Grace Cavalieri's June 2019 Exemplars of Poetry Every month for the Washington Independent Review of Books, the Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri, author of Other Voices, Other Lives, does a round-up style review of the best recently released independent books of poetry and books about poetry. June 2019's review features fourteen books including two of ASP's upcoming releases, Reuben Jackson's Scattered Clouds and Linda Watanabe McFerrin's Navigating the Divide. Featured also are the likes of Tina Chang, Dobby Gibson, and rising star … [Read more...]
What is "The Society of Woman Geographers"? ASP's connection to the famed society through author, poet, journalist, Joanna Biggar. The flag of the Society of Woman Geographers, taken by its members on important scientific expeditions. Joanna Biggar, author of That Paris Year and the upcoming Melanie’s Song, is a member of an organization called “The Society of Woman Geographers” a group with its origin in the roaring 20s, a time when new technology was rapidly catching up with the West’s most expansive ambitions. Boasting members as diverse as pilot Amelia Erhart and … [Read more...]
What Does Anne Lamott Think of "Navigating the Divide" The author of "Bird by Bird" weighs in on Linda Watanabe McFerrin's new Legacy Book “I have loved everything I’ve ever read by Linda Watanabe McFerrin. Her prose and poetry are filled with amazing women, charm, wisdom and light. She is both soulful and precise, eloquent and full of life.” PRE-ORDER NAVIGATING THE DIVIDE Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds. Lamott has been honored with a … [Read more...]
Elizabeth Hazen's New Poem, "Monarch", Published by Shenandoah Magazine This page was made in order to redirect to the Shenandoah website HERE where you might read Elizabth Hazen's sublime new poem, "Monarch." Below, is a link to read more about her first poetry collection, Chaos Theories, and lower still on the page is a collection of links to other poems and essays she has written which we host natively on the ASP website. Shenandoah is a magazine which maintains an important place in the modern American literary landscape. Its unique history involves the likes of Tom Wolfe and even … [Read more...]
An Interview with "Roughnecks" Author, James J. Patterson "You can change the dimensional make-up in someone’s mind with a single chord of musical phrase, or excite their imagination, invoke any of the mindful emotions. You can do the same thing with images in words, of course. But music can find a direct path to a person’s core that he or she may have thought was well defended." In this interview from Branka Cubrilo, James J. Patterson talks "Roughnecks," The Pheromones, and artistic inspiration. Recently, James J. Patterson sat down with fellow author, Branka Cubrilo, for … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri among 13 Poets Laureate to Receive over $1 million in Grant Money Recently Grace Cavalieri was one of thirteen Poets Laureate to receive (divided) over $1 million in grant money. Big news for Maryland's Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri. The American Academy of poets announced on Wednesday that an appropriation of $1,050,000 (made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation) would be made available for thirteen of America's most distinguished Poets Laureate including Grace herself. The funds are, according to AP, for the support of civic programs in the poet's communities which … [Read more...]
![Reuben Jackson [extremely candid]](https://4blkywnbsle3e4j2l3m98td1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ReubenJackson3-YouTube-300x187.png)
Off the Cuff: The Writing Philosophy of Reuben Jackson "Part of what I try to do [is this]: you know how you go down to the mall and you see monuments to this war and this war, and that’s fine. But, a lot of my friends I think about constantly. Maybe, they’re forgotten in a way; but [what I try] to do, and maybe this is what you do as writers, is to capture people who had an impact on you." -Reuben Jackson Poet and jazz scholar, Reuben Jackson gave a talk in Rockville, MD on April 6th where he went into detail on his writing philosophy and read a few poems from his upcoming collection … [Read more...]
Earth Day Reflections: To See for the First Time (from a speech first delivered at an award ceremony for Bay Nature Magazine) By Linda Watanabe McFerrin There is a writer whose work I greatly admire, an ethnobotanist. His name is Wade Davis and if you haven't read any of his work, you are missing something wonderful. In One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest Davis follows in the footsteps of Harvard biologist Richard Evans Schultes who spent years in the Amazon cataloging thousands of plant species and discovering hundreds more while … [Read more...]
Joanna Biggar's Picks for NPM Week 3 Week three of National Poetry Month is here and we are still celebrating! So as the champagne continues relentlessly foaming for party-goers catching their tipsy mid-air, we asked author, Joanna Biggar, to select three poems she thinks are worthy of applause between wassails. Her first, featured above, is Dickinson's "I'm Nobody! Who are You?" For her second an excellent poem by Carolyn Forche called "The Testimony Of Light" And last but not least an absolute banger from Salvadoran-American poet Javier Zamora entitled "Let Me Try Again" Joanna Biggar … [Read more...]
James J. Patterson's National Poetry Month Picks (week 2) In honor of National Poetry Month, We asked author and essayist extraordinaire, James J. Patterson, to select three poems he'd like to see celebrated. Along with Walt Whitman's "On the Beach at Night Alone" (featured above), he chose Wordsworth's "The World is too much with Us", And Last but not least, the famed American Poet Robert Bly performing the poem "On Being a Man" by the famed Spanish poet, Antonio Machado. James J. Patterson was born in Washington, DC, five days before Nixon’s infamous “Checkers Speech.” He’s been … [Read more...]
