Get to Know the CALYX Board: Cynthia Spencer

Hi all,
I've been on the Board about 6 years, having been recruited by retired Oregon State Business Professor Mary Alice Seville—one of those quiet, behind the scenes women who does a TON for our local community. When Mary Alice asks you to do something it's hard to say no to someone who gives so much of her time. My time on the Board will be term limiting out shortly...

I've been a potter for the past 25 years and the past seven I've been the Director of our local arts festival. I feel strongly that the arts enrich our lives and that being creative is good for everyone—not just artists. This is why I got involved with CALYX—an area of the arts I was a lot less knowledgeable about than the visual arts world. CALYX has done some valuable work publishing women's artwork and writing over the past 34 years. I am now eager to see how CALYX grows and expands as our younger staff women begin to transition into the helm at CALYX and lead it into the future.

CALYX and the AWP Conference

Kelsey & Cass Dalglish, Ingrid Wendt,

& Fran Adler

Becky at the CALYX table

Flying back to Portland from mile-high Denver and the AWP conference, I began reading a copy of Fire and Ink and found my depleted conference energy rekindled by the voices in the book. Here is writing that speaks to my soul. The kind of voices I have spent the past 34 years making sure are heard. And I had to rethink CALYX’s attendance at AWP. It is incredibly expensive to attend the book exhibit (table costs have doubled in the past 4 years) and we NEVER cover the costs of attendance through sales (shipping books, drayage fees, AWP fees, plane fares, per diems, and hotels, despite going as cheaply as possible). But reading Fire and Ink while sitting next to Becky (CALYX’s new Assistant Editor), and hearing her enthusiasm for her conference experiences I remembered all the younger writers who had been by the table and spoken with us and found a way to let go of the worry over the money lost on the conference. Here is a new generation coming up who will be the new voices to discover, and the importance of connecting with our current authors as well as the new younger and enthusiastic voices became obvious. Bringing the newer staff members to AWP to attend CLMP training workshops and many of the AWP workshops was important. Becky let me know all she had learned about increasing subscriptions and reaching new readers and the many new groups she had connected with who are starting new feminist publishing ventures (WILLA, Earth’s Daughters, Southern Women’s Review, and others). While I had looked around AWP and seen many publishing peers and friends missing, the younger staff were establishing connections with members of this new generation of feminist writers. They were involved with literature and publishing and excited about putting together workshops for the next AWP. The transition we want to make at CALYX, which will involve the passing of the feminist publishing torch to younger staff members, was beginning during this AWP. And I can finally see the vistas opening for CALYX and feel the excitement and the possibilities that this future can hold. Attending AWP in mile-high Denver wore me out—but hanging out with CALYX authors Fran Adler, Marianne Villanueva, M. Evelina Galang, Ellen Bass, Cass Dalglish, Catherine Brady, and Sybil James was delightful. Yet the prize in this experience was seeing this new generation at work and the possibilities they will bring to CALYX as we begin to hand over the reins and move into transition.

Margarita Donnelly, Director, 4/13/10

CALYX is 34 on March 11th

I'm not sure where the year is disappearing to, but March has arrived, and with it CALYX anniversary/birthday. March 11, 1976 is the founding date, and we will be celebrating with a party on Saturday, March 13th, 7-9pm at the Corvallis Arts Center (700 SW Madison). The reception including music, refreshments, and poetry readings is free and open to the public, so if you're in the area - come say hello!

The readings include the Oregon and Washington Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize award winners: Linda Strever (Olympia, WA), Kathryn Graves-Messer (Salem, OR), Jennifer Richter (Corvallis, OR), and Toni Van Deusen (Eugene, OR). Linda's poem “How to Become the Oracle” received the 2009 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize judged by poet Marilyn Chin, and was published in our most recent issue. Kathryn's poem "Findings" is a 2009 finalist and is on our website http://www.calyxpress.org/Cranstonprize.html. Toni and Jennifer are finalists from previous years -- and we're looking forward to seeing all of them at our party!

As with other events, there is a bit of work that goes into creating this party - getting the word out, coordinating with poets and the location... and the last minute details seem to be falling into place. In a little less than two weeks, we'll have some photos to post up here, and wrapup of the event. How time flies!

-- Cathy

Signs of Spring

I know we shouldn't mention this, with the east coast buried in snow, and apparently snow in 49 of 50 states... but a few feet from the door of the CALYX office there are crocus, daffodils and snowdrops blooming! Spring has begun here in Oregon, and although we have had our "setbacks" before (notably a snow mid-April last year!), it's starting to feel like we're coming out of the winter! And if it's spring... CALYX birthday isn't far behind!

CALYX was founded on March 11, 1976, by four women with a vision to provide a publication that celebrates the excellence and diversity of women’s literature and art. It has continued to give opportunities to new and developing writers - more than 4,000, and we lost count a while ago!

