Pueblo Poet Maria Melendez will share poetry focused on environmentalism and other nature-related topics as part of the next Southern Colorado Reading series beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11 in Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Occhiato University Center Cottonwood Room. The free reading will celebrate her soon-to-be released collection of poetry, Flexible Bones.

Maria Melendez, the new editor/publisher for Pilgrimage magazine, has taught creative writing and American literature at Utah State University and Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. Her work in community outreach and education includes five years as a poet-teacher in K-12 classrooms with California Poets in the Schools, and three years as writer-in-residence at the UC Davis Arboretum, where she taught environmental writing workshops for the public. Her poetry collection How Long She’ll Last in This World (University of Arizona Press, 2006), received Honorable Mention at the 2007 International Latino Book Awards and was named a finalist for the 2007 PEN Center USA Literary Awards. Flexible Bones, her third collection of poetry, is forthcoming from the University of Arizona Press in 2010.

Melendez’s work will be available for sale at the reading as well as other readers’ books through the CSU-Pueblo Bookstore. For more information, contact Juan J. Morales, assistant professor and director of creative writing at 549-2082 or juan.morales@colostate-pueblo.edu.

Mark your calendars for additional readings this semester:

March 9: Steven Wingate, 7 pm, OUC Cottonwood Room

April 15: (RESCHEDULED) Ali Hasan, 7 pm, CSU-Pueblo Art Gallery

I hope you can make it for tomorrow night’s reading with Steven Hayward.  You can find the press release below along with a list of three other readers coming soon.

A Canadian fiction writer will kick off the spring semester of the Southern Colorado Reading Series at Colorado State University-Pueblo.

Steven Hayward will present a reading at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Cottonwood Room of the Occhiato University Center. The reading is free and open to the public.

Hayward, who was born and raised in Toronto, is the award-winning author of “Buddha Stevens and Other Stories.”

Other speakers in the reading series are Maria Melendez, Feb. 11; Steven Wingate, March 9 and Raza Ali Hasan, April 15.   All programs begin at 7 p.m. Melendez and Wingate will be in the Cottonwood Room and Hasan will be in the CSU-Pueblo art gallery.

For more information contact Juan Morales at 549-2082 or juan.morales@colostate-pueblo.edu.

The Southern Colorado Reading Series is proud to present our first reading for the spring semester.  Local, award-winning Poet and fiction writer Aaron A. Abeyta will be reading on Wednesday, February 11 at 7 pm in the CSU-Pueblo’s Cottonwood Room, OUC second floor.

Aaron A. Abeyta is the author of the novel Rise: Do Not Be Afraid.  He has also written two poetry collections: Colcha, winner of the Colorado Book Award and the American Book Award, and as orion falls. He teaches at Adams State College in Alamosa and his family home is in Antonito, Colorado.

The reading is free.  All books are on sale at the CSU-Pueblo Bookstore and will be on sale at the event.  For more information or questions, contact Juan J. Morales, Assistant Professor and Director of Creative Writing if you have any questions at 549-2082 or juan.morales@colostate-pueblo.edu.

Finally, a quick run down of recent developments.

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Thanks to everyone in Chicago for the great experience and reading for Palabra Pura. I was there for a little less than two days, but I was able to see a lot of this great city thank to my gracious host and lots of walking. I have pictures, and I hope to post them soon.

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I got my contributor’s copies of PALABRA issue four with four new poems. I’m really enjoying the other writers in the issue and it’s a beautiful magazine! To learn where to purchase PALABRA, visit here.

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An old poem that I cut from Friday was recently accepted for publication; strange how you give up on a poem and then it smirks back at you.

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Right now, I’m trying to survive the final week of classes. Next week is finals week, entering the home stretch. It’s been a busy but good one. Once the piles of poems, fiction theory, and nonfiction shrink, it will be time to resume poems and work on this page.

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Reading alert: If you’re in the Colorado Springs area tonight, I’ll be reading at 7 pm with Steven Wingate at Colorado College for their Visiting Writing Series. It’s an amazing series that I have always admired, featuring too many great writers to note. I’m looking forward to reading in my hometown again! A few friends of mine told me it was in the Colorado Springs Independent too. Here’s a link with more info:

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About two weeks ago, I had a great time in ABQ at the ACIS-West Conference.  My Boland paper was well received, and I was able to hear some amazing papers and meet some very kind people.  Looking forward to my next visit there, and I hope there’s time for a flea market.
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I stayed up late and watched some of the election results, including the two speeches.  Both were very eloquent.  I look forward to having a leader who knows how to speak to a crowd.

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A week from today, I’ll be in Chicago for the Palabra Pura Reading.  I’m looking forward to this experience: the community, food, and opportunity.  I haven’t read in a few months and I’m planning on reading some work from Friday and then some new work that’s been recently picked up.
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Right now, I’m pinned under stacks of grading, but I’m still finding time for new work.  The poems are getting polished from the Southeat Review’s Regimen (which they will run again starting on December 1), but I think the manuscript will need 20-30 more pages of poems to be complete.

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On an unrelated note, I can’t wait for January: Official Lost 2009 Trailer.

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Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday’s workshop sponsored by SCWP for the All Pueblo Reads Series.  It’s great to see thirty-three people who want to take time out of their busy schedules to explore their writing.  There should be another SCWP-sponsored workshop in the spring.

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On another note, I will be going to Albuquerque next weekend for the 24th Annual ACIS-West Conference at UNM.  I will be presenting a paper titled “Unpredictability in Eavan Boland’s Language of Violence.”  There are some impressive people presenting, and it will be great to visit my alma matter and see some friends.  It’s been too long.  I’ll have to make time to eat Krung Thai and Olympia Cafe too.  Maybe a little time to hit the indoor flea markets too?  I miss them.

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Next month on Wednesday, November 12, I’ll be in Chicago reading for the Palabra Pura series with Liliana Bilbao.  You can find details here.  I’ve only been to Chicago once for an MLA Conference where I only saw the airport and the inside of hotel ballrooms.  Looking forward to meeting some great people and taking in the city before it gets too cold.

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Slowly but surely I’m learning Wordpress and making updates in small bursts.  I’ll keep at it!

If you’re in or around Pueblo this weekend, I’ll be running a workshop in conjunction with the All Pueblo Reads Series.  Spaces are filling up fast!

October 18-SCWP Adult Writing Workshop “Creative Writing and the Exploration of Roots, Family & Self,” 10 am- 12 noon Ryals Room, Rawlings Library, Pueblo, CO. “During this workshop, author and director of creative writing at CSU-Pueblo, Juan Morales, will help participants explore creative writing through the lens of the family and personal identity. Whether it be family myths, personal memories or the preservation of timeless stories, writers can always discover great subjects through their own writing. Complete exercises, collaborate on activities, discuss process and themes, and most importantly, get some writing done! To reserve your spot, contact the Southern Colorado Writing Project at (719) 549-2595 or scwponline@gmail.com.”