BEI Fellow Todd Davis Featured in new edition of “The Poet’s Market 2016” Click here to read more.
“The Poet’s Market” is for poets looking to be published. It is a resource that contains lists of publishers as well as interviews and advice from widely published poets.
Peacock, Beware! Satire By John T. Price Click here to read more.
John T Price read this at the Black Earth reading at AWP last summer and brought the house down. Like good satire it hits a tender spot.
Fellow Todd Davis Book of Poems to be Released in January/February 2016. Click here to read more.
Congratulations to current BEI fellow Todd Davis who will be releasing Winterkill, a book of poems, in January/February of 2016. It will likely be available for pre-order in October or November.
Congratulations Emerita Fellow Allison Hedge-Coke who was nominated as a finalist for the Write a House writing residency. Click here to read more.
“Write A House is delighted to announce ten finalists for the second round our groundbreaking writing residency, in which we renovate a formerly vacant home in Detroit and give it to one talented writer—for keeps. We will celebrate the winner on October 2 at a showcase event featuring the celebrated...
Emeritus Fellow Regie Gibson Published in Medium’s Publication, Bright. Click here to read more.
In his article, BEI’s Regie Gibson discusses boredom and a piece of wisdom he received from his teacher in 5th grade: “Mister Gibson, do not make yourself into a shapeless sponge waiting for the world to wet you.” Click here to read article.
Join Ann Fisher-Wirth at Djerassi Resident Artists program; To Know The Place: Environmental Life Writing. Join for Jan.10-16. Click here to read more.
The workshop is in environmental life writing, or place-based autobiography, offering the pleasures of discovering the profound embeddedness of the self in its world. It is envisioned as a hybrid, combining readings in literature with a creative writing workshop; participants may write either creative nonfiction essays or prose poems, focusing...
University of Mississippi recognized Ann Fisher-Wirth as a BEI Fellow. Click here to read more.
We are excited to welcome all of our new fellows and this recognition of Ann and all of her important work is great to see! Click here to read the full article.
A review of by Patricia Spears Jones of “A Swarm of Bees in High Court” by Tonya M. Foster. Click here to read more.
“Foster’s imaginative work glories in language’s ambiguities, discords, emotions and logic—she allows that imaginative thrall to explore race and gender and political dysfunction. Foster has taken from one work of art and found correspondences in a Harlem apartment, a New Orleans childhood, early morning television commercials, a lover’s sated face,...
Emeritus Fellow Elizabeth Cunningham Book Of Poems To Be Published & Meave Book Series to be Available on Audiobook. Click here to read more.
Hiraeth Press will be publishing So Ecstasy Can Find You, Elizabeth Cunningham’s third collection of poems, on September 15, 2015. A book launch will be held at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY on 9/15 at 7:00. Click here for more details on the book launch Click here to read more about the...
BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg among panelists who spoke in front of Congress about the Endangered Species Act
” “The Endangered Species Act, one of the most powerful environmental laws globally, has directly prevented extinction of hundreds of species, such as the bald eagle,” said Cristina Eisenberg, lead scientist at Earthwatch, U.S.A and author of two books on carnivore ecology. “In this era of rapid environmental change and...
Senior Fellow Patricia Spears Jones writes on the massacre in Charleston, SC: “Summer is here, a garden, a massacre”
“Last Wednesday on a day that represented my break from teaching, I walked about the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The day had begun soft, gray, moist, but once I got to the garden around 2 p.m. the sun began to break out a huge bright smile over this very walkable feast...
Congratulations to Emerita Fellow Louise Halfe, one of 14 Aboriginal Women highlighted in Room magazine for summer reading.
To see the full list and read about Louise, click here.
Join Fellows Ann Fisher-Wirth and Melissa Tuckey at the Eleventh Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) at the University of Idaho
Ann will be speaking on a panel as well as presenting work from her ongoing collaborative poetry/photography project Mississippi as part of a plenary session at the Eleventh Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), which will be held June 23-27, 2015, at the University of...
