Hudson Valley Writers Guild Newsletter, July 2012
In This Issue
Guild Announcements: Poets in the Park 2012, 2012 Poetry Contest Details
Member Announcements: Janine Cammarata, Sue Oringel, Marilyn Rothstein, Bob Sharkey
Area Announcements: Caffe Lena to Feature Jill Crammond and Martin Willets, Open Mic at the Adirondack Center in Warrensburg to Feature Mason Smith, Open Mic at Pine Hollow Arboretum Features John Abbuhl, Mohavi to Read at Social Justice Center in Albany, Team Seeks Support to Represent Area at National Poetry Slam, Berkshire Writing Workshop in Great Barrington, Photographer Seeks Writers for Exhibit
Guild Announcements
Poets in the Park 2012
Saturdays in July at the Robert Burns statue at Henry Johnson Blvd. & Hudson Ave.
July 7, 7PM
Adrianna Delgado
Howard Kogan
July 14, 7PM
Donald Lev
Don Levy
July 21, 7PM
Women Poets of Willett St.:
Sylvia Barnard
Carolee Sherwood
July 28, 7PM
Kevin Peterson
Tenesha Smith
Free! & open to the public (just like the park)
Bring a chair or blanket to sit on
Rain site: the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave.
Sponsored by the Poetry Motel Foundation & the Hudson Valley Writers Guild
For information call 482-0262
2012 Poetry Contest Guidelines
The HVWG writing contest alternates genres annually. This year’s contest is in poetry. Winners will be awarded cash prizes and invited to read their winning poem at a special Guild program in the fall of 2012.
First Prize – $100
Second Prize – $75
Third Prize – $50
Eligibility: All contestants must be residents of New York State. Current members of the HVWG Board of Directors and their families are not eligible. Current or past students as well as family of the judges are also not eligible. Judges this year are: Cecele Kraus, Dawn Marar, Thom Francis, and Phillip Levine.
Entries must be postmarked between April 2 and August 31, 2012. Identification/ contact information must not appear anywhere on the submission. Cover letter should include the following: name, address, phone number, email address, title of poems. Submission: 3-5 poems per submission.
All submissions must be typed, 12-pt. type, 50-line limit. Please include title and stanza breaks in your line count. Send three hard copies by mail, no e-mail submissions. Poems must be previously unpublished. Quality of the poem is the most important consideration. We are looking for poems that are well crafted, have an excellent lyric quality and contain a strong emotional core. Any style is considered, including prose poems. Results: Submissions will not be returned, but if you would like hardcopy results of the contest, please send an SASE. All entrants will be notified of winners by email and/or SASE. Results will also be posted on our website at http://hvwg.org.
For more information, please contact Mimi Moriarty at winterview@earthlink.net.
Mail submissions and entry fee to: The HVWG Poetry Contest, c/o Mimi Moriarty, 3180 New Scotland Road, Voorheesville, NY 12186.
Entry Fee: $15 for non-members of HVWG, $10 for members. Make checks payable to HVWG and send with submission.
Member Announcements
Janine Cammarata is in search of a graphic designer for her book. She would need someone for the cover and layout. Interested parties can contact her at 518-466-5558 or j9camm@gmail.com.
Sue Oringel report that her poem “Olive Juice” was just published by the National Council of Teachers of English NCTE “English Journal in its May/June 2012 issue.
Marilyn Rothstein, writing as M.E.Kemp, will speak to the August meeting of the Illuminati book club in Troy about writing the mystery novel. Marilyn reminds HVWG members to save the date of Oct. 14 for the annual (we hope!) writer’s conference. Marilyn has a surprise guest-panelist up her sleeve for the event.
Bob Sharkey is pleased to announce that his poem “Sometime After His Mother Died” has been selected for the Aurorean journal’s anthology, Favorites from the first fifteen years.
Area announcements
Caffe Lena Reading, July 11, 7:00 p.m. (Note date change)
In July, Caffe Lena’s poetry night will be on July 11, the second Wednesday, because the first Wed. is the 4th. The featured readers are Jill Crammond and Martin Willets. Wednesday, July 11, Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic.
Doors open for sign-ups at 7pm and the readings will start at 7:30.
Hosted by Carol Graser, $3
Caffè Lena, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, 583-0022, www.caffelena.org
Adirondack Center for Writing Reading, July 12, 7:00 pm
Join local writer Mason Smith at an Open Mic at Willows Bistro on July 12. Smith is a Long Lake author and boat builder, who will welcome you to the stage to share your own work. The reading is sponsored by the Adirondack Center for Writing and Fiction Among Friends. It will be held at 7 PM on July 12th at Willows Bistro, 3749 Main Street in Warrensburg, NY.
Smith grew up in Northern New York and published his first novel, Everybody Knows and Nobody Cares (Knopf, 1971), while he was at Stanford. In the middle and late seventies he was the most frequently published non-staff writer for Sports Illustrated, and published extensively in other magazines including Gray’s Sporting Journal, WoodenBoat Magazine, Outside, and Adirondack Life. He has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Clarkson, and SUNY Potsdam.
