Monday bits

We had our first Poets Dinner of 2011 at West Egg Cafe on Saturday night. In attendance (clockwise from top right): Colin Potts, Karen Head, Rupert Fike, JC Reilly, Julie Bloemeke, Cleo Creech, yours truly and Christine Swint. Great conversation, great food and a lovely way to spend a Saturday night. This was our seventh poetry dinner since 2008.

Speaking of Rupert, his first collection, Lotus Buffet, will be published this fall by Brick Road Poetry Press! Woot!

Ben Tanzer's new novel, You Can Make Him Like You, is available for pre-order. He's a fantastic writer, so you definitely want to check it out.

Jeannine Hall Gailey shows off the cover of her next collection, She Returns to the Floating World.

Have you visited Nic Sebastian's Whale Sound lately? Hear Nic read other people's poetry. It's a revelation!

If you haven't attended the Sunday night #poetparty on Twitter, you're missing a good time. The party starts at 9 p.m. eastern time and you just follow the hashtag to join in. Last night the discussion was on how film, art and music influence poetry in honor of the Oscars, which were a dreadful bore. Next Sunday we're talking chapbooks.