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 INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA COLLINS
Describe the room you write in.I have a large study in my Cambridge apartment where I write when I'm home; it's a room with a predictable number of bookshelves, books, and piles of paper, as well as the equally predictable desk and the maybe less predictable couch. When I'm not home, I write wherever I can-including, when I'm traveling, on planes and trains. Who are some of your favorite writers?"Favorites" are hard for me: the current favorites change too frequently. Here are some who have influenced me in the past, somewhat in order of influence. Henry James and Wallace Stevens. Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf. Louise Bogan. Gwendolyn Brooks. John Ashbery. Sigmund Freud. Discuss your new book, Blue Front (Graywolf, 2006)Blue Front is a book-length poem that focuses on a lynching my father witnessed when he was five years old in Cairo, Illinois. Part lyric and part narrative, the book is more collage than straightforward narrative. It includes fragments of sometimes conflicting evidence, and a great deal of speculation about what the experience might have meant to my father. Your Father witnessing a lynching must have been so horrible. Discuss your whole process of research and being in Cairo, IL. How old were you when you found out about this?About twenty years ago, when I was visiting Cairo with my family, my father told me he had seen a man hanged there when he was a boy. But it wasn't until I saw an exhibit of lynching postcards that I learned that he had seen a lynching that 10,000 people attended; that he had been five years old when he saw it; and that the primary victim was an African-American man, accused of rape and murder, who had been brutally hanged, shot, and burned. The postcards were my first source of information; I describe them and refer to them in the book. But I did a great deal more research, too, beginning with the internet. I read all the books and articles I could on the subject of lynching in general; I read all I could about Cairo and, more generally, southern Illinois. I visited Cairo four times, exploring the museum and library archives as well as the streets of the town; and I looked up all the newspaper accounts of the lynching I could find in the Illinois State Archives in Springfield. Researching the lynching and racist attitudes, must have been so painful. What has writing this book been like emotionally for you?It was of course emotionally difficult. But it was also gratifying, in a number of ways. Although everything I wrote has a basis in my research, I had no interest in or capacity for writing a coherent narrative: I began writing before I finished reading and exploring, and the result reflects several layers of wondering. The first layer is of course "what happened"-and because I ultimately couldn't know, the book is filled with the kinds of doubts, questions, and contradictions that I in fact believe are intrinsic to all our knowing and writing. Beneath the layer of "what happened," though, was the question of what my father perceived and experienced as a five-year-old child, which I also could only wonder about, since my father was no longer living. And beneath that was the even deeper question of what I was experiencing in writing the book, and what it had to do with me as a white person living in the United States almost 100 years after a black man had been lynched in my father's hometown. You founded the creative writing program at U-Mass-Boston. What year was this program established? Please talk about this program.The program was established in 1979. From the beginning, it required the completion of four creative writing courses, three literature courses, and a portfolio; students could and did pursue it as undergraduates, graduate students, or special students. In 1997, a creative writing track became an option for the MA in English; this fall an MFA in creative writing will be offered for the first time. You currently are the Chair at the creative writing program at Oberlin College in Ohio and teach. What do you try to teach your students about writing?Actually, I'm currently on sabbatical. But what I try to teach my students is to work hard, if they want to pursue writing in a serious way-and many Oberlin students do: we have a creative writing major, and a remarkable percentage of our students become accomplished writers. But I'm happy if students simply use creative writing courses to learn more about literature, language, or themselves. Being Editor of Field must be such a wonderful experience. Talk of your experience editing the magazine. What sort of work do you look for? Anything else you would like to share about it for the newsletter readers?I'm actually one of several editors; this year, because I'm not at Oberlin, I'm officially "editor-at large," which means I'm looking for work but not involved in final decisions. Like my fellow editors, I'm interested in poems that are not only accomplished but also surprising. Of course my fellow editors aren't always surprised by the same things that I am. Talk about your other books, Gone So Far (Barnwood, 2005), Some Things Words Can Do (Sheep Meadow Press, 1998), A History of Small Life on a Windy Planet (Univ. of Georgia, 1993), The Arrangement of Space (Gibbs Smith, 1991), The Catastrophe of Rainbows (Cleveland State Poetry Center, 1985, and 1998), and your Vietnamese translations, Green Rice (Curbstone, 2005) and The Women Carry River Water (U-Mass Press, 1997).Gone So Far is a chapbook of poems that focuses on the last years of my mother's long life. The other books are harder to characterize; I'll take them in chronological order. The Catastrophe of Rainbows, influenced by the mathematical theory known as "catastrophe theory" as well as by color theory and painting, is probably the most personal book I've written, although it includes "fictions" as well as autobiographical poems. The Arrangement of Space consists of three poetic sequences; the central one, "A Book of Days," was influenced by the sculptor David Smith, though I doubt that anyone would recognize that. The next two books are less personal. A History of Small Life on a Windy Planet takes on some social issues, in oblique ways, and is driven by varieties of language and voice more than visual image. Language is also central to Some Things Words Can Do, as the title suggests. Have you studied Vietnamese for very long? Have you ever been there? How difficult was it to translate Green Rice and The Women Carry River Water?Both of these books are co-translated-The Women Carry River Water with the author, Nguyen Quang Thieu, and Green Rice (by Lam Thi My Da) with Thuy Dinh. I began working with Thieu in 1993, when he came to the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass-Boston; in 1994, I went to Vietnam, traveling with Fred Marchant, to continue working on the book. At that point, I had studied Vietnamese for one semester at Harvard; when I got back, I got through part of another semester before I realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life becoming fluent in Vietnamese. I rely on my co-translators, but I know enough about the language to work through rough versions myself, which I always do, even when I have the co-translator's version at hand. What are you working on now?I'm currently selecting for a New and Selected Poems. The new poems will be sequences, somewhat reminiscent of work in my second book.
