An award-winning poet will read from his collection of verse and teach the writing craft to some aspiring authors later this month as a writer-in-residence at West Virginia University. William Olsen, the 2008 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English, will give a reading at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom. Olsen is the author of four collections of poetry: “Avenue of Vanishing,” “Trouble Lights,” “Vision of a Storm Cloud” and “The Hand of God and a Few Bright Flowers.” A book signing will follow the event, which is free and open to the public. Also, Olsen will work with 12 WVU creative writers for the remainder of the week. For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis at (304) 293-9707 or Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu.

This weekend, with the 2008 W.Va. Book Festival in town, we look back at some poets at last year’s festival.

Scene from last year’s W.Va. Book Festival, photo by Vic Burkhammer

Admission to the W.Va. Book Festival this weekend is free. Someone a little pinched for money asked me about that the other day.

It’s at the Charleston Civic Center, and of course, there will be plenty of opportunities to buy books, meet the writers, publishers and book store people. The festival promises to be a good time for people of all ages.

For a book festival overview and program schedule, list of program presenters and authors, all about the used book sale, and directions & accommodations, visit the festival home page online. The festival times: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, and from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 12. See you there. As I’ve said before, I’ll be in the VIP Room at 10 a.m. to introduce poet John Hoppenthaler.

Elsewhere around the festival, topics include writing about the Shakers, audiobook production, poetry readings including one by W.Va. poet laureate Irene McKinney, writing with children, concept imagery, Charleston Gazette Storybook Character Parade.

Continue reading»

From staff, wire reports
STOCKHOLM, Sweden  — Monsters and Critics calls him a “wayfarer through distant worlds.” Many have called him the greatest living French novelist. He has a poetic edge.

France’s Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio won the 2008 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works characterized by “poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy” and focused on the environment, especially the desert.

Le Clezio, 68, is the first French writer to win the prestigious award since Chinese-born Frenchman Gao Xingjian was honored in 2000.

Continue reading, and send short poems»

Mark Brazaitis, associate professor and director of creative writing in WVU’s Department of English, is the 2008 recipient of the ABZ Press Poetry Prize for his manuscript, “The Other Language.”

As winner, the book of poems will be published in May.

Continue reading, and send poems»

From the Dollar Store notebook:

I will be introducing poet John Hoppenthaler at the West Virginia Book Festival at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. Admission is free, and the festival runs Saturday and Sunday that weekend. There will be many top writers there and programs for young and old, including Kanawha County Library’s used book sale. Check out the festival online.

Continue reading, and send poems»

By Vic Burkhammer
thegazz.com

Norman Jordan will be inducted into a poet’s collective called the Affrilachian Poets on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, at the Carnegie Center, 251 W. Second St., Lexington, Ky.

___

Listen to a MountainWord interview with Jordan. Approximately 12 minutes

___

Continue reading… »

Maureen Crockett thought it’d be good if I’d explain a little bit about haiku for the uninitiated. I put together this slideshow. I hope it inspires you to write some haiku that you would share with us.

Douglas Imbrogno, editor of thegazz.com, sent an animation he made of a short Issa poem: the animation comes from Hundred Mountain, a former web magazine on Buddhism he used to edit.

He also passed on a relevant link, a poem about the end of Basho’s life, published some years back in the magazine– (click it) Basho’s end-of-life poem.

Today, I sit in midtown, thinking of the heart of poetry, remembering mountains and rivers, and centering on the resonance of haiku. I understand fun haiku, even catku if you will, but I hope for some kind of inspired depth.

A field of mustard,
no whale in sight,
the sea, darkening.

 – Buson, 1716 – 1783

Continue reading, and send poems»

Welcome to MountainWord. Stick around, listen to some audio, read some poems, book notes and bits of poetry news. If this is your first visit to MountainWord, please visit earlier posts.

Send poetry-related news to Vic Burkhammer. E-mail and comments are encouraged and appreciated. Announcements for poetry events are also welcome, as are links to poetry sites.

If you’d like to recommend a book of poems or read one of your unpublished short poems over the phone, just call me at 348-5184 and wait for the voicemail to kick in, leave your name and number for verification and then read away. I’ll consider posting the audio on MountainWord. I’m looking for work of under 20 well-written lines. Nothing sentimental or old-fashioned. Prose poems of exceptional quality are eligible too. The tone can run the gamut from humorous to serious.

***

Mike Pride of the Concord Monitor has a story today about Charles Simic, who stepped down as poet laureate after one year. Simic’s happy to return home to a life of writing poetry, since he was so busy that he hasn’t written a poem in about a year. Simic talks of his respect for Kay Ryan, the new poet laureate, and he reflects on the political culture and how the poet laureate job is too busy. We find a little of his outlook on President Bush and the war. Click the URL here.