Elisavietta Ritchie: News from 2014

Look out for The Bay Weekly's January 2, 2015 issue on "Great Expectations" which will feature people in both their professional and personal lives, so check out the paper after New Year's Day. I have interviewed several talented Calvert County residents for this issue.

More News: Ann Arbor Review's editor Fred Wolven has accepted four of my poems for his next issue. The magazine published a lot of my work some years ago, then we lost contact until recently. Their contributors are now from all over the world.

End of 83, A Baltimore journal, invited me to submit to what turned out to be its inaugural issue. and now it is out, though they don't seem to be putting names at the end of poems but only in the table of contents...My three acceptances were Preliminary Experiments, Quick Change Artists and Crimson Hen.

12/6/2014

Saturday afternoon, December 6, 2014: The pre-holidays book fair at The Writer's Center, Walsh Road, Bethesda. Elisavietta will have a table for books that her Wineberry Press published as well as her own books published by various other presses. Nearby will be a table with the Washington Writers' Publishing House books, including this year's prize winners, Catherine Bell's novel RUSH OF SHADOWS and Christopher Ankney's poetry collection HEARSAY.

An open mike next Sunday, November 9, if you can venture to Arlington: Miles Moore's Iota reading series is featuring Merrill Leffler and Elisavietta Ritchie but there will be an open mike and food and drink available too. Details: All readings at IOTA Club and Cafe, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia (two blocks from Clarendon Metro). All readings begin at 6:00 p.m., with open readings to follow, unless otherwise noted. Street and garage parking available. Admission free. I'll attach the flier as there are other dates on which to read poetry and fiction.

Am still outside Boston but bright sun after yesterday's rain and light snow and golden leaves falling--? and as I wrote on the mini-blog or whatever this morning and you have it--

Exciting personal note: in Cambridge Massachusetts Sunday a wonderful concert of classical music by Debussy, Donizetti, Ravel, and Pinkham, midway in which came the premiere of David Owens' sequence At the Landing: Verses from a Poet's Life – a half-dozen of my poems for which he has composed scores performed on viola, flute, harp, and sung by mezzo D'Anna Fortunato who enunciated every word, and the audience could follow with the poems on their programs. Several admitted they were moved to tears. My first time to hear it and to see the score, and everything worked. This was the launch, vernissage, and eventually the music will be on another CD, even better than his Raking the Snow CD which came out a few months ago.

World Premiere of
At the Landing - Verses from a Poet's Life
by composer David Owens

Text by Elisavietta Ritchie
Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp by Claude Debussy
Sonatine en Trio by Maurice Ravel (arr: Carlos Salzedo)
Vowels (1993) by Daniel Pinkham
Romanza for Voice, Viola and Harp by Gaetano Donizetti
DíAnna Fortunato, mezzo-soprano
With Ensemble Aubade
Peter H. Bloom, flute;
Francis Grimes, viola;
Mary Jane Rupert, harp

The Loring-Greenough House
12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Donations $15, $10 seniors, students and JPTC members

Writers and Poets who live within a 75-mile radius of the U.S. Capitol in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia are eligible to enter. Staffed by previous winners who volunteer their time and skills, WWPH is a non-profit cooperative press reflecting the cultural and racial diversity of the greater Washington, Baltimore and Northern Virginia areas. Judging is traditionally performed by WWPH members. Winners receive $1,000 and 50 copies of their book. Deadline November 1.

The Jean Feldman Poetry Prize
Poets living within 75 driving miles of the U.S. Capitol (including the District of Columbia, Southern Maryland, the Baltimore area and Northern Virginia) are eligible. The manuscript should be 50-70 pages, single or 1-1/2 spaced. A reading fee of $25.00 (include manuscript title in "For" line of check) and a stamped, self-addressed reply envelope are required and should be sent by regular mail. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript. The title page of an electronic copy, or each paper copy, should contain the title only. Provide name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and title on a separate cover sheet accompanying a paper submission, or in the body of the email with the electronic copy attached.

The Washington Writers' Publishing House Fiction Prize
Fiction writers living within 75 driving miles of the Capitol (including the District of Columbia, Southern Maryland, the Baltimore area and Northern Virginia) are eligible to submit either a novel or a collection of short stories (no more than 350 pages, double or 1-1/ 2 spaced). A $25.00 reading fee (include manuscript title in "For" line of check) and a stamped, self-addressed reply envelope should be sent by regular mail. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript. The title page and running head of each copy should contain the title only. Provide name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and title on a separate cover sheet accompanying a paper submission, or in the body of the email with the manuscript attached.

Check out the newest Broadkill Review by downloading Vol8.No4.pdf! Available now until September 15, 2014 06:02 PDT. Lots of good reading, and I am particularly grateful to editor Jamie Brown for featuring my Washington Writers' Publishing House winner Raking the Snow with David Owen's new CD of his classical compositions, including those he wrote for a bunch of my poems.

Gival Press editor Robert Giron posted my long story, "Hosiah and Mike and Sukie and her Damned Melon," in the Arlington Library Journal, which he also edits. This one story took up the whole issue.

The Bay Weekly editor Sandra Martin commissioned me to produce several articles, interviews, and a book review, all with photographs. The latest is for the Labor Day Edition, on the lovely Thai infectious disease specialist who treated me for Vibrio vulcanificus, Dr. Lalita Chulabokha, at Calvert Memorial Hospital. read more on my journalism page

Lalitamba editor Florence Homolka accepted my poems "You Invite Me To Visit Your Coliseum But--" and "Photograph in Black and White" for the next issue.

Potomac Review published "Visitations: Two Vultures" in an issue that includes two of my fellow Washington Writers' Publishing House poets, Elizabeth Murawski and Naomi Thiers. read more on my literary activity page