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE GLINES
When did you start writing?It was about this time that I decided that I wanted to be a writer too. After all, I was lead to believe that writing was the most sacred profession, and it was almost my duty to uphold that family tradition. I remember announcing my seemingly irrevocable decision one night at dinner to which my mother wearily replied, "Well you come by it naturally, you come from a long line of failed and petty literati." Time will tell which side of the family tradition I am upholding. I got my first article published when I was 13. The Hartford Current ran a contest for high school students. I only got an honorable mention in the contest but the paper bought the article anyway. It was about the transformation of children from the egalitarian worldview of children to the clickish, politically and sexually driven worldview of teenagers. Describe the room you write in.I've lived in more than a dozen different places but this is really only the fourth place I've written a lot in. When I moved to Cambridge Massachusetts in 1970, I adopted the Café Pamplona as my writing den. In those days I'd write everything in longhand and resort to typing only when I had a good rough draft. Later, I moved to Belmont and raised a family. My den in Belmont, where I wrote book after book, was a series damp, dark (cold in the winter), windowless basements. Today, I live out in the country in Littleton Massachusetts. My office is a 16 by 16 foot converted detached garage with minimal insulation and electric heat. It's still comfortable. My desk is in a south facing bay window overlooking Bumble Bee Park, a 20-acre reserve that serves as the local sledding hill in winter. From this seat, I've seen spring bloom and winter decend, a flock of wild turkeys meander across my yard and a deer or two lost on the hill across the street and the coyotes that stalk the rabbits and mice in my yard. More than once I've been called, "the studious little man in the window," by joggers and bicyclists passing by. I live in the mistaken belief, shared by goldfish everywhere, that I can see them but that they can't see me. Talk about your travel book, poetry, stories-anything you want here concerning your writng.I write about everything that comes to mind so writing a travel book just happened. I thought I could write an article about traveling to Fiji and maybe another on Fiji culture but my muse dictated almost 30,000 words in three weeks so a book was born. It was a very satisfying experience that allowed me to tie together stories of my father going to China in the 1920's with my own trip to Fiji in the 2000's. The bottom line was that there was no comparison really, his trip was the story of the grand progress of an early 20th century business tycoon while my trip was the story of a whirlwind of modern touch and go business encounter. I love to collect the stories of eccentrics, those colorful oddities living on the fringe of our desperately normal existence. For me these characters make the world more colorful like a Dickens novel than the colorless sterile place modern society seems to yearn for. I would argue that there is more life a neighborhood numbed by poverty and driven by desperation and occasionally hope than there is in all the suburban shopping malls of middle America. It's hard to get anything but serious non-fiction published so my non-non-fiction has tended to be fairly short. When I was a lot younger I deliberately wrote poetry, a lot of it, but as I've grown older the distinction between poetry and prose has become blurred in my mind. Perhaps I write prosery rather than poetry today. Still I love to read poetry and hear it recited. Importance of Bagel Bards and the writing community.When I was in my book writing mode, I would walk my kids to school then go down into my basement den and write until I had to go pick them up again. Then they would go out to play while I wrote till midnight or so. I went months without a social connection to the outside world. Writing books is a very lonely profession. That drove me to join the National Writers Union, which had a meeting at a bar about once a month. Between books I'd throw parties for the literati I met but the irregularity of the contacts I made were never very satisfying. For some reason there were not that many writers in the National Writers Union. I dropped out, stopped writing books and because my daughters loved poetry, I started writing poetry again. I met Doug Holder through Jack Powers and the Stone Soup crowd that I hung out with in the 1970's. When Doug created the Bagel Bards it was exactly what I had been looking for. It filled a niche in my life that the Grolier, the Café Pamplona and the National Writers Union did not, it provided a place for writers, those crazed people for whom the written word is their primary raison d'être, to hang out and share a common experience. Now if only we could find a place as poetic as the Algonquin Hotel instead of the Formica tables of our faux French patisserie. If I remember right, you have written some computer books, talk about that.Do I have to? Everyone has seen the movie "The Graduate," with the scene where Dustin Hoffman is given the magic word, "plastics." I had a similar experience but my word was, "computers." After my father died, an old family friend came up to me and told me that I'd be able to pay my way through college if I knew computers. So I took a course on how to program an IBM 360 computer, the computing behemoth of its day, when I was 15 and was hired by the teacher the day I turned 16. Programming the IBM 360 was my first legal job. I've had a love/hate relationship with computers ever since. When I first came to Cambridge in 1970, I was determined to make it as a writer or failing that write the "Great American Novel" while programming my way through MIT. I went to MIT to prove something to myself. Getting in was the thrill after which I lost all interest in the place. My literary career was foreshortened by an interesting fact of life for most magazines: Most magazines have lots of writers willing to work for very little money but most magazines have trouble mechanically producing the book every month. I discovered that I could make more money as a layout artist than I could as a writer. I learned how to layout books and magazines and did stints as art director at the East West Journal, the New Age Journal, Sail magazine, The Journal of the American Mathematical Society and MIT Press. While I was at Sail Magazine, I freelanced as a book designer for MIT Press where I designed "the collected papers of J. W. Forrester," one of MIT's star engineers and founder of the field of Systems Dynamics. The man and his body of work fascinated me and after several chats he asked me if I would like to be his teaching and research assistant (and mailroom clerk). I quit my job at Sail magazine and went to work at the Sloan School for the System Dynamics Group (for a small fraction of what I had made as an Art Director). The Systems Dynamics Group were in the process of designing a computer model of the US economy and I was assigned the onerous task of critiquing every equation in the model so that it could be defended in the world of back biting academics. That job lasted about