Congratulations New Fellows!
The Black Earth Institute is privileged to announce 2015-2018 Fellowship Awards. We are humbled and delighted to have such a wonderful group of artists dedicated to the mission of BEI, to have art serve the causes of spirituality, the earth and social justice. All of these fellows have not only...
A Fabulous review of BEI emerita fellow Annie Finch’s newest book and her approach to formalism.
“Many contemporary poets use meter and rhyme, and write in traditional forms such as villanelles, but they often do so selectively, for sizzle, like Chinese spices in California cuisine. Annie Finch’s new book, Spells: New and Selected Poems, collects work by a poet who finds in the meters of English...
Check out Scholar/Advisor Cristina Eisenberg’s latest HuffPost article: Endangered Species Act Caught in Congressional Crosshairs
Cristina Eisenberg, BEI Scholar/Adviser, warns us about the dangers of gutting the Endangered Species Act. This foul action is the leading edge of attacks on the Clean Air Act and what little protection of food safety by the FDA. Darkness descends upon the land. Read it here.
From the tour bus to the classroom: Debra Marquart takes the long road
Debra Marquart, BEI Fellow, has a new book of poetry, “Small Buried Things” about items collected by a doctor that had been stuck in people and a long one about the damage to the earth and communities affected by fracking. A North Dakota native, Deb has seen first hand this...
BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg has two new HuffPost articles that could not be more important for carnivore awareness.
The first, “El Lobo’s Uncertain Future,” discusses the trials and tribulations of the Mexican Grey Wolf’s return to the wild. March 23rd-30th marks the 17th anniversary of their recovery after becoming completely extinct in the wild in 1980. There are a slew of social-political reasons that show their struggle is...
Senior Fellow Judith Roche has published a new book, “All Fire All Water”
“Judith Roche’s fourth collection of poems, All Fire All Water, consists of four parts. “Rivers Have Memories,” the first part, explores nature and our relationship to it. Poems include fish and birds, bees and wolves, storms and the changing of the seasons. Drawing from the Salish Sea, where Roche lives,...
Professor John Briggs, one of the original BEI fellows and editor of the 2015 spring issue of About Place, will be among some 40 participants at a gathering near Silicon Valley at Half Moon Bay, California, to discuss “Technologies of Transformation: Technology, Consciousness and the Future.” The gathering is sponsored by The Contemplative Alliance.
Launched by The Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) in 2008, the Contemplative Alliance is an inter-spiritual movement grounded in contemplative practices and approaches with the goal of heightening awareness and generating actions to address the critical issues of our times. The Alliance seeks to accomplish this by creating an...
“Safe Passages, or How Did the Grizzly Bear Cross the Road?” By Scholar Advisor Cristina Eisenberg
Have you ever wondered the statistics on wildlife crossing bridges over interstates and highways? Cristina Eisenberg’s latest post on HuffPost tells us how they have done in Banff, “the crown jewel of the Canadian national parks” A step that can make radical change in this one crucial area shows what can...
Check out BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg’s new HuffPost article on the wolves of Yellowstone National Park!
Besides being the lead scientist at the Earthwatch Institute and a BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg has dedicated her life’s research to wolves and predators effects on ecosystems as well as fire. Check out her latest post in HuffPost on the Yellowstone wolf pack and how they have adapted to adversity...
Senior Fellow Patricia Spears Jones “Belle de jour” Poem featured at the Ashbery Home School
Check out Patricia’s poem, “Belle de jour” featured at the Ashbery Home School here.
Sign up to win a trip with BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg to Yellowstone National Park!
“Island Press is excited to announce the Rewilding Adventure sweepstakes, a once in a lifetime chance to join noted scientist Cristina Eisenberg for a field excursion to track wildlife including wolves, grizzlies, wolverines, lynx and cougars. From classroom discussion to hiking in Yellowstone National Park, the winner will learn not...
BEI Scholar Liam Heneghan to help host University of DePaul’s “Rooted in Soil” Events Coming in the next couple of months!
