Tanaya Winder Poetry Reading and Book Release: Words Like Love

UNM MFA alumna Tanaya Winder will host a poetry reading and book release at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW) on Tuesday, September 29th, at 7:00pm.

In her debut collection, Words Like Love, poet Tanaya Winder sings the joys, glories, and laments of love. Love is defined by familial, cultural, platonic, and romantic bonds in these passionate and thoughtfully rendered poems. Winder’s voice resonates through the dark—and the light— on a quest to learn more about the most complex of subjects.

Words Like Love is her first full length poetry collection (West End Press, 2015).

Read more writing and find events @tanayawinder.wordpress.com and find her on Twitter @a_girl_on_fire.

Book Release, Of Small Children / And Other Poor Swimmers: Poems by Brian Hendrickson

"Of Small Children / And Other Poor Swimmers is centered in the push-pull of place. Hendrickson wants to leave behind his Florida childhood, where every memory is still moist, but he continues ‘calling on the voices’ and crossing back, wading into love, loss and danger with vivid imagery." - 

Lauren Camp, author of three collections of poetry, including One Hundred Hungers, and winner of The Dorset Prize (Tupelo Press)

"Hendrickson's literary prowess is plentiful, but what intrigues me most is how the collection calls us to embrace, fully, what's most formidable (and most innocent) in our own humanity. As if each shattering was merely a good throttle and every devastation could blossom on chain link. The smallest moments of truth. The largest. Line-break-grit / word-ache-gorgeous. How stark, how challenging and awkward, how irresistible our foibles become when rendered by Hendrickson!" - 

Lisa Gill, recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and author of five books, including Caput Nili and Red as a Lotus

"Brian Hendrickson demands the inclusion of the real press of the discursive and meditative into his poems, by juxtaposing multiple levels of diction, and by frequently shifting between the anecdotal, the essayistic, and the lyrical. Through his careful use of these techniques, Hendrickson is able to achieve James Scully's ideal of ‘audacious speaking’: he refuses to capitulate either to the lyrical moment or the abstraction, and so his poetry exists and persists as an urgent place for utterance of consciousness." - Don Winter, author of seven collections of poetry, including Saturday Night Desperate

The Book Release, Of Small Children / And Other Poor Swimmers: Poems by Brian Hendrickson will be celebrated at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW,. on Wednesday, December 3rd at 7:00 PM

Book Links:

·  http://poet.brianhendricksonwriting.com

·  https://www.facebook.com/ofsmallchildren

Event Links:

·  http://www.bkwrks.com/brian-hendrickson

·  https://www.facebook.com/events/492339587573548/

Rananim program, the Online Writing Community of the Taos Summer Writers' Conference

The UNM Taos Summer Writers' Conference began sixteen years ago to create a link between UNM and the D.H. Lawrence Ranch just outside of beautiful Taos, NM. For years, the Conference has taken participants to the Ranch, had fellows stay in the fellowship cabin, and created that thing that Lawrence so desired: a utopian society where writers and artists of all kinds can go to create and commune.
This summer at the Conference, a new program called Rananim was created. The proceeds of Rananim, an Online Writing Community of the Taos Summer Writers' Conference, will go toward the renovation of the D. H. Lawrence Ranch. For more information about the new Rananim program, go to the website at http://www.unm.edu/~taosconf/ or watch the video that describes the ranch and the project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlKpSRK08S8.
The Rananim website includes a blog with posts about the Ranch. Here's the link:
http://rananim.unm.edu/blog

Poets Publishing MFA Dissertations

Nick dePascal, who graduated with an MFA in 2013 and is currently a lecturer in our department, won the first West End Press Poetry Prize.  His book, Before You Become Improbable, is now out from West End Press. Congratulations to Nick!

In addition, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, also a 2013 poetry MFA graduate, has had her manuscript, The Verging Cities, accepted by the Center for Literary Publishing through their Mountain West Poetry Series.​ Congratulations Natalie!

N. Scott Momaday to teach at UNM in Fall 2014

The English Department is very pleased to announce that a premier writer of our time N. Scott Momaday will be a Visiting Professor in our Creative Writing and American Literary Studies Programs during the 2014-15 academic year. Specializing in poetry and the Native oral tradition, in fall 2014 he will teach 487/587 The Native American Oral Tradition.

