FIU Provost office and Barnes & Noble bookstore honor faculty authors

Jim's cd Reaching for the Stars and my poetry chapbook Shining from a Different Firmament are now both on sale at FIU's Barnes & Noble bookstore!  The Provost's office and the bookstore had a reception honoring faculty authors with recent publications and the Dean of Libraries mentioned in her speech that we might be the first husband and wife team to have publications come out the same year!

Jim has an ebook textbook coming out later this year and I hope to get my 2nd chapbook published at some point, so hopefully we will repeat the feat at next year's event!  I also put together a display of FIU faculty authors' books at the Green library in the new books area.

Green Library display of Faculty authors' books (I left my own out of this display)

Poet Lidy Wilks' guest post, chapbook cover reveal and giveaways!

Fellow Scribber, poet and blogger Lidy Wilks is on a blog tour for her chapbook Can You Catch My Flow?  Lidy is my first guest blogger!

Thanks for having me today Beatriz!

Why Do I Write Poetry?

Robert Graves once said, “There’s no money in poetry, but there’s no poetry in money either.” Well he’s right. Poetry is not a genre that will bring you fame and money. But of course one doesn’t write poetry for fame and money either.

So why do I write poetry?

It’d be too easy to say how can I not. But the reason really is a simple one. I write poetry to say what I can not. To write what I hold inside. Poetry is my creative outlet that delves much deeper into my heart and mind than any of my other writing. Through a poem, I question my own and the world’s preconceived notions. It and everything around me becomes a little darker. Or a little brighter. A little greyer. And a little more colorful.

Poetry exposes and reinvents. It is the journal of narrative into the deepest recesses of my mind and heart. And through it, I become more aware of all of the beauty and ugliness, the truth and lies found within and without. Giving birth to a hope that people, views, opinions and this world can change. That even I, as set in my ways at times, can change.

I write poetry to know and be true to myself. To know you and the world we live in.

 ~ Lidy Wilks

About Lidy:

Ever since she was young, Lidy Wilks was often found completely submerged in the worlds of Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew. She later went on to earn a Bachelor degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, from Franklin Pierce University. Where she spent the next four years knee deep in fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction workshops.

Lidy is the author of Can You Catch My Flow? a poetry chapbook and is a member of Write by the Rails. She currently resides in Virginia with her husband and two children. And an anime, book and manga library, she’s looking to expand, one day adding an Asian drama DVD collection. Lidy continues her pursuit in writing more poetry collections and fantasy novels. All the while eating milk chocolate and sipping a glass of Cabernet. Or Riesling wine.

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Here is a closeup of the beautiful new cover of Can You Catch My Flow?

Lidy is also hosting a giveaway of five autographed copies of her chapbook on Goodreads and a Rafflecopter giveaway of four possible prizes:

Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands anthology will include my poem "Point of No Return"

Shabda Press's anthology "Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands" will include my sonnet dedicated to Harry K. Daghlian, the first American (peacetime) casualty of the Atomic Age: "Point of No Return."

Street Voice will publish three of my poems!

Andreas Weiland of the international, multilingual online journal Street Voice has accepted three of my poems:

Poem for my father (previously published at Label Me Latina/o),  
In the shadow of the Miami Metrorail overpass,
and Departures,

for publication in a future issue.  Street Voice's themed issues feature poetry, translations of poems, and articles from poets all over the world.

Mr. Weiland also edits an online art journal: Art in Society and he would like to encourage those writing on Latino/Latina art and theater to send pertinent articles for a future issue.  He also accepts
poems in Spanish, with an English translation

March 6th marks the anniversary of my father's death many years ago, so I'm very happy this poetical tribute to him will once more appear online. In the shadow is based on an encounter in downtown Miami with an unforgettable homeless man.  Departures is a poem about the internal and external voyage immigrants make and honors my matriarchal ancestors, beginning with my great-grandmother Rosa, to my mother, Luisa.

Ghazals galore for Valentine's day!

Valentine's Day month, is also very appropriately the month several of my ghazals about famous pairs of lovers are appearing:  first, "Maid Marian's Many Silences" was published by Quarterday Review in their Imbolc issue.

