October 2014
Dear Poets and Friends –
“Poetry arrived/in search of me…/ …from a street I was summoned,/from the branches of the night…”
–Pablo Neruda, “Poetry”
Here’s your summons to this year’s Kentucky State Poetry Society Annual Meeting, to be held October 31-November 2 in Berea, Kentucky. The program includes readings, workshops, a roundtable discussion on getting poetry into the world, and an awards banquet at the Boone Tavern, in addition to our annual membership meeting with election of officers. Enclosed are the agenda and registration and lodging information. We hope that you’ll be able to join us and that you’ll spread the word to other poets, particularly student poets. A special registration rate is available to students.
Information is also posted on the KSPS website,
Our sessions will be held in the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College, 205 North Main St., Berea (Stephenson Hall, Rm 128 -- The Center’s library will provide space for displaying books for sale – remember to bring yours, along with a card listing the price (you’re responsible for your own sales). And be sure to bring poems to read in the Round Robin Readings. We’ll spend a weekend relishing poetry!
News and Notes:
KSPS 2014 Contests: This year’s contests sparked an excellent response! Judging is underway; results will be mailed out in mid-October. Thanks to our contest sponsors and to Mick Parsons, Contest Coordinator. Award-winning poems will be read at the banquet on Saturday, Nov. 1.
KSPS congratulates member DebraKuss of Corbin, whose poem, “Insomniosis,” won first place in this year’s NFSPS Founders Award Contest. The 2014 convention of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies was held in June in Salt Lake City. The NFSPS 2015 convention will be held in St. Petersburg, Florida, June 24-28. See more information, including contest info.
The NFSPS website, has info as well, as well as the October edition of Strophes, which we hope you’ll read online.
KSPS Table at the fourthannualWriter'sBlockliterary festival in Louisville, KY – Saturday, November 15, 2014. "The Block" will feature writers groups, workshop leaders, presses, university writing programs, and more. Saturday events include workshops led by Kenyon Review Poetry Editor David Baker and fiction writer Jacinda Townsend, among others. Poet and memoirist Nick Flynn will give a keynote reading, and there will be panels on food, truth, humor, and drama. Other events are scheduled for the evening of Friday, Nov. 14. See The festival attracts between 250 and 300 attendees so offers an excellent opportunity to give out information about KSPS! If you can help out at the table during any part of the day, please email or call Libby Jones (859-986-7449; ).
Looking forward to seeing you in Berea!
Cordially,
Libby Falk Jones
2014 President, KSPS