Gospel poetry June 18, 2010: The NY Daily News spotlights the 27th annual McDonald's Gospelfest in Newark, NJ: "To me, gospel ... lets people know that God can really change your life," said Barlatier, who as a young man spent 16 months in prison. "Gospel poetry is not mainstream, so for Gospelfest to provide the platform is just amazing." by Poetry News

Los Angeles Times book editor to step down June 18, 2010: David L. Ulin, editor of one of the last great daily newspaper books sections, will become a full-time book critic for the LA Times: Ulin says he's excited by the challenges of this new position. He’s also proud of how, under his watch, the Times' book coverage went online, adding several columns devoted to popular genres, establishing the [...] by Harriet Staff

The Facetube Manifesto for Web 3.0 June 18, 2010: From Carlos Rowles: Avant garde writing, which became formalized as a mature genre around the time of the first Iraq war with the publication of Leslie Scalapino's Defoe, and has languished ever since, now has an opportunity to restart its evolution under these new circumstances . . . by Harriet Staff

Best sellers for the week of June 7 June 18, 2010: Tony Hoagland's new book, Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty, jumps two spots on this week's best seller list to number 3, just ahead of Anne Carson's Nox and Billy Collins's Ballistics. William Logan, in the New Criterion, gave a tepid review to the book, saying "Hoagland has a superficial ease and charm—he’s likable, and [...] by Poetry Foundation

Lorine Niedecker in Door County June 17, 2010: The excellent Milwaukee bookstore Woodland Pattern is co-sponsoring a Lorine Niedecker seminar in Door County this August called Reading the Ridges: Lorine Niedecker and the Natural Worlds of Wisconsin. This week-long summer seminar will explore the work of Wisconsin's greatest poet Lorine Niedecker, who wrote about her island home in [...] by Poetry News

Women in publishing June 17, 2010: An anonymous former staffer at a publishing house talks about what it's like to be female in that world: Ever since the news about CEO of Penguin Canada, David Davidar's, departure came out, I've been thinking about making this post. About how much I could say, and whom it would implicate, and what would happen. In the end, I need to write [...] by Harriet Staff

Wimbeldon’s first laureate of the lawn speaks June 17, 2010: The Los Angeles Times profiles the first Wimbledon poet-in-residence, Matt Harvey: "I plan to publish a poem a day," he told Helen Gilbert on the official Wimbledon website. "I'm going to write more about Wimbledon the event than the matches. I'm going to write about the grass, umpires, people having their first Wimbledon strawberries, line [...] by Harriet Staff

How the half-human, half-god Tibetan king conquered the devils June 17, 2010: King Gesar Sitar Doje, a 20-year old Tibetan, is the youngest known singer of the "King Gesar" ballad/creation myth: Legend has it that when he was 11, however, he had a strange dream. "I dreamed I was taken to the tent of King Gesar, on a grassland I'd never been to. Someone said, in Tibetan, 'Yes, he's the person we're looking for' and [...] by Poetry News

Rethinking once again June 17, 2010: Stephanie Young has her report on the Rethinking Poetics Conference at Columbia University in PDF form on her site: I kept saying to myself and others that the curating at such a rethinking poetics conference needed to be so much more ruthless with itself, by which I mean the powers who constructed, those who held the reins, needed to be [...] by Poetry News

The City Lights Spotlight Series June 17, 2010: Fabled poetry publisher City Lights has a new Spotlight Poets series, and the Live from City Lights podcast features first two poets in that series--Anselm Berrigan and Normal Cole: The second installment of the City Lights Spotlight poetry series, Free Cell is the latest collection from Anselm Berrigan, one of the most significant American [...] by Harriet Staff