Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?--Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers * * * Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chapbooks bear their own distinctive signature.--Linda Lerner, SMALL PRESS REVIEW
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Award-Winning Poet Michael T. Young in Lambertville, NJ, Saturday, November 15


Poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, from his brand-new collection, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" (Poets Wear Prada) at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey.
 
Nov. 13, 2014 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Award-Winning New Jersey poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey, from his brand-new book "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," his second full-length poetry collection, soon to be released by Hoboken-based publisher Poets Wear Prada.

Michael T. Young, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost"
Michael T. Young has published three other books, including his prize-winning chapbook "Living in the Counterpoint" (Finishing Line Press, 2012), an earlier chapbook “Because the Wind Has Questions” (Somers Rocks Press, 1997), and a full-length collection of poems “Transcriptions of Daylight” (Rattapallax Press, 2000). Last month, Young was named co-winner of the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for "Living in the Counterpoint" by the New England Poetry Club. Young has received both Chaffin and William Stafford awards for his poetry, two Pushcart nominations, and a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Since "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" had its unofficial launch earlier this year in May at the West Caldwell Poetry Festival, the poet as been on tour throughout his home state of New Jersey, and in New York, to promote his new book. Mr. Young, a philosopher as well as poet, who works as as administrative assistant in the corporate world, writes about self-exploration and identity in the context of his real-life observations during his daily activities. New Jersey readers will recognize many references in his poems to places traveled during his daily commute such as Pulaski Skyway and the Hudson River waterfront. In one of his poems "Announcing the Stops," Young writes: "The conductor announces over the intercom: / "This is Grove Street," 'This is Exchange Place,' / 'This is World Trade Center'; and later, / when I return home, the same conductor, / like a faithful Blakean, announces the same stops, / but in reverse, as if this made them / into another world, another darkness / outside the windows, another night / with cool air streaming shells and sand / and other relics of merciful judgment. //"

Bertha Rogers, author of "Heart Turned Back," lauds "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" and says in his new book, "Michael T. Young leads his readers into loving the world in its beautiful day-to-dayness. He does this by showing the reader, in thoughtful and graceful language, how to look and listen."

Asked about the unusual title of his book, Mr. Young replied that it is simply the title of one of the poems included in the book. The book itself is dedicated to his wife, Chandra, "with whom every moment is a beautiful moment even when we are lost."

Michael T. Young was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York City in 1990. Young lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

A limited number of signed pre-release copies of "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" will be available for sale at the Lambertville reading.

Panoply Books Reading Series
Saturday, November 15 @ 6PM
Panoply Books
46 N. Union St.
Lambertville, NJ

Free.
Contact: (609) 397-1145 or  info@panoplybooks.com

Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey offers offbeat, rare and out-of-print quality used books, textiles, and artwork. The bookstore is open Monday through Thursday 11AM to 5PM and Friday through Sunday 11AM to 5:30PM.

Poets Wear Prada is a small literary press publishing beautifully designed, well-crafted poetry chapbooks from Sinatra’s hometown, the birthplace of professional baseball, Hoboken, New Jersey, since 2006.

For more details about how to purchase "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," and for additional events please visit the poet's website http://MichaelTYoung.com or his publisher's blog at http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com.
Contact
Roxane Hoffman
201.253.0561
roxy533@yahoo.com

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Poet Daniel Simpson Launches Debut Collection at Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark New Jersey

October 25, 2014, Newark, NJ - Poet Daniel Simpson will be reading from his debut collection "School for the Blind" at 2014 Dodge Poetry Festival today from 3:00 to 4:10PM at NJPAC/Victoria Theater. Simpson's reading is part of a panel discussion titled "Present Imperfect: Poets on Poetry and Disability" with fellow poets Jennifer Bartlett, Ona Gritz, and Alex Lemon. Copies of the new book can be purchased on site all day and on Sunday from Barnes and Noble, the official bookseller for the Festival. There will be an official book signing today from 4:15PM to 4:45PM on the second floor across the hall from the onsite bookstore.

