The University of Arizona Poetry Center- Kenyon Review Managing Editor Tyler Meier Named New Executive Director

 

Click ‘Contribute’ to give to the Poetry Center today! View thisl in your browser Kenyon Review Managing Editor Tyler Meier Named New Executive Director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center  College of Humanities Dean Mary Wildner-Bassett has just named Tyler Meier as the new Executive Director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Meier brings years of experience as a poet, administrator and teacher to his new position at the Poetry Center, which he assumes on August 5. Meier comes to the Poetry Center from The Kenyon Review in Ohio where he was the managing editor as well as the co-director of the Young Writers Summer Program. He received an MFA from the University of Washington, and his poetry and nonfiction have appeared in At Length, AGNI (online), Laurel Review, Bat City Review, jubilat, Washington Square, Thermos, Forklift, Ohio, and elsewhere. “Now that the Poetry Center has settled into its landmark building, we are ready to embark on the next era of the Center, to expand our vibrant programs and build new audiences for poetry here and across the country. I know Tyler will bring energy and enthusiasm to the position,” said College of Humanities Dean Mary Wildner-Bassett.   “I’m thrilled to join the Poetry Center staff as Executive Director,” said Meier. “From the volunteers and donors and docents to the writers who visit in the Reading Series, from the incredibly dedicated staff to the larger community served by the collections and programs and events, I’ve been truly astounded by all of the people who participate in the daily life of the Center.  The place positively hums.  This must be what Ruth Stephan had in mind over fifty years ago when she had the original, beautiful idea for a Poetry Center.  It is an aspirational space that recognizes and celebrates a central role for poetry in our contemporary culture, and it amplifies our hopes for what the art form might do in the years to come.”    Meier will replace Gail Browne who has served as the Executive Director of the Poetry Center since 2002. Browne is pursuing other arts administration opportunities in the greater Phoenix area. Facebook Twitter Website Copyright © 2013 The University of Arizona Poetry Center, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The University of Arizona Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721 Add us to your address book

The University of Arizona Poetry Center- Classes & Workshops Reading & New on voca: Nathanial Mackey & Marilyn Crispell & Social Justice Poets

The University of Arizona Poetry Center- Classes & Workshops Reading & New on voca: Nathanial Mackey & Marilyn Crispell & Social Justice Poets

This Week at the Poetry Center Poetry Center Classes & Workshops Reading Thursday, May 16 at 7:00 p.m. The Poetry Center’s Classes & Workshops program is a year-round hive of learning, reading, writing, and creative accomplishments and breakthroughs. Our students work in many genres and media. Join us for an evening of readings by students and teachers who participated during the spring semester. Details | Events Calendar New on voca: Nathanial Mackey & Marilyn Crispell Newly available on voca, the Poetry Center’s online audio/video library: poet Nathaniel Mackey performs with jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell at the Pima Community College Center for the Arts on March 28, 2013. This performance was presented in collaboration with Chax Press and POG: Poetry In Action. Follow voca on Twitter @UAvoca and add some poetry to your day! Social Justice Poets Expect to be transported and challenged by this exhibit featuring poet activists Allen Ginsberg, Demetria Martínez, and many others. Curated by Erin Renee Wahl and the Progressive Librarians Guild of the University of Arizona’s School of Information Resources and Library Science, “Social Justice Poets” gathers poems, photographs, and original documents representing the deep relationship between poets, their poetry, and their causes. We invite you to be infused by the spirit of social justice poets. The exhibit is on view in the Poetry Center library through June 26. (Photo by Jessica Kelly Jenkins)

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 The University of Arizona Poetry Center All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The University of Arizona Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721 Add us to your address book

The University of Arizona Poetry Center- Creative Writing MFA Graduate Readings & Hattie Lockett and UA Student Contest Broadside Exhibition

 

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There’s always something happening at the Poetry Center! Is this not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. This Week at the Poetry Center Creative Writing MFA Graduate Readings Wednesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 2 7:00 p.m. Students graduating from the University of Arizona Creative Writing MFA program will read from their work. The Poetry Center will also recognize the winners of our UA student poetry contests and distribute broadsides of the prize-winning poems. The readings take place over two evenings (May 1 and 2). Details | Events Calendar Hattie Lockett and UA Student Contest Broadside Exhibition May 1 through June 1, 2013 Poetry Center Library Come view a broadside exhibition of 2012-2013 contest-winning work by University of Arizona students, presented in collaboration with the UA Book Art Collective. Summer Classes & Workshops Feeling surreal? Interested in letterpress printing? Want to get in touch with your inner gods and demons? This summer, the Poetry Center is offering three courses: Surrealist Writing with Matt Rotando (May 20-26),Poetry in Letterpress Print with Alice Vinson (June 22-23) and Writing Your Gods and Demons with Christopher Nelson (July 8-18). Online registration is now open and these courses are expected to fill quickly. Reserve your spot now!   Gail Browne Receives Humanities Council Award Last evening, the Arizona Humanities Council honored UA Poetry Center Executive Director Gail Browne with the Juliana Yoder Friend of the Humanities Award. This award serves as a tribute to Browne, who will be leaving her position in June 2013 and relocating to Phoenix. The Yoder Award commemorates her life’s work of making poetry and the humanities accessible in all corners of Arizona and beyond.  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 The University of Arizona Poetry Center All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The University of Arizona Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721 Add us to your address book

