Lompoc poet, James Ph. Kotsybar, is scheduled to speak at the EuroScience Open Forum in Toulouse, France, on July 12th to represent NASA science in haiku, sonnets and villanelle. No stranger to NASA, Kotsybar has participated in anniversary celebrations of the Hubble Space Telescope, The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the Centaur Upper Stage Rocket, but became the unofficial poet laureate of NASA in 2013, when their scientists chose his poem to launch aboard the MAVEN spacecraft to Mars.
Granted the distinction of first author published to another world, he collected a full volume of his science-poetry, “Bard Of Mars,” and his submission to Imperial College Press in London became a recommendation to the European Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters to speak at this prestigious event.
Scheduled at the historic Hôtel d’Assézat at noon (Toulouse time), just prior to lunch on July 12th, this enthusiastic Santa Barbara County poet travels to Europe to deliver his talk and reading to the audience of his dreams.
Quips Kotsybar, “I’m going, even if my budget only affords me seating in a pet carrier, but I’m hoping my public funding campaign might help me upgrade from that, so I arrive fresh to properly represent American science and literature to this international assembly, and not jet-lagged in a wrinkled suit.”
Donations will continue to be welcome, at:
https://www.gofundme.com/bard-of-mars-at-quotla-ville-rosequot/,
until he pays off the trip.
BARD OF MARS 