A Poetic Recap

This weekend, I attended the Austin International Poetry Festival (AIPF) here in my hometown of Austin, Texas. I am proud that my city hosts this annual event, proud that our festival draws poets from all over the world, proud (this year) to have a poem in the beautiful anthology.

During the four-day festival, I participated in three poetry readings (and attended three more), took excellent workshops taught by David Meischen, Scott Wiggerman, Cindy Huyser, Faylita Hicks, and Robert Lee Brewer, and talked with dozens of amazing poets. Unfortunately, I don’t have contact information for all of them, but here are a few you should follow/read/like/fall in love with: Rie Sheridan Rose, Mike Whalen, Joe Brundidge, Liza Wolff-Francis, Allyson Whipple, Patrick Connors, and Shubh Bala Schiesser.

Highlights of the festival included:

The eighth graders from the Texas Schools for the Deaf & Visually Impaired

These students got up on stage at Strange Brew with confidence and humor and voices that stuck with me long after their reading was over. Their performance rivaled those of the professionals.

My poetry reading at Strange Brew on Saturday

I’ve read before, but never more than three poems at a large group reading. This was my first time to have ten whole minutes to share my work with an audience, and I really enjoyed myself up there. It was also a pleasure to share the stage with Chip Ross, Ben Beach, Wade Martin, Ginnie Siena Bivona, Dustin Pickering, Pat Connors, and… the gentleman in the bottom left picture whose name I forgot to write down. He is a great poet! Someone please help and tell me his identity!

The Nerd Read at Austin Books & Comics

Because it was awesome.

It’s not possible to do everything at AIPF, and I know that I missed a lot of poetry and a lot of magic, so if you were also lucky enough to be a part of the fun this weekend, please share your favorite moments in the comments below.

On a different poetry-related note…

This weekend, I also received notification that the new anthology of coffee-themed poems from Kind of a Hurricane Press is now available. It is titled Something’s Brewing and contains two of my poems, “Stained” and “Bittersweet Verse.”

You can order a copy from Amazon or from Kind of a Hurricane Press’s homepage. I recommend reading it in your favorite local coffee shop.

Review: Queste

Queste by Angie Sage
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Queste is the fourth book in the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage. The lighthearted fantasy series began in 2005 with Magyk, which I loved. The characters in the story immediately came to life for me, and the humor Sage threaded into their adventures often made me laugh out loud while reading. I read the next two books—Flyte and Physik—and enjoyed them too, although Magyk remained my favorite. (This is a pattern with me. I always like the first book in a series the best.)

When Queste came out in 2008, I started it, but then I put it down. I tried it again in 2009 and still only made it a couple of chapters before abandoning it once more. I wanted to read it and even had the next book in the series, Syren, ready to go, but for some reason I kept putting it off. This year, I checked the audio version of Queste out of the library and finally made it all the way through the book. (It was a little difficult, after my six year hiatus from the series, to remember who the characters were and what predicaments they were facing, but most of it came back to me as I listened to the story unfold.)

Queste wasn’t a bad book, but it was definitely my least favorite so far. It’s hard to pinpoint why it didn’t hold my attention. I think it just includes too much detail. The story is still good, but some scenes seem to drag on. And there are so many characters that there’s a lot for my brain to juggle. My husband is reading the Game of Thrones series and sometimes complains about needing a character guide to help him keep track of everyone. That’s sort of how I felt with Queste, which is unusual for a middle grade novel. I still want to finish the series, but taking on three more books (plus the extra novellas she’s written in between) feels like a somewhat daunting task. I think audio books is definitely the way to go in this case.

But wait! There’s more!

Even though Queste was not my favorite, even though the writing dragged in places, even if you have no interest in taking on this seven(+) book series, you still need to check Queste out of the library or pick up a used copy. Why? Because Chapter 3 alone is good enough to justify the money spent at Half Price Books or the time it takes to drive to the library, and it can be enjoyed without reading any more of the series.

The seventeen pages of Chapter 3 of Queste include, hands down, some of the best young adult horror ever written. Horror? Yes, horror. But also humor. This chapter, which in my opinion would make an excellent campfire tale or bedtime story for someone who you don’t exactly wish a restful night’s sleep, describes the book’s antagonist as he casts a “Darke” spell and summons a “Thing” to do his bidding. Only, things (no pun intended) don’t go exactly as planned, and the result, both gruesome and gory, is also devilishly delightful.

