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September 2012
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20th anniversary of Senior Poets Laureate poetry
competitions |
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FORMER SENIOR POET LAUREATE WRITES UNTIL DEATH AT 102
Ida Fasel, Ph.D. had just published her sixteenth
book of poetry, Milton on My Mind, when she died January 13 in Denver at
age 102. The 2004 Colorado State Senior Poet Laureate was an avid believer in,
and collector of, angels. She went on to become the 2006 National Senior Poet
Laureate Runner Up. Ida taught at Colorado Women’s College and
University of Denver, retiring after a 30-year career to write poetry.
Her book We Are Not Falling But Rising, commemorating the 9-11-01
attacks, brought a letter from President George H. W. Bush praising her work for
showing Fasel’s “deep love for her country.” She was named the 2012 recipient of
the Golden Pen Award—In Memoriam.
BOOK & CONTEST NEWS
20th
Anniversary Collector’s Edition 
GOLDEN WORDS anthology to be published as soft cover edition
This year, for the first time since 2007, a handsome soft cover
edition of GOLDEN WORDS will be issued. The book will commemorate the
20th anniversary of the National Annual Senior Poets Laureate Poetry Competition
for American poets age 50 and older.
Early orders will assure receipt in time to give copies as
holiday gifts and/or donate them to local libraries, hospitals and senior
centers during 2012. Regular price will be $15 per copy, but an introductory
offer of $12 for the first book and $9 for additional copies are available as a
promotion for a limited time. See publisher’s address below for more
information.
The annual anthology, which contained winning poems and poets bio
sketches, became a strictly online publication in 2008, allowing the
world-at-large to have 24-hour free access to its electronic pages. There will
not be an online edition of GOLDEN WORDS this year. This will protect the
privacy of participants in the contest and, hopefully, curtail risk of identity
theft. Members of the public are welcome to buy copies of the book through its
new publisher.
Barbara Callahan Quin is succeeding Al Baker, Webmaster, and
Wanda Sue Parrott, contest administrator, as publishers. Her Great Spirit
Publishing imprint will produce the 2012 anthology, which will include poems and
biographical sketches of the National Senior Poet Laureate Award and National
Honor Scroll Award winners', State/Regional Senior Poets Laureate and State
Honor Scroll award winners poems and bio sketches, and four Special Awards
winners’ poems and bios.
In commemoration of this landmark anniversary, every entrant’s
best poem received a Finalist Award, which was, essentially, a winner in the
first round of judging. There were 695 entries, from which 167 were finalists;
from this group were selected the winners that progressed through the rounds
until, through elimination, the top tie breakers were chosen as national
winners. A list of the Finalists and their titles that did not proceed beyond
first round will also be included in the book. For info by mail, send a #10 SASE
to Barbara Callahan Quin, 3651 W. Madison St., Springfield, MO 65802 or contact
her at bquin@ymail.com or visit.
http://www.greatspiritpublishing.yolasite.com/book-store.php