Poetry Santa Cruz events upcoming in the next month in Santa Cruz County. Please see our Events page for future listings and a comprehensive list of literary events in and around Santa Cruz County.
 

Poetry Santa Cruz Events
Tuesday February 7, 2012 7:30 PM	Toi Derricotte and Ellen Bass. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz.  [ map ] [ Read more about this event ]
Sunday February 19 2:00 PM	Poet/Speak Open Reading with featured reader Catherine O’Kelly.  Signup at 2:00 sharp, 5-minute limit.  Hosted by Joyce Keller. Main Library upstairs Meeting Room, 224 Church Street, Santa Cruz. [ map ]  Free.
Events Co-sponsored by Poetry Santa Cruz
Sunday February 12 3:30 to 10 PM Doors open 3:00	Poetry Festival Santa Cruz, Featured performers will include: Wanda Coleman, Jack Hirschman, Michael C. Ford (with Ray Manzarek), Genny Lim, Lorna Dee Cervantes, The Ellyn Maybe Band, Stephen Kessler, Avotcja & Modupue, Charles Curtis Blackwell, Andy Clausen, Ellen Bass, Jerry Kamstra, A.D. Winans, Gerald Nicosia, Cara Vida, S.A. Griffin, Jennifer Barone with Nova Jazz Band, Mike The Poet, Jane Ormerod, Marc Olmsted, Rich Ferguson (w/Bo Blount), Floyd Salas, Claire Ortalda, Gary Young, Quiet Lightning, Ron Lampi, T. Mike Walker, Keith Savage, Dennis Holt, Peter Marti, Kevin Patrick Sullivan, and John Allen Cassady.  Musical Guests: The Invertebrates, Alan Sitar Brown, Ruebi Lynn Jimenez and Geordie Van Der Bosch.  Hosted by San Francisco poet MCs extraordinaire Ginger Murray and Marc Kockinos. Cocoanut Grove Grand Ballroom, 400 Beach Street, Santa Cruz.  Advance tickets are now available at: http://www.showclix.com/event/poetryfestivalsantacruz Order tickets by phone (at no additional cost) by calling, 1-888-71-TICKETS. The Showclix call center is open Monday through Friday, 9:00AM - 9:00PM (EST).  Presented by Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts. The event is co-sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz, Poetry Santa Cruz, Seabright Brewery, Santa Cruz Weekly, Santa Cruz Art League, Nickelodeon/Del Mar, Food Bin & Herb Room, The Starving Musician, The Beat Museum, Felix Kulpa Gallery, Poetry Flash, Sport About, Community Printers, Santa Cruz Construction Guild and more. Part of the proceeds of Poetry Festival Santa Cruz will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Cruz. To join the volunteer committee, contact Daniel Yaryan. Here is historical information about the Santa Cruz Poetry Festival (which has not been held since 1981).

Poetry Santa Cruz events are supported, in part, by a grant from the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County.  Some readings are supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.  Poetry Santa Cruz is also grateful for the support of its members and donors, In Celebration of the Muse, and those who donated in memory of Maude Meehan, Kathleen Flowers and Hermie Medley.  The William James Association acted as our fiscal sponsor for our first four years.  Our readings are sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz, Capitola Book Café, Watsonville Public Library, Santa Cruz Public Library, Cabrillo College, UCSC Division of Humanities and Creative Writing Program, Scotts Valley Arts Commission, KUSP, Casablanca Inn and the National Writers Union Chapter 7.  Membership premiums have been donated by Graywolf Press, the University of Pittsburgh Press, Robert Sward, Coffee House Press, Copper Canyon Press, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  A voluntary donation of $3 may be requested at venues where collection of donations is permitted.

2012 In Celebration of the Muse Readers

The readers in the 2012 In Celebration of the Muse reading will be Kate Aver Avraham, Ellen Bass, Jo-Ann Birch, Barbara Bloom, Julie Hannah Brower, Alta Ifland, Farnaz Fatemi, Susan Freeman, Clifford Henderson, Rosie King, Danusha Laméris, Elizabeth McKenzie, Adela Najarro, Dee Roe, Tilly Shaw, Lisa Simon, Ellen Treen, Suki Wessling, Laura Young, and Patricia Zylius. Ellen Treen will receive the 2012 In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award for her collection of stories Defining Moments.  The 30th annual In Celebration of the Muse reading by twenty local women authors will take place on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 7:30 pm in the Cabrillo College Crocker Theater.  Tickets will become available in February.

