NEW DEADLINE FOR OB PRIZE
335th
DAY OF THE YEAR
DEADLINE FOR OB PRIZE CHANGED
2 December 2011
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Attention, attention! The deadline for the Obsidian Prize in nonfiction has been pushed back 2 months. The new deadline is April 12th and the winner will be published in the fall issue, not the spring. All else stays the same. Two more months to hone those essays. Good luck one and all. See our OB Prize page for details.
334th
DAY OF THE YEAR
HDJ 2011 Nominations for the Pushcart Prize
1 December 2011
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High Desert Journal is happy to announce our 2011 nominations for the Pushcart Prize. Congratualtions to the following:
From Issue #14 published Nov. 2011
In Poetry: "Gap-Tooth Girl" by Melissa Mylchreest. Winner of the Obsidian Award for Poetry.
In Poetry: "Sanctuary" by Cecelia Hagen
For Fiction: "The River Ranch" by William Kittredge
From Issue #13 published May 2011
For Fiction: "Enough of Me" by Joe Wilkins. Winner of the Obsidian Award for Fiction.
For Nonfiction: "Motherhood’s Unlikely Soundtrack" by Jennifer Ruden
For Nonfiction: "Richard Arizona" by Laurie Stone
Congratualtions all.
298th
DAY OF THE YEAR
And The Winner Is...
26 October 2011
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Melissa Mylchreet
Congratulations to Melissa Mylchreest of Missoula, Montana, winner of this year’s $1,000 Obsidian Prize in poetry. Melissa’s poem, Gap-tooth Girl was chosen from over 550 entries from 200 poets. This year’s judge, Oregon Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen, says of the poem: “With a sashay of marvelous music “The Gap-tooth Girl” two-steps down the page. Who could resist this word-tune about a girl whose “hips have/ land in them,” who spins and turns “like a fence-caught feather/ in a gale”? Who would want to be able to resist the artfully rough-edged twang of this compelling poem?”
Melissa’s writing has also appeared in Big Sky Journal, High Country, News, Ranch & Reata and on Montana Public Radio. She received an MS in environmental writing from the University of Montana where she is currently pursuing a MFA and where she teaches poetry, literature and composition. You can read “Gap-tooth Girl” in the print edition, out in November, as well as the back story about how the poem came to be, here on the web edition, also to be out in November.
Once again, Congratulations Melissa.
179th
DAY OF THE YEAR
Video of OB Prize Judge Paulann Petersen reading
29 June 2011
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For all you poetry fans out there, Poets and Writers recently posted a link to High Desert Journal's Obsidian Prize in Poetry judge Paulann Petersen reading her poem "Replenish". The video also features the poem set to music by Portland, Oregon, ensemble Flash Choir.
High Desert Journal is currently accepting entries for its Obsidian Prize for Poetry, poetry inspired by the West. All forms are accepted, from "free verse to haiku to cowboy," and the winning poet will receive $1,000 and publication in the magazine. Submissions are accepted only via Submishmash, and the entry fee for three poems totaling no more than 100 lines is $12.00. The deadline is August 15. We are looking for writers working in or inspired by the West, Big Sky or big city, send us your best work.
To see the video of Paulann reading you can go to the link below and then click on "related content" on the right side of the page:
http://www.pw.org/content/contest_seeks_poems_of_the_west_big_sky_or_big_city
151th
DAY OF THE YEAR
Obsidian Prize in Poetry
1 June 2011
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HDJ is happy to announce that this year the Obsidian Prize in Poetry will be judged by Oregon Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen. Paulann was featured in our winter 2010 issue and is a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University whose poems have appeared in many publications including Poetry, The New Republic, Prairie Schooner, and Wilderness Magazine. She has four chapbooks--Under the Sign of a Neon Wolf, The Animal Bride, Fabrication, and The Hermaphrodite Flower. Her first full-length collection of poems, The Wild Awake, was published by Confluence Press in 2002. A second, Blood-Silk, poems about Turkey, was published by Quiet Lion Press of Portland in 2004. A Bride of Narrow Escape was published by Cloudbank Books as part of its Northwest Poetry Series in 2006. Kindle was published by Mountains and Rivers Press in 2008. Her latest book, The Voluptuary, was recently published by Lost Horse Press.
