MCEA – Conference & Reading

This Friday, October 14, I’ll be reading poetry and nonfiction at the annual Michigan College English Association (MCEA) conference. The full day of events begins at 9:30, with my reading taking place 11am-12:15pm. A full schedule and registration forms are available online here. 

Conference Theme
The theme for the 2011 Michigan College English Association Conference is “Taking Risks” and will be held the campus of University of Michigan – Dearborn on October 14, 2011. The conference is at the Fairlane Center Campus, 19000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn, Michigan 48126. Registration begins at 8:30. Sessions run from 9:30 to 3:15.

Keynote Speaker
This year’s keynote address, entitled “The King James Bible in Contemporary American Works”, will given by Professor James Vanden Bosch. Vanden Bosch has taught English at Calvin College for over twenty-five years, with a special interest in English grammar, grammar for ESL teachers, corpus linguistics, and Cormac McCarthy’s fiction and drama. He regularly teaches short courses in Moscow, directed a semester-abroad program in Budapest, and recently taught in Lintong, China.

Vanden Bosch has degrees from Calvin College, Ohio University, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. At Calvin, he has been named the Professor of the Year (2001) and has won the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching (2010). 

This 400th anniversary of the King James Bible has prompted Vanden Bosch to explore the influence of the King James Bible on several contemporary American writers. 

About MCEA
The Michigan College English Association is an organization dedicated to the following mission:

•Providing opportunities for the discussion of the preparation and professional improvement of college teachers of English through annual meetings, publications, and conferences with representatives of other professional organizations;


•Encouraging the humane as well as the immediate practical study of language and literature;


•Maintaining and developing the functions of English studies as a major element in American higher education;


•Promoting fruitful interrelationships among English and other disciplines; and


•Interpreting the relationships of the study and teaching of English to society at large

MCEA is a state affiliate of the College English Association and sponsors an annual conference dedicated to promoting the above goals.

For more info, visit http://www.michcea.com/.

Reading Today: Poetic Travelers

Now that spring is making an entrance, the monthly Poetic Travelers series is starting back up!

Poetic Travelers meets every 3rd Friday at Lawrence Street Gallery, 22620 Woodward Avenue, Suite A, Ferndale, MI. Poetic Travelers is co-hosted by poet Tonja Dudley Bagwell and Ron “Cat Listening” Lavigna.

Today’s reading features Kristine Uyeda and Tina O'Brien. The event takes place from 6:30pm – 8:45pm. The event includes an Open Mic and is free to all.

poetic homecoming

Better late than never. The past week or so has been increasingly busy, but this is never a bad thing for a writer. Busy = good.

I want to first express how wonderful the Marick Press fall catalogue book launch party was. The Oct 26th event featured readings by Matthew Olzman and Dawn Paul, a lovely author who I will be featuring in a Q&A soon. Dawn’s latest book is The Country of Loneliness and you can learn more about it here. The event was great, with a lively and passionate crowd in the audience and at the end of it all, I had a great time celebrating over apps and beverages with staff from Marick Press and a handful of authors. Mariela, thank you for the hospitality! (That photo includes Mariela Griffor of Marick Press, author Dawn Paul, and, um, my back.)

It’s been a very busy month for poetry. I was especially pleased to participate in a few “hometown” events in London, Ontario. This past Monday, I launched stains: early poems in London with three other poets who were also releasing new material. Thank you to Andreas Gripp for the invitation to participate; I truly enjoyed your reading. Also there was Penn Kemp (renowned sound poet and writer-in-residence at The University of Western Ontario), and the charming John B. Lee. There was a full house on the Mykonos patio and it was nice to see some familiar faces from my formerly local neighborhood.

Also in London this week was the launch of a new reading series for the Writing Department at The University of Western Ontario. Thank you to Claudia Manley for organizing such a fantastic event and for the opportunity to read. While I shared some of my work from stains, I also read a few pieces from a new collection I’m working on, in addition to a brand new poem written over the weekend. I think there were about 40 students and faculty members in attendance, so that’s a great start for this new series.

In addition to poetry, I’ll be presenting a lecture this weekend at the Midwest Pop Culture Association conference. Hosted at the Book Cadillac in downtown Detroit, I’ll be presenting “Criminal Intent: Fiction that Kills.” During part of my presentation, I’ll be sharing a reading of some of my crime fiction and talking about the genres of suspense, mystery, and all things creepy.

