Children’s Book Week, May 7-13
May 7, 2012
Today marks the beginning of Children’s Book Week, the national celebration of books and reading for youth.
This nationwide event has a vibrant presence locally, with a robust lineup of events scheduled at Village Books:
Monday, May 7, 10am-8:30pm: Children’s Book Week Kick-Off!
Tuesday, May 8, 10:30am & Thurs., May 10, 10:30am: Preschool Story Time & Craft with Christina
Friday, May 11, 6pm: Local Author Showcase with Laurie O’Keefe (Gopher to the Rescue), Carol S. Hervin (Boots: Boots Finds a New Home) & Cheryl Larcom (Hang on Adam Apple)
Saturday, May 12, 11am: David Westerlund (Simone Goes to the Market)
Saturday, May 12, 4pm: Kids Open Mic Reading
This week also offers several performances of a don’t-miss musical by Chad Henry based on the iconic children’s book, Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, playing at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center. Tickets — $10 general and $5 for students — are available at both Community Food Co-ops, Piper Music on Meridian, Village Books and at the door.
The Whatcom County Library System also has a variety of events scheduled. Check your local bookstores and libraries for additional events.
Celebrate. Enjoy books. Read aloud with your kids. It could be habit-forming.
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for your bookshelf…and your creative mind…
May 5, 2012
Congratulations to Brenda Miller and Holly J. Hughes, whose co-authored book, The Pen and the Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World, is hot off the press from Skinner House Books.
What started as an exchange of letters about writing and contemplation has evolved into a reflective and inspiring book that demonstrates the importance of contemplation as “an active practice” that directly benefits one’s writing.
The authors will read from and talk about The Pen and the Bell at a book launch on Sunday, May 20, 2012, at 4:00pm, at Village Books, in Bellingham. Learn more and join the event on Facebook.
Brenda Miller, who is a Professor of English at Western Washington University and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Bellingham Review, is the recipient of six Pushcart Prizes and author of Listening Against the Stone (Skinner House Books, 2011), Blessing of the Animals (EWU Press, 2009), Season of the Body (Sarabande Books, 2002), and co-author of Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction (McGraw-Hill, 2003 and 2012). Learn more at her website or her blog, Spa of the Mind.
Holly J. Hughes is the editor of the anthology Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State University Press) and the author of Boxing the Compass (Floating Bridge Press). She teaches writing at Edmonds Community College.
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persona to persona…
April 9, 2012
The Day Nine prompt for NaPoWriMo is to write a persona poem. The persona poem allows the poet to inhabit another entity — a person, place, object, creature, etc. — and to speak from that voice. Like a mask, the persona may allow the poet to discover a surprising new personality, point of view or syntax.
Maureen Thorson offers some examples of famous persona poems on her NaPoWriMo Day Nine prompt post.
To see how a couple hundred contemporary poets have met the persona challenge, have a look at (and buy!) the wonderful new collection, A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry, edited by Oliver de la Paz and Stacey Lynn Brown (University of Akron Press).
If you have a chance to attend a reading, do! Visit the website for the book to learn more and see a calendar of readings, and follow A Face to Meet the Faces on Facebook.
Have you written a persona poem today?
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reading across borders…
February 26, 2012
Canada’s Freedom to Read Week begins today and continues through March 3. According to the University of British Columbia, Freedom to Read Week “is an annual event that encourages Canadians to reflect and examine their commitment to intellectual freedom.”
The American Library Association has compiled a list of 46 of the top 100 novels of the 20th century that have been banned or challenged and a list of the top 100 banned or challenged books of 2000-2009.
Celebrate. Read a book.
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it’s Friday…
February 17, 2012
…so what are you reading? Friday Reads, a Facebook page, wants to know.
As the site explains, “Every Friday, thousands of people post what they’re reading, whether a book, magazine, blog post or bus schedule. The point is to share what we’re reading in order to celebrate and promote reading!” and “More Reading = Better World“
Nearly ten thousand people have Liked the page, so if you’re on Facebook and if you’re curious, have a look. You might find someone who’s reading the same book you are, or who’s reading a book you’ve been curious about, or who wants to read your book, or…
P.S.: If you’re on Facebook and you haven’t already Liked Sue Boynton Poetry Contest, please do!
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local librarian online…
January 11, 2012
We are huge supporters of independent booksellers, but we’re also fans of Seattle librarian and Book Lust author, Nancy Pearl, and her savvy book recommendations. So we thought you might be interested to know that Nancy Pearl now has her own book line on Amazon.com. Book Lust Rediscoveries will, each year, reprint six out-of-print novels written between 1960 and 2000 and selected by Nancy Pearl. Her first two books, A Gay and Melancholy Sound by Merle Miller and After Life by Rhian Ellis are currently posted and available in print or for Kindle.
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the book as art…
January 6, 2012
Sometimes a book is more than a book… Guy Laramée is an artist accomplished in many media, including elaborately carved books. Visit his website to view The Great Wall and Biblios series, and see additional images at Foster/White Gallery.
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last poetry book of the year…
December 31, 2011
Congratulations to Kelli Russell Agodon and Annette Spaulding-Convy, co-editors of Crab Creek Review and co-founders of Two Sylvias Press, on the completion and publication of Fire On Her Tongue: An eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry. Start the new year with powerful poetry: order now on Amazon, or soon on other eBook platforms (iBooks, Nook, etc.).
Happy New Year!
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listed…
December 13, 2011
In Mary Ann Gwinn’s Sunday, December 11, 2011, Seattle Times column, “Books we loved the most in 2011,” she names one poetry book among the 21 titles on her fiction and poetry list: Tess Gallagher’s new book of poems, Midnight Lantern (Graywolf Press).
In his earlier review of Gallagher’s book, Charles R. Cross said, “It is a worthy and deeply moving anthology, and one firmly rooted in the Northwest.”
Tess Gallagher will read from Midnight Lantern at Village Books in Bellingham on Saturday, February 11, 2012.
shopping…
November 25, 2011
Making a list? Checking it twice? Why not support your local author (and bookstore!) by giving books for the holidays this year? The following list includes (mostly) Whatcom County writers, (mostly) poets whose books are currently available or order-able through the links provided. There are also many books and chapbooks available through the poets themselves, or on the shelves of local bookstores but not listed in an online catalog. (Apologies for glaring omissions.) We welcome your suggestions for additions!
A Long-Forgotten Truth by Rachel Ballard
Beasts and Violins by Caleb Barber
Clover, A Literary Rag
Dogs and Other Poems by Paul Piper
Finding Water, Holding Stone by James Bertolino
Follow Me Down by Denise duMaurier
Graffito by John Burgess
In the Company of Crows by Carole MacRury
Listening Against the Stone by Brenda Miller
Lives of the Saints by Suzanne Paola
Money for Sunsets by Elizabeth Colen
Necessity of Flight by Jane Alynn
Neither Rising nor Falling by Jeremy Voigt
No Sweeter Fat and After by Nancy Pagh
POETRY WALK: the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, First Five Years, Anita Boyle and Nancy Canyon, eds.
Red Studio by Mary Cornish
Reimagine: Poems, 1993-2009 by Richard Lee Harris
Requiem for the Orchard by Oliver de la Paz
Rumors of Shore by Paul Fisher
The Art of Departure by Susan J. Erickson
The Corpse Flower: New and Selected Poems by Bruce Beasley
The View from Lummi Island by Luther Allen
What the Alder Told Me by Anita K. Boyle
