November 2007
Sporty Spec Launch
Speculative poetry was very much a part of the West Coast Launch of Sporty
Spec: Games of the Fantastic, the new anthology edited by
SFPA member Karen A. Romanko on Thursday, November
29, 2007, at Bookfellows/Mystery and Imagination bookstore in Glendale,
California. Samantha
Henderson and Deborah P Kolodji read
their poems from the anthology and Jude-Marie
Green read her flash fiction piece. Karen
A. Romanko was the emcee.
For more information about the anthology, please visit ravenelectrick.com
Karen A. Romanko, Samantha Henderson, Deborah P Kolodji, and Jude-Marie Green
Speculative Poetry at LosCon
What happens when you mix Archeological
Tools, Places in the Universe That Are Not Planets, Historical People
Who May or May Not Exist, and Interesting Places That May or May
Not Exist? You have new poems! These were the four prompts used at the speculative
poetry workshop and reading at LosCon over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Eight poets—Samantha
Henderson, Nancy Taylor, Kendall Evans, W. Gregory Stewart, Carolyn
Clink, Alasdair Mackintosh, Christina Paige, and Deborah
P Kolodji participated in the Writing Group
area set up in the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel on Saturday,
November 24, 2007.
Kendall Evans, Samantha Henderson, and Carolyn Clink have coffee after the LosCon Speculative Poetry Workshop and Reading
David Lunde
wins PEN USA Translation Award
David Lunde, longtime
SFPA member and Rhysling Award winner, has won the PEN USA Translation
Award together with Professor Mary Y.M. Fung for their work in
translating The Carving of Insects, a book of poetry
by Chinese poet Bian Zhilin. PEN Center USA's annual awards program,
established in 1982, recognizes literary excellence of writers
living west of the Mississippi River in ten categories: fiction,
creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, poetry, children's literature,
translation, journalism, drama, teleplay, and screenplay. Lunde
and the other 2007 winners received $1000 cash prizes and were
honored at the annual Literary Awards Festival in Los Angeles on
November 6th. Lunde won the 1992 Short Poem Rhysling Award for "Song
of the Martian Cricket" and
the 1995 Long Poem Rhysling Award for "Pilot, Pilot." He has published
eight books of poetry and his poems, stories, and translations have appeared
internationally in more than 230 periodicals and 40 anthologies. Lunde's most
recent collection of poems, INSTEAD, is published by Mayapple Press
and is available from the author.
David Lunde photo
Peter Payack Named Poet Populist
On November 13th, the city of Cambridge,
MA, named SFPA member Peter Payack to be its first
Poet Populist after a city-wide election following a public poetry
reading. Payack will receive a $1000 stipend for the one-year
post. Payack won the 1980 Short Poem Rhysling Award for "The Migration of Darkness." He
is a widely acclaimed poet, writer, inventor and sky artist, publishing
more than 1,500 poems, with multiple appearances in The
Paris Review, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, and Asimov's
Science Fiction. Payack is the inventor of the world-renowned Stonehenge Watch, an infinitesimal replica of the megaliths at Stonehenge inside of
an old-fashioned pocket watch. Payack plans to use his term as Poet Populist
to build on community building projects he has innovated in the past: Star-Poems,
Poetry Fortune cookies, Illuminated Word, and Phone-a-Poem, working with schoolchildren,
the elderly, and other community groups. He would like to change
people's traditional perceptions of poetry, bringing it out of books and libraries
to make it more accessible to all people in fun, interesting, and innovative
ways.
Peter Payack photo
Poetry News from Spain
Alfredo Álamo has won Spain's
2007 Ignotus Award for Best Poetic Work with his poem "Poe." The
award, the equivalent of a Spanish Hugo, was presented Nov. 3 at
Hispacon, Spain's annual science fiction convention, held this year
in Seville. He won Ignotus Awards in 2005 for his poem "Quiero
ser como Lugosi" ("I Want to Be Like Lugosi"), and
in 2004 for "Apocalipsis relativo" ("Relative Apocalypse").
