Apple Computer thinks Jon Appleton is pretty cool, and so do we at Phoenicia! For their celebration of the Mac at 30, Apple produced a major publication on their website, featuring one person per year -- artists, designers, musicians, scientists and more -- who have used the Mac in innovative and creative ways that moved computing and culture forward.
Jon Appleton was their choice for the year 1985. Here's what they said: "Pioneering Electronic Music: Electro-acoustic composer Jon Appleton established one of the first digital music studios in the world, and it was built completely around the Macintosh. With his Appletones software, he developed a revolutionary new way to teach the principles of composition to his students, inspiring musicians for years to come. Phoenicia congratulates Jon on this well-deserved recognition. Check out his electro-acoustic music at Amazon and iTunes, and his more recent classical compositions here at Phoenicia! Five Phoenicia authors have just been nominated by small presses for the 2011 Pushcart Prize, and we're delighted to congratulate them and share the news with you!
We're delighted to be able to congratulate Dave Bonta on winning the 2011 Keystone Chapbook Contest for his manuscript Breakdown: Banjo Poems. Dave won in the division for authors who've already had a published chapbook - which is, of course, his Odes to Tools, published by Phoenicia. The banjo poems, which appeared in serialized fashion on Dave's blog, bear his signature style, weaving in information and ideas from many traditions and disciplines. Congratulations, Dave, and to Keystone Press and their guest judge, Sascha Feinstein, for selecting this excellent collection.
William Woolfitt’s The Salvager’s Arts won in the category for manuscripts by new writers (no previous book or chapbook publication). Breakdown: Banjo Poems will be published in May of 2012 as #9 in the Keystone Chapbook Series. Phoenicia is delighted to announce the imminent publication of Kenneth Pobo's "Ice and Gaywings," winner of the 2011 qarrtsiluni chapbook contest. Luisa Igloria, this year's judge, had this to say about the manuscript she chose: "The experience I value most in reading this collection is the way its language (never romanticized) and tone (never overwrought) allows me to settle with increasing depth into the poems’ rhythms and precise observations—about the natural world, now only partially reclaimable from so many forms of artifice; about the intrusions of contemporary urban life and culture; about histories older than us that haunt and shadow place. And finally, its urgent reminder to listen, look, and learn to dwell again." The author, Kenneth Pobo, has four full-length collections of poetry and, including Ice And Gaywings, twenty chapbooks. He teaches creative writing and English at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. The chapbook, with full-color glossy cover and 38 pages, contains 26 poems, of which all but two have been chosen for publication in other journals. Watch this space for a special pre-publication offer, and more news about the author and this chapbook that we're very proud to publish in collaboration with qarrtsiluni. This is the third year qarrtsiluni has run a chapbook contest, with the winning manuscript published by Phoenicia. There are lots of contests out there, some with no reading fee at all (this one costs $11). If poets simply want to be published, there are also a number of chapbook printers now who masquerade as publishers. So why go to the trouble of entering a contest like this one? For one thing, the judging process is completely anonymous. (I know: I'm the contest coordinator!) We receive entries from known poets as well as people who've never submitted before, but all identifying information is stripped out, including acknowledgments, prior publications, biographical information -- even the "created by" tag in the file data is removed. So the judge has no way of knowing who is who, who has a degree, whose manuscript is filled with previously-published poems, and who doesn't but just happens to be a very good poet with something unique to say and an arresting way of saying it. Second: Our contests typically don't receive hundreds of entries. Your work won't be lost in the shuffle, but read carefully. And third: your entry fee goes toward the honorarium for the judge (for 2011, that's Luisa Igloria) and the cover artist, and to defray the expenses for review copies and postage. This is a break-even proposition at best, and you can feel positive, knowing that your fee helps support poetry itself. All ten shortlisted poets will receive publicity and publication of some of their works. In both 2009 and 2010, the contest was won by accomplished but relatively unknown poets. The subsequent publication of their books and the publicity they received, as well as the credit, has helped both of them in their careers. Dave Bonta and I take seriously our role as publishers and promoters of the poets who are chosen for the shortlist and as winners, and we do all we can to get the work out into the world in a beautiful form -- whether that's as printed or online books, or in the audio version -- where it can be read and appreciated. We also try to make the process an enjoyable one for everyone involved. To all my poet friends: you should seriously consider submitting to this contest. I won this contest last year, and Beth Adams & Dave Bonta have have been so awesome that they have ruined me for any other publisher. This year's judge is Luisa Igloria, who won the 2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry. --Clayton Michaels So we hope you will consider entering the 2011 contest; send us your best work, and good luck to all! The deadline is June 15, and all details are here. Qarrtsiluni managing Editors Dave Bonta and Beth Adams have submitted six nominations for the 2010 Pushcart Prizes. While most of these fine poems will appear in subsequent print editions published by Phoenicia, Clayton Michaels' "Tantric" is from his chapbook, Watermark, currently available here!
As we often say, we have a love/hate affair with contests and awards. It's great to be able to nominate our authors, and even more wonderful when they win, but we see so much work that is deserving of greater recognition, so it's very hard to choose only a few pieces to single out. Our goal is to congratulate and encourage all writers -- but today, to give a special tip of the hat to these fine poets and their work, and to the qarrtsiluni guest editors who chose some of these poems for their issues. “24” by Barbara Young (New Classics issue) “Tantric” by Clayton Michaels (Watermark) “Relics” by Sherry Chandler (Health issue) “Sea of Stars” by Dick Jones (The Crowd issue) “So soft his neck, so distant from the thought of stone” by Jee Leong Koh (New Classics issue) “Apart” by Aline Soules (Chapbook Finalists 2010; originally published in The Houston Literary Review, May 2009) There's lots of excitement at Phoenicia Publishing this spring! We'll have more announcements soon about forthcoming titles, but today we'd like to share some excellent news about one of our authors. Pamela Johnson Parker, author of A Walk Through the Memory Palace, which won the 2009 qarrtsiluni chapbook contest, has been named a Tennessee Williams Scholar by Sewanee Writer's Conference. Congratulations, Pamela, on this well-deserved honor!
A new review of Pamela's chapbook by Lawrence Gladeview was recently published at MediaVirus Magazine. Links to many other reviews and a blog tour of the chapbook, organized by qarrtsiluni, are posted here. |
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