This poem, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was inspired by the film "Robin and Marian" starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn as an older Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Another pair of ekphrastic ghazals, "On Viewing 'Dante and Beatrice' by Henry Holiday, 1884" was republished by The Ghazal Page, in their Issue 58.

These ghazals are companion persona ghazals, written in the voice of Beatrice, then Dante, and inspired by the painting by Henry Holiday:

FEM Magazine interview

FEM Magazine interviews me!

THE FEM is a literary journal that publishes feminist, diverse, and inclusive creative works and interviews with writers, artists, and creators twice a week. 

Poetry Press Week 2016 in Miami-- an exciting new way of presenting your poetry!

I am one of the judges!

From Poetry Press Week's site:

Poetry Press week is currently accepting submissions from South Florida poets for our 2016 show at the O, Miami Festival, April 22-23.

We are honored to have three distinguished poets who will select invitees from the submissions pool:
John Brehm is the author of two books of poems, Help Is On the Way and Sea of Faith, and the associate editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His poems have appeared in POETRY, The Southern Review, New Ohio Review, The Sun, Prairie Schooner, The Writer’s Almanac, and many other journals and anthologies. He teaches for Mountain Writers Workshop and Literary Arts.

Ashley Toliver is the author of IDEAL MACHINE (Poor Claudia, 2014). Her poems have appeared in Caketrain, Front Porch, PEN America and Third Coast, among others. A Cave Canem graduate fellow, she currently lives in Portland, Ore.

Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez is the author of Shining from a Different Firmament (Finishing Line Press) which she presented at the Miami Book Fair International this year.  Her poems have appeared in Boston Literary Magazine, FLARE: The Flagler Review, Label Me Latina/o, Verse Wisconsin, and Writer’s Digest, among others.

Submissions for Poetry Press Week at O, Miami close January 31.

Post-Writing Workshop Wrap-up

Now I know what people mean when they talk of coming "back to reality" after a writing workshop! After attending a poetry workshop in Key West, it is difficult to process all the feedback I got from fellow writers and the teacher, as well as try to retain everything I learned.  I think my brain is two days behind, still downloading data! It was nice to immerse myself in writing and think of nothing but poetry and where to have dinner for five days, but now I must start thinking about dental appointments and home repairs, etc.   I wouldn't really have the stamina for a longer workshop, anyway!  I produced three poems which are close to being in publishable form.

First acceptance of the New Year!

Ah, how sweet it is!  The first acceptance of the year comes from the Quarterday Review for their Imbolc issue. (The editor also offered candid feedback from her and her staff readers, so that was very helpful.  It's always interesting to see what other readers focus on when reading your poems.)

They accepted my latest ghazal Maid Marian's Many Silences!  This poem was inspired by the film "Robin and Marian" starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn which must have made an impression on me since I have never forgotten it!  Contrary to most portrayals, this film showed an older Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Right now I'm working on a free verse poem entitled Plague Graffiti and another one about Joan of Arc.  I guess I'm sort of mentally stuck in the Middle Ages right now!

2015 Writing Year in Review

Wow, this year ended with the Big Bang of Book Fairs: my Miami Book Fair  presentation/reading experience was eye-opening and even fun on some levels.  But it was a banner year in many other aspects as well:  first of all my chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament came out in March, (very appropriately for Women's History month); I also had a record of 20 acceptances (for me!--I know this number may be laughable to some people but I wield a slow pen!)  and 15 publications, not including the 20 poems published in the actual chapbook, 5 interviews or articles featuring my poetry, 2 book giveaways, 1 book auction,  1 review of my chapbook in the Quarterday Review and 1 judging experience!

Along with the publications came precious feedback from readers and fellow poets, who were very generous in their comments and it was very encouraging to realize that I am not delusional but actually making some progress in my poetry.

I was fortunate to begin this year by publishing one of my favorite poems "Nothing in the Dark" and ended with the publication of another:  " "Emily Brontë Addresses Her Creation" -- as well as the acceptance of some hard-to-place longer poems in the perfect venue which I hope will go forward.

Next year begins auspiciously, (I hope!), with 1 writing workshop acceptance (with poet Campbell McGrath).  They have so many activities planned--readings, receptions, sunset sailings--that I'm wondering when exactly we are supposed to get any writing done!  But it all sounds like fun.