He also won an 2007 Ignotus for Best Comic, Space
Legion. Full list
aefcft.com/index.html
Alfred Álamo photo
October 2007
SFPA Website is Sci Fi Weekly's
Site of the Week
The week of
October 3, the Science Fiction Poetry Association site was selected
as Site of the Week. The review says, in part:
Founded in 1978 by the well-known SF writer and linguist Suzette Haden Elgin, the Science Fiction Poetry Association is a tight-knit community of visionaries bound by an affection for poetry laced with elements of the fantastic. This organization offers advice on craft and marketing to aspiring poets, celebrates its members' numerous achievements and even delves into deeper questions
For anyone interested in learning more about SF poetry and the people who create it, this site provides an abundance of riches—a complete roadmap for exploring this oft-overlooked territory of the speculative literary canon. (Read the complete review at the Sci Fi site: scifi.com/sfw/sites/sfw17079.html.
Florida SFPA Poets' Round Table
Discussion at Necronomicon
Florida SFPA poets participated in a poetry panel at Necronomicon
on Saturday, October 6. The poets took turns reading a dark poem
by someone else on the panel (nobody knew just which of their poems
would be chosen). The authors then responded to questions about their
poem, both from other panel members and the audience. The poets then
met over lunch. Attending were Bruce Boston,
Marge Simon, Elissa Malcohn, Mal Deeley, Kristy Tallman, Chris Ambrose,
and John Tumlin.
Top: Marge
Simon, Bruce Boston, John Tumlin. Bottom Left: Arlene and Chris Ambrose.
Bottom Right: Kristy Tallman and Malcolm Deeley.
Photos
by Elissa Malcohn
September 2007
Southland Poets of the Fantastic Workshop
The Southland Poets
of the Fantastic held their third quarterly workshop on Saturday,
September 1, 2007 at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. After a
brief workshop session in the adjacent courtyard at LACMA, participants
viewed the Pit 99 Excavation and toured the Page Museum. After exchanging
poetry prompts in the museum, each poet had about an hour of writing
time before regrouping for food and sharing.
Lois P. Jones, Denise Dumars, W. Gregory
Stewart, Deborah P Kolodji, Megan Sugarman, Samantha Henderson; (front) Kendall Evans
July 2007
2007 Rhysling Winners
Winners of the 2007 Rhysling Award were announced Saturday, July 7, at Readercon:
SHORT POEM:
1st: Rich Ristow The Graven Idol's Godheart The
Shantytown Anomaly 2 (March 2006)
2nd: Joe Haldeman god is dead short live god Mythic 1 (April
2006)
3rd: Lawrence Schimel Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Hole Helix 3 (Winter 2007) [published December 2006]
LONG POEM:
1st: Mike Allen The Journey to Kailash Strange
Horizons (1/23/2006)
2nd: Catherynne M. Valente The Eight Legs of Grandmother Spider Mythic 1 (April 2006)
3rd: Samantha Henderson Sleepers Dreams & Nightmares 75
(September 2006)
2007 Rhysling Winners Photo Page
Participants in the 2007 Rhysling Award Poetry Slan at
ReaderCon 18: (l to r): Top Row, standing: Stephen Wilson, Peter Payack,
Lucius Shepard; Top Row, seated: Mike Allen, J. Bruce Fuller, Drew Morse,
Catherynne Valente, Darrell Schweitzer; Bottom row, seated: Lila Garrott,
Mary Alexandra Agner, Leah Bobet, Lorraine Schein, Sonya Taaffe, Erik
Amundsen; foreground, seated, Maureen McHugh. Not pictured: Theodora
Goss. Photo by Melissa Zagidulin.
SF Poetry Reading in San Diego
Poets, Inc. and the Escondido Arts Partnership hosted a science fiction
poetry reading on Sunday, July 1st, featuring the San Diego SCI-FI Triumvirate
of Terrie Leigh Relf, Scott Virtes, and Jon
Wesick. A reception was
followed by the reading, then an open mic. Afterwards, some of the
poets joined SFPA president Deborah Kolodji for "Killer Pizza
from Mars."
Terrie Leigh Relf, Reader
June 2007
Green Hills of Earth Reading
The
Three Rivers Arts Festival hosted Green Hills of Earth, a
speculative fiction poetry reading, in downtown Pittsburgh, on June
2nd. Headlining the reading were award-winning poets Michael
Arnzen and Timons Esaias, along with Heidi
Ruby Miller, Eric Leif Davin, Ziggy Edwards, and Chris
Ferrier. In addition to reading their own work,
the history of SF poetry was honored by readings of Byron, Stephen
Vincent Benét, Rupert Brooke, Archibald MacLeish, Lilith Lorraine,
Dorothy Quick and others, including even Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The
event went well, the only regret being that it hadn't been videotaped.