A recipient of a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Simpson has published poems in "Prairie Schooner," "The Cortland Review," "Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review," "Passager," "Atlanta Review," "The Louisville Review," and "Margie," among other literary journals. Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso, Texas, published his essay “Line Breaks the Way I See Them” and four of his poems in "Beauty Is A Verb: The New Poetry of Disability," a 2012 ALA Notable Poetry Book called “unusual and powerful” by "Publisher’s Weekly" in a starred review.

Daniel Simpson and his identical twin brother, David, were born blind in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1952. After attending the Overbrook School for the Blind through eighth grade (1956 - 1966), Dan became one of the first blind students in his county to go to a public school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and music from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated Summa cum Laude and Class Salutatorian. 

Not only an accomplished poet, but musician too, Simpson has a Master of Music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, as well as Master of Arts in English and a teaching certificate from the University of Pennsylvanina. He traveled to Paris for a year of private study with the world-renowned organist André Marchal.  Simpson has been singing with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, a 140-voice choir, for twenty years.

He serves as Access Technology Consultant to the Free Library of Philadelphia and works as a Technical Support Specialist for the Library of Congress. He and Ona Gritz are the Poetry Editors for "Referential Magazine."   He currently lives in Lansdown, Pennsylvania.

Simpson's collection of twenty poems addresses blindness not as disability but as another dimension of a multi-faceted, multi-talented self. For Simpson, blindness is not a loss nor a right denied, but an essential fact of his identity, a birthright embraced and shared with a partner in childhood crimes, his twin brother. Any pity is misplaced, any assessment that his blindness is  a shortcoming inaccurate.  In one poem he promises to tell his Aunt Polly his vision of  paradise in the afterlife: "It's really going to be something," I'll say. / "In Heaven, you'll finally get to be blind."  

Poet Stephen Dunn, 2001 recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, has said "Daniel Simpson's fine 'School for the Blind' could as easily have been called 'An Education for the Sighted,' because is works both ways. Simpson makes us privy -- without hype or sentimentality -- to what it feels like to be blind, to live with and fall in love with the tactile world and its language."

"School for the Blind" is published by Poets Wear Prada, a small literary press founded in 2006 and based in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Michael T Young Wins Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for "Living in the Counterpoint"

New Jersey Poet Michael T. Young Receives Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award

Michael T. Young of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Kyle Potvin of Derry, New Hamshire, were announced as co-winners of the New England Poetry Club's 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award, judged by poet David Ellis.

"Living in Counterpoint" (L), Author Michael T. Young (R)
"Living in Counterpoint" (L), Author Michael T. Young (R)
New England Poetry Club (f. 1915)
New England Poetry Club
(f. 1915)
PRLog - Oct. 8, 2014 - JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Michael T. Young of Jersey City, New Jersey, has been named co-winner of the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for his third poetry collection, “Living in the Counterpoint.” He shares the award with Kyle Potvin of Derry, New Hamshire, who received it for her debut poetry collection, “Sound Travels on Water.” This year’s judge was poet David Ellis. Both collections were published by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Kentucky.

The Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award is given for the best chapbook published in the previous two years. A chapbook is small poetry collection usually under forty pages in length and typically published as a pamphlet. Started in 2008, the Pedrick Award is administered by the New England Poetry Club. Founded in 1915 by poets Amy Lowell, Robert Frost and Conrad Aiken, the New England Poetry Club is the oldest poetry reading series in America.

Michael T. Young has published two other collections, an earlier  chapbook, “Because the Wind Has Questions” (Somers Rocks Press, 1997), and a full-length collection of poems, “Transcriptions of Daylight” (Rattapallax Press, 2000). Advance copies of his latest book, “The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost,” are available from New Jersey's Hoboken-based publisher Poets Wear Prada. Young has received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Chaffin Poetry Award. He was also a recipient of a William Stafford Award.

