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UCSC's Nathaniel Mackey receives major poetry award [Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif. :: ](Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 21--"Six Figures" would be a good name for a poem. It's even a better label for a poetry prize. UC Santa Cruz professor emeritus Nathaniel Mackey may be pondering the former after having won the latter. Mackey has been chosen for one of the nation's most prestigious poetry awards, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, an honor that carries a $100,000 cash award. This isn't the first heady honor for Mackey. He's won the National Book Award for his poetry book "Splay Anthem," a Guggenheim Fellowship for poetry, a Whiting Writer's Award and election to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. Mackey's career in Santa Cruz goes back to 1979, when he joined the UCSC faculty after stints at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Southern California. He graduated in English from Princeton University in 1969, and later received his Ph.D. from Stanford. Mackey is known by local fans of music as well for his long-time radio show on KUSP (88.9 FM) called "Tanganyika Strut," which focused on African music. Besides being a poet, teacher and radio programmer, he's been a literary critic, fiction writer and journal editor. His books of poetry include "Four for Trane," "Septet for the End of Time," "Outlantish" and "Song for Andoumboulou." He is also the author of an ongoing prose work called "From a Broken Bottle Traces of a Perfume Still Emanate." Get behind the YWP Young writers don't just happen. They often have to be discovered and nurtured and the wonderful Santa Cruz program the Young Writers Program is devoted to doing exactly that. Inspired by the famous quote from Willa Cather that states, "Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of 15," the YWP goes into local schools to help young people find their writerly voices. The program is gearing up for its year-end reading on May 27 at Bookshop Santa Cruz, as several young writers will read aloud from their works. Schools represented at the program include Harbor High School, Mission Hill Middle School, Soquel High School, Valencia Elementary, Brook Knoll Elementary, Ceiba College Prep, Branciforte Middle School, Pacific Elementary, Gault Elementary, and, as part of a special poetry reading, students at the Hartman School at Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall will read their own poems through computer-generated avatars. The Young Writers Program is co-sponsored by Santa Cruz Writes and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. It not only brings community volunteers into classrooms to help teachers get involved in writing projects, but it's also in the publishing business, collecting students' work and publishing them in book form. The Hartman poems are published in a book called "Voices from the Inside." Another new volume, called "Through Our Eyes: Ideas That Can Change The World," collects essays designed to persuade from seventh graders at Branciforte Middle School. Both books, and others, will be available at Tuesday's Bookshop Event. This is a great program, worthy of every literary lover's attention. Check it out at santacruzwrites.org/ywp. Love for Los Gatos Those in the Los Gatos literary scene should be aware of a new book titled "Legendary Locals in Los Gatos" --loves those L's --by Peggy Conway Bergtold and Stephanie Mathews. The authors will be on hand to talk about all things Los Gatos at the Los Gatos Public Library's Fireplace Room on May 31 from 2 to 4 p.m. Learn more at www.legendarylocals.com. Hey you, read 'You' Our book recommendation this week comes from Casey Coonerty Protti at Bookshop Santa Cruz in the science-fiction category. It's "You." No, seriously. It's a newly published novel called "You" by video-game designer Austin Grossman. Sayeth Ms. Protti: "It's a coming-of-age story (with magical realism!) for the video gamer, for the D&D player and for anyone longing to make a real connection." If you don't know what D&D stands for, this title probably isn't for you. Just sayin'. If you're a local writer with a new project, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected], and be sure to include "Read or Die" in the subject line. Also, please include the first line of your book, and a recommendation of someone else's books for readers. ___ (c)2014 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.) Visit the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.) at www.santacruzsentinel.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |