Follow me Elsewhere:

For the time being, I've pulled up my blog posts and moved to A Muse Bouche. I can't remember why I thought a new blog would be an improvement, so now I have blog feet in both worlds. The new one uses my sallyashton(dot)com domain. That must be why I thought it would be good to move.

However, I seem to want to use the new blog more as a website than a blab-fest. I've only posted once in the year since I began it.

In any case, if you followed me here 4 years ago, you might want to dial in to the new blog for now. If you're so inclined. Thanks for your precious time and kind attention.

-sally

Disquiet in Lisbon: July 2012

While I won't be teaching in Lisbon this summer in the Disquiet International Literary Program, I hope to return in that capacity in Summer 2013. I highly recommend the program to any writer, but will let my former students, the director, below, and the website fill in the details for you. Don't miss the opportunity. In the meantime, follow my antics at www.poetlaureateblog.org where I wear a funny hat until April, 2013, at which time I return to poetry on a stick.

I highly recommend Sally Ashton's workshop experience. Ashton goes beyond providing a constructive and supportive critique environment by also sharing literary themes and supporting text that I found to be thought provoking and inspirational to my writing. Lara Gularte (Disquiet 2011)

In the Lisbon workshop with Sally Ashton, I received thoughtful and relevant critique on my poems. I appreciated Sally's sensibilities as a facilitator and close reader, as well as her impressive knowledge of craft and current trends in literature. The optional short reading and writing assignments she prepared for us tapped into the expanse of emotions we were experiencing as travelers out of our comfort zones and provided focal points for the phenomenal history and culture we found surrounding us.
-Marjorie Manwaring (Disquiet Program 2011)

And now, a word from the director:

The second annual DISQUIET: Dzanc Books International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal is now accepting applications and the contest and scholarship competitions are open!

2012 guest writers and faculty include: Junot Diaz, Denise Duhamel, John Frey, Robert Olmstead, Anthony De Sa, George Saunders, Richard Zenith, Kim Addonizio, Sally Ashton, Dan Bern, Deanne Fitzmaurice, Frank X. Gaspar, Philip Graham, Christine Hume, Joshua Knelman, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Josip Novakovich, Deb Olin Unferth, Terri Witek, Luísa Costa Gomes, valter hugo mãe, José Luís Peixoto, Jacinto Lucas Pires, Patrícia Reis, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Rui Zink, editors from Dzanc Books, Guernica, and Open Letter, and many others.

This year, in addition, to workshops in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry, we’re offering workshops in Songwriting with Dan Bern; Photo-Documentary Storytelling with Pulitzer-Prize winning Photojournalist Deanne Fitzmaurice; and Book Arts with Portland’s Independent Publishing Resource Center.

Last year's inaugural program was a resounding success, with more than fifty North American writers gathering in Lisbon for workshops, seminars, talks, and frivolity with contemporary Portuguese writers and artists.

This year's program will take place from July 1 – July 13, 2012 and will include workshops in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and translation, literary walks and other excursions, craft talks and readings from North American and Portuguese writers.

The International Literature Award: A full scholarship (airfare, tuition and lodging) is available for the winner of the Dzanc Books / Guernica International Literature Award, judged this year by Colson Whitehead. This multi-genre contest seeks poetry, fiction, or non-fiction that broadens the landscape of North American literature beyond the boundaries of North America. The winning work will also be published in Guernica, one of the best literary and cultural magazines on the web.

Full and partial scholarships are also available through a partnership with the Luso-American Development Foundation for North American writers of Portuguese or Luso descent.

The deadline for contest and scholarships is January 31, 2012.

Further details available at our website, http://disquietinternational.org.

Follow me. . .

. . .for the foreseeable future at www.poetlaureateblog.org, where I am in the midst of posting the favorite poems of residents of Silicon Valley where, until April 1, 2013, I am the current Santa Clara County Poet Laureate.

I'm posting all my events on the "Laureate Schedule" page in the header, any comments from time to time can be searched in the Archives under the "Laureate's News" category, and you can definitely find my posts for Best American Poetry made from my time in Portugal in this manner should your interest have been hanging for the past months.

Sorry to have left the 3 of you hanging. (hi Susannah!)

Pass it on.

Work with me in Portugal!

Work with me in Portugal next summer in Dzanc Book’s new international literary program. I’ll be leading a poetry workshop. Check out the website and contact me for registration details. It’s a terrific program and opportunity.

those and this

A wonderful review of Some Odd Afternoon posted at Rattle online.

The Black Telephone Rings...

Five Fast Questions

Bullwinkle is a....

Sorry! Wrong cartoon.

"Sally Ashton is a hoot." That's the best 4 letter word I've ever been called! Check out the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review online review of my latest book, Some Odd Afternoon, for the rest of the story.

If you're a subscriber to the print version, the full text of the interview also appears in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue.