Letter from San Francisco: The Espresso Book Machine, by Guy Tiphane
Today it is possible to walk in the bookstore and ask for a book to be printed and bound as you wait. The machine is also a powerful tool for authors to create and sell books.
So how are the organizers of the $50,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize doing? You might remember the announcement and my piece here on March 28, 2011
What has happened since is the publication of a longlist of almost 150 poems in October. It would have been 150 except that a few were disqualified as they had been published previously. The names of all the poets on the longlist are on the site now, and a Longlist e-Anthology published by Véhicule Press will be made available shortly for free download.
A shortlist followed on November 17. You can check out the 50 shortlisted poets, among whom are several Canadians. Two poems per day from the shortlist are now appearing on the prize site, along with MP3s of most of the poems in the poets' own voices.
The winning poem will be announced Thursday, December 15, at 7 p.m. EST.
An as-yet-unnamed “prominent US artist” has agreed to do a broadside of one of the shortlisted poems. That announcement, too, on December 15. “This is all part of our hope to bring attention to new poetry,” says prize director Len Epp.
© Linda Leith 2011
Today it is possible to walk in the bookstore and ask for a book to be printed and bound as you wait. The machine is also a powerful tool for authors to create and sell books.
Stories will still need to be told, and writers will continue to tell them. It’s not unreasonable to assume that the written word will persist, even if it’s in ways we can scarcely imagine.
Looking forward to getting together with the other festival participants: Todd Denault, Sheree Fitch, Paul Kropp, Rabindranath Maharaj, Andrew Potter, Ami Sands Brodoff, Claire Holden Rothman, Alexander MacLeod, Nigel Thomas, Charles H. Mountford and John Whitt.
THERE IS NO ROOM
FOR SECOND PLACE.
THERE'S ONLY ONE PLACE,
AND THAT'S FIRST PLACE.
-- Inscription on Davis soccer ball gravestone, Hope Cemetery, Barre VT.