Friday, July 27, 2007
September 2007: Barbara Simon's Book of Poems Debuts
In February 2007, a group of Barbara Simon's literary friends and colleagues began work on a collection of Barbara's poetry. Titled The Woman From Away, the volume will debut on September 29 at the 2007 Baltimore Book Festival (BBF). The publication event will take place in the Creative Cafe, a BBF stage, which Barbara--as a founding BBF partner--hosted for Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society. Barbara's family has suggested that in Barbara's memory donations may be made to the Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society (See the story "Passing of a Literary Light" below). MSP&LS is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Donors will be recognized in the published book The Woman From Away and invited to participate in the publication party for the book.
2007 Baltimore Book Festival (BBF) Schedule for the Creative Cafe
The 2007 Baltimore Book Festival (BBF, www.baltimorebookfestival.com) will take place Friday September 28 from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday September 29 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday September 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Mount Vernon Place. Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society has been a sponsoring supporter of the BBF since its beginning, scheduling the Creative Cafe - always hosted by MSPLS president Barbara Simon - with an entertaining array of literary and musical events.
Among the events you'll find this year at the Creative Cafe are:
5 to 6 p.m. 2007 Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Poetry Reading
Fifteen Maryland writers won individual poetry awards from MSAC this year. Several of these poets will read from their work. Pamela Dunne, MSAC Program Director for Arts in Education, Arts Service, Children's Events, Literature and GFO Technical Assistance, and Community Arts Development introduces the event.
6 to 7 p.m. Roya Hakakian - Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
Roya Hakakian, an Iranian-Jewish writer born in 1966, fled with her family in 1984 from Tehran to the United States. Known for her intellectual fearlessness, she tonight discusses her haunting, award-winning memoir about growing up in post-revolutionary Iran as a Jewish teenager. Recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and the 2003 Dewitt / Wallace Reader's Digest Fellowship for her writing, Hakakian has authored two collections of poetry, the first of which, For the Sake of Water, received honorable mention in the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and was nominated as the poetry book of the year by Iran News in 1993. A contributor to the Weekend Edition of NPR's All Things Considered, she pens opinion columns, essays, and book reviews for a number of notable publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. A founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Hakakian * also filmmaker * documented the worldwide involvement of underage children in wars in the UNICEF-commissioned movie "Armed and Innocent."
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Manorborn Publication Reading
Manorborn is the annual literary journal of the Hartford Poetry Society (HPS). Contributors to the latest issue, being presented today, include Karen S. Elliott, MiMi Zannino, Rosemary Klein, and Alan Reese, president of HPS and most recent Manorborn editor. This issue includes poetry by Barbara M. Simon.
12:15 to 2 p.m. 10th Anniversary Celebration: A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation - Richard Peabody
First published in 1997 by High Risk Press, A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation, now out by Serpent's Tail, was hailed by the Library Journal as a "well-balanced anthology, which should focus more attention on Beat women, and is recommended for all literature collections." Richard Peabody, the editor responsible for A Different Beat has been credited by Beat Generation Women as having "opened up the definition of Beat women to include a whole slew of additional figures." Peabody discusses the incredible publishing journey of this fundamental reference on female Beats. He also brings along the special Beat women issue of Gargoyle, the literary magazine he founded and edits and is backed by local poets reading the work of the Beat Generation females, writers of that poetry said to be characterized by its spontaneous creativity, its chaos, grittiness, and open emotion. Hosted by poet and muscian Brian Langston, a founding editor of the literary journal Into the Teeth of the Wind.
3 to 4 p.m. Attic Publication Reading
Attic is the literary journal currently published by the Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society (MSP&LS). Today the second issue of this journal - ably edited by talented UMBC student Beth Varden and dedicated - with a feature of her work - to Barbara M. Simon makes its debut. Among this issue's contributors reading their work will be Julie Fischer, Charles Rammelkamp, Forestine Bynum, Hiram Larew, Michael Fallon, Kim Roberts, Alan Barysh, Alan Reese, and Karla Mancero.
