Karen Luke Jackson and Kathleen Calby Hold Dual Book Launch Event Feb. 1

Poets Karen Luke Jackson and Kathleen Calby will launch their new poetry books over Zoom Thursday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m.  The event is open to anyone wishing to join over Zoom and is sponsored by Redheaded Stepchild Magazine.

They will be reading selections from "Flirting with Owls" and "If You Choose to Come."  An open mic will follow the reading.

Karen Luke Jackson

Jackson, winner of the Rash Poetry Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee, draws upon family lore, contemplative practices, and nature for inspiration. Her poems have appeared in "Atlanta Review," "EcoTheo," "Susurrus," "Salvation South," and "Friends Journal," among others. She has also authored three poetry collections: "If You Choose To Come," paying homage to the healing beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains; "The View Ever Changing," exploring the lifelong pull of one's homeplace and family ties; and "GRIT," chronicling her sister's adventures as an award-winning clown. Jackson is a facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal. She lives in a cottage on a goat pasture in western North Carolina. Her website is: karenlukejackson.com

Calby lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hosts writer events in Henderson County for the North Carolina Writers Network. Her work appears in "San Pedro River Review," "New Plains Review" and "The Orchards Poetry Journal." Named a 2022 Rash Award Poetry Finalist, Calby published "Flirting with Owls" (Kelsay Books) in 2023 and has just completed a full-length manuscript on an Egypt journey she took.  She enjoys fried chicken and biscuits a bit too much, and long, strenuous walks not enough.

Editor Malaika King Albrecht, who hosts these launches, is a wonderful supporter of the writing community. You can sign up on Facebook for the event https://fb.me/e/1zcm2xrvc or email Jackson  atkljluke@gmail.com.

Ken Chamlee Book Launch Set for Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

    Poet Kenneth Chamlee will launch his latest book, "The Best Material for the Artist in the World," (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. over Zoom.

    "The Best Material for the Artist in the World" tracks the life and career of landscape artist Albert Bierstadt. Relaying the story primarily through his voice, these narrative, lyric, and ekphrastic poems touch the momentum of the developing west, the devastation of native tribes and great buffalo herds, and the resiliency of Bierstadt’s art in our time of environmental awareness and expansionist reappraisal.

    To get a link and join the Zoom presentation contact Ken at chamleek@gmail.com.

    Bierstadt was born in Germany and came to America with his parents at age two. Growing up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the young artist apprenticed in Europe, but the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite Valley became the subjects driving his expansive, often romanticized sense of nature. Though best known for large-scale paintings with atmospheric trees and ethereal lighting, Bierstadt was also a master of intimate detail and animal portraiture. 

     ​​Chamlee’s biography-in-poems follows the arc of Bierstadt’s life and career, from youth to extraordinary success to eventual decline. Primarily in the artist’s voice, the poems also speak through other important characters, renderings of specific paintings, and the poet’s own sense of engagement. With realistic description and emotional embrace, this fine collection explores Bierstadt’s determination to depict a glorious post-war West while also revealing personal and historic loss.

Order from Stephen F. Austin
State University Press
Also available at
Highland Books, Brevard, NC
City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC
Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC
Main Street Books, Davidson, NC
Union Avenue Books, Knoxville , TN

Poet Pat Revere-Seel launches new book

 

Pat Riviere-Seel recently appeared as a guest on Mountain Wordsmiths on Zoom. We enjoyed her talk and enjoyed her poetry. She has invited us to join her on Zoom for the launch of her new book on October 7. 

Come celebrate with me at my virtual book launch for When There Were Horses -  on October 7, 7-8 pm  Check my website - http://www.patriviereseel.com on the Events page for the invitation. 

 Hosted by the marvelous Malaika King Albrecht and Redheaded Stepchild, there will be an open-mic after my reading, so bring a poem to share. 

Isn't it wonderful? No matter where you live, you can attend online, meet writers and poets from other parts of our state and out of state.

 

Renea Winchester launches Outbound Train

Outbound Train releases today ! Being an author means you’ve signed up to be vulnerable. You’ve laid out your soul for all to read. Being an author means the public’s initial perception of your work can make or break something you’ve invested years of your life into. Being an author also means some readers will adore your work, others will use their platform to voice their displeasure. And perhaps that is why authors worry, because from inspiration to final edits we have been in control. But as the ink dries on publication day and a book baby is born, an author has mixed emotions: so much love and hope mingle with the feeling of complete helplessness. And so my friends, I give you Outbound Train, my book baby. I pray you will scatter her like petals in the wind. I pray you will experience life in my hometown from my eyes, and that you will gift me with the kindness of a book review. A book review will make or break Outbound Train. I hope you will tell your friends, your librarian and the neighbor across the street. For in these uncertain times I still believe that words matter and I need you more than you shall ever know. With sincere appreciation. Be well and safe during these uncertain times. Renea

My friends, Independent Booksellers are hurting. Please call your local Indie and order a copy today. Many are shipping copies as well. Find your Indie Bookseller here. Link to Amazon here.  PLEASE NOTE: AUTHORS DO NOT receive payments for USED COPIES sold through Amazon. These copies are most-likely damaged copies or copies sent to a reviewer who is now selling it. Please support all authors and buy new, or local books.

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JAMES DAVIS MAY Book Launch for poetry collection

Please join us at Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA, on Tuesday, March 15th for the book launch of James Davis May's first poetry collection, Unquiet Things, which was just released by Louisiana State University Press.  The reading, which will begin at 6:30 p.m., will be held in the Hatcher Room, located in the Rollins Campus Center. A book signing will follow the reading.   

Grounded in wonder and fueled by an impulse to praise, the poems in James Davis May's debut collection, Unquiet Things, to be published by LSU Press in March 2016, grapple with skepticism, violence, and death to generate lasting insights into the human experience. With compassion and humor, this second and final volume in Claudia Emerson’s Goat Island Poets series exposes the unseen tragedies and rejoices in the small, surprising moments of grace in everyday life.

May’s poems impart sincere astonishment at the natural world, where experiences of nature serve as "stand-ins, almost, / for grace." His poems seek to transcend cynicism, turning often to the landscapes of North Georgia, his native Pittsburgh, and Eastern Europe, as well as to his literary forebears, for guidance. 

For the poet, no force propels that transcendence more powerfully than love: love for his wife and daughter, love for language, and love for the incomprehensible world that he inhabits. These stylistically varied poems are by turns conversational, earnest, self-deprecating, meditative, and often funny, whether they're discussing grand themes such as love and beauty, or more corporeal subjects like fever and food poisoning.

Lyrical and strange, tragic and amusing, Unquiet Things traces an experiential journey in the ordinary world, uncovering joys that span from the lingering memories of childhood to the losses and triumphs of adulthood.

Originally from Pittsburgh, James Davis May now lives in the Georgia mountains. His poems have appeared in Five Points, the Missouri Review, New England Review, New Ohio Review, New Republic, Rattle, and The Southern Review, among others. He is married to poet Chelsea Rathburn.

Submitted by Rosemary Royston, Georgia Co-Representative for NCWN-West