Monday, May 19, 2008

Stuff

My sincere thanks go out to everyone who helped to spread the word about the Robin Becker Chapbook Prize. The (presumably) last manuscripts came in today by mail with 5/15 postmarks--it's possible, I guess, that something from oh, I don't know, Alaska might trickle in tomorrow, but the response has been great: 62 manuscripts came in (63, actually, but one was withdrawn, having been accepted elsewhere) (congrats again).
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We're having a cool, damp spring. The laundry room windowsills are jammed with seedlings that I'm reluctant to set out--morning glories, thunbergia vines, hot peppers--because I'm afraid they'll languish in the cold. I haven't even started basil seeds. At this point, I'm just going to buy some plants once we're into consistently warm weather.
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Congrats to Steve Fellner and Daniel Hall, cowinners of the Thom Gunn Award in Poetry for Blind Date with Cavafy (Marsh Hawk Press) and Under Sleep (Chicago), and to Joan Larkin, who won the Audre Lorde Award for My Body (Hanging Loose).

[photo: "Lamp blossom," 5/11/08]

4 comments:

Oh gosh said...

Hey Ron, w/ all your chapbook expertise & appreciation, would you be willing to do a rundown of favorite/best/most interesting/most well-designed/most prestigious/etc chapbook contests? Then post it somewhere, like here! :)

Ron said...

Miriam, where are you this summer? It's June Poet season, and though I'm no longer involved with the program (sob!) I keep expecting to run across a gaggle of poets at every corner. . .

Re: chapbook presses/contests, the three words you need most to know are: New. Michigan. Press.

E me!

Ron

Oh gosh said...

Hey I'm slowly percolating on an email to you, but guess what re New Michigan, which I love--I was just a finalist for the 2008 contest!!!!! Maybeeeeee next year.

Ron said...

Congrats, Miriam! You're getting close. Please e-mail me your phone # and let's chat things over.