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"Because for a poet writing is a daily preoccupation, I am interested in
other daily habits too - the ones we create for ourselves and especially
the ones we are somehow forced to assume in order to participate in what
we call our society or our culture.... Money - the ubiquitous abstraction
- is the daily habit I'm playing with in all these poems. For about a
year and a half now, I've been writing down my daily purchases. At some
point, I decided that I would rigorously document every dollar spent
in 1999, and use those purchases as the formal spine of my poetic forms."
-- From a general description of Shawn Walker's "money" project
On Saturday, September 18, 1999, we celebrated the publication of Shawn Walker's first book of poems The Purchase of a Day published in affiliation with the Kelly Writers House by the "handwritten press." "handwritten press" books are made and winged by Kristen Gallagher.
For those attending the reading and celebration: come to the Writers House at or before 7 PM on September 18. No RSVP needed.
For those who want to join the celebration from a distance: the live webcast can be viewed--video and audio--through the web beginning at 7 on 9/18. Connections are limited, so you must RSVP to thorpe@english.upenn.edu to reserve a space.
Shawn Walker lives and works in West Philadelphia. She is a graduate of Penn's creative writing program, recipient of the Thuron Award and is now undergraduate academic advisor in Penn's department of History. In 1995-96 she was a founding member of the Writers House planning committee and in 1996-97 she was the first Writers House Resident Coordinator.
The "handwritten press" edition of Purchase of a Day can be viewed on the "handwritten press" handwritten.org.