a year after which the grant that had been paying me ran out. A grad student suggested that I go back to computers since I had burned my bridges in the artistic world by shredding most of my portfolio. I got the first job I applied for and spent the next 15 years as a computer gnurd (MIT spelling). In the mid 1980's, I started a computer business aimed at supporting small to medium sized companies. Towards the end of the 1980's, I started writing again. I wrote a monthly column titled "panic" about an over caffeinated computer geek who worked for the mob. After that I wrote a column called "Famous last words" about all the promised software and other high tech toys that somehow never show up. When that gig ended an editor asked me if I'd like to do some books so for the next few years I burned myself out writing what are called "trade textbooks" with such great and memorable titles as "Using Unix" (first, second and special editions), "Downsizing to Unix" and "Inside SCO Unix." I also wrote a good part of "Voodoo Unix" but I burned out half way through it. There is only so much you can write about Unix, an operating system that is at the heart of the Macintosh and was the forerunner of Linux if that means anything to you. Mention family members who write.I've mentioned that my mother was a journalist and my grandfather a writer of political polemics but that's just the tip of the verbal iceberg. My Great-Grandfather was a geologist who wrote some of the first scientific textbooks on Geology. He made a fortune setting up schools of Geology and supervising the geological survey of the Ural Mountains for the Czar of all the Russia's. Before that, family lore talks of nine generations of Scotch Presbyterian ministers who's primary joy in life was writing and editing "The Covenanter," a hellfire and brimstone weekly broadside of the Scotch Presbyterian Church. Who are your favorite writers?They are all dead. I love historians and philosophers. There is a long tradition of literate statesmen like Thucydides, Julius Caesar, and Winston Churchill. I've made it a point of reading them all. Few people know that Churchill received the Nobel Prize for literature. Then there is another tradition of great writers who make a name for themselves writing biographies. We know more about Socrates than we know about Plato; we know more about Johnson than we do about Boswell. I love Samuel Pepes and at one time thought I could be the diarist of my generation. For pure elegance of phrase nothing can compare with Gibbons "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire." Open to any page and a charming phrase will catch your eye. My all time favorite sentence in the English language is from Edward Gibbon. Speaking about one Claudius Africanas he says, "A library of forty thousand volumes and twenty concubines attested to the variety of his inclinations; judging from the products of the former, as well as the latter, both were meant for use rather than ostentation." Sweet. For pure word crafting and story telling I love Virginia Woolf and for a lighthearted but thoughtful look at the world there is nothing better than a dose of Bertrand Russell to put things in perspective. Finally I would have loved to sit in for tea in Bloomsbury or put down a Manhattan at the Algonquin … or a croissant with the bards. Who are you reading now?I'm stuck. I have a huge pile of books waiting to be read and the pile keeps getting higher. The last book I read was a manuscript by Laurie McKinney titled, "Hunter from Harvard, The Circle of Power" and I'm in the middle of a novel titled "Hunter Moon," by Anne Brudevold. I am getting swamped with manuscripts from friends. I'm not sure if my friends are suddenly great writers or I'm enjoying their works just because they are my friends but it's thrilling reading a work in progress. The last published books I've read are "Flashman on the March" by George McDonald Fraser, "Will in the World," by Stephen Greenblatt and "Collapse," by Jared Diamond. I'm also moseying my way through "A year in Provence" by Peter Mayle. You have been doing layout/production work for the Ibbetson St. Press books and will be doing some of the Červená Barva books, what has this experience been like using a POD?Technology has made book design and production incredibly easy. Book design is still labor intensive but the number of steps required have been drastically reduced. Today an eighty thousand word manuscript can be turned into a printed, bound book in less than a month where it might have taken a year and ten times the work in 1980. The beauty of printing and publishing on demand is that editions that once would never have been published can be and books that might have once gone out of print can remain available forever. It's a wonderful new age. What would you like to see change in the publishing world? (if anything)There is still a major gulf between the writer and the reading public. The world wide web has narrowed that distance but the difference between success as a writer and failure still rests in the hands of just a few major publishing houses who's taste and literary judgment I must call into question. Any last comments?Haven't I said enough? Cheers
Wilderness House Literary Retreat
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Wilderness House before renovations |
Wilderness House |
View from the top of wilderness hill |
Wilderness House Cabin |
Steve Glines with guest speaker Louisa Solano |
The Prouty mansion |
Part workshop, part reading - all poetry & songs
@ BOOKS AND MORE, in Plymouth, MA
(HOME DEPO PLAZA)
EX. 5, off RT. 3
info: spokenwarrior@verizon.net
great line-up of comics plus Poet Feature Chad Parenteau
on Sunday April 1, 2007
at the All Asia
334 Mass Ave, Cambridge
(outside of Central Sq)
showtime 6:30 PM
admission $5.00
what a deal, $5.00 for a nite of laughs ....
Edward P. Jones will deliver the keynote address at the PEN/Hemingway Awards ceremony hosted annually by the Kennedy Library. Mr. Jones won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World. He is a past PEN/Hemingway Award winner and MacArthur Fellow. His new book is All Aunt Hagar's Children. The Kennedy Library is the major repository of Ernest Hemingway's works.
All forums are free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended. Reservations guarantee a seat in the building, but not the main hall. Doors to the main hall open one hour before the program begins. You may make reservations for upcoming forums online or by phone. You may also make reservations or check if speakers' schedules have changed by calling 617.514.1643.
(Taken from the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Website)
Monday April 2 7 pm
Yenching Library
2 Divinity Ave, off Kirkland St.
Cambridge, Ma.
near Sanders Theatre
PETER FILKINS, SUE OWEN
Tuesday April 10th 7pm
POETS WHO EDIT
Ellen Doré Watson, Martha Rhodes
Central Square Cambridge Public Library
44 Pearl Street, off Mass. Ave near Putnam's furniture store
May 7th TBA
June 3rd COMPOST ANTHOLOGY POETS 3pm
Carriage House Longfellow National Historic Site, 105 Brattle St., Cambridge
June 17 KURT BROWN and other poets
July 5 and 22 4 pm
Longfellow National Historic Site readings TBA
August 5th Sunday 4pm
Longfellow National Hisstoric Site
GALWAY KINNELL 80th Birthday Celebration and reading.
