Women Write Resistance at the Omaha Lit Fest

I hope you’ll join us at the (downtown) Omaha Lit Fest for a Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence Anthology Reading with Leslie Adrienne Miller, Sara Henning, Laura Madeline Wiseman, and Jennifer Perrine

SATURDAY NIGHT, September 13, 7 pm
The Apollon, 1801 Vinton St
Omaha, NE 68108

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About the Anthology and Event:

Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013), edited by Laura Madeline Wiseman, views poetry as a transformative art. By deploying techniques to challenge narratives about violence against women and making alternatives to that violence visible, the over one hundred American poets in Women Write Resistance intervene in the ways gender violence is perceived in American culture. Indeed, these poets resist for change by revising justice and framing poetry as action. This Omaha Lit Fest reading will include an introduction by the editor and feature several Women Write Resistance poets who will read their poems and others from Women Write Resistance.

About the Poets:

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Sara Henning is the author of A Sweeter Water (Lavender Ink, 2013), as well as a chapbook, To Speak of Dahlias (Finishing Line Press, 2012). Her poetry, fiction, interviews and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in such journals as Willow Springs, Bombay Gin and the Crab Orchard Review. Currently a doctoral student in English and Creative Writing at the University of South Dakota, she serves as Managing Editor for The South Dakota Review.

Jennifer Perrine is the author of The Body Is No Machine (New Issues), winner of the 2008 Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Poetry, and In the Human Zoo (University of Utah Press), recipient of the 2010 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize. In 2014, she will serve as a member of the U.S. Arts and Culture Delegation to Cuba. Perrine teaches in the English department and directs the Women’s and Gender Studies program at Drake University.

Leslie Adrienne Miller is author of six collections of poetry including Y, The Resurrection Trade and Eat Quite Everything You See from Graywolf Press, and Yesterday Had a Man in It, Ungodliness, and Staying Up For Love from Carnegie Mellon University Press. Professor of English at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Houston, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an M.A. from the University of Missouri, and a B.A. from Stephens College.

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Laura Madeline Wiseman is the author of more than a dozen books and chapbooks and the editor of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013). Her recent books are American Galactic (Martian Lit Books, 2014), Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience (Lavender Ink, 2014), Queen of the Platform (Anaphora Literary Press, 2013), Sprung (San Francisco Bay Press, 2012), and the collaborative book Intimates and Fools (Les Femmes Folles Books, 2014) with artist Sally Deskins. Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Margie, Mid-American Review, and Feminist Studies. www.lauramadelinewiseman.com

six months of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence

It’s been six months since Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013) was released. So, what’s been going on?

Rebecca Foust, Ellaraine Lockie, Dawn McGuire and July Westhale WWR reading April 2013

WWR poets have been featured in journals, blogs, and newspapers. These features have included WWR poems, mini-interviews, and stories by several of the poets. I’ve also had the opportunity to talk about WWR in interviews.

“On the Revolutionary and Transformative Effects of Poetry: A Five Part Interview Series with Five Poets from Women Write Resistance” in Les Femmes Folles with WWR poets Rebecca Foust, Gaynell Gavin, Jane Satterfield, Ellin Sarot, and Alexis Krasilosky.

 

Interview on “Friday Live” at the Mill with Marge Saiser and Wendy Jane Bantam on NET radio by William Stibor. (starts 26:50, or 28:23).

 

A Women Write Resistance feature in Menacing Hedge, with interviews with WWR poets Kathleen Aguero, Elliott BatTzedek, Ann Bracken, and Maria Luisa Arroyo and their poems from the anthology.

 

Poetry Crush Special Feature: Women Write Resistance” in Poetry Crush. The feature includes interviews with WWR poets Dawn McGuire, Billie Tadros, Nicole Hospital-Medenia, and Angele Ellis.

 

A feature by Shelby Fleig “UNL lecturer Laura Wiseman curates collection of women’s ‘resistance’ poetry” in the Daily Nebraskan. The feature includes interviews with other WWR poets Deborah McGinn, Lucy Adkins, and Marjorie Saiser.

 

Interview with The Nebraska Girls Lit Hour on the letterpress books Farm Hands and Unclose the Door, the full-length book Sprung, and the anthology Women Write Resistance.

 

An excerpt from Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence in Extract(s).

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WWR has been reviewed.

A review of Women Write Resistance in Broad Blogs by Georgia Platts.

 

A review of Women Write Resistance by Grace Cavalieri “May Exemplars” in Washington Independent Review of Books.

 

A review of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence by Sally Deskins in Les Femmes Folles.

WWR at the Polish Hill Arts Festival! 2013

Several WWR readings have taken place in New York City, Philly, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Nebraska, with more to come in Nebraska, California, and elsewhere.

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As such, recordings of recent WWR events are on YouTube and photos have been posted to facebook and twitter.

