I don’t know that much about Book Awards and Promotion. Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth(Shanti Arts, 2026) was recently nominated for two book awards: The International Book Awards in General Poetry and the New York Book Festival Runner-Up in Poetry.

The International Book Awards, one of the world’s largest international book award programs for mainstream, indie, and self-published titles, is sponsored by American Book Fest. Awards were presented for titles published in 2020-2026. Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of American Book Fest, said this year’s contest yielded thousands of entries from authors and publishers around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.

The 2026 New York Book Festival considered published, self-published and independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, children’s books, young adult, how-to, poetry, unpublished stories, science fiction/horror, photography/art, spiritual, business, romance, cookbooks, memoir, self-help, compilations/anthologies and biography/autobiography works. The works are judged on general excellence and the author’s passion for telling a good story and the potential of the work to reach a wider audience.

The recognition is nice to have of my work. I will have to trace book sales through this period to see if the awards affect book sales.

I did a dozen readings in Massachusetts this past spring This fall I will read with the New England Poetry Society at the Fruitlands Museum In Harvard, MA on October 25 and with the New York Book Festival and the National Arts Club, both in New York City.

Follow me here as I blog about my readings in Europe.