Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Karla Huston

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CWW Winner Receives Pushcart Prize

Catherine Jagoe, whose wonderful piece, “A Ring of Bells,” won the Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction also received a prestigious Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Jagoe, a writer and translator who lives in Madison, has an impressive list of writing credits, which can be viewed on her website.

Catherine Jagoe

Here is the Pushcart’s notice about Jagoe’s award:

“A Ring of Bells,” which appeared in The Gettysburg Review issue 27:2 (summer 2014), has been awarded a Pushcart Prize and will be reprinted this coming November in the  Pushcart Prize XL  edition of that anthology.

Here’s what CWW board member and poet extraordinaire Karla Huston said about Jagoe’s prize: “Pushcart receives thousands of submissions each year and to be nominated is an honor but to WIN a Pushcart Prize is huge.”

A double congratulations to this gifted Wisconsin writer!

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WFOP Coming Attractions

Here’s news of upcoming events for the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets:

MON, JAN 12, the WFOP Poetry Series moves to its new home at Copper Rock Café, 210 W. College Ave, Appleton.  We invite you to arrive by 6:45 or earlier to get refreshments and sign up for the open reading, with the featured readers beginning promptly at 7, followed by an open reading.  First up:  Thomas J. Erickson and C. Kubasta.  

Thomas J. Erickson grew up in Kohler, Wisconsin.  He received a BA from Beloit College in English Composition and a law degree from Marquette University.  His poems have appeared in numerous publications including The Los Angeles Review, Quiddity International Literary Review, Mad Poet’s Review, The New Poet, and Slant. , His chapbook, “The Lawyer Who Died in the Courthouse Bathroom” (Parallel Press, 2013) was awarded second place in the 2014 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook Contest.    He is an attorney in Milwaukee where he is a member of the Hartford Avenue Poets.

C. Kubasta attended Wells College and received an MFA in poetry from The University of Notre Dame.  Her work experiments with hybrid forms, excerpted text, and shifting voices. A Lovely Boxwas published by Finishing Line Press in 2013 and won the 2014 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook Prize. Her poems and translations have appeared in numerous journals, including So To Speak, Stand, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Verse Wisconsin, and The Notre Dame Review. Check out her website: http://ckkubasta60.wix.com/ckubasta She currently teaches English and Gender Studies at Marian University, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She lives with her beloved John, cat Cliff, and dog Ursula.

For more information, contact Sarah Gilbert at pses@sbcglobal.net.

​ON DECK at COPPER ROCK:

Feb 16: Andrew McSorley, Melissa Hope Range, Charles Austin Segrest

Mar 16: Richard Swanson and Timothy Walsh

Apr 20: Lawrence University Students

ADDITIONAL READINGS

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TUES, JAN 6 at ​ 7 p.m.:  ​The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in partnership with Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts  presents the FAVORITE POEM PROJECT:  local “celebs” and the audience are invited up to read a poem from a favorite poet (not one of their own).  Check outhttp://www.favoritepoem.org/! THELMA, 51 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI.  The event is free. Refreshments are available.

WED, JAN 14 at 7:00 P.M. DAVID CLOWERS, featured at the DICKINSON POETRY SERIES: On the second Wednesday of every month the Dickinson Poetry Series features a reading by a local or regional poet followed by an open mic and reception. The public is welcome, and admission is free.  7:00 p.m. at the UUF, 10341 Highway 42 in Ephraim.  For more information visit www.uufdc.org or call 920.854.7559.

 THURS., JAN 27, DAVID CLOWERS at CARAMEL CRISP, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh at 6:15pm: We are now reading in the game room beyond the cafe portion of the building. Pick up your edibles, walk on back.  You’ll take a little jog to the left and keep on til you see us. It is not far. The section is cozy and much quieter so we may all hear better. So come early to treat yourself to coffee, dessert or other goodies to enjoy during the 6:15 reading. Tom ​is the ​author of In This Place: Selected Poems 1982-2013, read.  An open mic will follow where participants may read a poem of their own or one that they love.

