Tag / poetry

by Michael Janairo

2020 Rhysling Award Winners

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, of which I am a member, has just announced the winners of the 42nd annual Rhysling Awards for best speculative poems of the year.

The winners were selected in two categories, Long Form and Short
Form Poems, which were nominated by the members of the organization. From 67 publications. 77 poems in the Short Form category and 49 poems in the Long Form category were reviewed for almost 16 weeks by the membership, which includes award-winning educators, scholars, and poets from a diverse range of literary traditions and specializations. This year, the membership selected the following winners (links to the poems included where possible):

SHORT

First Place
“Taking, Keeping” • Jessica J. Horowitz • Apparition Lit 5

Second Place
“when my father reprograms my mother {” • Caroline Mao • Strange Horizons, Fund Drive

Third Place (tie)
“Creation: Dark Matter Dating App” • , Sandra J. Lindow • Asimov’s SF, July/August, and 
“The Day the Animals Turned to Sand” • Tyler Hagemann • Amazing Stories, Spring 2019

LONG

First Place
“Heliobacterium daphnephilum” • Rebecca Buchanan • Star*Line 42.3

Second Place
“The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly” • Theodora Goss • Uncanny 28

Third Place
“Ode to the Artistic Temperament” • Michael H. Payne • Silver Blade 42
and 
“The Macabre Modern” • Kyla Lee Ward • The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities (P’rea Press)

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by Michael Janairo

Poetry reading at Troy Kitchen, 9/8/19

The Spring 2019 Community Writers Workshop participants. Back row from left, Eliana Rowe, Jeffrey Aaron Stubits, Melissa Hurt, instructor and UAlbany alum D. Colin, Amy Nedeau, Stephanie Nolan, Karin Lin-Greenberg and Phyllis Hillinger. Front row, Linda Berkery, Michael Janairo, Patti Croop and Lynn Trudeau. Missing from the photo are Matresa Flowers, Daniel Gorman, Kendall Hoeft and Annika Nerf.

Check it out: I’m one of fifteen people who recently took part in the New York State Writers Institute Community Writers Workshop and will complete the poetry course with a public reading at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 8, at Troy Kitchen, 77 Congress St.

The event is free and open to the public, and marks the first time that NYS Writers Institute workshop participants will give a public reading.

Read the story in the Troy Record …

by Michael Janairo

Publication: ‘The Tahamaling’ in Mirror Dance

My poem “The Tahamaling” has just been published in Mirror Dance, edited by Megan Arkenberg.

Check it out here.

by Michael Janairo

Publication: ‘Inside Infinity’ in Thimble Literary Magazine

My poem Inside Infinity: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Dots Mirrored Room, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh has just been published in Thimble Literary Magazine, edited by Nadia Wolnisty.

Check it out here.

by Michael Janairo

Now reading: Life on Mars

Best lines so far, from “My God, It’s Full of Stars”:

We saw to the edge of all there is—

So brutal and alive it seemed to comprehend us back.

by Michael Janairo

New poem: ‘A Shooting Star’ in Eye to the Telescope

Screen Shot 2018-10-30 at 9.41.31 PMThank you to editor Colleen Anderson and Eye to the Telescope for publishing my haiku in Eye to the Telescope Issue 29: The Dark.  If you click on the link, you can scroll to the end to read it. The poem is much shorter than even this blog post.

The poem, by the way, was written during my stay at an artist residency in Cadaqués, Spain. So thank you to Catherine and Sergio for making the new poem possible!

by Michael Janairo

SFPA announces 2018 Rhysling Awards

Congratulations to the 2018 Rhysling Award winners!

These are the best speculative poems of 2017, as voted on by members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association (I am a voting member). This was my first time voting for the awards (and my first time being nominated, for the long poem “Instructions for Astronauts.” I enjoyed all these winning poems, and think it’s great that Mary Soon Lee won in both categories, including for a poem published in the same new journal I was published in, Mithila Review.but I still think Brandon O’Brien’s “Birth, Place” from Uncanny Magazine 18 deserves more recognition. You can read it here.

It is especially poignant that the Sara Cleto’s poem was published in the long-time fan favorite journal Mythic Delirium which, after twenty years, closed up shop with its April 2018 issue. The win is a testament to Mike Allen’s vision and talent and hard work.

Out of 83 short poems, and 63 long poems, only three won in each category. Click on the titles for links to the poems to read them. Enjoy!

Short Poem Category

First Place
“Advice to a Six-Year-Old”
Mary Soon Lee • Star*Line 40.2

Second Place
“How to Grieve: A Primer for Witches”
Sara Cleto • Mythic Delirium, May

Third Place
“Gramarye”
F. J. Bergmann • Polu Texni 12/26/17

Long Poem Category

First Place
“The Mushroom Hunters”
Neil Gaiman • Brainpickings 4/26/17

Second Place
“For Preserves”
Cassandra Rose Clarke • Star*Line 40.4

Third Place
“Alternate Genders”
Mary Soon Lee • Mithila Review 9

by Michael Janairo

Thank you, SFPA, for the Rhysling nomination!

My poem “Instructions for Astronauts” has been nominated for a Rhysling Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA)!

The poem was originally published in the Mithila Review along with a video produced by Salik Shah that includes my voice reading the poem. The Rhysling nomination means the poem will be published again, this time in The 2018 Rhysling Anthology of all nominated poems.

by Michael Janairo

National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2017 Awards

IMG_8528.jpgThe National Book Critics Circle has announced today winners of three prestigious prizes and nominees in nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry, criticism and fiction. The awards will be announced on March 15.

  • Carmen Maria Machado’s debut story collection, Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf), is being honored with the John Leonard Prize, which recognizes an outstanding first book in any genre. It is named in honor of founding NBCC member John Leonard.
  • Charles Finch is being awarded the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.
  • The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award will go to John McPhee.
Here is the complete list of NBCC Award finalists:

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