Welcome to the official website of the
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: http://www.ravenelectrick.com /sportyspecgls.html
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 Which Are Not Planets, Historical People Who May or May Not Exist, and Interesting Places Which 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 two hour poetry time slot 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.
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 school children, 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.
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 of Ignotus winners:
http://www.aefcft.com/index .html
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 about what a poem, particularly an SF poem, might actually be. . . .
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: http://www.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, Arlene Ambrose and John Tumlin.
Photos By: Elissa Malcohn
Top: Marge Simon, Bruce Boston, John Tumlin Bottom Left: Arlene and Chris Ambrose Bottom Right: Kristy Tallman and Malcolm Deeley
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.
La Brea Tar Pits, September 1, 2007
(left to right) Lois P. Jones, Denise Dumars, W. Gregory Stewart, Deborah P Kolodji, Megan Sugarman, Samantha Henderson (in front) Kendall Evans
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)
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. There was a reception, 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
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.
Photo by Jason Jack Miller, text by T. Esaias.
Michael Arnzen, Reader
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, May 25-27, in Orlando, Florida.
Oasis 20: http://www.oasfis.org/oasis/
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 or 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."
The winning entries, honorable mention, & rules for the Balticon 42 Poetry Contest (as well as winners in previous years) may be found at: http://www.toadmail.com/~litecirclebooks/balticonpoetry.html
Balticon: http://www.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, Lois Jones, Debbie Kolodji, Greg Stewart, and Christopher Vera.
Southland Poets of the Fantastic: http://spf-news.blogspot.com
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 Link: http://www.horror.org/news-2006stokerwinners.htm
Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Reading
On April 9, 2007, there was a 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, interviewing Debbie Kolodji and Samantha Henderson.
(l to r): Deborah P Kolodji, W. Gregory Stewart, Samantha Henderson, Don Kingfisher Campbell
Monday Night Poetry Link: http://home.earthlink.net/~mondaynightpoetry/
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 Leigh Relf, J. C. Runolfson, and s.c. virtes.
left to right: Deborah P. Kolodji, J.C. Runolfson, Samantha Henderson, Kevin Murphy, Deborah Flores
front: Kendall Evans
CondorCon Link: http://www.condorcon.org
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 local poets to the SFPA. Four quarterly workshops are planned.
(back): Deborah P Kolodji, W Gregory Stewart, Lois P Jones
(front): Samantha Henderson, Kendall Evans
Southland Poets of the Fantastic: http://spf-news.blogspot.com
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