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HOWARD NEMEROV SONNET AWARD

$1,000 PRIZE

Final Judge: Dick Davis

Deadline: November 15, 2013

Sponsored by:
The Formalist
and
Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry

Competition Rules for the 20th annual Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award:

1. Sonnets must be original and unpublished. No translations. Writers may enter as many sonnets as they wish. Sonnet sequences are acceptable, but each sonnet will be considered individually. Entry fee: $3 per sonnet, checks payable to The Formalist. Entry fees from outside the U.S. must be paid in cash — U.S. dollars — or by a check drawn on a U.S. bank. Author's name, address, e-mail address, and phone number should be typed on the BACK of each entry.

2. Final Judge for the 2013 competition will be Dick Davis. The winning poem and eleven finalists will be published in a 2014 issue of Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry.

3. Entries must be sent to the address listed below and postmarked no later than November 15, 2013. Enclose a SASE if you would like to be notified of the contest results. Entries cannot be returned.

All submissions should be sent to:

Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award
The Formalist
320 Hunter Drive
Evansville, IN 47711
 
Please note: these are the complete guidelines.

Jessy Randall will guest-edit the February 2014 issue of the online poetry magazine Snakeskin. This year, the theme will be POETRY COMICS. Jessy says:

The genre (if it is one) of poetry comics can be hard to define. The examples below may be more useful than my description. In general, poetry comics are poem-like hand-drawn combinations of text and image, not necessarily well-drawn or funny, though sometimes both. In my opinion, Kenneth Koch was an early practitioner and perhaps invented the idea of poetry comics. These links give examples:

general overview, comicsobserver

Kenneth Koch

Sommer Browning

Max Winter

bunch o’ links

If you think you might be making poetry comics, even if your definition doesn’t match mine, please send 1-5 images (single panel or multi-panel or whatever – the count won’t be strict) to:

jessyrandallATyahooDOTcom (Change AT to @ and DOT to .)

Previously-published comics are fine – just say where they first appeared. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Attachments should be jpegs or pdfs. The deadline is December 1.

Do you ever feel like your subconscious is leaking out?

I was researching decorations for my dear friend’s wedding when I got kind of stuck on sticks. Here’s my pinterest page on stick decorating.

My kids never saw any of this, but somehow, they seemed to know about it, because later that day, after hubs had trimmed some bushes, they hunted down the paint and began decorating these sticks. I’m loving the Dr. Seuss vibe.

I also chopped (with the trimmer) a bunch of sticks into shorter segments for us to make into a new winter wreath. Our old one is kind of sad and decrepit.

I’m alllllllmost finished with a dress I’m making. Just three more buttons! I can’t believe I actually made 9 successful buttonholes. This is a new milestone.

Meanwhile, I hope a certain little ninja will appreciate his costume that’s nearly finished. Who am I kidding? Kids have no idea the work that goes into costume-making. That’s okay. I’ve had fun making it, and I’ve kept it really low-key. I may make a little tutorial about the tunic part of it.

I’m still plugging away at my writing projects. Trying to keep my nose to the grindstone. And made Foster’s Market Jamaican black bean soup last night. Also put up some pesto. Yum!

A happy hoard of costume-clad athletes — including one tiny little dude in a Batman outfit — were seen running down a pumpkin-lined runway and sailing over spider-infested crossbars on Sunday, Oct. 13th, at the mega-awesome Heights on Halloween vault. … Continue reading →

Wow, I was blown away by the creativity of the kids who entered my Halloween Skype monster contest! I asked them to draw the monster they’d like to purchase at The Monstore, and they came through with some very useful companions, just right for doing tricky things around the house. In fact, I’d like to borrow all of them!

It was tough to pick just five finalists, but here they are, in no particular order.

Please leave a comment voting for your favorite entry #. The monster with the most votes will win a Skype classroom visit with me on Halloween! 

.

