Why do I have a tumblr?

I don't actually know.

Can you tell me?

Dear Internet,

I am become a hermit!

Here are my favorite and most recent reasons for not falling into your black hole until today:



Maybe I should start hanging out more...

Dear Internet,

Clearly, I am the biggest. liar. ever. Be shocked if you ever hear from me again.

                 Liar.

Dear Internet,

I suppose we have been on break.

That is the kind way of saying: I broke your heart and now I'm back.

But I have been busy!

When last we spoke, it was April and I was excited about a trip to my alma mater, the land of eternal spring-time. Then I was completely and totally laid out by a bout of food poisoning at the 10th Annual Emerging Writers Festival (which is completely blameless and was actually a lot of fun. Up until that point, anyway.) You can guess which five of the six symptoms listed here I actually had!

Since then, there was the Juniper Festival where I met and fell in love with this man:

And by that, I mean his poems. I think you're romantic tricky, baby.

And then there was the Juniper Summer Writing Institute where I finally met and was hugged twice by this lovely lady:

Dottie Lasky (via Dodie Bellamy)

& reading "I Hate Irony" at Penn Sound

At long last, my review of Kevin Goodan's lovely second collection of poems, Winter Tenor, was published at Kenyon Review Online. While you're there, you should check out Hilary Plum's thoughtful blog posts on creating a sustainable, supportive independent fiction community--lots to think about there.

Also in the inter-sphere: the always good-natured, informative, and amusing No Slander podcasts hosted by Ish Klein and Greg Purcell. If you're in need of a summertime poetry pick-me-up.

So, you see, I've been out and about. Getting freckles. Chasing two-year-olds. And I've also been in, reading and writing and working.

I promise to pay more attention to you in the future!

xoxo Kristen

I am in love with Tiny Hermione

and with Kate Beaton, more generally.

(oh, god, the hair is still hilarious)

Head south! Head south!

Thank the lord, it is springtime.

Two big things are happening next week!

I'll be at the 10th Anniversary of the Emerging Writers Festival in Lancaster, PA checking out the jubilee and checking in with my alma mater. Springtime in Lancaster is basically heaven, so expect lots of pictures of blossoming dogwood and cherry trees, fried donuts from the Amish, large organic martinis, and affordable vintage shops...and I'll throw in some words of wisdom from the "up-and-comers," a rad group of poets, novelists, journalists, and song writers. The year I helped coordinate the festival, I met Lauren Groff, Jay Kirk, Amaud Jamaul Johnson, Cynthia Cruz, and Kevin Moffett, who have all gone on to lead super interesting careers and whom I am still compelled to check up on every once in awhile.

Then I'm rocketing back to Amherst (north!) for the Juniper Festival, where I'm very excited to see Sommer Browning and Timothy Donnelly read, especially. But more on that later.

(See that building? That is where I used to work. EVERY DAY. Sigh.)

(Just to compare, this is where I now work, photographed on a good day--i.e. no snow is falling.)

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Hey, ladies!

Sad. Sad and so true.