2008 Old stuff, perhaps in ascending order of chronology.
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Elizabeth Alexander, professor of African-American studies at Yale, was the official poet at Obama’s inauguration. Read her poem here.

Marilyn Taylor of Milwaukee has been named Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2008-2010 by Governor Doyle, replacing Denise Sweet.

Lisa Marie Brodsky of Madison was interviewed by Teri Barr in an article called "Words to Live By" in Madison Magazine's November 2008 "Picture of Health" column.

Kay Ryan named U.S. Poet Laureate
Library of Congress announcement: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-127.html.

Council for Wisconsin Writers
The Council for Wisconsin Writers has named two poets as award winners for work published in 2008. The awards carry $500 each and a week’s residency at Edenfred. Out-of-state judges made the selections.

Ronald Wallace of Madison won the Posner Poetry Book Award for For a Limited Time Only. Erin Hanusa of Madison received an honorable mention for her collection The House of Marriage: Poems. Debra Bruce of Illinois judged.

Susan Firer of Milwaukee won the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award for “Pumpkin Seeds” and other selected poems. Cathryn Coffell received an honorable mention. Bruce Bennett of New York judged.

Awards will be presented to the winners May 9 at CWW’s annual banquet at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, with a reception at 11 a.m. and luncheon and program following. Tickets are $25 and may be reserved at wisconsinwriters.org or by contacting Carolyn Kott Washburne at 414-961-1995 or ckw44@wi.rr.com.

Richard Roe has won second place in the 2009 speculative prose-poem and flash-fiction OddContest for his prose poem "The Powers of Singing."

Woodrow Hall Editions announces that Jan Chronister of Maple, Wisconsin is the recipient of the first $500 Woodrow Hall Jumpstart Award. This award was created to recognize a poet who has actively contributed to Wisconsin's literary landscape, and who has an idea for a new program or project. Jan's program, titled Ojibgewin, will involve teaching a series of poetry workshops in spring 2009 on the Bad River Reservation in Odanah. For more information, visit PoetryJumpsOfftheShelf.com or contact Shoshauna Shy at shoshaunashy@yahoo.com.

The 2009 Wisconsin Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowships for Poetry have been awarded to Susan Gardels, Madison; Brent Goodman, Rhinelander; Jesse Lee Kercheval, Madison; and Patricia Zontelli, Menomonie.

Chuck Cantrell has been awarded a fellowship by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

J.L. Conrad of Madison was a finalist in the Mid-American Review Fineline Competition for prose poems.

Crab Orchard Review and Southern Illinois University Press are pleased to announce the 2008 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Awards. Final judge David Wojahn selected Alison Townsend's PERSEPHONE IN AMERICA as the first-prize winner and Jesse Lee Kercheval's CINEMA MUTO as the second-prize winner. Both collections will be published by Southern Illinois University Press in March 2009.

Jesslyn Roebuck of Madison has won the annual Mudfish poetry contest, judged by Deborah Landau.

Southern California Review announced the results of the 2008 Ann Stanford Poetry Prize; Marilyn Annucci has won the second prize of $200 for her poem “The Longer My Dog Stops, the More I Am Allowed to Watch.”

The following poets received an Outstanding Achievement Poetry Award from the Wisconsin Library Association in June, for poetry collections published in 2007. Although authors did not have to be residents of Wisconsin, they did need to have a tie to the state.
Robin Chapman, The Dreamer who Counted the Dead
Anne-Marie Cusac, Silkie: Poetry
Andrea Potos, Yaya's Cloth
Shoshauna Shy, What the Postcard Didn't Say
William Stobb, Nervous Systems
For more info, go to: http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.com/

Mark Kraushaar of Lake Mills, WI, is the 2009 winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin Press for his manuscript Falling Brick Kills Local Man.

David Scheler, Cross Plains, WI, was a finalist for Permafrost's Midnight Sun Chapbook award, in the top 10 of 180 poets from 8 countries.

Ron Czerwien was surprised to receive the "Wisconsin Patron of Poets Award" at a reading held at his Avol's Bookstore, long a regular venue for local and touring poets, on Sunday, June 8. The certificate, in a polished wooden frame, had a gold seal on it, the "Good Poetry Seal of Approval." Contributing groups were the Entendres, The Lake Effect Poets, The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, The Prairie Fire Poetry Quartet and the Wisconsin Poetry Community-At-Large. An honorarium check accompanied it (thanks to all of you whose generosity knocked his socks off!) and a separate card from Lake Effect.

