Saturday, December 09, 2006

Hey now! Some good news from Sheree!





A short story
of mine appears in the November/December 2006 issue of *Colorlines Magazine* alongside new work by Edwidge Danticat and interviews with Nigerian author Chris Abani and Thomas Glave (described as "the new James Baldwin"). I'm also excited because this is Colorlines' first fiction issue. I am a big fan of many of the writers featured here, so this cover is definitely going up on the Hey now! Hallelujah wall! Many thanks to Beyon'dusa and Arthur Flowers at the MFA @ Syracuse University for lit crit and encouragement as I worked on that story. It's good to see it in print. To order a copy of COLORLINES MAGAZINE, visit:
http://www.colorlines.com/index.php

and let me know what you think!



New poems also appear in Mike Allen's anthology, *MYTHIC 2* and in his spec fic journal, *MYTHIC DELIRIUM* (issue 15). I just learned (today, peoples!) that "Ezilie in Cavaillon" (in MYTHIC 2) and "untitled Old Scratch poem, featuring River" (in MYTHIC DELIRUM) have been nominated for the PUSHCART PRIZE. I wrote the Old Scratch poem at my last Cave Canem retreat, before I graduated from the fellowship, so it is nice to see that in the world, too. Visit Mike Allen's LiveJournal entries here:
http://time-shark.livejournal.com/


A poem also appears in *HURRICANE BLUES: Poems about Katrina and Rita* edited by Philip C. Kolin and Susan Swartwout at Southeast Missouri State University (November 2006). Works by Colleen McElroy, Mark Jarman, Bob Hicok, and many others are included. Like the work featured in Tamara Kaye Sellman's *Southern Revival,* all proceeds from this book go to hurricane relief.

Here is the publisher's description:

Book Description
Hurricane Blues is a unique artifact of American history: an anthology of original poems about the two most infamous hurricanes of 2005. Many of these poems are eyewitness accounts--written by both distinguished and emerging poets, all of whom were moved by the destruction of a legendary American city and the roughly 300-mile radius within Katrina's wrath.

This collection not only records history but serves in some way as a balm, a relief effort toward the inevitable reconstruction of the region. Accordingly, all proceeds from Hurricane Blues will go toward the relief effort.

This is poetry as bread, cast upon the surface of the waters.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go towards hurricane relief.

Hurricane Blues
http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/books/Hurricane_Blues/Hurricane_Blues_1.htm



Southern Revival: Deep Magic for Hurricane Relief edited by Tamara Kaye Sellman
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/SouthernRevival.html

Finally, "Praisesong on the Passage of a Brilliant Star, from a Dreamer Below," my essay/tribute to Octavia E. Butler and the elders who encouraged me to write as a child appears in *Callaloo*, Volume 29.2.

Callaloo
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/toc/cal29.2.html



Happy Holidays and Many new blessings to you!
Sheree Renée Thomas