Bio
Wynne Huddleston is a poet, musician, and teacher with a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is Secretary of the Mississippi Poetry Society, 2nd Vice-President of the Mississippi Writers Guild, and a member of the National Federation of Music Educators (NfMC). Ms. Huddleston was selected as 2014 Mississippi Poetry Society’s Poet of the Year. Her book, From the Depths of Red Bluff, published by the Mississippi Poetry Society, Inc. is now available.
Check out my Mississippi Author Interview Part I. and Part 2.
FROM THE DEPTHS OF RED BLUFF
by Wynne Huddleston
published by the Mississippi Poetry Society, Inc.
Please check the “Events” tab at the top of the page for my ever-growing list of Readings and/or Signings, or check out my facebook page Wynne Huddleston Poetry.
AWARDS/CONTESTS
2014 Mississippi Poetry Society Poet of the Year
2013 Pushcart Nomination for Same Stars, Different Houses in Deep South Magazine.
1st Place in the Environmental Division of the Grandmother Earth National Contest for “Drilling Disaster,” a poem about the Gulf Oil Spill. Check it out in Grandmother Earth XVII or on Poets for Living Waters, Open Mic section.
Mississippi Poetry Society Spring 2013 Festival: 1st Place MPS AWARD 2013 for “Devil’s Due” 1st Place Elvis Theme for “I Can’t Stop Loving You” 2nd Place Moore Award, “Circle of Eternity.” 2nd Place “Its Mark.” 2nd Place Villanelle “The Child.” 3rd Place Humor Theme for “Addicted” 3rd Place CSA “Confederate President Davis, Finis.” HM Triolet “All We Like Sheep.”
In the Mississippi Poetry Society Fall 2012 Mini-Fest: 2nd Place for “Autumn Cleaning”
Mississippi Poetry Society Spring 2012 Festival: 2nd Place for “User and Spouse” 2nd Place for “Sweet, Sunny Summers” Honorable Mention for “Sound Internal” Honorable Mention for “The Breath of Time”
Mississippi Poetry Society Fall-Mini-Fest 2011: 2nd Place in the Clay Anderson Award for “Regret” 3rd Place in the MPS Central Branch Award for “My Eclipse” HM in the Charles and Dorothy Little Memorial Award (Published in MPS 2012 Contest Journal)
Mississippi Poetry Society Spring 2011 Festival: 1st Place in the Myrtle Rae Davis Jones Memorial Award for “Mother’s” 3rd Place in the Poets Anonymous Award for “What Do You Know of Spring” 3rd Place for Dramatic Monologue for “Chopin: Robbing Time” Honorable Mention in the Charles and Dorothy Little Memorial Award for “Reaching for Light.”
Mississippi Poetry Society Fall Mini-Fest 2010: 3rd Place in the Poets Anonymous Award for “Between Us” Winner of Enchanted Conversation’s Daughters of Air Contest. The poem, Teardrops is online in EC. They now have a new site and name.
POET
Ms. Huddleston’s poetry/prose may be read in:
- Poets for Living Waters, Open Mic
- Emerald Tales: Winter Solstice, Vol. 1, Special 3, p. 1
- Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, Vol. 30, 4
- Gemini Magazine, April 2010
- Today in Mississippi
- Enchanted Conversation, Issue 3
- Enchanted Conversation Daughters of the Air ContestWinner!
