AWP in Seattle served as the soft launch of my book and its accompanying tour. Now that my book officially exists in the world my official book tour begins!! I kicked it off last night with Happy Hour Poetry, curated by River City Poets in Richmond, VA. (Yes, I know I should have posted my tour schedule online before the tour kicked off but it is posted across social media…I just forgot to post it here because work/poetry/life has been a bit insane. Apologies friends!)
Last night’s reading was a great way to start my tour. I read to a great crowd and then sold and signed books.
My next stop is Norfolk/Newport News, VA where I have two readings next week. If you’re in the area, come say hello! You can find my full tour schedule here, I’m still adding dates and cities! I hope to see you at a future reading! If you can’t make a reading but still want to my book, you can order it here – I’m happy to sign/personalize, just leave a note in the comments section!
Hello from my post-AWP hangover. I don’t drink but that doesn’t seem to matter at AWP as it’s 3-ish days of nonstop poetry / tabling / reading / chatting / everything. I arrived home at 1am on Monday morning, exhausted from the trip, the flights, and the time change. I love AWP, I really do. It’s the biggest writing conference in the country and it’s guaranteed I’m going to see writer friends I haven’t seen since the previous year’s conference, I’m going to find and fall in love with new collections of poetry, I’m going to chat with new people and make new friends. This year was all that and more.
My newest collection of poetry, Her Whole Bright Life, published by Write Bloody, had its soft launch at the conference. The official pub date is 4 April but my publisher was able to have advance copies at the conference. And here’s the exciting news – my book SOLD OUT over the weekend! To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. Holding my new book in my hands, doing three readings from it, signing it for people, and then learning every last copy at AWP had been snagged – well, that’s a high I won’t soon forget. You can still pre-order a copy, books will begin mailing in about a week! And my book tour kicks off next month with readings in Newport News and Arlington, VA. Check out my tour calendar as I’m adding dates and cities to this book tour and would LOVE to see you at a reading!
Holding my new book!
This is the second year my press, Riot in Your Throat, had a table at the AWP book fair. I was there all day, every day. AWP is a completely different animal from the press side. I’ve attended two AWPs as a writer and two AWPs as a press. When you’re there as a writer you can go to the panels you want to go to, you can meet up with friends for lunch or coffee, you can take an afternoon nap if desired. When you are a one-woman press, you have to stay at the press table from 9am-5pm each day to talk to people, make connections, and hopefully, sell books. I’m an extrovert so I enjoy this kind of thing. I also love talking about poetry, especially to other poets because we connect on a different level. But even my extroverted self was exhausted at the end of each day. It didn’t help that due to the three-hour time difference I woke at 4am every day…and didn’t get to bed until ~11pm each night. Just a few days of this meant I was exhausted by the end of each day. But my day wasn’t over – I had readings each night.
The Riot in Your Throat table at the book fair!
I read from my new book at the Write Bloody Showcase on Wednesday night, the joint Riot in Your Throat/Write Bloody reading on Thursday night, and the December Poets on Friday night. I had an invitation to read on Saturday night but between breaking down the press table, shipping home the unsold books, and general exhaustion, I had to bow out of that reading. It was wonderful reading from my new book, sharing poems that are deeply intimate and personal, and connecting with people through my words.
Reading from my new book!
Overall my AWP was a success and I’m already looking forward to next year…or I will, once I’m fully recovered. 😉
It’s almost that time of year again – the annual AWP conference! The conference is 8-11 March in Seattle and I’m looking forward to attending and catching up with all my poet friends, and hopefully meeting some new ones too!
Once again my press, Riot in Your Throat, will have a table at the book fair (Table T1522) so I’ll be there most of the time – happy to chat, recommend a book, or sign one of mine! I’m also on a panel, PR in a (Nearly) Post-COVID World, on Friday, 10 March from 3:20-4:35pm. I’ll also be signing my new collection, Her Whole Bright Life, at the Write Bloody table at the book fair (Table 1143).
I’m also reading in two off-site events! The first is a Write Bloody Showcase reading on Wednesday, 8 March at 9pm at Hugo House.
The second is a joint Riot in Your Throat / Write Bloody reading on Thursday, 9 March at 7pm at Vermillion.
If you’re attending AWP, let me know! Also, stop by the press table and say hello!
I’ve excited to announce that my next collection of poetry, Her Whole Bright Life, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize and forthcoming from Write Bloody, is now available for pre-order! Books will ship in April, order today!
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Her Whole Bright Life is a collection of poems that weave together the trauma and exhaustion of a life lived with disordered eating and the loss and grief of the death of the poet’s father. Love and hunger intertwine and become inseparable as the poet grapples to find, and listen, to both. With a distinct and feminist voice, this collection delves into a life now lived without a beloved parent, while trying to survive a pandemic, and battling demons that have lived inside her for most of her life. With both fierceness and tenderness, we see a woman trying to find her place within her own body and within an ever-changing world. This collection of poems is both an elegy and an anthem – praising both those who’ve been lost and those who remain.
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In addition to my new book, I’m also offering a book bundle that includes all three of my full length collections anda copy of my handmade microchap, Back to Black: Poems About Amy Winehouse.
Back to Black: Poems About Amy Winehouse
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Another way to snag a copy of the microchap: at an in-person reading! I’m slowly building my book tour, adding cities and dates and would love to see you at an upcoming reading. If you curate a poetry reading series, host a podcast, or know of a great venue I should read at, please let me know – I’d love to come to your city!
I’m really excited about this new book and about the book tour – I can’t wait to share these poems with you!
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