He received the National Medal of Arts in November 2007 ‘for his writings and his work that celebrate and preserve Native American art and oral tradition.’  In addition to the National Medal of Arts, he has received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his first novel, House Made of Dawn, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, the Premio Letterario Internazionale “Mondello”, Italy’s highest literary award, The Saint Louis Literary Award, the Premio Fronterizo, the highest award of the Border Book Festival, the 2008 Oklahoma Humanities Award, and the 2003 Autry Center for the American West Humanities Award.  UNESCO named him an Artist for Peace in 2003, the first American to be so honored since the United States rejoined UNESCO.  He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds 20 honorary degrees from colleges and universities including Yale University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa in his home state of Oklahoma, Blaise Pascal University (France) and his alma mater, the University of New Mexico.

A member of the Kiowa Nation, Momaday has written the following books: The Complete Poems of Frederick Goddard Tuckerman (Oxford University Press), House Made of Dawn (Harper and Row), The Way to Rainy Mountain (University of New Mexico Press), Angle of Geese (David R. Godine), The Gourd Dancer (Harper and Row), The Names (Harper and Row), The Ancient Child (Doubleday), In the Presence of the Sun (St. Martin’s Press), The Man Made of Words (St. Martin’s Press), In the Bear’s House (St. Martin’s Press), Circle of Wonder:  A Native American Christmas Story (University of New Mexico Press), Les Enfants du Soleil (Le Seuil, Paris), and Four Arrows and Magpie (Hawk Publ. Group).

Richard Vargas' Guernica,revisited Reviewed

This review of Guernica,revisited was just published on Cultural Weekly, an ezine out of L.A. if you haven't had a chance to check it out, this gives you an idea. they also featured three poems from the book.

review
http://www.culturalweekly.com/coming-home-guernica-revisited-richard-vargas/

featured poems
http://www.culturalweekly.com/richard-vargas-three-poems/

John Knapp to Summer at the Huntington Library

Dr. John Knapp, who teaches upper-division English courses at UNM West, has been awarded a Mellon summer fellowship at the Huntington Library. His book on the eighteenth-century hymn genre is under contract with Lehigh Univ. Press, with a delivery date of June 2015.

Writer's Almanac Chooses UNM MFA Alumni Richard Vargas' Poem to Share

Richard Vargas is one of our MFA alumni, and we are very proud of his work.

As of right now, Writer's Almanac is kicking off National Poetry Month with a poem from my new book, Guernica, revisited. Scheduled for Tues., April 1.

In Albuquerque, the show airs on KANW, 89.1, usually around 8:15 am. This will be the third time Garrison Keillor has read my work on the air, an honor. Hope you give it a listen, and enjoy.
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Richard Vargas
Poet/Editor/Publisher
http://www.richardvargaspoet.com/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/rvargas54
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Mas-Tequila-Review/112489092101207

why i feed the birds

by Richard Vargas

once
i saw my grandmother hold out
her hand cupping a small offering
of seed to one of the wild sparrows
that frequented the bird bath she
filled with fresh water every day

she stood still
maybe stopped breathing
while the sparrow looked
at her, then the seed
then back as if he was
judging her character

he jumped into her hand
began to eat
she smiled

a woman holding
a small god

"why i feed the birds" by Richard Vargas from Guernica, revisited. © Press 53, 2014. Reprinted with permission. (buy now) 

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2014/04/01

The book launch for Richard's new book will be April 26 at the Peace and Justice Center.

Winners of the Lena Todd Awards In Creative Writing

Every fall term, instructors of UNM’s undergraduate creative writing workshops nominate stories, poems, and creative nonfiction essays written by their students for the Lena Todd Awards. This year the authors of the first place entries will receive $100, the second place entries $50, and all winners will be given the opportunity to read from their work at an upcoming Works-in-Progress reading at Winnings Coffee House (111 Harvard Dr. SE).

Fiction:
First Place: Quentin Chirdon, “The Flyover” (Instructor: Jack Trujillo)
About “The Flyover,” Judge Brenna Gomez had this to say: “The entry self-consciously explores a writer’s struggle with herself and her work as she watches another bitter writer she knows—and hasn’t spoken to in years—implode. The prose is sure and strong, the dialogue funny, painful, and very believable.”
Second Place: Lyndsey Broyles, “American Perspective Weekly Special Feature” (Instructor: Jill Dehnert)
“A newspaper pays tribute to their obituary writer by showcasing his best obituaries—one of an old friend, one of his wife, one of a woman he loved and killed in an accident, and finally himself. Reading this story was a bit like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together—at the end the reader fits together the smaller character sketches to create one larger sketch of the main character. The experimental nature and ambition of the piece is intriguing and successful,” writes Gomez.

