KUDOS
 

  

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FLP AUTHORS

 

  • Finishing Line Press poet Marianne Worthington, author of Larger Bodies than Mine (winner of the Appalachian Book of the Year Award for Poetry awarded by the Appalachian Writers Association), has been awarded the the highly competitive Fellowship Award in literature/ poetry, Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowships Award of $7,500 by the Kentucky Arts Council.  The fellowship awards are named after retired Kentucky journalist and past Arts Council board chair, Al Smith.   Kentucky Arts Council Professional Assistance Awards ($1,000) included Finishing Line Press poet Olga-Maria Cruz Smock, author A Philosopher Speaks of Rivers
  • John Estes, author of Breakfast with Blake at the Laocoön, was chosen by C.K. Williams for a National Chapbook Fellowship from the Poetry Society of America.  His book, Swerve, will be published in April.
  • In June of 2008, Gretchen Fletcher author of That Severed Cord was one of five winners in the Bright Lights Big Verse competition conducted by the Poetry Society of America and the Times Square Alliance. Gretchen read her winning poem, "Two Giant Men in New York," in Times Square where both she and the poem were projected on the Panasonic Jumbotron screen.

  • Anushka Anastasia Solomon author of  Please, God, Don't Let Me Write Like A Woman

    is one of 12 authors Amnesty International UK is paying tribute

    to at an exhibition at the Edinburgh Int. Book Festival 2008.

    The exhibition is called 'Heroes and Heroines'.

    August 1-27, 2008,  Amnesty International "Heroes and Heroines' exhibition"
    Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. http://www.flickr.com/photos/amnestyscotland/2817371260/

  • Michael Milburn’s poem “Preserved” from his FLP chapbook The Blessings of Motion and Silence appeared in Mary Karr’s weekly Book World feature, “Poet’s Choice.” In her column Ms. Karr picks a poem (or poems) each week and introduces it briefly. Book World is syndicated to a number of other papers, including the Washington Post Book World in The Washington Post National Weekly, washingtonpost.com, on-line data services and microfiche and CD-ROM versions of The Washington Post. Also appearing in The New Yorker (online only)

 

  • The 2008 AWP (The Association of Writers and Writing Programs) WC & C Scholarship for Poetry was awarded to Finishing Line author Christina Lovin (Little Fires and What We Burned for Warmth.  The recipients of the scholarship (one for fiction, one for poetry) are each awarded $500 to attend a WC & C member program (conference, workshop, or residency).  Lovin hopes to use her scholarship later this summer or fall.  Each winner also receives a one year individual AWP membership.   Lovin states, “I’m very excited about this award because the poems I entered were all from my new work-in-progress, Echo. I suffer from the usual writer’s insecurities when I’m in the process of creating poetry;  it’s always good to get some encouragement, particularly on new work.” 
  • Julene Tripp Weaver author of Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues; George Held, author of Grounded and The Art of Writing and Others; GARY L. LARK, author of Men At the Gates, Joyce Greenberg Lott, author of DEAR MRS. DALLOWAY; Paula Sergi author of FAMILY BUSINESS and John Brantingham author of PUTTING IN A WINDOW all had poems from their FLP books featured on Garrison Keillor's THE WRITER'S ALMANAC radio show.  (These titles are available on amazon.com) The Writer’s Almanac is a daily radio program produced by American Public Media (APM).  In each program Mr. Keillor presents a list of cultural events and anniversaries, many associated with literature and literary figures, then ends with the poetry reading.  APM currently distributes the program for broadcast to about 320 non-commercial public radio stations around the country.  The program audio is also streamed and podcast from and archived on the APM website at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org and may be streamed, archived on carrying station websites as well.
  • Carl Winderl, author of Mary Speaks of Her Son, was an invited speaker at the festival d’arte e fide (Festival of Art and Faith) in Orvieto, Italy, on June 8th & 9th, 2007.  His participation included a 50-minute address (simultaneously translated into Italian) entitled, “‘Behold thy Mother!’” which included a reading of four of his Marian poems.  The 2-day presentations were part of a weeklong celebration (June 3rd through 10th) of the Corpus Dominum, an annual tradition dating back to the 1200’s.  The title of this year’s conference was “Maria, grazia e speranza in Cristo” – “Mary:  grace and hope in Christ,” and was sponsored by the archdiocese of Orvieto-Todi, under the auspices of S.E. Monsignor Giovanni Scanavino, along with the American Embassy to the Holy See, of the Region of Umbria and the Province of Terni. Mary Speaks of Her Son is now in backorder and will be in its third printing soon.

