Insomniac Reading Plus More!

Tokyo friends, mark your calendars for this Friday, June 6th!

Launch of the second four Isobar Press books:
The launch of the second four Isobar Press books will be from 6–9 p.m. on Friday, 6th of June in room 403/404 on the fourth floor of International House of Japan in Roppongi.

http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/access.html


Royall Tyler will read from A Great Valley Under the Stars.The first book of poetry by the award-winning translator of The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike. ‘This is a delightful and lovely book – at once spare and lyrical, whimsical and profound.  I have been grateful for Royall Tyler’s splendid translations for years, but I am every bit as grateful now to have read him writing entirely in his own voice.’(David Bentley Hart)

Andrew Fitzsimons & Nobuaki Tochigi will give a bilingual reading of A Fire in the Head.
‘Among those who have taken on the challenge of writing about Japan’s triple catastrophe, none has done so with greater intensity or economy than Andrew Fitzsimons.’ (Richard Lloyd Parry) フィッツサイモンズ氏の三行詩は芭蕉のいう「ものの見えたる光」を確かに捉えている。 高橋睦郎  (In these three-line poems, Andrew Fitzsimons has captured what Basho called ‘the revelatory light of things’.  Mutsuo Takahashi)


Jessica Goodfellow will read from The Insomniac’s Weather Report.
The first edition of The Insomniac's Weather Report, originally published in 2011 as the winner of the Three Candles Press First Book Award, was only briefly available; this new Isobar edition brings this striking collection back into print. ‘To say that The Insomniac’s Weather Report is exquisitely thrilling poetry doesn’t begin to do it justice. Wicked and funny as an encyclopaedia of unanswerable koans … I found it irresistible, as will you, dear reader.’ (Alicia Ostriker)

Paul Rossiter will introduce and read from Whispers, Sympathies, and Apparitions by David Silverstein, the American prose-poet who lived and worked in Tokyo in the 1980s and early 1990s until his untimely death in 1992; these selected poems are drawn from his three books, Dazzled by Nothing (1984), The Suspicious Sympathy of White(1990), and Apparitions (1991).


SCHEDULE:

6:00: Doors open.
6:30–7:15: Paul Rossiter (introducing and reading from David Silverstein); Jessica Goodfellow.
7:15–7:45: Break; wine & soft drinks.
7:45–8:30: Andrew Fitzsimons & Nobuaki Tochigi (a bilingual reading); Royall Tyler.

ADMISSION: Y1,500 including wine or soft drink.


I hope to see you there!

Small Presses: Eye on Japan

Among the Japan-related small presses covered by Japan Times writer Kris Kosaka (an extraordinary playwright herself) in this article in the paper's culture section today is Isobar Press. Isobar further specializes in poetry, and counts among its recent publications Royall Tyler's A Great Valley Under the Stars, Andrew Fitzsimon's A Fire in the Head, and my own The Insomniac's Weather Report.




For those of you in Tokyo, please join Isobar Press founder Paul Rossiter and many Isobar poets at a reading on Friday, June 6th, a celebration to launch a number of new Isobar books. I'll be there and would love to see you. Here are the details:

The launch of the second four Isobar Press books will be from 6–9 p.m. on Friday 6th of June in room 403/404 on the fourth floor of International House of Japan in Roppongi.

http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/index.html

Royall Tyler will read from A Great Valley Under the Stars; Andrew Fitzsimons and Nobuaki Tochigi will give a bilingual reading of A Fire in the Head; Jessica Goodfellow will read from The Insomniac's Weather Report; and Paul Rossiter will introduce and read from Whispers, Sympathies, and Apparitions: Selected Poems of David Silverstein.

Also, don't forget the following limited-time offer: the first 20 people who order a signed copy of The Insomniac's Weather Report directly from me will pay nothing for postage, worldwide!  There are still some copies left for this limited-time offer, so contact me right away!

Finally, other presses discussed in Kosaka's article include Stone Bridge Press, Chin Music Press, Bento Books, and Kurodahan Press.

Tokyo Poetry Reading this Sunday!

Don't miss this weekend's poetry reading by Paul Rossiter!