MONSTER #1
REPRESENTING MS. ROSENBERG’S 2nd GRADE CLASS
MS. GO EYES by JULIA B.!

I like how Ms. Go Eyes can dance with Julia whenever she pleases, plus this monster can reach high to get the most coveted snacks in the cabinet. Of course, Ms. Go Eyes loves THE MONSTORE book, too! Congratulations, Julia!

.

MONSTER #2
REPRESENTING MS. MELLIN’S 2nd GRADE CLASS
TRASH MONSTER by SIERRA V.!

Well, Trash Monster can certainly find a welcomed place in my home. I like how neat and environmentally conscientious he is. And he’s so brightly colored, he’ll fit right in with my decor. Congratulations, Sierra!

.

MONSTER #3
REPRESENTING MS. MACCRI’S 2nd GRADE CLASS
BULLEYE by NATHAN H.!

Considering that October is National Bullying Prevention Month, I think everyone could use a friend like Bulleye right now. He’s so fierce-looking, he just has to stand there and bullies will steer clear. Congratulations, Nathan!

.

MONSTER #4
REPRESENTING MS. ABATE’S 1st GRADE CLASS
SPARKLES by KATIE F.!

As Sparkles is already aware, we could all use a little more sparkle in our lives. Everything she touches glitters and shines. What a happy-making monster! Congratulations, Katie!

.

MONSTER #5
REPRESENTING MS. BROWN’S 1st GRADE CLASS
DAGA BY DOANH!

Ms. Brown’s class got very creative and used shapes to create their monsters. They even counted up all the shapes. I’m impressed! This monster’s needed in my house because my daughter does not like to eat meat. It merely touches her tongue and she spits it out.  What’s a mom to do? Maybe she will follow Daga’s example. Congratulations, Doanh! (And wow, what neat handwriting!)

.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Skype monster contest. It was so difficult to choose the finalists because all the creations were terrific. I’m sincerely blown away by the creativity expressed in this exercise!

Kindly comment below with your # monster choice by SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27th and I will announce the winner on the 28th!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE! I HOPE TO SEE YOU ON HALLOWEEN!

Here's a blog post over at YA in Publishing site where I attempt to put together some of the things I've been thinking about concerning character development and its link to plot development. I throw in some thoughts on setting and a quote from the late great John Gardner. Also, on this site you'll find a ton of YA book info. and they frequently give away books.

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/


Also, I'm on this panel at the Texas Book Festival this Saturday: Apocalypse Now--talking about apocalypse fiction in YA--including my own two alien novels. Just one of many panels at the TBF. It's always fun to go up to the capitol for this book event.

http://www.texasbookfestival.org/festival-schedule/?selected_day=2&eid=1350#e1350

For 40 years the Westpac helicopters have been rescuing people from the bikie gang war in Milperra,  Sydney to Hobart yacht race to the fires now!

I was proud to celebrate them tonight at the Hordern Pavilion.

Gail Kelly CEO Westpac Group spoke compellingly and so did the head of the service.

Moved by the family of fisherman with 2 young boys whose boat went down and who were saved by the Westpac helicopter. YEAH!

We rocked to Daryl Braithwaite and had a brilliant night of giving and thanking them.

The post LUV Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service – saving lives in the fires appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

I was incredibly honored to have been asked to design a READ poster for the American Library Association. This iconic series of posters has been adorning library walls for years, and I'm proud to be a part of that tradition.

