Thursday Notes

Elizabeth Alexander will give her first post-inauguration reading here in Atlanta at Emory University on Feb. 11. The free reading will be in Glenn Memorial Chapel starting at 6 p.m. There will be copies of "Praise Song for the Day" from Graywolf Press available. I'll be there to get mine signed. The vitriol over Alexander's poem in the blogosphere is distasteful and approaching the pathological. The reaction from some poets says more about them than it does Alexander's poem. I think Reb Livingston summed it up quite succinctly at her blog. And slide over to January O'Neil's wonderful blog to see the clip of Alexander cutting up on The Colbert Report.

The fabulous Cherryl Floyd-Miller will be reading from her recently-released collection, Exquisite Heats, on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 2 p.m. at Wordsmiths Books in Decatur. This is an incredible, unexpected collection and Cherryl is not to be missed. Get there if you can. She'll also be reading at Java Monkey Speaks on Sunday night at 8 p.m. and you can read your own work during the open mic. 

Things are happening behind the scenes on Conquering Venus. I'll be launching the blog for the novel in a week or so, and Vanilla Heart is going to make a promotional video that will be on the press site and on YouTube. The cover art is in the works, too.