New Poem in The Wanderlust Review

I once heard of a saying in Arabic that states humans are driven by four great motives. I can't remember what the other three were, but the fourth was the urge to travel.

New online journal The Wanderlust Review, based on that premise, takes travel writing beyond listings of accommodations and places to see and attempts to capture the experience of travel as well as the logistics.

I am therefore greatly pleased that the editors have recently chosen to include my poem "London Postcard" on the site. I also expect to have another poem in The Wanderlust Review before long.

Interview at Los Bloguitos

Today I am interviewed here at Los Bloguitos (literally, "the little blogs" or, if you will, "bloglets"), a daily updated Spanish-language blog for children, parents and teachers.

Interviewer Leticia Teresa Pontoni, whose poetry also appears on the site, contacted me by email and asked me a few questions about my book The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, as well as about how writing feels and how someone named Smith comes to write about mariachis. I even get to offer a little encouragement to the youngsters coming up in the world.

An approximate English translation is available here.

New Poems in Light Quarterly

As noted in the January 24 post, I believe the world needs more light verse, and sometimes I attempt to provide a bit of my own.

With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that some of my work appears in the current double issue of Light Quarterly, the leading journal of light verse in English. Editor John Mella and colleagues have kindly featured my poem "The Jellyfish" at the bottom of the page announcing the current issue.

The issue also includes two of an ongoing series of critterhews, my own variation on the clerihew that uses the name of an animal instead of a person. I have compiled enough for an abecedary, including the letter X, and hope to have them eventually published as a book or book section.

One example, previously published in The Other Herald, is the following:

Garfish
May not look like but are fish.
Shaped like needles and spears,
They devour their piscine peers.

That is also based on fact.

Two Poems in Anon

Delayed by other doings this summer, only now am I mentioning that two of my poems, "Fragment from Zeno" and "Heart," appear in Issue 6 of Anon, a Scottish poetry journal that draws its name from an anonymous submissions process designed to reduce the amount of logrolling, backscratching and all-around cronyism in the poetry world. Poets' identities are known to the editors only after their work is accepted.

Launched July 9 at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Issue 6 will also be featured in an August 16 event at Edinburgh's West Port Book Festival, which will overlap with several days of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I won't be attending, alas, but I will be anxiously awaiting word of how the festivities go.

A sample of the issue, including "Heart," is available here, and an audio file of "Fragment from Zeno" read by Ishbel McFarlane can be found here.

RIF and FESTIBA Footage

As noted in the April 3 post, Reading is Fundamental (RIF) gave away some 1,000 copies of The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo at FESTIBA 2009, held at the University of Texas-Pan American in McAllen.

I was unable to attend, but I have recently found a link here to a video clip of about 28 seconds showing a variety of activities, including the distribution of the book to children and parents.

I had been told this was a large event, but I had no idea how large until seeing the footage.

Supergracias to FESTIBA and RIF for including my work in this important event.

Guest-Blogging at Madam Mayo

Washington, DC and Mexico City-based writer C.M. Mayo has graciously given me space to post a list of mariachi related-facts here on her blog Madam Mayo.

Go there to read about mariachi history, clothing, festivals and food culture, the background of my children's picture The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo.

Stay to look at pictures of adorable pug Picadou and learn about C.M. Mayo's very well-reviewed new novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, which was advertised in yesterday's New York Times Book Review. You will also learn how her blog got its name.

New Page on Author and Illustrator Source

We are still in the thick of summer, but educators may already be trying to schedule events for the coming academic year.

With that in mind, I would call to your attention Author and Illustrator Source, an extensive listing of (you guessed it) published authors and illustrators who make school visits and presentations, with contact information, rates and types of presentations offered. Presenters are listed both alphabetically and geographically, with biographical paragraphs and information on their titles. Areas represented include picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, poetry and virtually every type of children's and young adult literature you can imagine.

My page, which you can find here, lists my rates and possible presentation formats. I am in the unusual position of being able to offer programs for both children and adults, and I hope to do so at book festivals as well as school visits in the months ahead.