Aug 19th Longfellow Site reading 4 pm
Kathleen Jamie
Monday, April 2, 5:30 p.m.
Winner of the Forward Prize, and described in Poetry Review as "a poetic voice of international significance."
Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library
Henri Cole
Thursday, April 12, 7:00 p.m
Lamont Forum Room, Lamont Library
Geoffrey O'Brien and Ben Lerner
Monday, April 23, 5:30 p.m.
Two of the most exciting younger poets writing today.
Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library
Free and open to the public, but photo ID required for visitors to Lamont Library.
EVERY MONDAY NITE, Stone Soup Poetry (Host: Chad Parenteau), a 35 year old venue, $4,
sign up to be a feature - call Bill Perrault at 978-454-7423.
Starts at 7:30PM and don't forget to sign up!
Recorded on local t.v. station.
Stone Soup
Out of the Blue Gallery
The Features:
April 2nd: Welcome Charles Coe!
April 9th: The return antics of Lee Letif and Chris Robbins.
April 16th: Boston Poet editor Diana Saenz revisits Stone Soup.
April 23rd: Performance Poet Barbara Adler.
April 30th: Poet and novelist Steven Manchester.
April 6, 2007
Readers: Jeanette Angell, David Bulley, Regie Gibson
May 4, 2007
Readers: Douglas Light, Ellen Cooney, Marc Widenshein
June 1, 2007
Readers: Luke Salisbury, Eileen D'Angelo
USUALLY the 3rd FRIDAY of the MONTH! NOLA’s TIGH FILI POETRY & OPEN MIC, $5, 8PM, Host: Nola, poems/prose.
EVERY SATURDAY NITE - “OPEN BARK” POETRY/MUSIC/STORIES
with Debbie: 8:15 PM, $3-5.
(Read your favorite poem-sing your favorite song-bring a friend!)
Occasional Features. Sign up.
MARCH:
Beatriz Alba Del Rio (Sat. March)
APRIL:
Jacques "The Haitian Firefly" Fleury (Sat. April 14)
Philip Hasouris (Sat. April 21)
Chad Parenteau (Sat. April 28)
JUNE:Jacques Fleury
What: Book Release party w/ samplings of Haitian cuisine, music and more
When: Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 5 p.m.
Where: Out of the Blue Art Gallery 106 Prospect St. Cambridge, MA.
Feature info: Mike Amado, spokenwarrior@verizon.net
1st SUNDAY of the MONTH! DEMOLICIOUS POETRY, $5, 2PM, Host: John, experimental poetry.
Out Of The Blue Art Gallery
106 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
phone: 617-354-5287
WHAT: Invites You & Yours to Spice Up Your Life … At our 10th Anniversary Party & Receptions! Happy Birthday OUT OF THE BLUE ART GALLERY & Debbie Priestly
WHEN: Party: Friday, April 13th, 8pm on Music/Poetry/Refreshments $4 donation
Art Receptions: Saturday & Sunday, April 14 & 15, 12-6pm Free! 3 Day Event
WHERE: 106 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA in Central Square - 5 min. walk from Red Line (Central Square) MBTA stop.
MUSIC: Friday Nite: "Crazy People" avante garde music & poetry and special guests.
ADD'L INFO: Out of the Blue Art Gallery is a community art gallery that has been in
existence for about 10 years outreaching to thousands of local and European artists and poets.
Gallery founder is Tom Tipton of Cambridge, Mass. Affordable gorgeous artwork!
Go to www.outoftheblueartgallery.com for further information.
PARKING: Across from Carberrys or on Bishop Allen Drive near Mass Avenue, Camb. Paintings/Photographs/Sculpture/Jewelry/Crafts/Poetry/Novels & More.
Brookline Booksmith
279 Harvard St.
Brookline MA 02446
Thursday, April 5th at 7PM
With W.S. Di Piero and John Hennessy
Info: (617) 566-6660
Amherst Books
8 Main Street
Amherst, MA 01002
Saturday, April 14th, time TBA, but in the pm.
With Jacquelyn Pope
Info: books@amherstbooks.com
Schedule: http://www.angelfire.com/music/squawk/weekly.html
April 5: The Return of Dagmar 2
April 12: TBA
April 19: TBA
April 26: co-featuring Singer Erica Owen, and Elizabeth Cunningham, author of The Maeve Chronicles
9PM, $4.00 donation, Open Mic.
Harvard Eppworth Church, Harvard Square
1555 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA
http://www.angelfire.com/music/squawk/
Patricia Spears Jones (author, Femme Du Monde)
Susan Merrifield (Professor, Lesley College)
Adelina DaSilva (Alumna, Lesley's MFA Creative Writing Program)
Thursday, April 5, 2007 - Light refreshments will be served.
4:30 – 6:00 p.m. @ Alumni Hall, South Campus
Lesley University
29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA.
(This event is co-sponsored by The Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center at Simmons College.)
April 6, 2007, 7:00 PM
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Booksmith
279 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA
contact: fergus_1@msn.com
April 10, 2007, 7:00 PM
Newton Public Library
330 Homer Street
Newton, MA
contact: Doug Holder
ibbetsonpress@msn.com
April 17, 2007, 1:00 PM
University of Massachusetts-Boston
College Bookstore
Boston, MA
contact: Joyce Peseroff
Joyce.Peseroff@umb.edu
May 20, 2007, 2:00-4:00 PM
Nantucket Poetry Slam
Featured reader
contact: Len Germinara
lensir@hotmail.com
April 4, 2007, 7:00 PM
Café Espresso
738 Islington Street
Portsmouth, NH
contact: wigginml@comcast.net
(with L.R. Berger)
April 13, 8:00 PM
Goerings Book Store
3433 W. University Ave.
Gainesville, FL
www.goerings.com
Thursday, April 19, 2007, evening
George Mason University
Student Union I ABC
Fairfax, Virginia
contact: Peter Klappert
petermail@verizon.net
East Bridewater Public Library
The Community Room
32 Union Street
East Bridgewater, MA
508-378-1616
www.poetribe.org
Apr 7 Nadia Nurhussein
Apr 21 Wesley McNair
Apr 28 Barbara Adler
May 12 Jeffrey Thomson
June 9 Thomas Lux
at the shop
no fee
Grolier Poetry Bookstore
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge MA 02138
Contact: Dan at the bookstore
1 800 234 Poem is the number to call
Starts Saturday, April 14th, 2007 10:00 A.M. To 5:00 P.M.
and Sunday, April 15th, 2007 from 1:00 P.M. to 4:45 P.M.
