Dear Literary Folk,
Happy National Poetry Month! The weeks ahead promise to be extremely busy and creative. After the short top-of-the-news below, I invite you to browse the pages here to check the announcements of events, readings, workshops, calls for submission, new writing groups forming, and new publications to celebrate. It’s quite a feast!
The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems of the San Francisco Bay Watershed
This month, Sixteen Rivers press releases a new anthology of 100 poems expressing the varied experiences of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The collection features a foreword by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and poems by writers old and new.
You are all invited to attend the book launches this month:
Thursday, April 22, 7 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. Berkeley
Saturday, April 17, 7 p.m. at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera
Wednesday, April 28, 7 p.m. at Readers’ Books, 130 East Napa Street, Sonoma
You can read more about the anthology with links for online ordering at our website: www.sixteenrivers.org.
And check out this review by local writer Tim Nonn: http://bookcase.blogs.petaluma360.com/10552/a-consuming-wild-fire-of-love/.
Friends of the Poet Laureate
Any of you in the community who would like to lend your support to Gwynn in her projects are invited to contact Linda Galletta and the Poet Laureate Selection Committee. You can send a message to Linda at lindag@monitor.net or (707) 829-4797.
Sonoma County Literary Update Coming to an End in June
As most of you already know, I will be stepping down as the Literary Update editor in June of 2010. I’ve enjoyed so much the chance to bring the literary community a little closer and to help promote the readings, new publications, and workshops of my friends and fellow writers.
The difficult realities are these: The commitment of the volunteer hours each month has limited the time I can devote to my own writing and publishing these past seven years; and as the popularity of the Update and the companion website has grown, so have those hours—now ten/month. Unfortunately, at the same time, the donations I used to receive have almost completely disappeared.
I’ve been actively seeking an individual or group in the community to take over the newsletter and website, and hoping to hold a meeting this month to brainstorm possibilities.
Recently two individuals have contacted me: Tim Nonn, who writes a literary blog for Petaluma 360, the online version of the Argus Courier; and Tom Lombardo, Sonoma Arts Council Board Member who hosted the website Sonomaword.org.
I know you are all very busy. One glance at the April calendar is enough to confirm that! So, as no other members of the literary community have expressed an interest in meeting to discuss the future of the Literary Update, I’ll talk personally with Tim and Tom (sounds like a 60’s pop-music duo, doesn’t it?), and I’ll let you know if anything evolves.
One other thought: The Redwood Writers Club, which has really grown and widened its reach in the past five years, has a very fine website with a calendar of literary events. Quite possibly this will provide the information readers of the Literary Update have come to rely on. Here’s the web link to check it out: http://www.redwoodwriters.org/calendar.html.
Click on any of these pages from the menu at above to view the rest of the April Literary Update:
County-Wide News (Including News from East, West, and North County)
Local Workshop Leaders and Writing Consultants
Current and Upcoming Workshops
Ongoing Writing Groups and Open Mic Readings
How to Send Announcements to the Literary Update
Sonoma County Literary Update 