Review of Hat City on FutureCycle Poetry

2006 Washington Prize winner John Surowiecki's The Hat City After Men Stopped Wearing Hats was recently reviewed at FutureCycle Poetry by George Drew.

Whiskey in the Garden of Eden reviewed in The Montserrat Review

Sarah Browning's poetry collection, Whiskey in the Garden of Eden, was reviewed recently in The Montserrat Review. Read the review at http://www.themontserratreview.com/bookreviews/whiskeyinthegarden.html

Whiskey in the Garden of Eden was published by The Word Works under its Hilary Tham Capital Collection series earlier this year. You can purchase copies at http://www.wordworksdc.com/books2.html#whiskey.

2006 Washington Prize Winner Receives Verse Drama Prize from The Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation has announced that John Surowiecki is the inaugural recipient of the Verse Drama Prize of $10,000, honoring a living poet who has written a previously unpublished, outstanding original verse drama in English. In addition to the cash prize, the winning manuscript will be presented as a staged reading in New York and Chicago in 2008. The Verse Drama Prize brings renewed attention to an under-recognized area of poetry and encourages poets to work in a new genre, thereby bringing fresh life to the art.

Surowiecki is the author of two poetry collections, Watching Cartoons before Attending a Funeral (White Pine Press, 2003) and The Hat City after Men Stopped Wearing Hats (The Word Works, 2006 Washington Prize), and five chapbooks. My Nose and Me: (A TragedyLite or TragiDelight in 33 Scenes) is his first piece written for the stage.

In 2005, Surowiecki was awarded a poetry fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Office of the Arts. He is a freelance writer and teaches poetry courses at Manchester Community College. His poems have recently appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Common Ground Review, Connecticut Review, Margie, Nimrod, and Poetry.

The Word Works Publishes Christopher Conlon's Mary Falls: Requiem for Mrs. Surratt

The Word Works is pleased to announce the publication of Mary Falls: Requiem for Mrs. Surratt, a collection of poetry by Christopher Conlon.

“Here she is: Mary Elizabeth Surratt, who was hanged as co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, has taken passionate possession of Christopher Conlon and now lives as ghost in his evocative sequence,” says William Heyen, author of Shoah Train. Conlon melds history with poetry to evocative effect as he imagines the emotional turmoil of a woman infatuated with the man who would become a legend: John Wilkes Booth. The collection includes a Reading Group Guide.

Conlon is a poet, fiction writer, and editor whose books include Gilbert and Garbo in Love: A Romance in Poems (The Word Works, 2003), Thunder­showers at Dusk: Gothic Stories (Rock Village Publishing, 2006) and Poe’s Lighthouse (Cemetery Dance, 2006). His work has been published in Poets & Writers, America, Filmfax, Tennessee Williams Annual Review, and many other periodicals. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Mary Falls: Requiem for Mrs. Surratt can be ordered online at http://www.wordworksdc.com or at http://www.amazon.com.

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READING SCHEDULE

Wednesday, August 15
7:30 p.m.
The Frederick Coffee Company
100 N. East Street, Frederick, MD
Ph. 301-698-0039

Thursday, November 8
Time TBA
Nora School Poetry Series
955 Sligo Avenue, Silver Spring, MD
Ph. 301-495-NORA
http://www.nora-school.org

Wednesday, November 28
Kensington Row Bookshop
3786 Howard Avenue, Kensington, MD
Ph. 301-949-9416
http://www.kensingtonrowbookshop.com

Sunday, January 13, 2008
IOTA Poetry Series
Iota Bar & Restaurant
2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
Ph. 703-522-8340 or 703-256-9275

Finale at Miller Cabin

This season at Joaquin Miller's Cabin was exceptionally stellar—7 out of 8 programs were in the park (meaning we weren't rained out), audience attendance was consistently good (20 to 40 people per program), readers as was always the tradition over the 30 plus years were memorable if not standouts, and our co-directors Kathi Morrison-Taylor, Doug Wilkinson, and Rosemary Winslow as well as our Jacklyn Potter Young Poets Director Perry Epes provided the kind of engaged and hospitable support that makes people want to come back.