The Writers Studio- Celebrating “Poetry Daily” at Powerhouse Arena & Writing Courses

THE WRITERS STUDIO- Celebrating “Poetry Daily” at Powerhouse Arena & Writing Courses

“Celebrating 26 years of helping writers reach their potential”

>> ”THERE’S ONLY ONE REASON TO WRITE POETRY: TO CHANGE THE WORLD.” - Philip Levine, as quoted by Mark Levine.

>> DON’T MISS OUR LAST READING OF THE SEASON: A CELEBRATION OF “POETRY DAILY” AT POWERHOUSE ARENA (DUMBO), SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 5 P.M. 
Major Jackson (Holding Company; winner of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship) and Pulitzer-Prize poet & founder/director of The Writers Studio Philip Schultz will be joined by Sophie Cabot Black (The Descent: Poems), Korean-American poet Cathy Park Hong (Engine Empire), James Lasdun (Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked), and Dennis Nurkse (A Night in Brooklyn) to celebrate one of the largest online anthologies of contemporary poetry. The event is free and will take place at The PowerHouse Arena, 37 Main St., Dumbo, Brooklyn. F to York St. or A/C to High St). FACEBOOK 

>> “DYNAMIC, INSPIRING, INVIGORATING, SUPPORTIVE. The Writers Studio seemed to me to have all the qualities one could possibly wish for in a writing school.”- James Lasdun. Jumpstart your writing before the summer by joining a 10-week workshop in Fiction & Poetry.
> ONLINE LEVEL I, taught by Anamyn Turowski (nominated for a Pushcart Prize this year), begins Wednesday, May 1
> ONLINE LEVEL I, taught by Yetsuh Frank, begins Monday, May 6
> NYC LEVEL I, taught by Whitney Porter, begins Monday May 6
> NYC LEVEL I, taught by Elliot Satsky, begins Monday, May 13
COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES | TO REGISTER. 

>> YOU CAN JOIN OUR CRAFT CLASS AT ANY TIME: NEW CYCLE BEGINS THIS WEEK. In this 9-week program, you learn to recognize the techniques writers use to achieve their literary goals and how to apply these techniques to your own writing. This session, we will be reading works by fiction writers Carol Shields, Grégoire Bouillier and poet David Wojahn, among others, and welcome two guest speakers: James Lasdun and Edward Hirsch.  You can attend the classes in person or simply access them through podcasts. Check out our current reading list.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES | TO REGISTER. 

>> SPECIAL OFFER TO THE WRITERS STUDIO COMMUNITY: GET 20% OFF MOST EVENTS AT PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE, taking place in NYC, April 29-May 5 (Code: PEN13).

This year’s festival invites writers from around the globe to explore bravery in art, politics and everyday life.  Featuring

Nadeem Aslam, Paul Auster, Judith Butler, Henri Cole, Eduardo Galeano, Joy Harjo, Aleksandar Hemon, A.M Homes, Jamaica Kincaid, Ursula Krechel, Lewis Lapham, Fran Lebowitz, Claudio Magris, Téa Obreht, Salman Rushdie, Mikhail Shishkin, Sapphire, Sonia Sotomayor, Charles Simic, Andrew Solomon, Naomi Wolf, and many others.

For a complete festival schedule, visit: WORLDVOICESFESTIVAL.ORG

www.writerstudio.com / 212-255-7075 / TWITTER / FACEBOOK / question@writerstudio.com

University of Arizona Poetry Center- UA Prose Series Reading: Brent Hendricks and Nicole Walker & Shop Talk: The Poetry of J. Michael Martínez, Carmen Giménez Smith, and Roberto Tejada

