I’m delighted to say that details for the book launch of The Singing River are now confirmed: the event will take place at Blue Cypress Books at 8123 Oak Street on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7pm. Nikki Ummel, Skye Jackson, and Rodrigo Toscano will read from their work as well.

Further details are available here. Could not be more excited for the night, and could not be grateful to all those who are making it happen!

Last month I had the privilege of visiting a prison ministry outside of Birmingham, Alabama, and reporting on the experience for byFaith magazine. That series of articles, called ‘Grace Like a Fetter,’ has now been published in its entirety. Articles one, two, and three are now online.

My thanks to the editors for the assignment.

I’m delighted to join the launch reading for Series E of the Poet Baseball Cards, organized by Justin Hamm. The fifth series to date, these cards are a great way to celebrate poets living and dead, and I’m honored to rub shoulders with friends like Rodger Kamenetz and heroes like Kim Addonizio and, incredibly, Edgar Allan Poe. More info about the series (and how to order!) is available here; the reading is next Tuesday the 17th at 6pm on Zoom.

I’m thrilled to moderate a discussion next week between the superb Michael Allen Zell and Danny Cherry, Jr., on their new novels at the 2024 Words & Music Festival. Called “New Orleans Crime and Suspense,” the panel will take place on Thursday, November 21, at 2pm at the André Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice. The event is free but reserve a ticket here.

I could not be more grateful to reveal the cover for The Singing River, forthcoming from Belle Point Press next year. With poems spanning nearly twenty years within its pages, and featuring a sketch by Walter Anderson on its cover, this book is no less than a dream come true.

Prior to its acceptance by Belle Point, the collection was, among other placements, a 2019 finalist for the Faulkner-Wisdom Writing Competition in poetry, a 2020 finalist for the Raz-Shumaker Prize for Poetry from Prairie Schooner, and a finalist for the 2023 Washington Prize from the Word Works.

The Singing River will be published on February 25, 2025, with a full book tour to follow in the spring. Pre-orders are available here.