Next week, for those in the bottom of the mitten of Michigan, I’ll be a featured reader at the Marick Press Poets Follies event. I’ll share more info next week, but if you can make it to Grosse Pointe on Thursday, November 5, I’ll be reading selections from stains and a selection of new works.

I’m pleased to say I have a few authors lined up for the Wednesday Q&A series, too, so hopefully this brings us back on track with a more regular schedule. Thanks for your continued interest and for stopping by the blog today.

Have a great weekend!

writing outside the box

First off, I’m pleased to announce two new events I’ll be reading at in the next month or so:

On Monday, October 26, I’ll be participating in a poetry book launch and reading event in London ON. Hosted at Mykonos and featuring Andreas Gripp, Penn Kemp, and John B. Lee, I’ll be sharing some selections from stains: early poems and possibly a new piece or two. More information will soon be posted on my website, but feel free to email me if you require directions or other details.

On Friday, November 20, I’m the feature author at the Poetic Travelers series at Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale MI. There’s an open mic at this event for those that are interested. More info about this event will be posted on my website after the weekend. Of course I’ll be reading poetry selections, but I just might share a small piece of non-fiction.

Which brings me to my thought for the day: writing outside our dominant genre.

While I do write a good deal of freelance articles, my creative writing focus is generally poetry and fiction. However, as part of a workshop I’m in right now I have been experimenting with creative non-fiction and I have to admit… I love it.

What’s interesting to me is that I haven’t spent much time writing creative non-fiction. After all, I love the art of the essay. I love first person narrative. Nothing draws me in to a book like a personalized experience. Considering these points, I am perplexed at my own level of ignoring the genre as an option for me. It’s just not something I fully considered. Until recently.

In the past few months, I have found myself truly enjoying this genre as an outlet for expression. I am fascinated with the craft and techniques I am exploring. The attention to language usage and sentence formation is drawing me in. Yes, these are all aspects that are explored in writing poetry and fiction. There’s just something different about the craft of non-fiction, in a creative capacity.

Perhaps that has something to do with the level of personal involvement. In my fiction, I – the writer - don’t exist. In poetry, while it is easy to assume the narrator is the writer, that is not always the case and usually is not with my own recent poetry. But with creative non-fiction? I play a role. An active role. I am the narrator, the voice, the reason the piece exists. I become a character in my own story. And I’m finding it… liberating.

As a writer, I think there is so much value in trying new forms and techniques. There is something to be said for writing outside the box. As writers, it pushes us. Removes boundaries. Challenges our routine. And even when it’s not something that we commit to full-time, it’s a lesson in writing and in understanding ourselves better, as writers.

If you write, what do you usually write? Do you ever write outside your genre? What is that experience like for you? What have you learned?

standing room only… for poetry!

The adrenaline has settled, the hype has calmed, and the photos are making memories last. To all those folks who made it out to Friday’s launch party, thank you for your support and for sharing a pretty cool night with me. Not only was this the launch party for the inaugural issue of The Ambassador Poetry Project, this was also my book launch for stains: early poems. I am so very, very pleased to report we had a wonderful crowd of nearly one hundred people… and yes, we were left with standing room only!

Suzanne Schneider Ross, of Marick Press, did a wonderful job as MC for the night, introducing such poets as Mariela Griffor, Ken Meisel, Dan Ames, and Amy Stilgenbauer. Ten poets read throughout the evening, with yours truly closing out the night with selections from my new book. The audience was a gem… truly supportive and enthusiastic about the launch of Ambassador and I couldn’t have been happier. We made the press, we made some friends, and I think we made a tough act to follow for any of my future events. I was truly impressed and humbled.

As if that weren’t enough, I was so pleased to see another wonderful thing today: a new review of stains: early poems. The review is at The Smoking Poet, a rockin’ review site where founder and editor-in-chief Zinta Aistars personally took the time to review my latest release. It’s really such a wonderful review, I hope you’ll click on this link and see what Zinta had to say about stains. Thank you, Zinta, for making me blush.

More events are in the works but for right now I am just going to take in all the wonderful moments of this past weekend…