What do I want to accomplish next year?  I think my main preoccupation is to learn to self-direct my writing so I'm not so dependent on outside stimulus.  Since my tutorial with Andrea ended, I think I'm suffering from the equivalent of the post-M.F.A. limbo that many students find themselves in.  Our tutorial lasted about the same length of time as an M.F.A. and I think accomplished the same, more or less.  Now I have to learn to do it on my own.

Another highlight of the coming year:

Portland-based Poetry Press Week will be debuting in Miami and they have invited me to be a judge, so that will be a new and fascinating experience!

Sparrow's Trill - Minerva Rising's special issue on Race in America

I'm very honored that Minerva's Rising's special issue on race in America:  Sparrow's Trill will include my poem "In the flesh."  Poetry editor Emily Shearer's revision suggestions improved this poem quite a bit and I'm happy it will appear in such an important issue.  From their page:

"After the racially charged act of hate that killed nine people in a Charleston church in June, Minerva Rising no longer wanted to be silent. We wanted to start a dialogue for social change--a dialogue based in love. We wanted to fuse the schisms and unite as one voice writing to heal the open wounds of the heart, writing to change the world we inhabit. That dialogue created this special edition."

 The title, Sparrow’s Trill, comes from the poem "Tapestry I (Mississippi, 2015)" by Jessica Lanay.

the thick
rope groans against a high
bough and it sounds
so much like
the end of a sparrow’s trill that
I look for birds

Subscribe to Minerva or purchase this issue here.

Lessons learned from my first Miami Book Fair poetry reading

I know not all venues are like the Miami Book Fair but I learned so much just from this first experience that I thought I'd share what I gained from it; I also want to remind myself what worked for me and what didn't for next time (if there is one!):

• Hydrate your throat.  Bring a bottle of water--the hosts didn't provide one at the tables and the lights shining on us were HOT!  (This is Miami.)  Also, make sure you have shine-blotting paper on hand or wear lots of make-up because those lights make you look pale (and scared!).  Singers suggest warm honey and/or potato chips (something salty) to smooth the voice. 
• Bring a clean copy. Bring two copies of your book--one to show, prop up on the table or have pictures taken with, the other to read from.
• Facilitate page access. Read directly from your book but use some sticky tabs to mark your pages--I noticed several readers hunting around for pages while I was able to transition smoothly from one poem to the next by using color-coded sticky tabs with a keyword from the title on each one so I could see which poem was where. 
• Consolidate your notes. All your notes should be stapled inside your book so as to not be noticeable--print them out on a separate sheet and then staple or tape it inside your book (cut down to size if necessary) at the same orientation so you don't have to hold your book sideways!  If you want to make a few remarks before each poem, write them at the top of the page on which the poem begins.
• Avoid fumbling. Do NOT use loose sheets with your poems printed in large print unless you have rock solid nerves because your hands may tremble.  Some people suggested this and it sounded like a good idea at the time, but I'm glad I decided to read directly from the book.  Most of the other writers did, also.  On that note, make sure you use the book during all your practice runs.  Make sure the page turns occur at a natural pausing time in the poems that run over more than one page.
• Manage your time. Know exactly how long it will take you to read each poem; that way you can mix and match them and know how long you will be reading.  Your watch can fail you and the reading venue may not have visible clocks.  Do NOT read over your time limit and keep in mind that things rarely begin at the exact time, so you have to subtract that time from your reading accordingly.
• Communicate enjoyment. Remember to smile and act like you are enjoying yourself (if your acting skills are up to it!)
• Connect. Bring business cards or their equivalent to hand out to the other poets you connect with or fans.
• Be grateful.  Thank everyone involved in the reading and/or preparing the venue and learn the volunteers' names so next time you can greet them by name! (I hope I remembered to thank the room host in my case.  He was really nice; not only did he pinch-hit when our presenter didn't show up but he also put us at ease and asked the first question during the Q & A. Unfortunately, I did not remember to get his name!)

