VERSAL MAGAZINE goes LIVE with a NEW WEBSITE!!!

The new Versal website is now live! After many years of prep and reflection, this site is FABULOUS! Check it out, sign up for the Versal Monthly newsletter on the "about" page, get info on the FEB 2014 event JOURNAL PORN taking place in Seattle, WA for AWP and prepare your own work for submission by subscribing and reading previous issues!!!

http://www.versaljournal.org

VERSAL 11 is out now--order, subscribe, admire, hook this FISH of an issue--a real whale filled with delightful poetry and prose and art

It looks like it was a great great launch the other day when VERSAL 11 hit the stands and celebrated with readings and art in Amsterdam! What does this mean now? Well, YOU can order YOUR OWN copy at: http://www.wordsinhere.com/orderversal.html

And here are a few great pictures by one of Versal's poetry editors Anna Arov from the Versal 11 launch:

Anna Arov and Jane Lewty hold up new ISSUE 11 of VERSAL Journal at the Amsterdam launch

Editors Daniel Cecil and Shayna Schapp readind selections at the VERSAL 11 launch

Live drawing of astronaut during Versal 11 launch by The London Police

On sale now! Anna Arov (right) with others selling and admiring copies of VERSAL at the issue 11 launch!

Editor in Chief and founder Megan Garr has spearheaded her team into creating yet another journal of amazing writing and art. It is Megan's energy and talent and commitment to literature that have brought this into this world! I, personally, am really really proud to have been part of those selecting the poetry for this gorgeous issue! THANKS also to the AUTHORS AND WRITERS who contributed work to this issue and to those who keep versal going by SUBSCRIBING, donating and getting issues for themselves and friends--thus keeping that money part flowing!

Keep up on all things VERSAL by:
Following the Versal Blog at: http://versaljournal.blogspot.fr/
"Like" versal on FB at:
Check in on the WordsInHere site from time to time at: http://www.wordsinhere.com/

VERSAL welcomes subscribers and reviews for the new issue
We will be back accept submissions for Versal 12 from mid-Sept 2013 onwards. Get a copy of issue 11 to see how your work might also fit our magazine!: http://www.wordsinhere.com/orderversal.html

Review excerpts of past issues:
Versal 10 is a stunning powerhouse of contemporary writing and art—one that reflects the commitment of its editors, writers, and readers, and shows us how much there is to celebrate, how much there is to notice, how much to believe.
— Callista Buchen, The Review Review

Versal is the best literary journal in English coming out of Europe.
— Penelope Fletcher, founder and owner, The Red Wheelbarrow, Paris

Listed among the "top indie innovators" in Poets & Writers Magazine, November/December 2010

The Versal 11 launch poster from the May 30th event.

VERSAL MAGAZINE invites you out for some "Beer-Drenched Poetry in Amsterdam" on the 27th of March 2013!

This is just a quick reminder that Wednesday, March 27th is the third edition of VERSAL MAGAZINE's This Is Not A Reading Series. The theme: Biertjes and Barrel-Aged Poetry.

IN AMSTERADAM--Our beer-themed event will feature American poets Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Dot Devota, Brandon Shimoda, and Zachary Schomburg. Beer will be provided by Oedipus and Butcher’s Tears. We’ll also have our first musical guest Seamus Cater playing folk music about alcohol. It’ll be a hell of a night, and a screamer of a morning. 

 

A rare chance to see some of the USA's best emerging poets and some of Versal's finest contributors - and to drink beer at the same time.

This is Not a Reading Series will take place at Lost Property, De Leeuw van Vlaanderenstraat, 1061 CR, Amsterdam. Doors will open at 19:30 with a start time of 20:00. Entrance is free.

 

For bios of our visitors, visit us at http://www.wordsinhere.com/program.html

 

 

VERSAL Magazine 11 WANTS YOU!

Last chance to send your work to Versal 11!

Amsterdam's acclaimed literary & arts journal, Versal, is now reading for its 11th edition. Its editors are looking for excellent prose, poetry, art and the declassified "inbetween".

Guidelines and submissions here: http://www.versaljournal.org/guidelines. A $2 submission fee applies--BUT: Pre-order Versal 11 when you submit and we’ll waive the fee. FYI: that fee goes to paying authors and keeping Versal afloat.

