Ink & Paper Group is proud to live in Portland, one of the best library towns in the nation, and was delighted to hear that our county library system has once again been honored for its excellence. Library Journal, a national library publication, recently named Multnomah County Library as an “American Star Library.” A press release on the Multcolib site says, “Multnomah County Library was the only library in the Pacific Northwest (and one of only a handful of U.S. libraries of its size) to receive five stars — the highest ranking possible.” Read the full article here.

Congratulations to Ana Callan’s Duet with Hummingbird, the bronze award winner in the Short Stories/Poetry/Anthologies category of the 2009 PubWest Book Design Awards.

Three Muses would like to thank Susan Applegate for the book’s award-winning  cover and interior design, and Lori Presthus for her beautiful paintings, shown on the book’s cover and within its pages

Recipients will be recognized at the Publishers Association of the West’s National Publishing Conference, November 12–14, 2009, in Tucson, Arizona.

Read the full press release.

Art as Medicine: Poetry and Piano with Ana Callan and Dana Cunningham

Bask in the poetry of acclaimed Irish poet, Ana Callan. Nine years ago Ana found writing to be a tonic that aided in her recovery from a life-threatening accident. She will share her healing process and the joy that has grown from pain. Her most recent collection of poems, Duet with Hummingbird, celebrates the magnificence and wonder of the natural world.

Savor the heart-opening music of pianist, Dana Cunningham.  Her contemplative style has been described as “deeply emotional and full of grace.” Will Ackerman, founder of famed Windam Hill Records said of Cunningham, “Simply the most impressive work of composition and performance I have heard from a pianist in twenty years.”

Thursday April 16th
7:00 to 9:00 PM
Parry Center at Westminster Oaks
(4449 Meandering Way, Tallahassee, FL 32308)

Come for an evening of beauty and healing!

Admission is open to the public and free.

Sponsored by TMH Family Medicine Residency and
TMH Integrative Medicine Institute.

Crazy economy. Spring fever. Feeling up, down, or a little bit sideways?

Publishers, editors, designers, artists, videographers, marketers, writers, and a stray cat or two… We need to get together and talk about business, life, and maybe a bit about how we can help each other through these tough times. No big agenda. No presentation.

This is an open house event brought to you by Ink & Paper Group and our friends at PubWest. Join us for a few cool ones, snack on some delicious Mexican food (hey, Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away), and reconnect with friends and colleagues. Or make some new connections.

Watch your e-mailbox for an evite. We hope to see you May 1st! We’ll save a seat on the veranda for you. Really.

Sign up for this event on Ink & Paper’s Classes page or pay at the door. Five bucks!

Date: Friday, May 1, 2009

Time: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Location: Ink & Paper Group

1825 SE 7th Avenue, Portland OR 97214

Event fee: $5 includes refreshments and smart talk

AWARD-WINNING POETS TO READ IN
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH CELEBRATION
Poetry in Portland—with coffee, dessert, and sunshine. (Think positive, Portlanders!)

Join five acclaimed Portland-area poets in celebrating National Poetry Month in our lovely 1910 home and courtyard. This Sunday-afternoon event will begin at 3:30 pm with an hour of open mic poetry followed by a half-hour of conversation and dessert on the veranda. Our first featured poet will begin reading at 5 pm.

Paulann Petersen is the author of three books of poetry: The Wild Awake, A Bride of Narrow Escape, and, most recently, Kindle. She leads poetry workshops around Oregon and serves on the board of the Friends of William Stafford.

John Blackard, a native North Carolinian, has been a Fulbright and National Endowment of the Humanities fellow. He has two collections of poetry in print and is assistant managing editor of Poetry Northwest.

Ana Callan is an award-winning poet and novelist. Her latest collection of poems is entitled Duet With Hummingbird. She teaches intimate spiritual writing workshops in the USA and abroad.

