he following Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST) news items include regular monthly updates as well as makes notes of special events over the last 12 months. Looking for something further back? Contact us! We'll be happy to provide some additional information!
Note that contest winners are identified in each month's news.
COVID-19 announcement
PST-West Tennessee is suspending regular monthly meetings (at the White Station Public Library) and poetry readings (at Café Eclectic) until further notice in accordance with the COVID-19 safety measures being implemented in Memphis/Shelby County.
PST-Knoxville and PST-NE have also modified their meetings due to coronavirus; please see their webpages for current/future plans.
November 2020
November News
West Tennessee discussed technical information about NFSPS's BlackBerry Peach Prize. BBP info here; link to NFSPS BBP contest information here
REMINDER THAT STUDENT CONTEST DEADLINES ARE APPROACHING FAST!!! SEE OUR STUDENT CONTEST PAGE FOR DETAILS!!!!
October 2020
Announcing our 2020 Poet Laureate, Gretchen McCroskey, of PST-Northeast! Calvin Ross, PST-NE President, Rose Klix, Founder of PST-NE and PST Liaison, and the PST-NE leadership team made the presentation at their September 26, 2020 meeting; our Poet Laureate was announced to our wider membership at our Virtual Festival. Click here for more!
PST held its 64th Annual Festival on October 24th Virtually; see our Festival page for additional details.
October Reminders
September 2020
September 2020 news
September 2020 Board Meeting
June-July -August 2020
Many of our members are on "summer break". Check with chapter news for specifics on meeting information. Remember that physical, in-person meetings and readings have been suspended due to COVID-19. Chapters will be scheduling virtual/online meetings for the foreseeable future.
Summer news:
July News
June News
May 2020
Thank you to PST-NE outgoing President Rose Klix for this history of the PST-NE Chapter. Please read and celebrate the success and growth of PST-NE!
May 2020 news
Congratulations to the boards of PST chapters elected for the upcoming 2020/2021 year! See the May news link (above) for additional details.
Remember that membership dues were due on May 1. Please return the membership registration form (click here for a copy) to your local chapter.
Members may submit PATRON POEMS for inclusion in our annual anthology, Tennessee Voices. For $15, patrons may submit up to 3 poems to the selection committee. Submission requirements for 2020:
April 2020
April 2020 news
Due to coronavirus, the National Convention in Kansas City in June has been cancelled. Please click here for a link to the NSFPS letter discussing the cancellation. Please note that:
April 2020 Quarterly Board Meeting Minutes
March 2020
Congratulations to our 2019/2020 Student Contest Winners (click to see results). Teachers/students, if you have not heard from our Student Contest Coordinator (Frances Cowden) yet, please contact her by clicking here. Check back in August 2020 for our 2020/2021 student contest.
March News
PST-West Tennessee Board Meeting Minutes
Remember we still need festival sponsors click here for Festival Contest Sponsorship Forms
It's time for all chapters to have Board elections. Click here for the West Tennessee Board 2020/2021 Ballot -- Return at the April meeting!!
Note -- PST-NE and PST-Knoxville, please see your website/Facebook page for information on your Board elections. Click here for Northeast and Knoxville.
Note for West Tennessee's April meeting (Saturday, April 4) -- this will be our Student Awards. No meeting at the White Station Public Library. Please meet at Colonial Park United Methodist Church, 2-4 PM. Members -- bring cookies and drinks for our student guests!
February 2020
February news
It’s that time again…we need sponsorships for our annual festival contests, to be held in conjunction with our 64th annual festival. The due date for all sponsorship submissions is March 15th. Click here for a sponsorship form. We had a lot of very positive feedback from out-of-town and non-PST poets last year, complimenting all of our sponsors on the broad variety of contests (subjects and forms). Let’s give them a lot of wonderful options again this year!
January 2020
January news
January PST-West Tennessee Board meeting minutes
Many thanks to everyone who sent in poems for the Panel Critiquing Session: we had five volunteers who sent in 12 poems, all of which were critiqued at West Tennessee’s January 4th meeting. Russell Strauss, Janet Qually, William Hill, and Ann Carolyn Cates were our panelists. If you were a volunteer, you will receive your poems, with feedback from the panel, under separate cover. It was a wonderful meeting, as always, with lots of discussion and commentary.
The NFSPS Convention will be held in Kansas City this year, June 11-14. Registration will be open soon. Check here for convention information.
December 2019
December news
Thanks to all for attending the PST-West Tennessee holiday party at Pyros on Ridgeway on 12/14. We had a lot of fun!
