Leslie Monsour's excellent new chapbook

Ned Balbo · #1 06-04-2011, 03:54 PM

Back in 2010, Leah Maines, editor of Finishing Line Press, asked me to judge the 2011 Open Competition. This past fall, she and her co-editors sent me the finalist mss. with names withheld. I was therefore very pleased to discover that Leslie Monsour was the author of the winning chapbook, The House Sitter. It's a pretty amazing collection.

You might know that FLP establishes a pre-order period for its chapbooks and that sales during this period help determine the size of the printing, so keep your eyes open for upcoming word.

In the meantime, here's the link to Leslie's home page where you can find more information on The House Sitter and lots more about Leslie's work (I know lots of Eratospherians are fans already):

http://www.lesliemonsour.com/the_hou...er__107927.htm

Janice D. Soderling · #2 06-04-2011, 04:55 PM

Thank you so much for this post, Ned. It is certainly a book I want to acquire.

Tim Murphy · #3 06-04-2011, 05:01 PM

Can't have gone wrong with Leslie, Ned. What a poet!

FOsen · #4 06-05-2011, 11:26 PM

Yes, please keep us posted. And for those of you who don't yet have Leslie's first book, The Alarming Beauty of the Sky, now is a perfect opportunity to order it - it is one of the strongest first books I've read.

Tim Murphy · #5 06-06-2011, 05:03 AM

When I took Alan up to the Berkshires for his final visit to Wilbur, we brought only book to read to Dick: Leslie's!

Don't miss her excellent review of Dick's new book, Anterooms, in Able Muse.

Gail White · #6 06-06-2011, 10:22 AM

Wonderful news! I''ll be looking for this. The list of spherean achievements goes on & on...(Background music: "We Are the World")

Ned Balbo · #7 06-12-2011, 04:51 PM

Thanks for your interest, everyone who's had a look. And, Tim, what a gracious way to praise Leslie's work. It was a pleasure to join the rest of West Chester in (belatedly) toasting Mr. Wilbur's 90th on Saturday.

Leslie Monsour · #8 06-21-2011, 12:09 AM

Sorry to be such a neglectful Eratospherean. I'm ever so grateful to Ned Balbo for posting this announcement and for selecting my collection for the FLP award. Thanks, too, for all the encouraging, gracious remarks. Finishing Line Press has told me the chapbook will be ready in early November. They will start pre-orders in September. I will certainly keep everyone posted. It's wonderful to have this great means of communication, although I'm afraid I could be accused of fair weather friendship. After arranging for Alex Pepple to be at West Chester and chairing the Able Muse panel (to which I invited Julie Kane Alicia Stallings, and Kevin Durkin), you'd think I'd be paying a bit more attention to this great forum! BTW, the panel was terrific, if you ask me--and we got to hear Alex read some of his poems. It's the first time I've attended a reading in which the poet read from an electronic device (his Kindle?). Thanks again to Ned...seriously. And I really, really appreciate everyone's comments.

Charlotte Innes · #9 06-23-2011, 11:21 PM

Hi, I agree with Frank. I've just been reading Leslie's "Alarming Beauty," in fact. A must-read. For Los Angelenos, I'm trying to set up a reading for Leslie and me.... If it comes off, I'll let people know!

Tim Murphy · #10 06-24-2011, 02:15 AM

Ned, I read Leslie's "Burrowing Bees," and Dick pretty well buzzed with delight.