Carole MacRury: In the Company of Crows

_____________________NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January, 2009 ACCLAIMED POINT ROBERTS POET CAROLE MACRURY PUBLISHES FIRST BOOK ‘In the Company of Crows’ combines haiku, tanka to celebrate life on the northern Washington coast. The first collection of poetry by award-winning poet Carole MacRury, of Point Roberts, Wash. (USA), was released December 15, 2008. In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides brings together more than 200 haiku, tanka, and poem sequences with 23 hauntingly beautiful sumi-e illustrations created by internationally acclaimed artist Ion Codrescu. The 160-page, soft-cover edition features a foreword by Beverley George, president of the Australian Haiku Society and the editor of Eucalypt, Australia’s first literary journal devoted entirely to tanka. Currently the secretary/treasurer of the Tanka Society of America, MacRury has had her haiku and tanka published in literary journals, anthologies, and online in the U.S., Canada, and overseas, as well as received numerous awards for her work, including the Tanka Splendor Award. “Carole’s gift for vivid imagery links with expressions of human experience and emotion to produce poems that resemble ‘short songs’—the literal translation of the word ‘tanka,’” writes George in her foreword. “This poet can write at the cutting edge of life,” she continues with respect to MacRury’s haiku - “the clarity of her images and the accuracy of her word choices are signatures of a mind that engages with the natural world with eyes wide open and a blend of curiosity and awe.” … “In the Company of Crows is a worthy collection that merits wide readership.” “Over the years, I’ve learned that nothing stays the same; I can’t go back and recreate a moment,” says MacRury. “Haiku and tanka allow me to celebrate the moods and memories evoked by the seasons through special moments that seem imbued with significance,” she says. “Haiku and tanka also have the marvelous ability to transcend cultures, as the human condition becomes recognizable to all of us who share the planet.”Artist Codrescu is a poet and editor in his own right. An illustrator of more than 100 books, whose graphic works grace private and state collections in many countries, he is the founder of the Constantza Haiku Society and the Constantza International Haiku Festival and author of 10 books published in Romania, France, the U.K., and Slovenia. He also was the founder and editor of the highly praised poetry journal Hermitage. Codrescu resides in Constanta, Romania.In the Company of Crows was published by Black Cat Press (BCP), of Eldersburg, Md. (USA). Cathy Drinkwater Better, BCP co-owner—with her husband, Doug Walker—edited and designed the book. An award-winner poet and journalist, and a book author, Better’s work has been published in the U.S., Canada, and abroad since 1969. She works as a newspaper editor and columnist, and a freelance writer. She has authored more than 50 books, including three collections of haiku, a humor collection, and numerous children’s books.In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides is currently available exclusively through the author. The retail price is $18.00 postage-paid. For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact: Carole MacRury at macrury@whidbey.com or Cathy Drinkwater Better (Walker) at Black Cat Press: by e-mail at cbetter@juno.com. For information on ordering In the Company of Crows, contact: Carole MacRury macrury@whidbey.com