Beast

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BEAST Wins WLT Book Award for Poetry

Frances Justine Post‘s BEAST (Augury Books, 2014) has been selected as this year’s Poetry Winner at the Writer’s League of Texas Book Awards! Formerly known as the Violet Crown Book Awards, the contest recognizes outstanding work published by writers based in Texas.

Founded in 1981, the WLT focuses on providing information, support and sharing among writers. WLT also offers free programming in libraries and local schools across the state.

For a full list of winners and finalists, see the WLT’s site.

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Augury’s Reading Period Is Open for Prose and Poetry May 1 – July 31, 2015:

Submit now via Submittable, and thank you for your interest in Augury Books!

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Frances Justine Post Reads for Poison Pen Series

Taken at the Poison Pen poetry reading, courtesy of Writespace Houston

Augury Books’ Frances Justine Post recently read for the Poison Pen Reading Series, hosted in Houston, Texas on the 29th of January. Several poets were featured, including Scott Blackwood and Tony Hoagland. Post presented pieces from her most recent collection of poems, BEAST. As Tony was her professor and dissertation director, Justine felt the experience of reading together was “extra special.”

Writespace Houston wrote of Justine’s reading:

Taking us backwards through the book, Post began with the darkest poems and worked her way into the light. Poems like “Hannibal,” seethe with both emotion and devastation. Imagery of a body broken into pieces for eating is juxtaposed with lines like “How does it feel to be an object?” The self-portrait series, of which there are twelve in the book, feature titles like “Self Portrait in the Shadow of a Volcano,” “Self Portrait in the Body of the Whale,” and the poem which features the title of her book, “Self Portrait as Beast.”

Read the full article on January’s Poison Pen Reading Series here.

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Frances Justine Post Interviewed in Print-Oriented Bastards

Photo by Dave Bledsoe, FreeVerse Photography

We are excited to acknowledge that Pennsylvania-based journal Print-Oriented Bastards has recently interviewed Frances Justine Post (BEAST, Augury Books, 2014). The interview, conducted by Ines Pujos, POB’s senior editor, covers questions of process, environmental influence, and the overall aesthetics of BEAST.

Post: ‘Self-Portrait as Beast’ was the first self-portrait poem I’d ever written. Though it was new to me, there is a long tradition of self-portrait poems (Lucie Brock-Broido and John Ashbery come to mind). I found myself most drawn to writing ‘Self Portrait as…’ poems. Rather than writing straight-up self-portrait poems about my actual self, I started treating them as almost-persona poems. In these poems, I’m not really trying to speak in the voice of someone else. I am still the speaker; I just try on different skins for a little while.”

The whole of the interview, as well as the rest of issue 4, can be read online!

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BEAST Examined in The Boston Review

Frances Justine Post’s Beast (Augury Books, 2014) has received a micro-review in the latest edition of The Boston Review. Kay Cosgrove, poetry editor at Gulf Coast, commented on Beast‘s aesthetic approach and thematic development:

Frances Justine Post’s Beast (Augury Books, 2014) has received a micro-review in the latest edition of The Boston Review. Kay Cosgrove, poetry editor at Gulf Coast, commented on Beast‘s aesthetic approach and thematic development:

Though the collection’s narrative arc is familiar… the phrasing Post uses to convey it is dazzling, dangerous, visceral, and new… The poems dismantle the binaries of you and me, then and now, self and other, and singular and plural as they investigate, almost obsessively, how experience uproots and shapes us.”

The September/October issue is now available on newsstands. Additionally, each article from the current issue will soon be available to read online. Check back at The Boston Review’s site for updates.

UPDATE: The review is now online here.

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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!

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

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This Weekend: 2014 New York Poetry Festival on Governors Island

New York City Poetry Festival

The fourth annual New York City Poetry Festival on Governors Island is almost here!

Augury Books will be reading on the White Horse Stage at 4pm on Saturday, July 26, with Frances Justine Post (BEAST, 2014) and B. C. Edwards (TO MEND SMALL CHILDREN, 2012). Admission to the festival is FREE, so there’s absolutely no reason to miss out!

The NYCPF is put on by the Poetry Society of New York and features a worldclass lineup including Mark Doty, Matthea Harvey, and Joyelle McSweeney, along with over 250 poets on three stages. The festivities will take place on both Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Come for the readings, performances, Vendor’s Village (where you can discover new poetry as well as your old favorites), artists, craftsmen, and food trucks!

Check out the press release for more info, or visit the festival’s website for more information.

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

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Frances Justine Post to Read at Poets House on Wed, July 23

Frances Justine Post

On Wednesday evening, Frances Justine Post (BEAST, 2014) will be reading at Poets House in NYC as part of the Showcase Reading Series. Joining Post are poets Brett Fletcher Lauer, Emily Abendroth, and Wendy S. Walters.

The event will take place in association with the Annual Poets House Showcase, a remarkable initiative to collect and exhibit to the public, free of charge, every book of poetry published each year, making the Poets House stock among the most comprehensive open-stacks collections in the country.

So go for the reading, stay for the books—or vice-versa—on Wednesday, July 23, 7pm, at Ten River Terrace (at Murray Street) / New York, NY  10282.

Learn more about the Poets House showcase and other readings this week in the New Yorker.

Post will also be reading with Augury at the New York Poetry Festival on Saturday. Stay tuned for more information on the festival and readers later this week.

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

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Augury Books at the 4th Annual New York City Poetry Festival

The New York City Poetry Festival, put on by the Poetry Society of New York and organized by Stephanie Berger and Nicholas Adamski, will celebrate its 4th year on July 26th and 27th, with two full days of readings on three stages at Governors Island. This year’s line up includes Mark Doty, Matthea Harvey, and Joyelle McSweeney, as well as readings organized by The Academy of American Poets, Coldfront Magazine, and The Poetry Project, among many others.

Join the festival both Saturday and Sunday between 11 AM to 6 PM, with a Vendor’s Village of booksellers, artists and craft makers, and food truck catering. Augury Books will be reading on Saturday at 4 PM on the White Horse stage, with Frances Justine Post (BEAST, 2014), David Joel Friedman and B. C. Edwards (TO MEND SMALL CHILDREN, 2012). Admission is free — don’t miss out!

Check out the press release for more info, or visit the Festival’s website for a full line up of each day, directions, and any additional info.

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

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June 7: Frances Justine Post Reads at Fowler Project Space in Brooklyn

Frances Justine Post (BEAST, 2014) will be reading on Saturday, June 7th at 6 p.m. at the Fowler Project Space in Brooklyn. The reading, “Bonus Round,” organized by Luke Degnan and sponsored by BOMB Magazine, is the culminating event in the month-long Fowler “Game Show” exhibition, which “examines how the games we play mirror the human condition.” The exhibition includes video, installation, sculpture, photography, and collage by featured artists Ted Carey, Susan Fang, Kurt Freyer, Elizabeth Hoy, Shanjana Mahmud, Emilie Selden, and BEAST cover artist Cecelia Post.

For the Bonus Round reading, Justine Post will be joined by Jack Christian (FAMILY SYSTEM), Michael Coffey (ELEMENOPY and 87 NORTH, Coffee House Press), poet and critic Vincent Katz, and author and Conjunctions managing editor Micaela Morrissette.

Don’t miss Bonus Round and the last night of the Game Show exhibition! Find out all you need to know about the event and the readers here on Fowler’s site.

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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.

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