July 31, 2014 by augurybooks

PICS: Augury Books at the 2014 New York City Poetry Festival

On Saturday, July 26, Frances Justine Post (Beast, 2014) and B.C. Edwards (To Mend Small Children, 2012) read on behalf of Augury Books at the 4th annual New York City Poetry Festival, put on by the Poetry Society of New York. The festival took place on Governors Island, and featured three stages with over 250 poets reading their work. Check out some photos here:

Augury Books moved stages. Photo: Nicolas Amara

B.C. Edwards reads from his new book, ‘From the Standard Cyclopedia of Recipes’ (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Photo: Dave Bledsoe, FreeVerse Photography

Frances Justine Post reads from ‘Beast’ (Augury Books, 2013). Photo: Dave Bledsoe, FreeVerse Photography

Thanks to everyone who came out to the reading!

PICS: Frances Justine Post + Others Read at Poets House Showcase

Wednesday, July 23rd, Frances Justine Post (Beast, Augury Books, 2013) read at Poets House with fellow poets Emily Abendroth, Brett Fletcher Lauer, and Wendy S. Walters, as part of the 22nd Annual Poets House Showcase series coordinated by Stephen Motika. The reading series accompanies an annual exhibit at Poets House of every poetry and poetry-related text published in the United States each year. See some photos from the night below.

Left to right: Wendy S. Walters’ ‘Troy, Michigan’ (Futurepoem Books, 2014); Frances Justine Post’s ‘Beast’ (Augury Books, 2013); Brett Fletcher Lauer’s ‘A Hotel in Belgium’ (Four Way Books, 2014); Not pictured: Emily Abendroth’s ‘] Exclosures [‘ (Ahsahta Press, 2014). Photo: Nicolas Amara

Stephen Motika. Photo: Nicolas Amara

Emily Abendroth. Photo: Nicolas Amara

Brett Fletcher Lauer. Photo: Nicolas Amara

Frances Justine Post. Photo: Nicolas Amara

Wendy S. Walters. Photo: Nicolas Amara

Poets House, located in Battery Park City, is a poetry library, writing space, and venue, free and open to the public, that houses 60,000 volumes of poetry. Poetry workshops and readings are regularly held, and the building features an open floor with space for writers to browse books or create their own work. A full recording of Wednesday night’s reading is available to stream on the Poets House website—head over and listen!

More on BEAST

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

June 13, 2014 by augurybooks

PICS & VIDEO: "Bonus Round" at Fowler Project Space

Last week, Luke Degnan and BOMB Magazine put on the reading, Bonus Round, a final event in the Game Show exhibition at Fowler Project Space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The reading included poetry and fiction by presenters Frances Justine Post (BEAST, Augury, 2014), Jack Christian, Michael Coffey, Vincent Katz, and Micaela Morrissette. The exhibition itself displayed work spanning several mediums by Ted Carey, Susan Fang, Kurt Freyer, Elizabeth Hoy, Shanjana Mahmud, Emilie Selden, and Cecelia Post. Enjoy the video and photos documenting the night’s events.

Frances Justine Post reads “Heart Hunted” (Video: Cecelia Post):

10447602_10101297269154012_3099049814402558874_n

Sarah Gerard of BOMB Magazine and Luke Degnan introduce. Photo: Frances Justine Post

10356407_10101297416164402_8103946911109622726_n

Michael Coffey reads from his forthcoming story collection, The Business of Naming Things (Bellevue Literary Press, 2015). Photo: Frances Justine Post

10378920_10101297418913892_1643369402603300517_n

Vincent Katz prepares to read in front of a video piece at Fowler. Photo: Frances Justine Post

10411781_10101297414208322_1202778362142945793_n

Jack Christian reads new work. Photo: Frances Justine Post

More on BEAST

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

June 2, 2014 by augurybooks

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.

More on BEAST

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

More on BEAST

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

March 20, 2014 by augurybooks

Poem by Saara Myrene Raappana

Photo by Dave Bledsoe of FreeVerse Photography

Canticle of Waitresses, Waiting

This is how we herded by the waitress station,

waiting, as the town, turned down to one by snow,

settled like a gown that smothered all that ailed us.

How we first heard about the hostages

on Facebook, and then the town knelt down to zero,

still as snow once it resolves itself to ground.

How the sidewalk still needed seeding with rock salt.

How even when a person stands still, they can slip.

How we counted the seeds of our blessings.

How our blessings rebounded off the booths like buckshot.

How we each sometimes rebound into being

a country of one self.

How we other times are one self of a city.

How only below zero can we remember

September as that country where we save daylight

like fat over our muscles.

How a woman ran at the chained gym doors

to save her daughter.

How she dropped on the unseeded walk.

How we’ll remember her legs as

a fleet of hummingbirds skidding through snow.

How sometimes, to give something a shot means kill it.

How other times it means just close your eyes.

First published in Iron Horse Literary Review, Labor Day Issue 2013

Saara Myrene Raappana‘s poems appear in such publications as 32 Poems, Blackbird, Cream City Review, Subtropics, The Gettysburg Review, and Verse Daily. She grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southern China. She’s an editor for Cellpoems, a poetry journal distributed via text message.

March 7, 2014 by augurybooks

PICS: Augury at AWP 2014

This year’s AWP offsite reading, Augury Books and Friends in Seattle, was a resounding success. We had a wonderful night of wine, snacks, readings, and socializing at the stunning Noble Gas Neon Company venue. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to attend the reading.

Special thanks to Lia Hall and Cedar Mannan for providing the space, as well as our 12 incredible Augury and guest readers, Maureen Alsop (Mantic), Halina Duraj (The Family Cannon), Alison Espach, Lia Hall, Lauren Hunter, Cynthia Lowen, Karyna McGlynn, Patrick Moran (The Book of Lost Things), Frances Justine Post (Beast), Alicia Jo Rabins, Camille Rankine, and Diana Spechler.