Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Katrin Talbot

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WFOP Upcoming Events

Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Cathryn Cofell sends the following news: 

TUES, MAY 13, MOISES VILLAVICENCIO BARRAS AND KATRIN TALBOT, presented by the Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective:  7:00 p.m. at THELMA Center for the Arts, 51 Sheboygan Street in Fond du Lac.   Moises will read from his latest bi-lingual collection, Luz de Todos los Tiempos/Light of All Time, Cowfeather Press. Katrin’s collection Freeze-Dried Love was recently released from Finishing Line Press.  Open mic follows.  Refreshments and good company happening at THELMA.  Visit www.lakepoets.com for more information.

WED, MAY 14, ​ROLF OLSON 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.

SAT, MAY 17, 10-11:30 a.m.  Language of Nature: Poetry Reading and Discussion at Maywood Environmental Park, 3615 Mueller Road, Sheboygan, WI 53083.  Led by Maryann Hurtt, Georgia Ressmeyer, and Marilyn Windau. We’ll read from our own poetry and encourage you to bring 1-2 nature poems of your own, or a favorite by someone else, to read and discuss. $1 donation for printed materials appreciated. Pre-registration preferred (call Maywood at 920-459-3906 for registration and directions).  After the program, tours of the park will be offered, weather permitting.

Monday, MAY 19, 6:30 p.m., Harmony Cafe, Appleton ​ – MARILYN TAYLOR AND MARY WEHNER

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Café, 233 E. College Ave, Appleton on the third Monday of every month except December (the first Monday). Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the featured reader(s), followed by an open mic open to anyone who wishes to read 1-2 poems.

Marilyn L. Taylor, Ph.D., former Poet Laureate of Wisconsin (2009-10) and Milwaukee (2004-05), is the author of six collections of poetry.  Her award-winning poems and essays have appeared in many anthologies and journals, including Poetry, The American Scholar, Able Muse, Measure, Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” column, and the recent Random House anthology titled Villanelles. Marilyn taught poetry and poetics for fifteen years at UW-Milwaukee, and served for five years as a Contributing Editor and regular poetry columnist for The Writer.  She is a member of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission and the Council for Wisconsin Writers Board of Directors.  She recently moved from Milwaukee to Madison, where she continues to write and teach.

Mary Wehner is the author of two chapbooks…or the opposite, and To Sit With Animals, both letterpress editions by Red Hydra Press. Her letterpress broadside The Chinese Painting was also published by Red Hydra Press. She has published poems in print and on-line publications such as Southern Indiana Review, Wisconsin Trails, The Writer Magazine, qarrtsiluni and Verse Wisconsin. Her poem “Broken Shells at Dusk” was published as a lithograph in collaboration with Pollyanna Fernández Fernández, a Cuban artist at Taller Experimental de Gráfica, Havana, Cuba, with the Spanish translation by Maria Vargas.  She is a founding member of The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective, serves on the board of the Council for Wisconsin Writers and was twice a poet in residence at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. She’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poetry and is also a visual artist; her paintings have been on exhibit in several Wisconsin galleries.

SAT, MAY 24, INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED DEAF POETRY TROUPE, FLYING WORDS PROJECT!!  A rare Wisconsin performance, sponsored by The Mill  (A Place for Writers) at the UW-Fox Valley Student Union from 1:30 to 3:00 pm.

What kind of performance does a deaf poetry troupe give? Not a quiet one. Flying Words Project, comprised of deaf poet and signer Peter Cook, and hearing coauthor Kenny Lerner, is known for the vitality of its work. Flying Words uses American Sign Language (ASL), English spoken word, sounds, and movement to bring their poetry to life. This makes their performances uniquely accessible to both hearing and deaf audiences.  The poetry is first written in ASL, and then Cook and Lerner determine how to express just enough words and sounds so that hearing audience members can see the ASL images for themselves. The goal of the Flying Words Project is to play with language. Cook and Lerner expand the concept of poetry by making it active and giving it a physical presence. You can be sure this poetry isn’t your grandma’s poetry—although she would enjoy seeing the performance, too.  Flying Words Project has performed at such venues as the Manhattan Theater Club, New York City; The Green Mill, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Theatre de Lucernaire, Paris; and The Mid-Summer Festival, Cork, Ireland.

