Readings, Awards, and More!
Introduction
Kelsay Books has two virtual, free readings coming up. We were thrilled to gather as a team and as poets for our summer showcase, and I see you supporting your fellow authors at recent launch parties! They are often recorded and posted later—subscribe to Kelsay Books and our authors’ pages so you don’t miss a moment.
First up is Mark Floyer from England, bringing us verse from Cradle to Casket to end the month of August. Catherine Jagoe features twice in this month’s blog; our celebration of the acclaimed Praying to the God of Small Things is open to all on Sunday, September 15! Whether our authors are “accross the pond” or accross the country, I love that we can witness their talents from anywhere in the world. It’s cool to connect with poets you wouldn’t otherwise get to share space with.
Order now for your books to ship throughout the globe before the readings. The new and noteworthy are just a scroll away.
Events
Please join us on Saturday, August 31, for a reading by Mark Floyer, celebrating the launch of his latest poetry collection Cradle to Casket, with a Q&A and open mic to follow! Registration is free and open to the public at the link below:
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Aug 31, 2024 09:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAoceCppj4sE9cuZZUiNgi7Drk3a0OXGlPC
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
**NOTE: Please register with the same email address your Zoom account uses
Mark Floyer was born in London in 1955 and spent his early childhood in the Indian sub-continent. He read English Literature at Oxford University and spent his career as a secondary school teacher and latterly a creative writing tutor working for adult education providers. He has published extensively over the years and has two collections out with Paekakariki Press: “Crow Dusk” (2018) and “Scrabbled” (2021), and holds a PhD in Anglophone Indian Poetry from Chichester University. A keen amateur cricketer, he has represented Devon and Sussex in the Seniors County Championship and written a cricketing memoir, Chasing Balloons (Charlcombe Books, 2019). He currently lives in mid Sussex and is married to Snezana with whom he shares four children and six grandchildren, three dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens.
Our next Zoom reading will be held on Sunday, September 15 by Catherine Jagoe, author of Praying to the God of Small Things. Registration is free and open to the public at the link below:
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Sep 15, 2024 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvc-yppzkvGdbxFo1dzgwjP8oKIkN64fYJ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
**NOTE: Please register with the same email address your Zoom account uses
Watch the Praying to the God of Small Things book trailer
Catherine Jagoe is an award-winning British American writer and translator whose poems have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and Poetry Daily. Her previous poetry collections include Bloodroot (2016), News from the North (2014), and Casting Off (2007). Her nonfiction has received a Pushcart Prize and a citation in Best American Essays. She is a contributor to Wisconsin Public Radio’s Wisconsin Life series.
Read more of her work on her website:
www.catherinejagoe.com
Poetic Excellence
Reviews
Kirkus reviewed VOWS by Cynthia Linkas, Kelsay Books author of Tumbled Time.
Days of Grace and Silence by Anne E. Wallace was reviewed by Lopamudra Basu for World Literature Today.
Isthmus took a closer look at Catherine Jagoe’s Praying to the God of Small Things.
Columbia University Journalism School featured Trembling by Karen Petersen, noting in “Alumni on the Move” that Petersen’s “widely read writing has earned her recognition as a significant voice in contemporary literature...” Read more
Mom Egg Review added A Shared and Sacred Space by Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas to their August bookshelf.
Awards
Congratulations Jessica D. Thompson for Daybreak and Deep being shortlisted for the Indiana Authors Awards!
All The Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents took third place in the Creative Verse category of the NFPW 2024 National Communications Contest. Congratulations Jane Muschenetz!
Interviews
Two Kelsay Books authors recently gave Meter Cute Interviews for Meter&Mayhem: check out what Diane Lee Moomey has to say about Sourdough on Substack, and Linda Neil Reising on VIVIA: The Legend of Vivia Thomas, A Novelette in Poems in the video below.
Thank you to The Beautiful Keeps Breathing author Claire Coenen and special guests Julie Sumner and Julia Fehrenbacher for giving us Poetry on Beauty, a virtual reading, last month. If you couldn’t make it or stay, you can experience the whole event on YouTube!