For a close look at Versal's tastes, purchase the current no. 10 or a back issue: http://www.versaljournal.org/order. The review is GORGEOUS and packed with excellent prose, poetry and artwork.

The deadline for submissions to Versal 11 is January 15, 2013.

Also--feel free to LIKE us on FACEBOOK--where you can also see pictures of the Versal editors drawing, pasting and all around making CIRCLES in issue 10 (me included!)  https://www.facebook.com/versaljournal?ref=ts&fref=ts

Photo from Versal FB page

 Also--follow the VERSAL BLOG at  http://versaljournal.blogspot.fr/

Check out also the lovely VERSAL 10--the gold issue--video!  http://www.wordsinhere.com/versalten.html

IVY WRITERS new venue: CAFE DELAVILLE in Paris!

Anne Kawala, Esther Salmona et Heather Hartley will give a bilingual reading for IVY WRITERS PARIS on the 29th of May 2012 at 7:30pm and in a totally new, exciting spot for IVY--CAFE DELAVILLE! (see their site for full info on them: http://www.delavillecafe.com/index.php) 

 

You will come in past the fabulous outside terrasse and go up a set of stairs stopping for a GREAT drink at the bar and then will take to the lovely staircase at the back (shown here at left) Upstairs, all will be light, laughter and poetry! Hope you can join us! 

 

IVY WRITERS PARIS, 

Tuesday the 29th of May 

7:30 pm 

At:  CAFE DELAVILLE 

(up-UPSTAIRS)

34, bd Bonne Nouvelle
Paris, 75010

Metro Bonne Nouvelle

(ou 10 min à pied de Strasbourg St Denis)

For full info: see our blog post with bios at: 

 http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.fr/2012/05/anne-kawala-esther-salmona-et-heather.html

 

Also, for anyone dying to get their hands on the beautiful GOLD issue of VERSAL, that is the VERSAL 10 anniversary issue, it will be on sale at IVY! Or else you can get your copy directly online (and see Versal's fun promo video at: 

 

http://www.wordsinhere.com/versalten.htm

 

VERSAL 10 showcases work by the authors listed here--and MORE!:

Versal Magazine Special Pre-Order Offer!

As many of you know, I work with the wonderful staff on VERSAL MAGAZINE out of Amsterdam. This literary review is jam packed with amazing writing, but is also a fabulous example of lit mag design, with artwork and also excellent layout throughout. An object to delight the eye and mind!! (see our website for lots of info: http://www.wordsinhere.com/)

So, I am writing a little post here to ask that you consider preordering the next issue and thus both supporting the continuation of the review while also getting for yourself a great book of prose, poetry and artwork!!!! What's more, your order gets you TWO copies--the newest issue plus a backissue!

Click here to order your 2 issues!:

http://www.wordsinhere.com/preorder.html

The issue launches at the end of April, so do ORDER NOW to benefit from this fab offer, and to help us with the costs of the future issue.

Also, if anyone is in Amsterdam at the end of April, do attend the newest issue's launch!
Which is LITERARY DEATH MATCH, AMSTERDAM with Opium

http://www.literarydeathmatch.com/upcoming-events/april-28-2011.html

See the website for full info on that! April 28th 2011!!!

Feel free to pass this info on to everyone you know!!!

Also, for those of you who have yet to submit work to Versal, we will be accepting new work next fall! So get your copies now to get an idea of what we are looking for, then send us work next fall!!!!

Versal: launch of issue 8 & special "early bird deal" NOW!

ANNOUNCING:

As some of you may know, I work as one of the many poetry editors for an Amsterdam-based international annual literary journal, Versal. It's a beautifully-designed publication with poetry, short prose and artwork. We're coming up to publication of our 8th issue the first I have been a part of as a reader, (and which is launched on May 8th at the Sugar Factory in Amsterdam--and will be a LOT of fun if you are in that city!: http://versaljournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/versal-8-launch-party.html). Versal is entirely volunteer-run and self-funded, and also puts on events and workshops for the literary community in Amsterdam throughout the year. The whole thing is held together through sheer hard work, spearheaded by editor Megan Garr, who started Versal eight years ago.

THE DEAL / THE REQUEST FOR HELP:

We are hoping to fill our meagre coffers a little before the printing bill for Versal 8 arrives, so we're encouraging our supporters to pre-order a copy of Versal. If you do, not only will you be helping Versal (and a literary community) to keep going, but you will also have a handsome literary journal to read, admire and show to friends. AND if you order before May 8th you will get free delivery of the journal anywhere in the world.

