Rain or Shine
Hi poetry people! Here’s a round up of news, events and opportunities to note for the next two weeks (and beyond). Poetry life here is good, but I think it’s getting even better.
Reminder
Last day to submit work to be considered to read in this year’s MUSE is 2/16, open to all women, women identified, and non-binary folx. More information can be found here. Questions to queens@hivepoetry.org.
Events
I’m thrilled to share we received a great pool of applicants for our first county Youth Poet Laureate before submissions closed last Thursday night. Watch this space later for more YPL info and events, and don’t forget to register to celebrate them on 4/10.
As you know we already have two Watsonville Youth Poet Laureates, Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez, and they will read in two events in February:
Thursday, Feb. 8, 5:30-7:30pm is the first Poets' Circle of 2024. They present Watsonville Poet Laureate Bob Gomez, Watsonville Youth Poet Laureates Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez, and Watsonville High School poets. This free event will be in person at the Watsonville Public Library, 275 Main Street, Suite 100.
Then on Saturday, Feb 17, 2-4pm the Pajaro Valley Art Gallery is celebrating 40 years of local poets with a poetry reading, “Inspired Expression.” 37 Sudden St in Watsonville. Featuring the two Youth Poet Laureates, Bob Gomez, Jason Joseph Santiago LaCour, Elbina Rafizadeh, Wayne Hayashibara & Madeline Aliah. More details here.
Continuing at Satori Arts (which hosted a great crowd for an open mic on First Friday last week) is Inter|Act Spoken Word Tuesday, Feb 6, 7pm, with featured poet Victoria Bañales, and again on Tuesday, Feb 20, with Roxi Power’s ‘Neo Benshi’ performance. Roxi Power is a poet, performer, and publisher whose book, The Songs That Objects Would Sing was published Fall 2023. Power is a member of The Hive Poetry Collective. She founded and edits the trans-genre anthology series, Viz. Inter-Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she teaches.
Tuesday, Feb 13, 6pm. Poetry Out Loud Competition, at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Poetry Out Loud is a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry— both classic and contemporary—through memorization, performance, and competition. Come support these local teens!
Friday, Feb 23, 7-9pm. Save the date for the next Barrio Poetry Night at Barrios Unidos Santa Cruz. Members of Writers of Color, Santa Cruz, among others, will read at the open mic.
Opportunities to Write
Magdalena Montagne’s free drop-in poetry writing workshops continue: No experience necessary! Saturday, Feb 10 at the Capitola Branch Library from 1:00-3:00 p.m. & Saturday, Feb 17 at the Felton Branch Library from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Volunteer
The Santa Cruz Poetry Project is looking for volunteers to teach poetry in Santa Cruz County jail facilities. “Our primary mission is to bring the power of poetry to incarcerated men and women; it also extends to excarcerated individuals and the general public through weekly classes offered at the downtown branch of the Santa Cruz Public Library. No teaching experience necessary - just a passion for poetry and a desire to impart it. You can check out our mission and take a look at the anthologies we publish. Please contact us here https://www.poetryinthejails.org/contact and we'll get back to you right away, to answer questions and/or set a date to meet in person. See the difference poetry can make https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzSheriffsOffice/videos/625363903126040.”
Are you interested in working with a thriving Santa Cruz poetry collective, contributing to the development of our local poetry ecosystem? The Hive Poetry Collective is looking for volunteers to work with us--event planning and setup, marketing/promotion, social media presence, and more. We’d love to talk with you about this. Email Julia@ebold.com. Or via our website, hivepoetry.org
Calls for Submissions & Nominations
Call for Nominations for the Spotlight Award: Honoring Local Emerging Artists. Deadline for nomination letters: March 3, 2024. Through the Spotlight Award, the County Arts Commission publicly recognizes individuals who have achieved a high level of excellence and creativity in their work, but who have not received widespread acknowledgment of their talent. This annual award recognizes younger artists as well as those who are discovering their artistic voice later in life. The award will be given to one artist or artist group in each of the following mediums: visual art, performing arts, and literary arts. More info and to nominate an individual here.
2024 National Agriculture Day Poetry Contest for SC County. If you know of any students who would like to make submissions, please share widely. The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 23rd. All info is in a previous issue of FBOV, here.
Poetry Books
I’d like to start sharing news here in this corner of the newsletter of newly published poetry books inside our county limits. There are so many poets in our midst continuing to put their work out into the world in book form, and I know I don’t always get to hear about them when it happens—I’m sure others feel the same way. Please let me know if you have a book or chapbook just coming out, or tell others who do to let me know, and I’ll share it here as close to pub date as possible.
As always, thanks for reading to this point!