EVENTS
Meet Iowa’s Poet Laureate
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Vince Gotera | Dragons & Rayguns
@Beaverdale Books
.Dragons & Rayguns by Vince Gotera is a collection of speculative poetry—science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Many of the poems are formalist: including such poetic forms as the abecedarian, curtal sonnet, haiku, hay(na)ku, sestina, tanka, and the terza rima haiku sonnet, which Gotera invented. Some poems focus on Filipino myth and culture, such as the aswang monster and the Bakunawa sea dragon. Other poems focus on pop culture: movies like Frankenstein, E.T., Star Wars; characters like Marvin the Martian and the Gill-Man; true science topics like xenobots (newly created biological organisms), ‘Oumuamua (first interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system); and more. And just lots of dragons and rayguns!
Vince Gotera has been Poet Laureate of Iowa since 2024. He taught at the University of Northern Iowa for almost 30 years. Edited the North American Review (2000-2016) and Star*Line, print journal of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (2017-2020). Poetry collections include Dragonfly, Ghost Wars, Fighting Kite, The Coolest Month. and Dragons & Rayguns. Recent poems in Dreams & Nightmares, The Ekphrastic Review, The MacGuffin, Philippines Graphic (Philippines), Rattle, The Wild Word (Germany), and the anthologies Multiverse (UK), and Hay(na)ku 15. Poetry awards include a Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Global Filipino Literary Award in Poetry, among others. He blogs at The Man with the Blue Guitar (http://vincegotera.blogspot.com).
