Torch Lake and Other Poems a Finalist for Norma Farber First Book Award

Brian Johnson's Torch Lake and Other Poems, recently released by Del Sol Press, has been named a finalist for the 2009 Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Johnson, formerly an editor with The Prose Poem: An International Journal, has published his poems and prose poems in many journals, including American Letters and Commentary, Quarter After Eight, Eclipse, and West Branch. His poetry will appear in the forthcoming anthology An Introduction to the Prose Poem, and his collaboration with the German painter Burghard Müller-Dannhausen will be exhibited at the M. Beck Gallery in Homburg/Saar, Germany, in 2010.  

Del Sol Press Books: Interview with David Blair about Ascension Days from Del Sol Press

Here is a link to Gregory Lawless' interview with David Blair about Ascension Days and various aspects of American poetry. Ascension Days was chosen by Thomas Lux for the 2006 Del Sol Poetry Prize. Click under interviews for a selection of interviews with Gregory Lawless.

http://ithoughtiwasnewhere.blogspot.com/

Torch Lake & Other Poems, by Brian Johnson: Coming Soon from Del Sol Press

Torch Lake & Other Poems by Brian Johnson has been released by Del Sol Press.

"The most lyrical poems (mostly in prose) that I have read in years. A silver-tongued 'I' with little concern for itself, so wakeful and watchful is it embodied, and so attuned to its bounty of fabulous perceptions. A first collection brought to a nearly translucent state of shine."

—C. D. Wright

"Torch Lake & Other Poems is the most original and exciting collection given American poetry since Larry Levis' Elegy. There's more juice, scope, imagination, and sheer vitality in this work than in twenty run-of-the-mill collections."

—Gray Jacobik

"Anyone who's read Brian Johnson's poetry over the years has been waiting for his first frull-length book to arrive. It's become a cliché to call someone 'a master of the prose poem,' but Johnson has earned the title. These poems are intelligent, moving, surprising, and above all expertly crafted."

—Peter Johnson

Nothing Between Us - Wendy Barker to Be Published by Del Sol Press

Our runner-up in the last Del Sol Press poetry contest, Wendy Barker, will have her collection, NOTHING BETWEEN US, published by the press in 2009. NOTHING BETWEEN US is a unique collection of work, like a novel told in prose poetry form.

Wendy Barker's work has appeared Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, Poetry. Boulevard, and in many other national publications. She is the recipient of both NEA and Rockefeller grants, and is currently Poet-in-Residence and a professor of English at the University of Texas.

The 2007 Del Sol Press Poetry Prize Winner

Del Sol Press Is delighted to announce the results of the 2007 Del Sol Press Poetry Prize.

Lisa Suhair Majaj of Nicosia, Cyprus for GEOGRAPHIES OF LIGHT.

Selected by Martha Rhodes.

The 2008 Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize Winner

Kimberly Willardson, Carrboro, NC

"Winter Memories of the Summer Bear"

Kimberly Willardson lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, where she’s working on her first novel and finishing a collection of short stories. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Literal Latté, American Short Fiction, Ohioana Quarterly, and Rosebud, among other publications. She has received grant fellowships in fiction writing from the Ohio Arts Council and the Montgomery County (Ohio) Arts and Cultural District.

In addition to her roles as mother, dog trainer, freelance editor, teacher, and landscaper, Ms. Willardson is currently raising funds for The Vincent Brothers Review, which she founded in 1987 and hopes to revive after a five-year hiatus.

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Michael Neff of Del Sol Press at Writers Conference

Michael Neff of Del Sol Press will be at the Fisherman's Wharf Writers Conference in August and October in San Francisco looking for new literary fiction to add to the Del Sol Press collection.

Michael Neff is the founder of Web del Sol and the editor chief of Del Sol Press.

The event website can be found here:
http://fwwriters.algonkianconferences.com

The event is sponsored by Algonkian Writer Conferences.

2008 Poetry Contest Judge and Finalists

Martha Rhodes is the author of three collections of poetry: Mother Quiet (Zoo Press, 2004), Perfect Disappearance (winner of the 2000 Green Rose Prize), and At the Gate (Provincetown Arts Press, 1995). Her poems have appeared in Agni, American Poetry Review, Fence, Ploughshares, and TriQuarterly, among other journals and in many anthologies including The Extraordinary Tide: New Poetry by American Women, and The New American Poets: A Bread Loaf Anthology. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She is the director and founding editor of Four Way Books, a literary press based in New York City.


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Finalists for the 2008 contest:

Nothing Beween Us, The Berkeley Years
Wendy Barker

SPICARESQUE
Yago S. Cura

Persons
Cifford Paul Fetters

Travel Plans for Social Outcasts
Lisa Lewis

Geographies of Light
Lisa Suhair Majaj

The Metaphysical Slot Machine
Peter Moore

Little Disruptions
Biljana D. Obradovic

Job Rides the L Train
Doug Ramspeck

For Ambidextra, the Tenth Muse
Lynn Sadler

HER and HIM, The Ambiguities of and
Bonnie Stanard

Indulgences
Michael Steffen

Tourist
S. Quinlan

Del Sol Press Poetry Prize Status

The 2007 Del Sol Press Poetry Prize contest is underway, albeit slightly delayed due to staff turnover. Please check back for further updates.

Announcing - Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize Results

Del Sol Press is delighted to announce the results of the 2008 Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize.