4 to 6 p.m. Barbara M. Simon - The Woman From Away
This publication party celebrates the considerable talents of Barbara M. Simon, who was much respected in the Baltimore literary and educational community, for her creativity and service. Long overdue, The Woman From Away is a rich compilation of poetry emboldened by self-reflection and strengthened by classic description. Barbara's poems will be read by friends, family, and colleagues.
12 to 1:30 p.m. Writers’ Lair Books Presents Deanna Nikaido, Sandra Jones, and Nicole Brown
Writers’ Lair Books has three new publications: Vibrating with Silence by Deanna Nikaido, I Only Meant to Wet My Feet by Sandra Jones, and Conversations at My Sister's Dinner Table by Nicole Brown. Shana Yarborough, the impresario of Writers’ Lair Books, introduces these three fine writers and answers questions about her Nottingham Maryland-based press.
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. VRZHU Press Presents Kim Roberts and Hiram Larew
A publication reading for The Kimnama by Kim Roberts and More Than Anything by Hiram Larew’s , recent poetry volumes from the DC-based Vrzhu Press, which attributes its existence to "either an act of supreme foolhardiness or a cosmic wager on the power of joy." Both Roberts and Larew are tireless advocates for poetry - and fine poets in their own right. Larew's work has appeared in about 80 small press paper and online journals and has received prizes such as the Louisiana Literature poetry prize and the Washington Review poetry prize. Called "quirky, engaging [and] sneakily profound," Larew's work also won the 1999 Artscape Poetry Prize and was published by the City of Baltimore as a chapbook. Kim Roberts, the editor of the highly regarded Beltway Poetry Quarterly, has also published the poetry volume The Wishbone Galaxy and delights in the fact that her poems have been published in journals beginning with every letter of the alphabet.
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tea With Mr. Twain
Imbibe lemonade and coffee and munch on cookies as you listen to Mark Twain, known for starting out as a self-published author, give a half-hour presentation on how to go about self-publishing your work. Twain's speechifying is followed by a half-hour Q&A by the good folks of MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association, a community of independent publishers located in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC and a regional affiliate of Publishers Marketing Association, The Independent Book Publishers Association.
Among the events you'll find this year at the Creative Cafe are:
Friday September 28
5 to 6 p.m. 2007 Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Poetry Reading
Fifteen Maryland writers won individual poetry awards from MSAC this year. Several of these poets will read from their work. Pamela Dunne, MSAC Program Director for Arts in Education, Arts Service, Children's Events, Literature and GFO Technical Assistance, and Community Arts Development introduces the event.
6 to 7 p.m. Roya Hakakian - Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
Roya Hakakian, an Iranian-Jewish writer born in 1966, fled with her family in 1984 from Tehran to the United States. Known for her intellectual fearlessness, she tonight discusses her haunting, award-winning memoir about growing up in post-revolutionary Iran as a Jewish teenager. Recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and the 2003 Dewitt / Wallace Reader's Digest Fellowship for her writing, Hakakian has authored two collections of poetry, the first of which, For the Sake of Water, received honorable mention in the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and was nominated as the poetry book of the year by Iran News in 1993. A contributor to the Weekend Edition of NPR's All Things Considered, she pens opinion columns, essays, and book reviews for a number of notable publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. A founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Hakakian * also filmmaker * documented the worldwide involvement of underage children in wars in the UNICEF-commissioned movie "Armed and Innocent."
Saturday September 28
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Manorborn Publication Reading
Manorborn is the annual literary journal of the Hartford Poetry Society (HPS). Contributors to the latest issue, being presented today, include Karen S. Elliott, MiMi Zannino, Rosemary Klein, and Alan Reese, president of HPS and most recent Manorborn editor. This issue includes poetry by Barbara M. Simon.
