Poetry Readings & Book Fest
Contact: Catherine Wanek (575) 895-5652
National award-winning Minnesota poets, Louis Jenkins and Connie Wanek, are scheduled to read work and sign books during four special appearances in Southwest New Mexico.
On Friday, March 12 from 7 to 8 PM, the two will appear at the Javalina Coffee House in Silver City, located at 201 N. Bullard Street.
They will sign books at Coas Bookstore on the downtown Mall in Las Cruces on Saturday, March 13 from 10 AM to 12 noon, during the Farmers Market.
Also on Saturday the Black Cat Bookstore, in Truth or Consequences, will host a poetry reading and book signing, from 6 to 8 PM during the monthly Art Hop. The bookstore is located at 128 Broadway. Download the poster
On Sunday, March 14, they are featured speakers at the 2nd Annual Hillsboro BookFest from 2 to 6 PM at the Hillsboro Community Center. Download the program
Louis Jenkins is the author of 13 collections of poems. He has appeared numerous times on Garrison Keillor’s radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and was a featured reader at the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival and the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Aldeburgh, England in 2007. His work has been included in many anthologies, including The Best American Poetry (Scribners). Robert Bly has called him “the contemporary master” of prose poetry. Jenkins will be reading from his latest book, Before You Know It: Prose Poems 1970-2005. Louis Jenkins grew up in Enid, Oklahoma. For more details, visit his website at www.willothewispbooks.com.
Connie Wanek’s newest book, On Speaking Terms, was just released from Copper Canyon Press in January. U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser calls Wanek “one of my favorite poets,” and Maxine Kumin says, “Wanek is a natural. Her carefully crafted poems…take us in and lift our neck hairs with the unexpected aptness of her metaphors.” Wanek, who was raised in Las Cruces, NM, is winner of the Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, the Willow Prize in Poetry, and was named a 2006 Witter Bynner Fellow of the Library of Congress. Her website is www.conniewanek.com.
The Hillsboro BookFest on Sunday, March 14, also features readings by several local authors, including Catherine Wanek of Kingston (Connie’s sister), author of The New Strawbale Home, and the upcoming The Hybrid House – Designing with Sun, Wind, Water and Earth. Hillsboro author Harley Shaw, (Soul Among Lions), short story writers Chuck Barrett and Roger Gits, poet Carol Sinor (whose work appears in Free Flow – The Gila River in New Mexico) and novelist Max Yeh will also read from their work. There will be ample time for Q & A, books will be available for purchase, and refreshments will be served. Download the poster
For more information call (575) 895-5652. If you’d like to be on the “emailing list” for future events, send an email to blackrange@zianet.com.