One WWR poet, Angele Ellis, made a video poem of her WWR piece.

WWR is also in public libraries, thanks to the work of several WWR poets. Copies of WWR have been donated to women’s shelters and crisis centers.

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And finally, WWR has raised money for three organizations that seek to end gender violence and violence against women.

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What’s next? More WWR features, interviews, and reviews are in press and/or in the works. There’s also more WWR readings taking place in the next few months.

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Finally as editor, I’m so honored to know and work with such amazing poets. I’ve had much support from WWR contributors, editors, designers, writers, poets, and friends in the production and promotion of this anthology. Their work continues to inspire me. It is my hope and the hope of this anthology that when women write resistance their work resists gender violence, changes culture, and makes the world a little better place for us all.

book trailers, times three

There are three Women Write Resistance events coming up in the next few days. If you’re in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Lincoln, I hope to see you there. The bookstore for the Lincoln event is donating a percentage of all WWR book sales to a local women’s crisis center.

Reading of Women Write Resistance in Lincoln with Grace Bauer, Jennifer Perrine, Marianne Kunkel, and Sara Henning
7 pm, September 5, 2013
Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street #102
Lincoln, Nebraska 68508

 

Reading of Women Write Resistance in LA with Kathleen Tyler, Cati Porter, Alexis Krasilovsky, Laure-Anne Bosselaar and more (editor in absentia)
8 pm, September 7, 2013
Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291

 

Reading of Women Write Resistance in Sausalito with Rebecca Foust, Judy Grahn, Judy Juanita, and Andrena Zawinski (editor in absentia)
Sunset Poetry By the Bay Series hosted by Marin Hickel
7 pm, September 11, 2013
333 Caledonia, Sausalito,CA

My presale period for my forthcoming chapbook, Stranger Still, finished up this weekend. Thank you to all of you who ordered copies! It’s much appreciated and determines the press run at Finishing Line Press. This little book of Martians will ship October 25th, just in time for Halloween. Trick-or-treat!

Finally, just out is my new chapbook First Wife from Hyacinth Girl Press. Yay!

 

recent interviews, news, and poetry

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I gave an interview yesterday with The Nebraska Girls Lit Hour. It was such fun! I’ve been listening to the interviews Wyatt Underwood and Melissa Alvarado post for some time and have enjoyed listening to them speak with Molly Peacock, Eloise Klein Healy, and many other fabulous poets and writers others. In my interview, I spoke about the letterpress books Farm Hands (2:10-7:50) and Unclose the Door (7:56-46:00), the full-length book Sprung, (58:58-60:52) and the anthology I edited Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (46:04-56:28). (I’m including the times, in case you want to zip to a particular book in the interview.) Thanks Melissa and Wyatt!

 

I was also included in a feature by Shelby Fleig “Spring Stanzas: Professors Pick Poetry Month Favorites” in the Daily Nebraskan with Ted Kooser, Grace Bauer, and Stacey Waite. We discussed our favorite poem. Here’s the picks: “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare, “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden. “Poem For People That Are Understandably Too Busy To Read Poetry” by Stephen Dunn, and “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton.

 

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Finally, in poetry related news, a feature by Shelby Fleig “UNL lecturer Laura Wiseman curates collection of women’s ‘resistance’ poetry” that runs in the Daily Nebraskan today includes interviews with WWR poets Deborah McGinn, Lucy Adkins, and Marjorie Saiser. Here’s Deborah :

“It was not the appeal of gathering tragedies, but gathering truth, restoration, healing and moving on when possible,” McGinn said. “Nothing is hidden in shame.”

Marge:

“The message we get from our culture is that poems about violence toward women should not be published,” Saiser said. “Keep still and write about something nice. Violence against women: don’t talk about it.”

Lucy:

“This collection deals courageously with difficult and dangerous subjects in a way I have not encountered before,” Adkins said. “The different voices, coming one after another, after another have a cumulative power that I believe will endure for a long, long time.”

Wow. I am endlessly amazed by the fine poets in this anthology. They truly astonish me and I am grateful for their work.

Recent press and events for UNCLOSE THE DOOR and WWR

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My letterpress book UNCLOSE THE DOOR was selected to be included in the show Heart & Hands:

Unclose the Door in Heart & Hands 2013 Exhibition
April 8 - May 31, 2013
Love Library, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

Unclose the Door in Heart & Hands 2013 Exhibition
October 11 - November 14, 2013
Criss Library, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska

Hearts and Hands will include: Artists’ Books | Altered Books | Collaborations | Digitally Printed Books | Fine Press Editions | One-of-a-Kind Books |Sculptural Book Objects.

