Call for nominations: Wyoming Library Association

The Wyoming Library Association’s Awards and Grants Committee is accepting nominations for outstanding librarians, libraries, and supporters of our libraries!

WLA awards are a great opportunity to recognize individuals and institutions that have made a difference in the community, successfully completed a project, consistently provided outstanding service, or have done something remarkable in a Wyoming library deserving of an award.

Details:

• Nominations are due July 15, 2011.

• Nominating is easy, just fill out this form and press submit.

• A complete list of awards and requirements can be found online.

• Winners will be publicly announced during the annual meeting in Cheyenne.

• Questions? Please contact Laura Jackson, chair of the awards committee at luglean@uwyo.edu

Laramie writers read April 30 at Second Story Books

From Laramie writer Julianne Couch:
If you are in Laramie, please join us at Second Story Books Saturday, April 30, at 7 p.m. for a reading by Val Pexton, Paul Bergstrasser, Luke Stricker, Nina McGonigley and me! Food and beverages provided. What more could you ask for?! Second Story Books is located at 105 Ivinson Ave. in downtown Laramie

Author Karen Brennan reads from her work March 25 at WWCC in Rock Springs

Karen Brennan, author of five books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, will read from her work on Friday, March 25. The event will take place at Western Wyoming Community College in Room 1302 at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Brennan’s books include The Garden in Which I Walk, a collection of stories published by University of Alabama Press in 2004; The Real Enough World, a collection of poetry from Wesleyan University Press in 2006, and the memoir Being With Rachel: A Story of Memory and Survival, published by WW Norton in 2002 and nominated by the publisher for a Pulitzer Prize. Her fiction, poetry and nonfiction have also appeared in numerous anthologies and journals.

Of the stories in The Garden in Which I Walk, writer Kevin McElvoy says, “They are ten triumphs in a single volume. Karen Brennan's jazz-infused fiction demoniacally crashes us into our delusions, our states of despairing satiation and of happy hungering.”  A reviewer for The Compulsive Reader adds, “Her constant question is ‘where do men and women go when they have reached the end?’ The answer may be bleak but there is no doubt about the seriousness of the quest or the authority with which the writer describes it.”

Brennan’s memoir, Being with Rachel, recounts her daughter’s efforts, with her own devoted help, to recover from a brain injury suffered in a motorcycle accident. According to writer Antonya Nelson, the book “advocates illustrates and demonstrates the superhuman power of family, its ability to triumph in the face of worst-case scenarios, institutional aloofness, bad luck, and the evil influence of conventional wisdom.” Charles Baxter praises it as a book that explores “the mystery of an unbreakable love between a mother and her daughter.”

In a review of The Real Enough World, Brennan’s most recent book of poetry, Sue Butler of Poetry Salzburg Review writes, “This is a compelling book that mines the hurt of human life to great effect. It contains tragedy and irony, splashes of humor, failure, love, insight and song…but mostly it contains bravery.”

Brennan comments on the diverse nature of her work thusly: “I am a believer in hybrid forms, fictions that shade into nonfiction, poetry that becomes story or essay. What's exciting to me is working in-between genres, not being ‘trapped’ in one genre with all its conventional expectations. I like to think that my teaching liberates my students to try new things, to find their own paths to their very distinctive and idiosyncratic materials.”

Karen Brennan holds a PhD from University of Arizona and an MFA from Goddard. She is a Professor of English at the University of Utah where she teaches in the graduate creative writing program, and has served as faculty at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers since 1992.  Among her awards are a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and an Associated Writing Program award. 

In addition to her public reading, Brennan will give a three-hour writing workshop on Friday afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m., as part of a one-credit Visiting Writers course.

The event is sponsored by the Arlene and Louise Wesswick Foundation and by the WWCC English Department. It is the last of four readings in the Spring 2011 Visiting Writers series, which also included journalist and historian Tom Rea, Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt, and Colorado poet and editor Maria Melendez. 

For more information, contact Rick Kempa at rkempa@wwcc.wy.edu.

Photo – Karen Brennan, author of five books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, will read from her work at Western Wyoming Community College on March 25 at 7:30 p.m. Brennan’s visit is part of the annual Visiting Writers Series sponsored by the Arlene and Louise Wesswick Foundation and the WWCC English Department.

Teton County Library has Poetry Box for Wyoming Poetry Month

From the Teton County Public Library in Jackson:

The Poetry Box is a freestanding box of poems by local and regional poets that entices passers-by to reach in the box and take a free poem. The box will change location every few months and be stocked with a new poem every week, encouraging the message that poetry can be found anywhere. A collaboration between the JH Public Art Initiative, Teton County Library and the Jackson Hole Review. Location: Teton County Library Lobby from April 30-May 15. Free. FMI: Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135, odoherty@tclib.org.