SO:
Pre-order Versal 8 and have it shipped anywhere, FREE
http://www.wordsinhere.com/orderversal.html
Help us pay our printing bill by ordering Versal 8 ahead of time! Plus, you'll get free shipping to anywhere in the world.
http://www.wordsinhere.com/orderversal.html

Proud to be part of Versal Magazine

It has been a wonderful experience this fall to be part of Versal magazine, to be involved, as I currently am, in reading submissions for issue 8, submerged in the reading of poems by writers all over the globe. And to be part of a wonderful group. It was great to go to Amsterdam in Holland last spring and read at the Sugar Factory, and then to return last week to Amsterdam and then to Utrecht to read with the great group of authors and musicians pictured at the left here: me (top left), rufo quintavalle (top right), jobic(next step down, left), anna arov (our fearless MC and organisatrice of Salon des Mots, at right), john betsch (next step down left), amy hollowell (at his right), unknown blonde (sorry, we chatted, but I forget her name, does it start with an M?, and she wasn't performing!!! bottom left) and arturo from Aruba (bottom right). We had a great night of poetry, prose, jazz, wine, conversation, laughter.

It is not easy to make people work together. And when it comes to art, the way people's brains shoot roots out every which way can make teamwork even more difficult. So that is why Versal is surprising me, too--for the group is vey tightly knit, thanks to the efforts of Megan Garr, and the lines of dialogue are open.

I think it is for this reason Versal keeps finding itself lauded for its accomplishments and on its past issues (I know, I was not part of the staff for these, but I am the proud contributor of translations of poems by Albane Gellé in Versal 7). For example, this fall Versal has not only been awarded a Best Of Amsterdam prize, but was just reviewed online at New Pages. Check out what others have to say about the magazine! http://www.newpages.com/magazinestand/litmags/#Versal

Oh, and if you have not yet submitted, you still have a chance. So get on that!!!! (Dust off the ol' manuscripts on the shelf and fling some pages our way!)

We're (and I am) looking forward to reading you!

Evening Time is Reading Time... Utrecht, Holland

My favorite photo from this past weekend's trek to Amsterdam and Utrecht is the one of 2 twin signs along a small road in Utrecht. Attached to...? It appeared to just be a house. And don't we all agree with the inhabitant's message?

It made me feel like getting out an old lantern and curling up on a warm comfy chair with a blanket over me and a big, old, bound book whose spine would creak just a little when I opened it.

Versal is OPEN for submissions!!!

Versal magazine's official call for submissions for issue 8 has gone out! I am very proud to be joining the Versal poetry staff in Amsterdam this year, along with Matthew Saddler in NYC. We will be two of many readers who will peruse your poems! There are also an exciting handful of careful, excited fiction readers impatiently awaiting YOUR texts! So, if you have slaved away this summer, it was not for naught--check out the guidelines and send your work into Versal:

Versal wants your poetry, prose, and art for its eighth issue due out in May 2010. Internationally acclaimed literary annual published in Amsterdam, bringing together the world's urgent, involved & unexpected.

See website for guidelines and to submit:
http://versal.wordsinhere.com

Inquiries (only) can be directed to: versal@wordsinhere.com

Deadline: January 15, 2010

Please feel free to forward & post this call into your networks. Versal looks forward to reading your work!

Forthcoming Writing Workshop in Amsterdam

I will be off to Amsterdam again with the Words In Here folks this October! If you are interested in signing up for one of their "master classes" workshops, or the one I am going to teach, the full program is online at http://www.wordsinhere.com/ and below is info on my workshop in particular. Sign up now to get a spot!!!

Registration deadline: Wednesday, September 16 2009

Open house to find out more this weekend at:
The English Bookshop,

Lauriergracht 71

Amsterdam
3 MASTER CLASSES are offered this fall as part of the program "WORKSHOP: Practical tools for mastering your craft".
Program & Registration Fall 2009:
I) Poetry: A Work in Progress with Kate Foley
II) Writing Memory: Into the Poem, Flash Fiction or Multi-Genre Works with Jennifer K Dick
III) Short Fiction Putting on the Polish with Michele Hutchinson
These workshops have been developed specifically for the writer who is ready to hone and develop his/her skills further, or who is on the verge of submitting work for publication. All of our teachers are dedicated to creating an open, relaxed atmosphere to explore the possibilities of your work and the opportunities that await it. Cost: €150, €135 (CJP/students/65+)
All workshops are spread over two days .

