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 September 14 7:30 PM	Keith Ekiss, C. J. Sage and J. P. Dancing Bear. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. [ map ]  Suggested donation $3.  [ Read more about this event ]
3rd Sunday Sunday September 19 2:00–4:00 PM	Poet/Speak Open Reading with featured reader Eleanor Carolan. Main Library upstairs Meeting Room, 224 Church Street, Santa Cruz. [ map ]  Free.  Presented by Poetry Santa Cruz and hosted by Joyce Keller.
Events Co-sponsored by Poetry Santa Cruz
Saturday September 11 7:30 PM	Eric Gudas.  Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm St., Santa Cruz.  [ map ] Free.  Presented by A New Cadence Poetry Series. See the A New Cadence blog for details.
Saturday September 25 7:30 PM	Mark Statman and Joseph Lease. Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm St., Santa Cruz.  [ map ] Free.  Presented by A New Cadence Poetry Series. See the A New Cadence blog for details.

These 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.

Tickets for the Maude Meehan Memorial Poetry Reading

The 2nd annual Maude Meehan Memorial Poetry Reading will bring California Poet Laureate Carol Muske-Dukes to read at 7:30 pm on Saturday, October 2 at the Cabrillo Music Recital Hall.  The reading is free, but tickets are required. Tickets may be reserved in Will Call through Len Anderson via email and telephone at (831) 464-8983.  Give the name of the person who will claim the tickets and the number of tickets.  They will also be available starting Wednesday, September 1 at Bookshop Santa Cruz (1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz) and Bookworks (next to Aptos Twin Cinemas, 110 Rancho Del Mar, Aptos, near State Park Drive and Soquel Drive).  Tickets will also be available at the September 14 reading and the September 19 Poet/Speak.  Ticket availability at Cabrillo will be announced soon in an update here.  Read more about this reading.

Kate Aver Avraham To Receive the 2011 In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award

Kate Aver Avraham has been selected as winner of the 2011 In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award for her manuscript Perhaps the Truth Is Also Blue.  The chapbook will be available at the In Celebration of the Muse reading on March 5, 2011.

George Hitchcock Dies at Age 96

George Hitchcock died late Friday, August 27.  As a writer he published twelve books of poems, seven plays and two collections of short stories.  He is best known for editing kayak magazine from 1964 to 1984 and Kayak Press, helping to establish some of the most important poets of his time.  He taught at experimental College V at UCSC for nineteen years.  In his retirement he established the George Hitchcock Fund in order to support poetry on the campus.  You can read a tribute to George Hitchcock by Morton Marcus on the Poetry Daily website.  You can download an essay about him by Robert McDowell.  Read Stephen Kessler’s article on SantaCruz.com.  Read Wallace Baine’s article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Ken Weisner Poem on The Writer’s Almanac

Ken Weisner’s poem “The Gardener” was read by Garrison Keillor on Friday, August 6 on The Writer’s Almanac, which can be heard daily on KAZU at 9:01 AM and 8:00 PM.  Read, listen or download now.

Ellen Bass Poem on Poetry Daily and APR—Morton Marcus also in APR

“Relax” by Ellen Bass appears on Poetry Daily on July 23, as well as in the July /August issue of American Poetry Review.  Also in this issue is an essay by Morton Marcus on Weldon Kees.

Calls for Submissions

Central Coast Writers announces its Spring 2011 Contest for poetry and short stories.  In each category, awards will be made for winners: $500 and publication (print and on-line) in the Homestead Review (Hartnell College, Salinas).  All entries will be considered for publication.  Entry Fees: $15 per short story and $5 per poem.  Submission period: September 15, 2010 through January 15, 2011.  For contest rules, see the CCW website 2011 Contest page.

• The AgeSong Institute and Barnes & Noble Announce their 2011 Elders Prose and Poetry Contest.  See the website for details.

• If you are a woman writer residing in Santa Cruz county and would like to be considered for the 29th annual In Celebration of the Muse reading, which will take place Saturday, March 5th, 2011 at 7:30 pm in the Cabrillo College Theater, please see the Call for Submissions.