Deadline is March 7 for Campbell County writers to sign up for "Our Stories, Our Heritage @ Your Library"

The Campbell County Public Library will be hosting an evening of story and song on Thursday, April 14, in conjunction with its annual celebration of National Library Week.

This year, to commemorate the Campbell County centennial, the library has chosen "Our Stories, Our Heritage @ your Library" as its theme. Local writers are invited to participate in the Thursday evening activities by reading their original work. Writers and invited local musicians will perform in 15-minute intervals, from 5-8 p.m.

If you are interested in participating, contact Darcy Lipp-Acord at the Campbell County Public Library, 307-687-9227, before March 7.

Reading by Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt at WWCC on Feb. 11

From Rick Kempa at Western Wyoming Community College:

David Romtvedt, accomplished writer and musician and the Poet Laureate of Wyoming, will read from his work on Friday, February 11. The event will take place at Western Wyoming Community College in Room 1302 at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Raised in Southern Arizona, Romtvedt attended Reed College and the Iowa Writers’ workshop. He lives in Buffalo, Wyoming and teaches half time in the University of Wyoming MFA program for writers.

His books of poetry include Some Church, Certainty, How Many Horses, and A Flower Whose Name I Do Not Know, which was a selection of the National Poetry Series. He is a recipient of fellowships from the Wyoming Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts and has received the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award.

Romtvedt also writes essays, fiction, histories, and nonfiction. Among his other books are the anthology he edited, Wyoming Fence Lines (Wyoming Humanities Council, 2007), Windmill: Essays from Four Mile Ranch (Red Crane Books, 1997), and Crossing Wyoming (White Pine Press, 1992).

The state's fourth poet laureate, Romtvedt started his term August 15, 2004. The position of poet laureate is filled by the governor, who selects an appointee from a list of recommendations submitted by a nominating committee. The position is honorary and without compensation, and invites the appointee to "submit writings for selected historic occasions" of choice. The incumbent serves a term concurrent with that of the governor. Romtvedt succeeded Robert Roripaugh (1995-2002), who followed Charles L. Levendosky (1988-1995), and Peggy Simpson Curry (1981-1987).

A musician as well as a writer, Romtvedt plays dance music of the Americas with his band The Fireants. He is the founder and a board member of Worlds of Music, a foundation that provides opportunities to participate in music-making involving cultures all around the world. His series on traditional music of the American Southwest aired on Montana National Public Radio.

In addition to his public reading, Romtvedt will give a three-hour poetry writing workshop on Friday afternoon, as part of a one-credit Visiting Writers course.

The event is sponsored by the Arlene and Louise Wesswick Foundation and by the WWCC English Department. It is the second in a series of readings planned for the spring, which will also include poet and editor Maria Melendez from Pueblo, Colorado on March 4 and fiction writer Karen Brennan, formerly of Salt Lake City and now from Tucson, on March 25.

For more information, contact WWCC Associate Professor of English Rick Kempa, the coordinator of the reading series and the class, at rkempa@wwcc.wy.edu.

IMLS offers Native American Library Services Enhancement grants

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications to the Native American Library Services Enhancement Grant program.

Federally-recognized tribes and Alaska Native villages and corporations are encouraged to apply. The competitive Enhancement Grants support exemplary projects designed to enhance library services to communities and to serve as model projects for others. Applicants may request up to $150,000.

Prospective applicants are invited to participate in a webinar on Monday, March 7, 2011, 4:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time to learn more about the program. Instructions for connecting to the webinar will be available on the application guidelines and instructions page closer to the webinar date.

Applicants are also encouraged to contact program staff with their questions:

Alison Freese, Senior Program Officer
Phone: 202/653-4665
E-mail: afreese@imls.gov

Kathy Mitchell, Program Specialist
Phone: 202/653-4687
E-mail: kmitchell@imls.gov

National Museum of the American Indian features webcast of Native American writers Feb. 5

The annual conference for The Association of Writers and Writing Programs in Washington, D.C., features some interesting off-site events that will be simulcast on the web. Here's one that showcases Native American writers:


Reading & Webcast, The Florida Review Native Issue

Location: National Museum of the American Indian, Rasmuson Theater, 4th St and Independence Ave, S.W.

When: Saturday, Feb. 5, 1-3 p.m.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Website: http://www.americanindian.si.edu/

Description: In celebration of the special Native issue of The Florida Review, a reading, live webcast, and book and issue signing. Featured writers include Sherwin Bitsui, Orlando White, Santee Frazier, Sara Marie Ortiz, Allison A. HedgeCoke, and Toni Jensen. 

