Wordgathering

A Journal of Disability Poetry

Volume 5     Issue 3     September 2011

Welcome

In the June issue of Wordgathering the winners of the 2011 Inglis House Poetry Contest were posted. The dozen winning poems, however, hardly do justice to the great variety of disability-related poetry that was received. To remedy that, the September issue of Wordgathering is forefronting some of that work. This includes poetry by Barbara Baldwin, Linda A. Cronin, Aleksandra Djordjevic, Marie Kane, John C. Mannone, Robert K. Meyer II, Marilyn Brandt Smith, Mark Thomas, Liz Whiteacre and Jennifer Yaros (some of them past contest winners). It also includes encore poems by several of this year's winners: AC Leming, Raymond Luczak and Kobus Moolman. The added poetry of Michelle Y. Burke, Barbara Crooker, Kara Dorris and Sonali Pattnaik rounds things out for this issue. For those who missed them, a link to this year's contest winning poems is included as well.

Publishing the varied poetry that results from the annual contest is one way that Wordgathering tries to contribute to the growth of disability poetry. Another is through interviews of talented contemporary poets. In this issue, Wordgathering is particularly fortunate to present a dialogue about the writing and teaching of poetry by five gifted poets who also teach: Kara Dorris, Rebecca Foust, Anne Kaier, Laurie Clements Lambeth and Liz Whiteacre. Their dialogue with its wide-ranging and varied points of view, can be found by clicking on "Interviews."

Book reviews in this issue take a look at the latest work of poets Laura Hershey and Bobbi Lurie, and by novelist Christine Stark. Guest book reviewer, Marie Kane, takes a look at Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, an anthology just released this month. A peak at an illustrated children's book by artist/author Owen Bragg can be seen in our art offerings. Completing this issue's look at new books are extracts from Stark's novel and from Raymond Luczak's recent memoir commentary. Non-fiction prose and essays include work by Stephanie Leonard, Bobbi Lurie and editor, Michael Northen.

As in prior issues, the September issue of Wordgathering includes an Author Index. This index allows readers to find the names of other poems or essays as well interviews or reviewed books by the writers they enjoy that may have appeared in previous issues of the journal. It also provides a resource for those researching writers and works in the field of disability poetry. Once the name of a poem or interview of interest is located, it can be found in the Wordgathering archives by clicking past issues.

Wordgathering continues to seek work that develops the field of disability literature. We invite the submission of poetry, short fiction, and essays that discuss poetry from a disability perspective or that contribute to the theoretical development of the field of disability literature. Submission guidelines are provided at the guidelines link on this page. We value our readers' opinions and hope you will send your comments to us at comments@wordgathering.com. Wordgathering can be found on Twitter, where you can receive updates related to the field of disability literature. We can also be seen on Facebook.

The Editors

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This site is maintained by Michael Northen.