2015 Miami Book Fair International presentation

I read from Shining from a Different Firmament at the Miami Book Fair International last weekend!  It was a great experience but that smile on my face is the pure happiness of relief after it was over!  It was the first time I'd read my poetry in public and doing so at the largest book festival in the U.S. probably wasn't the brightest idea in the world!  But I'm glad to say I survived, met and heard some great poets read (Julie Marie Wade, Kay Ryan, Juan Felipe Herrera, among others) and even glimpsed some celebrities up close!  (John Leguizamo and Rosie Perez were talking about their memoirs in the same building and I saw them as they were escorted to the authors' lounge.) 

After the talk, the weather had cleared and we came out into a beautiful evening as the book fair volunteers began wrapping things up.  I grabbed some mementos, including the sign from my autographing table!  

Pay Attention Journal acceptances; FIU News; #100!!

Pay Attention Journal just accepted two of the longer (read: hard-to-place) pieces in my chapbook:  "Her Last Cotillion" (about Doc Holliday's cousin) and "Richard the Lionheart's Mummified Heart Examined."

 Pay Attention is an annual, print literary journal founded to print verse that makes for dynamic reading performances.

The mission on the journal, in particular, is to collect and promote high quality poetry that may be performed on the high school and college forensics circuits and taught in classrooms that feature the oral interpretation of poetry.

I was in Forensics in high school and I also had difficulty finding material I was comfortable with, so I ended up writing my own and performing in the "Original" category.  I'm happy to know my work may be performed by others!

I never would have found Pay Attention without using Duotrope, which I can't recommend enough!
Duotrope helps you find the perfect fit for your poetry or fiction.

From the Editor:

To tell the truth, these two poems
epitomize what I’m hoping to collect in the journal. I love the
interesting voices you’ve created and the precise images you’ve filled
these poems with. It’s very clear that you knew what I was looking for
in forensics-worthy pieces.

I will probably read one of these pieces at my Miami Book Fair International poetry reading, which was advertised in this FIU News story yesterday!  Many thanks to Ashley Garcia for the great article (and publicity!)  I wasn't joking about wanting an empty room to read to, though!  As my reading takes place at the same time as Rosie Perez and John Leguizamo's talks, not to mention Brian Weiss' of Many Masters, Many Lives fame, I doubt I have much to worry about!

(P. S. This is my 100th post!)

Miami Book Fair: Further Discussions

Miami Book Fair: Further Discussions



Irene Sperber of the MiamiArtZine interviews me and two other local writers in this article about the 2015 Miami Book Fair International.

Minerva Rising Literary Journal publication

Minerva Rising Literary Journal's new issue "Wide Open" is now available for purchase and includes my poem "Emily Brontë Addresses Her Creation."  This poem is my current favorite!

Miami Book Fair International appearance

The Miami Book Fair International has announced its final schedule and and I am listed as one of the featured authors!  My presentation of my poetry chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament, will be on Sunday, November 22nd, at 5:30 pm, along with two other local poets/writers.  Now, it's time to begin panicking!  It will be in the Centre Gallery, Bldg 1, 3rd floor, Room 1365.

I'm very excited one of my favorite poets, Kay Ryan, former U.S. Poet Laureate, will be speaking earlier that day!

My poems "Renascence" and "Caernarfon Retreat" are now available on When Women Waken's Wildlife issue:

Renascence

Caernarfon Retreat

Click on the titles to read the poems and read the whole issue of poetry by women from all over the world!

Banned Books Week begins today!

To celebrate Banned Books Week, I've created two different displays in the library; one is especially for Banned YA Lit Authors, since YA Lit is the focus of this year's BBW.

This is the one for adult banned books:

"Homeland" and "Crows" in The Light Ephrastic along with Laura Smith's artwork

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128369323066/fernandez-smith-aug-15

"Heartless" appeared on Words Dance Publishing's site in February with a photo by Tyler Rayburn

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128336764316/heartless-by-beatriz-f-fernandez

One of my own favorites--inspired by the eponymous Twilight Zone episode and more distantly by Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128335164961/clippedonissuu-from-flare-the-flagler-review

Old blogs, new blogs, old poems, new poems

I just realized my link to an old poem is gone from my old website, so I'm adding the image here so I don't lose it.  "Respiratory Tech at the Vietnam Memorial, 1989" began my poetry for publication efforts by winning the grand prize in Writer's Digest 2nd Annual Poetry competition (out of almost 4300 entries).  I was very pleased with the presentation--at that time and even now, they don't always publish the winning poem, but they paired mine with a perfect image that really captured the emotion.