OPEN MIKE: Sunday, 2:00 to 3:30 P.M.
The festival will be held both days at the library ’s main branch in Copley Square.
56 Major and emerging poets will each do a twenty minute reading; also
Featuring three extraordinarily talented prize winning high school students: Alden DiIanni-Morton and Shari Caplan,
two seniors at Boston Latin High School; and Gabriella Fee, a freshman attending the Walnut Hill School for the Arts.
The 56 major and emerging poets will follow with a
POETRY MARATHON.
Some of the many luminaries include Diana DerHovanessian , Afaa M. Weaver, Rhina P. Espaillat, Richard Wollman, Lloyd Schwartz, Maxine Kumin, Fred Marchant, Barbara Helfgott-Hyett, DanTobin, Charles Coe, Steven Cramer, Danielle Legros-Georges, Regie Gibson, Marc Widershien, Tino Villanueva, and Doug Holder.
This festival has it all. A plethora of professional poets, celebrities, a Pulitzer Prize Winner and former National Poet Laureate, numerous award winners, student participation. Even more, it is about community, neighborhoods, diversity, BOSTON and MASSACHUSETTS. This fast growing tradition is one of the largest events in Boston’s Contribution to National Poetry Month.
FREE ADMISSION !!
For information: Tapestry of Voices, (617-306-9484) or 617-723-3716
Library: (617)- 536-5400
Wheelchair accessible. Assistive listening devices available. To request a sign language interpreter or for other special needs, call (617) 536-7855 (TTY) at least two weeks before the program date.
Harris Gardner
_______________________
Director of Tapestry of Voices
website: http://tapestryofvoices.com
56 major and emerging poets will each do a twenty-minute reading
Gabriella Fee an extraordinarily talented freshman attending Walnut Hill School of the Arts
Two students from Boston Latin High School
Open Mike on Sunday Sunday - April 15, 2007 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
A d m i s s i o n - F r e e
Co-sponsored by Tapestry of Voices & Kaji Aso Studio
In partnership with the Boston Public Library
at Copley Square
Rabb Lecture Hall and Room 5-6
700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
Schedule
Saturday, April 14, 2007 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Rabb, Lecture Hall Room 5-6
(Because of a medical emergency with their literacy coordinator, fifteen fifth and sixth grade students from the John Eliot School will not be participating in the Seventh Annual Boston National Poetry Month Festival. I have replaced them with Gabriella Fee an extraordinarily talented freshman attending Walnut Hill School of the Arts. Please refer to corrected press release below. Thank you.)
Alden DiIanni-Morton, Boston Latin High School
10:30
Shari Caplan, Boston Latin High School
10:45
Elizabeth Lund
11:00
Sarah Hannah
Len Krisak
11:20
Michael R. Brown
Lloyd Schwartz
11:40
Timothy Gager
Susan Donnelly
12:00
Suzanne E. Berger
Maxine Kumin
12:20
Ron Goba
Jan Schreiber
12:40
Marc Goldfinger
Richard Moore
1:00
Robert J. Clawson
Don Share
1:20
Marc Widershien
Joanna Nealon
1:40
Anne Elizabeth Tom
Meg Kearney
2:00
Sarah Getty
Dan Sklar
2:20
Kathleen Aguero
Kaji Aso Studio
2:40
Philip Nikolayev
Barbara Helfgott-Hyett
3:00
Lisa Beatman
Dan Tobin
3:20
Gloria Mindock
Valerie Lawson
3:40
Carol Weston
Diana Der-Hovanessian
4:00
Tino Villanueva
Afaa M. Weaver
4:20
Andy Levesque
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Open Mike 2:pm to 3:30 pm
Room 4 (the small room next to the double room, 5 - 6)
Featured Poets
1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Rabb, Lecture Hall
Catherine A. Salmons
1:00
Room 5-6
Victor Howes
Charles Coe
1:20
Lois Ames
Steven Cramer
1:40
Frank Blessington
Stuart Peterfreund
2:00
Danielle Legros-Georges
Lainie Senechal
2:20
Walter Howard
Harris Gardner
2:40
Carolyn Gregory
Doug Holder
3:00
Diana Saenz
Fred Marchant
3:20
Richard Wollman
Katina Kapovich
3:40
Robert K. Johnson
Rhina P. Espaillat
4:00
C.D. Collins
Reggie O'Hare Gibson
4:20
Joseph DeRoche
BNPMF thanks each and every one of the many who contributed generously to this event.
________________________________
Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices available. To request a sign language interpreter or for other special needs, call (617) 536-7055 (ITY) at least two weeks before the program date.