November 2019
mid-month November News
November news and reminders are here
Many thanks to JoAn Howerton for hosting Nathan Brown on Sunday, November 17. Nathan’s music and poetry were amazing! Please check out his books and music online, https://www.brownlines.com/. He is also advertising the next writers’ retreat he will be facilitating, in France in September 2020, https://www.descansocreatives.com/; deposits are due 12/15/19.
PST-West Tennessee has announced its holiday party will be at Pyros on Ridgeway. Click here for flyer with map. Note we will NOT have a meeting the first Saturday of the month. See everyone at Pyros!
Another reminder about the SPECIAL EVENT at JoAn's house (see details below) -- Nathan Brown, poet, author, singer/songwriter, on 11/17. Please RSVP to JoAn ASAP (901)-361-0077.
Note that Monthly Member Contest Deadlines will be changed to a postmarked-by deadline of the 15th of the month beginning with the January contest (e.g., postmarked by December 15th). Please see the mid-month November news for additional details.
For additional information on news in the Northeast and Knoxville chapters, please see their websites.
October 2019
PST held its 63rd Annual Festival on October 19, 2019. See our Festival and Contest Page for a brief summary -- many thanks to all attendees and volunteers. PST's 63rd Annual Contest Results are here! Click here for a full winner's list!!!
October end-of-month reminders
Both PST-West Tennessee and PST-NE both celebrated Poetry Month with city Poetry Day Proclamations (Memphis and Johnson City, respectively) and publicity. Click here for a link to WMC-TV 5's interview with PST-West Tennessee board members, JoAn Howerton and Janet Qually.
SPECIAL MEMPHIS EVENT -- On November 17, JoAn Howerton will host poet, author, and singer/songwriter Nathan Brown for a poetry reading at her home from 3-5. You can find out more about Nathan here https://www.brownlines.com/. Please RSVP back to JoAn ASAP (901)-361-0077, so we can have a headcount for this special PST event!!!
October reminders are here
For additional information on news in the Northeast and Knoxville chapters, please see their websites.
Note that contest winners are identified in each month's news.
COVID-19 announcement
PST-West Tennessee is suspending regular monthly meetings (at the White Station Public Library) and poetry readings (at Café Eclectic) until further notice in accordance with the COVID-19 safety measures being implemented in Memphis/Shelby County.
PST-Knoxville and PST-NE have also modified their meetings due to coronavirus; please see their webpages for current/future plans.
November 2020
November News
West Tennessee discussed technical information about NFSPS's BlackBerry Peach Prize. BBP info here; link to NFSPS BBP contest information here
REMINDER THAT STUDENT CONTEST DEADLINES ARE APPROACHING FAST!!! SEE OUR STUDENT CONTEST PAGE FOR DETAILS!!!!
October 2020
Announcing our 2020 Poet Laureate, Gretchen McCroskey, of PST-Northeast! Calvin Ross, PST-NE President, Rose Klix, Founder of PST-NE and PST Liaison, and the PST-NE leadership team made the presentation at their September 26, 2020 meeting; our Poet Laureate was announced to our wider membership at our Virtual Festival. Click here for more!
PST held its 64th Annual Festival on October 24th Virtually; see our Festival page for additional details.
October Reminders
September 2020
September 2020 news
September 2020 Board Meeting
June-July -August 2020
Many of our members are on "summer break". Check with chapter news for specifics on meeting information. Remember that physical, in-person meetings and readings have been suspended due to COVID-19. Chapters will be scheduling virtual/online meetings for the foreseeable future.
Summer news:
July News
June News
May 2020
Thank you to PST-NE outgoing President Rose Klix for this history of the PST-NE Chapter. Please read and celebrate the success and growth of PST-NE!
May 2020 news
Congratulations to the boards of PST chapters elected for the upcoming 2020/2021 year! See the May news link (above) for additional details.
Remember that membership dues were due on May 1. Please return the membership registration form (click here for a copy) to your local chapter.