​ So please come early and treat yourself to coffee, dessert or other goodies to enjoy during the reading which begins promptly at 6:15.  This will allow us time for a few minutes of visiting before Caramel Crisp closes at 7:30. Looking forward to seeing you at the beginning of another wonderful year of POETRY in Oshkosh.

Last Thursdays, 6-8 pm:

​Featured Reader(s) + Open mic at ​The Readers Loft | 2069 Central Ct, Suite 44, Green Bay, WI 54311 | (920) 406-0200 | www.readersloft.com

JANUARY 29  Estella Lauter
FEBRUARY 26  Sarah Gilbert, Mark Falcone
MARCH 26  Bobbie Lovell, F.J. Bergman
APRIL 30 Phil Hansotia, Wendy Schmidt
MAY 28  Tim Walsh, Kathryn Gahl
JUNE 25  Abraham Smith
JULY 30  Ching-In Chen
AUGUST 27  Bruce Dethlefsen, Cathryn Cofell, Karla Huston
SEPTEMBER 24  Marilyn Windau, Georgia Ressmeyer

OCTOBER 29  Steve Tomasko, Jeanie Tomasko, CX Dillhunt

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

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 WED, JAN 7 6-8 P.M. CREATIVE WRITERS’ WORKSHOP, Kress Family Branch Library, 333 N. Broadway, De Pere.  A monthly group gathering of adult writers seeking networking and support.  Bring poems or short prose to read along with copies for critique. 

DEADLINES & SUBMISSIONS

VISIT THE WFOP WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MULTIPLE CONTESTS with differing deadlines, including the 2014 Chapbook Prize, and the 65th Anniversary Contest.  wfop.org

​January 31 deadline for the Council for Wisconsin Writers Awards!  Visit http://www.wiswriters.org/awards.htm for more information.

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CWW Contest Namesake Featured

Wisconsin poet and Council for Wisconsin Writers board member Karla Huston sends this notification:

This is an excellent piece about Norbert Blei, a Wisconsin treasure and for whom one of our awards is co-named:

http://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/bridge-progress

Thanks, Karla!

For information about the contests and deadline — January 31, 2014 — please go to:

http://www.wiswriters.org/rules.htm

 

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WFOP News

TUES, NOV 4 at ​ 7 p.m.:  ​The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in partnership with Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts will present HYBRID: Transported by Word & Image at THELMA, 51 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI. Photographer and artist Thomas Ferrella and poet Sara Parrell collaborate to bring the poems of 43 Wisconsin poets and Ferrella’s images to the page. 

Supported by a city of Madison Blink Grant to support public art, this project went live on May 1 in 39 Green Cab of Madison taxis. HYBRID’s poetry creates a powerful story of human resiliency and connection. In addition to the 10 x 13 laminated single pages in each of the cabs, a folio of the entire collection was created and can be purchased.  Ferrella and Parrell will talk about the making of the Green Cab project. Sara Parrell, Paula Sergi, Mary Wehner and Cathryn Cofell,who are included in the project, will read their and other poems.  THELMA will also exhibit the broadsides of photography and matching poems featured in the project.The event is free. Refreshments are available.  An open-mic follows the featured reader.

WED, NOV 12, 7:00 P.M. LORAINE BRINK, featured at the DICKINSON POETRY SERIES: On the second Wednesday of every month the Dickinson Poetry Series features a reading by a local or regional poet followed by an open mic and reception. The public is welcome, and admission is free.  7:00 p.m. at the UUF, 10341 Highway 42 in Ephraim.  For more information visit www.uufdc.org or call 920.854.7559.

Monday, NOVEMBER 17, 6:30 p.m., Harmony Cafe, Appleton:  JOAN & JEFFREY JOHANNES

Joan Wiese Johannes’s fourth chapbook, He Thought the Periodic Table Was a Portrait of God, was published last fall by Finishing Line press and includes the 2011 regional winner of the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest and award winners in contests sponsored by Peninsula Pulse and Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. Her previously published chapbook, Sensible Shoes, was the 2009 winner of the John and Miriam Morris Chapbook contest sponsored by the AL Poetry Society. Joan agrees with the stage manager in Our Town  who said that only poets and saints truly appreciate life while living it.