Karl Elder's Gilgamesh at the Bellagio has been published by National Poetry Review Press. For more information and how to get it, visit home.comcast.net/~jpdancingbear/gatb.html.

“… and just what in hell is a stage of grief?” by Jackie Langetieg. A small book of 41 pages, containing poems and journal entries to help the author cope with the death of her son in 2003. It has taken almost five years; however, the time elapsed gives a more complete snapshot into the steps grief must take. $12.00 + $2.00 shipping to Jackie Langetieg, 945 Harper Drive, Verona, WI 53593. Any questions: jacklang60@yahoo.com or 608-845-1654.

DANCING WITH POLTERGEISTS: Poems by James P. Roberts. 100 pages. $6.95 + $3.59 postage. Order from: Popcorn Press, P.O. Box 12, Elkhorn, WI 53121.

Constellation of the Dragonfly, a poetry chapbook by F.J. Bergmann, the shadowy entity behind madpoetry.org, has just been published by Plan B Press, Alexandria, VA. All of the poems are science-fiction, published by literary journals that should have known better. Buy it at Avol's, Room of One's Own, and Rainbow bookstores! The book can also be ordered from fibitz.com/books/constell.html or planbpress.com/bergmannconstellation.html, where sample poems may be read.

Tim Walsh's new book, Blue Lace Colander, has just been released by Marsh River Editions.

Robin Chapman's new poetry book, Smoke and Strong Whiskey, was published by WordTech Editions in February 2007 and is available from her, in local bookstores, or at http://www.wordtechweb.com/chapman-smoke.html.

Lisa Marie Brodsky's new chapbook, We Nod Our Dark Heads, was published by Parallel Press in March 2008 and is available from her, or at Avol's Bookstore, 315 W. Gorham, for $10.

R. Virgil Ellis has a new multimedia DVD, Mandelbröt Room: The Intermedia Art of R. Virgil Ellis, produced by Woodhenge Productions, 2007, Cambridge, Wisconsin. See ronellis@hughes.net.

Sara Parrell won first place and Susan Elbe won third place in the 14th Annual Juried Reading of the Poetry Center of Chicago. The awards were announced on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at a reading of the 8 finalists at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. Literary Activist and award-winning poet E. Ethelbert Miller served as Final Judge for this year's competition. Poems are posted at poetrycenter.org/reading/juried.html.

F.J. Bergmann is now the poetry editor for Mobius: The Journal of Social Change. See mobiusmagazine.com for guidelines.

NEW MADISON POET LAUREATE!
Fabu Carter-Brisco has been named Madison's third Poet Laureate. Richard Roe's poem in Fabu's honor is here.

James Roberts is the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets South Central (includes Madison) regional vice-president. You can reach him at: 324 Kedzie St. #30, Madison, WI 53704, (608) 242-7340, JRob52162@aol.com.

Council for Wisconsin Writers Awards $4500 and Edenfred Artists’ Residencies
The Council for Wisconsin Writers has named winners of its awards for work published in 2007. Fourteen Wisconsin writers selected by out-of-state judges will be honored at its luncheon banquet 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee. Reservation forms may be found on its website, www.wisconsinwriters.org. The Council’s Christopher Latham Sholes Award of $500, for outstanding support and encouragement of Wisconsin writers, will go to Linda Aschbrenner of Marshfield, WI, editor and publisher of Free Verse and Marsh River Editions. Winners in each of the awards categories receive $500 and a one week residency at Edenfred, the Madison creative artists residency program dedicated to supporting new creative work, part of the Terry Family Foundation.

Paul Zimmer, Soldiers Grove, won the Posner Award for Book-Length Poetry for Crossing to Sunlight Revisited: New and Selected Poems (The University of Georgia Press). Susan Elbe of Madison received an honorable mention for her collection Eden in the Rearview Mirror (Word Press). Bruce Bennett of Aurora, N.Y., judged.

David Krump of LaCrosse won the Niedecker Award for Five Poems for work published in various journals. Debra Bruce of Chicago, Ill., judged.

The Council for Wisconsin Writers is a non-profit organization of volunteers established in 1964 to promote awareness of Wisconsin’s literary heritage. Edenfred, established in 2004, is a part of the Terry Family Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization.

Tim Walsh of Madison, WI, was a finalist in the 2008 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award contest for his manuscript My Career in the Secret Mission Service.

Andrea Potos has won the 2007 Sow's Ear Poetry Review Prize, for her poem "Bread," judged by Marge Piercy.