Official Web Site of Laura Treacy Bentley

For me there's nothing better than a poem by Paula Meehan unless it's an opportunity to hear her read. In Ireland. In a loft room above Bewley's Cafe. To experience live, the power and passion of her words. To watch the audience react, talk back, and cheer.

I shelve my copies of Paula's books between Theo Dorgan and Akhmatova. The perfect banquet, I think.

* Listen to this extraodinary three-part documentary created by Elaine Crowley and get to know Paula. Play it when you have a moment of solitude. http://www.vimeo.com/7539391

* Read this special issue about Paula's work in An Sionnach edited by the scholar, Jody Allen Randolph.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/an_sionnach/v005/5.1.randolph01.html

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/an_sionnach/v005/5.1.randolph.html

* Visit Paula's website at www.paulameehan.com.

* Buy one of her books, especially her latest, PAINTING RAIN, from Wake Forest University Press. 

http://www.wfu.edu/wfupress/catalog.php?p=productsMore&iProduct=108&sName=Paula-Meehan--Painting-Rain-(paperback)

My good friend, Zoe Ferraris, debut novelist and winner of the prestigious 2008 LA Times Book Award for her literary mystery, Finding Nouf, is my latest featured writer. Out of her fascinating list of seven (see below), I only knew one!

Zoe's second novel, City of Veils (Little, Brown), will be released this August. She has agreed to stop in and answer some of your questions over the next couple of days. Please make her welcome!

Seven Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me

~ Zoe Ferraris  

1.  I ran away with the gypsies when I was sixteen.

2.  My great-great-uncle, Walter Gibson, created and wrote “The Shadow.”

3.  My literary guilty pleasures are memoirs by special forces soldiers.

4.  I got married in a halal meat market.

5.  When I was younger, I loved Ireland so much that I changed my name to Dublin.

6.  Over the past five months, I have fallen in love with horse racing.

7.  When I was seven, I thought the Pledge of Allegiance was “to the republic/ for witch-it stands,” and I knew exactly what a “witch-it” stand was – a small shack where an old woman sold candy corn and broomsticks. I had never actually seen one, but they were part of the republic so they had to exist.

                                                * * *

Zoe Ferraris lived in a conservative Muslim community just after the Gulf War with her then-husband and his family, a group of Saudi-Palestinian Bedouins who had never welcomed an American into their lives before. Her first novel, Finding Nouf, won the LA Times Book Award and an Alex Award. A follow-up novel, City of Veils, is coming out in August 2010. She  received a writing MFA from Columbia University and currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Visit her website at http://www.zoeferraris.com

For all my teacher friends K-13 in every discipline from West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky,  I have great news.  If you apply to the Marshall University Writing Project's Summer Institute by March 1, 2010, and are accepted, you will receive 6 hours of graduate credit, a stipend, and a course that will transform your life.

Here's a link to the Three Bridges website where you may find more information and apply online:  http://www.muwp1.org/threebridges/

I have the honor of being the MUWP's writer in residence so I hope to meet you this summer.

Testimonials from fellows who have graduated from any NWP program are encouraged to comment!!!  Tell us what state and school you represent and how the NWP has influenced your teaching and your life.

Acclaimed picture book writer and poet, Marc Harshman shares seven intriguing facts about himself.  He has graciously agreed to answer questions for the next two days.  If you are a Harshman fan, a teacher, or an aspiring writer, please comment or, better yet, ask Marc a question!

SEVEN THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME

~ Marc Harshman

1.  I recall that a favorite passion in childhood was picking wild strawberries along the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad in eastern Randolph County, Indiana.

2.  My family had a pet pig named Polly, a full-grown Hampshire sow with whom, I am told, perhaps apocryphally, I would be left alone in the south lot of the farm. I was told she was a good baby-sitter.

3.  Once took guitar lessons from Rick Zehringer in the rural farm town near where we both grew up. He, along with his brother Randy and two other local boys, would form The McCoys and record “Hang on Sloopy.” Rick would later change his name to Derringer and continues to have a notable career in music.

4.  I value William Bronk, George Oppen, Gael Turnbull, Lorine Niedecker, and Jean Follain as notable modern influences upon my poetry.

5.  During the 1980s I raised approximately twenty different kinds of heirloom beans, discovering, as well, one I named Aunt Millie’s Goose-egg Bean.

6.  My first publication was an article in the old denominational magazine THE DISCIPLE describing a summer spent working in the inner-city of Akron, Ohio, circa 1973-4.

7.  I once spent five weeks living in a restored 17th century carriage house on the grounds of the 11th Century ruins of Bronllys Castle in the Black Mountains of Wales. It was here, along with my wife, Cheryl, that I wrote RED ARE THE APPLES [Harcourt, 2001].

                                                 *  *  *

Raised in rural Indiana, Marc Harshman has lived his adult life in West Virginia where, for many years, he taught in a three-room country school. Periodical publications of his poems include The Georgia Review, Wilderness, Shenandoah, Marginalia, 5 AM, and The Progressive. He is the author of three chapbooks of poetry including LOCAL JOURNEYS (Finishing Line). His poem, “In The Company of Heaven,” recently won the Newport Review flash fiction contest. He is also the author of eleven children's picture books including THE STORM, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children and Parent’s Choice Award winner. Visit his website at http://www.marcharshman.com

Award-winning Southern writer Sharyn McCrumb launches my new series: Seven Things You Probably Don't Know About Me. 

