Saturday, December 21, 2013

Delivery!

My shipment of three boxes containing my books arrived yesterday -- 125 copies in all. We took pictures, drank a celebratory glass, and called friends. It was a moment worth savoring. I received word that my book was accepted for publication almost two years ago (Jan. 2012), so it has been a long time coming.

Now, I must mix business with pleasure. I have already sold several copies and feel proud that friends are promising to take their book home and read it. Other friends and family members have bought their copies on-line through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

In a few weeks, I will have my first poetry reading/signing with Calliope at the West Falmouth Library (Sunday, Jan.12). For several years in a row, my poet friend and director of Calliope, Alice Kociemba has held Epiphany parties on or around Jan. 6 to celebrate this time of renewal. Poets have brought poems about new beginnings, the new year, transformation, etc. Somehow, it seems fitting that my first reading with my brand new book should fall near this time. For me, it truly is the beginning of a new life, the beginning of a new adventure.

Note: I will be reading with Kathleen Aguero and Richard Hoffman.

January 12, 2014   3 to 5 PM. Open mike sign-up at 2:45 PM.
Kathleen Aguero 
Kathleen Aguero’s fifth poetry collection, After That was just released by Tiger Bark Press. Her previous books include, Investigations: The Mystery of the Girl Sleuth, Daughter Of, The Real Weather and Thirsty Day.  She has co-edited three volumes of multi-cultural literature for the University of Georgia Press.  She is a winner of the 2012 Firman Houghton Award from the New England Poetry Club and a recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Elgin-Cox Foundation.  Kathi teaches Creative Writing in the low-residency M.F.A. program at Pine Manor College and in Changing Lives through Literature, an alternative sentencing program.

Richard Hoffman
Richard Hoffman is the author of the poetry collections, Without Paradise, Gold Star Road, winner of the 2006 Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize and the New England Poetry Club’s Sheila Motton Book Award, and Emblem.  His poems have appeared in Agni, Harvard Review, The Literary Review and Poetry, among other journals.  He is the author of the memoir,Half the House, as well as the short story collection Interference & Other Stories.  His new memoir, Love & Fury will be published by Beacon Press in June.  Richard teaches at Emerson College.

Robin Smith-Johnson
Robin Smith-Johnson’s first volume of poetry, Dream of the Antique Dealer’s Daughter was published in December 2013 by WordTechPoetry. Her poems have appeared in The Aurorean, CAPEWOMEN, The Larcom Review, Sandscript, Voices International, Yankee Magazine and elsewhere.  Robin grew up in Orleans, and currently works as the newsroom librarian at the Cape Cod Times and teaches at the Cape Cod Community College.  She is the co-founder of the Steeple Street Poets, and lives in Mashpee.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds great. Don't forget to mention your official book launch party. :)

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  2. I am so proud of you! I love my new book! Good-luck with your new-found success!
    What a nice way to celebrate the holidays!

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