12:15 to 2 p.m. 10th Anniversary Celebration: A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation - Richard Peabody
First published in 1997 by High Risk Press, A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation, now out by Serpent's Tail, was hailed by the Library Journal as a "well-balanced anthology, which should focus more attention on Beat women, and is recommended for all literature collections." Richard Peabody, the editor responsible for A Different Beat has been credited by Beat Generation Women as having "opened up the definition of Beat women to include a whole slew of additional figures." Peabody discusses the incredible publishing journey of this fundamental reference on female Beats. He also brings along the special Beat women issue of Gargoyle, the literary magazine he founded and edits and is backed by local poets reading the work of the Beat Generation females, writers of that poetry said to be characterized by its spontaneous creativity, its chaos, grittiness, and open emotion. Hosted by poet and muscian Brian Langston, a founding editor of the literary journal Into the Teeth of the Wind.
3 to 4 p.m. Attic Publication Reading
Attic is the literary journal currently published by the Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society (MSP&LS). Today the second issue of this journal - ably edited by talented UMBC student Beth Varden and dedicated - with a feature of her work - to Barbara M. Simon makes its debut. Among this issue's contributors reading their work will be Julie Fischer, Charles Rammelkamp, Forestine Bynum, Hiram Larew, Michael Fallon, Kim Roberts, Alan Barysh, Alan Reese, and Karla Mancero.
4 to 6 p.m. Barbara M. Simon - The Woman From Away
This publication party celebrates the considerable talents of Barbara M. Simon, who was much respected in the Baltimore literary and educational community, for her creativity and service. Long overdue, The Woman From Away is a rich compilation of poetry emboldened by self-reflection and strengthened by classic description. Barbara's poems will be read by friends, family, and colleagues.
Sunday September 30
12 to 1:30 p.m. Writers’ Lair Books Presents Deanna Nikaido, Sandra Jones, and Nicole Brown
Writers’ Lair Books has three new publications: Vibrating with Silence by Deanna Nikaido, I Only Meant to Wet My Feet by Sandra Jones, and Conversations at My Sister's Dinner Table by Nicole Brown. Shana Yarborough, the impresario of Writers’ Lair Books, introduces these three fine writers and answers questions about her Nottingham Maryland-based press.
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. VRZHU Press Presents Kim Roberts and Hiram Larew
A publication reading for The Kimnama by Kim Roberts and More Than Anything by Hiram Larew’s , recent poetry volumes from the DC-based Vrzhu Press, which attributes its existence to "either an act of supreme foolhardiness or a cosmic wager on the power of joy." Both Roberts and Larew are tireless advocates for poetry - and fine poets in their own right. Larew's work has appeared in about 80 small press paper and online journals and has received prizes such as the Louisiana Literature poetry prize and the Washington Review poetry prize. Called "quirky, engaging [and] sneakily profound," Larew's work also won the 1999 Artscape Poetry Prize and was published by the City of Baltimore as a chapbook. Kim Roberts, the editor of the highly regarded Beltway Poetry Quarterly, has also published the poetry volume The Wishbone Galaxy and delights in the fact that her poems have been published in journals beginning with every letter of the alphabet.
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tea With Mr. Twain
Imbibe lemonade and coffee and munch on cookies as you listen to Mark Twain, known for starting out as a self-published author, give a half-hour presentation on how to go about self-publishing your work. Twain's speechifying is followed by a half-hour Q&A by the good folks of MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association, a community of independent publishers located in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC and a regional affiliate of Publishers Marketing Association, The Independent Book Publishers Association.
"Vacation Lake," by Barbara Simon
Vacation Lake
Some day we’ll wake
to find this gone,
our lives vanished, no mark
as clear as the line of waves
along the shore. All silent,
the wind after the storm,
the pocket worn
into the middle of the rock
where rain collects
then dries.
Some day we’ll waketo find this gone,
our lives vanished, no mark
as clear as the line of waves
along the shore. All silent,
the wind after the storm,
the pocket worn
into the middle of the rock
where rain collects
then dries.
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