Just received word that the following GRP titles are finalists for the Colorado Book Awards:

A Day in Boyland by Jessy Randall (poetry)

Old Man Laughing by Robert King (poetry)

Rise, Do Not Be Afraid by Aaron Abeyta (fiction)

Boxing for Cuba by Guillermo (Bill) Vidal (creative nonfiction)

We’re obviously thrilled and proud of these finalist positions.

Joan Hinkemeyer says of Michelle Dally’s novel, A Highly Placed Source, “This is a delicious social satire by a media relations consultant with a law degree from Georgetown University. Daily clearly knows her territory.” Rocky Mountain News, June 12 2008

Great list of Chicago’s top 50 literary movers, and GRP poet Kristy Bowen is #49. Good day for poetry and yay for Kristy, tireless writer and publisher and artist, a force to behold.

Greg has written “What This River Keeps,” forthcoming fiction in 2009 with GRP. He wrote some ‘napkin fiction’ in this month’s Equire.

“From Germany to Iceland
“Alexandria author’s novel explores 1940s exodus.”

By Michael Lee Pope
Alexandria Gazett Packet
Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Read full interview here

Excerpt:
A native of Iceland, Solveig Eggerz has lived in Alexandria since 1974. She was a freelance writer for several years before joining the Alexandria Port Packet as a reporter during 1977-78. She continued to contribute to the paper until 1988. She has worked as a journalist and professor of writing and research. Her first novel, “Seal Woman” was published last month by Ghost Road Press.

Why did you write this novel?
I’ve been writing all my life. I wrote my first short story when I was 11, but the exact stimulating moment for this novel occurred in 1997 when I was in Iceland and saw an Icelandic movie called “Maria.” It was about a German woman coming out of the rubble of Berlin who went to Iceland in 1949 to work on a farm. She was following an ad. I learned later that she was responding to an advertisements put in the newspapers by the Icelandic Agricultural Association. They needed laborers to work on the farms because people, especially women, were moving to the towns. What I saw in the movie was a tremendous cultural shock. The farm was very primitive, and this woman was from a city. There was this great silence. Part of the problem was that they didn’t speak the same language. But it was also true that the farm folk did not encourage these Germans to speak about their experiences.

Are there any autobiographical aspects to the novel?
My family lived for may years in Germany when my father was an Icelandic diplomat. He was very interested in the Holocaust and in World War II. So I sort of imbibed that tremendous interest. And that is woven into the story, everything that had happened in Germany before these people moved to Iceland. And I always sort of carried my origins inside. We were in a kind of exile because it was too expensive to go back to Iceland regularly. I identified with writers like Amy Tan and others who carried their country of origin inside them while living in another country. And I imagine there was a bit of that in these women from Germany.

The tone of the novel has a dreamlike quality. How did you accomplish that?
I don’t know. My tendency is to under-write. I’m a minimalist, so I don’t like to put in a lot of adjectives. Maybe this is because I was first a reporter. I like to pare things down and not add things. I don’t know if that accounts for the dreamlike quality. Everything isn’t spoken. My goal was to show what she was thinking, so I didn’t consciously create a dreamlike quality.

Dark Castle is the name of the farm where the Germans woman goes to stay. How did you come to choose that name?
I wanted it to be a little dark. Although the farm ends up being not quite as dark as she envisions it. Every farm in Iceland is named, and I had heard this name. I may have given it an odd translation. But I imagined that she would picture it as somewhat dark and scary. Maybe that’s why I chose the name.

Congratulations to Wayne Sheldrake’s Instant Karma: The Heart and Soul of a Ski Bum for winning ForeWord Magazine’s Gold prize for Adventure/Sports books. The award was announced today in Los Angeles, and can be seen here on their web site. We are so excited and proud of Wayne’s achievement.

Excellent news, all.

Mike Shay, author of “The Weight of a Body,” writes:

This is wild! The Democratic National Committee has announced that my blog, hummingbirdminds, will be the credentialed blog from Wyoming at the Denver convention in August. I’ll be seated on the convention floor with the state’s delegation, posting the action as it happens. A front row seat, as DNCC Chair Howard Dean says in this announcement: http://www.demconvention.com/bloggercorps/blog-announce-wy.mov (Quicktime file)

Now I’ll have to dust off my coal-powered laptop and get it ready to rumble at DemCon08.

Seth’s The Suburban Ecstasies is forthcoming from GRP next spring. Enjoy this poem now.

Event: Cherry Creek Retirement Village presents a book signing event by Deputy Mayor of Denver and Author Guillermo “Bill” Vidal, who will read from and speak about his memoir ‘Boxing for Cuba’ which chronicles his perilous childhood journey to escape Cuba under Castro’s regime and migrate to the U.S.

Hors’ devours and beverages will be served and books will be available for purchase.

Please RSVP by May14th to 303-693-0200.

Where:     Cherry Creek Retirement Village, 14555 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora 80014

When:     May 17, 2008 from 2:00 pm-4:00 pm

Please join Many Mountains Moving Literary Journal for a salon, potluck and open mic on May 17th, 2008, 7:00 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church 1419 Pine St., Boulder. Featured readers are Sheryl Luna, Catherine Wiley and Eleanor Swanson. Bring poems and a dish to share. Beverages provided. For more information, visit: www.mmminc.org or call Barbara Sorensen at (303) 823-5149. Featured poets: Sheryl Luna, Catherine Wiley, and Eleanor Swanson