- Emerald Tales: Midsummer’s Eve, Vol. 2, No. 3 , p. 37
- The Shine Journal, July 2010. author bio
- From the Porch Swing – memories of our grandparents author bio
- THEMA: Music and Math
- Birmingham Arts Journal, Fall 2010, p. 33
- joyful! September 2010
- Camroc Press Review
- Enchanted Conversation, Issue 4
- Victorian Violet Press, Issue 5
- Purple Poetry Book anthology 2010
- Southern Women’s Review, Issue 4
- Grandmother Earth XVII
- Pond Ripples Magazine, Nov. 5, 2010
- Calliope Nerve
- Pond Ripples Magazine, Nov. 20, 2010
- EarthSpeak, Issue 5, Dec. 2010
- Short, Fast and Deadly, i60
- Red Poppy Review, Feb. 15
- Halfway Down the Stairs, Haunted Issue, March 2
- Mississippi Poetry Society Contest Journal 2011
- The Mom Egg, Vol. 9
- Words: A Poetry and Prose Anthology (Old Mountain Press)
- Stymie: A Journal of Sport and Literature, Spring 2011, Baseball Issue
- The Battered Suitcase, Summer 2011
- New Fairy Tales (anthology) Aurora Wolf Press, April 2011
- The Greensilk Journal, Spring 2011
- WestWard Quarterly, Spring, Summer and Fall 2011
- The Stray Branch, #10, Vol. 7, Fall/Winter 2012
- The Harsh and the Heart–Patriot’s Dream, Silver Boomers, Aug. 2011
- Indigo Rising Magazine, May 17, 2011
- Orange Room Review, Issue 30, June 1, 2011–Tiny Treasures & Scraping the Surface
- Mad Swirl, June 2011
- Eskimo Pie,Aug. 2011
- Eunoia Review, Oct. 2011
- Ink Sweat & Tears, July 31, 2011
- Poetry24, June 14, 2011
- HeavyHands Ink, Vol. Six
- Danse Macabre XLVIII Bel ennui
- Danse Macabre le du jour
- The Rainbow Rose, June 29, 2011
- Vox Poetica Prompts
- Old Time Mountain Music Anthology
- Four and Twenty, Sept. 2011
- E·ratio Issue 15, 2012 pp. 66-70
- Purple Poetry Book 2011
- Paws, Claws, Wings and Things
- Raven Chronicles, “Matters of the Spirit” Issue, Vol. 16, No. 1
- Death Head Grin Volume Two, ebook
- I Wonder Why (OMP)
- Deep South Magazine, April 23, 2012
- Mississippi Poetry Society Contest Journal, 2012
- Poetry24, Oct. 1, 2012
- Mississippi Milestones, 2012
- MPS Fall Festival 2012
- Purple Poetry 2012
- Poetry24, Dec. 2012
- Mused, BellaOnline Literary Review, Vol. 8, Issue 1, Spring 2014
- Twice Upon a Time, e-book, 2015
- I Only Wanted One Time To See You Laughing, Prince Tribute, 2016, Yellow Chair Review, “Past Purple”
- Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince, 2016, NightBallet Press, “Snow in April.”
- Poetry Creations, “What Do You Know of Spring?” and “Before Breakfast”
- SnapDragon Journal, Journey Issue, June, 2016, “From the Depths of Red Bluff”
- Whispers, July 5, 2016, “Vacating the Premises,” a collaborative poem.
- Alyss, August 2, 2016, “Can’t Stop the Bees”
- In Bloom, “Scratched Record”
WORKSHOPS CONDUCTED
Workshop Leader for the 54th Mid-South Poetry Festival Oct. 1, 2011. See the blog post.
WORKSHOPS ATTENDED
Ms. Huddleston attended workshops facilitated by:
- Jeanne Leiby, author and editor of The Southern Review. (Jeanne was killed in a wreck April, 2011. May she rest in peace.)
- Angela Ball, poet and professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been published in the Best American Poetry series.
- Irene Latham, author and poetry editor for Birmingham Arts Journal
- Crystal Bowman, author of children books and piano music
- Edna Ellison, Christian speaker and author
- Jo Huddleston, author of fiction and Bible studies
- Billy Field, screenplay writer
- Betty Hassler, editor of Open Windows and Deacon
- Keith Badowski – “The Bearded Poet” and Co-founder of Brick Road Poetry Press.
- Sarah Campbell, author of award winning children’s books Growing Patterns: The Fibanacci Numbers and Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator.
- and so many more!