My course:

Writing Memory: Into the Poem, Flash Fiction or Multi-Genre works
Friday, 9 October, 19h00 – 22h00; and Sunday, 11 October, 12h00 – 17h30

This workshop will explore the variegated ways of putting our selves as re-membered onto the page—that is, not just our memories but how the formal (be that collaged, rhythmed, or as a tale) ways we put memories into writing reaches beyond us, remakes us, and our imagined alter-egos, in the writing. We will make use of old letters/emails/blog entries, journals, scrapbooks (if you desire), photos, and the memories we often hide. Exercises will focus first on exploring narrative (aspects of storytelling in poetry and short prose and how line break plays into that), then on formal meter and prose rhythm as a way to reflect and echo sounds and thus pasts. Finally, we will move into an exploration of more radical forms of collaged, postmodern even mixed genre work. In our 3 short days together, you will end up writing a series of small memoir works in either poetry or prose, and perhaps work towards or even complete a longer piece. You will certainly leave with a handful of tools, ideas and techniques you can maneuver in your own ways when you return to work on your prose or poetry after this workshop. Writers we’ll look at include Michael Oondaatje, Claudia Rankine, Eleni Sikilianos, Marilyn Hacker, Joan Retallack, Lyn Hejinian, Truong Tran, Laura Mullen, Czeslaw Milosz, Bhanu Kapil, Susan Howe, Arthur Sze, Myung Mi Kim, Brenda Hillman, Douglas Oliver, Alice Notley and a variety of texts from the Chain magazine Memoir and Letters issues. I hope you will all enjoy trying out some new methods for tackling old experiences. Please bring either a few old letters/emails, a journal/set of blog posts or scrapbook as base materials to the first course. This workshop is aimed at all writers, writing at any level, but is especially useful for those midway through a first or second book, or those who feel stuck and like they need to stretch their perspectives of what they can do in language at this point. This workshop is led by Jennifer K. Dick.

HOW TO REGISTER
Complete the form at The English Bookshop at Lauriergracht 71, 1016 RH Amsterdam before Wednesday, September 16.

OR register online at:
www.wordsinhere.com/register.html

Payment can be made at The English Bookshop through cash or PIN, or can be made by bank transfer.

Announcing my reading with VERSAL n° 7 in AMSTERDAM

A Special Invitation to the launch of Versal 7: Way More than Wordsinhere!

Produced by the crew at wordsinhere and hosted by the Sugar Factory, the launch party will include live readings from contributors including Jennifer K. Dick and Rufo Quintavalle, as well as live music from Amsterdam-based Zorita and DJ Iron Melon. Berlin’s Fergus Rougier will perform his stunning reinvention of cabaret.

Date: Friday, 15 May
Place: Nachttheater Sugar Factory; Lijnbaansgracht 238, Amsterdam
Time: 20.00; doors open 19:00
Language: English
Please RSVP to press@wordsinhere.com by May 13 to secure free entrance for you +1 on our guest list!
Info: http://versal.wordsinhere.com

As in previous editions, the writing and art in Versal 7 is resolutely international, and above all distinctive for its lack of defined borders. Its contributors hail from around the world, and many of them identify with multiple cultures and aesthetics. Numerous countries are represented, but what stands out is that Versal as whole continues to represent translocal intersections and cross-cultural artistic dialogues.

Versal 7 Contributors include

Agustina Bazterrica,

Emily Carr,

Jennifer K. Dick,

Joel Fishbane,

Albane Gellé,

Elizabeth Gross,

Alex Kanevsky,

Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé,

Yeni Mao,

Trey Moody,

rob mclennan,

Rob McClure Smith,

Mary Miller,

Sawako Nakayasu,

Rufo Quintavalle,

Peter Shippy,

Nicole Walker

and

Mark Wisniewski.

Versal 7 will be on sale throughout the night for a special price, courtesy of The English Bookshop. Thereafter it will be available at select bookstores in major cities around the world, as well as online at http://www.wordsinhere.com/.