In 2013 Jeffrey Johannes’s first chapbook, Ritual for Beginning Again, was published, he received a Pushcart nomination, and was an award winner in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Triad contest. He also won the 2012 Hal Grutzmacher Poetry Award sponsored by Peninsula Pulse, and his poetry has been published in various journals and anthologies. Jeffrey is also an artist and cartoonist, making what he calls “pometoons”, which are cartoon versions of his poems.

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Café, 233 E. College Ave, Appleton on the third Monday of most months. NOTE THAT DECEMBER AND JANUARY ARE EXCEPTION MONTHS!

Featured reader(s) at 6:30 pm, brief open mic after.  For more information contact Sarah Gilbert at pses@sbcglobal.net .

​ON DECK AT HARMONY:

Dec 1, 2015 WFOP Calendar reading with editors Steve and Jeannie Tomasko

Jan 12, Tom Erickson and Christina Kubasta

Feb 16, Melissa Hope Range, Charles Austin Segrest & Andrew McSorley

Mar 16, Lawrence Student Invitational

TUES, NOV 25, PAULA SERGI at the Caramel Crisp, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh at 6:15pm.

We are now reading in the game room beyond the cafe portion of the building. Pick up your edibles, walk on back.  The section is cozy and much quieter.  Paula Sergi enjoyed a career in public health nursing before obtaining an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks and co-editor of three anthologies. She has spent ten years with the Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective to bring a reading series to Fond du Lac.

An open mic will follow where participants may read one or two of their own poems or poems by others that they love.   Come early and enjoy a meal or grab a cup of coffee!  For more information, contact Kay Sanders at rksanders42@gmail.com or Mandi Isaacson at mandiisaacson@gmail.com

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

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WED, NOV 5 6-8 P.M. CREATIVE WRITERS’ WORKSHOP, Kress Family Branch Library, 333 N. Broadway, De Pere.  A monthly group gathering of adult writers seeking networking and support.  Bring poems or short prose to read along with copies for critique. 

NOV 6 & 7:  THE GREAT LAKES WRITERS FESTIVAL AT LAKELAND COLLEGE!  Featured writers Karla Huston and David Jauss.  FREE and open to the public.  Visithttp://greatlakeswritersfestival.org/

DEADLINES & SUBMISSIONS

December 15 deadline for the 2016 Wisconsin Poets Calendar!  Visit wfop.org for more information.

January 31 deadline for the Council for Wisconsin Writers Awards!  Visit http://www.wiswriters.org/awards.htm for more information.

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Writers Festival to Feature Wisconsin Poets

Wisconsin poet and Council for Wisconsin Writers 2011  Christopher Latham Sholes Award winner
Karl Elder will host the Nov. 6 and Nov. 7  2014 Great Lakes Writers Festival at Lakeland College.  Much lauded Wisconsin poet and CWW board member Karla Huston is among featured poets to participate in the event. The festival, to be held  at the main campus north of Sheboygan is free and open to writers of all levels and to members of the public. More information and register information is at http://greatlakeswritersfestival.org/

To read more about Karla Huston, please visit http://www.wiswriters.org/huston.htm.

More information about Karl Elder is at http://www.karlelder.com/.
Way to go, Karla!
Read more about Karla at http://www.wiswriters.org/huston.htm.

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Lots of WFOP News

The following is from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Cathryn Cofell-Mutschler:

Monday, SEPTEMBER 15, 6:30 p.m., Harmony Cafe, Appleton ​ – KATHRYN GAHL & WENDY SCHMIDT

Kathryn Gahl loves red lipstick, home cooking, and vintage clothing. The author of Life Drawing Class, a poetry collection, she belongs to The Poets of Mead (Sheboygan).  Find her stories and poems in many journals, including Margie, Salamander, The Notre Dame Review, and Wisconsin People & Ideas. She dances mad hot ballroom with her second and last husband, Robert–that is, when not playing with her grandson, Leonidas. More at www.kathryngahl.com.

