The Hermit Poet

March 12, 2006

Post AWP – Back in Riverside

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 11:45 pm

Well, the whole AWP week has zoomed by and now I’m sitting here in Riverside trying to wrap my mind around it all.

It was great to meet up again with many of the Kundiman crew (Oliver, Sarah, Marlon, Vikas, Purvi, Patrick, and Aimee).  I also had a chance to meet some of the contributors for this first issue of Boxcar Poetry Review and took the opportunity to introduce myself in person to several of my favorite bloggers.  (It’s sad, I must’ve looked like some blogger groupee).  Great conversations, fascinating panels, and good times between sessions.  I must say that I’m looking forward to next year’s AWP.

The bookfair was arguably the largest I’ve ever attended — over 400 tables of publishers and writing programs.  I spent a good deal of time on Friday and Saturday wandering the aisles.  It seems that everyone wanted to give me review copies of first books from their presses — I’ve now amassed quite the collection and face the daunting task of locating enough reviewers to tackle them all (I’ll list the ones currently seeking reviewers in a separate post).

I’d write more, but I’m pretty exhausted right now.  Tomorrow I’ll try to discuss some of the highlights for me.

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