Admission is free, donations accepted at the door.  Doors will open at 12:30 for open seating. For more information visit The Mill: A Place for Writers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheMillAPlaceForWriters?ref=br_tf)

TUES, MAY 27 NANCY RAFAL AT APPLEBLOSSOM BOOKS, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh:  Nancy has been writing all her life but poetry became prominent a dozen years ago.  She was the treasurer of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets for too many years but somebody had to do it.  Her writing sweeps from silly to serious with stop-offs for sappy and astute.  She has been published in numerous editions of the Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar, Hummingbird, Free Verse, the Peninsula Pulse, and Wisconsin People and Ideas. The featured readers begin at 6:30 pm. 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 at Caramel Crisp and Café whose inner doors connect with the bookstore.

THURS, MAY 29, NEW POETRY READING SERIES AT THE READER’S LOFT PRESENTS BRUCE DETHLEFSEN, CHUCK RYBAK AND LAURI MCDIARMID:  6-8 P.M., The Reader’s Loft, 2069 Central Ct, Suite 44, Green Bay.   Welcome All! Open to the Public. Open Mic will follow the featured readings.  Wine, water, coffee, light finger food available.  Call 920-406-0200 for more information.

Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011-2012), has two chapbooks, A Decent Reed and Something Near the Dance Floor, and two full-length  books, Breather, published by Fireweed Press, and Unexpected Shiny Things, published by Cowfeather Press. His newest book, published by Little Eagle Press in April, 2014, is Small Talk.  A retired educator and public library director, he lives in Westfield, Wisconsin.  More can be found athttp://www.brucedethlefsen.com.

Chuck Rybak lives in Wisconsin and is currently an Assistant Professor of English and Humanistic Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Green Bay. He is the author of two chapbooks, Nickel and Diming My Way Through andLiketown, as well as two full-length books published by Main Street Rag, Tongue and Groove, Winner of the 2004 Quentin R. Howard Prize in Poetry, and </war>.

Laurie MacDiarmid is an Associate Professor of English and Writer in Residence at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. She is also the author of Float, a chapbook of poems devoted to motherhood and Consolation Prize, a full length book that explores a father’s early death from cancer. Her poems have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, including Antioch Review, Pennsylvania Quarterly, Mochila Review and Carolina Quarterly.

DEADLINES & SUBMISSIONS

Erin Heiling is the new contact person for poetry submissions to The Scene: Oshkosh.  She is very enthusiastic about receiving your poetry with an eye towards publication.  Poets may contact Erin at: artsy_erin@yahoo.com.

Call for Fortune Poems, DEADLINE MIDNIGHT MAY 16 2014:  Contribute a fortune poem to a human Zoltar machine at Art Prom, 2014, a fundraiser event for Stoneboat literary journal and Paradigm Annex Theatre Collective in Sheboygan. The fortunes can be written in poem form, prose form, or whatever form best expresses the fortune you wish to put out into the world. To see what a real Zoltar fortune looks like, go here. Please send your fortune submission in the body of an email (no attachments please) to spyderbyte@aol.com. In the subject line, please write [your last name] Zoltar Submission. Please include your name, address, and phone. No bio necessary. The poems will be printed up on cards and there will be a small fee for prom goers to receive a fortune from Zoltar. We cannot pay you for your work, but please know that your creative effort is going to a good cause, two good causes in fact: Stoneboat and the Paradigm Annex Theatre Collective.  And, while you are at it, come to Art Prom and have some fun from 8 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, May 31. Must be 21 or older to attend. $15 per person, ($25 per couple). For information on how to purchase tickets, visit Art Prom on Facebook or inquire at stoneboat.journal@gmail.com.

