Hudson Valley Writers Guild Newsletter
IN THIS ISSUE
Guild Announcements:
- HVWG poetry contest open for entries through 8/15
Member Announcements:
- French version of Hollis Seamon novel wins literary award, releases new edition
- Latest chapbook from Alan Catlin is Beautiful Mutants
- James Schlett launches Northeast book tour
Area Announcements:
- Rolling admission for NYS Summer Writers Institute workshops (space permitting)
- Upcoming readings for NYS Summer Writers Institute
- “Poets in the Park” 2015 readings scheduled July 11, 18, & 25
- Poet Melody Davis will read at the Social Justice Center July 16
- Martin Steingesser’s “The Thinking Heart – History in Poetry and Music” at Roe Jan Library July 18
- Sixth Annual Unicorn Writers Conference August 15
GUILD ANNOUNCEMENTS
HVWG poetry contest open for entries through 8/15
The Hudson Valley Writers Guild is pleased to announce this year’s poetry contest. Cash prizes will be awarded to first ($100), second ($75) and third place ($50) poems. The winning poets will be invited to read their winning submissions at a program in the fall.
All contestants must be residents of New York State. The entry fee is $10 for HVWG members and $15 for non-members. Forms for guild membership may be found at hvwg.org. One to three poems may be submitted. Each poem must be no longer than 40 lines. A cover letter must include: name, address, phone number, email, title(s). Each poem must appear on a separate page. Entries must be postmarked between June 15-August 15, 2015.
Judges are Cheryl Rice and Howard Kogan. Cheryl A. Rice’s work has appeared in Baltimore Review, Chronogram, Florida Review, Home Planet News, Mangrove, The Temple and Woodstock Times, and in the anthologies Wildflowers, Vol. II (2002: Shivastan Publishing), For Enid With Love (2010: NY Quarterly Books) and A Slant of Light (2013:Codhill Press), among others. She is the author of Moses Parts the Tulips (2013: APD Press), My Minnesota Boyhood (2012: Post Traumatic Press) and Auction (2004, Flying Monkey Press; 2nd edition 2010). Her CDs are: “Nobody Slept Last Night” (2003, Another Poor Bastard Productions) and “Girl Poet” (2007, Flying Monkey Productions). Howard Kogan is an award winning poet whose work has appeared in many literary journals including Still Crazy, Occupoetry, Poetry Ark, Naugatuck River Review, Jewish Currents Anthology (2014), Jewish Currents Calendar (2015), Writer’s Haven, Farming Magazine, Literary Gazette, Pathways, Up the River, Point Mass Anthology and Misfit Magazine. He has also published a book of poems, Indian Summer, and a chapbook, General Store Poems.<
For more information regarding submissions, go to www.hvwg.org or contact Jan Tramontano at jantramontano@gmail.com
MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS
French version of Hollis Seamon novel wins literary award, releases new edition
Hollis Seamon’s novel Dieu Me Deteste, the French version of Somebody Up There Hates You, has won a national French literary award, the 2015 CBPT Prix Litteraire 18-30 from the Union Nationale Culture et Bibliotheques Pour Tous (The National Union of Culture and Libraries for All). The prize is awarded annually for the best book for readers 18-30 years old published in the previous year, as chosen by libraries across France. The prize was announced on May 6, 2015, by the General Assembly of CBPT in Paris. Here’s a link to an announcement: http://www.cbpt-paris.org/index.php/prix-cbpt and a PDF: http://www.cbpt71.com/prix18302015.pdf. There is also a new edition of Dieu Me Deteste, issued in May by Editions 10/18 in Paris: http://www.10-18.fr/livres-poche/.
