Halfway into this amazing week teaching and talking writing at the Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference, I’m delighted to learn that my poem “If We Had a Lemon We’d Throw it and Call That the Sun” has been accepted for the next New Poetry from the Midwest anthology from New American Press!
What a wonderful opening evening at the Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference last night here in Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks. It was such a joy to share the reading stage with fiction writer extraordinaire Brock Clarke! This is going to be a great week of teaching writing in the mountains, surrounded by the tall pines, and the geese, and the loons and…maybe…mooses?
One year ago my partner and I participated in Ander Monson’s June 21 project, where we each wrote a nonfiction essay about what happened to us on June 21, 2018. Monson has now edited a pdf anthology of 25 essays out of the 250 originally published, and Sarah’s “He Wasn’t There The Next Day” was chosen! It’s beautifully designed, published by New Michigan Press, with new introductions and suggestions for teaching! You can download the anthology for free from Essay Daily HERE. Congratulations sweetie!
My clever, creative, amazing partner Sarah’s short story “Open Water” has just been published in the new issue of The Boiler. You’ll want to read it. It’s got a chain smoking mermaid in it. See what I mean? Congratulations sweetie!
Read her story HERE.
Massive thank yous to the good editor folks of Bear Review for accepting “Where There Are No People for No Music I Hear Music,” “The Scraping of So Much All Our Breaths,” and “Isn’t This Nice the Way We Stay Awake” — three collaborative prose poems written with Dustin Nightingale.
What an amazing week at the tenth anniversary of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing with my fellow faculty. You are all inspiring, delightful, sweet people and I’m honored to know you all.
What a fantastic week with the attendees of the 10th anniversary of The Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing! Thank you everyone for all the amazements, the conversations, the inspirations! It’s sad to say goodbye.
What a joy to share the reading stage here at week 1 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing with Samantha Ocena, reading her poetry, and Randi Ocena, reading her poetry and fiction!
Samantha Ocena, reading her poetry
Randi Ocena, reading her poetry and fiction
And with the traditional elderflower wine toast of “Skol!” the 2019 Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing opens for its TENTH anniversary (Yay!) with readings by Director Alexander Weinstein and Instructor Robert James Russell.
Alexander Weinstein reads his fiction.
Robert James Russell reads his poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction
In case you missed this weekend’s radio broadcasts, you can now stream my interview on The Campbell Conversations on WRVO by Grant Reeher, Director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at Syracuse University. I discuss my poetic practice, contemporary poetry…I read from my lyric essay “Each Breeze Began Life Somewhere As a Little Cough” and from my second poetry book, “If We Had a Lemon We’d Throw It and Call That the Sun,” which just won Elixir Press’ 2019 Antivenom Poetry Award and will be published there next year. You can stream the show HERE, and thanks for listening!