Poet Donna Johnson Releases First Book, Selvage

March 7, 2013 - PRLog -- Stow, Mass. - Poet Donna Johnson was selected by the Carnegie Mellon University Press Poetry Series for publication of her first collection of poems, Selvage. Johnson is from Stow, Massachusetts and has been active in the greater-Boston poetry community for several years. Selvage was released on February 12, 2013. “It’s such an honor to have my book selected for publication by Carnegie Mellon Press. The poems in Selvage represent 15 years of work. It’s an interesting perspective as a poet to have them combined into one collection,” said Johnson.

The Carnegie Mellon University Press holds a once a year “open reading period” to give poets an opportunity to have their works published. Out of several hundred applicants, many of them previously-published poets, Ms. Johnson’s work was among six books selected for publication. Ms. Johnson said she learned Selvage was selected by Carnegie Mellon after receiving a call from the press editor while outside the local supermarket. After the shock wore off, she said she “started whooping and dancing around like a crazy person, but fortunately no one seemed bothered.”

Ms. Johnson’s poems in Selvage represent a woman’s attempt to piece together the loose and sometimes tattered remnants of a life into something meaningful, coherent, and whole. Through her poems, Ms. Johnson brings to life voices from her past, remnants of private thoughts, and public storytelling, as well as familiar voices from myths, fables, and the Bible. As the country trends towards a more homogenized culture, the characters inhabiting these poems may appear quaint and humorous, but just as often are curious and disturbing.

Carnegie Mellon Press described Johnson’s work as: “threaded with the colors and textures of the small-town South, this startling first collection by Donna Johnson opens up a world of unwashed secrets and messy truths, the sometimes unflattering iterations of ‘self’ that emerge as a lifetime unspools."

Local poet Jendi Reiter provided this review: "Selvage, a precise yet uncommon word, refers to the self-finished edge that keeps fabric from fraying. Like that cloth, the girl-turned-woman we follow through these electrifying poems must weave strong edges for herself to keep from being pulled apart by others' desires."

Ms. Johnson is a founding member of the Concord Poetry Center and served as administrator of Del Sol Press’ Poetry Prize for three years. She also worked as an assistant editor at Winning Writers for many years and won several prizes for her poetry. The Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded her a Professional Development Grant in 2000.

Johnson grew up in Tullahoma, Tennessee, spending many summers with family in Texas. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia and earned an M.A. in Psychology from the University of Connecticut. Ms. Johnson now lives outside Boston and enjoys spending time with her husband, two daughters, and granddaughter. She currently works at Curriculum Associates in Billerica in the educational publishing field.

Ms. Johnson is available for public appearances, interviews, and readings. Contact Ms. Johnson at johnsondev@comcast.net to arrange an event or to request a review copy of Selvage.

Additional information about Donna Johnson and Selvage can be found at:
•   http://www.djohnsonpoet.com
•   Twitter: @djohnsonpoet
•   http://www.amazon.com/Selvage-Carnegie-Mellon-Poetry-Seri...