Poetry:
First Place: Erin Pooley-Cooper, “Genesister” (Instructor: Diane Thiel)
Judge Reid Maruyama admired the line breaks and concrete, synesthetic imagery. “The poet,” he writes, “makes an utterly captivating statement about gender roles with regards to the Biblical tradition.”
Second Place: Tiffini Mungia, “Of the Sun and Moon: a haiku series” (Instructor Diane Thiel)
“The imagery, rhythm, and form were perfectly suited to the content,” writes Maruyama.

Creative Nonfiction:
First Place: Molly Cudia, “The Bat” (Instructor: Ben Dolan)
“The best memoirs are often disguised by voice,” writes Judge Annie Olson. “The narrator in “The Bat” is tender, honest, and wise beyond her years. She is impressively strong and vulnerable at the same time. The essay relies on the narrator’s keen eye for detail. A meticulous description of the house she grew up in serves as the foundation for an essay about how one’s sense of home, family and belonging is irreparably altered by divorce. The narrator in “The Bat could easily judge her family and upbringing, but refuses to do so, and this is a big factor in why she is so endearing to readers.”
Second Place: Catherine A. Hubka, “Ghost Towns” (Instructor: Marisa Clark)
“Addressing grief and loss in writing is thematically challenging. The narrator in “Ghost Towns” is poignantly honest and forthcoming with readers about the death of her son. The essay is narrated with humor, poise and candor. There’s momentum to this story. From page one, readers are compelled to journey with the narrator, learn from her mistakes and insights, hurt for her loss, and relate to her humanity.”

Many thanks to this year’s judges! Congratulations to the writers and their mentors!

Luci Tapahonso Featured on New Mexico PBS Series ¡COLORES!

Navajo Poet Lau­re­ate and Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico Eng­lish Pro­fes­sor Luci Tapa­honso shares how her poetry hon­ors words on last week’s episode of ¡COLORES! New Mex­ico PBS’ weekly arts and cul­ture series. “Things that a per­son says, that a per­son lit­er­ally utters, is a sacred thing,” Tapa­honso said. This episode of ¡COLORES! was broadcast on Fri­day, June 14 at 9 p.m.

Luci Tapahonso honored as Navajo Nation Poet Laureate

After having put on the wonderful "My Favorite Poem" celebration in honor of Poetry Month, sponsored by IAIA and the UNM English Department, Luci Tapahonso has been named the first Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation. Congratulations on another kudo in your long list of awards and recognitions!

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/04/30/luci-tapahonso-named-navajo-nations-first-poet-laureate-149114#.UYExxhj5o3Q.email

Nicolas Hundley's book, The Revolver in the Hive, has been published by Fordham University Press, and won the “editor’s prize”

Nicolas Hundley, a UNM English alumnus (B.A.,’01), studied literature and creative writing here. He is now Director of Communications at the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin.

This year, his book, The Revolver in the Hive, has been published by Fordham University Press. It won the “editor’s prize” as part of the Poets Out Loud competition, and is distributed by Oxford University Press:

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/Poetry/American/?view=usa&ci=9780823250882

‘My Favorite Poem’ project celebrates National Poetry Month

http://news.unm.edu/2013/03/my-favorite-poem-project-celebrates-national-poetry-month/
By Carolyn Gonzales, UNM Today, March 25, 2013

Acclaimed poet and for­mer U.S. Poet Lau­re­ate Rita Dove wrote, “By mak­ing us stop for a moment, poetry gives us an oppor­tu­nity to think about our­selves as human beings on this planet and what we mean to each other.”

In this same spirit, com­mu­nity mem­bers of Santa Fe and Albu­querque will gather to share poems they love dur­ing National Poetry Month in April. The read­ings are hosted by the UNM Eng­lish Depart­ment and the Insti­tute of Amer­i­can Indian Arts and are directed by award-winning poet and UNM pro­fes­sor Luci Tapa­honso. The read­ings begin at 6 p.m. on Fri­day evenings: UNM Zim­mer­man Library (Willard Room) on April 5 and in the Waters Room, also at Zim­mer­man on April 19, and at IAIA (CLE Com­mons) on April 12 and April 26. The events are free, open to the pub­lic and a recep­tion will follow.

The “My Favorite Poem” Project is based on for­mer US Poet Lau­re­ate Robert Pinsky’s ini­tia­tive in 1998 that was held in major cities and fea­tured thou­sands of read­ers from all walks of life includ­ing school chil­dren, busi­ness own­ers, civic lead­ers, teach­ers, col­lege stu­dents, spir­i­tual lead­ers, ranch­ers and media personalities.