 

  • Paula Sergi's poem "Vocations Club" from FAMILY BUSINESS will be included in the poetry chapter of college-level textbook DISCOVERING ARGUMENT: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing with Readings 3rd edition by William Palmer (forthcoming August 2008).  Published by Prentice Hall Publishers. 
  • Jacqueline Kolosov, author of WHY PLANT BOUGAINVILLEA , won a 2008 NEA Literature Fellowship. Her poetry collection, VAGO, was published in May by Lewis-Clark Press. ORDINARY and
    MODIGLIANI'S MUSE are forthcoming. Portions of WHY PLANT BOUGAINVILLEA are included in this full-length collection.
  • Michael Miller , author of Leafing Out , was the winner of the Robert McGovern Publication Prize sponsored by Ashland University and chosen by Stephen Haven for his book of poems, The Joyful Dark, published in 2007 by Ashland Poetry Press. Portions of Leafing Out are included in this full-length collection.
  • Jason Tandon, author of Flight , has recently had his first full-length poetry collection, Wee Hour Martyrdom published by Sunnyoutside. Portions of Flight are included in this full-length collection.
  • Paul Willis, author of HOW TO GET THERE, has included a number of poems from that Finishing Line Press chapbook in his first full book of poetry, VISITING HOME, published by Pecan Grove Press.  Paul was also featured as "Artist of the Month" for April 2008 on the IMAGE magazine website: http://imagejournal.org/page/artist-of-the-month/paul-willis

 

MORE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR AUTHORS

Maureen Alsop (author of Nightingale Habit) recently received Harpur Palate's Milton Kessler Memorial Prize for her poem "Daguerreotype Portrait of Woman & Bird."

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Lana Hechtman Ayers (author of Love is a Weed) is the Winner of D-N Publishing National Manuscript Award for her second book of poems, Chicken Farmer I Still Love You.

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Michelle Bitting, author of Blue Laws, is the winner of the DeNovo First Book Award for her full-length collection Good Friday Kiss . Thomas Lux was the judge. Portions of Blue Laws are included in the full-length collection. 

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Marion Boyer's  poem "An Awful Stillness" from her chapbook Green was recently nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize by Kaleidowhirl.

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James Braziel (author of Weathervane) has a new novel. Birmingham, 35 Miles ( Bantam ). "Birmingham, 35 Miles depicts an ecological disaster in the South, while also looking at border issues in a dystopic environment.  In the novel, parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida form a new dust bowl. The novel focuses on a family left to survive this world." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.  His second novel Snakeskin is forthcoming from Bantam.

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Helen Marie Casey's (author of Fragrance Upon His Lips) series of poems about Mary Dyer, Inconsiderate Madness, won the Black River chapbook competition.

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Sherry Chandler, author of Dance the Black-Eyed Girl, received a 2007 Professional Assistance Award from the Kentucky Arts Council.

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Leigh Anne Couch, author of Green and Helpless, was the cowinner of the 2006 Zone 3 Press First Book Award sponsored by Austin Peay State University and chosen by poet, Richard Jackson. Her book of poems, HOUSES FLY AWAY, was published in October 2007. Portions of Green and Helpless are included in the full-length collection.

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Tara Deal, author of Wander Luster, is the winner of the 2007 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, sponsored by the Texas Review Press. Her book, Palms Are Not Trees After All, will be published this summer. Selections from Wander Luster are included in the novella. www.taradeal.com

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Edward A. Dougherty's (author of Luminous House) first full collection of poems, Pilgrimage to a Ginkgo Tree was recently released by WordTech.

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Linda Annas Ferguson has been elected to the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors. The Academy was established to honor SC writers, living and dead, and to encourage emerging talent. Inductees include James Dickey, Pat Conroy, and John Jakes. Linda was also an Academy of Authors Fellow in Poetry. Her chapbook, Stepping on Cracks in the Sidewalk, from Finishing Line Press won an honorable mention in the 2007 Oscar Arnold Young Book Award of the Poetry Council of NC.

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Gina Ferrara ( author of The Size of Sparrows) received a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation. Ferrara will use the grant to travel to Spain this summer. Ferrara was also awarded the Vassar Miller Poetry Prize sponsored by the University of New Orleans.

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George Held’s 2007 FLP chapbook, The Art of Writing and Others, is a  “Nov-Dec Pick” in Small  Press Review.

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Marsha Kroll (author of Modeling with Miss America ) has been named 2007 Bucks County Poet Laureate...more at http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/83-11062007-1436237.html
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Anna Leahy (author of Turns about a Point ) won the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. The prize includes a cash award of $2,000, and publication of her new collection Constituents of Matter by Kent State University Press in the fall.

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Christina Lovin leaves soon for a month-long residency on the island of Flores in the Azores (www.azoreswalk.com ) .  Her residency is funded by the Kentucky Foundation for Women, in support of a work in progress about growing up female in the 1950’s and 60’s.  Lovin’s poem, “This Day in Particular” (from her FLP chapbook, Little Fires) will be featured on the Best Poem website (www.bestpoem.wordpess.com).  Other recent publication credits include New Millennium, Earth’s Daughters, Trellis Magazine, Hot Metal Press, and Poems of Birth, an Anthology.  Her crown sonnet, “Clear Cut,”  was runner-up in the recent Georgetown Review poetry competition.

