February is here, and until now cresting the 2 ½ year mark as a publication and getting through the past 3 ½ months without a cigarette completely slipped my mind because here at Connotation Press we’ve been busy: crazy-busy. Horrifyingly busy. Putting out a bi-weekly with about ten regularly contributing columns and another five or six getting restructured will keep just about anyone busy enough. But add in our commitment to be a presence at the upcoming AWP conference in warm and sunny Chicago with one off-site and one on-site reading and a booth at the book fair and we’re Screaming-Killer Bee busy (it could happen!). And while I’m on the topic, thanks again AWP folks for choosing another balmy winter playground for the convention this year. Apparently, Greenland was sold out.

We have two events that promise to be a good time coming up in Chicago. Our off-site reading event will take place at a gorgeous little tavern in the Publisher’s Row neighborhood of Chicago about a five to seven minute walk from the main AWP convention center. This reading takes place THURSDAY, March 1st. Here are the deets:

Although there are some inevitable lineup changes for an event of this kind, here is the current schedule of the Connotation Press contributors locked into this event:

 

Natasha Trethewey, Campbell McGrath, Carol Frost, James Harms, Dan Albergotti, Keetje Kuipers, Susan Tepper, Robert Vaughn, David Tomaloff, Kona Morris, Len Kuntz, Andi Stout, Cindy Zelman, Less Busby, Amy Monticello, Bill Yarrow, Adam Sorkin, Sandy Longhorn, Nancy Reddy, Ben Tanzer, Chole Caldwell, Anna March and more. Additionally, Connotation Press editorial staff members Meg Tuite, Nicelle Davis, Mari L’Esperance, John Hoppenthaler, and Stephanie Brown will be reading, as well. This promises to be a blast and we hope a grip of you will attend.

 

We’re all excited for this upcoming event, no question about it, but here’s the thing: over the past two and a half years we’ve published over 1000 artists. We have about 30 available five-minute time slots for the off-site reading. How in the hell is anyone supposed to choose just 30 artists from well over a 1000? It’s been interesting…yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for, interesting. Fortunately for me I have an unbelievably talented staff that made most of the choices, and for that I’m a grateful guy.

 

In addition to the off-site reading, Connotation Press and our dear friends at the Tusculum Review have once again teamed up and reserved an entire booth this time, #811, for the conference. Why would an online magazine have a booth at AWP? What could we possibly have to contribute to the cacophony that encompasses the exhibit floor? Well, we make no money so we have no exciting and cool giveaways. We have nothing to sell as we currently print no books. But what we do have are artists—MILES and MILES of artists. And a lot of those artists have books out. It came to my attention that many didn’t have a place to do a book signing for the books they currently have out with other presses. We thought, hey, why not us? We can offer free space for writers with books that need a place to sign and sell them. Why not? Here is a short but growing list of artists that will be signing their books at the AWP Connotation Press/Tusculum Review booth:

Susan Tepper, Meg Tuite, Robert Vaughn, Mari L’Esperance, Stephanie Brown, Nicelle Davis, John Hoppenthaler, and Jason T. Lewis, will be signing books with us, and the list is growing daily.

 

If you’re an artist published at any time in the past 2 ½ years with Connotation Press and need a place to sign books at the conference in Chicago, let me know ([email protected]) and I’ll do what I can to schedule some time for you at our table until all the slots are filled. The more the merrier!

 

Finally, and that should be enough, one would think, of a presence at AWP for any online lit mag of our size, but no! A Poetry Congeries with John Hoppenthaler will be having an on-site reading at the convention Saturday morning at 9:00AM with Camille Dungy, David St. John, Mihaela Moscaliuc, Brian Turner,  and Anna Journey. WOOHOO! John has done some outstanding work with his column over the years, and continues to do so every month without fail, and this will be the event wherein I will be able to relax, take a breather, and hear some of the strongest poetry this country has to offer.

 

I have always been simultaneously humbled and thrilled at how well my little publishing idea has gone over throughout the run of Connotation Press. And I am entirely dumbfounded by the talent and passionate editorial staff that devote their time and energies here at ConPress for the greater good. Because the world needs art. Because writers are totally f’ing cool. And because if we don’t, who will? But what really blew me away these past few weeks is that we completely filled our off-site reading with unbelievably talented artists, and in fact we were getting requests to be part of this event even before announcing the event publically-- just from stirrings in the rumor mill. Amazing.

 

We’re all looking forward with great anticipation to seeing and meeting and partying with you guys in Chicago, but until then, as is our custom, let’s kick this pig and see what it’ll do.

