2024
I am overjoyed to announce the publication of my new collection of poems by Moonstone Press in Philadelphia. The collection is entitled In My Father's House.
Advance Reviews:
Josephine LoRe’s In My Father's House is one of the most moving volumes of poetry I have ever read. I am filled with amazement and gratitude for her precious words, written and spoken with such exquisitely gentle passion. In My Father’s House is a miracle of remembrance.
- Billy Brown, host of Fixed and Free readings and publisher
In My Father’s House is a poetic collection resonating with love and grief. The closeness of family sparks at the heart of these poems in textures that only a daughter can illuminate. The special daughter-father connection thrums through Josephine LoRe’s profound attention to detail and image. This engaging and tender elegy is a gift of reflection on time and loss.
- Micheline Maylor PhD, author of The Bad Wife
Residents of the US can order directly from Moonstone at https://moonstone-arts-center.square.site/product/lore-josephine-in-my-father-s-house/468.
Elsewhere, please contact me at josephinelia62@gmail.com and we will make arrangements. Thank you!
Upcoming:
PORT & POETRY: I am working on a collaboration of poems in English and Spanish with Calgary-based, Venezuelan-born writer Leonor Henriques entitled Port and Poetry, to be published by Prairie Soul Press in Calgary in the fall of 2024, and launched at Owl's Nest Books on October 28, 2024.
AS FEATHERS FALL; I belong to a group of haiku and tanka writers, the Magpie Poets. We have written and published a collection of original and response poetry in the Japanese style entitled As Feathers Fall. Our launch date is November 21, 2024, at Shelf Life Books as part of the Single Onion Reading Series.
I was honoured to be asked to contribute a new poem to the Brownstone reading series anthology. Everafter will be included in this year's collection.
I have also submitted to the upcoming Titanic Anthology.
Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, Host and Producer at Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio and YouTube has asked me to participate in a special zoom reading later this year on the topic of Caregiving.
Taking the poetry on the road: I have been been invited to read at the Poetry Summit in New Mexico, September 13-15, as part of Tesoro, a collaboration of women poets. And I am touched that poets I know well thanks to the online communities are arranging reading opportunities once I am down there. So far, there are reading dates in Denver, Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe between August 30 and September 18.
Additionally, I will be presenting my poetry at the biennial conference of the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers at York University on September 27 & 28.
Month by Month:
I am thrilled to be back in the classroom as Poetry Artist in Residence in February.
I was asked to return as part of Les Voix de la Poésie / Poetry in Voice this March. I enjoyed helping last year and enjoyed being involved in this initiative again this year.
April 8th, online publication of Pelicans on the Bow by Breakfast Poetry: https://poetrybreakfast.com/2024/04/08/pelicans-on-the-bow-a-poem-by-josephine-lore/
On April 14th, I shared a set of poetry with other fire-singing Tesoro readers as we celebrate Poetry Month:
On April 25th, I shared poetry live in Stony Plain as part of the Parkland Poets Society. The following evening, I read with a group of Parkland Poets at Whispering Waters Manor.
I was invited to be a guest reader at Teresa Gallion's online launch of her newest collection of poetry on May 9th. The reading was organized by Tesoro.
I was interviewed in a zoom event by Dr. Hiram Larew, founder of Poetry X Hunger to discuss my poem If Words Were Enough, and the importance and impact of poetry in social and environmental issues. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOUcdqqWQM
It is with a mixture of sadness and reverence that I took part in a memorial reading for Calgary poet Bob Canuel on May 25th. He passed away in October of 2023.
Celebrating the Wonderful Life of Bob Canuel
With Bev Canuel, Wakefield Brewster, Leonor Henriquez, Josephine LoRe, Pamela Medland, Jim Jackson, Craig Galambos, and Laurie Fuhr. Bob Canuel was beloved by his family, friends, and writing community. Join us as we celebrate Bob with stories, poetry, and music. Contribute lines of poetry for Bob that his family can take home. Everyone is welcome.
The Spring edition of GUSTS Tanka arrived; it includes three of my pieces:
In May, the exciting news that the video created by Feed the Children, USA of my poet If Words Were Enough, written for Poetry X Hunger, won numerous awards at the Telly Awards, including Gold:
https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2024/online-commercials/general-social-impact/if-words-were-enough/313828
I am thrilled to inform you that our beautiful PSA we created together has won 5 awards in this year's Telly Awards competition. Thank you again for this amazing collaboration and partnership.
