Mason-Dixon Publishing Blog

Up and Running!

June 18, 2013

Our latest offering, Red Silk Sari, in a beautiful paperback edition is now up and running on our Products page! We had had some technical difficulties with the payment procedures, but those are all fixed. You can purchase your copy right now. Ujjvala will also be selling them at the 18th Savannah Asian Festival on June 22.

Here in Bowling Green, Ohio, there is an open mic every Thursday at the Happy Badger Restaurant. A few weeks ago, I took a copy of Ujjvala’s book with me and tried out some of the more intense poems on the crowd. They loved them, applauding loudly after several. Sometimes I felt a little awkward, reading such intense, personal poems on subjects like childbirth or integrating an Indian/American heritage. But, a good poem can transcend the abilities of the reader. These poems are excellent.

In case you were wondering, the gorgeous fabric pictured on the cover of Red Silk Sari is the very same sari about which the title poem is written.

Mason-Dixon at the 18th Savannah Asian Festival! June 22

June 14, 2013

The great draw at the Savannah Asian Festival are the beautiful performing arts. All the shows are free!

Here are some of the performing arts at the Savannah Asian Festival. (venue: Savannah Civic Center)

In between acts, come visit Ujjvala at the Mason-Dixon table, where our books Red SIlk Sari and Venusification  will be for sale.

   

Mason-Dixon at the 18th Savannah Asian Festival! June 22

May 31, 2013

Look for Ujjvala at the Mason-Dixon table, where copies of Red Silk Sari and Venusification will be for sale. The 18th Savannah Asian Festival is a free event at t the Savannah Civic Center on Saturday, June 22, from 11am - 5pm. It has become one of the largest Asian festivals in Georgia, with lovely performing arts at the stage, food from the different cultures, and of course the vendors and art. Isn’t the poster beautiful?

Here are the books:

Red Silk Sari - Accessible poems of India and America, the North and the South, parenthood and childhood, science and art. Here are poems such as another view of Cinderella, an explanation of how chemistry and poetry are alike, a tanka about a Tarot card, an argument between a sari and her owner.

Venusification - hard science fiction short stories and novella, a 21st century version of the Golden Age style

 

This year Armstrong Atlantic University is one on the sponsors. Here are some links:

Official Savannah Asian Festival site

Armstrong Atlantic State and Savannah Asian Festival

National Poetry Month/Napowrimo 2013 - Blog 3: Pulitzer Prize Poetry

April 17, 2013

  Here it is, the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry:  Sharon Olds’ Stag’s Leap, the saga in poetry of the arc of her breaking marriage.  The talk of the poetic blogosphere, no doubt.

Check out Powellsbooks website for Pulitzer-prize winning poetry of previous years.  I’ve read former US poet laureate’s Kay Ryan’s Best of It, and of course Native Guard by my hero Natasha Tretheway, the current Poet Laureate. 

Oh, and here are the rest of the prize winners this year: Pulitzer Prize Winners 2013

Napowrimo: Well, I wrote one poem last night, so now after 16 days I have created 5 poems. Ah well, not the incandescent Napowrimo of last year, but for me, still a stretch. 

A variation Napowrimo to consider is to rewrite the same poem each of the 30 days.  In his book Best Words, Best OrdeR, Stephen Dobyns noted that Ellen Bryant Voigt rewrote her poem “Amaryllis” 34 times to get to its final resonant version. Next year, perhaps

Ujjvala

National Poetry Month/Napowrimo 2013 - Blog 2

April 09, 2013

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Napowrimo.net is a site founded in 2003 to promote both National Poetry Month and Napowrimo, the poetic counterpart to Nanowrimo. (By the way, have any of you tried Nanowrimo? Let us know!)  The charming site posts participants’ poems and also has writing prompts to egg us along. I’d like to try the prompt to write a poem that tells a lie! In addition, Napowrimo.net hosts others’ websites, and Mason-Dixon is now among them.

A week of chock full of late nights, scurried days, and no writing has finally ended, and I’m back to my normal pace. I took a walk which led to a worm writhing metronomically, and later this evening I watched one of my cats drift to sleep and nearly fall of the edge of the table, These observations led to a poem, preceded by 15 minutes of nothing-doing (per Martha Beck) and accompanied by lush classical music on NPR. What’s your routine?

Have a look at the books of poetry, as well as other books, I’ve reviewed on Goodreads.com.

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Ujjvala

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