Members may submit PATRON POEMS for inclusion in our annual anthology, Tennessee Voices. For $15, patrons may submit up to 3 poems to the selection committee. Submission requirements for 2020:
- Each patron poem can be no longer than 40 lines
- Patron poems must be submitted as a Word or PDF file
- Each patron poem must have poet’s ID in the upper right corner
- Upper left corner, please indicate “Patron Poem Submission”
April 2020
April 2020 news
Due to coronavirus, the National Convention in Kansas City in June has been cancelled. Please click here for a link to the NSFPS letter discussing the cancellation. Please note that:
- all awards which were to be presented at the Convention (the 2 CUP manuscripts, the Stevens manuscript, and the Blackberry Peach Awards) have been judged and they will still be awarded
- the 53 contests are being processed and will be judged and awarded
- Encore will still be published for 2020
April 2020 Quarterly Board Meeting Minutes
March 2020
Congratulations to our 2019/2020 Student Contest Winners (click to see results). Teachers/students, if you have not heard from our Student Contest Coordinator (Frances Cowden) yet, please contact her by clicking here. Check back in August 2020 for our 2020/2021 student contest.
March News
PST-West Tennessee Board Meeting Minutes
Remember we still need festival sponsors click here for Festival Contest Sponsorship Forms
It's time for all chapters to have Board elections. Click here for the West Tennessee Board 2020/2021 Ballot -- Return at the April meeting!!
Note -- PST-NE and PST-Knoxville, please see your website/Facebook page for information on your Board elections. Click here for Northeast and Knoxville.
Note for West Tennessee's April meeting (Saturday, April 4) -- this will be our Student Awards. No meeting at the White Station Public Library. Please meet at Colonial Park United Methodist Church, 2-4 PM. Members -- bring cookies and drinks for our student guests!
February 2020
February news
It’s that time again…we need sponsorships for our annual festival contests, to be held in conjunction with our 64th annual festival. The due date for all sponsorship submissions is March 15th. Click here for a sponsorship form. We had a lot of very positive feedback from out-of-town and non-PST poets last year, complimenting all of our sponsors on the broad variety of contests (subjects and forms). Let’s give them a lot of wonderful options again this year!
January 2020
January news
January PST-West Tennessee Board meeting minutes
Many thanks to everyone who sent in poems for the Panel Critiquing Session: we had five volunteers who sent in 12 poems, all of which were critiqued at West Tennessee’s January 4th meeting. Russell Strauss, Janet Qually, William Hill, and Ann Carolyn Cates were our panelists. If you were a volunteer, you will receive your poems, with feedback from the panel, under separate cover. It was a wonderful meeting, as always, with lots of discussion and commentary.
The NFSPS Convention will be held in Kansas City this year, June 11-14. Registration will be open soon. Check here for convention information.
December 2019
December news
Thanks to all for attending the PST-West Tennessee holiday party at Pyros on Ridgeway on 12/14. We had a lot of fun!
November 2019
mid-month November News
November news and reminders are here
Many thanks to JoAn Howerton for hosting Nathan Brown on Sunday, November 17. Nathan’s music and poetry were amazing! Please check out his books and music online, https://www.brownlines.com/. He is also advertising the next writers’ retreat he will be facilitating, in France in September 2020, https://www.descansocreatives.com/; deposits are due 12/15/19.
PST-West Tennessee has announced its holiday party will be at Pyros on Ridgeway. Click here for flyer with map. Note we will NOT have a meeting the first Saturday of the month. See everyone at Pyros!
Another reminder about the SPECIAL EVENT at JoAn's house (see details below) -- Nathan Brown, poet, author, singer/songwriter, on 11/17. Please RSVP to JoAn ASAP (901)-361-0077.
Note that Monthly Member Contest Deadlines will be changed to a postmarked-by deadline of the 15th of the month beginning with the January contest (e.g., postmarked by December 15th). Please see the mid-month November news for additional details.
For additional information on news in the Northeast and Knoxville chapters, please see their websites.
October 2019
PST held its 63rd Annual Festival on October 19, 2019. See our Festival and Contest Page for a brief summary -- many thanks to all attendees and volunteers. PST's 63rd Annual Contest Results are here! Click here for a full winner's list!!!
October end-of-month reminders
Both PST-West Tennessee and PST-NE both celebrated Poetry Month with city Poetry Day Proclamations (Memphis and Johnson City, respectively) and publicity. Click here for a link to WMC-TV 5's interview with PST-West Tennessee board members, JoAn Howerton and Janet Qually.
SPECIAL MEMPHIS EVENT -- On November 17, JoAn Howerton will host poet, author, and singer/songwriter Nathan Brown for a poetry reading at her home from 3-5. You can find out more about Nathan here https://www.brownlines.com/. Please RSVP back to JoAn ASAP (901)-361-0077, so we can have a headcount for this special PST event!!!
October reminders are here
For additional information on news in the Northeast and Knoxville chapters, please see their websites.