GOLD WINNER: SOCIAL IMPACT — ONLINE COMMERCIALS: If Words Were Enough, written by Josephine LoRe
SILVER WINNER: NOT-FOR-PROFIT — BRANDED CONTENT
SILVER WINNER: NOT-FOR-PROFIT — ONLINE COMMERCIALS
SILVER WINNER: FUNDRAISING & APPEALS — NON-BROADCAST
PEOPLE'S TELLY BRONZE WINNER: ONLINE COMMERCIALS — PEOPLE'S TELLY
The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens. Founded in 1979 to honor local, regional and cable television commercials, with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after, the award has evolved with the rise of digital video to include branded content, documentary, social media, immersive and more. The Telly Awards today celebrates the best work in the video medium in an exciting new era of the moving image on and offline.
The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. Receiving over 12,000 entries globally from 6 continents and all 50 states, Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world. The Telly Awards recognizes work that has been created on behalf of a client, for a specific brand and/or company (including your own) or self-directed as a creative endeavor.
The League of Canadian Poets will feature one of my new poems, Spilled Port, in the Fresh Voices Series, #32.
On June 12, celebrated the live, in-person launch of In My Father's House at Shelf Life Books in Calgary.
On June 18, I was a feature poet at the Writers' Guild of Alberta Poetry Parlour in Calgary.
On June 23, I was one of the poets performing at the Poet Tree at the Artisan Gardens in Fish Creek Park, sharing poems inspired by nature.
On June 27, I was one of the Feature Poets for the Single Onion Reading Series, which will soon be celebrating 25 years!
I will be participating again at When Words Collide, a writers' conference which will now be organized and hosted by the Alexandra Writers' Society Center, August 16 to 18. I am involved in the following panels, workshops, and readings:
- Musical Poetic Art
- Writing through Grief and Joy
- How To Haiku
- Poetry: Narratives of Family and Place
- Naughty Night Reads
On August 24, I will be giving an online reading from In My Father's House in a zoom launch with fellow Tesoro poets: Stacy Ardis Dyson,Martina McGowan, Teresa E. Gallion, and Marissa Prada.
August ... embarking on a road trip to the southern US to share my poetry: first reading, Denver, Colorado.
I will be featuring in Denver at the Mercury Cafe' on Friday August 30, and reading to music at the Sunday Jam Before the Slam on Sunday September 1st.
September 5th, I will be reading in Silver City, New Mexico.
While in Albuquerque, I have been invited to participate in the Sunday Chatter reading on Sunday, September 8.
Also on September 8, I am one of the feature readers for the Cultivating Voices Live New Book Showcase, reading from In My Father's House.
I have been invited to participate in the New Mexico Poetry Summit, organized by Read or Green Books, on Saturday September 14 and the VIP Tesoro Champagne Reading on Sunday, September 15.
September 17, I will be reading in Santa Fe, Tuesday, September 17 at 6:30 at the Teatro Paraguas.
I will be sharing information on other New Mexico readings as they are confirmed.
Also in September, I will be reading from In My Father's House at the Biennial Conference of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers at York University in Toronto:
The Vines of Diaspora: Italian Canadian Literary and Artistic Cultures.
The Department of History of York University and the Columbus Centre (Villa Charities) will be hosting the 19th Biennal Conference of the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers (AICW), Sept. 27 & 28, 2024. Some of my poetry is included in the upcoming 40th AICW Anthology.
October: I have been invited to be one of the Feature Poets for the Brownstone reading series out of New York.
October 9: I will be reading from In My Father's House at Owl's Nest Books with musician Jim Jackson and poet Anne Sorbie.
October18 & 19: I will be presenting in a symposium on Canadian author Nino Ricci at Bridgewater University in Massachusetts.
October 28: Poet Leonor Henriquez and I will be launching our collaborative collection of English and Spanish poetry, Port & Poetry, at Owl's Nest Books at 7 pm.
November: I have been asked to feature in poet Josie Di Sciascio's monthly online reading series, Oakville Literary Cafe'.
November 21, launch and reading from As Feathers Fall, a collaboration of the Magpie Poets, original and response haiku and tanka. Part of the Single Onion Reading Series, at Shelf Life Books, Calgary, 7 pm. Beautiful, original cover art by Dr. Irene Naested, one of the Magpie Poets, along with Liz Gibbs, Meghan Elizabeth Jones, myself, Pamela Medland, June Read, and Mary Vlooswyk.
And this, from Nepal. I submitted Dinosaur Dreams to the Madness Anthology, and am awaiting the arrival of my copy.
Dear poet,
I send you warm New Year greetings from Kathmandu, Nepal.
I also take this opportunity to thank you once again
for your participation in the Madness anthology that features
297 poets from 101 countries/territories.
Excerpt:
dinosaur dreams
I dreamt the dream again last night
the dream in which we kill the dinosaurs
reduce this planet to waste, transform
green and blue to dun and then cold begins
its slow revenge, creeping outwards from the poles
encasing all that’s left of our ravage under
uncountable miles of ice
centuries pass with the speed of sand
captured in hour-glass ...
