book launch

In celebration of this month’s publication of the Jim Harrison: Complete Poems, Copper Canyon Press will present an online book launch and reading on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, 5:00pm Pacific. The thousand-page definitive collection

contains every poem Harrison published over his fifty-year career and displays his wide range of poetic styles and forms. Here are the nature-based lyrics of his early work, the high-velocity ghazals, a harrowing prose-poem “correspondence” with a Russian suicide, the riverine suites, fearless meditations inspired by the Zen monk Crazy Cloud, and a joyous conversation in haiku-like gems with friend and fellow poet Ted Kooser.

When Jim Harrison died in 2016, Copper Canyon became the steward of his poetic legacy. This milestone reading will feature Amy Hundley, Peter Lewis, John Freeman, and Joseph Bednarik. Learn more, watch a short introductory video, donate, register, and don’t miss The Heart’s Work: Jim Harrison’s Poetic Legacy.

fellowship opportunity

We don’t often post job opportunities, but this fellowship for an 18-month, full-time position with one of the region’s finest poetry presses seems too good to pass by. Visit the Copper Canyon Press employment page for details. (Sorry for the late notice; application deadline is tomorrow, Sunday, November 21,2021).

Copper Canyon Spring Book Launch

Join Copper Canyon Press for the Spring 2021 Launch Party Livestream this Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at 5:00pm Pacific. The reading will celebrate five new collections and feature poets Kelli Russell Agodon, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Arthur Sze, Nikki Wallschlaeger, and Noah Warren. Registration is free, and all are welcome.

Virtual AWP 2021: How to Release a Book in a Pandemic

This is a guest post by
Kelli Russell Agodon

I did not screenshot the one-on-one Meet and Greet with Copper Canyon Press, but I wore a paisley button-down shirt and people arrived, to ask questions and just to talk. I had been a little nervous about that event for two reasons. The first was, I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work: would I be chatting with people via text or would we all arrive on Zoom (Zoom it was)? The second reason was, what if it was just me sitting in a Zoom room by myself because no one showed up? Oh the sad life of a poet!, I thought. But thankfully, people did show up, Zoom worked well, and as usual, my worries were for nothing.

The rest of AWP felt like wandering around an empty virtual game. Since you can’t see other participants unless you go to the tab with a list of attendees, it felt like an AWP of one’s own, which for me is the opposite of why I go to AWP. I go to AWP to walk the bookfair and for the surprise encounters with favorite poets and friends I haven’t seen for a while. I go to AWP to hold books, to flip the pages of poetry books, to sit in an audience and listen to a panel.

In my current world, I am Zoomed out, so clicking on a panel (many pre-recorded) and tuning in seemed like another opportunity for too much screentime. But I discovered that because everyone is just sitting in their offices off screen, I could click on a panel, listen, and clean my office! The panels I listened to were good and if they weren’t, there was no awkward leaving mid-panel, just a click of the pause button or shutting the laptop.

While Two Sylvias Press had a virtual booth, we mostly set it up and answered questions by message. We didn’t sell as many books as a normal AWP, but we didn’t have to carry any books from a van to the conference center either!

While this wasn’t the most inspiring conference, I admire AWP for coming up with something that wasn’t too hard to navigate, had a virtual bookfair, and allowed us a little bit of the AWP feel through panels and readings (even if they were on a screen).

This would have been the AWP my book, Dialogues with Rising Tides, would have been released with Copper Canyon Press, or almost (it’s due to be published April 27, 2021). Do I feel cheated or sad that my book is coming out during a pandemic? Not really. Actually, not at all. Mostly, I am thankful for the new ways we unite online, how we find our way through this difficult time. I’m reminded of the many ways we still have to connect and know we are turning the corner for more in-person time.

Since I’m not doing in-person events right now for my book, the online world has oddly become a stage (one I’m occasionally falling off, due to too much screentime). Virtual AWP was a way to meet some new readers, hear my favorites talk about their poetry lives, and actually sell a few more books. During the pandemic I have learned that things do not need to be perfect; good enough suits me just fine these days.