For more Information: Tapestry of Voices: (617) 723-3716 Library: (617) 536-5400
Doug Holder
http://www.ibbetsonpress.com
http://dougholder.blogspot.com
http://authorsden.com/douglasholder
http://somervillenewswritersfestival.com
http://yahoogroups.com/group/ibbetsonstreetpressupdate
April 14th, 5:30PM
Pierre Menard Gallery
10 Arrow Street
Cambridge, MA
April 17
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Author, poet, translator, editor
Poetry and Politics
6:00 PM
School of Management
Boston University
595 Commonwealth Avenue, 4th Floor
Reception to follow. Free and open to public
Institute for Human Sciences
745 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215 USA
email: ihs@bu.edu
tel: 617 358 2778
SITE: Newburyport Art Association Gallery
65 Water Street, Newburyport
Events are free and open to the public;
site is handicapped-accessible; light refreshments
INFO: For more information, contact mcantor@prodigy.net
Apr. 18, Wed., 7:30 PM
LEN KRISAK
CHELSEA RATHBURN
May 9, Wed., 7:30 PM
A. M. JUSTER
CATHERINE TUFARIELLO
June 20, Wed 7:30 PM
DAVID FERRY
HARRY THOMAS
Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan at
Bestseller's Cafe
24 High Street
Medford, MA. 02155
(In the heart of downtown historic Medford, MA. where Jingle Bells was written; right off Rte 93)
Free refreshments Open Mic.
Readings commence at 6:30 PM. Readings conclude 8:00 PM.
The Ladies come back to Bestsellers again this year! I'm excited to announce that April, National Poetry Month; will be celebrated by an all FEMALE feature reading! We have a bevy of beautifully talented ladies to entertain folks. Our ladies thus far consist of: myself, Gypsypashn (Betsy E Lister- MA Poet Laureate 2006, NH Poet Laureate 2006 , host of *Biker Bits*, Veterans News, and Poetry News) columnist for the Motorcyclists Post, Motorcyclegoodies.com, Ct. Cruise News, and RoadPoet eMagazine, Ann Carhart, poet, author (a delightful lady who's poetry is enchanting), Colleen Houlihan (whose talent is vast, deep and sometimes dark and exciting), Molly Lynn Watt who co-leads (with Jenise Aminoff) the Fireside Poetry Readings in its eighth year , and who has a new book release, chairs HILR Poetry Roundtables, leads Kent Street Poetry Workshop, writes travel stories for Occasional Moose, reads Ruth in Songs and Letters of the Spanish Civil War in live performances and on the CD available through CD Baby and Amazon. Her poems appear in the Bagelbard Anthology, Friends Journal, HILR Review, Lyrical Somerville, Types and Shadows, Wilderness House Literary Review, Write Action Anthology of the Cambridge Co-Housing Fireside Poetry Venue has just informed me that she'll be joining us. Sue Red who has decided to join in the fun as well. Sue hails herself as a poetess and jewelry maker, who's interested in love, life, wine, dark ale, dancing, Tori Amos, cinema, British folks, and Pasta with cream sauce! YUM!. Another lady has just contacted me and asked that she be able to join us; she is Patricia Gomes. Patricia Gomes is the author of one chapbook, co-author of another, creator of the Octologue, editor of Adagio Verse Quarterly, and the Community Leader of iVillage's Poetry Workshop on line. Plus, she's a member of the MA Poetry Society and Cape Cod Literary Press. Read more about her and her work at: http://www.patriciagomes.com/ And this venue keeps growing; with the addition of Jean Flanagan to the list. Jean Flanagan’s first collection of poetry, Ibbetson Street was published in 1993 by Garden Street Press. Her new book, Black Lightning, was published by Cedar Hill Books in May 2004. She was one of the founders of the Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington, MA. Jean teaches at Middlesex Community College, Bedford, MA. and in the “Changing Lives Through Literature Program,” an alternative sentencing program, at Roxbury District Court.
This promises to be a fun and interesting evening! Come on down!! Make time to hear the lovely ladies!
= = = =
Sign up for this first annual event. We'll be doing for the guys what we do for the gals each April, that is, have an ALL MALE REVIEW! Any gentleman wishing to participate, let me know. As we've seen with the ladies readings, the more the merrier!! Please RSVP to me, at Gypsypashn@aolcom thanks! :*)
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Diana Sáenz (pronounced “signs”) is the author of 15 plays which have been staged from California to Maine. She has written five chapbooks and is the founding editor of The Boston Poet, and along with her husband published the first issue of The Boston Poet Journal, Virgin Voyage and is presently seeking new submissions for the next issue, “Bad Ass.”
She is on the board of directors of the Boston National Poetry Festival. She is born and bred in Los Angeles, California, has lived in San Francisco, London, Montreal, Alabama, France and New England. Diana is married to poet/writer, Marshall Harvey, and the proud mother/stepmother of Destiny Sáenz and Karen Harvey.
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Don your leathers, lace up your boots, hop on your scoot, on jump in the car, and head on over to Bestsellers for this Celebration! Biker poets from near and far, and far and wide will be present to read their craft, and take you on the ride of a lifetime. Poet Laureates, K. Peddlar Bridges, Colorado T. Sky, Betsy "Gypsypashn" Lister, Marc "Moshe" Goldfinger, JoeGo Gouveia, J. Barrett "Bear" Wolf, will keep you holding on tight. If you didn't arrive on two wheels, when you leave you'll feel like you just spent the evening with the wind in your hair! After the reading, there'll be a continuation of the celebration of Biker Poetry Month at a BBQ Gypsy's house. This is the third year we've done this, and it becomes bigger and better each year! Don't miss this treat!
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Line up to follow, and this is yet another first of what I hope to be an annual event. There's loads of talent at Stone Soup, and we're honored to have those poets feature at Bestsellers.... stay tuned for more info.....
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I suppose at this point most of us are Seniors, and if you know of anyone who is over 65, please have them contact me to arrange becoming a feature this evening!
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David returns to Bestsellers. David R. Surette's first book of poetry is Young Gentlemen's School (Koenisha, 2004). Koenisha will publish a second volume of his poetry Easy to Keep, Hard to Keep In in 2007. David has three poems in a new anthology French Connections: A Gathering of Franco-American Poets. (Louisiana Literature Press 2007) and a poem in Look! Up in the Sky! An Antholgy of Comic Book Poetry (Sacred Fools Press 2007). He co-hosts Poetribe, a poetry series in southeastern Massachusetts.
