Here is a link to the book launch for “An Augury of Birds” and “eventually” with Redheaded Stepchild hosted by the wonderful Malaika King Albrecht last October.
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WELCOME BACK & HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
I’ve been missing! Sorry. Not from the world of poetry, but from my own website. That happens when you’re technologically challenged and very, very busy. Since the last time I posted anything here, I’ve published 10 new books, given more than 60 readings, received several awards, been nominated for a bunch more, lead a dozen workshops, taught somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand students, moved, planted more trees, shrubs, and flowers than I could count, and most importantly, become a grandfather.
Now that I have the website up and running again, I promise I won’t wait so long before the next post. If you’re curious about the books, click on the books tab, and you’ll find a bit of info about each of them as well as a link to the publisher’s website where you can order as many as you want (poetry books make excellent gifts).
It is National Poetry Month, and I’ve been busy. I read at the Arts Culture Catawba Reception on April 3rd and participated in their ekphrastic poetry exhibit (still up at the SALT Block through June). I was interviewed by WHKY News. I read at the Hickory Literary Festival on April 12th and was interviewed for the Listen & Be Heard Network podcast (which I’ll announce here when it comes out). And on April 29th I’ll be reading at the Bethlehem Branch Library in Bethlehem, NC.
A little later this year (early August), my 23rd book, titled “Elemental,” will arrive from Redhawk Publishing, and we will launch it at the August 12 Poetry Hickory. I’m also scheduled to read at Waterbean in Huntersville on August 27, and at the Flood Gallery in Asheville, NC, on September 29. Clearly, I need to add an events tab to the website — Coming Soon!
Speaking of things that should be “coming soon,” several of the readings I’ve done over the last few years have been online readings or podcasts, which can be viewed or listened to still, so over the next week or so, I’m going to work on adding a tab that will take you to those as well.
Thanks for reading. I’m not great at this, but I’ll keep trying to post anything that might be helpful to poetry readers, and I’d love to hear from you with questions, thoughts, or other opportunities. Bye for now.
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Bike and Book
I just have to share this photo of my new book of poems arriving in Daniel Nathan Terry’s mailbox. This reminds me of when my son sent me a photo of another book of mine that he found in the stacks of the UNCG library while he was working there. I need to see if that still exists anywhere. Thanks to Daniel for sending this one to me.
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Shoe Burnin News Clip
Here is a news video from the Louisiana Book Festival where The Shoe Burnin’ Anthology debuted. The anthology includes one of my poems with fantastic stories from writers and musicians from across the South. This bit of video includes singing as well as interviews about the anthology with Lari White, Joe Formichella, and Chuck Cannon. Fast forward to 16:26 and stay tuned in until 19:40 to get a good sense of the book.
You can still order copies of the book from Rivers Edge Media.
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21 Writers, a Pile of Shoes, and a Fire
What do you get when you blend 21 writers, a pile of shoes, and a fire? Believe it or not, that’s not the first line of a joke. What you get is one of the most interesting anthologies that has come out in a long time.
The Shoe Burnin’ Anthology and CD available now for pre-order from River’s Edge Media (Order here) includes poems, stories, essays, and songs from Chuck Cannon, Susan Cushman, Joe Formichella, Ed Southern, Michael Reno Harrell, Suzanne Hudson, Shari Smith, Scott Owens and a baker’s dozen more notable Southern musicians and literati based on the premise that “Any pair of shoes has a story to tell.”
The first Shoe Burnin’ occurred on a cold winter’s night some years ago in Alabama; when the firewood ran out, a box of old shoes provided the assembled group of friends and artists with the fuel they needed to stock the hearth and share stories and songs late into the night. The bond forged that night began a tradition of fireside Shoe Burnin’s, and in remembrance, many stories and songs shared since have involved shoes — all the places they trod and the myriad experiences of those who wore them. “The Shoe Burnin’, Stories of Southern Soul” is a collection of those works.
Grammy Award winning musician, Rodney Crowell, says “Homicidal librarians, French twisted, stilletto’d and on the lam, flip flop shod Bessie Smith wannabe’s and cowboy booted, beauties out to prove that to get gone a woman doesn’t need fast footwear; good-ole-boys sporting Red Wing lace-up’s and an emergency medical trained aversion to Converse wearing co-ed’s pulling volunteer duty on a cat-4 tornado cleanup crew; guilt ridden bird-dog lover’s and holders onto of life’s half-forgotten keepsakes: all this and more from a coalition of wordsmiths, story-tellers and song-swappers whose whiskey whetted forebears first stumbled onto the notion that on a cold winter’s night in the deep south, it’s better to burn shoe leather than brave a trip to the woodpile.”
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Eye of the Beholder Discount Extended
So, the bad news is that the release date for my new book, Eye of the Beholder, has been postponed to mid-November.
The good news is that means the pre-publication discount will available throughout October. Scroll down through a few recent posts to see what Kay Byer, Philip Dacey, and Sandra Beasley say about the book, or follow this link (Pris Campbell Reflection)to read the first review.
You can order a copy at the discounted price through PayPal by clicking on the cover image below.
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Ridgeline Writers Conference Program
Here is the program for the upcoming Ridgeline Literary Alliance Workshop where I’ll be teaching a workshop along with Michael Diebert, Steven Harvey, and Darnell Arnoult. Should be lots of fun!
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Excerpt from Ron Moran’s Review of “Shadows Trail Them Home”
Here is an excerpt from Ron Moran’s Review of Shadows Trail Them Home (my recent collaboration with Pris Campbell) in the Fall 2013 issue of South Carolina Review. For anyone interested in the book, I still have a few copies of my own, or you can order them from Clemson University Press. You can subscribe to South Carolina Review here
“Shadows Trail Them Home is both a compelling and an important book. Although it is published as a collection of poems in four parts, its characters and consistent plot make it read much like a work of fiction, except for its dynamic and functional use of tropes and, more important, its fluid movement between lines.
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Particularly at the onset but even until the end, sexuality orders this collection, although it is never present to serve prurient ends, but, rather, to demonstrate what Norman and Sara have in common and why Sara led a promiscuous and meaningless life both before and after (for a long time) her interlude with Norman, as well as to illustrate that, despite how physically drawn one may be to another, an abusive past may very well, as it does with Norman, prevent a relationship from going beyond the physical level, even though there is little doubt that each of the partners loves the other.”
