Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Split This Rock at AWP in Chicago - Join us!
Dear Friends,
Here at Split This Rock we are excited and moved by the possibilities presented by our new president, Barack Obama. We loved seeing Bush and Cheney whisked away by helicopter. They are gone from our city. We’d like to see them in jail, but for the moment we’ll settle for gone.
We know that all of you helped our country arrive at this historic moment and we are grateful for your vision, dedication, and tireless efforts. We also know that social change never rains down from above but grows up from the roots, from all of us. There is much to be done to build justice and peace. We recommit ourselves and Split This Rock to this essential work. We hope you will continue to walk with us on this road.
Our first opportunity to meet up in 2009 is just a few weeks away in Chicago. If you’ll be at AWP, please join Split This Rock. Sarah Browning is coming in from Italy and we’re planning several events, including a reading on Thursday night, February 12. Stop by Table #309 to say hello, learn about the next festival in 2010, and pick up guidelines to the 2009 contest, judged by National Book Award Finalist and 2008 Split This Rock poet Patricia Smith. (Guidelines are also online at: http://splitthisrock.org/contests.html.)
At the table, you can pick up your invitation to Split This Rock’s reception at Saturday’s cocktail hour. Please plan to join us for food, drinks and networking from 5-8 pm that evening. We’ll also have book signings and postcards to the new president – bring, or compose on the spot, your haikus of hope for President Obama! Details on all the happenings, below.
If you have a few free hours at AWP, please consider volunteering at the table. It’s a great way to meet people and hear about the exciting work socially engaged poets are doing all over the country. You’ll also be on the receiving end of a lot of our gratitude, a terrific way to start the new era. To volunteer, please contact Sarah at browning@splitthisrock.org. Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Melissa, Sarah, Regie, and Jaime
Split This Rock
**
From Chocolate to Chi: DC Poets in Chicago
Thursday, February 12 at 7:00 pm
Here at Split This Rock we are excited and moved by the possibilities presented by our new president, Barack Obama. We loved seeing Bush and Cheney whisked away by helicopter. They are gone from our city. We’d like to see them in jail, but for the moment we’ll settle for gone.
We know that all of you helped our country arrive at this historic moment and we are grateful for your vision, dedication, and tireless efforts. We also know that social change never rains down from above but grows up from the roots, from all of us. There is much to be done to build justice and peace. We recommit ourselves and Split This Rock to this essential work. We hope you will continue to walk with us on this road.
Our first opportunity to meet up in 2009 is just a few weeks away in Chicago. If you’ll be at AWP, please join Split This Rock. Sarah Browning is coming in from Italy and we’re planning several events, including a reading on Thursday night, February 12. Stop by Table #309 to say hello, learn about the next festival in 2010, and pick up guidelines to the 2009 contest, judged by National Book Award Finalist and 2008 Split This Rock poet Patricia Smith. (Guidelines are also online at: http://splitthisrock.org/contests.html.)
At the table, you can pick up your invitation to Split This Rock’s reception at Saturday’s cocktail hour. Please plan to join us for food, drinks and networking from 5-8 pm that evening. We’ll also have book signings and postcards to the new president – bring, or compose on the spot, your haikus of hope for President Obama! Details on all the happenings, below.
If you have a few free hours at AWP, please consider volunteering at the table. It’s a great way to meet people and hear about the exciting work socially engaged poets are doing all over the country. You’ll also be on the receiving end of a lot of our gratitude, a terrific way to start the new era. To volunteer, please contact Sarah at browning@splitthisrock.org. Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Melissa, Sarah, Regie, and Jaime
Split This Rock
**
From Chocolate to Chi: DC Poets in Chicago
Thursday, February 12 at 7:00 pm
Poetry reading by Sarah Browning, Regie Cabico, Sage Morgan Hubbard, John Murillo, Kim Roberts, and Melissa Tuckey
Insight Arts, 1545 W. Morse Ave., Chicago, IL (773) 973-1521, info@insightartsliberation.org. Free admission. Open mic as well as the featured readers. http://insightartsliberation.org/. Insight Arts is in Roger’s Park on Chicago’s Northside, near Northwestern and Loyola Universities, half a block from the Morse redline stop.
Sarah Browning is author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden. She co-directs Split This Rock Poetry Festival with Melissa Tuckey, author of Rope as Witness. Regie Cabico is a Def Poetry Jam veteran and Artistic Director of Sol & Soul, an arts and social change organization in DC. Sage Morgan Hubbard is a graduate student at Northwestern University and a teacher with Young Chicago Authors, Sol & Soul, and DC WritersCorps. John Murillo is a two time Larry Neal Writers’ Award winner, a New York Times Poetry Fellow, and Cave Canem alum. Kim Roberts is the author most recently of The Kimnama and editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
**
Split This Rock Reception
Saturday, February 14, 5-8 pm
Undisclosed Location
Free food and drink!
Sarah Browning is author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden. She co-directs Split This Rock Poetry Festival with Melissa Tuckey, author of Rope as Witness. Regie Cabico is a Def Poetry Jam veteran and Artistic Director of Sol & Soul, an arts and social change organization in DC. Sage Morgan Hubbard is a graduate student at Northwestern University and a teacher with Young Chicago Authors, Sol & Soul, and DC WritersCorps. John Murillo is a two time Larry Neal Writers’ Award winner, a New York Times Poetry Fellow, and Cave Canem alum. Kim Roberts is the author most recently of The Kimnama and editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
**
Split This Rock Reception
Saturday, February 14, 5-8 pm
Undisclosed Location
Free food and drink!
Please join us for a reception as AWP winds down. It’s a chance to network and get to know one another better, be part of discussions about the ever-evolving Split This Rock, and share with us your ideas and suggestions for how the organization can serve your needs. Stop by Table #309 for your invitation containing location details.
**
Book Signing by Kim Roberts, The Kimnama
Saturday, February 14, 10:30 am
Table #309
KIM ROBERTS is the editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly and author of two books of poems, The Kimnama (Vrzhu Press, 2007), and The Wishbone Galaxy (Washington Writers Publishing House, 1994). She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DC Commission on the Arts, and the Humanities Council of Washington. She was awarded a 2008 Independent Voice Award from the Capital BookFest.
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2009 Split This Rock Poetry Contest Guidelines now online!
Split This Rock is pleased to announce its second annual poetry contest, to be judged by National Book Award finalist Patricia Smith. First place $500; 2nd and 3rd place, $250 each. Winning poems will be published on http://www.splitthisrock.org/, and the 1st-place winner will be invited to read the winning poem at Split This Rock Poetry Festival, 2010. Reading fee of $25 benefits 2010 Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Deadline: March 9, 2009. For full guidelines: http://splitthisrock.org/contests.html or stop by Table #309 at AWP in Chicago.
**
Volunteer at Split This Rock’s Table at AWP
If you can offer a few hours of your time greeting people at the bookfair, please contact Sarah at browning@splitthisrock.org. You’ll be teamed up with another volunteer and provided plenty of information and support. Plus, you’ll get lots of praise and thanks from us – priceless!
