tonight and more
October 3, 2018
You’re invited to join poet Betty Scott as she celebrates the release of her new collection, Central Heating: Poems that Celebrate Love, Loss and Planet Earth, freshly published by Cave Moon Press.
The book launch begins in Bellingham, Washington, tonight, Wednesday, October 3, 2018, with a reading at Greene’s Corner, and continues on Saturday, October 13, at the downtown Community Co-op at 7:00pm, and on Sunday, October 14, at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship at 7:00pm.
Go hear Betty and buy a book! A portion of every book sold will be donated to Lummi Youth Academy.
breakfast with Nancy
September 27, 2018
Reader, best-selling author, librarian, and literary critic, Nancy Pearl is also a fierce advocate for the importance of literacy. Each year, she shares her list of favorite reads at a fundraising breakfast to support the Whatcom Literacy Council.
This year’s Literacy Breakfast will be held on Thursday, November 8, 2018, at 7:00am on the campus of Bellingham Technical College. Advance Registration of $11 is required to hold your seat (or $88 per table). Call (360) 752-8678 or email events@whatcomliteracy.org to reserve a seat.
what are YOU reading?
September 25, 2018
It’s Banned Books Week. What are you reading? Here’s a 15-book (or play) introduction to Poetry’s Place in the History of Banned Books and below is an infographic showing last year’s ten most-banned books (click for larger version):
National Book Award poetry longlist
September 15, 2018
The National Book Foundation has announced the National Book Award longlists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. The poetry judges, Mary Jo Bang, Ken Chen, Elise Paschen, Danez Smith, and Stephen Sparks, selected the following poets/books:
- Rae Armantrout, Wobble (Wesleyan University Press)
- Jos Charles, feeld (Milkweed Editions)
- Forrest Gander, Be With (New Directions)
- Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (Penguin Books / Penguin Random House)
- J. Michael Martinez, Museum of the Americas (Penguin Books / Penguin Random House)
- Diana Khoi Nguyen, Ghost Of (Omnidawn Publishing)
- Justin Phillip Reed, Indecency (Coffee House Press)
- Raquel Salas Rivera, lo terciario / the tertiary (Timeless, Infinite Light)
- Natasha Trethewey, Monument: Poems New and Selected (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
- Jenny Xie, Eye Level (Graywolf Press)
The finalists will be announced on October 10 and the Sixty-Ninth National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner will be held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 14, 2018, and will also be live-streamed online in its entirety.
poetry for sale
September 8, 2018
While you were busy writing poems, the world of poetry-for-sale went crazy. See for yourself: visit Etsy and search for poetry book. Among today’s 11,065 Results are numerous current books, zines, and journals, as well as a variety of writing/editing services, antique and vintage books for sale, book jewelry and bookmarks, assorted book-ish gifts, and even “vintage colorful poetry books” suggested as décor for attractive home staging.
And that doesn’t even include the general category poetry, or poetry journal, or poetry posters, art, broadsides, etc.
more awards
August 15, 2018
The Washington Center for the Book (a partnership of The Seattle Public Library and Washington State Library) has announced the finalists for the 2018 Washington State Book Awards. Categories include poetry, fiction, biography/memoir, history/general nonfiction, and several categories of youth books.
The finalists in poetry are:
- Thresholds by Glenna Cook (MoonPath Press)
- Killing Marias: A Poem for Multiple Voices by Claudia Castro Luna (Two Sylvias Press)
- Timber Curtain by Frances McCue (Chin Music Press)
- Mary’s Dust by Melinda Mueller (Entre Rios Books)
- Trazas de mapa, trazas de sangre / Map Traces, Blood Traces by Eugenia Toledo, translated by Carolyne Wright (Mayapple Press)
- Water & Salt by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (Red Hen Press)
See the complete list of finalists on the WCB website and mark your calendar for the awards celebration on Saturday, October 13, 2018, at the Seattle Public Library. Congratulations to Washington’s terrific writers.
Congratulations!
August 14, 2018
It’s pretty exciting when there are names you know on lists of winners, and that’s the news today as Bellingham’s own Rena Priest is named an American Book Award winner for her book Patriarchy Blues (MoonPath Press). Congratulations to Rena and all of The 2018 American Book Award Winners!