Read­ers on April 5 (Willard Room) include Monte Vista stu­dents Lily Rosano-Mueller and Arden Bur­kett, Eng­lish Chair Gail Hous­ton, Asso­ciate Dean Phillip Gan­der­ton, Escuela del Sol stu­dent Samiyah Dezbah James, National Dance Insti­tute Direc­tor Rus­sell Baker, Eng­lish Lec­turer Kyle Fiore, UNM Accoun­tant Misty Dawn Ortiz, Dr. Doris Fields, Librar­ian Maria Teresa Mar­quez, Poet Deme­tria Mar­tinez. Nov­el­ist and IAIA Pro­fes­sor Evalina Zuni Lucero.

Read­ers on April 19 (Waters Room) include SIPI Pres­i­dent Dr. Sherry Alli­son, Colum­nist David Stein­berg, UNM Pub­li­cist Car­olyn Gon­za­les, MFA stu­dents Adam Nunez and Natalie Scen­ters– Zapico, UNM Libraries Dean Martha Bedard, UNM Book­store Events Coor­di­na­tor Lani Tay­lor, West End Pub­lisher John Craw­ford, and Asso­ciate Dean Kevin Mal­loy and NM Cen­ten­nial Poet Levi Romero.

Tapa­honso, who pre­vi­ously orga­nized Favorite Poem projects in Lawrence, Kan. and Tuc­son, Ariz., said that the read­ings reveal the impor­tance of poetry in our per­sonal his­to­ries and how shar­ing poems can strengthen a community’s sense of cul­ture and place. “We often turn to poetry in moments of ela­tion, grat­i­tude, loss or fear, and this is a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity to share with oth­ers the ways in which par­tic­u­lar poems speak to us,” Tapa­honso said.

UNM Today Media Con­tact: Car­olyn Gon­za­les (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

Posted in Academics, Faculty, Events, English BLOG

--Luci Tapahonso

Poet Laureate, Navajo Nation

Professor, Department of English

Tapahons@unm.edu

Erika Sanchez wins "Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Contest" & Natalie Scenters-Zapico is runner up

Good news from former and current poetry MFA students! MFA grad Erika Sanchez won the "Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Contest" and Natalie Scenters-Zapico, who is defending this spring, won an honorable mention in the same contest!

The prize is a pretty prestigious one:

"Now in its sixth decade, the "Discovery" Poetry Contest is designed to attract large audiences to poets who have not yet published a book. For this sixth year, the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center is proud to partner with Boston Review.

Many winners of this contest have gone on to distinguished careers as poets, among them John Ashbery, Lucille Clifton, Nick Flynn, David St. John and Rosanna Warren."

Here's the link to the announcement and more information! http://www.92y.org/discovery

Andrea Penner reading When East Was North at UNM Bookstore April 10 at noon

Alumnus Andrea Penner writes to us from Flagstaff: I will be doing a UNM Bookstore Poetry Month reading on April 10th, at noon, in the UNM Bookstore. I will be reading from (and signing) my new book of poetry, When East Was North, as well as some new work. I hope you will be able to attend (and bring students!).

If you'd like to preview the book, you can find it on Amazon at this link: When East Was North,
http://www.amazon.com/When-North-Andrea-Millenson-Penner/dp/0988227967/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363619593&sr=1-1&keywords=north+andrea+penner
published by Mercury Heartlink in 2012. You can also visit my blog In My Own Ink:  http://pennerink.blogspot.com/ if you're interested in some of my other writings, of late.

Andi says that Erin Penner (remember her, another alumni!) and husband Josh have been in the Peace Corps in Thailand for the last 15 months and you can read their blog at Red or Green? (http://redorgreeninthailand.blogspot.com/) in Thailand.

Ruth Salvaggio Lecture: Trash, Old Women, Angels, Poems: Promising Figures for Disaster Poetics

Dr. Ruth Salvaggio will give a talk titled "Trash, Old Women, Angels, Poems: Promising Figures for Disaster Poetics" on Tuesday, March 5th at 12:30pm in SUB Acoma A&B.

Ruth Salvaggio is the author of several books on poetry and feminist studies, most recently Hearing Sappho in New Orleans: The Call of Poetry from Congo Square to the 9th Ward. A native of the New Orleans 9th Ward, she has written on the imperatives of poetry in times of disaster—before, within, and beyond Katrina. In this talk, Professor Salvaggio ponders the fate and functions of some unanticipated yet promising poetic figures who continue to arise at scenes of disaster in our increasingly trashed environments.

