Raven Chronicles is hosting a coming-out, publication party for Peter Ludwin’s new book, Gone to Gold Mountain, MoonPath Press. Join us Saturday, September 17th, 3-7 p.m., 15528 12th Avenue NE, Shoreline, 98155. Peter will read from his new book, which will be for sale, along with several of his earlier works. Raven’s new issue, “Celebration, Vol. 22,” will also be on sale.
Bring a musical instrument; bring a dish or drink to share: potluck dinner.
RSVP Publication Party: Sept. 17th, 2016, 3-7 pm.
15528 12TH Avenue NE, Shoreline 98155
Potluck dinner
Reply: editors@ravenchronicles.org; 206-941-2955
Peter Ludwin about his book: The focus of Gone to Gold Mountain, my new book from MoonPath Press, is the massacre of over thirty Chinese gold miners in Hells Canyon on May 25, 1887, by a gang of horse thieves based in Oregon’s Wallowa County. A fair number of the poems are of the persona variety in voices as disparate as a Chinese prostitute, the gang leader, a wife left behind in China, and the clerk of Wallowa County, who, along with many local residents, didn’t want the story told. A sub-theme is the degree to which the Chinese presence in the 19th century American West has largely been forgotten.
Blurbs for Gone to Gold Mountain:
“In Gone to Gold Mountain, poet Peter Ludwin brings to life the little-known story of Chea Po and his fellow Chinese gold miners, massacred in 1887, by Eastern Oregon pioneers. Ludwin embodies Chea Po and his experiences of breathtaking racism, homesickness, and dislocation. He imbues these persona poems, letters, and laments, with the finely-drawn landscapes of Hells Canyon and China, glowing lanterns, and an eagle circling the canyon rim. Chea Po seems to have haunted Ludwin until finally, here, his life and death are told justly. We are the richer for it.”—Kathleen Flenniken
“Peter Ludwin is a writer who knows there are poems no one asks for, but everyone needs—so he sets out to write them. In this book, he travels to a place of massacre, then enhances the story of trauma with longing, devotion, hope, and the unfurling tendril of life that reaches generations beyond a tragedy. The poems speak as letters, news items, memories, secret notes of lover to lost soul. Ludwin’s lens of imagination pierces a hidden past at a remote place, and his lyric archive invents what might otherwise be forgotten, what he calls ‘the speckled rhythms’ of change. Read this book for insight into a hidden chapter of international history, and to break a code of silence across cultures. You will recognize more poems need rich research, and history needs to sing.”—Kim Stafford
“Ludwin’s haunting poems resurrect an era of vehement anti-Chinese sentiment and the U.S. by focusing on the Hells Canyon massacre in 1887—a segment of U.S. history conveniently omitted from the textbooks. To a great extent, the work’s strength lies in its understated eloquence, riveting imagery, and frequent use of persona poems in different voices. With great insight, skill and compassion, Ludwin has produced a fine collection that succeeds in fleshing out this nightmare episode from our past.”—Diana Anhalt, author of because there is no return.
Peter Ludwin is the recipient of a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust and the W.D. Snodgrass Award for Endeavor and Excellence in Poetry. His first book, A Guest in All Your Houses, was published in 2009 by Word Walker press. His second collection, Rumors of Fallible Gods, a two-time finalist for the Gival Press Poetry Award, was published in 2013, by Presa Press. Gone to Gold Mountain is forthcoming from MoonPath press. A Pushcart Prize nominee and a poetry finalist for the 2016 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, Ludwin’s work has appeared in many journals, including Atlanta Review, The Bitter Oleander, The Comstock Review, Crab Orchard Review, Nimrod, North American Review, Raven Chronicles and Prairie Schooner. He works for the Kent Parks Department.