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Anyone wishing to feature here, let me know! :*)
That will wrap it up thus far Bestseller's... and anyone who hasn't yet featured, who'd like to, kindly write me and let me know! As always there's OPEN MIC, and REFRESHMENTS courtesy of me.... so as they say on the Price is Right...."C'mon Down!"
The months of April and August are already spoken for, but all other months remain open. If you'd like to be a feature at Bestsellers this coming year, let me know. A reminder that we meet the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM.
Want to feature one of the open months? Email me at: Gypsypashn@aolcom
Write on!
Gypsy
New Hampshire Poet Laureate 2005
New Hampshire Poet Laureate 2006, Massachusetts Poet Laureate 2006
Founder of Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan
===================================================
Contact information:
Betsy Lister
P.O. Box 496
Medford, MA 02155
U.S.A.
How to get to Cambridge Cohousing:
Cambridge Cohousing is located just north of Porter Square at 175 Richdale Ave.
From Massachusetts Ave., turn onto Walden St. Go over the commuter rail tracks and
immediately turn right onto Richdale Ave. Cambridge Cohousing is the complex of
yellow buildings. Walk through the main gate at 175 Richdale Ave. to the common house.
For further information or directions, please contact Jenise Aminoff, 617.576.2004,
jenise@alum.mit.edu or Molly Watt, 617-354-8242,
mollywatt@comcast.net.
For more information, go to http://www.cambridgecohousing.org/poetry/.
To join our mailing list, send email to poetry-request@cambridgecohousing.org.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
7:30 PM
Readers: Steve Glines and Lolita Paiewonski
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
7:30 PM
Readers: Bernadette Davidson and Elizabeth Quinlan
2 Belgrade Avenue
Roslindale, MA
Marc Widershein
Thursday, April 27th Ellen Steinbaum, Susan Donnelly
Thursday, May 24th John Wunjo, Walter Howard
Thursday, June 28th Joanna Nealon, Danielle Georges
Sunday, April 29, 2 pm Poetry in the Chapel
Presented with Tapestry of Voices
Celebrate National Poetry Month with Harris Gardner, Diana DerHovannessian, Thomas Lux, and
Ifeanyi Menkiti.
In Forsyth Chapel at historic Forest Hills Cemetery
95 Forest Hills Avenue, Boston, MA
617.524.0128
Admission: $5
no reservations required<
Info: http://www.foresthillstrust.org
Saturday, May 18th, 2007, 2-5 PM:
Ryk McIntyre
Brockton Library
304 Main St, Brockton, MA
HUGH FOX TO LAUNCH HIS LATEST POETRY BOOK, DEFIANCE, TO BE PUBLISH BY HIGGANUM HILL PRESS
April 4, 2007, 7:00 PM
Café Espresso
738 Islington Street
Portsmouth, NH
contact: wigginml@comcast.net
(with L.R. Berger)
Dupre Gallery & Framing
127 Valley Road
Montclair, New Jersey
(973) 744-6055
(green awning, across from Tierneys)
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
New York, NY
Lalita Java
210 East 3rd St.
(Btwn. B & C)
Sunday, April 1st, 2007
3 pm.
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker St, Manhattan. (btwn Broadway & 6th Ave)
$3 adm, $3 min.
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
Sunday, April 8th, 2007
3 pm.
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker St, Manhattan. (btwn Broadway & 6th Ave)
$3 adm, $3 min.
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
8 pm
The Vault
90-21 Springfield Blvd,
Queens Village, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
Sunday, April 15th, 2007
3 pm.
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker St, Manhattan. (btwn Broadway & 6th Ave)
$3 adm, $3 min.
Evie Ivy, guest emcee
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
Sunday, April 22nd , 2007
3 pm.
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker St, Manhattan. (btwn Broadway & 6th Ave)
$3 adm, $3 min.
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
Sunday, April 29th , 2007
3 pm.
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker St, Manhattan. (btwn Broadway & 6th Ave)
$3 adm, $3 min.
Robert Dunn, emcee @ dunnmiracle@aol.com
BROOKLYN
FREE
April 2, Monday 1:30 P.M.
Reading from PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
Library Lending Center, Room 124
LIU, at Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in Downtown Brooklyn
212 996 3478
MANHATTAN
FREE
April 4, Wednesday 6:30-7:30 P.M.
In addition to reading from PERSIAN GIRLS, I will share my memories of the
subtle cultural differences that most surprised me when I came to the U.S. in the 1960s
Mid-Manhattan Public Library (across the street from the research library)
455 Fifth Avenue (40th Street), 6th Floor
Info: 212-340-0874
***
CALIFORNIA
FREE
May 25, Friday, 2:00 P.M.
Reading, discussion, book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
9500 Gilman Drive, Literature Department 0410
La Jolla
May 25, Friday 7:00 P.M.
Reading, book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
D.G.Wills Books, 7461 Girard Avenue, La Jolla
April 3rd-Kate Greenstreet is the author of case sensitive (Ahsahta Press, 2006) and Learning the Language (Etherdome Press, 2005). Visit her online at kickingwind.com. Maggie Schwed’s work has appeared in Raritan, Nimrod, Rattapallax, Ekphrasis, and other magazines as well as in Phil Miller’s and Gloria Vando’s anthology, Chance of a Ghost. She was a finalist for the Morton Marr Poetry Prize contest and the Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. Her book reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Chicago Review.
April 10-Anne Babson is the founding editor of Vernacular, an international women’s literary journal, and she was just named curator of literature for the Russian Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2003, she won the Columbia Journal Prize and the Artisan Journal contest and has been nominated twice for the Pushcart prize. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines including Bridges, Barrow Street, Connecticut Review, Poetry Salzburg, Penwood Review, New Song, The Madison Review, and the Atlanta Review. She is also the librettist for a new opera, Upbringing, which is being produced by Meridian Arts Ensemble.