Activist and author Greg Mortenson to speak in Cheyenne March 29

From a post on Facebook:

Two-time Nobel Prize nominee Greg Mortenson will share insightful commentary and stunning photography to educate and promote awareness of the importance of primary education, literacy and cross-cultural understanding about the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He will speak at the Taco John’s Events Center in Cheyenne on Tuesday, March 29, 7-10 p.m. Limited amount of tickets go on sale on Friday, Jan. 7. Tickets: $5 Students (K-College)/$15 General Public. Contact the Taco Johns Events Center at (307) 433-0025 or on-line at www.cheyennecity.org

Greg Mortenson promotes peace through education. He is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org, founder of Pennies For Peace www.penniesforpeace.org, and co-author of New York Times bestseller ‘Three Cups of Tea’ www.threecupsoftea.com which has sold over 4 million copies, been published in 47 countries, and a New York Times bestseller since its 2007 release, and Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year.Mortenson’s new book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books Not Bombs, In Afghanistan and Pakistan, was released by Viking on December 1st, 2009.

As of 2010, Mortenson has established over 145 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 64,000 children, including 52,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.

Laramie County Partners are bringing Greg Mortenson to Cheyenne for a series of activities, including talking to school children and a public event in the evening on March 29, 2011. The partners include: Laramie County Community College Foundation, Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne Rotary, Laramie County Library, Laramie County Library Foundation and Laramie County School District No. 1.

http://www.facebook.com/LaramieCountyPartnersPresentGregMortenson

For all those Jane Austen fans out there

Read all about the "Janeites" and the appeal of "Ms. Austen's tales of courtship and manners [that] resonate with dating-obsessed and social-media-savvy 21st-century youths." And you can watch the hilarious trailer of "Jane Austen's Fight Club." The article also mentions an English major student at UW who belongs to an Austen club on campus.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704594804575649041609261602.html

Next "First Friday" reading series Dec. 3 at Second Story Books in Laramie

Michelle Obama and the arts

Two articles from the Washington Post about Michelle Obama's support of the arts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/20/AR2010102005387.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101305185.html?waporef=obinsite

Tickets go on sale Nov. 1 for annual Teton County Library Benefit

Tickets go on sale on Monday, Nov. 1, for the annual Teton County Public Library Benefit at Four Seasons Resort at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 1. The event features food, libations and live music by the Pam Drews Phillips Quartet on Friday, December 3 at 7 p.m. Cost: $100 per ticket (only 400 tickets available), offered on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning November 1 at the library’s Front Desk or online at www.TCLib.org/libraryparty. Ticket proceeds benefit the Teton County Library Foundation. Location: Cottonwood Ballroom, Four Seasons Resort, Teton Village. Foundation Associate Director, Pauline Towers-Dykeman, 733-2164 ext. 217, ptowersdykeman@tclib.org.

Love those library book sales

From the Friends of the Teton County Library in Jackson:

Shop now for the holidays! Thousands of titles on topics from the Wild West to pets are up for grabs during this biannual Friends of the Teton County Library book sale. Doors open Thurs., Oct. 14, from 4-9 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 15, from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 16, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sun., Oct. 17, from 1-3 p.m. Small paperbacks cost 50 cents and trade paperbacks and hard backs sell for $1. Kids’ book prices begin at 25 cents. Special pricing at $1 for a dozen on Sunday. Books are free for teachers and non-profits Saturday and Sunday. All proceeds benefit Friends of the Teton County Library. Please bring your own bag for books!

State Museum hosts two Canadian authors today at brown bag event

Two Canadian authors, Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst will be featured speakers during a Wyoming State Museum Brown Bag Lecture and book signing, Wednesday (TODAY!), from noon to 1 p.m., in Cheyenne. The event is free and open to the public.

Zwicky and Bringhurst are visiting the state through the University of Wyoming’s Creative Writing Program’s Visiting Writers series.

Zwicky, an Alberta native, is an author of poetry and philosophy. Her books include “Wittgenstein Elegies,” “The New Room,” “Songs for Relinquishing the Earth,” “Robinson’s Crossing” and “Thirty-Seven Small Songs & Thirteen Silences.”

Her poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian, and she publishes widely as an essayist on issues in music, poetry, philosophy, and the environment. Since 1986, she has edited poetry for Brick Books.

Bringhurst was raised largely in Montana and Alberta, and spent many childhood summers with his grandmother in Lovell, Wyo. He has published nearly 20 books of poetry including “The Shipwright’s Log” as well as a groundbreaking trilogy of Native American oral literature which included, “A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World” and was chosen as Literary Editor’s Book of the Year in 2004.

Bringhurst and Zwicky will hold a joint residency at the University of Wyoming for several weeks this fall. A selection of their books will be available for purchase and signing at the State Museum Store.