I believe we have a winning team in Kathi, Doug, and Rosemary.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the 2007 Miller Cabin Poetry Series. A special thanks to Mrs. Paul Grayson for catering the reception on June 19 and to all of you who made contributions in Jacklyn Potter's name.

Prartho Sereno Wins Word Works 2007 Washington Prize

The Word Works is pleased to announce that Prartho Sereno, of San Anselmo, CA, won the 2007 Washington Prize for her full-length poetry manuscript, Call from Paris. The prize includes publication and a cash award of $1,500.

Ms. Sereno is a California Poet in the Schools and a watercolor artist whose work appears on book and CD covers. She is the author of a chapbook of poems, Garden Sutra (Finishing Line Press, 2005), and a book of essays, Everyday Miracles (Kensington, N.Y., 1998). Her illustrated book of poems, Causing a Stir: The Secret Lives and Loves of Kitchen Utensils, will be issued by Mansarovar Press in October 2007. She won a Marin Arts Council Individual Artist Grant in 2003. Her individual poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Atlanta Review, Chautauqua Review, Comstock Review, Rattle, Runes, California Quarterly, and other journals.

Call from Paris was chosen the winner from 257 manuscripts submitted by American poets. Two additional manuscripts were named honorable mentions: Balloon Animals, by Donald Illich, Rockville, MD, and The Fat Sheep Everyone Wants, by Bern Mulvey, Ekuserento Beru, Japan.

Final judges in this year’s contest were Karren L. Alenier, J.H. Beall, Bernadette Geyer, Miles David Moore, and Steven B. Rogers. First readers were Cliff Bernier, Doris Brody, Angelyn Donahue, W. Perry Epes, Michael Gushue, Erich Hintze, Tod Ibrahim, Sydney March, Mike McDermott, Ann Rayburn, Martha Sanchez-Lowery, Jill Tunick, and Doug Wilkinson. Second readers were Mark Dawson, Brandon D. Johnson, and Judith McCombs.

The Word Works has awarded the Washington Prize since 1981. In 2008, the Word Works again will offer publication and a $1,500 prize to a volume of original poetry. Submissions will be accepted from Jan. 15 to March 1, 2008, and the entry fee will be $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning book. For further information and guidelines (available December 2007), send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Word Works, P.O. Box 42164, Washington DC 20015, or visit the Word Works Web site at http://www.wordworksdc.com.

Call from Paris is available by advance order for $10 plus $3.50 shipping and handling from the mailing address above.

Miller Cabin Readings

When Kathi Morrison-Taylor says, "Let us join together to welcome," I am transported into the history of all the evenings lit with fireflies, candles, flashlights, and the poetry of illuminated artists who have traveled to this cathedral of trees towering over the modest log cabin originally built by Joaquin Miller.

This year we celebrate and remember poets intimately connected with the Miller Cabin: Jacklyn Potter, Robert Sargent, and Hilary Tham.

Cabin cake
baked by
Lois McBride

Miles Moore holds up The Tao of Mrs. Wei by Hilary Tham when he paid to tribute to her at the July 19, 2007 program which included
Heather Blain

and Shep Ranbom.




This year has been especially wonderful with sizeable audiences filling the picnic tables around the cabin. During the 4th of July holiday week over 30 people appeared to hear
Kay Lindsey and
Susan Bucci Mockler. To make the programs more festive, Michael Hauptschein occassionally hangs his unicorn banners.

Only three more programs left. Next week we hear Temple Cone and Barbara Lefcowitz. Joe Goldberg will read a poem by Hilary Tham. Don't miss the pleasure of the Miller Cabin Poetry Series this summer.

To quote Jacklyn Potter, "Tourjours le mot!"