New Professional Group for Nonfiction Writers; New Publications and Happenings and Workshops

Friends,

Sorry--I got a little swamped for a few weeks! But I'm back now, with lots of opportunities for you to share your writing, start new work and experience the writing of others.

Happenings and Workshops:

Swan Scythe Press Author Party THIS Saturday

Swan Scythe Press & the Sacramento Poetry Center invite you to an AUTHOR PARTY!
Celebrating the publication of three new books:

Joan Swift, Snow On A Crocus -- winner of the Walter Pavlich Memorial Poetry Award 2010
Francisco Alarcon, Ce Uno One -- a new book of poems by the celebrated poet and children's book author
Burlee Vang, The Dead I Know -- winner of the Swan Scythe Press Chapbook Contest 2010

Saturday, September 18
4-8 pm in the gardens of Good Golly Farm
4505 Hazelwood Avenue, Sacramento (2 streets north of the intersection of El Camino and Eastern, on your right.) If you wish, bring something to drink or a favorite snack. Please RSVP to Jim DenBoer at jimzbookz@yahoo.com

Poetry and the Harvest with Rae Gouirand

Rae Gouirand says: "For the first time in five years, I’ll be offering a fall poetry workshop at Cache Creek Nature Preserve in Woodland, owing to special grant funding from Poets & Writers, Inc and the community sponsorship of the Davis Food-Co-op. These two sponsors are making possible an extraordinary opportunity for local poets to come together and enjoy an expansion of regular programming at our beloved Preserve at one of the most gorgeous and poetic times of year. In this workshop, we’ll read a variety of contemporary poems reflecting on all those seasonal shifts we live in fall: the ripening and readying of the summer’s fruits, the work of the autumn harvest, the culinary bounty of fall, and the celebration of Thanksgiving. As with all workshops I teach at the Preserve, our focus will be generative rather than critical, and participating writers will enjoy both discussion/close reading as well as independent time to write in the fall landscape. This workshop promises to be a thoroughly satisfying celebration of food, fruition, and our most palpable connection to the terroir we call home.

Thursday mornings, October 14-November 18, 10 AM-12 PM. Free to the public (donations to Cache Creek Nature Preserve are accepted in any amount to help support the program; no one will be turned away for lack of funds). To register, reply to this email with your name, email, and phone number.


Nonfiction writers: check out NorCal EFA (Editorial Freelancers Association)

I had the pleasure of attending the second meeting of the just-being-born northern California chapter of the EFA this past Monday. If you are a writer and/or editor of nonfiction--especially all you freelancers!--I enocourage you to check out this growing group. Robin Martin is getting the group off the ground and wants your interest, your ideas, and your involvement. Why should you be involved in the EFA? Check out the NorCal chapter and learn about the association in general at the chapter's website. The association provides lots of information about contracts, business practices, job listings and networking opportunties, as well as events that fulfill its educational and outreach missions.


New Publications

California Northern Magazine

Poet, translator and fiction writer William O'Daly sent me this recently, so I wanted to share it with you:

"Some excellent and thought-provoking reading, as well as a new outlet for writers, poets, and photographers who have work based in northern California, has emerged in the debut issue of California Northern: A New Regionalism. The editors describe the magazine as “a biannual publication exploring the region’s cultures, environments, histories, and identities. It provides a rare California-based forum for exceptional essays, long-form journalism, literature, and photography, and distinguishes itself from traditional regional media by balancing its local emphasis with a level of sophistication and depth typically found in larger national publications.

In the debut issue, publisher and editor-in-chief Casey Mills leads off with “A Meditation on Place” that beautifully captures and poses lasting questions regarding many of the bold contrasts and surprising harmonies typified by the breadth of life and culture found in the region—with its wildly ranging landforms, flora, and fauna. An interview with Mark Arax, “a lifelong chronicler of the complication and contradictions of California,” should not be missed, as well as an essay by Richard Mills on the dialectics of California culture and “return to place,” an article by Robert Cruickshank titled “Who Was Jerry Brown?,” and pieces on clean energy, mythology, the real and imagined history of northern California eucalyptus, and fiction by Paul Barrett.

You will find information on purchasing the debut issue, signing up for subscriptions to be offered at a later date, and guidelines for submitting your work, here: http://www.calnorthern.net/."

One By One Press

One by One is a new poetry journal "inspired by the spirit of stolen moments and an undying love of tactile imprints. It’s quite different from most journals in that it’s unbound and spread out over time - subscribers will receive a single letterpressed poem in the mail every other week or so, all throughout the year. The idea is to make the walk back from the mailbox to be the best part of our readers’ days, and to help create deeper and more meaningful reception for standalone poems. (Those whose poems we print will also be the subject of features on our press blog in which they can speak to their process, sources of inspiration, and other issues of significance to the sustaining of their work: we aim to make that conversation as visible as the finished work itself.)"

The current reading period is open from August 1 – September 30, 2010 for a first batch of poems that will go into production later this fall and start finding mailboxes on 1/1/11. The editors say "We’re looking for poems that will thrill and awaken our readers as singular pieces." Submission information is available on the press website, http://www.onebyonepress.com.

One by One editor Rae Gouirand says: "This project has been long in the making, and I'm incredibly excited to open the gates and welcome the poems that want to find us. If you like the sound of all this whatnot, please give me a hand spreading the word to other poets and friends of poetry you know."