Latest chapbook from Alan Catlin is Beautiful Mutants
Alan Catlin has published a new chapbook of poetry called Beautiful Mutants, which is available now from Night Ballet Press or from the author. Anyone interested in owning their very own copy can contact Alan at thecatlins@msn.com or the editor of Night Ballet Press at the website.<
James Schlett launches Northeast book tour
In August, Rotterdam author James Schlett will launch his Northeast book tour for A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden: The Story of the Philosophers’ Camp in the Adirondacks (Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2015) with the following two events in the Capital Region:
- 8/1/2015, Saturday, 7 p.m., Northshire Bookstore, 424 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
- 8/7/2015, Friday, 6 p.m., Albany Institute of History and Art (free admission), 125 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210
Other readings and presentations are scheduled for the following venues this summer and fall: Massachusetts Historical Society, Concord Free Public Library, Olana State Historic Site, SUNY Adirondack Writer’s Project and Caffe Lena. For the latest reviews, tour updates and other news on A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden, like the book’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ANotTooGreatlyChangedEden.
AREA ANNOUNCEMENTS
Rolling admission for NYS Summer Writers Institute workshops (space permitting)
The New York State Summer Writers Institute has begun its 28th season at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. To apply: https://www.skidmore.edu/summerwriters/workshops.php. Students may enroll for two weeks (June 29 – July 10 or July 13-24) or for the entire four-week session (June 29-July 24).
Since its inaugural season in 1987, the New York State Summer Writers Institute has drawn students from across the United States as well as from Australia, Brazil, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea and Singapore. Students have ranged from 20 to 99 years of age. The Institute is intended principally for students who have had at least one or two previous workshop experiences. It is definitely not for high school students or for freshman college students. The Institute offers courses for undergraduate and graduate credit, as well as noncredit courses. Approximately 50 percent of the program participants are undergraduate or graduate students.
For questions and concerns, please call Christine R. Merrill, Program Coordinator, Office of the Dean of Special Programs, at (518) 580-5593.
Upcoming readings for NYS Summer Writers Institute
All readings are at 8 p.m. in Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall, Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
- JULY 1: Fiction reading by Michael Ondaajte and poetry reading by Campbell McGrath
- JULY 2: Poetry reading by Charles Simic and fiction reading by Howard Norman
- JULY 3: Fiction reading by Claire Messud and fiction reading by Elizabeth Benedict
- JULY 6: Poetry reading by Carolyn Forche and fiction reading by Victoria Redel
- JULY 7: Poetry reading by Frank Bidart and fiction reading by Rivka Galchen
- JULY 8: Fiction reading by Mary Gaitskill and non-fiction reading by Honor Moore
- JULY 9: Fiction reading by Joseph O’Neill and fiction reading by Joanna Scott
- JULY 10: Fiction reading by Joyce Carol Oates
- JULY 13: Fiction reading by Amy Hempel and fiction reading by William Kennedy
- JULY 14: Fiction reading by Ann Beattie and poetry reading by Tom Healy
- JULY 15: Fiction reading by Rick Moody and poetry reading by Lloyd Schwartz
- JULY 16: Non-fiction reading by Nick Flynn and fiction reading by Adam Braver
- JULY 17: Poetry reading by Robert Pinsky poetry reading by Peg Boyers
- JULY 20: Fiction reading by Cristina Garcia and poetry reading by Wayne Koestenbaum
- JULY 21:Fiction reading by Russell Banks and poetry reading by Chase Twichell
- JULY 22: Non-fiction reading by Laura Kipnis and non-fiction reading by Jim Miller
- JULY 23: Fiction reading by Jamaica Kincaid and poetry reading by Henri Cole
- JULY 24: Fiction reading by Paul Harding and fiction reading by Binnie Kirshenbaum
For more information, please call Christine R. Merrill, Program Coordinator, Office of the Dean of Special Programs, at (518) 580-5593.
“Poets in the Park” 2015 readings scheduled July 11, 18, & 25
Poets in the Park is celebrating over 20 years of bringing poetry in July to the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park, Albany. The series was started in 1989 by the late Tom Nattell and is now run by Albany poet and photographer Dan Wilcox. This year the readings will be on Saturdays July 11, 18 and 25; the readings start at 7:00 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Donations are accepted. Rain site is the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue, Albany. The series is co-sponsored by the Poetry Motel Foundation and by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.