'Taking a Line for a Walk': The Pleasures and Surprises of the Poem
At 6:30 on Sunday 18th May at Good Day Books, Paul Rossiter will be talking about some of the pleasures, surprises, fascinations, and frustrations of reading and writing poems. In the second half of the talk he will introduce and read some poems from From the Japanese, his book which collects poems on Japanese themes, ranging in time from his first visit to Tokyo in 1969 (the era of Vietnam and Zengakuren) to the post-tsunami Japan of today. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

ADMISSION: Purchase from Good Day Books one copy of From the Japanese, or one copy of any other Isobar Press book (all at ¥1,500 + sales tax).

Good Day Books, Tokai Bldg. (big-b shoes building), 2-4-2 Nishi Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0031. Tel: 03 6303 9116.

Five minutes walk from Gotanda station; click below for a map.

http://www.gooddaybooks.com/contents/home/new_location?language=english

The Insomniac is Available Now!

The new Isobar Press edition of The Insomniac's Weather Report is now available at Amazon, Amazon Japan, Amazon UK, and directly from me. If you want a signed copy, please contact me via the contact link at my website, or leave me a comment on this blog with an address or URL by which I can contact you. (The first 20 people who contact me directly will get free shipping anywhere in the world.)

In the meantime, you can download an excerpt from the book here.

Thanks!

And thanks to Paul Rossiter of Isobar Press for making this edition available in almost no time at all!

[Backstory: Some of you may recall the The Insomniac's Weather Report was first published in 2011 by Three Candles Press, as the winner of their First Book Award. Unfortunately, Three Candles closed abruptly only months after beginning to issue copies, so this book languished in a state of suspension until Paul Rossiter rescued it earlier this year, winning my true gratitude. Poets whose manuscripts have suffered similar setbacks, have hope!]

Two Tokyo Readings (Plus Four Random Things)

Tokyo friends, two poetry readings you should know about:

1) 'Taking a Line for a Walk': The Pleasures and Surprises of the Poem
At 6:30 on Sunday 18th May at Good Day Books, Paul Rossiter will be talking about some of the pleasures, surprises, fascinations, and frustrations of reading and writing poems. In the second half of the talk he will introduce and read some poems from From the Japanese, his book which collects poems on Japanese themes, ranging in time from his first visit to Tokyo in 1969 (the era of Vietnam and Zengakuren) to the post-tsunami Japan of today. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

ADMISSION: Purchase from Good Day Books one copy of From the Japanese, or one copy of any other Isobar Press book (all at ¥1,500 + sales tax).

Good Day Books, Tokai Bldg. (big-b shoes building), 2-4-2 Nishi Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0031. Tel: 03 6303 9116.

Five minutes walk from Gotanda station; click below for a map.

http://www.gooddaybooks.com/contents/home/new_location?language=english


2) Launch of the second four Isobar Press books:

The launch of the second four Isobar Press books will be from 6–9 p.m. on Friday 6th of June in room 403/404 on the fourth floor of International House of Japan in Roppongi.

http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/index.html

Royall Tyler will read from A Great Valley Under the Stars; Andrew Fitzsimons and Nobuaki Tochigi will give a bilingual reading of A Fire in the Head; Jessica Goodfellow will read from The Insomniac's Weather Report; and Paul Rossiter will introduce and read from Whispers, Sympathies, and Apparitions: Selected Poems of David Silverstein.

And now for some random things:

1) Each week, the Poets.org website will feature a different entry from Edward Hirsch's A Poet's Glossary. This week's word is 'poetry.' Sign up to get the weekly newsletter. 

2) According to Slate, Pennsylvania (my home state) is the most linguistically diverse in the union. I admit to missing the Philly accent, and to subscribing to two podcasts recorded in the Philly area in order to listen to the accent every week while living far away in Japan!

3) Slate also introduces us to the website Something Pop. It's a mathematical algorithm for helping you make decisions. I was intrigued but doubtful, so I used it on a decision already made but about which I feel ambivalent, and I was pleased to find that what I did chose was the (mathematically determined) better choice (the other option came in as not a bad choice either though). Believe it or not, that actually gave me some comfort.....though I continue to be intrigued but (slightly less) doubtful. 

4) Tapastic brings you Abstract Madlibs for PhDs and academics. If you're one of these (or partnered with one of these) you'll find this amusing. (Hat tip to Diane Nagatomo.) 

Writing Process Blog Tour

Judy Halebsky, poet and sometime-dweller-in-Japan, invited me to join her in this Writing Process Blog Tour. You can (and should!) read all about Judy's writing process here, where she answers the same four process-related questions that I will answer below.

