Susan Rich's Blog, page 62

This Just In...

[image error]

Mrs. Whiting Awards Announced! Here's our Seattle poet Don Mee Choi who was also a finalist for the Washington State Book Award in Poetry.

DON MEE CHOI2011
PoetryThe Morning News is Exciting (Action Books, 2010) is poet Don Mee Choi's first book, which our selectors found "a wildly surprising work describing the collapse of empire—bracing and invigorating. Its anger glows." She also translates contemporary Korean women poets; her most recent is All the Garbage of the World, Unite! by Kim Hyesoon (Action Books, 2011). She is a recipient of a Daesan Translation Grant, Korea Literature Translation Institute Translation Grant, an American Literary Translators Association Travel Fellowship, and has served as poet-in-residence at the Henry Art Gallery. She holds a BFA and an MFA from the California Institute for the Arts and a PhD in Modern Korean Literature and Translation from Union Institute and University. An instructor in adult basic education at Renton Technical College, she lives in Seattle.

Meet Harold Taw: Essayist, Novelist, Screen Writer, and Karaoke Singer

I love this podcast series produced by Jack Straw Productions. How cool is that to have your own personal podcast? And if you get your application into Jack Straw by the end of this month -- you could be part of Jack Straw Writers 2012.

I first met Harold Taw at C and P Coffee in West Seattle. Remember that guy who talks on his cell phone while you're trying to write? I hear this guy who is there with his dog -- smack in the middle of the place. There's no way I can't eavesdrop. And a good thing, too. I hear Harold talking with someone about the GAP grant he just won and the novel that he's working on.

Flash forward five years and Harold is now the author of the wild and pleasurable novel Adventures of the Karaoke King from Amazon Encore. He is also a Jack Straw Fellow and my dear friend. Do listen.

A Cultural JourneyOct 5th, 2011 by jennie In his work, Harold Taw explores voice and perspective. Readers travel through cultural and emotional territory with complex characters, moving through stories with remarkable storytellers.Taw's debut novel, Adventures of the Karaoke King (AmazonEncore 2011), is a karaoke grail quest about transplanted people from around the globe who keep falling just short of their dreams. His second novel, Saturday's Child, follows an adolescent girl's journey from the Southeast Asian countryside to the city during politically tumultuous times. Harold's screenplay Dog Park has been recognized in international film festivals and competitions, his personal essay on why he feeds monkeys was broadcast on NPR's This I Believe, and he is currently collaborating on a musical. Harold is a 2011 fellow in the Jack Straw Writers Program.SoundPages was produced by Jack Straw Productions as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program. All of the writers heard in this series are published in the Jack Straw Writers Anthology, and featured online at http://www.jackstraw.org/.Music performed by Victor Noriega and recorded as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.  Standard Podcast Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Meet Architect and Poet Nora Wendl - Jack Straw Writer 2011

[image error] The Farnsworth House in Fall
Nora Wendl's poems on the life of Dr. Edith Farnsworth are in a word: evocative. The Farnsworth House is a house of glass in Plaino, Illinois. Nora Wendl is a poet and architect in Portland, Oregon. Listen to her poems made of steel and glass. A beautiful series from the reading at Jack Straw.

Architecture of PoetryAug 22nd, 2011 by jennie[image error]Through her study of a Mies van der Rohe glass house in Illinois, architect and poet Nora Wendl illuminates the life of Dr. Edith Farnsworth. Yearly visits to the home and extensive research inform Wendl's portrayal of the house and the character of Farnsworth. With an architectural lens, Wendl brings life and sentiment to marble floors and glass walls.Wendl is a writer and professor of architecture whose work (built and written) is influenced by the processes, products, history and discourse of the (silent) built and made things around us—particularly architecture. A native of Nebraska, she studied at Iowa State University and was 2005 Pearl Hogrefe Fellow in Creative Writing. She lives in Portland, Oregon and teaches at Portland State University Department of Architecture.SoundPages was produced by Jack Straw Productions as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program. All of the writers heard in this series are published in the Jack Straw Writers Anthology, and featured online at http://www.jackstraw.org/.Music performed by the St. Helens String Quartet and recorded as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.  Standard Podcast Hide Player | Play in Popup | DownloadPosted in Literary Podcasts | No Comments »

Meet poet and memoir writer Anne McDuffie

I want to introduce Anne McDuffie, one of the 2011 Jack Straw Writers from The Jack Straw Writers Program . Anne is a writer you are sure to hear more from. Her sense of image, sound, and language continues to surprise me. In Spanish or English, in poetry or prose, McDuffie is an original. Listen to a podcast of her interview and reading below.