Wendy L. Schmidt started seriously writing poetry and short stories about six year ago.  Since then, she’s been published in numerous anthologies, poetry magazines and websites including No Rest for the Wicked, Lake City Poets, B., Dark Moon Digest, Verse Wisconsin, Literary Hatchet, Twisted Dreams, Rebelle Society, Moon Magazine, Chicago Literati, and most recently was featured in The Horror Writers Association, Poetry Showcase Volume 1. She’s also a winner in the Reedsburg Farm/Art Festival and has several blogs including, She’s Got a Short Fuse and Bumpy Night Publications. She has an author page on Goodreads and is now offering up some spooky fun with her latest endeavor, a Youtube Channel entitled. Wendy L. Schmidt, Phantom Poetess.

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Café, 233 E. College Ave, Appleton on the third Monday of most months. Featured reader(s) at 6:30 pm, brief open mic after.  For more information contact Sarah Gilbert at pses@sbcglobal.net .

​ON DECK AT HARMONY:

Oct 20            Paula Anderson and Mariann Ritzer
Nov 17           Joan and Jeffrey Johannes
Dec 1              2015 WFOP Calendar reading with editors Steve and Jeannie Tomasko

 ADDITIONAL READINGS

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NEW NIGHT!  TUES, SEPT 2, EDWARD SCHULTZ AT THELMA, 51 Sheboygan, Fond du Lac: The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in partnership with Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts begins its 10th season of readings with poet Edward Schultz at 7 pm, accompanied by avant-garde jazz, duo Frank Wildingway on stand-up bass and clarinetist Robert Perry. Edward is founding President of the Driftless Writing Center, Inc., Viroqua, and current board member of Council for Wisconsin Writers. His writing has appeared in dozens of literary journals and anthologies; Atlanta Review, Chronogram, Rosebud, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Willow Review and has received a Contributing Editor’s Pushcart Nomination for his poetry. He has acted as preliminary judge for the Wisconsin People’s & Ideas Magazine poetry contest. Edward works as writing coach, mentor, and facilitates reading and writing workshops.

The reading is free and open to the public with an open mic following the featured reader. All readings take place on the first Tuesday of the month, September through May. For more information contact Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts or marywehner@charter.net.

NEW! FRI, SEPT 12:  Join the Fox Cities Cycling Association on our Moonlight Poetry Ride 8 pm at City Park in Appleton.  This free event will bike through the streets of Appleton in search of sidewalk poetry.  Helmet and lights required – more information at https://www.facebook.com/events/677983958950212/

SAT, SEPT 6, THE BAY AREA SPOKEN WORD POETRY NIGHT FEATURES MARYBETH MATTSON:  Help Barnes & Noble, Stadium District, Green Bay kick off spoken word poetry nights on the first Saturday of each month, 7:00 p.m.  Open to all ages and experience levels, with a special focus on youth, young adults and children. Try your hand at spoken word poetry and get tips from experts!  Singer/songwriter Marybeth Mattson first took to the stage as a performance poet in college. Moving home to Door County after completing college, Marybeth began singing with her mother (folk musician Jeanne Kuhns) before beginning to write and perform her own songs, solo at first, and later with Seth Raddatz. With lyrics that are both poetic and deliberate, Marybeth offers a new twist on the folk genre as she enchants listeners with level and lovely vocals.

 WED, SEPT 10, JUDY ROY featured at the DICKINSON POETRY SERIES: On the second Wednesday of every month the Dickinson Poetry Series features a reading by a local or regional poet followed by an open mic and reception. The public is welcome, and admission is free.  7:00 p.m. at the UUF, 10341 Highway 42 in Ephraim.  For more information visit www.uufdc.org or call 920.854.7559.

