Category Archives: Blog

PCA, New Alchemy, & Unlost Journal

The end of the semester would’ve been busy enough, but we’ve also had my spouse’s surprise cancer, surgery, and chemo treatments. Although April and May haven’t been the most productive writing and publishing months for me, I do have some good poetry-related updates.

The PCA/ACA conference was wonderful as always. I loved seeing all of the poetry presentations and sharing poems from Tasty Other. I was also honored to receive the Felicia Campbell Area Chair Award!

I got to read on April 19 at the New Alchemy Poetry Series, which is newly relocated at Lestat’s West. What a cool venue, and what a great night of sharing my poems and hearing others read during the open mic.

In May, my poem “The Book of Icons” from my Bible word banking project was published in Unlost Journal.

This week, Tasty Other turned 6 months old! I joked about doing a mock-baby photo shoot with a chalkboard of fun facts about the book, but I’m not that silly (or perhaps I just don’t have the time right now… I am that silly).

Next up: I’ll be participating in a local author book signing this coming Friday, June 2, from 6-8 p.m. at Liberty Station, Barracks 16 (co-sponsored by SD Writers, Ink and Comickaze).

San Diego Readings

I loved being part of the SD Writers, Ink local author exhibit and featuring at the (Not) Dead (Yet) Poetry Society’s reading on February 3 with Ron Salisbury and Anthony Conwright.

Not Dead Yet Poetry Series - 2017

I also had a wonderful time as a featured reader for Non-Standard Lit on February 5 with Kaia Sand and Suzanne Stein. (Yes, we had a poetry reading during the Super Bowl. I did read the closest thing I have to a football poem…)

Non-Standard Lit 2017 - zoom

My next local reading will be with the New Alchemy Poetry Series on April 19 at Lestat’s Coffee House.

Update: Readings, PHV, WRR, and Publications

The end of the semester and the holidays kept me away, but I did have a wonderful book launch at PLNU on Nov. 30 and an awesome San Diego book release at the Women’s Museum of California on Dec. 3. What a privilege to share my weird Tasty Other poems and to read alongside some of my favorite people!

img_5778 group-jr

Here is my Poetry Has Value post about November. What a bizarre month that was. I’m still working on the December post and 2016 year-end reflection, but those will be ready soon.

My journal, Whale Road Review, published its first anniversary issue on December 1. I love the issue, and I love the work of choosing and sharing other people’s incredible writing.

I had 3 poems published in a mixed-genre mystery anthology called Candlesticks and Daggers. I also had a review of Luci Shaw’s Sea Glass: New & Selected Poems in the Advent/Christmas 2016 issue of The Cresset.

I’ve been sending out poetry submissions a lot over winter break and reading a lot of submissions for Whale Road Review. Now that classes are beginning tomorrow, I’ll be getting back into a regular writing routine, especially since PLNU awarded me an internal grant of a 4-unit release to work on a poetry project. (Thanks!) Here we go…

Nevermore, Review, & Interviews

Life has been full of the very bad and the very good. I’ll share some of the good…

On Oct. 29, I was a featured reader at the Nevermore Free Poetry Festival in Van Nuys, and it was an amazing experience. Thanks, Nicelle Davis, for making magical things happen. I definitely need more full-day poetry festivals and Poe-inspired costumes in my life. I probably need to wear black lipstick more frequently too…

nevermore-reading-crop

Photo by Edwin Vasquez

In the last few weeks, I’ve been the featured poet in WTH Weekly (thanks, Cassie Paton!) and A Door with a Voice has received a review in Mom Egg Review. Speaking of Marvels also just published an interview with me about A Door with a Voice with some deeply thoughtful questions from R Vinoshini Naidoo.

I’ve had a few poems accepted for publication in the last few weeks too, which feels great, of course. Thanks, Yellow Chair Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, and Candlesticks & Daggers!

Next up: Tasty Other, my first full-length poetry book, will be released next week! I’ve been setting up readings and will soon create an Events page with all of my “book tour” information (and I will let myself feel like a rock star for at least a minute).

A Door with a Voice: Poems, Review, & Interview

The past two weeks have been some of the worst of my life. My mother-in-law was killed in a car crash that put my father-in-law in the ICU, and now it looks like he won’t make it either. We are so heartbroken.

I’m thankful right now for any happy news that I can get, and I have three pieces of good poetry news today.

  1. Five poems from A Door with a Voice were published in Eunoia Review.
  2. Erika Dreifus posted a review of A Door with a Voice.
  3. Nancy Chen Long posted an interview with me about A Door with a Voice.

And if you’re interested, you can read the poetry collection itself: A Door with a Voice.

The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman Turns 3

With everything else going on, I almost missed wishing a happy 3 years to my first chapbook, The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman! It has a beautiful cover, but I especially love seeing adorned with a barcode and Dewey decimal number. Library books are cool.
June 13 012
If you want to celebrate with me, you could ask your local library to order a copy. Or you could send me a message and buy a signed copy for yourself or someone else (KatMann @ gmail.com). Bonus points if you do all of the above and send me pictures of you with the book. 😉

Poetry Has Value: April

Here is my April post, in which I wonder, “What if poetry’s value is greater than money? What if I respect my poems enough not to send them to journals that don’t meet my standards for quality or human decency, regardless of how much those journals pay for poems?”

Hugo House Reading - 2016