Tampa Book Buzz

april is national poetry month

What is National Poetry Month?

April. Every year since 1996.

–from the Academy of American Poets website

news and notes:williams, mitchell, smith

• Jacksonville author Gary Williams (Fish of Souls, The God Tools) wrote to let me know that Half-Red Skull, his fourth novel, is now available. Here’s the description: “A serial killer is terrorizing Northeast Florida. The murderer’s callingcard: each victim has one-half of their face colored red. On Amelia Island, reporter Fawn Cortez is planning her wedding while trying to reconcile her father’s tragic death. When she learns of a startling ancestry, it will take her intuition and persistence to unravel the clues and understand the bizarre link between the severed skull of an 1800s Seminole Indian, the modern-day murders and her father’s lifelong search for a legendary treasure. But dark secrets abound. Fawn will soon discover that those she depends on the most . . . cast the deadliest shadows.” Visit www.authorgarywilliams.com or www.floridanovels.com for more info.
• Local author Maria Mitchell recently published a poetry book called Something On My Mind, which is available through AuthorHouse.com. The poems are “about love, life, friendships and God…and were written from the heart and soul.” To read an excerpt or get more info, click here.
• Local author Joy V. Smith is one of the children’s writers included in the brand new e-book I Wish Someone Had Told Me That! 64 Successful Children’s Authors Give You The Advice They Wish Someone Had Given Them. You can see a video preview at http://write4kids.com/wishbook.html. Read Smith’s interview with BestBookTour.com here.

two upcoming events at the clearwater main library

Saw some upcoming events posted at C-Scapes.livejournal.com:

• Author to Visit Clearwater Main Library — Author Lynn Marie Smith will discuss her book Rolling Away:My Agony with Ecstasy and will lecture on the dangers of drug abuse and addiction Monday, September 17, at 7 p.m. at the Clearwater Main Library, 100 N. Osceola Ave.

If you’re not familiar with C-Scapes, you should be.

veronica lions’ book release party april 25

There will be a book release party April 25 for local author Veronica Lions’ new book Lions’ Den:A Book of Poetry and Art.  It will be “a jazz, neo-soul, wine and cheese event…a night of pure fun and relaxation.”

WHEN: April 25 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Culture Lounge, 1327 West 7th Ave. (corner of 14th St. and 7th Ave. in Ybor City) 

Visit www.myspace.com/veronicalions for more info.

(Thanks go to local author Eric Sturm for sending this my way.)

scott ward reading wednesday at eckerd college

Received via email from Eckerd College:

On Wednesday, January 24, at 3 p.m. in the Elliott Gallery, Scott Ward will be reading from his newly published book Wayward Passages.

A book-signing and reception will follow.  All are welcome. This event will be hosted by the Creative Arts Collegium.

Visit www.eckerd.edu for more info.

book buzz:boy versus girl by john a. pristell

Boy Versus Girl by John A. Pristell, ISBN 1-4259-0307-X

Many different colors come in the same box of crayons,
No one better than the other but each has a unique shade on,
Occasion,
They get out and mingle with crayons of the opposite box,
Whose occupants slightly differ in composition and in thought,
But offers the same colors, 

In Boy Versus Girl, local author John A. Pristell examines the many facets of relationships, including searching for true love, the pain of unrequieted love, the unwritten rules of paying for the tenth date, Valentine’s Day, and the joy and torture of first love.

While the rhyming scheme sometimes feels forced and having most poems end with a comma instead of a period is annoying (and perhaps an unfortunate typographical error?), Pristell’s enthusiasm is evident and his steadfast belief in love is encouraging.

