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Showing posts with label Nasty Women Poets Anthology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nasty Women Poets Anthology. Show all posts
Nasty Women Poets at the Tennessee Williams Festival
Earlier this week, evacuation orders were issued for Santa Barbara County due to the Pineapple Express, a monumental rain storm originating in Hawaii. Storm chasers sure love cute names. If you've been under a rock or don't have a pulse on recent California disasters, such as the big fires and the mudslides in California, Santa Barbara in particular, read my post on Disaster Fatigue from January's La Bloga. Nasty weather was again predicted for this week with 5-10 inches of rain. That's more rain than California has seen in years. I left ahead of Tuesday's evacuation orders. I had already missed one reading of Nasty Women Poets at Beyond Baroque due to illness and wasn't about to miss the event at the Tennessee Williams Festival. The reading last November at Louisiana's State Capital was one worth repeating. What is the Tennessee Williams Festival? A festival that offers something for everyone, especially if you enjoy Southern literature, food, plays, and music. There's even a Stella shout contest. I'm on the road, stopping in Texas for the night in order to make the Nasty Women Poets panel on Saturday. Here's a short video about the festival. Check out the schedule. If you are in New Orleans this weekend, say hello.
This reading by contributors to Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse is by and about women defying limitations and lady-like expectations; women refusing to be “nice girls;” women being formidable and funny; women speaking to power and singing for the good of their souls; women being strong, sexy, strident, super-smart, and stupendous; and women encouraging little girls to keep dreaming. These poets speak not just to the current political climate and the man who is responsible for its title, but to the stereotypes and trials women have faced dating back to Eve, and to the long history of women resisting those limitations. Co-editor Julie Kane, former Louisiana state poet laureate, moderates the reading of 15 incredibly talented women writers and performers.
Nasty Women Poets sign books at the Louisiana Book Festival
Last Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana celebrated its 14th Book Festival. The Louisiana Book Festival puts on a celebration like no other in the country. The night before, there's a party at the State Library with a jazz band, tables of food catered by Mansurs, one of the best restaurants in Baton Rouge, readers and authors, the festival's invited guests of honor. It's such a naughty feeling to be having that much fun in a library. The festival keeps the wine flowing and all the local food and desserts refreshed. I was fortunate enough to be included in book: Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, edited by Grace Bauer and Julie Kane. As La Bloga fans might recall, Grace Bauer is a colleague of bloguera Amelia Montes at the University of Nebraska and Julie Kane is Poet Laureate Emerita of Louisiana.
Louisiana shrimp at the library's author party.
Melinda and Steve enjoying the party
The anthology rocked the house at the State Capitol, where the reading, along with several book festival programs and panels were held. This is the State Capitol of Huey P. Long fame, where the former governor was assassinated. The building also has an incredible view of Baton Rouge and beyond. The timely collection speaks not only to the current political climate and the man responsible for the title, but also to every injustice to women imaginable. Not surprising, many of the poems had the audience joining in laughter. The book contains 215 international contributors. There are readings taking place all over the country, including one at Beyond Baroque February 24.
Julie Kane and Melinda Palacio
The book is so diverse and fun to read that it keeps selling out. I brought Steve and Alison along for the festivities and they were both duly impressed. Of the book and reading, Steve says: "Beautifully strong, self-posessed women, reading poetry that inspires tears of joy and outrage, and leaves me optimistic and hopeful."
View from top of the Louisiana State Capitol.
Poet and English Professor Grace Bauer came up with the idea for the anthology a day before the 2016 Presidential Election. She and co-editor, Julie Kane, put in long hours to get the anthology out as soon as possible. The Louisiana Book Festival was generous enough to feature sixteen poets in a prime time slot and room at the state capitol. It was nice reading to such a large audience. Andy Young closed our set with her beautiful poem about a woman who dances unabashedly on top of her son's casket in New Orleans.
Cheers to all the Nasty Women out there. I'm honored to be included. Much gratitude to the Louisiana Book Festival, especially Jim Davis, Robert Wilson and Rebecca Hamilton for hosting us.