Calls for Submissions:

• Red Wheelbarrow , published at De Anza College in Cupertino, is accepting submissions for its 2012 National Edition, open to poets and writers from around the country and the world. Submission deadline: postmarked or received by email February 15, 2012. Digital submissions encouraged. Two to six month response time.
   - Poetry: up to five poems
   - Fiction: one short story (up to 5,000 words) or up to three short-shorts
   - Plays: one dramatic piece up to 5,000 words
   - Creative Nonfiction: one essay (up to 5,000 words)
   - Photographs, Drawings, & Digital Art: up to five prints or digital files—we prefer digital files. *Do not send originals. We require B&W work for the inside of the magazine, but color may be considered for the cover.
   - Comics: one brief graphic story.
Red Wheelbarrow National Edition appears once a year usually in the early fall. We welcome unsolicited submissions and publish an artistically and culturally diverse range of voices from our region as well as from around the country and the world. We accept submissions from September 1 to February 15. Red Wheelbarrow, formerly known as Bottomfish, has been publishing continuously since 1976. We also publish a De Anza-student-only edition of Red Wheelbarrow each June. Guidelines for both editions available online.
Please enclose a brief autobiographical statement and an SASE and/or email address for reply. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable if so indicated. Please notify us as soon as possible if the submission is accepted elsewhere.
Email submissions accepted (encouraged) at WeisnerKen@fhda.edu.
Single copy price: $15 (current issue); back issues: $10.
Red Wheelbarrow
De Anza College
21250 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

• Central Coast Writers announces its Spring 2012 Contest for poetry and prose.  In each category, awards will be made for two winners: $250 and publication (print and on-line) in the Homestead Review (Hartnell College, Salinas).  All entries will be considered for publication.  Entry Fees vary, see rules.  Submission period: September 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012.  For contest rules, download the 2012 Contest Rules in PDF format.  Visit the CCW website.

On The Poetry Show

The Poetry Show airs each Sunday 9-10 PM on KUSP 88.9 FM.

Past shows on The Poetry Show Blog and podcast on kusp.org:
• January 22: Dennis Morton reads poems by Chris Abani, Lucille Clifton, Mark Strand and others.
• January 15: Susan Freeman interviews Jane Hirshfield.
• January 8: Dennis Morton reads poems by Ruth Stone and more, including poems by from the anthology Poems with an Edge edited by Neil Astley.
• January 1, 2012: Dennis Morton reads favorite poems and more, including poems by Maxine Kumin and Martina Evans.
• December 25: Dennis Morton reads poems from The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them.
• December 18: Dennis Morton plays a recording from Gwynne Harries and reads poems by Mark Strand, and poems from from the December Poetry and the Winter Ploughshares.
• December 11: Dennis Morton hosts Lola Haskins reading from Still, the Mountain.
• December 4: Dennis Morton hosts Robert Sward reading from New and Selected Poems: 1957-2011.
• November 27: Dennis Morton hosts Len Anderson reading from Invented by the Night, his second collection of poems.
• November 20: Dennis Morton hosts Joan Zimmerman, Roger Abe, Judith Schallberger, and three others with readings from Wild Violets: Yuki Teiki Haiku Society Members’ Anthology 2011.

Poetry in Local Media

The Good Times prints a monthly poetry column and the Santa Cruz Weekly includes the weekly “Local Poets, Local Inspiration” column in its online edition, SantaCruz.com and in the print edition on the first Wednesday of the month.  Articles about poetry events, authors and books also appear in Good Times, Santa Cruz Weekly and the Santa Cruz Sentinel.  Copies of Redwood Coast Review are distributed in the Library Main Branch lobby and in Bookshop Santa Cruz and regularly feature poetry, book reviews and other articles of literary interest.  Recent columns:

