Notes from the Journey Westward, my second full-length collection of poems, is featured in the latest edition of The Book Stand at Newpages!
News
Reading with David Gessner, Kathryn Miles, and Many Others
This week you can check out David Gessner’s recently imagined sit-down with the Washington Post over at the always-entertaining Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour. And I’m very excited to be reading with Dave, one of my environmental writing heroes, as well as Kathryn Miles, Simmons Buntin, Cheryl St. Germain, Derek Sheffield, Cynthia Huntington, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, and Bill Roorbach on March 7th at Shattuck Visitor’s Center on the Fenway in Boston, MA!
2012 Montana Book Award Honor Book
Very excited to hear that The Mountain and the Father has been named a 2012 Montana Book Award Honor Book! Lots of great writers–Deidre McNamer, David Quammen, and Timothy Egan, among others–have won or been honored by the Montana Book Award in the past, and this year is no different, with two of my recent favorites, Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post and David Abrams’s Fobbit, winning the prize and being named an honor book, respectively.
Shout-out in the Missoulian
Just ran across this nice shout-out for The Mountain and the Fathers in the Missoulian. Nice to be named alongside greats like McMurtry, Doig, and Ford, and I’m particularly pleased to be keeping company with David Abrams and his wonderful debut novel, Fobbit.
Get Lit!
As an undergrad at Gonzaga University, I always thought of the annual Get Lit! Festival as the main event in the Spokane literary scene. So I’m pretty much beyond excited to be headed back to Spokane as part of the Get Lit! 2013 lineup, which features luminaries like Joyce Carol Oates, Major Jackson, and David Shields, as well as my mentors from graduate school, Kim Barnes and Robert Wrigley.
A Wise, Kind Note
Always wonderful to hear from readers, and I can’t help but share a few lines of this wise, kind note I received yesterday about The Mountain and the Fathers:
My father, like yours, was strong and gentle, but fortunate enough to live into old age. He too carried me in his large hands and on his broad shoulders, but in Iowa and Colorado. We loved each other without words and without bounds, but somehow we remained strangers. Perhaps no man ever finds his father. Thank you for a masterfully written story about your father and all our fathers.
Best Poetry Collections of 2012
Really pleased to see Notes from the Journey Westward on The Scrapper Poet’s list of the Best Poetry Books of 2012. Great company here, including Kathleen Flenniken, Bruce Snider, Johnathan Williams, and many others.
Poem from the New Book
“On the Beginning of Winter in Some Lost Industrial City of the North River Country,” from my latest book of poems, Notes from the Journey Westward, is up in Escape Into Life‘s recent poetry feature. Especially pleased to see my work alongside great work from Karen J. Weyant and Molly Spencer.
Thanks, Mr. Hollowell
Magic City Magazine, out of Billings, MT, always does a year-end issue featuring inspiring people in the area. This year, my old 4th grade teacher, Frank Hollowell, is featured–as is a selection from my memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers, where Mr. Hollowell figures prominently.
Playlist for Notes from the Journey Westward
The official Notes from the Journey Westward playlist–featuring Lucinda Williams, Lucero, The National, Houndmouth, and others–is up at Largehearted Boy!
joewilkins.org 