Kirstin Rian is poetry editor for the online literary journal, writersdojo.org, and a Poet-in-Residence through the Literary Arts Writers-in-the-Schools program. She co-edited Walking Bridges Using Poetry as a Compass with Sharon Wood Wortman.

David Hill’s poetry has been published in anthologies in the US, UK, and Canada. His first book of poems was issued in 1999 by the UK’s National Poetry Foundation. His newest book is Consumed.

Date: April 26, 2009        Time: 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Location: Ink & Paper Group, 1825 SE 7th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214
Free admission; refreshments will be served.
To sign up for the open mic, send message to linda.meyer@inkandpapergroup.com. Please write “open mic” in the subject line. Poets who wish to read will be able to sign up at the door, if there are spaces available.

Sponsors: KenArnoldBooks, Buzzaroonie.com, Ink & Paper Group, Poetry Northwest

Spring Fever getting to you?

Wind down with a cup of coffee (decaf, maybe?) and some soothing poetry by Daniel Skach-Mills (The Tao of Now) and Ana Callan (Duet with Hummingbird). Free admission and free drip coffee. Snacks for sale. Doors open at 6:30pm. This is the third in a series of monthly readings on the South Portland Waterfront hosted by KenArnoldBooks, Buzzaroonie.com, and Rilassi Coffee House & Tea.

Date: May 7, 2009

Time: 7:00 p.m. reading

Location: Rilassi Coffee House & Tea

3580 SW River Parkway, Portland OR 97239

Ink & Paper Group is pleased to announce that our most recent custom book, Summer Snow, is hot off the presses. Congratulations are in order for debut novelist Amy Warwick. We wish her great success in her writing career. Here’s a sneak peak at the back-cover text for Summer Snow:

How long has it been since the world had to stop, lie down, and wait just for you?

Four women. Different lives bound in ways even they cannot imagine:

Mystery Abbott struggles daily with three children, an overbearing mother, the town gossips led by her neighbor Liv, and financial straits she cannot escape. She has a new man in her life but her past failures set a destructive course for their blossoming love.

Liv Randall is a pillar of the community. She strives for, and usually delivers, perfection in herself and everything she does. But Liv’s own demons haunt her every waking moment.

Dana Abbott, the older by minutes of Mystery’s twin girls, is bold and brash. She gets what she wants and damn the consequences. Dana scorns Mystery and Janie, secretly longing for the perfection she sees in Liv.

Janie Abbott is a “good girl,” reserved and responsible—day to Dana’s night. Always the peacemaker, Janie will need every ounce of her inner strength to face what lies ahead.

There is a storm brewing in Glendale—a storm that will chill the hearts of many, a storm that will change things forever.

Amy Warwick lives on the beautiful rolling hills of the Palouse with her husband Waverly and their five children. She is currently at work on her next novel.

Summer Snow is available through online and brick & mortar retail outlets, as well as directly from the author. We recommend that you visit AmyWarwick.com for the most up-to-date ordering information and special promotions, or to arrange a reading, book club visit,  speaking engagement, or author interview.

by Wendy Dwyer

According to many well-respected historians, April 1, 748 AD, is the birth date of our favorite Frankish Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne. The man who united France, Germany, and Northern Italy would be 1261 years old today. Since two Ink & Paper Group upcoming titles—Desiderata, by Judy Ferro, and Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland, by Alexis E. Fajardo—are set in the time of Charlemagne, we have chosen this month to salute him for his contributions to the western world.

You may know that Charlemagne established money reforms and scholarship that shaped Western Europe into the place we know today, but did you know that Charlemagne was said to have a disproportionately large neck? (Yes, I’m serious.) To learn more about his life, loves, and personal traits, check out Wikipedia’s Charlemagne / Karolus Magnus article.

If you would like an abbreviated summary of Charlemagne’s achievements, take a peek at Reportret: gallery of reconstructed portraits.

Vanderbilt University’s site includes a good map of Charlemagne’s Empire.

And of course, keep an eye out for Desiderata and Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland, scheduled for release in May 2009.