This Week at the Poetry Center UA Prose Series Reading: Brent Hendricks and Nicole Walker TONIGHT! Monday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. Sponsored by the UA Department of English Brent Hendricks’ newly released memoir, A Long Day at the End of the World, recounts the chilling discovery of his father’s body among hundreds of abandoned and decayed corpses at the Tri-State Crematory in Georgia in February 2002. Nicole Walker’s new nonfiction book, Quench Your Thirst with Salt, is “part affecting memoir, part lyric meditation on water, part cultural critique, but finally about all that is unquenchable in the human experience” (Robin Hemley). Details | Events Calendar Shop Talk: The Poetry of J. Michael Martínez, Carmen Giménez Smith, and Roberto Tejada Tuesday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. Join us for a triple feature at this Shop Talk led by poet, dancer, and University of Arizona MFA graduate Christina Vega-Westhoff. She will lead us in a discussion of the work of J. Michael Martínez, Carmen Giménez Smith, and Roberto Tejada, three exciting contemporary poets who will read for the Poetry Center on April 25. Details | Events Calendar Latino/a Poetry Now: J. Michael Martínez, Carmen Giménez Smith, and Roberto Tejada Thursday, April 25 at 7:00 p.m. Co-sponsored by Letras Latinas/Poetry Society of America This reading, showcasing a new generation of Latino/a poets, is part of “Latino/a Poetry Now,” a two-year national tour sponsored by Letras Latinas and the Poetry Society of America. Francisco Aragón, director of Letras Latinas, will open the event, and poets J. Michael Martínez, Carmen Giménez Smith, and Roberto Tejada will read from their work. The reading will be followed by a question and answer session and book signing. Details | Events Calendar Family Days Saturday, April 27 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This month’s Family Day features a rocking dance party by special guest dancers from BreakOut Studios! Other poem-happenings include Poetry Joeys creative writing workshops, yoga, multilingual story time, a book club based around The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and more! Details | Events Calendar New on voca: Peggy Shumaker & Eloise Klein Healy New on voca, the Poetry Center’s online audio/video library:Peggy Shumaker reads from Toucan Nest: Poems of Costa Rica (2013) and Eloise Klein Healy reads from A Wild Surmise: New & Selected Poems & Recordings (2013). Both poets read their work at the Poetry Center on March 21, 2013.(Photo by Cybele Knowles) Follow voca on Twitter @UAvoca and add a little poetry to your day!

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 The University of Arizona Poetry Center All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The University of Arizona Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721 Add us to your address book

Isaac Kirkman & Jamez Chang Poets- Five Poems Published in MENANCING HEDGE, Spring 2013 & Amazing Art and Photography by Erie Chang

     Five Poems Published in MENANCING HEDGE, Spring 2013

      by Isaac Kirkman & Jamez Chang   

      Isaac Kirkman and Jamez Chang just had five poems  published in MENACING HEDGE, Spring 2013.

 The direct link to our 5 poems in Menacing Hedge, Spring 2013 is here.

 The link to the blog post with amazing original art and photography is here.

Here’s the post on Jamez’s facebook page:

Hoops up! Collaboration is the new Pink. I interviewed Isaac Kirkman back in February, and we proposed a challenge to readers: 20 comments/100 shares and we’d get together to write some poetry, prose. You guys supported us, and so we reached the century mark—in less than 24 hrs! We just got that work published in Menacing Hedge, and we feel like jumping for joy–or just tipping a fedora. Please check out the lyrical stylingz & audio recordings of Kirkman & Chang/Chang & Kirkman/Jamez and….Oh, don’t be a fence-sitter: there’s Hedge to inhale

And here’s Isaac Kirkman’s facebook post:

Like atoms coming together to form new elemental structures, community and collaboration is a magical thing to me. Back in February at the end of my interview with Jamez it was stated if we reached 20 comments and 100 shares we would collab on a piece. The words and ideas Hadron collided together, and as usual he made magic out of my mayhem, and art was made.

The two collab pieces are about Jeremy Lin, a very spiritual, and groundbreaking Chinese-American basketball player who took the NBA by storm last year. The third was a poem about my brother Joshua Alva Josh Kirkman, called Alva’s Wings, that Jamez at the buzzer helped to really sharpen and bring into focus. They’re topped off with two solo poems from Jamez. I feel very honored that my name will be connected to a cat like Jamez creatively forever, and that two cats from different branches of the Writers Studio could come together and make art. It’s been fun.

Erie Chang blessed us with her artwork, whose graphic vision really set the emotional tone of the project. On top of Menacing Hedge amazing design, are voice recordings done by Jamez and I of each poem. (His vocal acrobatics are must listen.) and Kelly Boyker Guillemette was such a great editor, who supported our collaborative vision. In the end it was a great process to be a part of! Cheers!

——————————————

Jamez Chang

fobjamez50@yahoo.com

www.jamezchang.com

http://jamezchang.wordpress.com/

Michael Gregory Author- Reading from MR AMERICA DRIVES HIS CAR at The National Writers Union Open Mic

MR AMERICA DRIVES HIS CAR

by Michael Gregory

The National Writers Union will be having an open mic on Monday, March 18, 2012 at Fronimo’s Greek Cafe at 3242 E. Speedway Blvd. in Tucson. The lead reader this month will be the poet Michael Gregory, who will be reading from his most recent book, MR AMERICA DRIVES HIS CAR, which was just published this month by Post-Soviet Depression Press(postsovietdepression.com).

The open mic is for spoken word only, but is open to all forms of spoken word (fiction, essays, poetry, articles, polemics, etc.). So bring something to read!

The evening will start at 5:30 or so for those who want to have dinner; the open mic will start at 6:15. Fronimo’s is on Speedway just past Country Club (heading east) in a small strip mall next to the Walgreens. Parking is in the rear and can be accessed by turning into the Walgreens parking lot from Speedway and then proceeding to the mall.

National Writers Union
(UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO)
Tucson Unit
nwutucson@yahoo.com
www.orgsites.com/az/nwu