– – – – –
Kelli Russell Agodon is the author of Dialogues with Rising Tides from Copper Canyon Press (which you can preorder here or on Amazon.) Kelli is also the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press and the Co-Director of Poets on the Coast: A Weekend Retreat for Women. On May 1, 2021, she will be teaching a workshop on The Surrealists Toolkit, writing poems from prompts and play of surrealist artists and writers. Visit her website to read more of her work.

Thursday at 5

You’re invited to join Copper Canyon Press for the livestream Winter Launch Party for Natalie Shapero, Alex Dimitrov, and Erin Belieu, tomorrow, Thursday, February 11, 2021, at 5:00pm Pacific. The reading is free with registration and will be followed by a Q & A.

two poetry fundraisers

Two poetry organizations that are vital to Cascadia and to the wider world are holding virtual fundraising events and hope you will participate.

Tonight, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, at 6:00pm Pacific, the Skagit River Poetry Foundation presents Poemed and Uplifted, featuring poets Tony Curtis, Daemond Arrindell, Octavia Prosser, Olivia Elias, and Lucy Shainin. NOTE: “Due to a regional internet upload outage, we were unable to stream our live event. Thank you for your patience and I hope you will tune in on Sunday, June 28th at 6 PM for a re-broadcast of this event.”

Next Tuesday, June 30, at 5:00pm Pacific, Copper Canyon Press presents For the Future of Poetry, featuring Ellen Bass, Arthur Sze, and Jericho Brown, along with Editor-in-Chief Michael Wiegers.

Your generosity, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.

a little kick for poetry

We recently highlighted a Kickstarter campaign for Claudia Castro Luna’s ambitious project, One River, a Thousand Voices. An all-or-nothing funding effort, it has been named a Kickstarter “Project We Love” and still needs a lot of support.

If you have a few bucks to give, crowdfunding is a lot like voting: one person, one vote, one dollar, can make a difference. It’s also instructive and intriguing to see what’s going on in the support-poetry world. For example,

Copper Canyon Press is running an all-or-nothing Kickstarter campaign to support the 2020 publication of Indigo by Ellen Bass along with books by nine other authors (Traci Brimhall, Victoria Chang, Leila Chatti, John Freeman, Heather McHugh, Philip Metres, James Richardson, Alberto Ríos, and Ed Skoog).

There are also crowdfunding opportunities for poetry books, music, performance, film, and travel on IndieGoGo and gofundme (including a nearly three-year old, apparently still open, project to publish My Friend Jack, a collection of work by the late and beloved Jack McCarthy).

Most crowdfunding projects offer the option of supporting in someone’s name, so as we approach the gift-giving season, you might consider the win-win possibilities.

Thursday in Seattle

Poet and essayist Ocean Vuong is the author of the best-selling poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press), which is A New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, WINNER of the T.S. Eliot Prize, WINNER of the Whiting Award, WINNER of the Forward Prize, WINNER of the Thom Gunn Award, finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. It was also named a Best Book of the Year at The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Huffington Post, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Sunday Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, The Telegraph, Irish Times, Library Journal, Buzzfeed, Bustle, Entropy Magazine, and BookThug.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 17, 2018, Ocean Vuong will give his first public reading from the book in Seattle, starting at 7:00pm at Canvas Event Space. This is a ticketed event, though no one will be turned away.

Memorial

Copper Canyon Press has announced that a memorial for Sam Hamill will be held in conjunction with the official release of his final book, After Morning Rain (Tiger Bark Press), in Port Townsend on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, between 3:00 and 9:00 pm. (Read the title poem here.) For further details email MiddlepointPress@gmail.com. For those wishing to honor Sam, his family suggests a donation to your local Habitat for Humanity.

prize

The Poetry Department would like to join the chorus of congratulations for Ocean Vuong, who has been awarded the T.S. Eliot Prize for his debut collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press). Read the story in The Guardian.