshkosh, Dr. Kisubi was born in Uganda.  He survived the Idi Amin regime, made his way to Kenya, and in 1985, to the U.S. where he became a citizen in 2002. His award-winning poetry collections include Time Winds, Maybe It’s a Dream, Storms: Poems of Azania, and Hi.  His reading will focus chiefly on poems from his latest collection, Drums of Liberation.  The reading takes place at 6:30 pm at Apple Blossom Books, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh.  An open mic will follow where participants may read one or two of their own poems or poems by others that they love.   Come early and enjoy a meal or grab a cup of coffee at Caramel Crisp and Café whose inner doors connect with the bookstore.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE FOX CITIES BOOK FESTIVAL APRIL 17 – 24:  Featured poets this year will appear over the weekend (Apr 19-21) and will include Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota Poet Laureate; Max Garland, Wisconsin’s NEW Poet Laureate; WI Poet Laureate Finalists B. J. Best and Karla Huston; National Slam Champion Guante; regional favorites Sarah Gilbert, Chuck Rybak and Laurie McDiarmid, a tribute to Ellen Kort and a publishing panel featuring Tom Montag, Doug Flaherty and Charles Nevsimal.  And that’s just poetry!!

 OTHER KEY HAPPENINGS 

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 CLASSES AT THE MILL:  Classes have begun, but some space is still available! Each class will meet for two hours, once a week for ten weeks. All classes will be held at the Atlas Coffee Mill on South Water Street in Appleton. The fee for each class: $250. 

Fiction Writing with Steve Polansky:  Introduction to Fiction Writing, Monday evenings, 7 to 9 p.m.  And Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop Wednesday evenings, 7 to 9 p.m.  Contact Steve to register or for more information at smpolansky@hotmail.com.

Poetry Writing with Karla Huston: Wednesday evenings, 7 to 9 p.m.  Contact Karla to register or for more information at karlahuston@gmail.com 

Memoir Writing with Mike Magnuson:  Monday evenings, 7 to 9 p.m.  Contact Mike to register or for more information at themikemagnuson@gmail.com

 Please visit the CWW website at http://www.wiswriters.org

 

WI Writer Critiques YA Contest Winner

Congrats to children’s writer and former SCBWI-WI regional adviser Pam Beres for her article  “Feeding Frenzy: Create Stories Teens Hunger For” in the YA fiction contest critique section of Children’s Writer Newsletter of Writing and Publishing Trends’ March 2013 issue. Here’s the link for the newsletter. Pam’s article is the third article from the top. http://childrenswriter.com/March_2013_CW.pdf

Please visit the CWW website at http://www.wiswriters.org