If you would like to order a copy of this poster (or the matching bookmarks) for your library or classroom, please visit this website: http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=10803

Feed your imagination!

i'll get to some new halloween pieces this weekend but for now...BOO! fan art - my homage to the AMAZING DAN KRALL!  :-) yay, dan krall! :-)))

Today’s Writing Wednesday is about a newly discovered planet far from our solar system, and it is different than any other we have ever seen. We want you to read this science news story and then come up with a better name for this new planet based on what you have learned from the story. The Facts: Eighty light-years from Earth, astronomers have discovered a planet that is six times bigger than Jupiter, floating all alone without asun to keep it warm. Scientists have seen free-floaters like this before, but we have never been sure whether they were planets or stars that had died. This time, we have enough information to be sure it is a planet similar to the "gas giants" in our solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are very low in density and consist mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. If you tried to land a spacecraft on Jupiter, for example, it would keep sinking down through the gas, until it would be crushed by Jupiter’s gravity. The new planet is named PSO J318.5-22, and it is near a group of young stars called the Beta Pictoris moving group, which formed about 12 million years ago. One of the stars in that group is circled by its own gas-giant planet that’s about eight times bigger than Jupiter. "We have never before seen an object free-floating in space that that looks like this," team leader Michael Liu said. "It has all the characteristics of young planets found around other stars, but it is drifting out there all alone. I had often wondered if such solitary objects exist, and now we know they do." Your Assignment: I don’t think that PSO J318.5-22 is a very good name for a planet, do you? Write a paragraph telling your readers what you would name this planet, and why. Support your idea with information from the news story (above). When you are finished writing, you may post your writing for others to read by clicking on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog post. Happy Writing! Image: An artist’s rendering of PSO J318.5-22 by V. Ch. Quetz / MPIA

© Loree Griffin Burns

Can you see him? In the middle? Cute, no?

© Loree Griffin Burns

Can you see him? In the middle? Cute, no?

At the Brisbane Writers Festival I was on a panel about sport and writing alongside Hugh Lunn and Don Watson moderated by Lee McGowan. All three are sports obsessives and so it was great fun and excellently moderated and much territory was covered and if anyone wants me to talk about sport in front of any kind of audience at all I AM SO THERE.

By which I mean: PLEASE INVITE ME TO TALK ABOUT SPORT MORE.

There were a few themes that emerged during the discussion. Both Hugh and Don¹ were mournful for how sport in this country used to be, for past athletes who were humbler and more dedicated than the athletes of today. They seemed to also have a fair amount of sadness that Australia is no longer the great sporting nation it once was.

I do not share their concerns so that made for some fun exchanges.

I pointed out that during the decades of Hugh’s and Don’s coming of age as sport enthusiasts, the 1950s and 1960s, the athletes in this country were largely still amateurs. Most had day jobs and were paid a pittance—if they were lucky—to represent their club or their country. We were still in the midst of a shift from amateurism to professionalism.

Even now for many sports that shift has barely begun, particularly for women’s sports. That’s why Ellyse Perry is one of the few dual internationals left—representing Australia in both cricket and soccer. Back in the day it was de rigeur for the best Aussie athletes to play cricket in summer and their preferred code of football in the winter. These days the men cannot play both even if they want to: being an elite cricketer or a footballer is a full-time gig. That’s why Ellyse Perry is helping stack the chairs after one of her club games and fully professional blokes like Shane Watson are, well, not.

Everything that follows is stuff I wanted to say but didn’t get a chance to.

Probably the main reason Australia doesn’t seem to be as successful a sporting nation as it once was is that back then we didn’t actually have that much competition. If you look at the lists of say, tennis, champions in the 50s and 60s there are very few that aren’t Australian or from the UK or or the USA.

Let’s think about why, shall we?

Firstly, tennis used to be predominately a British game. Every single tennis champion until 1915 were British or from the USA or Australia. And they remain the vast majority until the 1980s. My evidence: these lists of grand slam champions. Tennis is now an international game, played all over the world. China now has a grand slam champion. I predict that there will many more.

Then there was this little thing called World War II, which set back most of Europe’s sporting programmes for many years. Australia was relatively unaffected. (As was the USA.) Australians could keep on training and playing and winning with far less competition than they would have had if there hadn’t been a world war.

