Dear annogrammers, In this summer heat, some news to keep you cool! Translation, Moby-Dick (yes, again), great-great grandmother Mary Eugenie and our connection to John Singer Sargent; Rick Wakeman, and Ancient Aliens. How about a cold Cherry Cola? We have that too. Enjoy the fizz.

 

Alparegho, Like-nothing-else

Thanks to everyone, especially Cole Swensen, who attended the launch of Alparegho, Like-nothing-else (Beautiful Days Press). Hélène Sanguinetti read live from Arles and, during our Q&A, literary scholar John Stout translated. Poet Mary McCray wrote an excellent recap, 158 people have viewed it on YouTube, and Asymptote published a fantastic review.

 

Women in Translation

 

Hélène Sanguinetti 

August is Women in Translation Month, and to celebrate, I will give a talk, “Discovering Translation,” at the Smithtown Nesconset Library on August 20 at 7pm.  I’ll share how to get started in literary translation, guide everyone in an easy translation exercise, and then read from Alparegho, Like-nothing-else (Beautiful Days Press). And speaking of translation, you can find mine of Jean-Luc Pouliquen’s poem, “We Must Let Childhood,” in Presence 2025.

 

Moby-Dick Marathon

As a reader in the annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the Sag Harbor Jermain Library, I had no idea what I would be asked to read. Fortunately, it was a passage on a whale sighting—with Flask and Stubb shouting orders to the scrambling sailors. I did my best to incarnate those characters, or at least wake up my audience. Heave-ho, mates!

 

Mary Eugenie Gregory

 

The family store in Sacramento, 
today the Sacramento VisitorCenter

Yep, that’s my great-great grand- mother (1838-1898). Imagine my surprise to
find her on YouTube speaking beyond the grave! And then to learn that the City of Sacramento named a park after her last year. Wonders never cease. The city wanted to honor the economic contributions of Gold Rush-era women, and Mary Eugenie, according to her friend Leland Stanford (1824-1893), was “a better businessman than me.”

 

Grand Central School of Art

 

John Singer Sargent
(1856-1925)

Mary Eugenie’s grandson, Julius Gregory (1875-1955), designed the Grand Central School of Art in 1922. He had the terminal’s east wing roof raised in order to install skylights. He must have known John Singer Sargent, one of the school’s three founders—which leads me to

 

Sargent and Paris

 

If you’re a New Yorker, or live in the area, you have probably seen this blockbuster Met exhibit once if not two or three times. “How was it?” I asked one Manhattanite who replied, “Crowded.” For deeper insight, register for Beth Gersh-Nesic’s talk on July 17 at 4pm through the Zoom host, Alliance Française USA, here

 

Rick Wakeman at the Paramount

Rick Wakeman

This former Yes keyboardist nimbly played a grand piano or three-stacked synthesizers, tapping into “Catherine of Aragon” and “Jane Seymour” from The Six Wives of Henry VIII, “Yessonata,” a blend of the Yes canon; and tributes to Bowie, Lennon, and McCartney. While hampered by arthritis, Wakeman hilariously flexed a self-deprecatory wit regarding his weight and ex-wives. A great evening with a mesmerizing prodigy.

 

Ancient Aliens Live

 

We have been watching this History Channel show since 2009—so we jumped at the chance to see Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (“the guy with the hair”) William Henry, Nick Pope, and Jason Martell in a local 90-minute panel discussion before a sold-out audience. It did not disappoint with humor, archaeoastronomy, and suggestions that “disclosure” is imminent.

 

Creative Opportunities

 

Photo by Unseen Studio

The Cypress Review, fiction, poetry, art, photography, by July 21

 

Fictive Dream, short stories, by August 25

 

Putting the World in Focus, Maine Media Workshop with Kevin Pilkington, July 14-18

 

Photo by Marcus Dall Col

Making Space for the Light, sexual assault survivor anthology, by July 31

 

Sense and Sensibility, haiku on vacation/holiday theme, by July 22

 

Writing Dragons Hanoi, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, by August 3

New and Recent Releases

 

A Meditation on Longing, a film by Frank Vitale (2025)

 

Cagibi 25

 

Ann Cefola, trans. Alparegho, Like-Nothing-Else by Hélène Sanguinetti (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Suzanne Cleary, The Odds (New York Quarterly Books)

 

First Literary Review-East

Eric Greinke, Anthropoetics (Independently published)

Ed Jordan mentors colleagues in Holding Up the Sky (2025)

Holding Up the Sky, a film by Bob Nesson (2025)

 

Nathalia Holt, The Beast in the Clouds (Atria/One Signal)

 

Jerry T. Johnson, Bad Fruit (Gnashing Teeth Press)

 

