The publication party for the San Diego Poetry Annual -- 2008 was held Sunday evening, May 24, 2009 at Pier 32 Marina in National City. Over 60 contributing poets read their work published in the new annual, including Sam Hamod, Lizzie Wann, Terry Hertzler and all four Regional Editors, who had selected over 90 poets and 140 poems for the new annual.

Two special readings by contributing poets from the new annual are being held:

Sunday, July 5 -- 3 to 6 p.m. Escondido Municipal Gallery, 262 E. Grand Av. (at Juniper St.), Escondido. Sponsored by the Escondido Arts Partnership. Hosted and coordinated by Regional Editor Robert O’Sullivan Schleith. (760) 480-4101. www.escondidoarts.org.

Monday, August 3 at 7 p.m. at Bluestocking Books at 3817 Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest. The event is part of the Monday Montage series, coordinated by Curran Jeffery, who has contributed to each of the first three editions of the San Diego Poetry Annual. Poets interested in attending can RSVP Curran: curranjeffery@msn.com.

The 2008 edition is now available for $12.50 at authorhouse.com and for $15.50 at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com and www.target.com. The 2006 and 2007 annuals are also available at these same on-line stores.

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR OUR NEXT EDITION -- the San Diego Poetry Annual -- 2009-2010. Submit to any one of the four Regional Editors -- Brandon Cesmat: prof@csusm.edu, Harry Griswold: griswold@san.rr.com, Seretta Martin: word soup@juno.com, Robt O’Sullivan Schleith: poetryscenestealers@yahoo.com or to gardenoakpress@earthlink.net. Poets writing in Spanish can submit directly to our new Regional Editor for Poems in Spanish, Teresa Gonzalez-Lee: TGonzalezLee@miracosta.edu. There are no restrictions, no taboos. Poets whose work is selected for inclusion in the upcoming edition will be notified by e-mail by January 15, 2010.

Our 2007 edition, published in March 2008, featured 123 poems and a special section of poems written in the annual week-long intensive poetry workshop at The Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Instead of handing out copies to contributors, we send those very copies in the name of the contributors to libraries to ensure the widest possible readership and the permanence of the annual.

Both the 2006 and the 2007 editions of the San Diego Poetry Annual have been distributed to the San Diego County Library system, to every city library in San Diego county, to every community college in the county, to every major college in the county (SDSU, USCD, CalState San Marcos, USD) and to select libraries outside the county, including the Bancroft Library at San Francisco State and the Governor‘s Library at Princeton, New Jersey. The 2008 annual will be donated to these same libraries this summer.

Questions or comments? Contact gardenoakpress@earthlink.net.