READINGS
- July 2017 Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience (MAeX) Meridian, MS
- Aug. 2017 Holiday Inn Trustmark, Pearl, MS
- Nov. 2016 Radio Interview Supertalk 103.3 Behind the Scenes
- Nov. 2015 Riverview Books Expo, Arts Center, Jackson MS
- July 2015 The Magic of Books, USM Longbeach at Gulfport, MS
- 2014 Columbia Marion Library, Columbia, MS
- 2009 , 2010, 2013 Mississippi Writers Guild Conference in Vicksburg Literary Artists On Stage (LAOS)
- 2011 and 2012 at Jackson, MS (LAOS)
- Espresyo Soul, Sage Coffee & Books in Meridian
- MPS Festival Spring 2011 at Gulf Hotel Resort in Ocean Springs
- Clarkdale, MS 100,000 Poets for Change Festival
- Decatur, MS and Meridian, MS MWG meetings
- Belhaven University in Jackson, MS Fall 2011 and Fall 2012
- MPS Festival Spring 2012 at Lake Tiak O’Khata in Louisville, MS.
- “The Earth Gives Thanks,” was read on Thanksgiving Day on radio station WCJU, Columbia, MS.
Ms. Huddleston obtained a Master’s of Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and has studied graduate level creative writing at the University of West Alabama.
MUSICIAN
Ms. Huddleston, a National Board Certified Teacher, has been an elementary music teacher for 27 years, a piano teacher since high school, and became a church pianist/organist while in the 6th grade, and later served as choir director. She received superior ratings for piano solo at the Bach Festival and for clarinet duo at Solo & Ensemble, the Meridian Community College Music Award, chorus scholarships to the University of Southern MS, and was a member of the auditioned USM Singers Choir. Her piano club won the State Jr. Federation of Music Clubs’ Loving Cup in 1985. The Meridian Philharmonic Nat’l Federation of Music Clubs won multiple ribbons during her term as President. Ms. Huddleston has had students perform in the Mississippi Elementary State Honor Choir for many years. Served as Judge for:
- the district Baptist Hymn Festival in Laurel, MS
- National Federation of Jr. Music Club Festivals
- the Colgate Country Showdown Local Finals in Columbia, MS.
Music Education Articles/ideas Published Online:
- Plank Road Publishing’s Music K-8 Magazine “Idea Bank” http://www.musick8.com/html/ideabank.php
- Bulletin Boards for the Music Classroom: http://www.musicbulletinboards.net/
- Music Education Resources Idea Library: http://www.freshpond.net/uploads/users/5/User_5961/MyFiles/index.html
Her original song, “Many More Birthdays” was performed at the 2010 Relay for Life Opening Ceremonies in Forest, MS. http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FWynne-Huddleston-Poetry%2F147410278647146&layout=standard&show_faces=true&width=450&action=like&font=arial&colorscheme=light&height=80
This blog is listed on New Pages a great place for writers!
Wynne– thanks for contacting me—I sent you a friend request on Facebook– look forward to more conversations Julianne McCullagh (aka Juli McCullagh)
Thanks Juli! I added you.
Congratulations on your success as a writer. I’ve always been the biggest fan of your work!
thank you… I’m a fan of yours, too.
Just started experimenting with WordPress – think I quite like it. We’ll see. Google Sites is VERY handy, recommended.
“‘White knights guard red dragon’
Unforgettable, right?
And, good advice!”
http://beautifulisness.wordpress.com/about/
I have a google blog also, http://wynne-huddleston.blogspot.com/ Yes, that was very clever: white knights (teeth) guard red dragon (tongue). Sometimes I need that.
Nice start on your blog. WordPress requires more computer expertise and has less free font options than blogspot (Google).
Hi Wynne, thank you so much for your comment on my poem at Asphodel Madness, I appreciate it.
I have a story up at A Twist Of Noir you may enjoy,
http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/2010/07/twist-of-noir-497-richard-godwin.html
I look forward to reading your work.
All the best to you,
Richard.
Best wishes to you in your study and practice of poetry. And congratulations on your recent anthology publications. Very gratifying, I’m sure.