If you haven’t experienced any of Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap series, I suggest you read Magyk. It’s a good book, and you can decide from there if you want to continue the series or not. If you’ve read some of the series, but (like me) lost your motivation to continue, try the audio books. Queste was read by Gerald Doyle and was very well done. And if you’re not interested in this series at all, but you do enjoy a good spine-tingle now and then, pick up Queste just long enough to read Chapter 3 by candlelight. You won’t be disappointed.

View all my reviews

Upcoming Poetry Readings at AIPF

If you are in the Austin vicinity this weekend, you should come take part in the Austin International Poetry Festival!

The festival takes place this Thursday through Sunday (April 3-6). Along with workshops and events for the registered poets (like myself) there will also be a whole slew of poetry readings held all over the city, and you should attend one! (Or two, or ten.)

Below is a comprehensive list of the City Reads, along with links and addresses to help you get there. It’s a veritable tour of Austin, so if you’re just visiting this weekend, there’s no better way to get to know the city than to go on a coffee-shop-crawl of poetry. There are also a few open mic events, so feel free to bring some of your own poems to share and add your voice to the festival.

In addition to attending AIPF, I am also very honored to be included in this year’s anthology, di-verse-city 2014. My poem, “Full Moon Year,” is in very good company among the work of some wonderful poets from Austin and beyond. The anthology will be on sale during the festival for $15. I’m not sure if all venues will have copies, but you should be able to pick one up at Strange Brew, which is AIPF headquarters this year (and also just a damn fine coffee shop and music venue).

What are you waiting for? Get out your calendar and start filling it up with poetry readings! Here’s the list. I hope to see you there!

[Note: I’ve highlighted the two readings I will be participating in and hope to attend several others as a listener.]

AIPF City Reads 2014

Venues:

Strange Brew – 5326 Manchaca Rd.
Kick Butt Coffee, 5775 Airport Blvd.
Full English Café, 2000 Southern Oaks Dr.
Monkey Nest, 5353 Burnet Rd.
BookWoman, 5501 North Lamar Blvd.
Dominican Joe, 515 S. Congress Ave.
Alpha House, 2111 Chicon St.
Barnes & Noble, Arboretum Location, 10000 Research Blvd.
Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon St.
St. Francis School, 300 East Huntland Dr.
Austin Books & Comics, 5002 N. Lamar Blvd.
Threadgill’s, 301 West Riverside Dr.

Schedule:

Thursday, April 3rd:

12–2PM – Kick Butt Coffee
1-3PM – Full English Café
2-4PM – Kick Butt Coffee
3-5PM – Strange Brew
5-6PM – OPEN MIC – Strange Brew
7-9PM – Di-verse-city Anthology Launch – Strange Brew (I’ll be reading at this one!)
9:45-11PM – Erotica Read – Strange Brew (ADULTS ONLY, 18+)

Friday, April 4th:

10AM-12PM – Kick Butt Coffee
11:30AM-1PM – “Beauty in Languages” Read – Strange Brew
1-3PM – Kick Butt Coffee
1-5:30PM – (3 Reading in a row!) Strange Brew
3-4:30PM – OPEN MIC – Kick Butt Coffee
4-6:30PM – Full English Café
4-6:30PM – Monkey Nest
4-6:30PM – Kick Butt Coffee
4:30-6:30PM – LGBT Read – BookWoman
7-8:30PM – Dominican Joe
8:30-10:30PM – Adult Poetry Slam – Kick Butt Coffee
11PM-2AM – “Mad Macabre” Reading – Full English Café

Saturday, April 5th:

1-3PM – Youth Poetry Slam – Alpha House
11:45AM-1PM – Kick Butt Coffee
12:15-1:30PM – Strange Brew
1:45-3:15PM – Dominican Joe
1:45-3:15PM – Strange Brew
2:30-4PM – Kick Butt Coffee
3-6PM – (2 Back-to-back readings!) – Barnes & Noble, Arboretum Location
3:30-4:45PM – Strange Brew (I’ll be reading at this one. I think I go on first, so if you’d like to hear me read, get there on time!)
5-8:30PM – (2 Back-to-back readings!) Strange Brew
6:30-8:30PM – BookWoman
6:30-8:30PM – Dominican Joe
9-11PM – The BIG READ (All AIPF Featured Poets) – Strange Brew

Sunday, April 6th:

12:45-3PM – Haiku Death Match – Kick Butt Coffee
1-2PM – OPEN MIC – Huston-Tillotson University
1-4PM – Diverse Youth Anthology Launch & Reading – St. Francis School (This is always a really fun event to attend. The readers are published poets aged five to eighteen.)
3-4:45PM – Nerd Read – Austin Books & Comics
3-6PM – Music & Poetry Read – Threadgill’s