Please visit the CWW website at www.wiswriters.org

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More WFOP News for June

WFOP’s Cathryn Cofell sends this:

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Cafe in Appleton (233 E. College Ave) on the third Monday of most months.  Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the featured reader(s), followed by an open mic open to anyone who wishes to read 1-2 poems.

Monday, June 17, 6:30 p.m. – Andrea Potos and Katrin Talbot

Andrea Potos is the author of four poetry collections, including We Lit the Lamps Ourselves (Salmon Poetry, Ireland), and Yaya’s Cloth (Iris Press).  Another collection from Salmon Poetry will be published in 2015.  She has received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association, and the James Hearst Poetry Prize from the North American Review.  Her poems appear widely in print and online.  She lives in Madison with her husband, her teenage daughter and a cockapoo named Penny.

Sample poem:

WOMEN POETS BEFORE ME

Some days I can almost hear

long skirts rustling–

the lanky one with the determined gait,

her cropped, autumn-hued hair shining,

the other with poppies in her hands,

white gown like drapery billowing into the other world

before she goes.

Not muses exactly–

reminders

of what survives–

creation’s flames that gutter,

flare.

Australian-born Katrin Talbot is a violinist, photographer, and poet, who combines her love for music and words in the collection St. Cecilia’s Daze  from Parallel Press. Her poetry has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies and has been nominated for a Pushcart prize. Katrin was a finalist in 2009 for four national poetry prizes—one of which awarded enough prize money to fund a Dairy Queen run. Her photo essay of Schubert’s Winterreise was published as a coffee table book and CD by the University of Wisconsin Press.

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WFOP June News

Here’s June poetry news from Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) PR Coordinator Cathryn Cofell and Poetry Reading Series Coordinator/WFOP Regional VP Sarah Gilbert:

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Cafe in Appleton (233 E. College Ave) on the third Monday of most months.  Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the featured reader(s), followed by an open mic open to anyone who wishes to read 1-2 poems.

Monday, June 17, 6:30 p.m. – Andrea Potos and Katrin Talbot

Andrea Potos is the author of four poetry collections, including We Lit the Lamps Ourselves (Salmon Poetry, Ireland), and Yaya’s Cloth (Iris Press).  Another collection from Salmon Poetry will be published in 2015.  She has received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association, and the James Hearst Poetry Prize from the North American Review.  Her poems appear widely in print and online.  She lives in Madison with her husband, her teenage daughter and a cockapoo named Penny.  

Sample poem:

WOMEN POETS BEFORE ME

Some days I can almost hear

long skirts rustling–

the lanky one with the determined gait,

her cropped, autumn-hued hair shining,

the other with poppies in her hands,

white gown like drapery billowing into the other world

before she goes.

Not muses exactly–

reminders

of what survives–

creation’s flames that gutter,

flare.

Australian-born Katrin Talbot is a violist, photographer, and poet, who combines her love for music and words in the collection St. Cecilia’s Daze  from Parallel Press. Her poetry has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies and has been nominated for a Pushcart prize. Katrin was a finalist in 2009 for four national poetry prizes—one of which awarded enough prize money to fund a Dairy Queen run. Her photo essay of Schubert’s Winterreise was published as a coffee table book and CD by the University of Wisconsin Press.

ON DECK AT HARMONY – 2013 

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Jul 15           Carrie Shipers and Jim Pollock

Aug 19           Carolyn Vargo and Ed Werstein

Sept 19          Karla Huston and Rusty McKenzie

OTHER KEY HAPPENINGS 

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JUNE 12 (WEDNESDAY) DICKINSON POETRY SERIES FEATURES CYNTHIA OLIVER: 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.

JUNE 25 (TUES), APPLEBLOSSOM BOOKS, OSHKOSH FEATURES JANET LEAHY:  The reading takes place at 6:30 pm at Apple Blossom Books, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh.  Janet serves on the board of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.  Her poems have been published in a variety of print and online journals and in anthologies.  Several of her poems have been featured on the website Your Daily Poem.  She has participated in ekphrastic poetry exhibitions in Oconomowoc and at Gallery Q in Stevens Point.  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 at Caramel Crisp and Café whose inner doors connect with the bookstore.