Basically, while there is still nowhere near a level playing field,² there are many more nations competing against us at all levels and in more sports than there once were. And as more countries around the world spend more money on their athletes our sporting achievements will continue to seem not nearly as good as they did up until the 1960s when it must have felt like we won almost everything.³

It’s also important to remember that until relatively recently most people were unable to train and compete, even in those wealthy countries like Australia and the USA, because of reasons of ethnic, racial and sexual discrimination. There’s a reason there have been so few African-American tennis champions. It was a sport for the wealthy. Now it’s a middle class sport played all over the world, which means the pool of talent has deepened and widened. The odds of a relatively small country like Australia regaining it’s former tennis glory are small indeed.

I would argue that the athletes who are at the top of their sport today are truly amazing. Samantha Stosur may have only won a single grand slam but the competition she is up against is much, much tougher than it was for, say, Margaret Court. And Stosur has managed to stay at a very elite level for quite a few years now, which is remarkable. This makes players like Serena Williams and Roger Federer some word which is like a hundred times stronger than “remarkable”.

Further to Samantha Stosur. I am so sick of her being bagged by the Australian press.⁴ She was the no. 1 in doubles for more than a year. She’s been as high as no. 4 in singles. She won the US Open against Serena Williams. SERENA WILLIAMS. She has 5 grand slam titles. And 28 career titles. But you’d never know it listening to the Australian press who can only talk about what a choker she is. Because apparently only singles grand slam titles count. Or something.

So here’s what I hate about contemporary sporting culture: that it’s all about winning. Sadly though I think that’s what sport’s pretty much always been focussed on. Fans turning on their idols because they lose a match is not a recent development.

I love watching Stosur play because you can see her fighting herself. Frankly, she reminds me of myself while writing. Some days it all goes so well; other days OMG stupid words! Why do you defy me?! Some days I fall to pieces. And I’m a writer. There is no opponent, there is no global audience watching my every move. If I were a tennis player I would be a much, much bigger head case than Stosur. Honestly I have no idea how they do their job day in day out with so many people watching and commentating on every move.

One of the reasons I love tennis is that it’s such a psychological sport. The more unemotional players who hold it together have never interested me nearly so much as the ones for whom the battle against themselves is almost as mighty as the battle against their opponent. It’s one of the reason I love Serena Williams’s play so much. She’s such a confidence player. I mean on top of just being amazing. Watching herself dig herself out of a hole—like she did at this year’s US Open—it is a thing of beauty and also of agony.

For another example of this insanity check out this tweet about the fact that Roger Federer one of the greatest players the game has ever seen is no longer winning every little thing:
“Do you think the great Swiss player is finished?”

I know what my response would be were I Federer. It would not be polite.

That’s another thing that drives me nuts. Why shouldn’t athletes keep playing their sport as long as they’re good enough to do so? It’s not like Federer needs a wild card to get into events. He’s still a highly ranked player. He’s just not number one any more. It’s total bullshit that he’s tarnishing his legacy. No, he’s not. No matter what he does now he will have still won a gazillion grand slams and been world number one for basically forever.

Athletes already have a shorter career that almost any other profession without us spectators and commentators howling from the stands that they’re finished because they’ve got from world’s best ever to still pretty bloody good.

Well, felt good getting that sporting rant off my chest. As you all were.

1. I feel that we are on first name basis now that we have been in the panel trenches together.
2. Australia remains one of the world’s wealthiest countries.
3. Except soccer.
4. I can’t even imagine how she feels about it.

Oh I’m so proud, I’ve been diligently helping spread the running infection. Last night I ordered my cute little high school friend a pair of running shoes. I’ve been working on her for months, when she told me she wished she could be a runner.

“Be a runner?” I said, “Anyone can BE a runner.” That’s the funny thing, most people think you either pop out with your Nike running shoes on or you don’t. The ones who don’t are sadly shunned from society, left to wallow away through life sans any endorphins via miles. Just kidding.

The cool place all runners get to hang out.