• Three poems by Len Anderson and two poems by Casey FitzSymons in a new column in the December issue of Comic News.
• Articles about Robert Sward and his New and Selected Poems: 1957-2011 appear in the November 30 Santa Cruz Weekly and December 1 Good Times .
• Two poems by Len Anderson in the November 17 Good Times (3 poems online).
• Three poems by Rob Sean Wilson in the October 27 Good Times.
• Three poems by Robert Sward in the October 13 Good Times.
• A poem by Rosie King in the October 5 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Three poems by Dorine Jennette in the September 15 Good Times.
• A poem by July St. James in the August 24 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Three poems by Wesley McNair in the August 11 Good Times.
• Four poems by Kevin Opstedal in the July 7 Good Times.
• Ten prose poems by Gary Young from his forthcoming book in the online July 6 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• A poem by Robert Sward about the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake in the online June 22 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Two poems by Dion Farquhar in the online June 15 Santa Cruz Weekly.

Breaking into Print
 
• Middlearth Editions proudly announces the publication of Two Answers - Told in Tribute to Lew Welch on the 40th Anniversary of His Occultation, a chapbook in Limited Edition with contributions by: Charles Upton, Kush, Casey Sonnabend and Sam Amico. Published in 86 copies, 43 signed ($125), 43 unsigned ($50). Available at Logos Books & Records and Middlearth Editions, PO Box 1894, Soquel, CA 95073.
• The latest book of poems from Patricia Hernan Grube is Layer by Layer, with drawings by Donald Leo Grube, is available from her website www.patriciagrube.com.
• The latest book of prose poems from Alta Ifland is The Snail’s Song, due December 15 from Spuyten Duyvil Press.  It includes drawings by the author.
• Rob Sean Wilson’s latest book is Beat Attitudes: On the Roads to Beatitude for Post-Beat Writers, Dharma Bums, and Cultural-Political Activists, to be published by New Pacific Press.
• Len Anderson’s second full-length collection of poems is Invented by the Night, published by Hummingbird Press.  He celebrated the release of his book Sunday, November 13, 3 pm at the Cabrillo Horticulture Center.
• Theodore Berhanu Levine’s Recovery & Perfect Bliss, Inc. is available from Troy Book Makers.
• The 2011 issue of Ping Pong features an interview with Ruth Stone, and international collections from French-Canadian poet Guy Jean as well as translations from Japanese. Ping–Pong offers the finest in American writers including Brian Henry, Eleni Sikelianos, Katie Farris, Bruce Covey, and Sesshu Foster, among many other luminaries. The Ping Pong West Coast Launch Party will take place at the Beat Museum on Saturday, October 22nd at 7:30. The magazine is published annually at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.
• Copies of Robert Sward’s New and Selected Poems 1957-2011 are available in Bookshop Santa Cruz and Capitola Book Café and may also be ordered now from Red Hen Press.  Robert Sward celebrated release of his book December 6 at Capitola Book Café.
• Stephen Kessler’s The Tolstoy of the Zulus: on culture, arts and letters is his latest collection of essays on a wide variety of subjects including poets. El Léon Literary Arts, 2011.
• Kevin Opstedal’s new book is California Redemption Value, published by University of New Orleans Press, 2011.
• Maggie Paul’s first full-length collection of poems is Borrowed World, published by Hummingbird Press.  She celebrated the release of her book on Saturday, March 19 at the Cabrillo Horticulture Center.
• Kate Aver Avraham has been awarded the In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award 2011 for Perhaps the Truth is Also Blue, published by Poetry Santa Cruz.
• Jo-Ann Birch’s new collection of poems is A Place To Fall Into, available on Amazon.
• Doren Robbins’ latest collection of poems is Amnesty Muse, due in February from Lost Horse Press.  Doren Robbins read for Poetry Santa Cruz on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:30 PM at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz CA 95060.
• Adrienne Rich’s latest collection of poems is Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007–2010, published by W. W. Norton. She has had to cancel her February 1 Bookshop Santa Cruz reading.
• Lisa Allen Ortiz’s chapbook collection of poems Turns Out, 40 pages, published by Main Street Rag.

National Poetry News

For national poetry news, check out Poetry Daily’s news and the Poetry Hut Blog.

Cool Poetry Santa Cruz T-shirts!

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