The Bear at AWP--Table G34

Bear Star will be at AWP in Chicago for the next several days. Please come by to say hi if you're there, and let your Chicago area friends know that the bookfair is open to the public on Saturday, March 3. I'll be back at the desk Monday, March 5, ready to ship Rob Davidson's new book or anything else you might care to read. Meanwhile, if you must get your paws on one of our books, please order from Small Press Distribution (spdbooks.org).

We have a winner!

Bearnice, our mascot here at Bear Star, is doing the happy dance once again, and so am I. After much deliberation, my two collaborators in judgment and I are very pleased to announce that the 2012 Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize goes to W. Vandoren Wheeler of Portland, Oregon, for his manuscript The Accidentalist. Van hails originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, which also makes me happy. Dorothy herself lives in Placitas, NM, and will be turning 90 next week, so it seems fitting that at least one person receiving her prize hails from the state she loves.

Please stay tuned ...

We're close to announcing a winner for this year's contest, but it may take us another week or two. I know the contest guidelines say we announce on or before the first of February, but trust me, people, we'll get to it soon. So many of the entries were outstanding, which always complicates things--in the best kind of way, of course.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for terrific poetry, and really, who wouldn't be except for the entire Republican party, I'd like to plug Pitch by Todd Boss (Norton 2012). Here's a link to his poem "Amidwives: Two Portraits," one of the best poems I happened across in the last year. It thrills and chills me in equal measure: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/241572

It also makes me really, really appreciate my own wonderful mother-in-law, Bernice Baptiste. Thanks for being one of the good ones, Bunnie!