By Mark Ambrogi
The “Polk Street Review” is making its return.
The book, which was started in 2011 by Noblesville authors Kurt A. Meyer and Bill Kenley, is a collection of stories, poems, essays and artwork. The main rule of the publication is that subject matter or the author must have a Noblesville connection.
After Meyer and Kenley got too busy with their own work to put together books in 2015 and 2016, Alys Caviness-Gober asked the authors in March 2016 if the Logan Street Sanctuary could take the project over as a signature publication. There was open-mic night with no book in 2015.
“It was just too time-consuming for them,” said Caviness-Gober, secretary of Logan Street Sanctuary, a nonprofit based in downtown Noblesville. “When I offered to take it over on behalf of Logan Street Sanctuary, Kurt thought I was crazy. But I thought I could do that.”
The book is just under 300 pages. Several of the pieces will be presented, and prizes will be awarded at the book’s launch, set for 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 25 at LSS, 1274 Logan St.
“It’s cool that the first time we do this as a signature publication at Logan Street Sanctuary that we got as many submissions as we did,” Caviness-Gober said. “We did have to turn some submissions away because we had to keep the level of quality (strong).”
Through Logan Street Sanctuary emails and other events, Caviness-Gober sought to get the word out to writers, artists and musicians to submit.
“We had a couple of workshops to get ideas,” she said. “Every year when Bill and Kurt did it, they had a theme.”
So, Caviness-Gober figured “Journeys and Transitions” was an appropriate title since it was a transition that the book was produced by Logan Street Sanctuary.
“We ended up with quite a few submissions, and we selected works from 35 people, some of them who submitted more than one thing, which was great,” she said.
In the past, Caviness-Gober said she had previously submitted her own work.
The book, which costs $20, can be pre-ordered at loganstreetsanctuary.org/the-polk-street-review.