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Beth Martinelli's (author of To Darkness ) poem "Poem Without Rain or the Sea" was recently named The National Poetry Review's 2007 Finch Prize winner. The contest was judged by poet Larissa Szporluk, and the winning poem will appear in the journal's 2008 issue.
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Jennifer Militello (author of Anchor Chain, Open Sail) has been awarded the 2007 Tupelo Press First Book Prize for her manuscript History of the Always Pain. The book will be published in Spring of 2009.

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Julie L. Moore, author of Election Day, was selected as a finalist in Carnegie Mellon University Press’s Poetry Series this fall for her full-length poetry manuscript, "Slipping Out of Bloom." Included in her book are poems from Election Day. In addition, Moore was recently named a finalist in the 2007 poetry contest sponsored by Many Mountains Moving: A Literary Journal of Diverse Contemporary Voices.  Last year, Moore’s poem “Somewhere Else” won Second Honorable Mention in The MacGuffin’s National Poet Hunt contest judged by Illinois University Press poetry editor, Laurence Lieberman.

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Rick Mulkey's poem "Bluefield Breakdown" from his full-length collection Toward Any Darkness (Word Press) was featured on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac. This poem originally appeared in his chapbook Finishing Line Press chapbook Bluefield Breakdown.
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Christine Stewart-Nuñez's(author of The Love of Unreal Things and Unbound & Branded) book POSTCARD ON PARCHMENT was chosen by David Baker for ABZ's First Book Prize.

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Rosalie Sanara Petrouske, author of A Postcard from my Mother, recently had two poems published in the Red Rock Review.  She has also been awarded an Artist-in-Residence Grant to spend two weeks writing and teaching in the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. For more information on the Artist-in-Residence Program, go to www.porkies.org.

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Jo Pitkin's (author of The Measure) "Bird, Moon, Engine" appears in the current issue of Nimrod International Journal, and her award-winning poem, "The Mollusk," was recently published in Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley - Poetry 2007. She has poems forthcoming in Connecticut River Review and Riverine: An Anthology of Hudson Valley

Writers (Codhill Press).

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Prartho Sereno (author of GARDEN SUTRA ) full-length poetry collection, CALL from PARIS, won first place in Word Works Washington Prize.
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Anushka Solomon’s poem, “Raped, Draped and Relegated,” from Please, God, Don’t Let Me Write Like a Woman,  was read at the Edinburgh Book Festival, August 11-27, as part of the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series, which took place at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland.  The poem first appeared in New Internationalist. http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/The Edinburgh Book Festival lasts a fortnight and every day Amnesty International runs a 45 minute session in which Book Festival authors read the work of writers at risk, in prison and in exile. Each session has a theme - this piece was part of the Women’s Voices session. Last year's readers included Sir Bernard Crick, Ian Rankin, Isla Dewar and Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

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Jason Tandon (author of Flight) is the 2006 St. Lawrence Book Award winner. He won $1,000 prize and publication of his poetry manuscript, Give Over the Heckler and Everyone Gets Hurt.

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Lisa C. Taylor (author of Talking to Trees) has a new audio book CD entitled Talking to Trees and Other Selections, read by the author. Available soon at readings and from www.lisactaylor.com

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Mattie Quesenberry Smith, author of, Mother Chaos:Under Electric Light was a finalist in Diagram's $5 Innovative Fiction Contest, 2007.    Michael Martone chose her poem, "Calico Fractal," as a finalist. Look for "Calico Fractal" in Diagram 7.3 at www.thediagram.com

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Frederick Smock, author of Sonnets, was a non-fiction finalist for Pax Intrantibus in The Kentucky Literary Awards which were presented April 19th at the Southern Kentucky Bookfest.

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Angela Vogel's poem "GPS: A Fairytale" was selected by poet David Kirby as the winner of the 2008 Southeast Review poetry contest. The prize includes publication and $500. Angela Vogel is the author of Social Smile.

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Lesley Wheeler, author Scholarship Girl: The Virginia Commission for the Arts has awarded her an Individual Artist's Fellowship In Poetry, worth $5,000, for 2007-2008. 

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Susan Settlemyre Williams, author of Possession, is the winner of the 2007 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Book Contest for her full-length collection Ashes in Midair selected by Yusef Komunyakaa. Portions of Possession are included in the full-length collection.   http://www.mmminc.org/

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Jeff Worley (author of Leave Time ) won the Kentucky Literary Award for excellence in poetry for his newest book Happy Hour at the Two Keys Tavern ( Mid-List Press ) . He received a cash prize of $1,000. Portions of Leave Time were included in the full-length collection.