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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Poetic Nightfall Gives Voice to Original Poems

Poetic Nightfall will descend upon the Marlinton Opera House on Saturday, Dec.1.

The night will begin at 7:30 p.m. with an "Open Air" poetry reading where anyone who wishes to sign in, may take the stage and read their original poetry. Come and read just for the fun of it. Unlike at a poetry slam, there will be no judging to add to the pressure of reading your work in public.

The program will then be turned over to three featured West Virginia poets: Kirk Judd, Wolf Knight and Edward Kennison.

Kirk Judd is a talented poet and performer originally from Wayne County. His first volume of poetry "Field of Vision" was published in Huntington in 1986 by Aegina Press, and a second collection "Tao-Billy"was released in the Spring of 1996 by Trillium Press of St. Albans. He is co-editor with Dr. Barbara Smith of the widely acclaimed anthology, "Wild, Sweet Notes – 50 Years of West Virginia Poetry 1950 – 1999." He is also one of the co-founders of the Allegheny Echoes Workshops held in Pocahontas County each summer. Kirk's poetry deals with the Appalachian cultural experience, and the individual emotional and spiritual involvement of living day-to-day in this unique environment.

In his childhood, Wolf Knight, often wore his T-shirt backwards as a form of social protest. Now he writes poetry. He was an early performer at the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam and served on Ann Arbor's team to the national Slam for three years and was a featured poet at Chicago's Green Mill where poetry slams began. Wolf’s chapbooks are out of print, but they included semi-classics such as "Howling at the Same Moon", "Shouts and Whispers" and "Climbable Without Oxygen", ( "Life may be a steep hill, but it's no mountain. It's climbable without oxygen"). Wolf now wears his T-shirt forward as the pocket is so much easier to reach that way.
Edward Kennison saw his first by-line in Easyriders Magazine in July of 1983 in the form of a one-sentence letter to the editor, and was hooked on writing. Now he writes slightly longer pieces. He published his first fictional short story in November 1986 in Iron Horse Magazine and his first poem in East Coast Biker in February 1988. He has published his poetry in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and his work has been read on Allegheny Mountain Radio. Edward was born in Harford County, Maryland, but now resides in Pocahontas County with his wife, kids, three dogs, and two cats.

Everyone is invited to Poetic Nightfall, whether you want to mount the stage and present your own original material or just sit and listen as the poets weave their rhythmic magic.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Lois Casto book release and book signing

"Azariah's Legacy is his mother's final words to him, 'God will take care of you.' As her heart is pierced with a marauder's sword, the eight year old boy scrambles away from his burning home with her legacy to take him into manhood.

From pirate adventures with Captain William Kidd, to his studies of medicine in Angola with an African doctor trained in China, Azariah is led to the American colonies where his medical practice takes him to a Philadelphia almshouse, the Virginia lowlands, and the mountains of western Virginia."

Lois Casto, member of the Jackson county Appalachian Wordsmiths, has just released her first novel, Azariah's Legacy. The novel, she says, "...is meant to be enjoyable and inspirational."

Azariah's Legacy is available in Ripley at Evergreen Florist and Christian Supply, Borders in Parkersburg and online at Amazon.com.

Casto's next book signing is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, December 1, at Borders in Parkersburg."

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Bluestone Review Accepting Submissions

The Bluestone Review
14th Edition
The literary magazine of Bluefield College

Dare to think off the page...

* We are moving to a multi-media format this year by including a CD-ROM with our traditional magazine.

* We accept submissions of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction,
photography, artwork, video or audio of artists performing original
music, and short films.

* Works of prose should be no longer than 750 words. No more than five
poems should be submitted per person. Short films should not exceed
five minutes in length.

* We are particularly interested in black and white photography and
photography of human subjects, but other photos may be submitted.

* Along with your submission, please include your name, address,
contact information and one biographical sentence.


All works must be submitted by February 15, 2008.


Submissions may be sent to bluestone@bluefield.edu or
Bluefield College, The Bluestone Review, 3000 College Drive, Box 14, Bluefield, VA. 24605. Email submissions are strongly encouraged.


For more information, please contact Dr. Rob Merritt at (276) 326-4270.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Euphoria's Annual Poetry Contest

(This information courtesy of Tovli Simiryan)

Win $100 in "Euphoria's" Annual Poetry Contest!

"Euphoria" has an annual Poetry Contest which offers a prize of $100 for the Winning Entry. There is No entry fee, and nothing that must be purchased if this contest is won.

Entries for this Contest may be sent after August 1, of each year. Poems may be of any genre, with no more than 5 poems being entered, and with a 50 line maximum for each poem. Please send all entries in the body of an email (no html please) To bowmanj8@aol.com, and type "Poetry Contest Submission" in the subject line of the email.

Be sure to type your name, give biographical info. and a working email address, so we may contact you when we receive your entry. If you send more than one poem in the email, be sure that you separate each poem and be sure to add a copyright date for it also, to protect your rights. The winner will retain all rights to their poem, with the exception of "Euphoria" printing and displaying the poem on the Web Page as the winning poem. The Deadline for all poems is December 31, 2007, and the Winner will be announced on February 1, 2008 on the front page of Euphoria. Hope to hear from you soon!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Call for Panel Proposals

Split This Rock Poetry Festival:
Poems of Provocation & Witness
March 20-23, 2008 Washington, DC
www.splitthisrock.org
contact: info@splitthisrock.org
__________________________________________________

Split this Rock invites proposals for panel discussions and workshops on a range of topics at the intersection of poetry and social change. The possibilities are endless. Let's talk about craft, let's talk about mentoring young poets, let's talk about working in prisons, connecting with the activist community, sustaining ourselves in dark times and the role of poetry in wartime. Let's remember great poet activists and discover new ones. We are looking for panels that are international, visual, and collaborative.

