Throw Back Thursday: James J. Patterson's "Jesse Lancaster Remembers" One of Patterson's most intimate and psycological scenes is featured today on ASP's Throwback Thursday. But it is a deviation from the normal tone of his personal essays. James J. Patterson with his first book, the essay collection "Bermuda Shorts." Myra Sklarew once said of reading James J. Patterson that it is "like sitting down with a very intelligent friend and having the kind of conversation you’d always wanted to have." James J. Patterson is best known for personal essays like "Lovesick Lake" with its … [Read more...]
A Great Evening at a Great Indie Bookstore (Who are the Wanderland Writers?) Recently, The Wanderland Writers have been hosting a myriad of reading events and writing workshops throughout California. Joanna Biggar addressing the crowd at "A Great Good Place for Books" in Oakland, CA Lately on the ASP page we've been posting a lot of events for the Wanderland Writers. Most of these are in California, and generally they are workshops geared toward travel writers. WW put out books as well: anthologies for the most part. Their latest book … [Read more...]
ASP Author's Gift Guide for Book Lovers Part 2: The Explorer, The Poet, and The Cosmopolite This week, it’s travel books, mysteries, and books related to Northern California. Linda Watanabe McFerrin Linda Watanabe McFerrin's ASP Legacy Series poetry and prose collection, Crossing the Divide, is forthcoming in 2019. Co-founder of the Wanderland Writers Anthology series, Linda has traversed the globe more times than we can count. Here are her picks for the travel lovers on your list: West with the Night, by Beryl Markham, North Point Press. Beautifully written … [Read more...]
Fact or Fiction By Joanna Biggar As a fiction writer, it is not uncommon to be asked: “Is that real, or did you make it up?” This was certainly true for my first novel, That Paris Year, based on my own experiences as a young woman attending the Sorbonne in the 1960s. It was assumed that the narrator, whose name, J.J., includes the same initials as my name, are one and the same person. And if that is true, the thinking goes, everything else in the book must be “real,” too. One French reader even wanted to know how my French grandmother was getting along and was shocked to learn that I … [Read more...]
Love is a Fool Star I am guilty of interjecting (constantly interjecting) quotations and metaphors into conversations. More than a few friends will confirm this. Here’s one from the internationally celebrated saxophonist-composer-bandleader-poet And playwright Archie Shepp . I think it captures both my inner (you know, the mill where poems often struggle to find their way to the end of the assembly line) and outer lives perfectly. “I passed through the insipid panorama of Americana with an enormous romanticism. It has never left me.” If I could fit that on a headstone, baby- I would. My … [Read more...]
Why We Believe Them. At ASP we try to stay non-political, but there are times when we feel it's necessary to join in the national conversation. We feel the conversation surrounding the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearing is one such moment. This is a conversation that touches our own Rose Solari, and she has shared her story in her book "Difficult Weather". We all have different ways of healing; Rose writes, and through her writing, hopes that she is able to help others heal. A Story You remember waiting in your friend’s boyfriend’s house where she was supposed … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri Reads, "Work is My Secret Lover" The poet Grace Cavalieri is a truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In her writing and all she does her large-minded generosity shines. Robert Pinsky Grace Cavalieri reads poetry just as though she were speaking then with Pinsky, Dove, or Solari, and she speaks just like she were reading you a poem-- with some verses left blank you ought to fill in yourself. In "Work is My Secret Lover" you meet a Grace who is excited to tell you about what she is hiding from you, about how, even now as you talk, she is observing, listening, feeling … [Read more...]
Richard Peabody Talks Gargoyle Magazine Buzz McClain of Northern Virginia Magazine sat down with Richard and others close to him in order to ask a very important question: What's next for Richard Peabody? Founder of the DC-ubiquitous annual magazine, Gargoyle, esteemed editor and writer in his own regard, Richard has recently put out through Alan Squire Publishing a compendium of his work, The Richard Peabody Reader...so, what's next? Read the full article here A Long Excerpt: “For a while Gargoyle was pretty regular, but I’d say for the last 20 issues it’s always been ‘Well, this … [Read more...]
Rose Solari Speaks to Ramola D at Delphi An Interview with Rose Solari Rose sits down with Ramola D, the founder and editor of Delphi Quarterly, to talk about her writing and publishing journey. She touches on writing, Joanna Biggar, James J. Patterson, the business behind the scenes, and the conception of Alan Squire Publishing. Read the full article at Delphi Quarterly here An excerpt on the conception of Alan Squire Publishing: Rd: That sounds like such a great approach. Did something in particular inspire you both to move forward from running a sports magazine to starting a … [Read more...]
The 'Mones "Yuppie Drone" Dissected Bryan Thomas's feature in NightFlight Magazine is a dissection of The Pheromones' 1982 smash hit "Yuppie Drone." For the folks who don't know, The 'Mones were an art-folk duo comprised of Alvis and Jimmy Pheromone, that is, Alan Johnson and ASP's own James J. Patterson. Bryan goes into quite some detail on the lyrical content and force behind "Yuppie Drone" in an attempt to contextualize it in the climate of 1982 when it was released (and the subsequent album in 1986 of the same name), and, to therefore, contextualize that cog-in-the-system verve, … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri on Fred Rogers Won't You Be My Neighbor is a new documentary focusing on the life and career of everyone's favorite friend and TV personality, Fred Rogers, AKA Mr. Rogers. For an op-ed about the still rippling cultural impact of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood which ran for over 40 years, Kathi Wolfe turned to Grace Cavalieri who befriended Fred Rogers while she was working as the associate director of children’s programming at PBS. Though Grace only gets a line it is one which helps to answer an important question: just who is this Fred guy anyway when without the set, the … [Read more...]