Max Barton's Picks for National Poetry Month (Week 2) We asked Max Barton, ASP Gopher and the present author, for his National Poetry Month picks. He recommends specifically the poem, "Home Burial", as one of immense value. Along with "Home Burial" by Robert Frost, he wishes to celebrate "The Magi" a short and substantive poem by Yeats, and Kipling's "Epitaphs of The War" which he feels is more moving than any Kipling poem has any right to be. … [Read more...]
Off the Cuff: Rose Solari's Keys to Writing Success Rose sits down with Brain Hackers Magazine founder and CEO, Dave Farrow, to talk about succeeding as a poet. "[A] thing that is crucial [for up and coming writers] is reading a lot. A professor of mine in college gave me the 100:1 ratio. He said, “You have to read about 100 good poems to write one.” It sounds daunting but it actually makes a kind of sense. I was trained in poetry, I have an MFA in poetry, so when I sat down to write a novel for the first time I knew I had an idea which was too narrative to fit into a poem and that it had to … [Read more...]
Elizabeth Hazen's Picks for National Poetry Month (Week 2) We asked poet, Elizabeth Hazen, for three poems she'd like to seen celebrated this National Poetry Month. And she chose three of equal merit in three very different styles. As featured above she chose the current United States Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith's stellar poem "My God, it's full of Stars"; James Wright's "A Blessing"; and Naomi Shihab Nye's "The Yellow Glove". Elizabeth Hazen is a poet and essayist whose work has appeared in Best American Poetry 2013, Southwest Review, The Threepenny Review, The … [Read more...]
Week One of National Poetry Month 2019 The first week of National Poetry Month is over. Let's take a look back at the featured poems of this past week. National Poetry Month is upon us! This year ASP has decided to celebrate by featuring several poems each week curated by different members of the ASP team. Now that the first week is over, let's take a look back at the poets and poems we have featured thus far. MONDAY Linda Watanabe McFerrin selected four poems dear to her to feature on Monday, including the late W.S. Merwin's Rain Light (pictured above). She also … [Read more...]
Craving More Grace? Check out the Poet Laureate on the NEA's "Art Works" Listen to Grace Cavalieri on the NEA's Podcast "Art Works" Grace Cavalieri recently stopped by the NEA's official podcast, "Art Works", to read poetry and talk hardship. Craving more Grace Cavalieri? Of course you are! Maryland's newest Poet Laureate is active, about, and spreading the word; that is, her words. Even though Poet Laureate is largely an honorary position (it is unpaid, and one is "honored" more with a title than a job much like a knighthood or a medal of freedom), Grace Cavalieri seems determined to become … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri's Interview on Midday with Tom Hall Grace Cavalieri, seen above in her trademarked leather jacket, stopped by WYPR last week for an interview on "Midday" with Tom Hall. The Poet Laureate and author of ASP's Other Voices, Other Lives, mused on her life and work, meditating on the loss of her late husband, and reading from deep poetry catalogue. This interview is well worth the 40 minutes it takes to impart the important wisdom of one of Maryland's foremost sages. Listen to the interview HERE Watch the Interview HERE Buy a copy of Grace's Legacy Book … [Read more...]
University of DC Jazz Forum: A Conversation with Reuben Jackson In this University of DC forum, "Archivist, poet, writer, radio broadcaster/producer and currently Jazz Archives Specialist at the Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives, Reuben Jackson, discusses his remarkable career with veteran jazz broadcaster and historian, Rusty Hassan." … [Read more...]
Inside the Industry: The Wonderful World of Galleys Joanna Biggar's new book has just gone to galley, but what does that mean? "Melanie's Song", the latest from Joanna Biggar, is out on October 1st, 2019 A galley, put simply, is a proofing copy. Doggy-eared, coffee-stained, and scribbled on with bright red pen, the galley is the penultimate stage before publication where all the smallest details of a manuscript, disregarded during the writing and organizing process, are scrutinized by fastidious copy-editors and a team of eager-to-help friends of the author. Because it is … [Read more...]
Remembering W. S. Merwin Grace Cavalieri's Two Interviews with the Literary Giant On Friday we lost one of America's greatest literary voices. W.S. Merwin was 91 years old. Grace's first interview with W.S. Merwin: Grace and Merwin 1 Grace's second interview with W.S. Merwin: Grace and Merwin 2 On Friday we lost a true hero of American poetry. Dignified from beginning to end, W.S. Merwin was not only one of America's finest literary exports, but one of its most prolific (an almost impossible feat for any career artist). During his life, Merwin published over 50 books of … [Read more...]
Fiddlin' Around in Ireland a Travel Essay by Linda Watanabe McFerrin We were at Maggie’s, a pub on Kiernan Street in Kilkenny, and the devil was panting at Anthony Macauley's elbow, for the Irish lads were dueling it out with the musicians from Cornwall and the fiddles were smoking. The four musicians from Cornwall had their backs to the dark plank wall. Portraits of Yeats and Shaw frowned down on them. "I'm going to have to number these tunes," muttered the Cornish fiddler. "There's no point; you can't count," taunted one of the Irish lads. And so it went with the fiddles … [Read more...]