Jean Pedrick (1922 - 2006)
Jean Pedrick (1922 - 2006)
“Living in the Counterpoint” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2012. “The book explores how we identify who we are, best, in the context of what we are not. The central theme of the collection is the necessity of taking risk in self-exploration. It’s similar to the odd way that candies are made better-tasting by adding a little spice to them," said author Michael T. Young. "Living in the Counterpoint" is a prelude to Young’s latest full-length collection, “The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost,” which continues his poetic exploration of self-identity and risk.

Both co-winners will each receive $100 and are invited to read at the New England Poetry Club.

Friday, October 4, 2013

FUNHOUSE by Efrayim Levenson Takes Readers on 3-Day Cranial Amusement Ride

New Poems by Efrayim Levenson From Poets Wear Prada Take Readers on 3-Day Cranial Amusement Ride

Poets Wear Prada today announced release of Efrayim Levenson's “Funhouse,” poems written listening to guitarist Buckethead. Second book with Hoboken-based publisher follows "Dances With Tears," his "blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy" [Fishbane].
 
FUN HOUSE, Poems by Efrayim Levenson,  Poets Wear Prada, 2013
FUNHOUSE
Poems by
Efrayim Levenson
Paperback: 42pp.; $12:00
 ISBN-13: 978-0615848853
Poets Wear Prada, 2013
 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 
PRLog (Press Release) - Oct. 3, 2013 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Roxanne Hoffman, publisher at Poets Wear Prada, announced today publication of “Funhouse” by poet Efrayim Levenson.

“Funhouse,” written while Levenson listened to the music of guitarist Buckethead, is a three-day journey in a surreal amusement park filled with sea lions, guitars, monsters, crickets, spiders, a guillotine, a human pretzel, more guitars, a traffic jam, drought, grasshoppers, angels, and even more guitars.

The book’s production editor, Jack Cooper, said, “‘Funhouse’ is superb; it reads beautifully, uncovers much that is profound, and remains full of surprise.”

“Efrayim Levenson’s ‘Funhouse’ sends us on a wild nightmarish yet at times tender merry-go-round ride through his own private Coney Island and ours,” said New York poet Steve Dalachinsky.

David Elsasser, founder of Parkside Poetry Collective, said, “In his new chapbook, ‘Funhouse’, Efrayim Levenson responds to the guitar virtuosity of Buckethead with a poetic soul-jouney that reverbs through the wildest word riffs.”

“I have been addicted to writing poetic interpretations of instrumental music for about seven years now,”  says Efrayim Levenson.  “This project was a lot of fun!  I hope Buckethead likes it.”

This is Efrayim Levenson’s second book project with Poets Wear Prada.  In 2007, the Hoboken-based press released “Dances With Tears,” a walk along a path of spiritual discovery.  The book, called "a blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy" by Brooklyn poet, Craig Fishbane, includes the poem “& Ribbon,” which was nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize.  Poetrymanz Press released his previous collection, “For My Relations,” in 2000.

Founded in 2006, Poets Wear Prada publishes beautifully designed, well-crafted books of  poetry from Sinatra’s hometown, Hoboken, the birthplace of professional baseball.

“Funhouse” by Efrayim Levenson (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2013), 42 pages, ISBN- 10: 0615848850, ISBN-13: 978-0615848853, list price: $12.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

   Xin Nian Kuai Le, 新年快乐
GUNG HAY FAT
CHOY 恭喜发财


February 10, 2013 -- Gung Hay Fat Choy! 恭喜发财 Today is Chinese New Year's Day, the first day of the first month of the lunisolar year in the lunar calendar, and marks the beginning of the Spring Festival, the longest and most important festival in  the Chinese calender, which ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. The new year will be the year of the black snake.  New Year's Day is a time to forget your grudges, reconcile with friends and family and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.  Cleanse your home, sweep away any ill-fortune to make way for good incoming luck.


