Review in Cirque

Inside, Outside, Morningside was reviewed recently in Cirque, an impressive new literary magazine from Anchorage. Jeremy Pataky's review (p. 114) is generally positive. He writes, "At her best, Cole brings her attention and skill to bear upon the natural world and the daily intersections of nature and daily life. She demonstrates the ability to describe the world simply and to refrain from too much commentary or interpretation…"

Green Books Campaign 2010: review from A View from the Cave

The Green Books Campaign celebrates books and publishers that reduce the carbon and pollution footprint of the publishing industry. Inside, Outside, Morningside uses 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, and so definitely qualifies. This review, from the blog A View from the Cave, is somewhat mixed, but the reviewer says this:

The collection of poems are a long love letter to Alaska and her environment. It is the beauty of the landscape that allows Cole to find God and explore her own faith. The interruption of human activity is noted but only injected sparsely. The real focus is the Alaska that called to Jack London and pulled Chris McCandless into her. Robert Frost she is not, but Cole has a strong grasp on her surroundings made tragic by her passing and the lost opportunity to see promise flourish. I recommend this collection as the onset of fall provides the perfect time to take in what Hopkins, a clear influence, called “God’s Grandeur.”

Poetry Dredge Festival 2010

The Annual Poetry Dredge Festival, hosted by the Fairbanks Arts Association, will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm on Saturday, April 24 at 29 mile Steese Highway at the Chatanika Gold Dredge. This year the festival is dedicated to Marjorie Kowalski Cole, who was one of the founders of the festival. People are invited to read from her work, or to bring their own or their favorite works to read.

Fairbanks-Alaska.com has a map showing how to get to the dredge and the Chatanika Lodge.

"Pushkin" on the Writer's Almanac

Garrison Keillor read Marjorie's poem, "Pushkin," on the Writer's Almanac on April 3. Response across the blogosphere has been positive. One example comes from Writ In Water: "I was struck by the careful observations of the feline nature and how eloquently expressive Cole is in her description of the quiet dignity of the cat, Pushkin."

The Anchorage Press ran a short article about the reading also, in the April 7th edition.

Two reviews of Inside, Outside, Morningside

Marjorie's collection of poetry has so far received two reviews, one in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and the other in the Cambridge Book Review blog, Coffee Spew.

By David A. James, in the News-Miner:

What struck me most about Marjorie was that she spent significantly more time than most of us engaged in that sadly undervalued act of thinking. Fortunately…she frequently put her thoughts down on paper, often in the form of short, penetrating poetry. “Inside, Outside, Morningside,” a collection of some of her work has just been published by the Ester Republic Press, providing readers with an opportunity to discover a voice that was taken from us too soon.…while the poems are deeply felt, the poet isn’t selfobsessed. Kowalski Cole was, more than anything else, an observer. And she possessed a rare gift for finding words that brought her observations to life.

From CBR:

Alaskan poet Marjorie Kowalski Cole’s collection, Inside, Outside, Morningside (Ester Republic Press, 2009), won me over on the first page in the concluding lines of “Desire”:

The aspens shake in the wind
like the bells of a prayer wheel.
I would have what is within and without
arrive at one still moment
together.

A rare balance is struck “within and without” that continues poem after poem. The natural world astounds…Themes coalesce around Cole’s multiple roles as mother, daughter, wife, world traveler, spiritual seeker and environmentalist. None of these categories are mutually exclusive. Connectedness is everything.

The Writer's Almanac

Garrison Keillor, of Prairie Home Companion and Writer's Almanac fame, plans to read Marjorie's poem "Pushkin," from Inside, Outside, Morningside, on the Writer's Almanac, April 3, 2010!

Marjorie's author page on Amazon

Amazon.com has a nice feature for writers: the Author's Page, where books or articles by a particular author can be viewed, a photo and biography of the author is displayed, and a search link for other work by the same author can be found. Marjorie has one, which includes her novel Correcting the Landscape, and to which Inside, Outside, Morningside should be added soon.