Elizabeth Hazen Announced as a Finalist for the 2019 Baker Award Elizabeth Hazen (left) with Santa Fe Writers Project founder, Andrew Gifford The 2019 Baker Award finalists have been announced! The Baker Awards are the premier honors for artists working and living in the greater Baltimore area. Past awardees in music include jazz pianist and music club stalwart, Lafayette Gilchrist, and avant garde pedal steel virtuoso, Susan Alcorn. Winners of the Baker Literary prize include poet and Iowa Writer's alum Dora Malech and novelist Timmy Reed. This year, ASP's own Elizabeth Hazen, … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri's February 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. February 2019's review features 8 books ranging from exciting newcomer, Sam Ross, to long-dead literary stalwart, Charles Bukowski (whose new collection, edited and compiled by Abel Debritto, is titles On Drinking) Read the full February 2019 round-up HERE … [Read more...]
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...]
Featured Audio: Rose Solari Reads "The Beginning , 1939" "Rose's voice is as much a part of the journey as the text. Her understanding of (and love for) the music within language is entrancing-haunting, and delightful. It moves me like love itself." Reuben Jackson In "The Beginning, 1939" Rose Solari's mastery of recitation is put to the music of her capricious mother and the frantic hopes of her father who wishes to leave "no long, tight pauses for her to fill." I've written before about Rose's use of swing and rhythmic motifs in her work, elements which are alive in this poem, … [Read more...]
Mikaela Lefrak Examines the Life of Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri In a new piece for the WAMU website, Mikaela Lefrak takes a deep dive into the career and day to day of Maryland's 10th Poet Laureate. “I had no choice. I was born and wired a writer.” Says Grace Cavalieri in the new WAMU article exploring her life as a poet and her plans as Maryland's 10th Poet Laureate. The beloved Grace Cavalieri "contains multitudes" according to Mikaela Lefrak in her newest article from WAMU taking a look at the life and career of the 10th Poet Laureate. And Ms. Lefrak treats her … [Read more...]
Listen to Grace Cavalieri on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Grace Cavalieri's interview on the Kojo Nnamdi show is now up on the WAMU website Grace Cavalieri's recent stop at NPR's The Kojo Nnamdi show is now streamable HERE Over a substantive 22 minutes, listen to Grace talk about poetry, inspiration, and her plans as the 10th Maryland Poet Laureate. Grace Cavalieri is the author of 23 books and chapbooks of poetry and 26 produced plays. A co-founder of WPFW-FM, a groundbreaking public radio station. Grace began her legendary interview show, “The Poet and the Poem,” at that station 40 … [Read more...]
Featured Poetry: "That Paris Year" by Joanna Biggar If you’ve been to France, this novel is a delicious joy ride, the next best thing to a return ticket. If you haven’t, it may get you packing. It is, above all, an extended love song to a city the author knows intimately and in exquisite detail. – Christine Berardo, writer and producer OED: "Poetry- A piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery." If you've come to this post there's a likely chance you've … [Read more...]
MLK Video: Reuben Jackson narrates "March" by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin Hear Reuben Jackson narrate from "March: Book One" in honor of MLK day. If the video is not working, you can follow THIS link to stream it. Happy MLK day! We are super excited to finally see Reuben Jackson's long awaited narration of March: Book One co-written by congressman and civil rights activist, John Lewis. And it does not disappoint. The narration above is paired with visuals from the graphic novel which was illustrated by Nate Powell. For more information, we did a story last week on … [Read more...]
Reuben Jackson Narrating Graphic Novel "March" for MLK inspired Concert On January 20th Reuben Jackson will be reading March: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin for a performance of the Vermont Youth Orchestra entitled "Beyond the Frame — Depictions of a Dream" and heavily inspired by the life and work of Dr. King (Pictured: The Vermont Youth Orchestra and director Benjamin Klemme) In-house ASP wordsmith and noted Jazz Scholar, Reuben Jackson, will be narrating March: Book One, written in part by sitting Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, for the Vermont Youth … [Read more...]