To celebrate Chinese New Year we are sharing a poem by  by Erik La Prade, from MOVIE LOGIC: Poems, La Prade's new book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:

 

New Year’s Secret
On Sunday afternoons, the old Chinese
Fortune readers hang red cloths on the gated
Metal entrance to Confucius Park, Chinatown.
Since they speak no English, they each have
A woman to translate questions.
Most of the readers are refugees from
Pre-Mao China. Too old after World War II
To be reeducated, they would have disappeared
Had they owned land or houses,
Or dabbled in superstition.
I stand by the entrance, looking at their faces,
As several of them offer to read my palm.
Their pet songbirds, housed in wooden cages,
Sit on the lawn. Occasionally, the birds’ songs
Mix with the sounds of men playing mah-jongg
At nearby chess tables. After twenty
Minutes, it costs me ten dollars to learn
I’ll live to be eighty-six.




MOVIE LOGIC: Poems by Erik La Prade
List Price: $12.00
5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
36 pages
Poets Wear Prada
ISBN-13: 978-0615761237 (Custom)
ISBN-10: 0615761232
BISAC: Poetry / American / General


"In this latest collection Erik La Prade continues his cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness, showing us life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak, as he walks the high wire of a 21st-century NYC life in the arts."
— ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel
editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 


 "La Prade is a gifted poet, memoirist, critic, photographer, and urban chronicler of lost artistic and literary byways, with a historian's eye for New York cultural history and downtown avant-garde. Put simply, he dazzles."
— GARY SHAPIRO, journalist 


Now available at CreateSpace.com: https://www.createspace.com/4146252
And on Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/dp/0615761232/




Saturday, February 2, 2013

Ballad of a Weekend - Part II & III

From MOVIE LOGIC: Poems, Erik La Prade's forthcoming book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:


Ballad of a Weekend
II
In the bedroom’s fireplace,
The fire that burned Rome
Glows: a red shadow,
Reflected in the old clock’s glass face,
Turning time to diamond-hard memory.
Nearby, a violin hangs on the wall;
Its broken strings, like crèche angels, implore us
To repent from our morning lust,
And save ourselves from old faults.

III
Sailing, we drift in a haze of water
Blue Chinese waves on porcelain.
Fuck your analyst!
I don’t want you to understand me,

Or give me a lecture
On the language of the senses
Not while the breeze is cool on my skin
And I can watch you sunbathe nude.
 
MOVIE LOGIC: Poems by Erik La Prade
List Price: $12.00
5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
36 pages
Poets Wear Prada
ISBN-13: 978-0615761237 (Custom)
ISBN-10: 0615761232
BISAC: Poetry / American / General


"In this latest collection Erik La Prade continues his cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness, showing us life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak, as he walks the high wire of a 21st-century NYC life in the arts."
— ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel
editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 


 "La Prade is a gifted poet, memoirist, critic, photographer, and urban chronicler of lost artistic and literary byways, with a historian's eye for New York cultural history and downtown avant-garde. Put simply, he dazzles."
— GARY SHAPIRO, journalist

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Chocolate Waters & Elaine Sexton Jan 29 @ Bluestockings

Chocolate Waters
I'm delighted to be reading from my new book and from earlier work at Bluestockings in NYC and happy to share the bill w/Elaine Sexton, this Tues. Jan 29 @7 p.m.

"Chocolate Waters's The Woman Who Wouldn't Shake Hands is a romp with a gymnast of poetic wordplay. Waters' wit can leave you in stitches one moment, only to reveal the sardonic undertones of her meaning in the next, turning you warm to chilled with the simple flip of the wrist."
 ~ Chavisa Woods 


Elaine Sexton continues to explore text as “evidence,” the poem as a collage of spent things, words and images reconstituted to make fresh shapes. She is the author of Sleuth and Causeway, both published by New Issues.