The beauty of running a PR (personal best for any of you newbie runners) can be felt by ANYONE. You just have to work for it. Earning that sweaty, glorious time is tough but so worth it. It becomes tougher the longer you run, the improvement curve doesn’t always sky-rocket away like it does soon after you become a runner. That just means you have to work harder AND smarter.

Back to my friend though, I’ve been so proud watching her go from barely making two miles and now busting out 6 miles. I was, however, APPALLED…I mean appalled at the raggedy-@$$ shoes she was running in.

When I say I was appalled, I’m not in ANY way judging her or disappointed in her AT ALL. Most new runners just really don’t have any idea how crucial it is to have the right kind of shoes. Also the age of their shoes. “My foot kind of hurt after my last run, I think I need a new pair…I love these shoes but maybe a year and a half is too long to still be using them.”

A YEAR AND A HALF!! My mind freaked the freak out, only because I know how much a ‘dead’ pair of running shoes can turn into an injury bomb. Granted, she did other things and wasn’t logging mega miles in them, but still. A pair of shoes should never be out there on the mean streets logging miles if they’ve seen 500 miles or more. Time for a new pair, baby!

So I assessed her foot type and we’ve gotten her squared away with dem new running shoes. We also got to talking about things that make running go by faster and what makes those miles feel like an eternity:

1) The Scenic Route: Per minute, running on the treadmill feels like about 10 minutes. Just kidding.
2) Training Partners: Having a training partner makes those miles zip by quicker too. I mean that figuratively AND literally if the workout for the day are repeats or a hard run. Working WITH someone and getting ‘towed’ along during intervals will wind-up with faster splits that ‘feel’ easier than if you were running alone.
3) Being fitter. The reason most non-runners think they can’t ‘be’ a runner is because running a few minutes feels KILLER and they don’t understand how anyone could run multiple miles. The reason is because they just aren’t fit enough. The body adapts, it grows stronger, cardiovascular fitness and endurance improves the more CONSISTENT you are with your running. Eventually you get to the point where 2 miles are easy because you’re comfortably able to run 4 miles, then 4 are easy because you’re regularly running 6 miles. You get the picture.

So now it’s your turn. Keep spreading this running thing across the lands…prove to the non-believers that ANYONE can ‘be’ a runner…they just have to try.

1) When did you start running? What caused you to try?
I sucked at all sports requiring an ounce of coordination. I can turn left.
2) Is there anyone you have inspired to become a runner?
3) What’s one thing that makes your running go by faster?

I kicked off last week with a visit to Sun Valley School here in Marin. I was very impressed with the student questions. They had so many! I really enjoyed spending a morning with them in their beautiful school.

Then, I headed north to take part in the Humboldt County Children's Author Festival. The festival began at the Morris Graves Museum of Art where participating illustrators' original work was (and still is) on display. Over the next two days, I visited three schools, all of which were fantastically prepared. There were banners! Buglette costumes! Vegan potluck lunches! But most of all, the students were engaged and inquisitive and EXCITED. I was in heaven. I also met a lovely array of authors and illustrators. The volunteers who put this event together deserve loads of praise; it is so valuable to all involved. I have included photos below, although I am sorely remiss about taking as many shots as I should (especially at school visits where I tend to be somewhat distracted until the projector, laptop, and remote are all behaving). Thankfully, there are LOTS of photos on the official Facebook page.

And the festivities continue—in a week and a half, I will be in Las Vegas for the Vegas Valley Book Festival.

In other news, I am looking forward to the release of three new books in 2014. I am also looking forward to starting a quarterly newsletter. More details about the books and the newsletter to come soon!

The art show at the Morris Graves Museum of Art

My art

An entire bulletin board of Buglette dreams!

A character inspired by my presentation, drawn on the spot!

More pigs, drawn during my visit. (I am fond of them all, but I especially like the guy with the belly button.)