WHAT IS SPLIT THIS ROCK?

Split This Rock calls poets to a greater role in public life and fosters a national community of activist poets. Building the audience for poetry of provocation and witness from our home in the nation's capital, we celebrate poetic diversity and the transformative power of the imagination.

Split This Rock Poetry Festival will bring poets and writers to Washington DC on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq , in the midst of the presidential election. The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism, and walking tours - opportunities to build community, hone our activist skills, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change.

PROPOSAL DETAILS

A panel may consist of 3-4 persons, with one person designated as facilitator. Please title your panel and include brief biographical information for each participant, along with a two paragraph description of your panel-what are the questions you wish to explore-why is this conversation timely and necessary at this time-how will this panel further the goals of Split This Rock? How are the members of your panel uniquely qualified to lead a conversation on your proposed topic?
We have a strong interest in interactive conversation and community building, so please indicate how you will involve participants in the discussion.

Please note that panel presenters must register for Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Some scholarships will be available. There is no limit to the number of proposals you may send, but please be sure that all proposed presenters have agreed to be part of your proposed panel. Also, we are a small, mostly volunteer group, so please send only your favorite ideas.

Send proposals in the body of an email to: info@splitthisrock.org by December 1, 2007. Please include full contact information for yourself and all proposed panel presenters. Please use or recreate the attached form. Just copy or retype the questions into an email and paste or write your answers in. You may also mail your proposal to: Split This Rock Panel Proposal, 1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20036. Please be sure to save a copy of your proposal, as emails do sometimes go astray. We will acknowledge receipt of your proposal, with a timeline for hearing back.

Questions? Email us at info@splitthisrock.org. We look forward to reading your proposal!

Split This Rock Poetry Festival
PANEL DISCUSSION PROPOSAL FORM

PANEL TITLE:

Convener/Facilitator Name:
Mailing Address:

Email Address:
Phone:

Participant Name:
Mailing Address:

Email Address:
Phone:

Participant Name:
Mailing Address:

Email Address:
Phone:

Participant Name:
Mailing Address:

Email Address:
Phone:


1. Please include a one paragraph bio for each participant.


2. Please describe in 250 words or less the purpose of your panel.


3. Describe your method for involving festival participants in the panel.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Rarity from the Hollow review

Rarity From the Hollow:
A Lacy Dawn Adventure

by Robert Eggleton

Review by Adicus Ryan Garton

Imagine “Wizard of Oz” and “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” smashed together and taking place in a hollow in the hills of West Virginia. Now you have an idea of what to expect when you sit down to read Rarity From the Hollow: A Lacy Dawn Adventure by Robert Eggleton.

This novel is an unabashed, unashamed exploration of the life of young Lacy Dawn, as she learns that she is the savior of the universe. The naked, genderless android, Dot-com, who lives in a ship in a cave, told her so. Add her abusive father, her weak-willed mother, a sexually-abused ghost for a best friend that was murdered by her own father, trees that talk to her, a dog that can communicate telepathically with cockroaches and so much more.

There is so much to this story, and its writing is so unblinkingly honest; Eggleton spares us nothing in his descriptions of her father beating her and her mother, the emotions that the mother and daughter go through, the dark creeping insanity that eats away at her Iraq-veteran father, and the life in general of people too poor, too uneducated to escape.

In part, it is a grueling exposition of what children endure when being physically and emotionally abused. Eggleton almost seems to suggest that the only way for a child to escape is to learn that she is the savior of the universe. Lacy Dawn is strong, tough, smart—all those attributes that any child should have—and she reminds us that children are survivors, adaptive and optimistic. Instead of giving us a story of escapism, Eggleton shows us a girl whose life follows her through the story.

But don't think you're going to be reading something harsh and brutal and tragic. This book is laugh-out-loud funny at times, satiric of almost everything it touches upon (some common themes are shopping, masturbation, welfare, growing and selling drugs, and the lives of cockroaches). The characters from the hollow and from the planet Shptiludrp (the Mall of the Universe) are funny almost to the point of tears.

I hate happy endings to stories that deal with any kind of oppression or abuse because they tend to suggest, “In this case, it worked out okay,” and the reader walks away with the impression that the world is a better place (think of all those inner-city sports movies about black kids who win the big championship despite being addicted to crack). I thought for a long time that this book was an escapist fantasy, and when the fantasy broke, it was going to be tragic. No one wants to see a little girl go through heaven only to learn that hell awaits her at the end. And then when I realized that Eggleton was not writing an escapist fantasy, I worried that this happy ending effect was going to take place, making me not like the book, despite all its positive attributes. But when I realized that Lacy Dawn had to fix her life first before the story could progress, and that this was IMPOSSIBLE except by extraterrestrial means, and that Lacy Dawn carried her past with her as part of her instead of in spite of, it made the prospect of a happy ending much better.

Go here, buy the book and read it. It's absolutely fantastic, and the proceeds go to the Lacy Dawn Adventures project. It's like buying ice cream for charity—everybody wins.