The Empty Bowl Spring Newsletter
March 7, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
Yes, we may be unduly optimistic in calling this our spring newsletter; so far, it still feels like winter, but the crocuses are up and clearly believe warmer days are ahead!
We’re eager to share the exciting news that our first title for 2024 is at the printer! Anna Odessa Linzer’s collection of poems, Season Unleashed will be released on April 9, with a launch celebration planned for April 19 at 7 p.m. at the Pope Building on the waterfront in Port Townsend. If you’re on the peninsula, we hope you’ll join us that night. Other readings are in the works, with one this summer at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and also on June 30 as part of Poetry on the Salish Sea series. We’ll be announcing them all on the Empty Bowl website.
Next to head to the printer is Memory’s Vault: The Poetic Heart of Port Townsend, featuring the public art installation by Richard Turner with poems by Sam Hamill that was installed at Fort Worden in 1988. Bob Francis conceived of this project and served as editor, gathering writing from local folks as well as writers who served in residence or as faculty at Centrum. His goal is that the book witness one community’s response to public art and its value by offering a variety of perspectives. We will be launching this book in early May, and we’ll keep you posted as we firm up the date and location of our launch reading.
More forthcoming titles
Our other titles forthcoming this year: a translation of the work of Chinese poet Li Qingzhao by Sybil James; a posthumous collection of Tom Crawford’s poems edited by his widow, Mary Judge; and this fall, a new collection of poems by Empty Bowl poet and translator Andrew Schelling. Stay tuned for more details.
Events and other news
Coming up in Port Townsend next week: Two Poet Laureates in Conversation! Seattle Civic Poet Shin Yu Pai and Port Townsend Poet Laureate Conner Bouchard-Roberts will discuss Shin Yu Pai's latest books and their respective roles as poet laureates. Join us Wednesday March 13 from 6-7:30 pm at the Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock.
In other exciting news, the Bushwick Book Club will be performing music inspired by the anthology edited by Rena Priest, I Sing the Salmon Home, on March 16 at 7:30 pm at Town Hall in Seattle. Many of the contributors will be in the audience that night—and we’ll be there selling copies of the anthology. If you’re in Seattle, we hope you’ll come join us!
Pelican Bay Books continues to feature lively readings, thanks to the Madrona Series, curated by Georgia Johnson and Michael Daley. Just a reminder that March 16 is the re-scheduled date for Skagit Valley contributors to read from the last Madrona Project: The Empty Bowl Cookbook. And thanks to Olympic Peninsula Authors (OPA) in Sequim for hosting a reading last month featuring contributors to the cookbook who live on the peninsula. If you’re a contributor to The Madrona Project, we welcome your help in suggesting venues for readings and organizing them.
In author news, kudos to Rebekah Anderson, who placed a chapter from her novel The Grand Promise in the January issue of the Rainshadow Journal. We also have a new review to share: Kate Reavey’s Curve was reviewed in the current Rain Taxi by Jessica Gigot, who paired Kate’s book with Claire Wahmanholm’s collection Meltwater from Milkweed; together the two books offer complementary views of motherhood.
Finally, a reminder that you just have six weeks to submit a poem to the next issue of The Madrona Project being edited by Michael Daley, with a theme of “machines.” Check the Empty Bowl website for more details; deadline is April 30.
Thanks again for supporting Empty Bowl Press—and remember, you can also find news on the Empty Bowl Facebook page, where we try to keep up with our authors and their events.
Sending warm wishes on a chilly March day,
Holly & John