The Carson Mansion, after our banquet dinner

Again, this is another instance where I'll listen to anything when I'm sad. It honestly depends on what I happen to be "in" to at the moment.

Source

Source

LATEST NEWS

Artie’s new children’s book View from a Zoo is now out!!!

View from a Zoo – Thea is a house-cat that seems to have it all… she has a warm home, plenty of food and a family that loves her. But something is missing in Thea’s life. Where is the excitement? Where is the adventure?

From children’s author Artie Knapp & illustrator Sunayana Nair Kanjilal, comes a new picture book that answers the question that kids everywhere like to ask… I am bored. What should I do?

To read reviews of the book, please click the book reviews link at the top of this site. View from a Zoo is published by MightyBook Inc, Houston, TX. And look for the iPad edition later this fall from Reading Rainbow.

Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law 

COPYRIGHT © 2013 ARTIE KNAPP

Butterfly Girls by Beryl Reichenberg "How does a Monarch Butterfly teach two young girls how to fly?" Well, if you want to find out, I suggest reading Beryl's picture book published by Oak Tree Press. Here's an excerpt: One morning Ashley went into the yard, and to her suprise, there was a bright, orange and black butterfly, flapping its wings. "Little butterfly, when did you come out of your chrysalis?" This lovely book tells a story of two girls discovering the beauty and magic of the butterflies. I recommend this book for children ages 3 and up. Here's a link to Beryl's website where you can find more information: www.berylreichenberg.com

50 PLAYFUL PASTA RECIPES This recipe book for kids and adults is chock full of great pasta recipes. It is divided into sections: Totally Tubular, Twisted & Twirly, Super Skinny, Very Stuffed, Wheels & Whatever, Sweet Treats. This book contains creative recipes like Robot Bites, Gooey Green Noodles, Spaghetti and Mini Meatballs, Out-of-This-World Tomato Soup and more! The photos are detailed and stunning! I would recommend this book to all ages. Here is the link: http://quirkbooks.com/noodlemania Short review of Noodlemania posted at @LilyErlic

Well it's about time, Joe McKenna and his soldier friends would comment, upon learning that the story is  winding down - or up depending on the way one views it. There's still plenty of time left before the BBC International Playwriting Competition deadline but given my propensity for procrastinating, I've been focusing my efforts on streamlining the dialogue and working on the plot line.

One of my concerns, other than sound effects, is using radio format but thanks to Google, found a site that supplied an example of how a radio script should be written. The script, as it is now, is written as a play but according to the site, there will have to be some changes.

Reading the lines over silently to myself, it seems to flow well but the story line may have to be lengthened to accommodate the radio format, which shortens the page count. Doesn't really change things since the ending will be that much more dramatic. Before submitting it, I'll actually read it out loud and time it.

The play content is a mix of drama mixed with humor to break up the tension. The quartet of Vets have been there, seen that and are at the point in their lives where they accept death as the final battle and the end to their painful physical decline. They cling to each other for moral support, commiserating life's 'downs' and celebrating their 'highs.'

In fact, somebody overheard the guys getting ready to say their final goodbyes at the local bar.

JOE
Well - it's almost over. Won't be long, now

MIKE
What's almost over? What are you babbling on about?

JOE
She's nearing the end

MAC
You mean -

JOE
- Yup

AL
Who told you?

JOE
If anybody knows what's going on, it's me. Take my word for it

MAC
She's been nearing the end how many times now?

JOE
This time it's serious. We better drink up, make our final toasts and get ready to say our goodbyes

AL
What's going to happen to us after "The End"?

JOE
With luck and some positive action taken on her part, we'll become famous and become household
names in the theatre world

MIKE
Hey! That ain't so bad!

JOE
Let's celebrate in honor of the final scene. Mike - didn't you say you were buying? 'Bartender - a round for me and my best friends, here'

JOE, MIKE, AL, MAC (together)
(holding up their glasses)
To the final scene!