Kentucky Writers Day and other Stuff

The official celebration of Kentucky Writers Day, sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council, takes place on April 23 at 10:00 a.m. in the rotunda of the Capitol Building in Frankfort. The event is free and open to the public. Featured readers will be current Kentucky Poet Laureate Gurney Norman and past Poets Laureate Jane Gentry Vance, Sena Jeter Naslund, Joe Survant and Richard Taylor. The first and second place winners of Kentucky’s Poetry Out Loud competition will also perform.

A reception will follow on the Capitol mezzanine. Wonderful chance to schmooze.

And I just discovered that KAC has a site featuring videos of Kentucky poets laureate reading at Kentucky Writers Day in years past, including some of James Baker Hall at what I believe was his final Writers Day reading after he was very ill. The same page has teacher’s resource materials for our laureates. A fine service from KAC.

The 14th Kentucky Writers Day Celebration at Historic Penn’s Store at Gravel Switch will take place on April 23, 24, 25. Follow this link for a schedule and this link for directions.

On April 21 at 7 p.m., The Heartland Review will present a reading by contributors to its annual Joy Bale Boone Prize issue, including first (E. Gail Chandler), second (Olga-Maria Cruz) and third-place (Libby Falk Jones) winners and this year’s judge, Leatha Kendrick. The reading will take place in the Morrison Gallery of the Administration Building. This event is free and opened to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

On Thursday, April 22, Hazard Community and Technical College is holding their 17th annual Evening with Poets (add a comma and that might make a nice painting “Evening, with Poets”) and celebration of Kudzu 2010. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Stephens Library on the HCTC Hazard campus. Jim Webb and Bianca Spriggs are featured readers. A little bird tells me that E. Gail Chandler won first place in the annual Kudzu poetry prize as well as in the Joy Bale Boone prize competition.

You’ll find an nterview with Dorothy Sutton at Public Republic, Charlie is My Darling. The Charlie of the old Scots ballad was Bonnie Prince Charlie, I think, but Dorothy has another Charlie in mind. Which one? Read the interview.

Vote For The 2010 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere

This from The New Yorker: Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business?

I’m not sure how much I should rejoice when one monopoly trumps another. Because I don’t intend to buy a Kindle or an iPad and because I write poetry, books of which no one buys anyway, I’m not sure this cataclysm will cause much of a wave in my little backwater.