Professor Salvaggio taught for over a decade in the American Studies Department here at UNM, and she is currently Professor of English and American Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

The talk is free and open to public, and her recent book will be available for purchase.

Mary Luttrell publishes in Painted Bride Quarterly

Mary Luttrell, an English major pursuing her CW concentration, will publish her poem, "Porous," in Painted Bride Quarterly, Vol. 86.

Tanaya Winder & Cassie Lopez have new Literary Journal

Good Afternoon ABQ English and Writer Fam!

I hope you are well with work, jobs, careers, school, writing, and your own individual happenings. As you may or may not have heard fellow MFA alum Casandra Lopez and I (Tanaya Winder) started a literary journal. As/Us: A Literary Space for Women of the World. I'm starting to outreach to folks to say I'm going to be blasting you on NYE and soon after to help spread the word about our literary journal when it drops like the ball in times square on NYE. I feel like I've been emailing people a lot for different things, fundraisers, etc and not to spamalot (oh wait that's a musical) so I'm just giving you a heads up and hoping you'll help direct people to our site http://asusjournal.org/ when it's up and running with our fabulous and fierce 21 female contributors. I'm hoping we can get 500 "likes" on our page www.facebook.com/As.Us.Journal by Jan 31st and a lot of traffic to our site once we go live NYE.

We have several contributors from the ABQ area and so Cassie and I will be working on trying to set up benefit/fundraising readings in the area during the spring when she is in the area for her residency. If any of you feel like you can help with that process or wouldn't mind reading and bringing your own individual followings as well, let me know. If you can't tell, I'm very excited for the first issue to come out. While we only have a handful of international contributors at this point, I'm hoping with your help with can share more voices of women from different areas in the world in due time.

Thanks for your support and for your own words and all you do. I know you each have your own writing, projects, organizations you support, etc., so if you or a place you support wants to be added to our Links page, let me know and Cassie and I will gladly support and promote you as well. http://asusjournal.org/links/

US Poet Laureate Is Keynote Reader for 15th Annual Taos Summer Writers' Conference

On Sunday, July 14th at 8 p.m., our newly installed U.S. poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, will give the keynote reading for the 15th annual Taos Summer Writers' Conference (July 14-21, 2012).

Trethewey's reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing and reception.

Natasha Trethewey http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/natasha_trethewey/index.html

the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of three collections and a professor of creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta. Ms. Trethewey, 46, was born in Gulfport, Miss., and is the first Southerner to hold the post since Robert Penn Warren, the original laureate, and the first African-American since Rita Dove in 1993.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/natasha-trethewey-is-named-poet-laureate.html

Two UNM English Alumna Reunite in Washington, DC

Two of the English Department’s recent graduates reunited for a poetry reading at Marymount University. In a moment of alumna networking, Leigh Johnson (PhD 2011) and Erika Sánchez (MFA 2010) were happy to work together again—this time in Washington DC. Erika gave an excerpted reading of her poetry manuscript at Marymount University in Arlington, VA, where Leigh is an Assistant Professor of Literature and Languages. The November 1, 2012 event was well attended by fifty students and faculty from the Marymount community. Students appreciated Erika's "frankness" in answering questions and her "beautiful grotesque" images.

Erika is a poet, feminist, and freelance writer living in Chicago. She is currently the sex and love advice columnist for Cosmopolitan for Latinas, a reader for Another Chicago Magazine, and a contributor for The Huffington Post, AlterNet, and NBC Latino, Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Pleiades, Drunken Boat, Witness, Anti-, Rhino, Hunger Mountain, Crab Orchard Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Copper Nickel, Southeast Review, and others. She has written book reviews for Kirkus Reviews and her nonfiction has been published in Jezebel and Ms. Magazine. She has appeared on American Public Media, the Jack Gravely Radio Show, and Huffington Post Live. She is working on her memoir and a poetry manuscript.

Leigh is in her second year as a tenure-track assistant professor at Marymount University. She teaches Early American Literature, American Multicultural Literature, composition, and gender studies to undergraduates. This semester, she's teaching the introduction to graduate studies course. Her article "Covert Wars in the Bedroom and Nation: Motherwork, Transnationalism, and Domestic Violence in Black Widow’s Wardrobe and Mother Tongue" is forthcoming from Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism.

Congratulations to both graduates on their continued success and sustained collegiality!