[Clive Watkins]

On Sunday, 11th November 2007, at 1.00 p.m., at the Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Washington DC, there will be a reading and book-signing to mark the publication of the winning collection in the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, Erica Dawson's Big-Eyed Afraid. The prize is offered annually by the Waywiser Press (http://waywiser-press.com/news.html ).

The event will be introduced by Philip Hoy, managing editor of Waywiser, and by Mary Jo Salter, the 2006 judge, who will also introduce Ms Dawson.

The address and contact details of the Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse are as follows:

Politics & Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse,
5015 Connecticut Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20008,
U.S.A.

1-800-722-0790
202-364-1919
202-966-7532 (Fax)

Directions to the venue can be found here: http://www.politics-prose.com/directio.htm .

As it happens, I shall be there myself this year. If any Spherians live in the area and manage to come along, I shall be very pleased to meet them.

Clive Watkins

[Michael Juster]

I'll be there!

[Clive Watkins]

Great, Michael! I look forward to meeting you again.

Clive

[Michael Juster]

I had the pleasure of attending this event and was so glad that Clive brought it to my attention. Aside from the pleasure of talking with Clive again and meeting his wife, I also had nice chats with Philip Hoy, a hero of the formalist revolution for all the work he does with Waywiser, and three of the finest poets publishing today-- Mary Jo Salter, Greg Williamson and Joseph Harrison.

In my dotage I had trouble placing Erica Dawson before the event, but recognized her immediately once I saw her again as a striking and charismatic young woman (mid twenties?) who was part of the administrative staff at the Sewanee Writer's Conference. She was a protege of Greg's at Johns Hopkins, and writes primarily in a loose, aggressive formalism somewhat influenced by the performance poetry scene. She's very good already and has the potential for greatness.

[Quincy Lehr]

Hmmm... so Salter, as judge, picked the protegee of either a colleague or soon-to-be colleague at Johns Hopkins. Not corrupt, necessarily, but, in the context of a contest where entry fees were collected and doubtless went a good ways to funding the winning manuscript, interesting...

[Michael Juster]

Bit of a stretch, Quincy. Pick was made before Mary Jo even started at Johns Hopkins, and claiming conflict by selecting the protege of a future more junior colleague seems a bit much even by Foetry standards.

[Quincy Lehr]

Michael--

See new thread in General Talk. I think Dawson's a talented woman, and want to take the heat off her.

Quincy

[Terese Coe]

Yes, Dawson's work is admirable! No question.

Terese