Gregory Cowles at Paper Cuts stumbles upon the “the most dangerous book of poetry ever written.” It’s also become one of the priciest.
Best-selling Southern California novelist Dean Koontz released The Book of Counted Sorrows in 2003. Just 1,250 copies were published. This week, Cowles noted that Koontz’ book is selling online for [...]
Stories in Poetry:
An odd tale of poetry appreciation
California poet Kay Ryan to be Poet Laureate
Marin County poet Kay Ryan will become the 16th Poet Laureate of the of the United States, according to the New York Times.
In a 1999 essay for Dark Horse, Dana Gioia — California poet and now the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts — wrote of Ryan:
Over the past five years no [...]
Saucy schemes and new stories
Isabel Allende’s memoir is just out: The Sums of Our Days… novelist Tobias Wolff is on the cover of Poets and Writers magazine (though the story is not yet available online)… Veronique de Turenne teams up with Ernest Marquez to chronicle Southern California’s century as a maritime hub in Port of Los Angeles… former Islands [...]
Performance art
Roshawnda Bettencourt, a student at Placer County’s Oakmont High, captured first place in California’s Poetry Out Loud state finals. She recited “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows [...]
Scary movies & other stray notes
• LaObserved reports today that Heritage Book Shop, LA’s rare book store, has been sold.
• LAO also notes that Kristin Gore is now an LA writer. “The 30-year-old daughter of former VP Al Gore lives near downtown with husband Paul Cusack, writes for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Futurama’ and has a new novel, Sammy’s House, [...]
Fixity of purpose
On California Poet Laureate Al Young’s list of New Year’s resolutions: “Memorize one poem per week, either yours or someone else’s. To own a poem by memory differs greatly from clutching the visual text of that poem. Words on paper are the same as musical scores; recitation from memory is a solo performance, a [...]
An odd tale of poetry appreciation
California poet Kay Ryan to be Poet Laureate
Marin County poet Kay Ryan will become the 16th Poet Laureate of the of the United States, according to the New York Times.
In a 1999 essay for Dark Horse, Dana Gioia — California poet and now the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts — wrote of Ryan:
Over the past five years no [...]
Saucy schemes and new stories
Isabel Allende’s memoir is just out: The Sums of Our Days… novelist Tobias Wolff is on the cover of Poets and Writers magazine (though the story is not yet available online)… Veronique de Turenne teams up with Ernest Marquez to chronicle Southern California’s century as a maritime hub in Port of Los Angeles… former Islands [...]
Performance art
Roshawnda Bettencourt, a student at Placer County’s Oakmont High, captured first place in California’s Poetry Out Loud state finals. She recited “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows [...]
Scary movies & other stray notes
• LaObserved reports today that Heritage Book Shop, LA’s rare book store, has been sold.
• LAO also notes that Kristin Gore is now an LA writer. “The 30-year-old daughter of former VP Al Gore lives near downtown with husband Paul Cusack, writes for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Futurama’ and has a new novel, Sammy’s House, [...]
Fixity of purpose
On California Poet Laureate Al Young’s list of New Year’s resolutions: “Memorize one poem per week, either yours or someone else’s. To own a poem by memory differs greatly from clutching the visual text of that poem. Words on paper are the same as musical scores; recitation from memory is a solo performance, a [...]
Meet the authors of the California Authors Directory. Visit the directory to discover writers like Christina Meldrum, a Bay Area attorney whose book Madapple was just released this month. “In debut novelist Christina Meldrum's mesmerizing literary mystery, 
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