POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY

POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY
Click Image to Visit the Pecan Grove Press Web Page for Poetry from Paradise Valley

POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY web page

Poetry From Paradise Valley

Pecan Grove Press has released an anthology of poems, a sampling of works published in Valparaiso Poetry Review during its first decade, from the original 1999-2000 volume to the 2009-2010 volume.


Poetry from Paradise Valley includes a stellar roster of 50 poets. Among the contributors are a former Poet Laureate of the United States, a winner of the Griffin International Prize, two Pulitzer Prize winners, two National Book Award winners, two National Book Critics Circle winners, six finalists for the National Book Award, four finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, and a few dozen recipients of other honors, such as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, etc.

Readers are encouraged to visit the Poetry from Paradise Valley page at the publisher's web site, where ordering information about the book can be found.

Best Books of Indiana 2011: Finalist. Judges' Citation: "Poetry from Paradise Valley is an excellent anthology that features world-class poetry, including the work of many artists from the Midwest, such as Jared Carter, Annie Finch, David Baker, and Allison Joseph. It’s an eclectic and always interesting collection where poems on similar themes flow into each other. It showcases the highest caliber of U. S. poetry."
—Indiana Center for the Book, Indiana State Library

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Pushcart Prize Nominations from VPR for 2008

In December, Pushcart Press will be releasing its 33nd edition of small press literary selections, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Since 1976, editor Bill Henderson has brought added recognition to the many fine small presses and literary journals publishing quality material with his annual anthology distributed by W.W. Norton. Writers whose early works were first highlighted in the pages of the series’ volumes include Charles Baxter, Raymond Carver, Joshua Clover, Andres Dubus, John Irving, Philip Levine, Philip Lopate, Susan Minot, Paul Muldoon, Tim O’Brien, Jayne Anne Phillips, Mona Simpson, and many others.

In recent volumes the nomination process for the Pushcart Prize has been opened to online journals and their editors. I applaud this move, and I encourage further acknowledgment of the high quality of writing found in many electronic publications. Therefore, I am pleased to offer the half-dozen works listed below as the 2008 nominees from Valparaiso Poetry Review for the Pushcart Prize, perhaps again signaling one way to express VPR’s support for the inclusion of pieces from electronic magazines for consideration in the long-standing tradition of this fine anthology.

As I have mentioned in the past when nominating works from Valparaiso Poetry Review for the additional recognition of an award or further publication in any “best of” anthology, I value all the poems and depend on all the poets in VPR. In addition, as mentioned in a recent post (“Thanksgiving Leftovers: Woody Allen, Best Books Lists, and Name Games”), inevitably these sort of selections often are particularly subjective. Therefore, such decisions are not easy.

Yet, I welcome the admirable efforts of the Pushcart Press and Bill Henderson to bring attention to the excellent literary works found in small presses and journals, in print and online. Moreover, I am grateful when an opportunity arises for a few of VPR’s splendid poets to reach an even larger audience and find the greater recognition they deserve through possible inclusion in such an anthology.

A little more than two weeks ago I submitted nominees from this year’s issues of VPR to the Pushcart Press, but I have withheld announcement until after the Thanksgiving weekend. Today, I am proud to announce the six following poems represent the nominations from the 2008 issues of Valparaiso Poetry Review (Volume IX, Number 2 and Volume X, Number 1) to be considered for inclusion in the next volume by the Pushcart Press, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses XXXIV, which will be published in December 2009:


PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINEES FROM 2008 ISSUES OF VPR


J.P. Dancing Bear: “Chiroptera”

Mary Biddinger: “The Last Man She Ever Knew”

Jared Carter: “Dark Transit”

Lynnell Edwards: “Suite for Red River Gorge”

Patricia Fargnoli: “The Swankeeper”

Elise Paschen: “Cicadas”


I congratulate each of these poets, and I wish to express my appreciation to all the contributors whose works have appeared in VPR this past year.


—Edward Byrne, Editor of Valparaiso Poetry Review

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you Ed for this...and for all the work you do for poetry. And congratulations to the other nominees.
Those are fine poems (I've read them all) and I'm honored that "Swankeeper" was chosen to be among them.

Pat Fargnoli

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to everyone!
What a fabulous group of poems.
--Athena Kildegaard