Sharyn will be stopping by over the next couple of days to answer some of your questions.  Spread the word!

SEVEN THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME

~ Sharyn McCrumb

1.  I once had a pet fox.

2.  I speak and write some Arabic. My Danish is better.

3.  I have sat in Tennessee's electric chair.

4.  I collect Wedgwood and Irish armorial silver.

5.  I buy most of my clothes from Japan.

6.  I was taught to shoot a .12 gauge shotgun by a NASCAR  driver.

7.  I am a distant cousin of Wilma Dykeman, Del McCoury, Frankie Silver, and a real Oregon deputy sheriff named Spencer Arrowood.

                                               *  *  *  

Sharyn McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels and for "St. Dale." Forthcoming novels are "The Devil Amongst the Lawyers" (Thomas Dunne, 2010) and "Faster Pastor" (Ingalls Publishing Group, 2010), the latter co-authored by NASCAR driver Adam Edwards. In 2008 Sharyn McCrumb was named a “Virginia Woman of History” for Achievement in Literature. Visit her website at http://www.sharynmccrumb.com.

c Yasmina Ferraris 2008

1)  Write one of your dreams, resolutions, or goals for 2010 on my blog.  Share this website with your friends and challenge them to post, too. 

2)  List three ways to make your dream happen.

3)  Begin today.

4)  Report back to "Open Mic" in January 2011, and tell us about your journey.

c 2000

Prepare to be transported to Co. Clare in Ireland. 

Hang on for the ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvul25Pok8

*Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton (graphic novel)

*The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe by Laura Gilpin (If you're lucky, you might find a used copy of this older poetry collection)

*Peter Pan and any other book by Robert Sabuda (pop-up books)

*Painting Rain by Paula Meehan (poetry collection by Irish poet)

*Story by Robert McKee (how-to for screen writers and novelists)

*Entering the Stone by Barbara Hurd (non-fiction)

*Like the Mountains of China by Edwina Pendarvis (poetry collection)

*Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris (award-winning novel)

*Seeking the Swan winning entries from the West Virginia  Writers, Inc./ Competition, 1996-2006

*underthebridge.com by Paul Martin (novel)

*Family Matters: Poems of Our Families, edited by Ann and Larry Smith (poetry anthology)

*Any book written by Cynthia Rylant! (beloved children's writer with over 200 books, starting with When I Was Young and in the Mountains)

                                    * * * * * * * * * * *

*** What are your must-buy books for Christmas this year?!

It's time for a musical interlude from one of my very favorite singers.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGwDYBWEDSc

I just listened to this Seattle radio (KUOW) interview posted on POETRY DAILY http://kuow.org/program.php?id=18653about about whether song lyrics can ever hold up as stand-alone poetry without the music. 

Poet, Karen Finneyfrock, discusses HELPLESS by Neil Young, JUST LIKE HEAVEN by The Cure, and SWEETEST DECLINE by Beth Horton.

What are your favorite song lyrics?

What are some of your favorite literary quotes? 

c 2000

For Joel

You dreamed

you could walk

so we talked

of walking

until you could

sleep.

This poem first appeared in blink and was later featured on Poetry Daily.  It is collected in Lake Effect.

Drumroll, please!

The winner of the inaugural "In A Nutshell" contest goes to Marie!!!  Please contact me so I can send you your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid ASAP.

Marie's winning entry is printed below. 

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

They all die.

(Well, most of them)

*Second place goes to Ian for Passing Belly to Belly

*Third place was a three-way tie between Twilight,The Most Dangerous Game, and Politics.

(Little Red Riding Hood cheated and crashed the party!)

Thanks to all who entered and voted!!!

Listen to this incredible rainstorm on youtube!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZVpZqistk

                                         * * *

                                 * * * 

My "In a Nutshell" contest ends on Friday September 4 at midnight.  Keep those entries coming in!! 

Voting starts Saturday September 5 and ends on Monday September 7 at midnight.  Please vote for your favorite poem! 

 I'll announce the winner and print his or her poem on Tuesday September 8.  Some lucky person may soon be drinking a smooth glass of Kool-Aid.

Challenge:  Shrink an entire book, play, fairy tale, short story, ballet, opera, or poem into a haiku, and you might win a cheap prize. 

Fine print:

Something small and concentrated like a can of tomato soup or a bouillon cube or your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid.

                                                 * * *

I'm stealing this idea from my friend Robert West who recently invited his Facebook friends to try and condense some of Yeats' poems into pithy haiku ( I hope some of those same people will repost here!) . 

West's haiku were often funny, straightforward, creative, outrageous, and enlightening.  Kind of like miniaturized Cliff's Notes--an author's worst nightmare.

Anyway, give it a go and post your haiku and/or vote for your favorite abstract/digest/capsule/summary/distillation.  All submissions must be original.  Post a link to the original, if possible.

