Autumn in February

Autumn Sky Poetry Daily has a daily dose of poetry for you. Today it's my poem "Landlocked" from my new book Mendeleev's Mandala.

Check out this site regularly: host Christine Klocek-Lim curates poetry choices, with a nod to the formal, and comments briefly and insightfully on what elements make each poem unique and memorable.

The Next Best Book

Check out The Next Best Book Blog (TNBBC) where I recommend Cole Swensen's The Book of a Hundred Hands!


TNBBC has a lot of fun and quirky columns, like the one in which writers reveal their bathroom reading, or the one featuring literary tattoos, or the one in which authors design their original drinks and share the recipes with you.

Listen to Alaska

I'm working on a new manuscript that is mainly about an mountain-climbing accident on Mt. McKinley, so I'm often researching Alaska. Recently I found something riveting: a soundscape of Denali National Park.

Here you can click on a map of the park and find out what kind of sound data has been collected at various listening stations. Those marked with large yellow dots include actual recordings of sand hill cranes, howling wolves, bleating sheep, river noise, arctic ground squirrel alerts, and more--even rockfall and an avalanche. You can also listen to mountaineers on the Kahiltna Pass.

Opportunities for Multilinguals

Asymptote has an interesting upcoming feature (copied and pasted below):


Multilingual Writing Special Feature

Our July 2015 issue will include a special feature on multilingual writing. This means we are looking for:

- Original poetry and prose incorporating more than one language: English and Arabic, Spanish and Tagalog, German and Japanese – any combination you can think of. The writing may be predominantly in one language, with a smattering of words in another, or may mix languages so thoroughly as to be intelligible only to bilingual readers.

- Translations of such multilingual originals that incorporate English into their translation. Translators must try to preserve at least an echo of the original text’s multilingualism, whether through using syntax, vocabulary, or accents in new ways, translating into a non-standard variety of English, or even introducing a new language.

- In addition, we are seeking translators willing to volunteer to render non-English multilingual writing into English (we will provide you with the originals). Please indicate your language abilities when applying. 

Deadline: 1 May 2015

Giveaway!

Here's your chance to win a free signed copy of Mendeleev's Mandala, my new book from Mayapple Press. You can't win if you don't play!

It's Here!

Well, technically, it's at my mother's place in California, and she will be shipping it here soon. And my author's copies are on their way too. Copies are available at Mayapple Press and regular online book venues (ie Amazon, etc.), but when possible, support small presses first! I'll have copies too, soon, so remember to support the writers too!

Last Chance

My new book Mendeleev's Mandala will be published on February 15th, so it's your last chance to get the special pre-order price from Mayapple Press.

Thanks to all who've ordered already--your books will ship soon!

A MOOC Point

Did you take the University of Iowa International Writing Program's MOOC course last year, How Writers Write Poetry? I did, and it was a good experience, and free.

If you don't know about it, watch this year's teaser video, featuring Claudia Rankine and Christopher Merrill, who will be the facilitators this year.

Poets who will also contribute to the course include: U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, Kwame Dawes, Marvin Bell, Lia Purpura, Kazim Ali, Kate Greenstreet, Natasha Tiniacos, and many others.

And here's where you can register.

Classes start March 23rd.

Your Daily Bread (Loaf)

Two extraordinary things I ran across this week:

1) Mary Oliver gives a rare interview on Krista Tippett's podcast On Being. It includes the extraordinary and surprising story about how she wrote her very famous poem "Wild Geese," as well as discussions about her childhood and her recent health issues.

2) Poet Rachel Heimowitz gave me the heads-up on Bread Loaf Conference materials available online in the form of podcasts. Years of craft talks and readings are available, and you can download both categories together, or you can download just craft talks or just readings.

Meta-Project

I've blogged about the book of poems vs. the project book in the past, more than once in fact. Recently I've found a site devoted to the project book, asking such questions as:

"What makes a book of poetry a project book, and what separates a successful project from an unsuccessful one? How does taking on a project affect a poet’s writing process, and what does the proliferation of project books in general signify for contemporary poetry?"

Hosted by Cynthia Marie Hoffman and Nick Lantz, The Cloudy House features interviews with poets who've explored the project book, including Caki Wilkinson, Shane McCrae, Oliver de la Paz, Julie Carr, and more.

It's a terrific resource.

Poems in Film!

Exciting news: Motionpoems has announced their 6th season of poets, all female, inspired by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. Thanks to Todd Boss and his staff for including one of my poems, along with the work of these great women: Sarah Blake, Paula Bohince, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Kim Addonizio, Michelle Gould, Melissa Studdard, Brenda Shaughnessy, Meghan O'Rourke, Patricia Smith, Jehanne Dubrow, Catherine Pierce, Ann Eichler Kolakowski, and Stacey Lynn Brown.

If you're in Minneapolis on May 21st, try to go to one of the two public screenings.

Yay!