Nice blog! Good poetry! I’m allanbard there, I use some of my illustrations, thoughts, poems from my books (like: One can fight money only with money, Even in the hotest fire there’s a bit of water, etc). Best wishes! Let the wonderful noise of the sea always sounds in your ears! (a greeting of the water dragons’hunters – my Tale Of The Rock Pieces)
I couldn’t refrain from posting a poem of mine as a Christmas gift, you actually remind me of a mermaid I fell in love with when I was a kid, I bet your hair cannot get wet? That’s the best evidence that you or someone of your relatives lived/lives in the water ;):
Love and happiness will be around,
as all the chains will disappear,
and Mountaineers will climb their mount
and there won’t be any tear! my Tale Of the Rock Pieces.
thanks for the poem! I don’t DRY my hair, but alas, I can’t even swim, so sorry to burst your bubble, no mermaid here!
Attala County (Kosciusko, MS) has just given birth to a Poetry Club and was wondering if you would be willing and able to possibly give a presentation of your work and words of encouragement to these new artist?
A March 2011 date would be fanastic. Please consider stimulating others in the wonderous world of poetry. I look forward to your reply.
I would love to. I emailed you for more information. Good luck to you and your club! Thank you!
Hi Wynne,
Congratulations on your writing accomplishments thus far. From what I can see, it is quite impressive. You write quite beautifully with much depth and passion. I love to write and read poetry and was wondering if you have any advice on getting one’s work ‘out there.’ It may sound like a strange question, but I really don’t know the best place to start. Thank you and all the best. 🙂
Thank you, Boyd. Most of what I can tell you is in these links. https://wynnehuddleston.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/poetry-submissions-part-1-how/
https://wynnehuddleston.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/poetry-submissions-part-2-where/
There is a part 3 and 4 also. I don’t know if you saw them— it seems it’s hard to find posts on wordpress. If you mean “published” by “out there,” go to Duotrope.com http://duotrope.com/rtstats.aspx?report=Top25&pubtype=P and start with the approachable and swift. I also look for markets that take emailed submissions and simultaneous submissions (although I rarely send more than one poem to several different places it still gives you the option if their response is taking more than 2-3 months). Just keep submitting, no matter how many rejections you get. Goodness knows I’ve gotten plenty! It doesn’t necessarily mean your work isn’t good, but may they just didn’t need what you sent at that time, or it might not fit their particular journal. Try to read some sample poems from the journals where you submit, and follow the guidelines closely. If you do not care about being published, you can post them in a blog such as this and get a facebook page. I have a poetry page on facebook you can check out.Good luck! If you have any more specific questions feel free to ask.
Dear Wynne,
Really appreciable, I liked it, enjoyed. Quite impressive writing- poetry in prose form!
Congratulations!
Thanks for reading! I don’t really call it prose, but I know there is a fine line, and some of my poems are very story-like.
Hi Wynne,
Thank you very much for all your help. The links are a great help and what’s more important to me is the encouragment you gave. Thank you very much. “A Facebook page.” Wow, what a great idea! Thanks again, I have much to do.:)
Beautiful Blog!
Thank you! I’ll check yours out! I have a facebook page also. Wynne Huddleston Poetry
Thanks for the mention, Wynne. We hope you’ll send us more poems in the future!
Best wishes to you in your study and practice of poetry, Wynne!
Warmly
Marinela
thank you!
Thanks, Wynne, for the opportunity to hear the poetry on BlogTalk Radio. I really enjoyed the poems, and put the link on my facebook page.
Shirley Anne Leonard
Editor
WestWard Quarterly Poetry Magazine
Thank you so much and thanks for liking my fb page! I appreciate WestWard Quarterly for allowing a place for Christian poetry!
Great shot of you on the Mississippi. Makes me think of Tom Sawyer.
Thanks Glen, that was at a Mississippi Writers Guild Conference in Vicksburg a few years ago.
Preach it my brother.
Hi Wynne,
You won my monthly Book Package Giveaway! http://www.BeckyDue.com Congratulations! : )
Please let me know where I should send your books.
