June 4, 2014 by augurybooks

American Book Review: Daniel J. Leary ‘Experiences’ David Joel Friedman’s SOLDIER QUICK WITH RAIN

Photo by Dave Bledsoe of Free Verse Photography

In the latest issue of the American Book Review, Daniel J. Leary talks about David Joel Friedman‘s SOLDIER QUICK WITH RAIN in his review “Promising Green Bear.” Leary says of reading Friedman’s book:

I made the mistake I warned you about … the misstep of trying to understand before experiencing … [until] I stopped shoving the stuff through the rational processor and let it flow through the prism of my imagination as I should have done to begin with.”

Leary encourages Friedman’s readers to open themselves up to a similar experience:

I want to entangle your attention, leave you befuddled, get you to experience what David Joel Friedman is doing ….”

Read the whole review by Daniel Leary via the American Book Review here.

PICS: Frances Justine Post Reads for Sundown Poetry Series, Offers Publication Advice as Gulf Coast Guest Blogger

Last Tuesday, Frances Justine Post (BEAST, Augury Books, 2014) read in Charleston, SC, at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival with South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Heath Wentworth. The reading, part of the Sundown Poetry Series, was held at the historic Dock Street Theater. Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the reading. Here are some pics from the event.

Outside the Dock Street Theater (Photo by Cecelia Post)

The crowd settles in for the Piccolo Spoleto Reading (Photo by Cecelia Post)

Frances Justine Post reads from BEAST (Photo by Cecelia Post)

Frances Justine Post signs books after the Sundown Poetry Series reading (Photo by Susan Laughter Meyers)

Frances Justine Post with South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Heath Wentworth (Photo by Susan Laughter Meyers)

Also, don’t miss out on Post’s three-part blog series for Gulf Coast, “My First Book of Poetry, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Independent Presses,” in which she talks about writing her first book of poetry, the road to getting published, and how an independent press can be just the answer an author is looking for:

Independent poetry presses are publishing the most daring, mind-blowing work. As a whole, they are not concerned with making money like the publishing behemoths of yore. They are interested in finding voices that speak to them. One of those voices may be yours.” —Frances Justine Post’s Blog Series for Gulf Coast, Part II.

Read Part I of the blog series (Putting Your Manuscript Together) here.

Read Part II (Submitting Your Manuscript) here.

Read Part III (Where to Submit) here.

Support the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Bringing Literature to Public Classrooms

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is running a DonateNow campaign for contributions of any size to help support their annual award for fiction, their public reading series, and the Writers in Schools Program, which brings writers and over 1,800 copies of their books to the classrooms of D.C. public schools.

PEN/Faulkner’s mission is to promote literature in the classroom by way of adequate writing materials, new books, and author visits for high school students. Recently, Karen Joy Fowler was awarded the 34th PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and Joan Silber was invited to talk with northeast D.C. students about writing.

The foundation’s initiatives are funded in large part by donations, and PEN/Faulkner Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so contributions are tax-deductible.

Visit this link for more information on the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, or click here to go directly to the donation page. As friends of the foundation, we greatly applaud any support you are able to give.

Augury Books’ reading period is open — Submit your manuscript!

May 28, 2014 by augurybooks

PICS: Maureen Alsop Wins Tony Quagliano International Poetry Award, Reads at Berl’s in Brooklyn

Augury’s own Maureen Alsop (MANTIC, Augury Books, 2013) is the new recipient of the Tony Quagliano International Poetry Award, which, in conjunction with the Hawai’i Council for the Humanities (HCH), annually recognizes an accomplished poet with an outstanding body of work. HCH and Tony shared the vision that:

“the words we know, all the words we have acquired along the ways of connecting them in all our respective cultures, are nothing less than the irreducible expression of a singular nature we call human.” —Tony Quagliano

Poet Devreaux Baker, last year’s winner of the Tony Quagliano Award and primary judge for this year, had this to say about Maureen Alsop’s work:

“Maureen Alsop creates a world where language and rhythm form a perfect ‘fusion.’ This poetry that is both inventive and elegant and yet never loses emotional depth…. As a reader I felt I was being taken on an extraordinary journey in which I was offered new and unexpected ways to experience the world. Throughout all the poems there is the underlying beauty of expression; a sense of real joy that is felt by a poet pushing the limits, bypassing boundaries, creating whole new territories of the mind, heart, and voice.”

Also this week, more pictures from Maureen’s recent reading with fellow writers Julie Carr, Sasha Steensen, and Graeme Bezanson at Berl’s Poetry Shop in Brooklyn. Thanks to everyone that came out, and congratulations again to Maureen Alsop!

Augury’s Maureen Alsop reads from MANTIC at Berl’s Poetry Shop

Sasha Steensen (HOUSE OF DEER, Fence Books) reads at Berl’s Poetry Shop

Julie Carr (RAG, Omnidawn) reads at Berl’s Poetry Shop

Founding Editor of Coldfront, Graeme Bezanson reads at Berl’s Poetry Shop

Find out more about the readers and the event here on Berl’s site.