TUES, SEPT 23, JANET LEAHY at the Caramel Crisp, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh at their new time of 6:15 p.m.   Janet is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and the American Academy of poets. Her poems have been published in a variety of print and online journals including The Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar, Wisconsin People and Ideas, Fox Cry Review and Verse Wisconsin and several anthologies including Empty Shoes, Echoes, The Clearing Speaks, Goose River Anthology, and Wingbeats II.   Her first collection of poetry was “The Storm, Poems of War, Iraq.”  Poems in her most recent book “Not My Mother’s Classroom” are drawn from her experience teaching in Milwaukee.

An open mic will follow where participants may read one or two of their own poems or poems by others that they love.   Come early and enjoy a meal or grab a cup of coffee!  For more information, contact Kay Sanders at rksanders42@gmail.com or Mandi Isaacson at mandiisaacson@gmail.com

THURS, SEPT 25, READER’S LOFT PRESENTS CATHRYN COFELL, ROBERT VAUGHN & MARILYN WINDAU, 6-8 PM:  The trio will read poems around the theme of  “New Beginnings”  — bring your own to share for the open mic!  2069 Central Ct, Suite 44, Green Bay.   Welcome All! Open to the Public.   Wine, water, coffee, light finger food available.  Call 920-406-0200 or email amy@readersloft.com for more information.

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

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New at The Mill: A Place for Writers

Note that in two of the classes offered, the maximum enrollment is 8,

so don’t wait too long. All classes held at Atlas Coffee Mill (www.atlascoffeemill.com)
425 W. Water Street, Appleton, WI 54911

Monday Nights (7 to 9 p.m.)

1. Poetry Workshop – “Wearing the Mask” Poetry and Persona– with Karla Huston

8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3. 8 students only. Fee is $200.
Contact: info@karlahuston.com

2. Fundamentals of Fiction – with Steve Polansky

10 weeks, 9/15 – 11/17. 12 students only. $250
Contact: smpolansky@hotmail.com

Wednesday Nights (7 to 9 p.m.)

1. Writing Authentically – with Nikki Kallio
8 weeks, 9/24 to 11/17. 12 students only. $200.
Contact: nikkikallio@yahoo.com

2. Poetry Workshop – with Bruce Dethlefsen

8 weeks, 9/17 – 11/5. 8 students only. $200.
Contact: bpdethlefsen@gmail.com

3. English Prose Style – with Steve Polansky

10 weeks, 9/17 to 11/19. 12 students only. $250.
Contact: smpolansky@hotmail.com

Mill Saturday with Abby Frucht

The Tarot of Character” (for fiction and non-fiction writers)
Saturday, 9/13, 9 a.m – 12 p.m. Class fee: $65, which includes lunch, tax and tip and morning coffee.
Class is open to 12

 DEADLINES & SUBMISSIONS

CALL FOR POEMS ABOUT DOOR COUNTY for an anthology to be published in 2015, tentatively titled Soundings: Door County in Poetry.  The Door County Poetry Collective invites poets who have lived, worked or visited Door County for extended periods of time to submit up to 3 poems by September 5, 2014.  We welcome original poems about specific people or places, the topography, the social, cultural, historical or political milieu and/or the “spirit” of Door County. The editors are looking for fresh, accessible poems that reflect many kinds of experiences in this place–from Brussels and Forestville all the way to Rock Island, from the Bay side to the Lake side and everywhere in-between.

Poems may have been published if no fee is charged for re-publication. Poems may be in free verse or forms but they should be limited to one page in 12-point type. Electronic submission in the body of an email or a Word.doc attachment is required (doorcountyanthology@gmail.com). Please put “DC Anthology Submission” in the subject line of your email. Please include a brief (50 word) bio that describes your association with Door County. Questions may be addressed to estella.lauter@gmail.com.

Call for 2015–2016 Wisconsin Poet Laureate!

Beginning August 18, 2014, applications are welcome from individual poets who are seeking the position. Applications may also be submitted by a person who is nominating a poet for the position of Wisconsin Poet Laureate. A complete application package must be sent to the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission at wipoetlaureate@gmail.com no later than October 10, 2014. Application instructions and additional information are available at www.wisconsinacademy.org/newpl.