The Midwest is home to some of the finest poets in America, and New Poetry from the Midwest gives readers a chance to sample that work each year. This reading will launch the 2017 edition of the anthology and feature several of the poets included in the anthology. Whether you want to discover new poets or hear new work by some of your favorites, there's something here for everyone. David Bowen of New American Press will introduce readers and lead a Q&A after the reading.
New Poetry from the Midwest 2017
Marilyn Annucci's poems have appeared in various journals and in collaboration with artists in local projects. She is the author of two chapbooks--Waiting Room, which won the 2012 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and Luck (Parallel Press, 2000). She teaches in the Department of Languages and Literatures at the UW-Whitewater.
Susan Elbe is the author of The Map of What Happened, winner of the 2012 Backwaters Press Prize and the Jacar Press 2014 Julie Suk Prize for the best book of poetry published by an independent press in 2013, Eden in the Rearview Mirror (Word Poetry), Where Good Swimmers Drown (Concrete Wolf Press), winner of the 2011 Concrete Wolf Chapbook prize, and Light Made from Nothing (Parallel Press).
Rebecca Hazelton is an award winning poet and writer. She’s the author of Gloss, from the University of Wisconsin Press, Fair Copy (Ohio State University Press, 2012), winner of the 2011 Ohio State University Press / The Journal Award in Poetry, and Vow, from Cleveland State University Press. She was the 2010-11 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Creative Writing Institute and winner of the “Discovery” / Boston Review 2012 Poetry Contest. A two time Pushcart prize winner, her poems have appeared in Poetry, The New Yorker, and Best American Poetry.
Cynthia Marie Hoffman is the author of four collections of poetry: Exploding Head, Call Me When You Want to Talk about the Tombstones, Paper Doll Fetus, and Sightseer, all from Persea Books. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Poems have appeared in Electric Literature, The Believer, Image, Smartish Pace, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Madison, WI. Her website is www.cynthiamariehoffman.com.
Rita Mae Reese is a recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Stegner fellowship in fiction, a “Discovery”/The Nation award, and a Pamaunok Poetry Prize, among other awards. An animated video from the title poem of her first book, The Alphabet Conspiracy, was showcased at the Association of Independent Commercial Producers Midwest Trade Show. Her second book, The Book of Hulga, was selected by Denise Duhamel for the Felix Pollak Prize in 2016. She designs Lesbian Poet Trading Cards for Headmistress Press, is a member of the bluegrass band Coulee Creek, and serves as Co-Director of Arts & Literature Laboratory.
Timothy Walsh’s poems and short stories have appeared in The North American Review, Arts & Letters, Cutthroat, The Midwest Quarterly, New Millennium Writings, and others. His awards include the Grand Prize in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition, the Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize from North American Review, and the Wisconsin Academy Fiction Prize. He is the author of a book of literary criticism, The Dark Matter of Words: Absence, Unknowing, and Emptiness in Literature (Southern Illinois University Press) and several poetry collections and chapbooks, most recently The Book of Arabella and When the World Was Rear-Wheel Drive.
Lisa Vihos is the 2015 winner of the Wisconsin People and Ideas Poetry contest and is working on her next book of poetry at her dining room table in Sheboygan, overlooking Lake Michigan.
David Bowen is the executive editor for New American Press and MAYDAY Magazine. He completed a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. His writing has appeared in The Literary Review, Colorado Review, Flyway, Serving House Journal, Printer's Devil Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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