The Obsidian Prize for Poetry
Through a literary prize, High Desert Journal aims to explore the realm described by poet Jarold Ramsey: "I believe in an ecology of story, memory and imagination as much as an ecology of land." As an organization focused on a specific place, we at High Desert Journal have discovered that a deep hunger of readers, writers, and artists exists for place-based arts and literature. We believe every place has an ecology of story, memory, and imagination that inspires us, connects us to one another and to a place. We want to offer the best of this "ecology" through the Obsidian Prize.
- 2011 Obsidian Prize for Poetry
- Judged by Oregon Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen
- $1,000 prize and publication in the High Desert Journal
- up to 3 poems. 100 line max.
- $12 entry fee
- Deadline: August 15, 2011
- For writers working in or inspired by the West, Big Sky or big city. Send us your best work.
- Submissions are only accepted via SubmishMash. http://highdesertjournal.submishmash.com/Submit
117th
DAY OF THE YEAR
High Desert Journal celebrates 6 + Years of Publishing
28 April 2011
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High Desert Journal celebrates 6 + Years of Publishing
Bend, OR – A release party for issue #13 will be held Saturday, May 7 from 4-6 pm at Atelier 6000. Featured at the celebration is #13 cover artist, Bobbie McKibben and, photographer, Barbara Michelman both from Missoula, Montana. Original works by both artists will be on display and the artists will be present. At 5pm readings by #13 authors will begin and managing editor, Elizabeth Quinn, will announce the winner of the 2011 Obsidian Prize for Fiction.
“After a dozen issues, all of us involved with and dedicated to High Desert Journal are excited to share in celebrating #13 and the bright future of High Desert Journal,” said Managing Editor, Elizabeth Quinn. High Desert Journal #13 is packed with many of the best writers and artists in the West including Rick Bass, David James Duncan, Craig Childs, Mary Sojouner and Kim Stafford.
Food, beverages and music will also be on hand for the celebration of #13. Atelier 6000 is located east of Industrial Way, near the roundabout at SW Wilson and behind the ODS building.
58th
DAY OF THE YEAR
Local HDJ Authors Reading at Friday Art Walk
28 February 2011
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The Nature of Words hosts High Desert Journal, Bend's very own literary and fine arts magazine.
Readings by local authors Anna Roberts, Nathaniel Dunaway, Carol Gift, & Fawn McManigal.
Editor, Charles Finn, & Managing Editor, Elizabeth Quinn will also be on hand.
March 4, 2011 / 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM / The Nature of Words / 224 NW Oregon Avenue
48th
DAY OF THE YEAR
Oregon Book Awards
18 February 2011
posted by Charles Finn | 0 Comments
It's Oregon Book Award time again and you can vote for your favorite. The Oregonian and Literary Arts are sponsoring a Readers' Choice Award. It's a strong field this year, as always, and we're proud to say a few HDJ contributors are on the list. To see the list and vote follow the link below. Winners will be announced Monday, April 25th at the Gerding Theater in Portland.
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BS2G78ZM8/
27th
DAY OF THE YEAR
HDJ Pushcart Prize Nominees
28 January 2011
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HDJ has nominated the following contributors for inclusion in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses XXXVI.
Nathaniel Dunaway, Speak, harsh land, issue 12
Jane Carpenter, What a Blossom Knows, issue 12
Gretel Ehrlich, Moon, issue 12
Maya Jewell Zeller, Because Chunks of my Brother Were Falling From the Sky, issue 11
Joe Wilkins, Bull Mountain Elemental, issue 11
Congratulations all.