And here's some information about Judy: Judy Halebsky’s book of poems, Sky=Empty (New Issues, 2010) was chosen by Marvin Bell as the winner of the New Issues Prize, a first book award, and was also a finalist for the California Book Award. Her chapbook, Space/Gap/Interval/Distance (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2012) won the Poets-Under-Forty Chapbook Contest from Sixteen Rivers Press. She teaches at Dominican University of California.


Now, I'll answer the same four questions that Judy did.

1) What are you working on?

My book, The Insomniac's Weather Report, which had gone out of print, recently found a new publisher Isobar Press, so I'm busy preparing for a June launch. I'm working with a different publisher on another manuscript as well (and will make an announcement about it soon).

What I'm writing these days are poems based on my mother's only brother, who at age 22 was lost on Denali (Mt. McKinley) in a mountain-climbing accident. For a number of reasons, speaking of the accident in my family was taboo for many years , and I am writing about growing up with that unarticulated loss.

2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?

My education has been solely in analytical (not literary) fields, and I can't help but use my "quant" schooling to inform my work -- I hope in ways that are deeper than merely the choice of technical wording, playfulness with logic, etc.

3) Why do you write what you do?

I always want to do something I haven't done before to reach the truths I am afraid of. I'm also a big believer that form and voice should serve the poem. I'm less interested in consistent voice and style than effective use of voice and style.

4) How does your writing process work?

I am a compulsive list-maker, in my writing life and in every other aspect of my life. I tend to think about a topic or theme, and make a list of all the images, ideas, and phrases that come to mind. Then I start working on one or several that seem related, or that seem to resonate, or are interestingly disparate. Always, writing the poems generates more items that should be on the list, which gives me more fodder for new poems, so it's a self-perpetuating method. (This is when I'm lucky and have a theme in mind. When I don't, it's anybody's guess what the process will be.)

***Next, I'm pleased to present Tara Mae Mulroy to continue the blog tour here.***

Tara Mae Mulroy is a graduate of the MFA program in poetry at the University of Memphis and currently teaches middle school Latin at a private school. Her poems, stories, and essays are published or forthcoming in Third Coast, CutBank, and others. Her chapbook, Philomela, is out from dancing girl press. Her blog can be found at taramaemulroy.wordpress.com.

***Also, Drew Myron accepted my invite to the blog tour here.***

Drew Myron heads a marketing communications company, and as a journalist has covered news, arts, entertainment and travel for numerous publications. She lives in Oregon, where she leads writing workshops for disadvantaged and homeless youth. She is the author of Thin Skin, a collection of photos and poems.   www.drewmyron.com

***Finally, in a poetry boon, we also have Shawnte Orion's responses here.****

Shawnte Orion is an Arizona poet frequently invited to read at bookstores, bars, colleges, hair salons, museums, and laundromats and published in Georgetown Review, Juked, DASH Literary Journal, New York Quarterly and many other literary journals. He hosts a monthly reading series at Glendale Community College.

The Insomniac's New Look!

The Insomniacs's Weather Report (originally winner of the Three Candles Press First Book Prize) is being reissued with Isobar Press in June of this year.

Check out the new cover (featuring Paul Klee's Fire at Full Moon in a design by Paul Rossiter) !

More details about how to order the book (it will be available on Amazon and through me) later!

The Insomniac is Back!!!!!!

I have some exciting news: my first full-length poetry collection, The Insomniac's Weather Report, is back!!!!!!!  After winning the three candles press First Book Award, The Insomniac's Weather Report subsequently went out of print when the publisher suddenly closed down (after more than 10 years of service to poets and readers). It was a devastating setback, but happily fortune has reversed itself with the following good news.

Thanks to Paul Rossiter's Japan-based Isobar Press, a brand new edition of The Insomniac's Weather Report will be available in June 2014. Anyone wishing to preorder a copy can send me an email from my website. It will also be available on Amazon at a later date. I'll give you more details as the project progresses.

Isobar Press is, in its own words, interested in "work in English by Japanese and non-Japanese authors who live (or have lived) in Japan, or who write on Japan-related topics. The focus, at least initially, will be on poetry, including both original writing and translations from the Japanese." This is a welcome addition to the poetry universe, and an exciting development for me. Three cheers for Isobar!