Sticky Notes Blog

A blog of writing news, tips, and inspiration from Fat Plum

UPWords Reading Series, Lori Jakiela and Stacey Waite

From the mailbag:

Friday February 8th at 7pm is the next UPWords at the Union Project featuring writers Lori Jakiela and Stacey Waite. Join us for an intimate evening of free entertainment. UPWords is a monthly reading series generally occurring the  2nd Friday of each month. Union Project is located at 801 N. Negley Ave., on the corner of Stanton Ave. and Negley Ave. For more information please visit www.unionproject.org, email hilary@unionproject.org or call 412-363-4550 x 26.
 
Lori Jakiela is the author of a memoir, Miss New York Has Everything (Warner 2006), and a poetry collection, The Regulars (Liquid Paper Press 2001). Her second memoir, Call Your Mother, is forthcoming. Jakiela's essays and poems have appeared in literary journals, newspapers, and anthologies in the U.S. and the U.K., including The Chicago Tribune, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 5 AM, Tears in the Fence, River Styx, Nerve Cowboy, and elsewhere. Jakiela is an Associate Professor of English at The University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
 
Winner of the 2004 Frank O'Hara Prize for Poetry for her first chapbook entitled Choke. Stacey Waite teaches writing and gender studies courses at the University of Pittsburgh. Her poems have appeared most recently in Poet Lore, Nimrod, 5AM, West Branch, Chiron Review and Pearl.

Posted by Cindy on January 30, 2008
This entry was posted in the following categories: Coming attractions
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Beth is Breaking Through!

Fat Plum friend Beth Polen has made it to the semi-finals in the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award contest! Her young adult novel, Wish, is a terrific story of a boy uncovering his purpose in life. We at Fat Plum had the pleasure of reading much of Wish during our various Book Boot Camps where Beth workshopped the manuscript, so we are thrilled and excited at this news.

You can read an excerpt of Wish on the site and submit a review of it and any other excerpts you read. The reviews you write will contribute to the decision of which books reach the finals on March 3rd. The winning novelist will receive a publishing contract with Penguin.

Congrats to Beth on making the cut — we believe in Wish and think it will go far!

Posted by Julie on January 25, 2008
This entry was posted in the following categories: Publishing
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"Kamal Ascending" to be published January 2008

Madhu Wangu, a longtime friend of Fat Plum, announced on her website that her first novel will be published this month:

My first novel, Kamal Ascending, will be released by Frog Books, Mumbai by the end of this month.

Kamal Ascending is the story of a Kashmiri girl who wants to become a meaningful painter. After graduation and an acclaimed art show, she marries Satyavan and has two children. To fulfill his ambition, Satyavan decides to immigrate to America. Coming to a foreign land and taking care of her family, Kamal loses touch with her artistic self. She must discover her way back to artistic and spiritual awareness or she will fade into nothingness.

We're so proud of Madhu. She has been working on this first novel for many years, and in our Boot Camps and weekend critiques we've seen her revise it tirelessly, to strengthen the characters and hone the story.

In addition to being a writer, Madhu is an accomplished artist. The painting on the cover of the book is one she created.

Congratulations, Madhu!

Posted by Cindy on January 05, 2008
This entry was posted in the following categories: Congratulations
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UPWords Reading Series, January 11

For Pittsburgh-area writers and readers, an item from our mailbag:

On January 11th from 7pm-9pm, Union Project will host their monthly reader/writer series UPWords. The evening will highlight esteemed fiction author Sherrie Flick and acclaimed poet Nancy Krygowski. UPwords, hosted and coordinated by fiction writer Damian Dressick, will be held in the Union Project's Atrium and is free to the public. The Union Project located at 801 N. Negley Ave. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing community space to connect, create, and celebrate.

Damian teaches creative writing and literature at Robert Morris University, he is also the 2007 winner of Harriette Arnow Award for short fiction.

Sherrie Flick is an award- winning fiction writer whose work has been included in two anthologies from Norton: New Sudden Fiction and Flash Fiction Forward.

Nancy Krygowski is a poet and an adult literacy instructor; her first book of poems Velocity won the 2006 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Sherrie Flick and Nancy Krygowski are both Assistant Artistic Directors, and co-founders of the Gist Street Reading Series.

UPWords is a free monthly reader writer series that is held at the Union Project the second Friday of every month. More information about the Union Project, and upcoming events can be found at www.unionproject.org.

Both Sherrie and Nancy are friends of mine, but even if they weren't I'd recommend this reading: Their writing is excellent, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Posted by Cindy on January 03, 2008
This entry was posted in the following categories: Coming attractions
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