The 2015 readers are:
- July 11, The Nitty Gritty Slam Team, with guest host Thom Francis
- July 18, Paul Pines & Karen Schoemer
- July 25, Alison Koffler & Dayl Wise
The Robert Burns statue is located near where Henry Johnson Boulevard passes through Washington Park and crosses Hudson Ave. Please bring your own chairs or blankets to sit on. For more information, contact Dan Wilcox at dwlcx@earthlink.net or (518) 482-0262.
Poet Melody Davis will read at the Social Justice Center July 16
Local poet Melody Davis will read from her work at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue, Albany, on Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Melody Davis, poet and art historian, is the author of four books, most recently Holding the Curve from Broadstone Books. Her critical study, Women’s Views: The Narrative Stereograph in Nineteenth-Century America, will be forthcoming this fall from the University Press of New Hampshire. Davis teaches at the Sage College of Albany and is widely published in the US and abroad.
A reading by a local or regional poet is held each Third Thursday at the Social Justice Center. The event includes an open mic for audience members to read. Sign-up starts at 7 p.m., with the reading beginning at 7:30. The host of the readings is Albany poet and photographer Dan Wilcox. The suggested donation is $3, which helps support this and other poetry programs of the Poetry Motel Foundation and the work of the Social Justice Center. For more information about this event contact Dan Wilcox at (518) 482-0262 or dwlcx@earthlink.net.
Martin Steingesser’s “The Thinking Heart – History in Poetry and Music” at Roe Jan Library July 18
“The Thinking Heart: The Life & Loves of Etty Hillesum,” poet Martin Steingesser’s original arrangement of the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum, will be performed at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library on Saturday, July 18, at 5 p.m. Etty Hillesum, a Jewish woman who lived in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, wrote a diary and over 70 letters between 1941 and ‘43, ending with her transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she died at age 29. Steingesser and Judy Tierney will perform “The Thinking Heart” with cellist Robin Jellis.
Martin Steingesser, Portland, Maine’s first Poet Laureate (2007-09), has published two books of poems, Brothers of Morning and The Thinking Heart: The Life & Loves of Etty Hillesum, and has a third book,Yellow Horses, scheduled for publication in fall, 2015. Judy Tierney has been presenting poems in Maine for a number of years. She was creator and host of a weekly radio program, “Walking in the Air,” celebrating poetry and its voices, on WRFR, Rockland, Maine’s community radio station. Robin Jellis, cellist, has played with the Bangor Symphony, and is a faculty member at the Portland Conservatory of Music. Her music for “The Thinking Heart” is comprised mostly of improvisational meditations inspired by the poems and includes quotes from Ernest Bloch. Influences include folk songs and J.S. Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. The final movement is an original piece by Jellis.<
The Roeliff Jansen Community Library, which is chartered to serve Ancram, Copake and Hillsdale, is located at 9091 Rt. 22, approximately one mile south of the light at the intersection of Routes 22 and 23 in Hillsdale. For information on hours and events, call (518) 325-4101 or visit the library’s website at www.roejanlibrary.org.
Sixth Annual Unicorn Writers Conference August 15
DATE: Saturday, August 15
PLACE: Reid Castle at Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY
TIME: 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (one-day conference)
REGISTRATION: $300 (Special group discount: 10% off the $300 registration fee. Discount code HVWGUILD15)
INCLUDES:
- Keynote Speaker: Stephanie Evanovich;
- 30 workshops offered throughout the day. Choose the topics that are best for you;
- Agent and editor panels;
- Opportunity to reserve 30-minute, face-to-face 1-1 reviews on your first 40 manuscript pages, query letter, book synopses or jacket flap copy with agents, editors or other conference faculty–all publishing insiders;
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner;
- Conference gift bag.
Unicorn Writers Conference is recognized as a top choice for writers at every stage of their writing journey seeking traditional or alternate publishing opportunities. Workshops and speakers cover creativity, craft, and career. Register now! Visit www.unicornwritersconfeence.com and select “registration” link.