25th
DAY OF THE YEAR
Robert Micheal Pyle Comes to Dinner
26 January 2011
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HDJ Hosts Bob Pyle to Dinner
My wife said she saw a little Jerry Garcia. I hadn't got past St. Nick. Regardless, it was a wonderful evening and High Desert Journal was happy to host Robert Michael Pyle "Bob Pyle" to dinner last week. Elizabeth cooked, I baked bread, and Bob with his white mustache, beard and hair, and ample (sorry Bob) belly, entertained. Besides my wife, Joyce, there was Elizabeth's partner, Ed, and Jay and Theresa Bowerman, Jay the naturalist at the Sunriver Nature Center. Gathered at Elizabeth's with the Deschutes River sliding by just outside in the dark, dinner seemed the least we could do, Bob's pair of fine poems appearing in the current issue of HDJ #12.
Bob is perhaps best known for his six books on butterflies, including the Audubon Field Guide to North American Butterflies, as well as his ecological and philosophical, Wintergreen, winner of the John Burrough's Medal, and his long running column in Orion "The Tangled Bank". Bob was in town to give a talk at the COCC campus and promote his newest book, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, the event being put on by the High Desert Museum
Bob rolled in around 7:00 pm. That afternoon he'd been out to the museum to see the live butterfly exhibit (up until March, a must see) and say hello to Ochoco the bobcat, Snowshoe the Canada lynx, and Thomas the otter. Talk immediately turned to previous otters at the museum that Bob had known and Jay had "baby sat". Over hors d'oeuvres Jay told us some stories of the early days at the museum and early otter enclosures that weren't up to otter intelligence and resulting in a number of escapes that the museum (being in its infancy) kept secret from the press. Bob admitted to a long fascination with otters and showed-off his ring, a wedding ring from a previous marriage that his current wife, Thea, generously allows him to wear on his right hand. The ring is a silver band with the image of an otter engraved on it. It should also be reported that Teresa presented Bob with a small magnetic butterfly which Bob attached to the side of his glasses. It came in a handsome home-made paper box and Bob wore it the whole time as we snacked on appetizers.
It was immediately evident that Bob is one of the most kind-hearted and congenial people you could met. His knowledge of butterflies, and nearly all aspects of natural history, is impressive, but there was never the feeling of being lectured to. He listened equally as well as he spoke and the conversation, somewhat surprisingly, only briefly touched on butterflies. Instead talk pooled around such topics as the advent of social media and amount of time children spend (or rather don't spend) outdoors in nature. Bob mentioned an important book on the subject, The Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, its subtitle Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder something none of us at the table had suffered from in our youth. Related to this it wasn't surprising to learn that Bob doesn't watch TV, and hasn't since the mid-sixties, but he admits to falling victim to its addictive powers from time to time, especially when forced to stay in hotel rooms on his book tours. We also talked at length about the title "nature writer" often bestowed upon Bob and others. Many writers in "the Canon" Bob says reject this term, while others have decided to embrace it. Bob didn't come down hard one way or the other, but talked about how nearly all literature can be thought of as nature writing if looked at that way. He mentioned Moby Dick which is taught in many nature writing classes, but no one would ever think to define (confine) Melville to being solely a nature writer. He went on to talk about other books, urban-based, that are full of references to nature. The question that most occupied us, however, and the answer that most eluded us, is where are the new up and coming nature writers? Where is the 20-year-old Pyle, Lopez, Terry Williams, Thoreau? Who is out there celebrating nature? Is all nature writing issue oriented these days? Is nature writing morphing into blogs and rants about environmental devastation? A lot of quiet surrounded these questions, and we came up no names of anyone under 40 writing in the field. It was odd, and a little concerning, almost disturbing. We consoled ourselves with ice cream.
The evening did have to come to an end, and despite the serious nature of much that we talked about there was a good amount of laughter too. Bob had plans in the morning and at the talk the next night we learned he spent the better part of Saturday walking along Mirror Pond watching the ducks. His talk was a slide show of his year researching Mariposa Road, and he signed books afterward. I had him sign my copy of Chasing Monarchs and then had the temerity to ask him if he was a butterfly, "What butterfly would he be and why?"
Overall, it was great meeting him, a great dinner and talk, and if you're out there reading this Bob, I'm still waiting for an answer.
--
Charles Finn, Editor
High Desert Journal
P.O. Box 7647
Bend, Oregon 97708
406-239-1519