Richard Peabody Reads "I'm in Love with the Morton Salt Girl" Peabody’s aesthetic is all-embracing – strands of punk, beat, experimental, feminist, and political protest literary influences blend with the purely romantic to create a body of work that is both profound and pleasing. Eckleburg Book Club Morton Salt Girl is original Peabody. Creative, daring, and irreverent. His delivery on this recording is so sure you may conflate the poem with a yarn by Ronsard or Nash—though, a comparison wouldn't be far-fetched. But be assured, this sure person, somewhere compressed between humor, … [Read more...]
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pit bull by Reuben Jackson I. Among twenty sleeping row houses, The only restless thing Was the voice of the Pit Bull II. I was of three headaches Like a neighborhood in which there are as many Pit Bulls. III. The Pit Bull paced in the dealer’s yard. It was but a small part Of my anxiety. IV. A man and his dog are one. A hustler, his stash And a loyal Pit Bull Are frightening . V. I do not know which to prefer: The disdain of neighbors Or the disdain of neighbors. The Pit Bull breeding- Or the policeman rolling his eyes. VI. Rain covered … [Read more...]
Rose Solari is judging this year's Charlene Kushner Wicked Woman Poetry Prize Brickhouse Books has announced the Charlene Kushner Wicked Woman Poetry Prize. The winning manuscript will be published by Brickhouse books and the author receive $250. The Manuscript must be about a woman (or women) who challenged expectations or broke the mold. Our very Own Rose Solari, author of A Secret Woman and The Last Girl, will be judging the competition. Entries are accepted Sept. 1, 2018, to January 4, 2019, via Submittable. Accommodations available for members of the disability community. … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri, her great interview with the late Donald Hall, CATF criticism and more Grace’s longtime talk series, The Poet and The Poem, broadcast from The Library of Congress, is being gradually released for free to iTunes. There are currently over a dozen interviews available on iTunes, including poets Tracy K. Smith and Rita Dove. More are being added each month; but, the whole series is available in unabridged form from within the sublimely gargantuan archive of Library of Congress. Her interview with Donald Hall is available here. Eva Brann is here, Louise Gluck here. If you love … [Read more...]
Here is an update on their recent doings: Joanna Biggar has just returned from a visit to Cuba with Wanderland Writers, a writing retreat series that she co-founded and runs with Linda Watanabe McFerrin. They publish annual anthologies of essays and poetry written on these trips. Find out more here. Joanna is also at work on revisions to her sequel to That Paris Year, entitled Melanie’s Song. Grace Cavalieri has recently had new poems published in The Art of Survival: An Anthology, as well as the journals Poets & Artists and the South Florida Poetry Journal, in which she is the … [Read more...]
September 29, 2017 We are happy to announce the publication of Other Voices, Other Lives: A Grace Cavalieri Collection, in October 2017. This is the second volume in the ASP Legacy Series, devoted to career-spanning selections from writers who also give strong and consistent support to other writers. ASP poet and fiction writer Rose Solari edited the volume and wrote the introduction. Here is a sample: Before I met Grace Cavalieri, I had already fallen in love with her voice. I was in my early twenties when I began tuning into her weekly radio show, The Poet and the Poem, broadcast then … [Read more...]
Autumn is just around the corner and our ASP authors have a busy schedule of readings and events! Please check back as the schedule grows. Here is what we’ve confirmed so far: Sept 14, 2017, 6:30 p.m., Grace Cavalieri & Richard Harteis share poetry and conversation at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 415 Park Ave, Baltimore, MD. Check here for details. Friday, October 6 through Sunday, October 8, Rose Solari is the keynote speaker and a faculty member at the 6th Annual Mariposa Poetry Retreat, at the Capital Retreat Center in Waynesboro, PA. The retreat was founded and is run by poet … [Read more...]
Announcing the publication of Other Voices, Other Lives: A Grace Cavalieri Collection, October 1, 2017 Other Voices, Other Lives is a selection of poems, plays, and interviews drawn from over forty years of work by one of America’s most beloved and influential women of letters. The author of 23 books of poetry and 26 produced plays, and the founder of the legendary radio interview program, The Poet and the Poem, Grace Cavalieri has won multiple national awards for her writing and her service to literature. “The poet Grace Cavalieri is also a truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In … [Read more...]
The Kenyon Review Calls Liz Hazen's Chaos Theories "DAZZLING!" Elizabeth Hazen’s dazzling first book of poems, Chaos Theories, reminds us of the long history of poets who take on science as their subject mattter. Indeed, the main impetus for Greek and Roman poets like Hesiod and Lucretius was nothing less than to reveal how the universe worked, from atomic theory to astronomy. Perhaps one of the most successful mergers between poetry and science came in the hundred years surrounding Darwin’s publication of Origin of the Species. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam, for example, is often cited … [Read more...]