“CHICAGO —(ENEWSPF)—February 13, 2015. Farmers, musicians, ecologists, photographers and artists will gather at the DePaul Art Museum in coming months to discuss environmental issues during the “Rooted in Soil” exhibition, which examines the human connection to soil. Events are free and open to the public and will be held at...
Waldorf hosts Mary Swander, Poet Laureat of Iowa, Feb. 19
Waldorf College will host Mary Swander, poet laureate of Iowa, on Thursday, Feb. 19, as part of the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series on campus. A light dinner reception, hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa will be 6-7 p.m. followed by a performance of Swander’s short production, “Map of my Kingdom,”...
Debra Marquart, a BEI Fellow and Dakota native to hold writing workshop, “Our People. Our Places. Our Stories”
A North Dakota native turned writer and professor will lead a writing workshop in Rugby next month. Debra Marquart – a English professor and teacher in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Environment program at Iowa State University – will lead writing workshops titled “Our People. Our...
The Black Earth Institute is seeking new fellows.
The Black Earth Institute will award 6 fellowships for 2015-2018 term. BEI, now 10 years old, is dedicated to supporting art in re-forging the links between spirit, earth and society. Art can create new space for changing minds and the world. Artists have played this role and BEI is dedicated...
Elizabeth Cunningham’s latest Feminism and Religion blog post: My Immortal Mother-in-Law
A story about a strong and enlightened woman who shaped much and many. BEI fellow Elizabeth Cunningham was given room to grow in Olga’s school and then room literally as daughter-in law at High Valley Center. BEI was hosted at High Valley for a retreat and we all have a...
Check out BEI scholar Liam Heneghan and friend of BEI Curt Meine in “Conversations Around the Green Fire”
Conversations around the Green Fire are 10-20 minute original videos from in-depth interviews, short presentations, and bonus Green Fire footage. Connect with ideas from leading thinkers, as the Center for Humans and Nature continue the dialogue spurred by the Green Fire documentary. The Emmy award-winning documentary film Green Fire: Aldo...
Congratulations to Fellow Annie Finch on her poem “Conversation” which has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Based on a photo of two summer squash by Edward Weston that hangs in the Yale Art Gallery, the poem was originally commissioned for an exhibit of poems inspired by works in that collection. Here is the poem. Conversation Edward Weston’s “Squash,” 1936 “Delve for me, delve down, delve past...
Regie O’Hare Gibson, Fellow Emeritus of the Black Earth Institute shares the stage with saxophonist Stan Strickland.
A poem inspired by his daughter goes nicely in front of a saxophonist Stan Strickland on Radio Boston. The poem titled, “Jazz People” is about little people who live inside instruments and come to life when the instrument is played. A month earlier Regie was broadcast live from the TEDxBoston...
Interview with Mary Swander
(Dawson)We have on the phone BEI fellow and scholar, author, professor, and Iowa’s Poet Laureate, Mary Swander to talk to her about her insights on performance. At this year’s Black Earth Institute annual gathering of fellows and scholars we will be focusing on all types of performance and their place...
Dr. Deborah Wood Holton Interview
Today we are here at Brigit Rest, the home of the Black Earth Institute in Black Earth, Wi and we are speaking to one of the original fellows of the Black Earth Institute, Dr. Deborah Wood Holton from DePaul University School for new Learning.
LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs: What’s African American About African American Poetry?
I am somewhere between Ghana and Colorado, gushing over the last volume of Scalped, a crime noir set on a fictional Indian reservation. I discover several Ga, Asante, and Twi phrase books in a shop at Elmina Castle. I find the 1964 Pocket Poets edition of Negro Verse edited by...
Patricia Spears Jones: What’s African American About African American Poetry?
Since I am an African American (although I prefer Black American) and I write poetry, I assume my poetry is African American. I know, so essentialist. But, my family has been in the United States for at least seven generations–mostly in the South (Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana)—the Delta. To me,...