David Franks Dies
January 14th, 2010
David Franks, poet, artist, songwriter and prankster, died on Jan. 14 in his Baltimore apartment at the age of 61. The list of David Franks stories is long: he wrote Congressional speeches in the mid-1970s, conducted a musical composition played by tugboat whistles, commandeered a Xerox machine at Social Security headquarters, undressed, mounted the machine and photocopied his body for an art project.... He earned an MA from Johns Hopkins and spent most of his working life teaching writing.
A memorial will take place at 3 pm on Sunday, Jan. 31, at The Creative Alliance at The Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave.). The afternoon will also include a potluck reception at 4 pm and "Footlong's Friends Read" at 5 pm.
2009 Beullah Rose Poetry Prize Results
January 8th, 2010
6th Annual Beullah Rose Poetry Prize from Smartish Pace; Clare Banks & Traci O’Dea, Judges
1st Prize: “Remember” by Miriam Bird Greenberg
2nd Prize: “When My Back Gave Out” by Lisa Norris
3rd Prize: “Jung at the Harbor” by Danielle Deulen
Finalists:
“The Waitress at Atwaters” by Joyce S. Brown
“Cemetery, Victoriana” by Mary Elizabeth Parker
“Holes in the World” by Penelope Scambly Schott
“In an Old Western” by Susan Sonde
All poems will be published in Smartish Pace, Issue 17 (spring 2010)
Enter the 2010 contest!
Past Winners
2008: Anne-Marie Thompson
2007: Katy Didden
2006: Claire Keyes
2005: Carry McHugh
2004: Dawn Lonsinger
Poems from all previous winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes) can be found in the Contests section of this website.
Don Paterson Wins Queen's Medal
December 31st, 2009
For his book Rain, Scottish poet Don Paterson was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry (Buckingham Palace). Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the judging panel, said Paterson's work was "poetry of bravery and conviction". The medal, which was established in 1933, recognises excellence in poetry published in the last year. Previous recipients included Sir John Betjeman, Ted Hughes, WH Auden and Stevie Smith.
Ruth Lily Dies
December 30th, 2009
Philanthropist Ruth Lilly died on December 30th at the age of 94. She was the last surviving great-grandchild of pharmaceutical magnate Eli Lilly. During her lifetime Lilly donated about $800 million, including $100 million to The Poetry Foundation (Poetry magazine). That donation has since grown to nearly $200 million.
SP Pushcart Prize Nominations
December 1st, 2009
Smartish Pace 2009 Pushcart Prize Nominations, made by Editor Stephen Reichert
From Issue 16 (April, 2009)
Sherman Alexie: “Comedy Is Simply a Funny Way of Being Serious”
Michael Chitwood: “The Visitor”
Chris Hayes: “News Clipping, 1978”
Aaron Poochigian: “Fragment 2” by Sappho, Translation
Anne-Marie Thompson: “Dance of Seven Veils”
Mark Wisniewski: “Ripe”
Baudelaire Letters For Sale
November 25th, 2009
Personal letters, first edition copies of books--including Les Fleurs du mall (The Flowers of Evil) worth an estimated $200,000--and a suicide note written by 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire go on sale next week in Paris. Other items include correspondence, notably a letter from Victor Hugo, Baudelaire's birth and death certificates, and a dictionary used to translate the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe. The items belonged to Baudelaire, his mother Caroline and his solicitor and friend Narcisse Ancelle.
European Union's New Poet/President
November 24th, 2009
Herman Van Rompuy, prime minister of Belgium and the European Union's new president, is fond of writing haiku and is building a reputation with Japanese poets. "We feel very proud that the first EU president ever elected loves haiku," Kaoru Fujimoto, an official of the Haiku International Association in Tokyo. Here's a Rompuy haiku:
Hair blows in the wind
After years there is still wind
Sadly no more hair.
To read more, in Dutch, visit his poetry website.
Poet & Translator Yang Xianyi Dies
November 23rd, 2009
Yang Xianyi died in Beijing Monday at the age of 94. Yang was born in Tianjin in 1915 and studied English at Oxford where he met his future wife, the author Gladys Taylor. Besides translating Chinese classics such as The Dream of the Red Mansions, The Scholars, and the Selected Works of 20th century writer Lu Xun into English, Yang also translated Western works into Chinese including Homer's Odyssey, Aristophanes's The Birds and Peace and Virgil's Ecologues.
Unpublished Phillip Larkin Letters Donated
November 22nd, 2009
Over 2,500 unpublished letters by Philip Larkin were recently donated to the University of Hull where Larkin spent most of his career as a librarian. The letters to his mother, father and sister suggest Larkin was like any loving son. He wrote to his mother every week after his father's death in 1948. There has been no official announcement regarding publication of the letters.
Keith Waldrop Wins National Book Award
November 20th, 2009
Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (U. of CA) by Keith Waldrop won the 2009 National Book Award in poetry. The book was selected by judges Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, A. Van Jordan, Cole Swensen and Kevin Young. The four finalists were Versed (Wesleyan) by Rae Armantrout, Or to Begin Again (Penguin) by Ann Lauterbach, Speak Low (FSG) by Carl Phillips and Open Interval (U. of Pittsburgh) by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon. Fire to Fire by Mark Doty won the award last year, and Time and Materials by Robert Hass the year before.