Enjoy,
Becky Due
Contact me at http://www.beckydue.com
YAY!!! Thank you! I can’t wait to read them, they look like just what I need. I filled out the form on your site. I’ll also email you! : )
I don’t know if this will go through, but I’m a poet as well as a songwriter. I suppose more of a poet than a songwriter. My music is mostly country, so it’s outdated. But here’s the first verse of one of my tunes.
More than anything in this whole wide world
I want you to be my one and only girl
I need all the pleasure you could ever bring
More than anything
There’s a whole song to go with it, but you might get a clue to my ability from this. Chris already knows! I was staying at his house in ’73 and had some offers, but I got a call for a gig in San Diego that was immediate. I couldn’t turn it down. That may have been the biggest mistake of my life! Chris and Booker T. were trying to set me up with all kinds of gigs and session work. What a fool I was! Gene Clark was another guy who wanted me to play with him. I turned it all down to back up a DJ from KSON (the only country station in San Diego) which lasted about two weeks.
that’s sweet. Wow, don’t you wish you could have seen into the future? I know how that is!
I enjoy reading through an article that will make people think.
Thank you! I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner, but I missed this post earlier, somehow.
I personally was exploring for plans for my own
blog and observed your own article, “Wynne Huddleston’s Poetry Blog”, will you care if perhaps I really employ a bit of of your own points? Thx ,Kermit
Hello from Mobile, Al.
Sam
Hi, Sam! Thanks for visiting!
Love your work
thank you
Just an invitation to check out a local event for poets to share with an enthusiastic and warm group of people.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Our-Home-Music-and-Poetry-Night/271167759722382?ref=hl
Awesome, thanks! I will share with our MPS group.
Thank you for following my blog 🙂 I very much look forward to reading your poetry.
Thank you, likewise : )
Wynne: I’m just starting to submit my poems (but have been writing for decades). Re your entry on publishers who take reprints: Tell me, please, what are the subtleties of approaching these publishers? Seems to me a publisher would want original poems, so why do some accept reprints? Is one disadvantaging oneself in others’ eyes by sending out old poems to these people? Would these publishers more readily accept reprinted poems from poets they’ve already published (as opposed to poets contacting them for the first time)? Or, in fact, are they more readily to accept a reprinted poem from someone new to them? It’s the ‘background’ issues on this topic I’m interested in, if you have the time. Thank you. Kind regards, Michael Gould, Wellington, New Zealand.
Let’s face it. Unless you are published in a major publication there are many people who have not read your poem in a small pub. That is why some pubs don’t mind reprints from other pubs, and I am pretty sure it doesn’t matter if you have been published in their magazine/ezine. All you need to do is follow their submission rules and state where the poem was first published and that you still retain the rights. Thanks!
Wynne – thanks for your prompt reply! Kind regards, Michael Gould.
Dear Wynne,
Better than Starbucks not only accepts previously published poems (mostly because I, as publisher think that is the most stupid requirement since a ban on simultaneous submissions!), but we have a dedicated formal and rhyming poetry page, edited by formalist and poet Vera Ignatowitsch.
The only negative is that we have lost our funding to pay writers, so you will only receive the glory and adoration due all our poets, formal, rhyming, free verse or haiku! (Yes, we have a dedicated page for each, as well as a page for translations), no reading fee, no “reading season”
Please do follow our guidelines, though: http://anthonywatkins.wixsite.com/betterthanstarbucks/blank
Anthony Watkins
Publisher, Better than Starbucks
Thank you Anthony! That’s good info. A lot of my poet friends in the Mississippi Poetry Society write formal and rhyming poetry, as do I, at times. I will pass it on!
Hello Wynne,
Your poetry is wonderful.
I am one of the editors at Better Than Starbucks, the online publication Anthony described above.
If you have us listed, would you please update our url to http://www.betterthanstarbucks.org ?
The previous existing site is being re-directed for now.
Again, we invite previously published as well as unpublished poems, including free verse, haiku, formal & rhyming poetry, poetry translations, as well as short fiction and art.
Thank you!
Vera Ignatowitsch
Thank you. I certainly will update the link. Happy New Year!
Thank you, Happy New Year!
Vera