Allyson Whipple

Category: events

  • Poet About Town (Georgetown and San Antonio Edition)

    I’ll be reading at two Texas Poetry Calendar events this month. Both are free and open to the public, so come on by if you have the time.

    First, I’ll be participating in the Texas Poetry Calendar reading at the Georgetown Poetry Festival. The reading will run from 1-3:30, but there will be poetry events running Friday through Sunday, including workshops and a haiku hike. Since the entire festival is completely free, I recommend all Austin-area writers attend. I had a fantastic time last year, and can’t wait to see what’s in store. The entire festival is held at the Georgetown Public Library.

    Later in the month, there will be a Texas Poetry Calendar reading at The Twig bookshop in San Antonio. This is one of my two favorite bookstores in San Antonio, so I’m looking forward to reading there. I missed out on this reading last year, so I’m especially glad I have time to attend this time.

     

  • Feminist Poetry Fest Website is Live!

    The Austin Feminist Poetry Festival website is now up and running! It’s still in-progress, but I decided it was ready to go live.

    There’s even a place to donate if you want to help support the festival. I’ve set up a PayPal account, and I’m looking forward to setting up a bank account for the event.

    I’ve got big plans, not just for the festival, but for the future. After this year, I’m planning on doing the work to get us registered as a nonprofit. I’m excited to be creating a festival that I hope will endure long-term.

  • Signal Boost! Austin Feminist Poetry Fest

    Call for Poets

     

    The Austin Feminist Poetry Festival is a new event designed to showcase the work of feminist poets, allow participants to explore and enhance their craft, and to foster discussions about poetry and its role in feminist and activist circles. The Festival will be held April 12th-14th, 2013. We’re currently seeking poets to lead workshops and panel discussions for our participants.

     

    Workshop Leaders: The Festival will have four workshops during the Saturday session, and we’re looking for interested poets to lead sessions that will allow participants to explore their creativity in relationship to feminist thought, action, and practice. Please send proposed workshop title and structure to literaryaustin@gmail.com.

     

    Panel Leaders: The Festival will have four panel discussions, and we’re seeking people to lead discussions about creativity, feminism, and the intersections with class, race, education, family, and other aspects of life. If interested, please send proposed topic to literaryaustin@gmail.com.

     

    Please note that this festival embodies an inclusive definition of feminism. It is not an event for women only (however you define the term). All feminist-identified people are welcome as workshop leaders, panelists, and participants.

     

    We look forward to seeing you at the festival!

     

     

    Photo Credit: Jay Morrison, licensed under Creative Commons

     

  • Video from Spoken & Heard

    I had a fantastic time as the featured poet at Spoken & Heard this past Sunday. I had a couple of good friends in the audience, and Jon managed to get some of the poems on video. I thought I’d share some of my favorites from the evening.

    Reading “Come Into the World Like That”

    Paying tribute to Mary Oliver by reading her poem “Wild Geese”

    Yes, I wrote a poem about visiting the dentist

    Reading “Love Song to a ’94 Honda” and “Lizard”

    Reading “ICU”

    Reading “Goldfinch”

    Thanks again for the members of Spoken & Heard for featuring me, to the great baristas at Kick Butt Coffee, and to my friends who came to watch.

  • Feminist Friday: Volunteers Needed for Rethinking Power & Resistance/Re-imaginando el Poder y la Resistencia

    Rethinking Power & Resistance: Gender & Human Rights from Texas to the Transnational is a conference that will be held October 5th-6th in Austin, Texas. The bilingual event brings scholars and activists together for discussion, organization, and collaboration. The conference is currently in need of volunteers in the following areas:

    1) English/Spanish translators/interpreters

    Are you fluent in both English and Spanish? Do you have any experience with simultaneous translation? We need folks for the following translation collaborations:
    A. Simultaneous translation to headsets during panels and events
    B. Individual translation for folks networking
    C. Individual translation for organizing issues during the conference
    We are looking to staff folks on shifts during Friday and Saturday, October 5 and 6, 2012.
    If you are interested in getting involved with activist translation, please email Andrea Zarate at a.zarate@utexas.edu to let us know which of these pieces you would be interested in and prepared for.
     

    2) Housing and transportation for conference participants

    The conference organizers are looking for volunteer housing and transportation to and from the airport for a number of the conference participants over October 4-7.
    If you are able to host and/or offer transportation for one or more guests for the weekend of October 5 and 6, please email Rocío Villalobos at rocio.villalobos@gmail.com.
    3) Staffing for the days of the conference
    Volunteers are needed to assist in conference registration, session set-up, and helping to answer general questions for conference participants. We are seeking volunteers for shifts on both Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6.
    If you would like to learn more about this volunteer opportunity, please email Michelle Mott at genderandhumanrights@gmail.com.

  • Signal Boost: Feminist Poetry Festival

    For those of you who read both this blog and Literary Austin, apologies for the double post. I know a good chunk of people read one blog or the other, so I’m reposting from the original Literary Austin post to make sure this information gets to everyone.