I will announce the winner and reprint his/her haiku in a separate posting.  The winning haiku will be based on the number of votes cast on this blog.

Here's a sample to get you started:

"He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven"

 (After the poem by W.B. Yeats)

 Original: http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~hsiao/verse/cloths.html

Nothing's good enough.

I can't make you love me, Maud.

A doormat no more!

This year, for the first time, there will be a fall retreat for writers at Aurora, West Virginia, from November 5-8, 2009. 

This one is special: in addition to time and good company and fabulous food, the participants will get to spend an evening with Irene McKinney, West Virginia's poet laureate.

Join your peers for a long weekend of creativity in the tranquil atmosphere of Cathedral State Park and Aurora, West Virginia. The Aurora Project Writers' Retreats provide quiet time to focus on your own writing, the good company of your fellow writers, all of your meals and, in the evenings, poetry, literature and essay readings. You also have the opportunity to share in the vision of the Aurora Project, West Virginia's first and only full-time multidisciplinary artists' residency program.

This fall's retreat promises a very special event, a private dinner followed by an intimate poetry reading by West Virginia's poet laureate, Irene McKinney. The retreat begins with a reception Thursday evening, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. and ends Sunday morning, November 8 after breakfast. The cost of $250 includes lodging and seven meals.

Shared accommodations will be available at Brookside Inn or nearby guesthouses and a limited number of private rooms will be available for an additional $75 fee. All meals and events will take place at Brookside Inn. You are invited to take part in readings on Friday evening; aside from mealtimes and evenings, your time will be your own. This is a retreat weekend, not a workshop, and you will be requested to respect the privacy of other writers who are working.

While you do not have to be a published writer to participate, the retreat is intended for serious writers and not for students. Additional programs will be hosted in the future for those wishing instruction. The retreat is limited to a maximum of 16 participants, and lodging assignments will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. A very limited number of scholarships are available; the criteria will be emailed with the applications.

For a registration form and scholarship criteria please email Michele Moure-Reeves at the Aurora Project auroraproject@frontiernet.net).

Insert "AP Retreat" into the subject line of your email.

Registration forms and scholarship applications will be available August 22. The postmark or email deadline is Friday, September 25, 2009. Notification of scholarships will be sent via email on October 2. A waiting list will be maintained for cancellations.

If you still have questions after reviewing the application and criteria, email or leave a message at 304-735-3620.

If you want to know more about Aurora and the Aurora Project, I urge you to read Colleen Anderson's article for Wonderful West Virginia, which is archived here:

http://www.wonderfulwv.com/archives/sub.cfm?month=jun09&fea=2

Julia Keller, Cutural Critic for the Chicago Tribune, grew up in my hometown, Huntington, West Virginia, and graduated from Marshall University.  She was the keynote speaker at MU a couple of years ago. Afterward I talked with her for a couple of minutes and got her autograph!  

Keller writes of her love of comics in this recent column (scroll down to link) and the new graphic (illustrated) novel of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which happens to be my favorite novel.  I'm going to dash out to the nearest book store and buy this innovative version with artwork by Tim Hamilton. 

Why?  Because I'm an unabashed fan of Bradbury, and I, too, grew up reading comic books as a kid.  I bought many of them at the local Grayhound Bus Station or stood by their turnstile reading for free if I didn't have enough money. 

So, what were your favorite comics growing up?!  Do you own any graphic novels?

I'll tease you with some of Keller's thoughts on the virtues of graphic novels: 

"The truth is that too many years as a book critic have threatened to turn me into a reading machine. I read too fast. I mow down rows of type like a scythe murdering a field.  With a graphic novel, however, I'm forced to slow down. I can't rush. I can't go hell-for-leather across the page. I have to consider both the images and the words. I have to linger. I have to let things sink in. I have to learn all over again how to savor."

Read Keller's entire column below!!! 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0809-lit-life-mainaug09,0,1870888.column

Here's the link to Amazon with a preview of the artwork!

http://www.amazon.com/Ray-Bradburys-Fahrenheit-451-Authorized/dp/080905101X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249920040&sr=1-1

"He was carved out of sunlight."

Another gem from Dick Cavett's blog.

http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/richard-burton-take-2/ 

Ray Bradbury tells us "Do what you love and love what you do."  Simple but profound words to live by, aspire to, and embrace.

Ray's long love affair with life is clear.  "Live forever!" continues to be his mantra.  An indomitable life force, word magician, and simply a great guy, he is living his dreams and has become a legend in his own time.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of my website, sit back and enjoy these brand-new clips featuring Ray Bradbury!

*A graphic novel of Bradbury's classic, Fahrenheit 451, is discussed on NPR's "All Things Considered."  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106929166&ps=cprs

*A wonderful tribute to Ray Bradbury on NPR by writer, Alice Hoffman.  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104429516&ft=3&f=5432412

*Click on this link, and you will discover two video clips of Ray, one short clip for impatient firemen types who start fires and one longer for all the life-savoring Clarisse's out there.  http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780809051014&m_type=2&m_contentid=883261#video

                            Ray & me after our poetry reading in Venice, CA.