Echo & Lightningby Sheila Packa
Wildwood River Press announces the publication of Echo & Lightning (expanded edition) by Sheila Packa. It is both a love story and an exploration of bird migration and change. The cover painting is titled “Dawn” and is by visual artist Cecilia Ramon.
Kirsten Dierking, author of One Red Eye and Northern Oracle, writes: “So many poems in Echo & Lightning reveal what has to be given away in order to be filled with something greater--a more intense spiritual awareness, a fuller connection with the landscape, a more generous and all-encompassing love. Echo & Lighting transforms us into something freer, wilder, more given to loving, while reminding us that to fly is to risk leaving the old behind....”
Ellie Schoenfeld, author of The Dark Honey, writes: “These poems are the story of following one’s own instincts to, in one way or another, migrate. They bring us to the exact moment when we surrender to our truest selves, when we allow ourselves to be transported, transformed, resurrected.”
BIOGRAPHY
The granddaughter of Finnish immigrants, she grew up on Minnesota’s Iron Range. Her work, influenced by the Finnish language, explores the theme of migrations (of birds, grandmothers
, and desire) and the natural world. Sheila has published poetry, short stories and essays in several literary magazines, including Ploughshares. Her poems have been in several anthologies, including Good Poems, American Places, edited by Garrison Keillor, (Viking Penguin, scheduled for publication April 2011), Finnish-North American Literature in English (Mellen Press, 2009) Beloved of the Earth: Poems of Grief and Gratitude (Holy Cow Press, 2008) and To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (New Rivers Press, 2006). She has received a Loft Mentor Award in poetry, two Arrowhead Regional Arts Council fellowships for poetry, a Career Opportunity grant, and two Loft McKnight Awards (in both poetry and prose).Previous books: Poetry Harbor published her first chapbook, Always Saying Good-bye. Her book of poems, The Mother Tongue (Calyx Press, 2007) received recognition at the Northeast Minnesota Book Awards.
WEBSITE
www.sheilapacka.com
BLOG
www.sheilapacka.blogspot.com
Sheila Packa is the Poet Laureate of Duluth, MN 2010-2012.
PUBLISHER
Wildwood River Press
www.wildwoodriver.com
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 19, 2011: Carol Connolly Reading Series, at the University Club on Summit Avenue, St. Paul: featured readers are Connie Wanek, Sheila Packa, Ellie Schoenfeld and Deb Cooper
April 26, 2011: Sheila Packa, Poet Laureate at the Empty Bowl-- Join Sheila Packa at this annual fundraising event at the Depot in Duluth for the Northern Food Bank. She will be presenting free placemats with a selection of poems from her upcoming anthology, Poems for Life Transitions.
June 2, 2011: Sheila Packa & Kathy McTavish, poetry / cello performance and Patchouli at 8 pm at Terrapin Station in Walker, MN
Check out the calendar on her website for other upcoming events
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