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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

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John Pierce John Pierce

The Empty Bowl Gratitude Edition

 

December 1, 2023

We want to begin by thanking all who’ve supported Empty Bowl this past year, our first full year at the helm. We’re grateful to our authors for their fine words, our book designers Lauren Grosskopf and Caroline Servid for designing beautiful books, and you, our readers, especially those who helped get the word out by ordering copies for friends or from your local indie bookstores. It’s been a challenging but satisfying first year, and we’re proud of the titles we’ve brought into the world. But before we put a wrap on it, we’re eager to share two titles released since we last wrote:  

A Watershed Runs Through You by Freeman House, author of Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species, was released in October. A posthumous collection, it was edited by Jerry Martien and includes a foreword by bioregionalist visionary Stephanie Mills. We traveled to Northern California to launch the book in Freeman’s community of Petrolia, with another reading at Northtown Books in Arcata. Both readings were packed houses. (See photos here.)

The Rain Sweeps Through is a collection of haiku by Santa Fe-based poet, artist, and translator John Brandi. It was launched in early November at the Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s El Zaguan with a reading and an exhibition of John’s paintings. (See photos here.) We’re thrilled to announce that John is joining us next week for two readings with Bill Porter (Red Pine):

Tuesday, December 5: 7 – 9 pm 
Oberto Commons at Seattle University
901 12th Avenue
Seattle  

Friday, December 8: 4:30 – 6 pm

Port Townsend Friends Meetinghouse

1841 Sheridan Street

Port Townsend

See Empty Bowl website for more details

Coeditors Michael Daley and Georgia Johnson have wrapped up The Empty Bowl Cookbook, the latest in The Madrona Project series. As the editors write, “A banquet of writers and artists address the ways our species sustains itself with ancestral foods and recipes, adheres to earth’s cycles, and protects the habitat of our food sources. Poems, prose, and art exemplify human successes and failures and offer up some darn good recipes.”

The book is at the printer and will be available soon! It’ll make a great holiday gift—we’ll keep you posted on the website and the Empty Bowl Facebook page.

In other news

I Sing the Salmon Home was the top seller on Small Press Distribution’s (SPD) Top Ten list for the months of July and September! Thanks goes to editor Rena Priest. Thanks also to contributors Georgia Johnson, for organizing a reading in Anacortes at Pelican Bay Books, and Ann Hursey, for organizing a reading in Shelton, which included the opportunity to view salmon returning to local streams in a downpour! (See photos here.)

 

What Water Holds holds steady in SPD’s Top Ten the last several months as Tele Aadsen markets her book along with delicious Nerka salmon this fall. If you’re looking for a gift for kids, you might consider Tele’s collaboration with Tom Crestodina—The Working Boats Coloring Book—published by Little Bigfoot (Sasquatch Press).  


Shin Yu Pai, author of No Neutral, also released another book in November: Less Desolate: Haiku Comics, a collaboration with artist Justin Rueff published by Blue Cactus Press.

Speaking of gifts, Empty Bowl author Tim McNulty published a beautiful collection through Mountaineers Braided River imprint: Salmon Cedar Rock Rain. And several Empty Bowl authors’ work is included in two Cascadia-based collections that came out earlier this year: Cascadia Field Guide and Cascadian Zen.  

As for us, it’s our open submission period, and we’re enjoying reading the manuscripts we’ve received. We’re putting together our list for 2024, planning ahead to 2025, and look forward to sharing our upcoming titles in the new year.

Just a reminder that you can keep up with us on the Empty Bowl Facebook page, where we post info on upcoming readings, photos, and other announcements related to our authors. One of the best ways to support Empty Bowl authors is to post a few sentences on Amazon or Good Reads if you enjoyed a book. Or easier yet, gift a copy to a friend!

Wishing you peaceful holidays and time for reading by the fire in the months ahead.
Holly & John

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John Pierce John Pierce

Fall News from Empty Bowl Press

 

September 18, 2023

Dear friends,

We hope this finds you well as we slide into cooler fall days in the Northwest. Life continues to be full here at Empty Bowl.

Last week we celebrated the release of Shin Yu Pai’s No Neutral, her second collection from Empty Bowl. Her Seattle book launch takes place the evening of September 28 at Elliot Bay Book Company. Be sure to check out Shin Yu’s podcast series on NPR, Ten Thousand Things. Her interview with Shawn Wong recently received a Golden Crane award. She also received a grant from the Academy of American Poets for her project as Seattle’s Civic Poet. Upcoming events are posted on her website.

We’re happy to announce that the anthology I Sing the Salmon Home, edited by Rena Priest, was the top-selling book of poetry for August at our distributor, Small Press Distribution, surging into first from second place in July. And Tele Aadsen’s What Water Holds held steady in third place for nonfiction for June–July. In other exciting news, Rebekah Anderson’s novel The Grand Promise was selected as a finalist for the Nancy Pearl award! Rebekah will be reading on Oct. 2 at Third Place Books in Ravenna to celebrate being a finalist and maybe the winner! 

Tele Aadsen will be reading from What Water Holds at Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. with poet Tess Gallagher. On Oct. 1 at 4 p.m., Tele will be in conversation with Holly at Village Books in Bellingham. If you’d like a preview, you can read the title essay on Terrain.org. For the past week, Tele has returned to Southeast Alaska, giving readings to full houses in Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Check her website for other upcoming readings.

We continue to organize readings from I Sing the Salmon Home and just welcomed the salmon home with a reading on Sept. 14 at Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum. Another reading for I Sing the Salmon Home is being planned for later this fall in Shelton—we’ll keep you posted.

We’ll be at the Cascadia Poetry Festival Oct. 6-8 at the Spring Street Center in Seattle. Holly is giving a reading, participating on a panel, and hosting a workshop by Tess Gallagher. John will be at the Empty Bowl book table. Please come by and say hello.

Several Empty Bowl books and a recent issue of The Madrona Project have garnered attention:

We’ll be releasing two new books in October. A Watershed Runs through You is a posthumous collection of essays by Freeman House, author of Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species. On October 28, we’ll be celebrating Petrolia, California, where Freeman led the effort to restore salmon runs on the Mattole River.

Rounding out our list is The Rain Sweeps Through, a collection of haiku and drawings by John Brandi, author of numerous books, including The Way to Thorong La, published by Empty Bowl in 2020. We’ll be scheduling readings with John Brandi and will post details on our website.

We’ve selected our titles for 2024 and look forward to sharing them with you in our next newsletter. This fall, we’re implementing a new plan for submissions: Rather than read submissions throughout the year, we’ll have an open submission period from Oct. 15 – Nov. 30. In keeping with our mission, we ask that submissions “explore human communities in wild places,” especially in the Cascadia bioregion. This new submission model will allow us to pursue our mission and offer a balance of genres and voices. Look for more information on this on our website.

Once again, thank you for supporting Empty Bowl, whether that’s by ordering our books, asking your local indie bookstore to order copies, attending readings, posting reviews on Amazon or Good Reads, liking us on Facebook, or simply telling your friends, “Hey, I read a good book and think you’d like it, too…”

Wishing you cozy evenings by the fire with a good book in hand,

Holly & John

PS: If you’re on Facebook, please do check the Empty Bowl FB page—all the news that goes into this newsletter is posted there first! Be the first to know!

Have a question or concern? Email us at editor@emptybowl.org

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