PENINSULA PULSE WRITING CONTEST & LIT/PHOTO ISSUE:   DEADLINE JUNE 28; SEE ATTACHED.   

THE MILL: A PLACE FOR WRITERS:   8-WEEK SUMMER WORKSHOPS BEGIN JUNE 3.  CHECK OUT THE FACEBOOK PAGE FOR DETAILS AT  https://www.facebook.com/TheMillAPlaceForWriters?fref=ts

Please visit the CWW website at www.wiswriters.org

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WFOP Events Listing

Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Cathryn Cofell sends along this poetry events reminder:

Monday, May 20, 6:30 p.m. – Marilyn Potter and Laurel Mills!

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) Fox Valley Poetry Series meets at Harmony Cafe in Appleton (233 E. College Ave) on the third Monday of most months.  Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with the featured reader(s), followed by an open mic open to anyone who wishes to read 1-2 poems.

Laurel Mills is the author of five award-winning collections of poems, including  Rumor of Hope, which won the Encircle Publications Chapbook Contest and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook Contest. Her work has been published in many places, including Ms. Magazine, Yankee, Calyx, Kalliope, and the anthologyBoomer Girls: Poems by Women from the Baby Boom Generation. She is senior lecturer emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, where she taught English and edited the literary magazine Fox Cry Review.

Marilyn Potter’s recent chapbook is Ralph’s Pipes: Poems of Love and Loss. Her work has appeared in Fox Cry Review and Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar.  She is professor emeritus of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  In addition to writing poetry, she enjoys painting watercolors.

ON DECK AT HARMONY – 2013 

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Jun 17          Andrea Potos and Katrin Talbot

Jul 15           Carrie Shipers and Jim Pollock

Aug 19           Carolyn Vargo and Ed Werstein                 

OTHER KEY HAPPENINGS 

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MAY 8 (WEDNESDAY) DICKINSON POETRY SERIES FEATURES MARY GRAY KAYE:  Kaye’s many years of diversified experience find a place in her writing. Her professional background includes newspaper reporting, public relations and corporate travel. Her creative life has produced ghostwritten memoirs, essays, magazines articles, poems and fiction. 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.

MAY 14 (TUESDAY), THE FOOT OF THE LAKE POETRY COLLECTIVE FEATURES BRENT GOODMAN & ADAM FELL:   7:00 p.m. at the Riverwalk Art Center in Fond du Lac.   Brent is the author of Far From Sudden and The Brother Swimming Beneath Me. He lives in Rhinelander, where he works as a creative professional and serves as an assistant editor for the online journal Anti.  Adam is the author of I Am Not a Pioneer (H_NGM_N Bks 2011), winner of the 2011 Posner Book Award from the WI Council of Writers. He is a graduate of UW-Madison & the Iowa Writers’ Workshop & teaches at Edgewood College in Madison, WI, where he also co-curates the Monsters of Poetry Reading Series.  Open mic to follow, refreshments served. The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective holds literary events on the second Tuesday of the month, September through May, temporarily at the Riverwalk  Art Center, 33 W. 2nd Street, Fond du Lac.

MAY 28 (TUES), APPLEBLOSSOM BOOKS, OSHKOSH FEATURES MARY WEHNER:  The reading takes place at 6:30 pm at Apple Blossom Books, 200 E City Center, Oshkosh.  Mary Wehner is the author of …or the opposite, a letterpress chapbook by Red Hydra Press, which also published her broadside “The Chinese Painting” and “Broken Shells at Dusk,” a lithograph in collaboration with Cuban artist Pollyanna Fernández Fernández.  A founding member of Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective, Mary is active in the Windhover Center for the Arts programming and is a board member of the Council for Wisconsin Writers.  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 at Caramel Crisp and Café whose inner doors connect with the bookstore.