Multimedia Poetry Coverage and Gift Ideas for the Writer in Your Life
- At December 17, 2014
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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What an unexpected late December set of media surprises! In a rundown of the Elgin Award winners, Diane Severson reads a few poems and discusses Unexplained Fevers on the Starship Sofa Podcast (go to minute 56 to hear a few poems, but ignore it when she says Unexplained Fevers won third place in the Elgin Awards – it was actually second 😉 Her notes are also up on her blog: http://divadianes.blogspot.fr/2014/12/poetry-planet-no-14-elgin-award.html
You can listen live to my interview with the lovely Sheila Bender on Port Townsend radio station KPTZ Thursday at 5:30 PM Pacific time. Later it’ll be on a podcast, but you can listen live through a link on the front page (http://kptz.org/) called “Listen Live!” I’m listening through itunes, and there’s also an app called TuneIn Radio where you can listen to: http://tunein.com/radio/KPTZ-919-s138748/
So, you’re struggling with last minute gifts for the writers in your life? I was reminded by a little holiday get-together yesterday with a present swap how much fun it is to buy gifts for and receive gifts from writers! Did I mention that despite the fact that we met in a rather small hotel bar, there was a guerrilla opera performance with piano player and soprano? (Soprano was a bit to close to my ears for comfort – I was about a foot away – but how charming and Seattle-y is that!) Anyway, the gift recommendations below include two books I just received and was delighted by!
Here are a few winning presents I know I’ve appreciated in the past:
- A subscription to a new journal or book series they might not have heard of. I remember two of my favorite gifts from friends being subscriptions to Fairy Tale Review and a subscription to a year of Tupelo Press’s books. Lots of presses offer a year’s subscription plans, and many journals could use a few dollars this time of year. Those are thoughtful gifts that keep giving throughout the year! I love: Crab Orchard Review, Crab Creek Review, Rattle, Mid-American Review, Indiana Review, Redactions, American Poetry Review, Threepenny Review…and there are as many diverse magazines out there as kinds of writers, so try to focus on one for your writer.
- If your friend or loved one has a book coming out in the next year, Midge Raymond’s Everyday Book Marketing makes a great gift. Likewise your writer may enjoy, more quirkily, Mortifications: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame and Shakespeare’s Tremors and Orwell’s Coughs: The Medical Lives of Famous Writers.
- Writers will never say no to a lovely pen and fancy notebook. Scented candle or fancy tea cup/coffee mug and chocolate, optional but suggested.
- A lot of wonderful poetry books came out in the last year. Has your writer been hoarding a certain library book, or mentioning a book she/he wants several times? Go ahead and get them one! Reading poetry is a small luxury in world of texting, television, and twitter.
- Speaking of which… If you want one of my books to get to your writer by Christmas, you better hurry and e-mail me at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com. There’s a special right now: all three books for $32, or Becoming the Villainess for $10, She Returns to the Floating World for $10, and Unexplained Fevers for $12. Free first-class shipping. That’s even better than Amazon!
