jeromegagnonblog

New Book Cover

The cover design for Refuge for Cranes is complete and I think it’s a standout. Designed by Melody Stanford Martin of Wildhouse Publications, it features a photograph of Sandhill Cranes in flight by Chris Briggs that evokes the majesty of these amazing birds (pls. see Books section). My thanks to both Melody and Chris for their beautiful work. I’ll post more information about publication when it’s available.

Susan Fenimore Cooper, “America’s First Recognized Female Nature Writer”

When Rural Hours, a natural history diary by Susan Fenimore Cooper, was first published in 1850, it was done so anonymously “by a lady,” the custom for women writers of the Victorian era. Favorably reviewed, it went into nine editions in Cooper’s lifetime, according to Michelle T. Harris, writing in Audubon Magazine (Jan. 8, 2021). One of the first to warn of the dangers of deforestation, Cooper also lamented the loss of wild Passenger Pigeons (extinct by 1900) and the shrinking populations of other birds. The daughter of popular novelist James Fenimore Cooper, she lived in Cooperstown, New York, where she founded an orphanage and wrote for magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s. Rural Hours was reissued in 1998 by University of Georgia Press.

Sandhill Cranes Return to Platte River

This month thousands of Sandhill Cranes will touch down in the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska, feeding primarily on corn kernels and insects, before moving on to their nesting grounds in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. Visitors often hear the low, chortling sound of the prehistoric birds before they see them, observes columnist Rick Windham of the Platte River Telegraph. Known as a “rally bugle,” that call “is a sound that moves the spirit,” he says. The Iain Nicolson Rowe Audubon Center in Gibbon, Nebraska, offers guided tours of this annual event. Bird lovers can also observe the cranes in their natural habitat in “virtual tours.” For more information, go to https://www.row.audubon.org/events/.

An Ethics of Wild Mind

Author, poet, and translator David Hinton speaks about his latest book in a recent interview in Emergence Magazine. Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Ch’an, and “an ethics tempered by love,” he discusses the need for a deep relationship between humans and earth. https://www.emergengencemagazine.org

Writing Opportunities

The Annual Permafrost Book Prize in Poetry is open to all writers (including non-U.S. citizens) until March 15th. Winner receives $1000, 50 copies, and publication by the University of Alaska Press.

Passager Journal is now accepting poetry entries for their annual contest issue through April 15th.  An independent press located in Baltimore, MD, it was founded in 1990 for writers over the age of fifty. https://www.passagerbooks.com

The Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize is open until March 31st. Winner receives $500 and publication by the Texas Review Press.