Carey McHugh’s Essay on Owls Featured on LitHub

An essay by our forthcoming author Carey McHugh (American Gramophone, 2015) has recently been featured on Literary Hub. The essay, “Aliens Among Us: A Brief History of the Owl,” examines the many cultural views of owls, giving some context to its often mysterious reputation, connecting various points through time and space. Such subjects as The Exorcist, Winnie the Pooh, and The Owl Pages, a heavy influence on McHugh’s most recent book, find connections through her treatment of this creature.

To read the full essay, visit Literary Hub online.

 

 

Food-Themed Bookstore Archestratus to Open October 2nd!

Long-time book and food lover Paige Lipari (Family of Many Enzos, Augury Books, 2012) is combining her two passions and opening Archestratus Books. The shop will be located on Huron Street just off the Greenpoint G-Train stop. The space will house hundreds of cookbooks and host dinner parties with a warm, intimate atmosphere. Join Archestratus as they open their doors tomorrow, October 2nd, and sample some Sicilian baked goods while browsing a variety of cook books! Visit their page to find out more about the shop’s grand opening, and check the blog later this month for an interview with Lipari on how the shop came to be.

Join Our Launch Party Next Wednesday, 10/07, at Berl’s Poetry Shop

Come join Augury Books next Wednesday to help us celebrate the launch of our two latest poetry titles: American Gramophone by Carey McHugh, and Hiccups by Joe Pan. Guest readers Karen Russell (Swamplandia!) and Debbie Kuan (Xing) will help us ring in these two new books alongside McHugh and Pan. The launch will take place October 7th at Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop from 7 to 9 PM. Berl’s is located at 126A Front Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Please join us to have a drink, pick up a book, and be generally merry!

For updates and information check out the event’s listing!

Submit to ‘La Casa de Colores,’ a Nation-Wide Poetry Project

Origanum from De Materia Medica, courtesy of the Public Domain Review

U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, the 21st poet to hold this position and first Hispanic poet to do so, recently announced his new nation-wide poetry project, “La Casa de Colores.” The project will form one giant epic poem by compiling submissions from the public. Herrera believes “La Casa de Colores, ‘the House of Colors,’ is a house for all voices. In this house we will feed the hearth and heart of our communities with creativity and imagination. And we will stand together in times of struggle and joy.” Each month will address a new theme. Submissions opened this week; anyone can submit up to 200 characters per 30 days to the project on the Library of Congress’ website. From now until Oct. 15, submissions should address the subject of family.

Learn more about La Casa de Colores here.

One Month Left to Apply for the Sarabande Writing Residency

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

Located at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Louisville, Kentucky, the Sarabande Writing Residency offers an annual residency to writers of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. The residency includes a two-to six-week stay in a private cottage, as well as a $500 travel stipend. Sarabande Books, founded in 1994, publishes works in poetry, short fiction, and essay, hosting about 225 readings, workshops, and lectures per year.

You can learn more about this residency and how to apply at Sarabande Books.

INTERVIEW: Stephen Ira and Kay Gabriel on Trans Poetry Journal ‘Vetch’

Vetch, a biannual journal of trans poetry and poetics has recently published its first issue! The journal aims to publish work highlighting the ways in which power shapes language, poetry and relations among trans people. Editors Stephen Ira and Kay Gabriel recently took some time to sit down with intern Emily Kaufman to discuss the online periodical, among other things.

Emily: Why did you start Vetch?publication that, like most poetry journals, had an open reading period and published only poetry. It feels like a way to stake out space in the poetry world for trans writers.

Emily: What do you hope Vetch will provide to the public?

Vetch: Our call for submissions for this issue asked for work “by trans poets in trans language,” which “does not bother to translate itself for a cis reader.” To elaborate on this point, we see Vetch as supporting work by trans poets that allows itself to speak primarily between trans people, and that is not faced with the necessity of authenticating itself to a cisgender audience through appeals to a narrow and reductive set of tropes. Our hope is that Vetch will help broaden the horizon of trans poetics, and through the work we publish, foster trans poetry written in new and currently unimagined registers.

Emily: The media has put a spotlight on trans culture in several ways, including shows such as Transparent. Why do you think it took the media so long to highlight trans issues and how do you think the face of trans people in the media will change in the future?

Vetch: It’s very popular right now to talk about the importance of trans visibility and representation in mainstream media. The thing is, trans people–particularly trans women–are already hypervisible in our culture. We’re thinking here of the stares and street harassment trans women receive walking down the street, or the way the bodies of trans people are scrutinized by the medical industrial complex in order to be eligible for lifesaving care–or of the constant jokes in media that posit trans women as repulsive punchlines. In 2015, a year that’s ostensibly the best it’s ever been to be trans in America, twenty-three trans women had been murdered so far. So this increase in visibility does not necessarily bring better living conditions with it, particularly not for those trans people who are most marginalized intersectionally–the majority of those murdered women were black. In the future, we hope that trans people will have increased agency and ability to tell our own stories in media, rather than having scripts written and scenes directed for us by cis people. Maybe that can bring this conversation beyond visibility, and then we can ask different questions: When we see trans people in media, what are they doing? How do representations of trans people in media train us to treat trans people in daily life? As lurid and disposable spectacles, or as fully-fledged three-dimensional human beings?

Check out more on Vetch and download the issue for free!

Join Us for Oct 7 Book Launch of ‘American Gramophone’ and ‘Hiccups’

We are very happy to announce an October launch party for this year’s poetry titles: American Gramophone by Carey McHugh, and Hiccups by Joe Pan. Guest readers Karen Russell and Debora Kuan will help us ring in these two new books alongside McHugh and Pan. The launch will take place October 7th at Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop from 7 to 9 PM. Berl’s is located at 126A Front Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Please join us to have a drink, pick up a book, and be generally merry!

For updates and more information, please see the event listing.

Off the Grid Press Contest for Poets Over 60

From the 19th-Century Album of Ottoman Fashion courtesy of the Public Domain Review

Off the Grid Press is currently accepting manuscript submissions of previously published work from poets over the age of sixty. The contest runs through September 15th, and one winning poet will receive $1,000, plus a published collection of their work. Founded in 2005, Off the Grid Press is a non-profit focusing on providing a forum for older, perhaps recently overlooked poets.

To learn more and submit your manuscript, visit their site.

 

Vestal Review 12 Word Competition

What would you write on your tombstone? The Vestal Review wants to know! In 12 words or less, enter what you would like to see written on your tombstone. Entry is free and the winner of the best monthly feature receives a $10 prize. The Vestal Review is a semi-annual print magazine. It remains the oldest magazine dedicated exclusively to flash fiction. Check out more about this contest here!

Museo de la Palabra Micro Fiction Contest

The Museo de la Palabra has recently announced its third short tales contest! This edition’s theme is “Words and Freedom.” The Micro stories Award aims to represent people, cultures and nations of many different traditions. In the past two editions of the competition, over twenty thousand stories were submitted from upwards of a hundred different countries. The competition is free to enter and the overall first prize for best story is $20,000. The Museo de la Palabra, a Palace in the heart of the Cervantine route, stands as a place for study and exchange, and remains an emblem of the Fundación César Egido Serrano. Check out more about the contest here!