For more information on this program and the local writing community, contact Nathalie Thill at the Adirondack Center for Writing. To find out more about Fiction Among Friends, email PersisGranger@aol.com.
The Writers Open Mic held at Pine Hollow Arboretum, July 13, 6:30 pm
John Abbuhl will be the featured reader at Pine Hollow Arboretum on Friday July 13. The reading will be held at the Pine Hollow Arboretum Visitors Center building at 16 Maple Ave. in Slingerlands, New York starting at 6:30 PM. In the Open Mic format, others poets can read three short poems or two longer poems. Also two pages of prose will be acceptable.
Funding to support this Reading Series comes from Hudson Valley Writers Guild and Rootdrinker Institute. The grounds at Pine Hollow Arboretum are open dawn to dusk on the day of the reading so come early and visit the collection.
Third Thursday to Feature Mohavi, July 19, 7:30 p.m.
Local poet and impresario Mojavi will read from his work at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany on Thursday, July 19, at 7:30PM. An open mic for poetry will take place before and after his reading. .
Local Slam Poetry Team to Compete Nationally/Raising Funds from the Community
Nitty Gritty Slam has been named an official slam venue and will send a team of poets to The National Poetry Slam, held in Charlotte, NC this coming August. This summer will feature special events and fundraisers to fund the trip.
Held the first and third Tuesdays at Valentine’s Rock Club and Music Joint in Albany, Nitty Gritty Slam held its first event in September 2011, making it the Capital Region’s first regular poetry slam in well over a decade. Poetry Slam, Inc. (PSI), the non-profit organization that oversees the international coalition of poetry slams, certified Nitty Gritty Slam in May 2012.
THE TEAM
Three members of Nitty Gritty’s team were selected from regular winners of the slam, with a fourth member as well as alternates selected from a special slam held this past June 19. Representing Team Nitty Gritty in Charlotte will be the following:
- D. Colin, the Lead Counselor and Arts & Crafts Specialist at the Troy Boys and Girls Club from Bridgeport, CT, currently residing in Troy, NY
- Elizabeth Gordon (aka Elizag), a professor who teaches at RPI and Northampton Community College, from Cohoes, NY and native of Queens, NY
- Kevin Peterson, an electronics company employee from Albany, NY
- Shannon Shoemaker, a professional dog trainer from Hannacroix, NY,
- Michael Sloman (aka ILLiptical the Wizard of Mars), an Albany High School Teaching Aide and SAAJCC Teen Camp Director from Albany, NY.
- Coaching the team will be Mojavi, poet and teacher from Albany, NY.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL POETRY SLAM AND NGS
The National Poetry Slam (NPS) is the largest team performance poetry event in the world. The first event took place in 1990 in San Francisco with three teams: Chicago, New York, and the host city. The event has been held every year since. This year in Charlotte, 72 teams from all over North America, and a few from other places will converge for a week of “poetry, revelry and competition.”
THE FUNDRAISER
To send the team to the Nationals and cover for travel, hotel, and meals, the organizers have done what any grass roots arts project would do: they’ve started a Nitty Gritty PayPal Pledge Drive.
Different donations reap different awards. Some examples:
$20 gets you a new CD of Nitty Gritty poetry.
$50 gets you a college application coaching session from team member Elizag, a tutor and English professor
$100 and you will receive commissioned poem on theme or subject of your choice
$250 gets you a one-hour Swedish massage from Mary Panza, Albany Poets Vice President and longtime local poet
$1,000 and your business logo goes on the team’s t-shirts, CDs and publications.
For more information about Nitty Gritty Slam go to nittygrittyslam.com. For comments or to arrange interviews with NGS team members, contact Thom Francis at 518-487-9170 or email him at thom.francis@gmail.com.
Berkshire Writing Workshop, July
Aimed at aspiring and established adult writers, the BWW is an intensive week-long residential workshop in Great Barrington, MA. This summer, our inaugural session will run from July 8-July 13, with classes in Fiction and Memoir. Writers will live and write on the campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
It should be a great program for any writer who has limited free time and wants to make the most of it – both as far as getting a lot of writing done (and getting a lot of useful feedback) and enjoying a week in the Berkshires at the height of summer season. Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, Shakespeare & Co., etc. will all be in full swing by July. It’s primarily residential, but we are offering a discount for day students.
Berkshire Writing Workshop
www.simons-rock.edu/berkshire-writing-workshop
Photographer Seeks Writers for Exhibit
From a note sent to the Guild by Mark Andrew: “I’m a photographer working on an exhibit of portraits of people that have written love songs, letters or poems together with their work. I’m looking for talent – I’m actually more focused on your words – I have a huge level of confidence I can produce an amazing image of you.
I’ve photographed many people – the process is fun. My goal would be for you to end up with an image that is a family heirloom in exchange for participating and allowing me to use your work and the portrait we create together for my exhibit.
You can see some of my work at www.markandrewimages.com – hit browse. As the former resident photographer for the National Museum of Dance, much of my work is dance related.”
> Mark Andrew
> www.markandrewimages.com
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-Faith Green, Newsletter Co-Editor
-Bob Sharkey, Newsletter Co-Editor
Visit our website: hvwg.org