I was honored to curate this past year. Anne's creative non-fiction piece sounds to my ears as poetry --- no different. The application for 2012 Jack Straw Writers program is open now until October 31st. You don't have to be a Seattle writer to apply, but you do have to visit 3-4 times during the year. Why not?The Color of FogOct 17th, 2011 by jennieAnne McDuffie creates a sensory portrait of fog in a set of essays from an earlier chapter in her life. Her descriptions are immersive, and saturated by deep hues. The reader learns of her time in Madrid as a student and joins her for a long walk through the fog.McDuffie writes essays, poetry and book reviews. Her work has appeared in Colorado Review, Crab Creek Review, A River and Sound Review, Rattle, Poetry International, American Book Review, and the anthology Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction (Norton, 2005). She received her MFA in 2007 from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.SoundPages was produced by Jack Straw Productions as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program. All of the writers heard in this series are published in the Jack Straw Writers Anthology, and featured online at http://www.jackstraw.org/.Music performed by the Black Cat Orchestra and recorded as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.  Standard Podcast Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Nobody Tells This to People Who Are Beginners

Ira Glass is the host of "This American Life" on American Public Radio

Never Too Old for Stickers! Thank you Washington State Book Awards

I'm guessing that one is never too old for gold stars and that's why most of the top book prizes give stickers. Although this is not my first book prize, it is my first sticker and I was (am) wildly excited by this. The Washington Book Awards winners, finalists, and friends all came out to Richard Hugo House last Wednesday night for a celebration. Thanks to Francis McCue and a handful of people working behind the scenes, approximately 200 folks gathered in the cabaret to see old friends and meet new ones. When The Alchemist's Kitchen was published, I knew I wanted a sticker for it's cover. After all, the cover is a tad dark and a splash of gold lightens the composition.

Special congratulations to Washington State Book Award Poetry winner, Francis McCue for her incredible book, The Bled.

Where in the World are January and Susan?

January, Jeff, me, Elizabeth, and Kathleen at Kabul

The past four days have been a whirlwind of readings, eatings and sightseeing.
Picnic lunch of ceviche and cioppinoLucky for me January O'Neil is a fabulous photographer as well as an award winning poet.
Here are some of the places we have been over the last few days. January's Seattle postings tell it all. I will just add in a few of my favorite photos of Jan's and one more of my own.


The gold man takes a lunch breakAfter twelve years living in this lyrical city, I feel I can claim it as my home. And so seeing the gold man, picnicing outside Pike Place Market, reading at Elliott Bay Book Company, and eating our way through High Five Pie and Poppy, Easy Street and Kabul -- feels like I've been able to show January a window onto a full life. It was a true pleasure to hear Jan read, write together, and share poems. Here's to poetry friends that first meet in the blogosphere and then transfer out to the physical world as well. Such magic when the keyboards and coffee shops align. Thank you Jan for a wonderful time. Come back to Seattle soon.


[image error] Friday's sunset from my house. A hopeful omen.

January Gil O'Neil Joins Seattle's Poetry Scene October 12 and 13th

I love how poets migrate from city to city. I love meeting the poets behind the poems after first encountering them in journals or books. This is how I met January O'Neil. Now January will be visiting Seattle and reading 5:00 pm, Wednesday, October 12th at Elliott Bay Book Company. This is January's first visit to Seattle. After January reads, we will move over to Hugo House for a reception to honor the Washington State Book Award Winners and Finalists. The reception is from 6:00 - 8:00 pm and you are invited to both the reading and the reception.

If you can't make Wednesday night, January is also reading at Highline Community College for Highline Listens: Writers Read Their Work at 11 am, Thursday, October 13th, in the Mt. Olympus Room of the Student Union. This event is also free and open to the public.

We hope to see you there --- or there!

Youth, Failure, and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Three stories of his life. College dropout, adopted son, and lost soul. This is a superb talk. Jobs is a storyteller and seeker. He slept on the dorm room floor of a friend, collected coke bottles for money, and ate one good meal a week at the Hari Krishna temple.

And since he didn't have to take required courses (he'd dropped out) he could drop in on a calligraphy course and fall in love with typography. If he hadn't dropped out of college and followed his heart to a calligraphy course, personal computers might not have the beautiful fonts and spacial considerations.

At 21, Jobs started at Apple Computers, at 30, he was fired and starting over. This is a beautiful, beautiful, talk on how to trust in your passions, no matter what. This is an authentic, passionate, and wise talk. Three stories. Youth, failure, and death. And it's very uplifting. Listen.

A quote to live by - Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Thanks to Kelli Russell Agodon for this image.