Edward McCann, Ed., Well Said Well Read (Writers Read Press)

 

The Notre Dame Review 59

 

The Pedestal 96

 

Presence 2025

 

Kevin Roy, The Mortician’s Son (Lines+Stars Press)

 

Margo Taft Stever, Bareback Rider (Broadstone Books)

 

 

July+ Events – ET

 

Linda Simone

Ongoing, the Waring (TX) Market Gallery, exhibit featuring work by watercolorist Linda Simone, and painters Vera Smith and Laura Lopez

 

July 10, 11am-3pm, The New Dawn Foundation,“Untying Our Tongues: Languages, Literature, and Our Own Writing,” with Lisa Schantl who will lead discussion and writing in a historic waterfront location; register here

 

July 10, 6pm, The Calandra Italian-American Institute, open mic followed by Cathy Gigante-Brown and Mike Jurkovic

Kevin Roy

 

July 12, 6pm, Atomic Books (Baltimore), Lines+Stars launch of Kevin Roy’s The
Mortician’s Son

 

July 13-14, 11am-6pm, Governor’s Island, The New York City Poetry Festival

 

July 17, 4pm, Alliance Française USA, “Sargent and Paris and the Gilded Age,” a talk via Zoom by art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic, PhD; register here

 

July 19, 3pm, Studio Theatre in Exile at MoCA, “Poetry as Identity,” panel discussion featuring Sarah Bracey White, Elizabeth Burk, and Edward Currelley

 

July 19, 6pm, Boston Marriott Burlington, Speculative Writing Open Mic at Readercon 34 hosted by Christina M. Rau

Christina M. Rau

July 20, 1:30pm, The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Boathouse, A Persistence of Cormorants Poetry Series, Mary Newell and others

 

August 20, 7pm, Smithtown Nesconset Library, Ann Cefola on “Discovering Translation,” an informal workshop and reading from Alparegho, Like-nothing-else

 

 

Monthly Workshops and Readings

 

Use this link and scroll to listings

 

 

Old-Fashioned Cherry Cola Recipe

 

This comes from my favorite store on the planet, the Vermont Country Store—where you can find the syrup and concentrate needed for this nostalgic recipe:

8 oz. plain seltzer or sparkling water

cola syrup, to taste

1 oz. black cherry concentrate

Simple syrup or stevia, to taste 

Make it a float with a scoop of cherry or vanilla ice cream! 

 

ʼRound the Net

 

Madame Chassagne and 
Captain Verlay in The Art of Crime

Translators Chen Du and Xisheng Chen on two translated Yan An poems, translator interviews, and audio in The Notre Dame Review

 

Musician and songwriter Brian Eno on “What Art Does” 

Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic on her review of the French television series, L’Art du Crime in Bonjour Paris

 

Richard Hague

Poet Richard Hague on becoming the 2025-2027 Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate

 

Poet and artist Bob Heman on his reading for the DMQ Virtual Salon

 

Writer and artist Austin Kleon for this video of advice from eight writers

Poet Heller Levinson on his upcoming chapbook, toward a reduced philanthropy (The Bodily Press), book Crossfall (Black Widow Press), poems in Word for/Word, and being a recent LitBalm feature

 

The Bride, oil painting
by Meg Lindsay

Poet and artist Meg Lindsay on having three poems in The Monterey Poetry Review, and an oil painting, “The Bride,” in an international juried exhibit at the Cape Cod Museum of Art

 

Poet Mary McCray for sharing this flashback of the Geico Caveman (John Lehr) reminiscing in Intro to Anthro with 2 Humans

 

Photo courtesy The Free Press

Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for this article on “How Catholicism Got Cool”

 

Dos Madres Press Publisher
and poet Robert Murphy

Publisher and poet Robert Murphy on Dos Madres Press’s 20^th anniversary celebration

 

Filmmaker Bob Nesson on the release of Holding Up the Sky, a documentary project to advance reforms for incarcerated and returning citizens

 

Poet Mary Newell on her recent LitBalm reading

 

Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen on my translation of his poem, “We Must Let Childhood,” in Presence 2025, and for introducing us to the artist Bertille de Baudinière

Bassist Larry Schwartzman for this clip of Buddy Guy and Junior Wells

 

Poet and artist Linda Simone on curating “On the Square,” a multi-artist exhibit of 14 x 14-inch urban etchings, at Kapej Gallery & Café, October - January

 

Frank Vitale

Filmmaker Frank Vitale on his newest film, A Meditation on Longing, latest installment of The Metropolis Organism film series, and new blog

 

Poet and playwright Sarah Bracey White on her essay, “Counterpoint,” in Well Said Well Read (Writers Read Press)

Have a beautiful summer, everyone!

 

Until next time,

Ann