Unclose the Door, traveling with luminaries, wiseman

Unclose the Door was recently in the news. Bradley’s “In the Spotlight” piece notes:

A new collection of poems about the life of an Illinois-born suffragist carries the handiwork of Bradley students…Wiseman’s poems are based around the life and career of Matilda Fletcher, a 19th-century suffragist and distant ancestor of the author. Fletcher, a writer and lecturer who lived in the Midwest, traveled the country advocating for the women’s rights movement and shared the stage with noted feminists such as Susan B. Anthony.

Unclose the Door, in ether

The Peoria Journal Star notes:

…the book and the written word are still honored as the core purpose of the printing press.

and from the press’s editor Robert Rowe:

“There’s something deeply satisfying about making a finely crafted object,” said Rowe.

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Unclose the Door and my broadside “The Pomegranate” was featured at the Gold Quoin Press table at the Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City.

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Also, Les Femmes Folles reviewed the anthology Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence. It’s definitely worth quoting in full:

Poetry, like visual art, illuminates with the potential of societal change. Judy Chicago’s 2006 sculpture, “Snake Arm”—a raised a fist coiled by a golden snake—calls to mind fertility and connection while also questioning aggression and war. Her series, “The Holocaust Project” (1985-93) brought the darkened tragedy of the Holocaust’s violent “medical experiments” and sexual violation of women to attention. Faith Ringgold’s “The Flag is Bleeding #2,” (1973), a piece on violence against women, offers the American flag, a symbol for militarism and racial violence, and a stoic black mother who attempts to protect her children, while she, the children, and the flag bleed. These artistsdeal with violence and political issues head-on, garnering revolutionary enlightenment and societal change. Each of the diverse, enthralling poems in Wiseman’s Women Write Resistance is a work of art, revealing hope and cultural transformation. Exhilarating and groundbreaking, Women Write Resistance combines true heart-wrenching stories of gender abuse with revelatory “sassing” language demanding meaningful conversation on the universal issue and, hopefully, change. ~Sally Deskins, founding editor of Les Femmes Folles, journal of women in art

Wow! Thank you for this wonderful press!

Oh, and if you haven’t heard, there’s WWR events taking place in the next few weeks in NYC, Philly, and in Nebraska. I hope to see you there!

Recent Readings

I gave three readings the first week of April to begin April’s poetry month celebration. I read with several readers in an Art Block Party at the LUX Center of the Arts.

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I also read with Twyla Hansen at Indigo Bridge Books on the theme of women and land. I was able to read a few poems from my forthcoming collection MEN AND THEIR WHIMS.

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I read with Marjorie Saiser at Tuesdays with Writers on the theme of women and creativity. The event included art by Wendy Bantam.

Part of that event included an interview on “Friday Live” at the Mill by William Stibor (starts 26:50, or 28:23) with both Marge and Wendy. It was completely fun to be on the radio and to be in that environment at the Mill in the morning.

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To celebrate Women’s History Month, I was asked to be the visiting writer at Bradley University. I read from my letterpress books UNCLOSE THE DOOR and FARM HANDS.

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The Collum-Davis Library there displayed my letterpress books.

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I also gave a poetry workshop and was the visiting writer at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.

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They filmed the reading I gave in entirety at Teti Library. It’s featured in In Place LIVE. Fabulous.

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To officially release Women Write Resistance, several WWR poets joined me in “Shakespeare’s Sister” for Women’s Week on UNL’s campus, including Becky Faber, Grace Bauer, Sarah A. Chavez, Deborah McGinn, Lucy Adkins, Twyla Hansen, and more. I also read from the critical introduction and preface to Women Write Resistance in No Limits.

No Limits 2013

Finally, I read in March’s First Friday event in Femme Qui Bercent with Cat Dixon, Marilyn Coffey, Mary Spittler, Denise Eileen Brady, and more at Noyes Gallery.

And, because I forgot to mention this in February’s news, I also read in Poetry at the Moon with Fran Higgins.

February News

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An excerpt of the letterpress book Unclose the Door isin Extract(s). A poem plus a feature from my forthcoming chapbook Men and their Whims is in Escape into Life. I have poems in the current issues of Martian Lit, The Meadowland Review, and Thirteen Myna Birds, the latter contains a poem that is forthcoming in my chapbook from Finishing Line Press. My review “Wishes for New Orleans: The Wishing Tomb by Amanda Autcher,” is in the spring 2013 issue of Prairie Schooner. I have poems forthcoming in Sliver of Stone, Strange Horizons, Martian Lit, The Penwood Review, and in the anthology Out of the Depths. Two poems from Sprung and three poems from First Wife are forthcoming as the feature in Poetry Magazine, Summer 2013. I’m also up in the department’s January newsletter.

I read in One Billion Rising: Lincoln on Valentine’s Day from my full-length book Sprung and from the anthology I have edited Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013).

I read in a reading at Meadowlark to raise money for the local production of the Vagina Monologues.

I also read in What Will Her Kids Think?, Sally Deskins’ show at the end of the month.

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A busy, but fun month!