A Poetry Congeries with John Hoppenthaler this month should come with a safety warning, it's so damn good. Sometimes names speak volumes so less from me and more listing: John starts with his blog, which is a DO NOT MISS post, and follows that up with Gregory Donovan (with an interview conducted by John that schools most interviewers out there!), Rae Armantrout (again, I have lost count of all the Pulitzer Prize winners we've published...really should get a head count), Robert Morgan, Douglass Dunn, Juliet Patterson, Joseph Millar, Mark Wisniewski, Shelby Stephenson, David Rivard, and Celia Bland. Once again, proof positive of the talented and dedicated phenom Hoppy really is as an editor. Brilliant!

 

Spatula, with Amanda McGuire & Sarah Lenz bursts forth (ya, I said it) with...what?! Oh, man! How am I supposed to sell this: Brussles Sprouts? Kale was hard enough! Seriously, Brussles sprouts? I am at a loss here. I have become paralyzed by the years of torture inflicted on me by those gorgeous little heads of lettuce that are not, in fact, heads of lettuce at all but taste like ass. My mom used to serve them with a can of Campbell's cheese soup uncut with milk or water. We'd load a tablespoon full of cheese, coat the little buggers, and swallow them whole. UGH! But never fear amigos, Amanda & Sarah somehow make the damn little radioactive waste pellets edible. Even tasty! Check out this month's offering of our very own internet TV cooking show, Spatula. You'll be glad you did.

 

Drama editor Kathleen Dennehy ROCKS her column this month with Howard Korder's fantastic new play In A Garden. Mr. Korder is the author of the plays Boy's Life, Search and Destroy (which was adapted for the screen), the screenplays The Passion of Ayn Rand, and Lakeview Terrace, and is one of the writers of the hit TV show Boardwalk Empire. Yep. We're talking full on genius. And the interview Kathleen gets will knock you out. Read In A Garden, then read the interview, and like us you'll become a die-hard fan of Korder's work, that is, if you're not already. Wow. Just wow!

 

In his Discovered column Travel editor Nicholas Baker finishes his three part Italian journey with a visit to Trieste. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! The travelogue, the pictures, everything. Just simply gorgeous. This column is so good I've actually overheard other editors on the magazine pitching it to potential readers before their own column. Seriously, it's that good. Writing "DO NOT MISS" on Nicholas' posts is getting redundant so I'll leave it at this: read this column regularly if you want to feel the soul of this magazine.

 

Book Review editor Stephanie Brown brings us a review this issue by our very first Creative Nonfiction editor, and a dear friend of our family, Katie Fallon. Katie's new book, Cerulean Blues, is receiving rave reviews, and it receives one more here by reviewer Cheryl Torsney. We LOVE this book and hope we can get Katie to spend a little time in our booth at AWP so ya'll can meet and hang out with her, and get your copy signed! Woohoo!

 

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to the newest member of Connotation Press, Anna March. Anna is giving up her Ink On The Tracks column this month for an actual paying gig (YAY!), the location of which is still a secret at the time of this writing but the moment she can go public with it we'll let you know. We liked Ink On The Tracks, and are considering continuing with the column. Let us know what you think. Should we keep going with it? If so, I'll start looking for a replacement ASAP. For her final column Anna fittingly shoots for gender as her theme. It's a wonderful collection of songs. Good luck to Anna from all of us at Connotation Press. We'll miss ya! PLEASE don't be a stranger. :)

 

Finally, our Creative Nonfiction and Fiction teasers for February are from CNF, Gail Peck, and from Fiction, Mary Stone Dockery--two exciting authors with an interview thrown in. Very cool. Thanks to editors Robert Clark Young and Meg Tuite. And I'll take this opportunity to remind you as I always do, that these are teasers. Please come back on the 15th for complete Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction columns as well as Book & Movie Reviews and some wonderful surprises. We'll be glad to have you.

 

I guess that's about it for February so far. Whew! I'm spent. Please visit us on Facebook for updates regarding the readings and events at AWP. We are looking forward to being there, freezing our keisters off with all ya'll, and gettin' our read on. And thanks to everyone who voted in the 'pick my next blog pic' event we had tonight. You guys rock!

 

Until then,

~k

Connotation Press: Maybe Things Will Be Better In Chicago

 

This issue of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact is dedicated to the philosopher, humanist, author, essayist, and rail driver against all things religion, Christopher Eric Hitchens who passed away December 15, 2011. Hitch, a champion of New Atheism and a believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment, spent his life in service of truth, a good cigarette, exposing hypocrisy, freedom from what he argued were the chains of religious oppression, and drinking his friends under the table. All perfectly acceptable life pursuits if you ask me. Hitch became an American citizen on April 13, 2007, which made him one of us like it or not, and somehow managed to get an asteroid named after him, too. I loved this man. He will be sorely missed. Richard Dawkins tells how when people, after finding out Hitchens was dying of cancer, would say, "I'll pray for you" he would respond by saying, "I'll think for you." Brilliant. Rest in Peace, Hitch. Logic won't be the same without you.