“The Northwest Poets Concord in Newport was one of the best poetry conferences I’ve ever attended.  Great people, great discussions, great poems.”–Henry Hughes

“The Concord gave me a cherished sense of connection with other Oregon poets.”–Penelope Scambly Schott

This year’s NORTHWEST POETS’ CONCORD will be on May 7-9, 2010 at the Hallmark Inn and Resort in Newport, Oregon.  This notice is a call for proposals for participation.  In 2009 we had readings from new books by northwest poets; talks about various topics like revision and writing from history or writing from political experiences; interviews; demonstrations of simultaneous poems and complementary poems; and so on.  The Concord will include a Book Fair and a contest for the best submitted poem.  Once again we will conclude with Young Poets, and college students will be in attendance working on a specific poet.  More open mic opportunities this year….

Please specify the kind of presentation you propose:

1.      Individual reading

2.     Collaborative presentation

3.     Interview

4.     Workshop

5.     Panel

6.     Critical commentary

And please specify the length of time needed:  20 minutes, 30 minutes, 50 minutes.

Let me know if you would moderate a session.

There will be reduced rates at the Hallmark (the same rate as last year, $89 per night)—and I will send out options for less expensive accommodations as well.  There will also be a registration fee yet to be determined, probably in the range of $50.  This covers the cost of the meeting rooms and the keynote presentation as well as a steady stream of excellent food and drink.

Please submit your proposal by February 14, 2010 to ellstons@gmail.com.  Note that all correspondence will be electronic.  Look for Northwest Poets’ Concord on Facebook for updates and information.

“The Northwest Poets Concord complemented other Oregon poetry conferences and festivals, which have a few featured presenters whose workshops and readings everyone else attends. At the Concord, in contrast, virtually all the poets attending were true participants in the event–nearly everyone both gave a workshop or reading and attended those of others. This produced a lively interchange.”–Eleanor Berry

“The Concord is anything but ‘conventional.’ It is an intertribal gathering where precious things are admired and exchanged, and new friendships forged amidst the roar of the Pacific… It is the newest important ritual involving all tribes of Northwest poets. The best sort of serendipity lives here. “–Scot Siegel

–
Sandra K. Ellston, Ph.D.
http://www.eou.edu/~sellston/

Ingrid Wendt has had three poems published in an online anthology:  Health and Illness, edited by Annie Ballardini and Obododimma Oha, under the masthead Fieralingue. My poems are “Pilgrim,” “Give Us This Day,” and “Meningioma.”  The URL is http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=Content&pa=list_pages_categories&cid=361.  Two poems, “After a Class in Seaweed” and “Benediction” are forthcoming in the anthology Poets of the American West, edited by Lowell Jaeger.  Also, my poem “Love in Venice,” has just appeared in  Love Over 60: an anthology of women’s poems, edited by Robin Chapman and Jeri McCormick, Mayapple Press.  I’ll be reading that poem with other anthology contributors at the AWP meeting in Denver in April.

She has also had several prose pieces accepted for publication.  1) “The Poet as Celebrant,” a review of Robert Dana’s The Other, forthcoming in New Letters.  2) “Poetry in the Age of Anxiety,” forthcoming in Oregon English.  3) “New Doors:  Lessons from Bill,” in a collection of essays on William Stafford, edited by Denise Low, forthcoming from Mammoth Publications.

Feb. 28th, Jean Marie Purcell read her poems at the Groundwaters Live program held at the Veneta Library.

Kay Ryan, U.S. poet laureate, will visit Lane Community College on May 13
and 14. Ryan will give a public reading on Thursday, May 13, at 7 p.m. in
the Center for Meeting and Learning, building 19, main campus, 4000 E. 30th
Avenue, Eugene. She will meet with students on Friday, May 14.

Ryan is 16th poet laureate of the United States. Last fall, she initiated a
project called Poetry for the Mind¹s Joy, in collaboration with the Library
of Congress and the Community College Humanities Association. The initiative
³highlights poetry being generated on community college campuses, as well as
the vital role played by community colleges in nurturing lives and minds.²
For details go online at www.loc.gov/poetry/mindsjoy.

Ryan¹s visit is part of the Reading Together project at Lane which engages
students in reading and discussion of shared texts, with each other, with
the greater campus community, and with the community at large. Reading
Together is indebted to Jane King, a long time supporter and patron of
interdisciplinary studies at Lane.

Sandy Jensen feels like she hit the jackpot in February–she had two essays from her memoir Special, Gifted, Divine: Twenty Years in Emissary of Divine Light Community accepted by peer reviewed journals:

• “‘I’ve Seen It Raining Fire In the Sky’: Sunrise Ranch, Eden Valley, Loveland, Colorado, 1973″ will appear in the Spring issue of Community College Moment.
  
• “Bearers of the Sun: The Emissary Myth System as a Unifying Community Force,” will appear in the Fall issue of Communal Societies, the journal of the Communal Studies Association.

Toni Van Deusen has had three poems accepted by Yellow Medicine Review (guest editor Ralph Salisbury).

Howard W. Robertson’s fifth book of poems, TWO ODES OF QUIDDITY AND NIL, was published by Publication Studio in January, 2010 (http://www.publicationstudio.biz/books/31).  Howard will be signing copies of his fourth book, THE GAIAN ODES (Evening Street Press, 2009: http://eveningstreetpress.com/sinclair_poetry_prize.html) on April 8, 2010, in Denver at the Annual Conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.  Howard is a Eugene poet and has been a Guild member since 1987.  Recordings of his latest two odes, “Cape Perpetua” and “This ancient spot near home”, can be reached via his blog: “Odes to Gaia” (http://odestogaia.blogspot.com/).