Even though it took me two more years to venture into publishing, I now have more than 50 poems published in a variety of journals and websites, from children's magazines to refereed academic journals to mainstream poetry journals, both print and online.  I am slow but steady, or at least I have been the past few years!


Respiratory Tech at the Vietnam Memorial, 1989


he sees the names carved on the slick black wall
the names appear in death order
he sees the letters that make up the names of the dead
but he cannot read them
he sees the light reflecting on the black wall that bears the names of the dead
he sees his face reflected on the shiny black wall
he sees the names of the dead written on his face
but he cannot read them
the black wall turns white and he sees the faces of the near-dead on their white beds
he sees the black pictures of the black lungs of the near-dead
he sees the blue lips of the black-lunged men as they rasp for breath
their lips shape the names of the dead written on the black wall
but he cannot read them
he walks and walks beside the long wall the color of old blood
he sees the names blur into shapes that writhe like the lips of dying men
he sees the first name and the last name but he knows that is a lie
the names go and on
the pain
the pain
will never die.

(originally published in Writer's Digest, August 2007)

My latest ghazal in The Quarterday Review

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128271704766/clippedonissuu-from-the-quarterday-review-august

Review of Shining from a Different Firmament

A review of my chapbook by Editor Lucy Johnson of the Quarterday Review

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128270359556/clippedonissuu-from-the-quarterday-review-august

Also, it's been added to the FIU libraries' catalog!

Heading to the Key West Literary Seminar Writers' Workshop in January!

I was accepted into Campbell McGrath's writing workshop: "Hearing Voices: Crafting the Poetic Voice"; they only accept 12 persons per workshop, so I'm very excited to have made the cut, based on a writing sample of five poems!

This workshop topic is extremely interesting to me, as I write mostly persona poems, and I've been experimenting with different voices.

Miami Book Fair International, here I come!

I just heard that my chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament, was accepted for presentation at this year's Miami Book Fair International!

I will be featured as a presenter, with an audience Q&A followed by a book signing.

The Ghazal Page is back! (and contains three of my ghazals!)

I'm very thrilled to be part of the comeback of The Ghazal Page! This inaugural issue of the revived Ghazal Page is chock-full of an amazing variety of this fascinating and fun poetry form, collected by the new editor, Holly Jensen, who kindly included my poems "Hypatia's Revenge", "The Ghazal Ghazal (or How to Write a Ghazal), (which she uses as an example below) and "Ghazal Upon Hearing of a Mutual Friend's Death" in this new issue!

When Women Waken Wildlife issue goes live!

I have two poems in the new Wildlife issue of When Women Waken: a journal of Poetry, Prose and Images

Renascence and Caernarfon Retreat

When Women Waken is a wonderful journal with gorgeous artwork and writing by women all over the world who support each other's creative endeavors.

The Quarterday Review to publish my latest ghazal and review my chapbook!

I'm happy to have a new ghazal, "Thirteen Days and Nights" upcoming in the new journal The Quarterday Review: Poetry of Mythic Journeys. This is an ekphrastic ghazal inspired by the painting “The Amazon Queen Thalestris in the Camp of Alexander the Great” by Johann Georg Platzer, with thanks to Adrienne Mayor’s article on the subject in History Today 1/15. Her article and Platzer's painting really brought the encounter to life for me.

Quarterday's editor also kindly agreed to review my chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament!

My latest poem in Minerva Rising's upcoming Open issue.

Minerva Rising Literary Journal will publish my poem "Emily Brontë Addresses Her Creation" in their upcoming Open themed issue. This is a persona poem from the pov of Emily addressing her most famous and infamous creation. I'm so happy this poem found a home promptly because it's my current favorite!

I have yet to see the perfect Heathcliff personified on-screen--I'm still waiting!

Librarything giveaway concurrent with Goodreads....