• Santa Cruz County poet Ron Lampi invites submissions for The Giant Poem of Monterey Bay which may be submitted through the website www.bayofmonterey.net.  He seeks “contributions of poems, poetic fragments, poetically framed informational segments or factoids, even particular lines, that all have some reference to Monterey Bay and/or our civilization around the Bay.”  He will weave them together to make one massive poem that will “celebrate all aspects of Monterey Bay.”  See the full details and make your submission on the website.

On The Poetry Show

• August 29: Dennis Morton interviews Adela Najarro.
• August 22: Dennis Morton interviews Ken Weisner.
• August 15: Dennis Morton interviews Phil Johnson.
• August 8: Dennis Morton reads poems from recent periodicals.
• August 1: Lesley-Anne Taylor reads from James Wright, Leslie Marmon Silko, Franz Wright and others.
• July 25: Dennis Morton interviews Paisley Rekdal.
• July 18: Dennis Morton interviews Gerard Sarnat, author of Homeless Chronicles.
• July 11: Lesley-Anne Taylor reads from the Cimarron Review.
• July 4: Dennis Morton reads a variety of poems.
• June 27: Dennis Morton interviews poet, essayist and publisher David Alpaugh.
• June 20: Dennis Morton interviews David Baker, poet and Poetry Editor for The Kenyon Review.
The Poetry Show airs each Sunday 9-10 PM on KUSP 88.9 FM.  Past shows are podcast on kusp.org.

Poetry in the Local Print Media

The Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly both print monthly poetry columns.  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:
• Poems by J. P. Dancing Bear in the August 12 Good Times.
• Poems by C.J. Sage in the July 15 Good Times.
• Haiku by Peggy Heinrich in the July 7 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Lisa Allen Ortiz in the June 10 Good Times.
• A poem by Dona Stein in the June 2 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Dion Farquhar in the May 20 Good Times.
• Gary Young’s poem “After Cycling” appears in the secton on the AMGEN Tour of California in the May 13 Good Times.
• Doug McClellan’s Ode to Santa Cruz appears in the May 5 Santa Cruz Weekly.

Breaking into Print
 
• Nicola Amadora’s first collection of poems is Nothing But Love, independently published in 2009.  She was featured reader at Poet/Speak on August 15 and will read at Bookshop Santa Cruz September 1.
• Pamela O’Shaughnessy and Beth Vieira are among the poets included in a new anthology of experimental poetry: Burning Gorgeous: Seven 21st Century Poets, available on Amazon.
• Homestead Review 2010 is available.  Learn more on the website.
• Porter Gulch Review 2010 celebrated its 25th annual issue on Saturday, May 29 in the Cabrillo Horticulture Center.  A wide array of local talents.  Copies are available free at numerous locations around town.
• Ken Weisner’s second collection of poems is Anything on Earth, published by Hummingbird Press.  He read at the Cabrillo Horticulture Center on March 14.
• The Sonnets of Jorge Luis Borges, poems of Jorge Luis Borges translated from the Spanish, with Stephen Kessler as editor and principal translator, is newly published by Penguin Classics.  Kessler read from this and a companion volume of Borges’ poetry on April 13.
• Inner Cities of Gulls, a collection of poems by J.P. Dancing Bear, published March 15, 2010 by Salmon Press.
• The San Simeon Zebras, a collection of poems by C.J. Sage, published March 15, 2010 by Salmon Press.
• Notes from Here, by Angie Boissevain has been awarded the In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award 2010 and is published by Poetry Santa Cruz and is available from Poetry Santa Cruz or the author.
• Ron Lampi’s latest publication is Bay of Monterey, Poems of Monterey Bay and is available in Bookshop Santa Cruz.
• What Will You Be, Sara Mee, a book of poems for children by Kate Aver Avraham, is published by Charlesbridge Publishing.

National Poetry News

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

Cool Poetry Santa Cruz T-shirts!

You can now own a cool Poetry Santa Cruz T-shirt, understated and very hip for those who know. All you have to do is become a member of Poetry Santa Cruz at the $50 level. You can get books, too.

Wishlist

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