2024
I am overjoyed to announce the publication of my new collection of poems by Moonstone Press in Philadelphia: 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
Collaborative Projects:
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.
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, which will be published and launched later this year. everafter is included in this year's collection.
I have also submitted to the upcoming Titanic Anthology to be published in 2026.
Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, Host and Producer at Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio 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 eleven reading dates in Denver, Silver City, Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe between August 30 and September 18.
Month by Month:
In January, my poem for PoetryXHunger, Enough, was featured on radio, CJSW's program Not Your Mother's Poetry, with stellar Nigerian poet Uchechukwhu Peter Umezurike.
https://cjsw.com/program/the-poetry-joint/episode/20240117/
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 am so happy to be involved in this initiative again this year.
On April 8th, online publication of Pelicans on the Bow by Breakfast Poetry. This poem will be included in the Port & Poetry collection.
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 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.
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 featured one of my new poems, Spilled Port, in the Fresh Voices Series, #32. This poem will be part of the Port & Poetry collection.
On June 12, we celebrated the live, in-person launch of In My Father's House at Shelf Life Books in Calgary with poets and creatives who have taught me, mentored me, inspired me, encouraged me ...
Following the launch of In My Father's House at ShelfLife Books, I was thrilled to learn that the book appeared on the BPAA list of Calgary's Bestselling Books!
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 participated again at When Words Collide, a writers' conference organized and hosted by the Alexandra Writers' Society Center, August 16 to 18.
I was 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 gave an online reading from In My Father's House in a zoom launch with fellow Tesoro poets: founder Stacy Ardis Dyson, Leonora Simonova, Teresa E. Gallion, Martina McGowan, and Marissa Prada.
August ... embarking on a road trip to the southern US to share my poetry.
I featured in Denver at the Mercury Cafe' on Friday August 30, and read to music at the Sunday Jam Before the Slam on Sunday September 1st.
September 6th, I read at the Whiskey Creek Zocalo in Silver City, New Mexico. Link here:
Iin Albuquerque, I participated in the Sunday Chatter reading on Sunday, September 8. Also on the program were two classical music ensembles.
Additionally, on September 8,
was one of the feature readers for the
Cultivating Voices Live New Book Showcase
reading from In My Father's House.
September 11, I read in Taos at the SOMOS Bookstore with nature writer, essayist and poet Renata Golden. The readings were recorded for future radio broadcast.
On September 12, Billy Brown, founder of Fixed and Free online poetry series and publisher of the quarterly anthologies, organized a special live edition of Fixed and Free Poetry. Featuring alongside me were Greg Friedman, Teresa Gallion, Lou Cimarole, Mary Oishi, Billy Brown, and a wonderful open mic, attended by participants in the Fixed and Free reading series and readers from the New Mexico Poetry Summit and Tesor.
So thrilling to participate in the New Mexico Poetry Summit organized by Read or Green Books on Friday September 13 and Saturday September 14!
and the VIP Tesoro Champagne Reading on Sunday, September 15.
September 17, I read in Santa Fe at the Teatro Paraguas.
Also in September, I read 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 will be hosting the 19th Biennal Conference of the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, Sept. 27 & 28, 2024.
Some of my poetry is included in the upcoming 40th AICW Anthology.
September 6: I was one of three featured poets on Blaine Boisvert's radio programme, Not Your Mother's Poetry.
October 6: I shared a poem on Possibilities at Cultivating Voices Live on zoom. Recording is attached ... my reading starts at 23 minutes.
October 9: I read from In My Father's House, and some new poems from Portugal and New Mexico, at Owl's Nest Books with musician Jim Jackson and poet Anne Sorbie.
October 10: I was honoured to be a Feature Poet for Parkland Poetry, based in Stony Plain, Alberta, with hosts Carolyn Cordell and Hiram Larew.
October 11: I was happy and sad to see my poem A Single Leaf in this edition of WordCity Literary Journal, sad because it was the final issue. My thanks to Darcie Friesen and the editorial team who brought us such moving pieces of poetry and prose since the pandemic.
This poem was originally published in the Fixed and Free anthology.
October16: My poem Flick of Blue was published in Women Raise our Voices, in the Spark edition. My thanks to Andi Penner, who heard me read the poem in Albuquerque, and wrote to request it. It was published originally in Ireland in The Same Page Anthology, Volume 1, 2021, and also in In My Father's House.
Invited Poet
The editors thank Canadian poet Josephine LoRe
for responding to our request to reprint her poem,
which so beautifully aligns with this edition’s theme.
A flick of blue by Josephine LoRe
October18: The League of Canadian Poets published The Burning of the Dead in their poem-a-day national series, Poetry Pause, Fresh Voices.
October18 & 19: I travelled to Bridgewater University, Massachusetts to present a paper on Mythologies in a symposium on Canadian author Nino Ricci. The paper will be published in a collection next year.
October 26: I have been invited to be one of the Feature Poets for the Brownstone reading series out of New York. Pictured is the 2024 Brownstone Poets Anthology, which includes my poem. There will be a special edition Brownstone reading on December 7, to launch these poems and this spectacular anthology.
An up-and-coming poet requested that I mentor them with their emerging poetry collection. This is a first for me ... I have advised before, edited even, but this will be my first time as official mentor. I am thrilled and grateful! More details when I can share them, and my thanks in advance to the writing association that has offered compensation for this role.
And more exciting news ... I have been offered my first contract for a full-length collection of poetry by a reputable and exciting press in the US. Up to now, my work has been published in chapbooks. I am thrilled to be given this opportunity!
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 in Calgary at 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. Present at the reading were Dr. Irene Naested, Meghan Elizabeth Jones, myself, June Read, and Mary Vlooswyk.
Spectacular news!
A dream has come true ...
I have been nominated for the 2025 Pushcart Poetry Prize for my poem in the Brownstone Anthology ... everafter