    I’m planning a literary event, and I need your help!

    Plans for the First Annual Austin Feminist Poetry Festival (working title) are underway. The tentative date is April 4th through 7th, and I am looking to recruit volunteers to help me plan and implement the event.

    Anyone who wants to help is more than welcome. I have a particular need for people who can assist with fundraising and grantwriting, but anyone who is enthused and wants to help is more than welcome. This will be a big job, and the more the merrier!

    Please note that this festival embodies an inclusive definition of feminism. It is not an event for women only (however you define the term). All feminist-identified people, regardless of sex/gender expression, are welcome to join the planning committee.

    If interested, please contact me at literaryaustin@gmail.com. Once I have ascertained interest, I’ll email interested people to set up our initial planning meeting.

    Please feel free to share this with your various social networks, in order to reach people who might not read this blog, but who would be interested in participating.

  • Poet About Town (Houston Edition)

    Just a reminder that this month, I’ll be joining a group of amazing poets for the first in a series of readings for the 2013 Texas Poetry Calendar. Scott Wiggerman reports that all of the readings look to have spectacular attendance this year.

    This reading will take place at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas. I had an amazing time at Blue Willow last year, and I can’t wait to attend again. The shop is lovely, and the company is superb. I’m also looking forward to hearing poems from the calendar read aloud.

    The Blue Willow reading will happen on Saturday, August 24th, at 4 p.m. Click here for a map. The event is free and open to the public.

  • Poet About Town

    Just a head’s up that I’m going to be participating in a couple of local poetry events this month that I want to promote and share.

    First, I’ll be guest-hosting the monthly BookWoman Poetry Open Mic on Thursday, July 14th at 7:15 p.m. Regular host Cindy Huyser is going to be out of town, and I’m honored that she asked me to fill in. This month’s featured readers will be Mike and Joyce Gullickson.

    Mike and Joyce Gullickson together publish “The Enigmatist” and “Blue Hole” magazines. Mike is the founder and chairman of the Georgetown Poetry Festival, held the first weekend in October at the Georgetown Public Library. His work has appeared in the San Antonio Express, Barnwood Press, X-magazine, Di-Verse-City, and others. In 2008/9 he won the National Senior Poet Laureate prize with his poem “A Promise of Music.” Joyce Gullickson has been labeled everything from a poetry pilgrim to a poetry pariah.  She believes poetry can connect all people…if only they are willing to listen…are you???

    After the featured poets read their work, we’ll have a round-robin open mic until roughly 9 p.m., or whenever people run out of poems, whichever comes first.

     

    On July 28th, I’ll be reading at the Twin Oaks Library from 2:30-4:30, as part of a reading series curated by local poet Ralph Hausser. Throughout the summer, Ralph is featuring poets who have won awards and honorable mentions in the Austin Poetry Society Annual Awards, the APS monthly contests, and APS special contests. I’m thrilled to have been invited to participate, and I especially look forward to being back at Twin Oaks, which was my home branch when we first moved to Austin, before we moved to the north-central part of town.

     

    Both of these events are free and open to the public. Come beat the heat this summer with air conditioning and great poems!

  • The Texas Poetry Calendar readings are coming up!

    Dos Gatos Press is getting ready to kick off its reading series to promote the Texas Poetry Calendar. The Calendar readings will take place in bookstores between Dallas and Houston. I had fun at the Houston and Georgetown readings last year, and I’m looking forward to adding the San Antonio and Austin events to my list.

    Below is this year’s lineup. The ones with a double asterisk are the ones where I’ll be reading.

    August 25**
    4:00 p.m.
    Blue Willow Book Shop
    14532 Memorial Dr.
    Houston, TX 77079

    September 14
    3:45 p.m.
    Benbrook Public Library
    1065 Mercedes Street
    Benbrook, TX 76126

    October 6**
    1:00 p.m.
    Georgetown Public Library
    402 W. Eighth St.
    Georgetown, TX 78626
    (This reading is part of the Georgetown Poetry Festival.)

    October 27**
    3:00 p.m.
    The Twig Book Shop
    200 E. Grayson St., Suite 124
    San Antonio, TX 78215

    December 1**
    4:00 p.m.
    BookPeople
    603 N. Lamar
    Austin, TX 78703

    December 3
    7:30 p.m.
    Coffee Oasis
    4650 Nasa Road 1
    Seabrook, TX
    December 7
    7:00 p.m.
    Half-Price Books
    5803 E. NW Hwy.
    Dallas, TX 76231

  • Exciting dance news

    After nearly two years of focusing on west coast swing, my teacher and I have decided I’m ready to put together a competitive routine. I’ll be doing a pro-am piece with the fabulous Ben Hooten, who is a fantastic performer and teacher. I’m honored to have the chance to be working with him, and I’m exciting to begin this new phase of my competitive career.

    We managed to settle on a song pretty quickly, and now it’s a matter of cutting it, putting together choreography, and devoting hours and hours to practice. I can’t wait to get to work.

    For now, enjoy the song I’ll be working with for the next year or so.