Join a gathering of some of the Southwest’s finest poets for an eve-of-Halloween reading, along with a display of poetry broadsides produced by the Palace Press, 6-7:30 pm, Friday, Oct. 29, in the John Gaw Meem Room of the New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave. The event, “A Spirited Reading,” is free, but be forewarned: Seating is limited.
On the program:Santa Fe Poet Laureate Joan Logghe, James P. Bixler, John Brandi, Gary Mex Glazner, Renée Gregorio, Jane Hilberry, Valerie Martinez, Miriam Sagan and Arthur Sze.
For a photograph of Martinez and Logghe, click on "Go to related images" below.
Twenty-five broadsides printed by the Press at the Palace of the Governors will be displayed, including several singly issued broadsides and four series: Word Art; On the Road Writer’s Series; Poet Laureate Broadside Series; and Another Fine Mess – the Press’ latest undertaking. All were printed in letterpress editions, and most feature paper created especially for them, evoking with color and pattern the mood and spirit of each poem. Among the artists whose works accompany the poems: Thayer Carter; Louise Grunewald; Jean Gumpper; Lee Marchalonis; Jack McCarthy; Laura Williams-Parrish; and Tom Leech.
Samples of the broadsides will be available for purchase at the event, with proceeds ensuring continued publications by the Palace Press.
The Palace Press combines a museum exhibit displaying the tools of the 19th-century publishing trade with a working print shop that produces award-winning, limited-edition books (including, earlier this year, then-Santa Fe Poet Laureate Valerie Martinez’s This Is How It Began). Come early for the poetry reading and visit the Press, where you’ll see antique wood and metal type, ornate hand presses, the press that printed the first-ever book of cowboy songs, and a recreation of famed Santa Fe artist Gustave Baumann’s print studio.