Book Buzz Barometer: C-

Pristell’s website is http://www.boyversusgirl.com/.

poet kimberly johnson at usf november 20

The University of South Florida (USF) is bringing Dr. Kimberly Johnson in for a poetry reading on November 20.  Here’s the info from the flyer I received:

POETRY READING

Kimberly Johnson

Grace Allen Room, November 20th 4:00 PM

Kimberly Johnson’s first poetry collection, Leviathan with a Hook, was published by Persea Books in 2002; her second collection, A Metaphorical God, was completed with the support of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and is forthcoming from Persea Books in 2008. In addition to being an award-winning poet, Dr. Johnson is also a gifted translator and Renaissance scholar. Having completed recently a magisterial translation of Virgil’s Georgics, she is currently working on a critical study of self-feminization in seventeenth-century religious poetry entitled Brides of Christ and is co-editing with Michael Schoenfeldt and Richard Strier a volume of scholarly essays on seventeenth-century literature. Dr. Johnson has earned degrees from the University of Utah, the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of California, Berkeley. Her work has appeared most recently, or is forthcoming, in The New Yorker, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Harvard Review, Slate, Saw Palm, Southern Review, Southern Humanities Review, Western Humanities Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Journal, 32 Poems, National Poetry Review, Hotel Amerika and Arion.

This event was made possible by the generous support of the Humanities Institute.  For more information about this reading, please contact Professor Jay Hopler at jhopler(at)cas.usf.edu.

maureen mcdole and venus jones at studio(at)620

Studioat620 in St. Pete is book release party central this month, it seems:

On October 21st at 7 p.m., St. Pete author Maureen McDole will showcase her new book of poetry, Exploring My Options.  McDole’s poems are “reflections on growing up, identity, love and heartbreak, family, the natural world, artistic challenges, death, injustice and hopes for humanity and the planet.”

On October 28th at 7 p.m. Venus Jones, a “universal author, model, poet, actress and speaker,” is celebrating the debut of her new book of poetry She Rose (on a journey from girl to Goddess) with a God and Goddess toga party. Jones’ book containes 70 inspirational and life-affirming poems celebrating spirituality, the Earth, mothers and life’s journey.  Visit www.she-rose.com for more info. 

(Thanks go to local author Eric Sturm for sending me the press release.)

book buzz:at sula’s feet by ersula knox odom

 At Sula’s Feet by Ersula Knox Odom, ISBN 189209648X 

The me that is too shy to be spoken
Comes alive on stage

I opened At Sula’s Feet, author Ersula Knox Odom’s story of her beloved grandmother Sula and her memories of growing up in the rural South, expecting to find short stories and essays. Instead, I found poetry.  Funny, mesmerizing, nostalgic, moving poetry!

Thankfully, Odom avoids strained rhyming schemes and forced patterns and instead simply writes from her heart.  Some of her poems are only a sentence or two, others are two pages; some rhyme, some don’t; some are silly and others are deeply profound. Lessons Odom learned from her grandmother Sula include how to survive the loss of a child (Black Grandmother, Bearable Grief), the importance of hard work (Making Butter, Last Night Home), the meaning of faith (Church on Sunday, Goodbye Auntie), and the importance of family love and support (The Way To My Heart, Greetings That Matter).

Reading At Sula’s Feet made me recall long-forgotten memories of my Southern grandmother, Mema, and my own experiences with Southern cuisine (How Do You Like Your Grits?) and hearing rain on a roof (Tin Roof). But Odom’s poetry will speak to you, even if you don’t have a sweet and spunky Southern grandmother of your own.  Her reflections on Sula’s life lessons are touching, indelible and show what a great teacher her grandmother really was.

The greatest joy
Of an only child’s day
Is the sound of
A new child with which to play.

Book Buzz Barometer: A+ 

Odom’s website is http://www.sulatoo.com/.

news:warren, odom, tampa bay association of black journalists, llewellyn

*Local author Alicia R. Warren has a written a sequel to her book The Chances We Take. It’s called One More Chance and is available now. Warren was recently interviewed by www.tampabayin.com. Click here for the interview.

*Speaking of www.tampabayin.com, local author Ersula Knox Odom was also recently interviewed on that site.

*The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists has announced that Rene Syler, co-host of CBS’ morning news program The Early Show, will serve as keynote speaker for its Second Annual Griot Drum Awards and Scholarship Banquet November 16th in the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

*Kimberly Llewellyn’s newest book Tulle Little, Tulle Late is out.