In celebration of my birth month, I'm giving away signed copies of my poetry chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament via Librarything as well! So far 4 people have requested copies via LT and 68 and counting via Goodreads! These are early days, as the giveaways run for a month. For those of you not familiar with Librarything, it's a great way to catalog and organize your own books, discover new books and share your libraries and book reviews with your friends. There are groups for every type of reader imaginable. You can sign up for giveaways (a review is usually requested by the author or publisher giving away the book) or post your own! Ebooks as well!

Goodreads Giveaway begins May 18th!

I'm giving away five copies of my chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament, via Goodreads.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Shining from a Different Firmament

by Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez

Giveaway ends June 18, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win

Authors for Nepal

I am participating in the Authors for Nepal  initiative to raise funds for the Nepal earthquake.  I found out about it on facebook.  Authors donate services or signed books or even a character name as incentive to donors.  The books or services are being auctioned off on ebay and the author will then deliver the item or service directly to the donor.  I am donating signed copies of my chapbook, here: Shining from a Different Firmament--hopefully there will be some poetry lovers out there; I noticed most books were YA.

Feature on Somos en escrito: the Latino Literary Online Magazine!

Muchas gracias to Armando Rendón for featuring my work on the latest issue of Somos en escrito!  It includes three of the poems from my new chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament:  Nefertiti's Secret, The Picture of Constance Wilde and Red Light.

The new Ghazal Page will publish four of my ghazals!

Holly Jensen has re-launched The Ghazal Page and accepted FOUR of my ghazals; three for the summer issue and one for winter.  I am very happy to be included in this journal that originally debuted in 1999 under the editorship of Gene Doty and features poets from all over the world.  The ghazal has become my signature form poem--definitely my favorite and most comfortable poetry form! 

Holly is still reading for the Summer issue until May 15th and also invites poets "to send us ghazals inspired by our Challenge topic: FLORA." by August 15th.

30 Days of Poetry Love Q&A with Lidy Wilks

Lidy Wilks, fellow Scribber, who blogs at http://iheartallstories.weebly.com/ had the brilliant and fun idea to interview a different poet every day of the month for National Poetry Month.  She was kind enough to make me her April 14th interviewee and publish a poem from my chapbook:  Red Light.

Check out her website every day this month!

Just squeaked one in for March! "Ode to your Code" to the rescue!

O'Miami and WLRN of South Florida are starting off their National Poetry Month celebrations with a fun tumblr poetry challenge:  write an ode to your zip code consisting of as many words in each line as indicated by your zip code:  mine is 33185.  I wrote this:

http://zipodes.tumblr.com/post/114664222011/33185

published on their Ode to Your Zip Code tumblr on March 26th:

Ode to Your Zip Code archive

Miami Herald reporter Kathleene Devaney also interviewed me and discussed my poem in an article just published on the 29th:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article16841207.html

And so it begins!

Another nice surprise today, I finally received my poetry chapbook from the publishers--
 

https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2243


Blurbs for my book, kindly provided by Andrea Hollander and Julie Marie Wade, FIU Creative Writing professor:


The poems in Beatriz Fernandez's Shining from a Different Firmament do just that. They shine light on women history has slighted, mistreated, or forgotten altogether. They give us "Hypatia's Revenge," "Nefertiti's Secret," and "The Picture of Constance Wilde." They also consider Dante's passion for Beatrice and examine Richard the Lionheart's mummified heart. This collection is pithy and surprising, rich with persona poems rendered as ghazals, epistles, and ekphrastic musings. Julianna Baggott's Lizzie Borden in Love: Poems in Women’s Voices has found a worthy companion in Beatriz Fernandez's stirring debut. Like the women she embodies, Fernandez writes with the vision of one who "chart[s] the oceans of the night."
--Julie Marie Wade, author of Without, Postage Due, and When I Was Straight. www.juliemariewade.com

Amid this era of poetry that runs the gamut from solipsism to impenetrability, how refreshing to find a poet of intelligence who writes with clarity about those whose lives, whether actual or fictional, deserve more notice. Reminiscent of Robert Browning in his ability to vividly inhabit voices other than his own, Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez is a welcome master of both open and closed forms, as she brings together history, compassion, and music to each poem in this fine first collection.
—Andrea Hollander, author of Landscape with Female Figure: New & Selected Poems, 1982 – 2012

2015 Off to a Good Start!

Words Dance Publishing will feature two of my poems on their site in the next two months:  "Late Night Shift" (inspired by a late night visit to a Waffle House many years ago) will appear Jan 29th and "Heartless" (based on a memory of Raggedy Ann dolls and books) on Feb 24th.  This means I can coast until March, right?

