Furious Flower Grows in Virginia
The nation’s oldest academic center dedicated to preserving Black poetry celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary.
Tags:
Genre: Poetry
Merwin’s Garden
The Merwin Conservancy will become the official owner and steward of the garden that poet W. S. Merwin nurtured for more than forty years.
Tags:
Small Press Points: Acre Books
The University of Cincinnati Press imprint publishes books of poetry and fiction that continue the successes of its affiliated literary journal, the Cincinnati Review.
Tags:
Literary MagNet: Andrea Cohen
The poet discusses the journals that published pieces from her sixth collection, Nightshade.
Tags:
Yoko Ogawa’s Dystopia, Martín Espada on the Poet’s Power, and More
The story behind John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath; Justin Phillip Reed on the sonnet; the success of two Boston writing groups; and other news.
From Up There
How’s the view from above? This week, browse through these aerial photographs from National Geographic of animals, including flamingos, sharks, elk, whales, camels, hippos, and salmon, to discover beautiful shapes, colors, and patterns in nature. How can a different perspective provide new insights, emotions, and modes of thought? Write a poem that considers a familiar subject—perhaps one you’ve written about before—from a bird’s-eye view. Consider what the tops of things look like and what you see from a wider range.
Ten Questions for Karen Skolfield
“Throw pencils, get mad, take a walk. Swear off poetry, read a chapter of a post-apocalyptic novel, wash the dishes. Feel better? Back to writing.” —Karen Skolfield, author of Battle Dress
Tags:
Digital Salinger, Tana French on Unreliable Narrators, and More
Dozens arrested for protesting Amazon’s involvement with ICE; a virtual tour of Jane Austen’s library; the resurgence of books featuring witchcraft; and other news.
Hot Spots in Detroit
Exploring events in Detroit has been exciting this summer. There are a number of lesser-known venues in the city that have recently started hosting literary events. For those looking for a space to write or build community, the Room Project in the North End has been a go-to location for me. A membership includes use of the workspace, library, and podcast equipment. They also have an event space that hosts artist talks, readings, and writing workshops.
For a change of scenery and an interactive experience, Signal-Return in Eastern Market has hands-on workshops in their letterpress print shop as well as a range of public programming including exhibitions, book release parties, and the Motor Signal Reading Series cohosted by Literary Detroit. The series pairs a local writer with a traveling writer in a double-feature reading that includes an intermission activity with the audience.
Visiting these locations has been a pleasant learning opportunity on how to help build up the literary community across the city. Shout-out to other spots I’ve visited that I encourage all to check out: Artist Village Detroit, Book Suey, the Commons on Mack Avenue, and the Corner Ballpark.
Search the Literary Places and Reading Venues databases for spots to visit near you!
Justin Rogers is the literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers in Detroit. Contact him at Detroit@pw.org or on Twitter, @Detroitpworg.Wendy’s Subway
Caption:
“What we can contribute is an open space that’s really excited about learning and welcoming poets and writers from across different communities of literature in New York.” In this BRIC TV video, Rachel Valinsky, the artistic director of the Brooklyn nonprofit Wendy’s Subway, talks about the organization’s history and programming, and how it functions in the community as a reading room, event space, and publisher.
Pages
