Prompted - An International Collection of Poems

Prompted - An International Collection of Poems is a poetic charity project: all profits benefit LitWorld, a non-profit organization working towards global literacy.

The idea was conceived by an international group of poets that met at Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides, and with the permission granted from Writer's Digest, were able to choose previous prompts from the site to use in the book. Edited by Pearl Ketover Prilik and published by Really Love Your Book , the project was completed in six months. The anthology includes a forward by Robert Lee Brewer.

Among the "prompts" included: type of person, inverted pyramid, prayer, location, love/anti-love poem, all I want, message in a bottle, water, time of day, and after leaving here.

The poets: Daniel Ari, Michele Brenton, Salvatore Buttaci, Anders Bylund, Janet Rice Carnahan, Diana Terrill Clark, RJ Clarken, Barbara Ehrentreu, Hannah Gosselin, Michael Grove, Jacqueline Hallenbeck, Patricia A. Hawkenson, Michelle Hed, Linda Hofke, Cara Holman, Jane Penland Hoover,  Khara House, S.E. Ingraham, De Jackson, Elizabeth Johnson, Iain Douglas kemp, Pearl Ketover Prilik, Kim King, Laurie Kolp, Andrew Kreider,  Catherine Lee, Amy Barlow Liberatore, Shannon Bo Lockard,  mike Maher., Nikki Markle,  Buddah Moskowitz, Bruce Niedt, Connie L. Peters, Nancy Posey,  Jane Shlensky,  Jay Sizemore, a.m. Trumble, Sara Vinas, Paula Wanken, and Claudette J. Young

Links and charity info
Prompted: An International Collection of Poems is now available through Amazon and Barnes&Noble. There also is a Kindle edition. For more details about the collection, visit Laurie Kolp's blog, and for more about the charity, visit litworld.org. A synopsis and biographies of the collection are online in the blog of the editor Pearl Ketover Prilik: Prompted (keep scrolling).

Related links: charity projects, poetry

see haiku here: Snowman series

Last week, haiga (haiku+artwork) artist Kuniharu Shimizu started a snowman series in his blog see haiku here.

The blog itself is home to more than 700 haiga. The first snowman of the series appeared on December 19, with an introduction to the theme, and an invitation to send snowman haiku: "The snowman is something of a special treat for me in the winter time ever since my child days. Here where I live, it does not snow much though the temperature goes down quite low. The snow falls occasionally but not enough to make a good clean snowman. Last year was different, we had days with heavy snow. Kids and adults (me included) were out in the field, eagerly making snowmen. We were all happy to have great winter friends, the snowmen. I will be posting snowman haiga for a while. I am looking for good snowman haiku. Anybody?" (Snowman haiku 1)

Since then, several Snowman haiku went online already. The image to the left is from Snowman haiku 7. There also is a haiku from BluePrintReview contributor Stella Pierides included, which is how I learned about the blog: Snowman haiku 5.

Note: Kuniharu Shimizu is currently looking for new snowman haiku to continue the series: "This is the last haiga of the snowman series. Yet, it is still in the middle of winter. If anyone come up with good snowman haiku during this season, please share it with me." (link )

For another selection of haiku with a winter mood (from winter nights to stillness to christmas trees), try this link from the archive: see haiku here - December 2010.

Kuniharu Shimizu
see haiku here is the blog of haiga (haiku+artwork) artist Kuniharu Shimizu: a priest of Tenrikyo, the advisor of World Haiku Association, and the judge of WHA Haiga Contest. Kuniharu Shimizu lives in Tenri, Japan, near a city called Nara.

related links: web projects, art, international, poetry

Inter/National Short Story Day 2011

Thursday 22nd December is the shortest day of the year. It also is Short Story Day in the UK. To celebrate prose’s short-yet-perfectly-crafted form, there's a special event website: http://www.nationalshortstoryday.co.uk/

The page features videoclips of short story readings and interviews and story recommendations, quotes and links to short story organisations, as well as links to story sources, publishers, and other pages of interest, like this TedTalk: The danger of a single story.

The Short Story Day invites to "pick up a short story and let your reading take you to territories previously unexplored."

Int'l Short Story Day
There also is a related international twitter account: Int'l ShortStory Day with more links and notes, here just 2 of the links:  a blog of daily short story reviews and a book giveaway.

If you are into story videoclips, check out the Short Story Day Facebook-page for additional short story clips and links.

website link:
Inter/National Short Story Day 2011

related links: short stories, writing events

Thrush - Inaugral Edition

Thrush is a new online journal that focuses exclusively on the poetry and poets. The journal will appear six times a year, in the months of January, March, May, July, September and November. A special edition is now online: Thrush Inaugral Edition - December 2011.

The inaugral edition features 23 poems by 10 poets: Maureen Alsop, Hélène Cardona, Cindy Goff, Nathalie Handal, Anna Journey, Ada Limón, Rachel McKibbens, Sheila Nickerson, Amber Tamblyn and Ocean Vuong.

About Thrush
Thrush is edited by Helen Vitoria (Editor in Chief) and Walter Bjorkman (Associate Editor + Web Design). The first regular edition will appear in January of 2012, for complete submission guidelines, please visit the submissions page. "Why the name Thrush? Thrushes are a species of bird, the songs of some considered to be among the most beautiful in the world. We love that and that is how we feel about poems."

Thrush
online poetry journal

related links: first issues, poetry

YB issue 5: Animals

How might we speak to the animals, yes, but also how might they speak to us, and what might they say?

The animals in YB Issue 5 are various and varied, mythical and fantastic, glorious and ordinary, urban and country. They come to us on four legs, on two, on eight, on none. They are terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic. They have hopes and dreams and stories to tell…. The attempt to understand another animal is an imaginative leap as well as a moral undertaking, and the contributors to issue 5 have met the challenge, and wonderfully.

YB Issue 5 features poetry by Jason Badgley, Lisa Marie Basile, Carol Berg, Andrea Carlisle, Sherry Chandler, Mark deCarteret, Risa Denenberg, Kathleen Kirk, Karla Linn Merrifield, Neila Mezynski, George Moore, Dawn Pendergast, Vivian Prescott, Sarah J. Sloat, Linda Umans, and Leslee Rene Wright. The issue also includes a book review by Karla Linn Merrifield, and a gallery by Ron Kostar.

About YB:
YB is a journal of poetry, published twice a year, in June and December. Each issue has a theme; the last was Windows, here at the BluePrintBlog.  Each issue is also accompanied by an eBook, in the case of issue 5, available at Amazon. Issues 1-5 can also be reached from the YB main page, here.
The managing editor of YB is Rose Hunter, with assistant editor Sherry O'Keefe. Kindle edition by Sherry O'Keefe. 

YB Issue 5 Animals, online.

eBook (Amazon).