Writing year in review: 2014--not bad!

8 acceptances (individual poems)

1 individual poem awarded, 3^rd place.

2 chosen as readers’ favorites (#1 and #3)

1 chapbook runner-up award

1 chapbook accepted (20 poems)

1 Pushcart Prize nomination
1 interview to be published (for Arte Latino Now, at Queens College at Charlotte)

I am most pleased with the Readers' choice and Pushcart nomination!  

Fall was slow, but things picked up in the Winter:

"Nothing in the Dark" a poem inspired by the eponymous classic Twilight Zone episode was published by FLARE: the Flagler Review, Fall edition, page 39.

And "Late Bloomers" was just chosen to be the poem for May in the Writer's Rising Up 2015 calendar.  

The calendar will be available to download for free in January: Digging to the Roots .

Readers' Choice: Letter from Lara and Point of No Return chosen as readers' favorites.

I was very happily surprised to come across this post from Spark: A Creative Anthology--they had a vote on which pieces, either prose or poetry, from each volume over the last two years were the readers' favorite pieces and two of my poems were chosen!  "Letter from Lara" was chosen as the number one favorite from Volume V, which was an excellent volume of stories and poems, so I am extremely flattered!

Spark: Readers' Choice--The First Two Years

Shining from a Different Firmament: my first chapbook of poetry!

My first chapbook will be published just in time for Valentine's Day (and Women's History Month in March)!
It can be pre-ordered at the publisher's site:

https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=

The Table of Contents:

Hypatia’s Revenge

Sister Mary Melanie’s Last Cotillion

Nefertiti’s Secret

The Picture of Constance Wilde

Heloise Alone, Argenteuil, 1118

On Viewing ‘Dante and Beatrice’ by Henry Holiday, 1884

Very Truly Yours, Irene Norton, née Adler

Rachel’s Reasons

Monody for Pierre by Marie C., Paris, 1910

Cassandra Austen Writes to Jane’s Faithless Lover

The Amazon Warrior Champion

Letter from Lara, Yuriatin, 1920

Richard the Lionheart’s Mummified Heart Examined

Red Light

I designed the cover and Jim took the picture of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy and my author pics!

Why Write?

I've been thinking about why I suddenly decided to begin publishing my poetry and trying to improve my writing in order to make it publishable.  I certainly don't intend to supplement my income or launch a career at my age, but I notice the poems I'm writing are like a file card index of my memories. My new poems reflect seemingly random flotsam and jetsam that got caught in my imagination and never left me.  But why we notice one thing and not another--how we filter the stream of our life's events through our psyche--these things make up a person.  My touchstone moments are being manifested and recorded via my poems.

We are happy to inform you.....

I really love emails that begin with those words!

I am happy to inform you, dear Imaginary Readers, that FLARE: the Flagler Review just accepted my poem "Nothing in the Dark" inspired by a classic Twilight Zone episode and more distantly by William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

My first Pushcart Prize Nomination!

I just received a letter from the editor of Falling Star Magazine that the he and his staff had nominated my poem, "Lincoln's Long Trip Home, 1865" for a Pushcart Prize!  As far as winning, this means nothing because tens of thousands of poems are nominated by small literary journals and presses worldwide, but as it is my first, I am still excited and pleased to have written one of the six poems nominated by Falling Star this year.  The editors put a lot of faith behind my poem and I'm happy they liked it enough to nominate it.  As it came on the heels of several rejections (my record of at least one acceptance a month which began last June was broken in July) it was even more appreciated.

Poetry Chapbook Accepted by Finishing Line Press

My poetry chapbook entitled "Shining from a Different Firmament" was accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press.  (I had entered their yearly New Women's Voices chapbook contest and although I didn't win, they still offered me general publication.)