  
Women's & Trans' Poetry Jam
Bluestockings 
172 Allen Street 
(between Stanton and Rivington) 
212.777.6028 
Host by Vittoria Repetto

I look forward to seeing YOU there.

Chocolate Waters

* * *


Host Vittoria Repetto is the author of "Not Just A Personal Ad" (Guernica Editiions, 2006) and "Head For the Van Wyck" (Monkey Cat Press, 1995). She has been hosting the Women's & Trans’ Poetry Jam at Bluestockings Bookstore since its opening in 1999. 

An open mic for women and trans introduces the featured readers. 
A suggested donation of $5 helps to support our features.

The Women Who Wouldn't Shake Hands by Chocolate Waters
(Poets Wear Prada, 2011)


Copies of Ms. Waters latest collection will be available for purchase and signing.  Books can also be purchased online at Amazon.com, CreateSpace.com and B&N.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Kiwanis Summer Gazebo Readings Resume in Oceanside on June 4

The Gazebo on School House Green in Oceanside, New York


(May 27 - Oceanside, New York) The Kiwanis Club of Oceanside, New York  announces, with great pride and enthusiasm, their Sixth Annual Summer Gazebo Readings series. The Summer Gazebo Readings feature four published authors/poets each Monday evening throughout the summer, set on a village green in Oceanside. An eclectic mix of authors (non-fiction and fiction) and poets read from their works before large, friendly, receptive crowds.

Tony Iovino

The Summer Gazebo Readings are held each Monday evening from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in June, July & August. Each evening 4-5 authors and poets share their work from the Gazebo on Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY.  The event is hosted by attorney and writer Tony Iovino, a longtime resident of Oceanside, and author of novel Notary Public Enemy (Diversion Press, 2011).


Linda Opyr
The first event is scheduled for Monday June 4th.  Feature readers include Nassau County Poet Laureate Linda Opyr; Roxanne Hoffman;  New Jersey publisher and writer Roxanne Hoffman of Poets Wear Prada; Peter Dugan, author of Members Only(2011), a book of poetry offering unique insight into the world of motorcycles, bikers, and those who move to the beat of a different drummer; and Beverly Koch, member of the Long Island Writers' Guild and co-leader of the guild's memoir workshop held at libraries in Bellmore, Merrick, East Meadow and Commack.


Roxanne Hoffman

Schoolhouse Green is located on Foxhurst Road, Oceanside, New York (just east of Long Beach Road), about a 4 minute drive from the Long Island Rail Road's Rockville Centre Station.

The event is free an open to the general public.  Seating is limited; please, bring your own lawn chair. Many of the authors/poets will have books available for sale and signing. Light refreshments will be also be available.

Peter Dugan
As this in an outdoor event, the reading may be cancelled in the event of  extreme inclement weather. 

The Kiwanis Club of Oceanside sponsors numerous programs in the Oceanside Community geared for children and the under privileged. Their major use of the funds is to sponsor underprivileged children to a week long summer camp outside of Utica called Kamp Kiwanis. Each year we send upwards of twenty five children, fully outfitted.

The Kiwanis Club invites you to become an advertising sponsor for the reading series.  All proceeds raised (all--not net--all) by the program help send underprivileged kids to Kamp Kiwanis. Sponsorships are $150 and include your name and logo on signs, posters and the thousands of flyers they distribute, as well as on all announcements (including every email they send).

The club is also offering "Program Patrons" for $25. "Program Patrons" will have their names listed on the weekly program distributed each week at the reading.

If you would like to become a sponsor or Program Patron, send your check made payable to "Oceanside Kiwanis" to 68 Yorktown Street, Rockville Centre, NY 11570-- email or include your logo and the listing you want us to print.

Raffle tickets will also be sold at the readings to raise additional funds for the program.

For more information contact Tony Iovino by email at