Winner
Kimberly Willardson, Carrboro, NC: "Winter Memories of the Summer Bear"

Finalists
Naomi Williams, Davis, CA: "The Report"
David Brodie Smith, Richardson, TX: "Watch Him Burn"
Miriam Gershow, Eugene, OR: "Carker"
Erin Soros: "The chorus"
Nick Healy, Mankato, MN: "Joyless Men"
Mark Wisniewski, Lake Peekskill, NY: "Stricken"
Christina Yu, South Bend, IN: "Christmas in the Neighborhood"
Jacob M. Appel, New York, NY: "Animal Control"

Literary Exploring

When my wife and I were in Alsace in 2001, Thomas E. Kennedy suggested that we spend a few days in Paris on our way back to the States. He would also stop there on his way back from a business trip to Malta and arrange a gathering of expatriate American and Canadian writers at the outdoor tables of a cafe on Place de la Contrescarpe. He assembled an impressive crowd of poets, story writers, and novelists. Photos were taken, many of them, and Tom soon afterwards wrote an essay about the experience. That was the start of what is now called The Literary Explorer on Web Del Sol, a combination of prose and pictures.
     The series was Tom's idea, and I had my doubts that I could keep up with him. For close to thirty years he has lived in Copenhagen and traveled widely for business and pleasure, always carrying a camera and gravitating to sites of literary interest. Although I became addicted to European travel during my first semester-long stay in England, my trips averaged one a year for a week or two. But I had my own photos and my memory conjured up experiences to write about.
     Writing about our travels we deliberately avoided the typical guidebook approaches, emphasizing our own engagements with the places and the legacy of the writers who had lived there, often telling about the offbeat and little noticed.
     The Del Sol Press book collects the first 26 essays, but since that publication, we've added many more to the website, finding that we still have a number of past trips to catch up on and seeking essay possibilities when we plan new ones. Fortunately for us, the world offers endless opportunities for literary explorations.

Nin Andrews (loves her dogs) - MIDLIFE CRISIS WITH DICK AND JANE

Nin Andrews is the author of several books including The Book of Orgasms, Why They Grow Wings, Any Kind of Excuse, and Sleeping with Houdini. Her next book, Southern Comfort, is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press, and her chapbook, Dear Professor, Do You Live in a Vacuum, will be out by Christmas this year. Midlife Crisis with Dick and Jane was published by Del Sol Press last year.

Nin's blog can be found here. More bio from her blog as follows: "I have two amazing kids who aren't kids anymore. One is in El Salvador in the Peace Corps. The other is working on his doctoral degree at Berkeley in CS and is also an artist and writer. And I have a cool husband and physicist and bass player, all wrapped into one. And my dogs are Sadie and Froda. I'm totally in love with my dogs. "

Julianne Buchsbaum - "A Little Night Comes"

Julianne Buchsbaum graduated from Beloit College with a BA in Philosophy and Classics. She then went on to earn an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was the recipient of a Paul Engle Fellowship from the Michener Foundation. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in various journals, including Conduit, Verse, The Journal, Southwest Review, Delmar and Harvard Review and are anthologized in Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century.


Her work won the 1999 Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. Ms. Buchsbaum is the author of Slowly, Slowly, Horses (2001, Ausable Press), and her most recent book, A Little Night Comes, won the 2005 Del Sol Press Poetry Award and was published by Del Sol Press in December, 2005. Ms. Buchsbaum is currently pursuing her PhD at University of Missouri-Columbia as a G. Ellsworth Huggins Fellow. Her areas of interest include modern and contemporary British and American literature, the postmodern sublime, and creative writing.

David Blair - Ascension Days

"Ascension Days" was chosen by Thomas Lux for the 2007 Del Sol Poetry Prize. David Blair was born in 1970. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, Fence, The Greensboro Review, The Harvard Review, Ploughshares, Verse, and been featured in the anthologies Zoland Poetry and The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. He is an associate professor at The New England Institute of Art in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Upcoming Readings, Winter-Spring, 2008

Wednesday, February 20th, 8:00 p.m.
Mellon Room
Chatham University
Pittsburgh, PA
(http://www.chatham.edu/news/eventdetails.cfm?EventID=757&QDate=02/20/2008).

Monday, February 25th, 8:00 p.m.
with Peter Waldor
The Blacksmith House Poetry Series
Cambridge Center for Adult Education
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
http://www.ccae.org/events/blacksmith.html

Saturday, March 1st, 7:45 p.m.
Poetribe
The East Bridgewater Public Library
The Community Room
(basement room around back)
32 Union Street
East Bridgewater, MA 0233
http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/bridgewaterslam/


Monday, March 24th, 5:00 p.m.
with Daniel Anderson
University Professors Program Poetry Reading Series
Boston University
Katzenberg Center, 3rd Floor
College of General Studies
871 Commonwealth Avenue
http://www.bu.edu/uni/programs/poetry.html


Tuesday, March 25th, 7:00 p.m.
with Tom Sleigh
McNally Robinson NYC
52 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
http://www.mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com/upcoming-events/


Thursday, April 3rd, 8:00 p.m.
MFA Writing Program at UNC Greensboro
UNCG Center for Creative Writing in the Arts
Spring 2008 Writers Series
UNCG Faculty Center
http://www.uncg.edu/eng/mfa/mfa-series.html