Gerald Stern Recommends The Forever Notes

Ploughshares: Winter 2013-2014 

Editors' Shelf 

"These poems are on the edge, yet the poet--or her spokesperson--is always there and there is no doubt that there is extensive reference to the actual life of someone named Ethel. Aside from this, the poems are graceful, song-like and moving. They are elusive and full of longing. It's a pleasure reading them."

Elizabeth Savage Reviews The Forever Notes

Here on Jacket2

Read These Books!

Two of my favorite poetry books right now: 
Jane & Paige or Sister Goose, Twenty-Four Women & Girls by Elizabeth Savage 
and Annotated Glass by Alyse Knorr.

This is amazing, innovative work.

Both books are available from Furniture Press.

Reading with Vasiliki Katsarou at Hunterdon Art Museum

Vasiliki Katsarou and Ethel Rackin
Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6pm
Hunterdon Art Museum First Friday Poetry Series 2013
7 Lower Center St., Clinton NJ 08809
(908) 735-8415

Boston Poetry Marathon

Boston Poetry Marathon
Hosted by John Mulrooney and Jim Behrle
August 16-18, 2013
Cambridge at Outpost 186
(186 1/2 Hampshire St., Inman Square, Cambridge, MA)

On Deck Reading (Vol.1.2) with Hassen Saker and Sue Landers

Hosted by Jacob A. Bennett
Saturday, July 20, 2013, 5pm
330 S. 43rd St, 1R, Philadelphia PA

On Deck is a three-part BBQ-and-reading series, a kind of “summer salon en plein air.” The host, Jacob Bennett, has invited one reader for each installation, and that reader has invited one more reader, who has invited one more reader, for a total of three per event. This invitation process mimics the various networks of friends and acquaintances that a community creates and recreates, organically but conscientiously trading and sharing information and tastes. The second event features Hassen Saker, Ethel Rackin, and Sue Landers, whose bios follow below. The grills (one for veggie-friendly foods only) will go red around 5pm, with the readings to commence at 7pm. Although there will be lagers in the cooler, and snacks on the table, please bring your own grill food and any special beverages you want to drink.

Hassen Saker writes & performs transmedia poetry. Chapbooks include Salem (Belladona*), Crabapples (Furniture Press), & the Sky Journal triptych, which will be published in a single volume from Dusie Press in 2013. She is a sustainable entrepreneur and eco-blogger, as well as a producer, writer and director of documentary video projects at Dog Feed Dog Productions.

Ethel Rackin's first collection of poems is The Forever Notes, published by Parlor Press in 2012. Other recent work has appeared in Colorado Review, Big Bridge, Evergreen Review, Verse Daily, and Zócalo Public Square. She has taught at Penn State Brandywine, Haverford College, and Bucks County Community College, where she is currently an assistant professor. She lives along the Delaware River with her husband and two dogs.

Sue Landers is the author of 248 mgs., a panic picnic (O Books), Covers (O Books), 15: A Poetic Engagement with the Chicago Manual of Style (Least Weasel), and What I Was Tweeting While You Were on Facebook (Perfect Lovers Press, forthcoming). Her latest project is a mash-up of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Gertrude Stein's Making of Americans, and the history of one Philadelphia neighborhood (Germantown). Together, they form Franklinstein. Selections from Franklinstein have appeared as a chapbook from Cannot Exist, as well as in On and On Screen, West Wind Review, and E O A G H. She blogs about her research at susanlanders.tumblr.com.

Reading at Rosemont College

Rosemont Writer's Retreat

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

7:30 PM Gracemere Great Room

1316 Wendover Rd. Rosemont PA 19010

The program will run for approximately an hour and will opportunities for audience Q & A. For additional information please contact Carla Spataro at cspataro

Marc Schuster is the author of The Grievers, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl, Don DeLillo, Jean Baudrillard, and the Consumer Conundrum, and, with Tom Powers, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals ranging from Weird Tales to Reader’s Digest. He teaches writing and literature courses at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Marc is also the editor of Small Press Reviews and a contributing editor for Shelf Unbound. His random thoughts and musings are available on his blog, Abominations.

Kelly McQuain's poems have been featured on National Public Radio and in such journals as The Pinch, Painted Bride Quarterly, Apiary, Mixtape, Mead, Paper Nautilus, and Assaracus. His work has been nominated for Best New American Poets, Best of the Net, and a Pushcart Prize. His short stories have been anthologized over a dozen times. He teaches creative writing at Community College of Philadelphia and writes columns on city life for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Learn more at www.KellyMcQuain.wordpress.com. You can read one of his poems at: http://wearekin.org/author/kmcquain/torn

Autumn Konopka has an MFA in poetry from Antioch University. She is a writing teacher, amateur baker, and stay at home mom. Her poems have appeared in Literary Mama, Philadelphia Stories, the Mad Poets Review, the Schuylkill Valley Journal, Crab Orchard Review, and others. She lives in Glenside with her husband, two wee crazy kiddos, and one ornery cat.

Ethel Rackin is the author of the poetry collection The Forever Notes, published by Parlor Press in 2012. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The American Poetry Review, Colorado Review, Court Green, Evergreen Review, Poetry East, Verse Daily, and Volt. She earned her MFA from Bard College and her PhD in English literature from Princeton University. She has taught at Penn State Brandywine, Haverford College, and Bucks County Community College, where she is currently an assistant professor.