Pnews

June 2022

No new journal publications so far this month. Except that I have been working on a new photography/non-fiction book, about China in 1992. Once I get the "just for me" version back from the printer, I'm hoping to cut it down to a publicly available 100 page tradebook. Watch this space! We're posting some of the images at the PHOTOGRAPHY tab as a mini-collection.

 

Two new readings, though! Catch me on the Verse-Virtual June podcast, where I get a 15 minute slot. Live on Facebook at 2 pm. on Saturday, June 17; podcast available on youtube shortly afterward. We'll post the link when it's up. And thus one is on June 29: "announcing the second virtual reading in the Connecting Our Community Series, sponsored by PSV's Northern Region. Email Cathy Hailey (haileycp@gmail.com) to sign up for the open mic focused on poetry that connects with the arts and to get the Zoom link." I'll be reading a couple of pieces where I combine photography and writing.

 

My novel The Memory Addicts now has a release date: September 13. I'll order advance copies at the end of July, and I'm really looking for advance readers who will blog about it, review it on Amazon, help spread the word. Let me know if you think you might fit the bill.

 

And I made it to the six name shortlist to be the next Poet Laureate of Virginia. This gets cut down by popular vote to three names, and then the Governor and his team have the final say. But being in the top six is a real honor! 

May 2022

1. Unsay Their Names has won a silver medal in the 2022 IPPY Awards, in the category Best Non-Fiction Book, Mid-Atlantic Region. Conducted annually, the Independent Publisher Book Awards honor the year's best independently published titles from around the world. https://www.ippyawards.com/

2. For National Poetry Month 2022, Mike Maggio once again hosted a "30 poems by 30 poets" feature on his website: http://mikemaggio.net/. The challenge this year is to write an eleven line poem, each line being of exactly eleven syllables, on the topic "Love on an Imaginary Boulevard." My poem "Two Sleepwalkers"* was chosen as the best of the month, and will be published by the Potomac Review. The winners and runners-up were interviewed by Dennis Price for his hour-long show on Radio Fairfax.

 

3. The new LIGHT Poetry Magazine is out. It features my tribute to Queen Elizabeth and her corgis*. With thanks to the editor Melissa Balmain and acknowledgments to Alexander Pope.

 

4. I have two poems in the May Verse-Virtual*, and will be a featured reader for their June podcast. Thanks to Joanne Durham, one of my co-presenters, for nominating me to read with her, and to Robbi Nester for hosting this Zoom event. Sign up to attend on Facebook!

 

*Links to these poems are given under POTPOURRI, at the PERIODICALS subtab.

 

April 2022

To read my interview in the April issue of KIRKUS REVIEWS, please check out "Praise and Press" at the PUBLICATIONS tab.

 

For National Poetry Month, 2022, I wrote daily poems (or rather, very unrealized drafts) and participated in the usual array of online projects. I'd like to thank the other members of the Poetry Society of Virginia Facebook challenge poem page, and my co-members of the April group founded by the late Shann Palmer, and now hosted by Tom Prunier Sanchez.

 

Read my contribution to Luisa Igloria's wonderful postcard poetry project at her blog: http://www.luisaigloria.com/blog. The sampled works are wonderfully varied and inventive. Mine is the April 9th piece.

 

My contribution to Mike Maggio's annual challenge is up at http://mikemaggio.net/

 

March 23, 2022

MUTT SPIRITUALS, my first full-length poetry collection, is now available directly from the publisher! Here's a link to the website: https://www.sanfranciscobaypress.com//  It's also available on Amazon, in the US and in the UK. If you use Amazon, could you leave a review?

 

UNSAY THEIR NAMES is also available from Amazon, except on weekends and on holidays.

 

Or ping me on this site, or email me at derekkannemeyer@gmail.com!

 

 

KIRKUS INDIE gave "Unsay" a starred review, and the Vice President of Kirkus Indie put a spotlight on it in her "Perspectives" column for their February newsletter. You can read both at the PUBLICATIONS tab, under PRAISE & PRESS. (April update: as well as a full interview!)

 

My Black History Museum exhibition closed in December 2021. The museum kept some of the fifty blow-up display boards, and may display some photographs again at a future time. Show catalogues are sold out, but the museum may still have a full book or two in their bookshop.

 

 

AND IN OTHER PNEWS

Visit the PERIODICALS file under the POTPOURRI tab to get links to my journal publications since October 2021. They include poems in Anmly, Light, Lucky Jefferson, Rat's Ass Review, Rigorous, The Pine Cone Review, Unzipped, and four issues of Verse-Virtual, plus photography in Riddled with Arrows.

 

My NOVEL The Memory Addicts will soon be available from Atmosphere Press. The final "not for sale" proof copy is already in my hands! But I've asked AP to hold off on the final printing for a few months while I sort out my approach on the publicity side.

 

 

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