The chapbook consists of 20 mostly persona poems about historical and legendary women, among them:

Hypatia of Alexandria
Irene Adler, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis
Doc Holliday's cousin Sister Mary Melanie, the model for Gone With the Wind's Melanie Hamilton later Wilkes.
Madame Curie
Beatrice, whom Dante loved and featured in his Inferno.
Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar
Queen Nefertiti
Heloise
Rachel of the Bible
Cassandra Austen, sister of Jane
Lara, a character in Boris Pasternak's sole novel:  Doctor Zhivago

Those who can't write....submit!

The past few months have not been very productive for me, poetry writing-wise, so I'm taking advantage and concentrating on submitting my backlist of poems.  Some of my best haven't been published because they need particular markets which I haven't found yet (or haven't been invented yet!)  Well, that's my take on it,anyway!

It's one way to stay productive in those sparse writing months--no one can publish it while it's sitting in your computer!  And waiting for acceptances is excruciating, so you want to have a constant rolling submission rate to ensure the flow of acceptances is a stream (or at least a trickle!) and keeps you encouraged.

Somewhere I read that if you are a writer who needs encouragement to write, then you can forget about being a writer!  But that's a little harsh, don't you think?  Everyone needs encouragement; sure, there are writers like Emily Dickinson who write in isolation but even she sought out encouragement--that she didn't receive as much as she deserved is another thing.  Genius is often not rewarded in its own age, but most of us aren't geniuses, so we can expect some encouragement, I hope!

I've been receiving acceptances on a regular basis, at least one a month for a year now, and I am waiting to hear from five or six journals/contests right now.  In late May I heard from Spellbound that they accepted The Coqui Prince, my Puerto Rican Frog Prince fairy tale adaptation poem (Whew! That's a mouthful!) for publication in their special anthology edition.  I'm very happy to be included in that!  This poem flowed out very naturally and is based on memories of my father's country house in the hills of Puerto Rico.

I have now passed the criteria (which does not include publications in children's poetry magazines, by the way, which I think is a shame, since writing for children is much more difficult than for adults!  But they were very prompt in adding some journals that were not listed in their publications list, so I can't complain!) to be listed on the Poets & Writers directory, click on my name to see my listing:

Beatriz Fernandez

More Poems Finding Homes

I'm very excited to be published by a journal I've submitted to several times, Boston Literary Magazine, whose Editor-in-Chief Robin Stratton just accepted "Fourth Grade Dance" for their summer issue.

Last month, Falling Star Magazine, a paying market, accepted "Lincoln's Long Trip Home" for their upcoming issue themed "Point A to B."

Friday I received my contributor's copy of Spark: A Creative Anthology, volume V, so my birthday month is replete with writing pleasures!

I'm busy at work for Spellbound, who solicited world-wide fairy-tale related poetry with a diverse background for children aged 8-12.  Writing for children is always a challenge for me, but this is such an interesting anthology, I'm giving it my best effort!

Spellbound Table of Contents

Fiction

Jacinta and the Cornstalk by Kari Castor
The Boi Who Drew Cats by Jay Wilburn
Black River, Blue Sky by Pamela Love
The Frog and the Condor by Christina Tesoro
The Four Skilled Sisters by EM Beck
The Key by Alex Townsend
Queenie the Beautiful and her Magical Doll by Szmeralda Shanel

Poetry

What you need to know about fairy godmothers by Laurel Klein
Mirror Image by Beth Rodriguez
Counting by Jennifer Moser Jurling
The Coquí Captain by Beatriz Fernandez
After the Nettles by Sara Cleto
Vasilisa the Beautiful by Sharon Fedor

Artwork

Jane Baker, Paul Davey, Melanie Gillman, Charli Gunn, Tory Hoke, Susan Knowles, Nilah Magruder, Marta Milczarek, Audrey Roche & Steve Wood.

"Letter from Lara" to be published by Spark

Spark, A Creative Anthology will publish my poem "Letter from Lara, Yuriatin, 1920" which won 3rd place in their "Winter" contest--Spark is a beautiful publication consisting of an eclectic mix of writing styles, short stories and poetry.  I am so fortunate to have discovered them and feel very proud to be published there.  They offer fair compensation for publication and excellent prizes in their quarterly themed fiction and poetry contests!  The artwork is also standout, as exemplified by this cover art by Casey Robin for their Volume V, where I hope the poem will be included: