Good day! Hope life is treating you well. Concerned about the stock market? You may want to read Elizabeth Kerlikowske's poem "The Two Worlds" on the The New Verse News today (August 26, 20015). There's a whole section of poetry by E. Michael Desilets at the VerseWrights site; his latest to be posted is "Sidetrack's Last Haircut." The Chicago Writers Conference is coming up--September 25-27. Did I mention Donna Hilbert has five poems ("Mother in Satin," … [Read more...]
News and nifty
"Keep your sunny side up, up!" ("Hide the side that gets blue"). I write this to myself as well as to you. No whining. I’ve been watching Foyle’s War on Netflix and really enjoying it. It very rarely hits the wrong note; I’ve watched two seasons and only had some quibbles with the series. It’s been making me think of the sacrifices made at that time (1940s), wondering whether modern society could soldier on so. Here’s news I know. First off, big congrats to Ellen Bass … [Read more...]
The ides of April
Happy Poetry Month! Harumph, harrumph. It’s the smack dab middle of the month, also our tax deadline day, and in Chicago, the landscape is once again clearing from a surprise snow shower (see Glimpse of Solace). I wanted to share some stuff with you. First, as I have before in this space, I recommend you drop in on Dave Bonta’s poetry blog, Via Negativa. A recent post is "National Poetry Day is a failure." It will get you thinking. Dave links to the post "Against … [Read more...]
Spring books: Chacon, Powers, Sklar
Three contributors to Solace in So Many Words have new books! Congrats! Daniel Chacon’s newest publication is Hotel Juarez, which was published in March by Arte Publico Pr. Here’s what Publishers Weekly said in its starred review: “Chacon, winner of the 2007 Hudson Prize for Unending Rooms, returns with a collection of short fiction concerned with American and Mexican relations in which a world of race and identity politics emerges. Linked but never repetitive, these … [Read more...]
News of Solace writers & friends: Powers, Somlo, McConnell
Arthur Powers has a new book, The Book of Jotham, out on Kindle. The Book of Jotham won the 2012 Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction for the Novella and is published by Tuscany Press, which is "seeking and making known stories with human frailties, beauty, grace, love, redemption, hope, courage and the presence of God." The 61-page book is about Jotham who is a mentally challenged man-child and apostle of Jesus Christ. Arthur also has a book of short stories due out from a … [Read more...]