The State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 307-777-7022.

Fremont County Reads picks "Lifting the Sky" by Mackie D'Arge

Novelist Larry Watson at Equality State Bookfest

Larry Watson is one of the many fine writers who will participate in the Equality State Book Festival in Casper Sept. 24-25. All bookfest events are free except for the Friday night banquet.

Larry Watson received his BA and MA from the University of North Dakota, and his Ph.D. from the University of Utah.

He is the author of In A Dark Time, Montana 1948, Justice, White Crosses, Laura, Orchard, Sundown, Yellow Moon, and American Boy (forthcoming 2011), and the chapbook of poetry Leaving Dakota. Watson’s fiction has been published in more than a dozen foreign editions, and has received prizes and awards from Milkweed Press, Friends of American Writers, Mountain and Plains Booksellers Association, New York Public Library, Wisconsin Library Association, and Critics’ Choice. Montana 1948 was nominated for the first IMPAC Dublin international literary prize. Four of his books have been optioned for film.

His short stories and poems have appeared in Gettysburg Review, New England Review, North American Review, Mississippi Review, and other literary magazines. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Washington Post, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and other periodicals and anthologies. Watson has received two writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Watson taught writing and literature at the University of Wisconsin/Stevens Point for many years and is presently a Visiting Professor of English at Marquette University. He has also taught in the low-residency MFA program at Warren Wilson College and he was the Ebey Visiting Writer at Colorado College.

He and his wife Susan live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have two daughters, Elly and Amy, and two grandchildren, Theodore and Abigail.

LCCC Literary Connection features Rick Bass, Robert Caisley and Sasha Pimentel-Chacon

The Laramie County Community College Foundation has released the schedule for Literary Connection Oct. 8-9 in Cheyenne. Events will be held in the LCCC Health Sciences Building. Here are the details:

The Literary Connection each year features guest authors who talk about the skills of writing and the process of literary development, present guest lectures, answer questions and sign copies of their books.

Presenters this year are fiction writer Rick Bass of Yaak, Mont.; playwright Robert Caisley of Moscow, Idaho; and poet Sasha Pimentel-Chacon of El Paso, Texas (shown in photo).

Schedule

Friday, Oct. 8
Free. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.
Continental breakfast will be provided.
8:30 a.m. – Participant Check-in
9:00 a.m. - Welcome
9:15 - 10:15 a.m. – Author Presentation
10:30 - 11:30 a.m. – Author Presentation
11:45 - 12:45 p.m. – Author Presentation
1:00 p.m. - Conclusion

Saturday, Oct. 9

$40 per person before Sept. 1; $50 per person after. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.
9:30 a.m. – Participant Check-in
10:00 a.m. – Welcome
10:15 – 11:00 a.m. – Author Presentation
11:00 – 11:15 a.m. – Q/A
11:15 – 12:00 p.m. – Author Presentation
12:00 – 12:15 p.m. – Q/A
12:30 – 1:15 p.m. – Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. – Author Presentation
2:30 – 2:45 p.m. – Q/A
2:45 – 3:00 p.m. – Conclusion
3:00 – 3:45 p.m. – Book Signing

You may register online for this event.

Novelist Carl Hiaasen on his "litmus test" for choosing books

Mystery novelist Carl Hiaasen on how he chooses a book to read:

When I’m deciding to read a book, I never open to the first chapter, because that’s been revised and worked over 88 times. I’ll just turn to the middle of the book, to the middle of a chapter, and just read a random page and I’ll know right away whether this is the real deal or not. You can tell right away, if it’s really good, it’ll be really good on page 158. Lots of people can write a good first page but to sustain it, that’s my litmus test. If I flip to the middle of the book and there’s a piece of dialogue that’s just outstanding, or a description, then I’ll flip back to the first page and start it.

Read the entire interview with the author on Entertainment Weekly's "Shelf Life" at http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/08/12/carl-hiaasen-star-island/

Hiaasen will be signing copies of his new book, "Star Island," as Tattered Cover LoDo in Denver on Wednesday, Aug. 18. FMI: http://www.tatteredcover.com/

"Shell Games" author returns to Jackson

Former Jackson resident and award-winning environmental journalist Craig Welch will read from his new book, "Shell Games," on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 5:30-6:30 p.m., at the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, 685 S. Cache, Jackson. The event is free and open to the public. Snacks and beverages will be provided.

"Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty" is a book about environmental poaching. It is best  is best described by reviews like this one from Bill McKibben: “Forget CSI – this is the real deal, tracking down the greediest kinds of criminals as they plunder the planet’s future.”

FMI: 307-733-9417; info@jhalliance.org