Michael Arnzen, Reader. Photo by Jason
Jack Miller, text by T. Esaias.
May 2007
SFPAn Darrell Schweitzer Wins
Asimov's SF Reader's Choice Award
Asimov's Science Fiction magazine awarded its Readers'
Choice Awards for 2006 at a breakfast on Saturday, May 12, 2007. SFPA
member Darrell Schweitzer won in the "Best Poem" category
for his poem "Remembering the Future" in the October/November
2006 issue.
SF Poetry Panel at Oasis 20
Chris Ambrose moderated a poetry panel consisting of the following SFPA members
and award-winning poets: Joe Haldeman, Michael
Bishop, Bruce Boston, Carolyn Clink, Marge Simon, and Malcolm
Deeley. The poetry panel was
part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the Oasis convention,
oasfis.org/oasis/
Left to right: Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Joe Haldeman, Chris Ambrose,
Carolyn Clink, Malcolm Deeley, and.…
Michael Bishop
Balticon 41 SF Poetry Contest Winners
The winners of the
Balticon 41 (May 25-28) Poetry Contest have been announced. Oliver
Lodge of Barthgate-West Lothian, Scotland, won first place for
his poem, "I, POD." SFPA member Marge
Simon of Ocala,
FL, won second place for her poem "Skyman's Daughter." Third
place went to Paula Brancato of New York, NY, for her poem, "Astronaut." Balticon: balticon.org
Southland Poets of the Fantastic
Poetry Workshop
The Southland Poets of the Fantastic met on Saturday, May 26th at the Getty Center
in Los Angeles for a speculative poetry workshop. Participants included
Denise Dumars, Stephania Ebony, Samantha Henderson,and Christopher Vera. spf-news.blogspot.com
Back: Denise Dumars, Debbie Kolodji; front: Greg Stewart,
Stephania Ebony, and Samantha Henderson.
April 2007
SFPAn Wins Bram Stoker Award
Bruce Boston's Shades Fantastic (Gromagon Press) has won the Bram
Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association for the best dark
poetry collection of 2006. Horror Writers Association: horror.org/news-2006stokerwinners.htm
Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Reading
April 9, 2007 Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Reading
at Don Kingfisher Campbell's Monday Night Poetry Reading in Pasadena,
CA. W. Gregory Stewart and Samantha
Henderson were the featured
poets. SFPA President Deborah P Kolodji was the guest host. Pasadena
Star News did a follow-up newspaper article on speculative poetry,
Monday Night Poetry: home.earthlink.net/~mondaynightpoetry/
interviewing Debbie Kolodji and Samantha Henderson.
Deborah P Kolodji, W. Gregory Stewart, Samantha Henderson, Don Kingfisher Campbell
March 2007
Condor Poetry Workshop and Reading
A
poetry workshop and reading was held on Saturday, March 3, 2007 at
Condor in San Diego. Samantha Henderson was the emcee
for both events and J.C. Runolfson was the convention
liaison. Participating poets included Kendall Evans, Deborah
Flores, Samantha Henderson, Deborah P. Kolodji, Kevin Murphy, Terrie
and s.c. virtes.condorcon.org
Deborah P. Kolodji, J.C. Runolfson, Samantha Henderson, Kevin Murphy, Deborah Flores; front: Kendall Evans
February 2007
Scifaiku Jam in San Diego
Terrie
Leigh Relf hosted a scifaiku jam at her regularly scheduled Off-Beat
Open Mic at Rebecca's Café in San Diego, CA, on Sunday, February
11, 2007. Participants included Relf, fellow SFPA members Deborah
P Kolodji and s.c. virtes, along with Billie Dee, the former Poet Laureate
of the National Library Service.
(Left to right): Billie Dee, Terrie Leigh Relf, s.c.
virtes, Deborah P Kolodji
Griffith Observatory Poetry Workshop
Members
of the newly formed Southland Poets of the Fantastic met at the Griffith
Observatory in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 24, 2007 for their
first speculative poetry workshop. Workshop participants included Kendall
Evans, Samantha Henderson, Lois Jones, Deborah Kolodji, and Greg
Stewart. Karen Romanko and her husband Bob met up with the group afterwards.
The Southland Poets of the Fantastic was formed by a group of SFPA
members to promote speculative poetry in Southern California and introduce
spf-news.blogspot.com
Back: Deborah P Kolodji, W Gregory Stewart, Lois P Jones; front: Samantha Henderson, Kendall Evans