Featured Poetry: "Winter Funeral" by Elizabeth Hazen Fully embracing what the lyric mode does best, Hazen provides the readers with brief, intense poems that preserve a suspended moment in time, attempting to record the thought processes and emotions of the speaker much like tree rings reveal drought, heat, and age. With astonishing clarity and concision, Hazen explores the mysteries of our realities—which are ultimately beholden to entropy. —Charlotte Pence, Kenyon Review Winter Funeral The embouchure opens to the unknown of ocean, the horizon’s deceptive line. It unfolds … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri Set to Appear on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Jan 23rd Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri will appear on Kojo Nnamdi's NPR show on January 23rd at 12pm for an interview. Recently Governor Larry Hogan announced that Grace Cavlieri, poet, playwright, and long time host of NPR's The Poet and The Poem, would become Maryland's next Poet Laureate, succeeding the great Stanley Plumly. Now after being inaugurated, one of her first stops is The Kojo Nnamdi show. Kojo Nnamdi has been hosting his show on WAMU for 20 years, so he and Grace are kindred spirits in that regard--Grace … [Read more...]
2019 Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri Reads "Work is My Secret Lover" “We’re honored to have Grace Cavalieri join the distinguished ranks of Maryland’s Poet Laureates. Her lifelong passion for and dedication to poetry and the arts is nothing short of astounding, and I’m confident Marylanders will enjoy her readings and develop a greater understanding and appreciation for poetry through her service.” - Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan Governor Hogan recently announced Maryland's ninth Poet Laureate to be the incomparable Grace Cavalieri. In his press conference regarding the announcement … [Read more...]
ASP Author's Gift Guide for Book-Lovers Part 3: The Scholar, The Teacher, and The Godfather A Sampling of Music, Mythology, and Books that Touch the Heart Reuben Jackson Poet Reuben Jackson is also an acclaimed jazz scholar, and an expert in all things musical. We asked him to list 5 great books for music lovers. His new collection, scattered clouds, is out from ASP in 2019. Debussy: A Painter in Sound, by Stephen Walsh, Alfred A. Knopf My only quibble with this biography of the great French composer is that the inclusion of technical music jargon … [Read more...]
Hear Mark A. Pritchard Read from "Billy Christmas" Pritchard’s debut novel is a magical treat in the grand tradition of children’s Christmas tales – he’s a natural storyteller, whose characters will engage and delight even the most hard-hearted scrooge. — Kate Whiting, Worcester Book Reviews “We have things to discuss” the Christmas tree says to Billy in the dark of the living room after bemoaning its fairy light binds. Billy’s mother is sick in bed, his father is missing, and the pine tree he was given by the charitable proprietor of his local stand is about to thrust him into a magical … [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...]
ASP's Gift Guide for Book Lovers Part 1: The Historian, The Dramatist, and The Laureate Well, it’s that time of year again, when holiday gift lists are popping up all over. Here at ASP HQ, we’re particularly interested, of course, in gifts for book-lovers, and we’ve noticed a curious fact: No matter how diverse the sources of these lists, a few titles pop up again and again. Usually these are recently published, widely reviewed best-sellers. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, gift-givers might find themselves putting one more copy of the current hot mystery, or … [Read more...]
Read Elizabeth Hazen's "Burial at Shanidar" from her collection Chaos Theories Christmas is the traditional European winter celebration of life. It endows a grace to flurries in the pines, bringing celestial comparisons to moon and star light, it celebrates the beauty, for Christians, of the messianic birth, and it pierces what are the darkest days of the year with hung and twinkling ornaments and fairy lights strewn, and smiles and cheer. In a lot of ways this solstitial celebration is a reaction to and transformation of death. It reminds us that there is a spirit in all things which does … [Read more...]
Hear Mark A. Pritchard the first few pages of Billy Christmas It's that time of year again, as I'm sure you know. That time of year to rediscover all those things one loves and yet stores in boxes during the sunnier months--ornaments, heirlooms, wax statues, wreaths, and the classics. And although one should not consider Billy Christmas a novel pigeon-holed by its festive nature, for it is good any day of the year, (as are the classics!) we are so happy the holiday season is here to give us an opportunity to promote Mark A. Pritchard's incredible young adult novel. Hear Mark A. Pritchard … [Read more...]
Grace Cavalieri's November 2018 Exemplars of Poetry Every month for the Washington Independent Review of Books, the amazing Maryland Poet, 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. This is November 2018's and you can find her full review HERE on the WIRoB site And don't forget to support your indies! Here is an excerpt, a review of The Book of Sharks by Rob Carney from Black Lawrence Press (What an awesome job they did with the cover art on this one. Wow!) The … [Read more...]