A few writers who were published first or early in their careers include Julia Alvarez, Ellen Bass, Chitra Divakaruni, Molly Gloss, Linda Hogan, Natalie Goldberg, Barbara Kingsolver, Colleen McElroy, Sharon Olds, Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska (the first English translations in the U.S.A.), and Eleanor Wilner. Did you know CALYX Journal was also the first U.S. publisher of color art reproductions of the work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo?

We will be celebrating CALYX' 34th birthday here in Corvallis, Oregon, with a party on March 13th that includes music, refreshments -- and of course, readings! More on that soon. But if you are inclined to celebrate with CALYX, you can have a house party of your own! We would be delighted to provide more information to you -- email us at: info(at)calyxpress(dot)org.

Feedback, Anyone?

Hopefully, you have had a chance to read our latest issue, Vol. 25:3, which was shipped early January. Of course, as anxious parents, we simply love to hear how the latest creative "child" has been received! We have gotten some lovely emails, and several of you have filled out the Survey Monkey survey via our website (thanks!) But we'd love to hear from more readers.

As we begin to develop and expand our interactive abilities, we are hoping that we can begin a dialogue with our readers, and possibly facilitate a dialogue among you. Step one is to set up feedback mechanisms (such as the Survey Monkey questionaire), and of course we are reading and responding to our Facebook page. What next? What else would you like to see, either on this blog, or on the Calyx website? You can enter comments below, or email us at info(at)calyxpress(dot)org.

Sarah Lantz Memorial Poetry prize Winner Announced!

We congratulate Penelope Scambly Schott for her winning book, Crow Mercies. Penelope is the winner of our first Sarah Lantz Memorial Poetry Book Prize. There were many entries, and it was not an easy decision, but final judge Colleen McElroy selected Crow Mercies from a final group of eight books.

Because the lead time on book publication is so early, we got busy right away! Crow Mercies has an ISBN number, and we have entered the summaries and other needed info online with our distributor -- a January deadline for an October printing! As someone who is relatively new to this, it is interesting to me how long a lead time there is for many aspects of the production.

I'll be blogging along the way, as I learn more about how to produce a book of poetry!
-- Cathy

Holiday Wishes from everyone at CALYX!

We hope you all have a happy season, filled with creativity and with peace!

Also, we would like to invite all the friends of CALYX to tell us what you think of our blog -- you can use the Comment function, or you can send email to info(at)calyxpress(dot)org. What would you like to see here? Are there questions about a literary press that you would like answered? Are you curious about our herstory? We'd love to hear from you.

CALYX Intern Day Is Here!

12/8/09 Today is fall intern celebration day. Kelly and Shayna are joining the staff at Evergreen Restaurant for their thank you for all the hard work at CALYX this term. And all of us who worked with Kelly and Shayna will miss their great energy after they finish their term at CALYX next week. It has been a pleasure to have their help with the October CALYX Glitterati, the receipt of the Sarah Lantz Poetry Book Prize manuscripts, the production of the Winter CALYX Journal (which went to press yesterday), and their handling of the hundreds of manuscripts when CALYX Journal opened October 1st. They also were great about the bulk mailings, never complaining and even learning the rudimentaries of bulk sorting mail for our non-profit bulk mail permit. Shayna and Kelly deserve a great thank you from all of us at CALYX as well as our readers and contributors. We could not maintain this small press and publish so many women’s voices without the generous support of the student interns who provide their devotion and generous time to the work of CALYX. THANK YOU KELLY AND SHAYNA! -- Margarita

From the Director

Margarita Donnelly

12/3/09 I just returned from a vacation to the Philadelphia area for Thanksgiving. Flying into Portland airport after a 12-hour travel day was delightful. As the plane banked over the silvery Columbia River Mt. Hood, the Three Sisters, Mt. St. Helens, and even Mt. Rainier were visible under an ascending full moon. A beautiful welcome home. Back at CALYX I returned to the new issue, Volume 25:3 (Winter 2010), which is going to press on Monday the 7th. We did all the last minute checks and corrections of another incredible issue of women’s poetry, prose, reviews, and art. Look for it in your mailboxes early in January if you are a subscriber. If you’re not a subscriber, become one by the end of the year to ensure your receipt by mail of another incredible Journal of women’s words and art.

I continue reading (with another CALYX editor) the first reads of poetry manuscripts for the Oregon Women Poets Sarah Lantz Memorial Poetry Book Prize. It is not an easy task selecting from the many fine manuscripts we have received. The meeting to select finalists to send on to the final judge Colleen McElroy is Friday, December 11th. We plan to announce the first prize winner of the Book Prize in early February. At the same time CALYX Journal also opened for the annual open submission period (October 1 to December 31) and our editors are immersed in reading those first reads. The manuscripts are coming in heavily at this point.