Two Sylvias Press Spring Newsletter
Jane Hirshfield joins us AND our Poetry Retreat is back!
Hello Friends,
We hope you are having a great spring season filled with inspiration! Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter—it’s filled with creative opportunities for you and your writing: our annual Online Poetry Retreat is back; award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield will join us for a Zoom conversation; our Chapbook Prize is accepting submissions; and we have just released a new book in our Wilder Prize Poetry Book Series!
Two Sylvias Online Summer/Fall Poetry Retreat
It’s back for the 9th year! Our annual (and popular!) Online Summer/Fall Poetry Retreat is open for sign-ups: https://twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html
Sign up and participate in the Two Sylvias Press online poetry retreat! Have one of your poems critiqued by Diane Seuss, Traci Brimhall, January Gill O'Neil, or Jennifer K. Sweeney for the summer sessions. Fall session poems will be critiqued by the editors of Two Sylvias.
We send you poetry prompts, exercises, and example poems to inspire your writing—ALL VIA EMAIL.
Dates:
July 1 - July 28 (July Session)
August 5 - September 1 (August Session)
October 7 - November 3 (October Session)
Choose the session that best fits your schedule and sign up! Space is limited! Please visit our website to register: https://twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html
Exciting News from the Weekly Muse: Jane Hirshfield Joins Us!
Become a paid subscriber of the Two Sylvias Weekly Muse so that you can sign up for our Zoom salon/conversation with Jane Hirshfield on July 29th at 5pm PST.
Jane Hirshfield is an award-winning poet, essayist, and translator, known for her profound and contemplative work. She is the author of numerous poetry collections, including The Beauty, and Ledger, and her essays have been compiled in Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World. A Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Hirshfield's work often explores themes of nature, spirituality, and human connection. Join us for an enriching evening with one of contemporary poetry's most influential voices.
Become a paid subscriber to the Weekly Muse to participate in our Zoom session with Jane Hirshfield.
What is the Two Sylvias Weekly Muse?
Each Sunday in your inbox you will receive:
Access to our Zoom Poetry Series, which kicks off this season with Jane Hirshfield, followed by Danusha Laméris, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Gloria Burgess, Melissa Studdard, Kelli Russell Agodon, Ruben Quesada, and Jane Wong
A Poetry Exercise and a Poetry Prompt
Ask the Editors Column and Exclusive Interviews with Well-Known Poets
A Creativity Reflection Question for Journaling
Where to Submit Your Work—a list of journals and book/chapbook prizes that are currently open for submissions
Inspiration and Helpful Tips on Living Life as a Creative Person—the latest information and studies on creativity, art, and writing
Insider Info on Navigating the Publishing World
An Optional Facebook Group Providing Community Support
You can click below to read a recent issue of the Weekly Muse for free:
https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/p/two-sylvias-weekly-muse-april-7-2024
Now Available: Horns by Tiffany Midge (Winner of the Wilder Poetry Book Prize)
Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Brooklyn Rail, First American Art Magazine, World Literature Today, McSweeney’s, and more. Midge’s previous poetry collection The Woman Who Married a Bear won the Kenyon Review Earthworks Indigenous Poetry Prize and a Western Heritage Award. Her books of essays include Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s (Washington State Book Award finalist), and The Dreamcatcher in the Wry (forthcoming). Midge is a columnist for High Country News.
“Tiffany Midge’s Horns is a comedic romp and a razor-edged burlesque, with seriousness in its bones. Midge’s cast of characters, drawn from pop culture, history, and literature in equal measure, is epic, from the Maiden on the Land O’Lakes Butter Box to Martha Stewart to Corpse Bride, the Girl Scouts of America to Satan himself. Her structures are as abundant as her performers. There are lists, outlines, contemporary ghazals and sonnets, interviews, statistical round-ups, and marriage vows. There’s nuance, too, and spot-on moments of lyricism: ‘Her dresses, hung in the closet like sides of beef,’ she writes in one poem. And at the end of ‘Matrimonial Vows for Cannibals:’ ‘I will savor your brain for last, that soft, sweet rind, / your edible, desirable, loveable mind.’ True to its title, Horns is sharp, dangerous, and melodic, a collection that resonates with joyous critique.” —Diane Seuss, author of frank: sonnets and Modern Poetry
Click here for purchasing information for Horns: https://twosylviaspress.com/horns.html
*****
Congratulations to this year’s Wilder Prize Winner, Eve Alexandra for her manuscript, None of Us in White!
Eve Alexandra’s first book The Drowned Girl was selected by C.K. Williams for the Wick Poetry Prize. Alexandra’s poems have appeared in Narrative, Barrow Street, Harvard Review, and The American Poetry Review. Most recently she was the invited guest poet for the inaugural issue of Hog River Press. She teaches creative writing and gender and sexuality in literature at the University of Vermont.
Look for None of Us in White to be published in Spring of 2025.
The Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize—Ending Tomorrow!
Judge: Oliver de la Paz
Last day to submit your manuscript: May 31st (Friday at Midnight)
Winner receives $500, chapbook published by Two Sylvias Press, and an amethyst depression glass trophy
Past Winners: Cecilia Woloch, Jasmine An, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Hiwot Adilow, Stella Wong, Christopher Salerno, Meg Griffitts, Saúl Hernández, Majda Gama, and Andrew Robin
Please visit our website for guidelines: https://twosylviaspress.com/chapbook-prize.html
Thank you so much for your support of our small press!
Please visit our Two Sylvias website: https://twosylviaspress.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twosylviaspress/
Find us on Twitter: @twosylviaspress
Contact: twosylviaspress@gmail.com
Happy Writing!
Kelli & Annette
Kelli Russell Agodon & Annette Spaulding-Convy
Cofounders & Coeditors of Two Sylvias Press
Just signed up for July poetry workshop. I am looking forward to it.