Augury Books Welcomes Our New Assistant Editor and Summer Intern

Augury Books is happy to announce that Nicolas Amara and Rhett Jones will be joining the press this summer as assistant editor and summer intern, respectively.

Nicolas Amara is a student at the New School for Liberal Arts where he is pursuing a degree in Literary Studies: Writing, with a focus in fiction. He has published poetry in Bards Annual (Local Gems Press) and issues 2 and 3 of Eleven and a Half, where he was previously a production manager (Eugene Lang College). An eastern Long Island native, he now resides in lower Manhattan, working with Augury and Bookforum. He looks forward to working on the press’s editorial board.

Rhett Jones is a current law student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, but she is originally from Boulder, Colorado. Rhett was an English and Government double major at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, and the editor of her high school’s literary magazine. She plans to work in publishing and entertainment law after she graduates. Meanwhile, Augury Books’ reading period is still open — Submit your manuscript!

May 24, 2014 by augurybooks

PICS: Augury’s Frances Justine Post Reads at Brazos Bookstore

This week, Augury author Frances Justine Post (author of BEAST, 2014) read at Brazos Bookstore in Houston with Elizabeth Lyons, David Tomas Martinez, and Karyna McGlynn. Thanks for everyone who came out. Enjoy the pics!

Karyna McGlynn, author of “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl” (Sarabande Books), reads at Brazos.

David Tomas Martinez, author of “Hustle” (Sarabande Books) reads at Brazos.

Books from the readers at Brazos Bookstore

Elizabeth Lyons reads at Brazos Bookstore

Audio Interview with Halina Duraj, Author of THE FAMILY CANNON

Photo by Dave Bledsoe of FreeVerse Photography

Halina Duraj, recent 2014 O.Henry Prize recipient and author of the new THE FAMILY CANNON (Augury Books, 2014), sat down with Maureen Cavanaugh from San Diego’s local NPR affiliate KPBS to discuss many topics explored in Duraj’s book—among them the immigrant experience, the interplay between the tragic and the humorous, “the idea of questions,” and the origin of the cannon.

“I think that immigrant stories have so many similarities…. This sense of parents wanting something better for their kids, parents sacrificing for their kids. And also, that love sometimes looks like fear or discipline, but it always comes from this parents’ sense of wanting their kids to fit in in this world that [even] they don’t quite fit in. So I think there are similarities across cultures, and that in many ways the immigrant experience kind of transcends those particular places that the immigrants came from.” —Halina Duraj interview with Maureen Cavanaugh on KPBS

Listen to the whole interview here.

LAST CHANCE: Sign up for a writing and yoga retreat led by Halina Duraj

PICS from Federal Dust and Cabin/Fire’s Joint Reading

Two Baltimore reading series, Federal Dust and Cabin/Fire, joined forces earlier this month to throw “Federal Fire,” their first joint reading and cook-out. Hosted by Justin Sirois and Matthew Zingg, the reading featured Michelle Dove, Mark Cugini, Eric Nelson and Adam Wilson.

There were well-crafted words. There were hot dogs. There were marshmallows, a fire pit and a giant Mother’s Day card. A good time was had by all—see the pics below!

Follow Federal Dust on Facebook / on Tumblr

Follow Cabin/Fire’s Blog

Augury Books’ reading period is open — Submit your manuscript!

Michelle Dove reads at Federal Fire

Mark Cugini reads at Federal Fire

Justin Sirois with giant Mother’s Day card at Federal Fire

Eric Nelson reads for Federal Fire

Adam Wilson reads for Federal Fire

May 20, 2014 by augurybooks

Cleaver Magazine Reviews Maureen Alsop’s MANTIC

Photo by Dave Bledsoe of FreeVerse Photography

Cleaver Magazine‘s Matthew Girolami reviews MANTIC (Augury Books, 2013) by Maureen Alsop, wherein, according to Girolami, “both the divine and the worldly share the same page.” Girolami continues:

“As the ‘-mancy’ titles suggest, Mantic is as a much a lexical read (or listen—read aloud) as it is an exploration of reaction; Mantic is beautiful for its teaching verse and for its honesty: with poem after poem inspired by divining, Alsop points to the many ways humanity has attempted to shape the world in its favor, whether that favor comes from desire or fear. As a result, the poems shift from their theses and speak less of divining and prediction than what innately drives these practices and, ultimately, humanity.” —Matthew Girolami, Cleaver Magazine — Read the full review here

May 21: Maureen Alsop Reads at Berl’s Poetry Shop in Brooklyn

Augury’s own Maureen Alsop (MANTIC, 2013) is in New York and will be reading Wednesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at Berl’s Poetry Shop in Brooklyn.

She will be joined by Sasha Steensen (HOUSE OF DEER, Fence Books), Julie Carr (RAG, Omnidawn), and Coldfront Founding Editor Graeme Bezanson.

Find out all you need to know about the readers and the event details here on Berl’s site.