April 17-Henry Grinberg was born and educated in England. He is the author of several scholarly and popular articles and reviews and of the novel Variations on the Beast (The Dragon Press, New York, 2006). He holds a PhD in medieval studies and has taught literature and writing at the City University of New York and Yeshiva University.
April 24-David Salvage grew up in the South Bronx and developed an interest in many different cultures—particularly the stories of his friends who had emigrated from Puerto Rico and his mother, an Irish immigrant who had survived living in London during World War II. He studied writing with Grace Paley and Alan Gurganus at Sarah Lawrence College. He has finished his first novel, Dolphin Smiles, and is currently co-authoring a memoir and completing a second novel. He teaches at the NYU School of Medicine and is a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
Write Books and Gifts
19 North Main Street
Honeoye Falls, New York
www.writebooksandgifts.com.
SAT, APR 7th, 2 p.m., Free Admission
Featured: George Guida, Ed Maruggi and Nancy Caronia
Open Reading Follows
April 5, 2007, 7 p.m.
Featured Poets: Laure-Anne Bosselaar & Elaine Equi
Regina Peruggi Room, Marymount Manhattan College
221 East 71st Street
New York, NY
April 17, 2007, 7 p.m.
Featured Poets: Henri Cole & Carl Dennis
Housing Works Bookstore Café
126 Crosby Street
New York, NY
April 11, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
Alice Tully Hall
Lincoln Center
New York City
For tickets, call 212-721-6500 or visit www.lincolncenter.org.
Tickets are $35-$75. Academy members receive a $10 discount.
On the web at: www.poets.org/gala
April 12, Thursday, 7-8:45 p.m.
Reading from my work, Susquehanna Art Museum,
301 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pa.
Plus open.
www.almostuptown.com
April 30, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
Reading from my work. College of Staten Island, English Department.
May 1, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.
Brooklyn Library, Grand Army Plaza, Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue
(2 train to Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn Museum).
Hosted by Robert Hershon.
May 5, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Feature for Brownstone Poets. Fifth Avenue Restaurant and Diner,
432 Fifth Avenue (between Eighth and Ninth streets),
Brooklyn. R or F train to Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street station.
$3 plus food, drink.
Info: pattiekake@earthlink.net.
May 14, Monday, 7:30 p.m.
Feature, plus floor spots by several friends.
Saturn Series at Nightingale Lounge.
Second Avenue at East 13th Street, Manhattan.
www.supolo.com
May 20, Sunday, 7:00 p.m.
Reading from Tetched, with brief screening for Anomaly, the Film.
Bluestockings bookstore, 172 Allen Street, Manhattan.
Donation?
www.bluestockings.com
http://www.thaddeusrutkowski.com
Reading/Discussion/Book signing
Books will be available for sale at this reading from BookCourt.
West Side YMCA-- The George Washington Lounge
5 West 63rd Street (between Central Park West & Broadway)
NYC
CONTACT: graucher@ymcanyc.org
~Admission Free and Open to the Public~
We are located at 5 W. 63rd Street, between Central Park West & Broadway.
Accessible Trains: A, C, B, D, 1 & 9 to Columbus Circle.
Multi Purpose Room, 2nd floor, Wilbur Arts Center
Molloy College
1000 Hempstead Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
Contact: Barbara Novack, Writer-in-Residence, Molloy College
bnovack@molloy.edu
May 6 2007, 3-5 pm, Free
Featured Poet: Patti Tana
Open reading follows featured poet
Complete information and reader bio on www.barbaranovack.com
Colony Arts Center
22 Rock City Road
Woodstock, New York
www.colonycafe.com or (845) 679-5342
MON, MAY 7th, 7 p.m., Free Admission
Featured: George Guida
Open Reading Follows
contact: bowerywomen@gmail.com
website: www.bowerypoetry.com/bowerywomen,
www.myspace.com/bowerywomen
Bowery Women Poetry Reading
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
7- 9 p.m. Free admission
McNally-Robinson Booksellers
52 Prince Street NYC
Poets to read include Martha Rhodes and others.
Bowery Women Poetry Reading
for LouderArts Project
Monday, May 21, 2007
7 p.m Admission $6
Bar 13
35 E. 13th Street NYC
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
New York, New York
www.bowerypoetry.com
SAT, MAY 12th, 6 p.m., $5 Admission, $100 First Prize
Visit www.bowerypoetry.com or call 212-614-0505 for further information.
contact: themomegg@gmail.com
www.myspace.com/themomegg
Friday, May 18, 2007
5-7 p.m. $6 admission, includes one drink
KGB Bar
85 West 4th Street NYC
Poets and prose writers will read. Readers to include Fay Chiang, Cheryl Boyce Taylor, Corie Feiner, Jennifer Hill-Kaucher, Estelle Bruno and more.
The Mom Egg is the official literary journal of Mamapalooza, a worldwide festival held every
May to celebrate the creativity of moms.
Check out www.mamapalooza.com.
Address: (Dr. Ni's local address) P.O. Box 15095
City and State: Philadelphia, PA 19130-9998
Contact person and or URL/information: Dr. Niama L. Williams;
www.internetvoicesradio
Date, time, price: Every Tuesday, 8-9 p.m. EST
$35/guest/appearance on show
Readers: International internet radio listeners
Other appropriate info: (station owner's address):
Ms. Lillian Cauldwell
P.O. Box 2344 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-2344;
734-332-5902.
Dr. Niama L. Williams
P. O. Box 15095
Philadelphia, PA 19130-9998
http://www.lulu.com/drni
http://thejourney.booktreasurehouse.com/
http://soulwork.booktreasurehouse.com/
http://famousfaces.booktreasurehouse.com/
http://steven.booktreasurehouse.com/
Jose Sebourne Graphic Design
1213-15 Vine Street Philadelphia PA 19107
7-10pm $5.00 Cover
Contact info:
The Gallery - (215)564-2554
Aziza Kintehg(215)668-4500
Email: azizalockdiva@...
or check out the website: www.Josesebourne.com
April 12, Thursday, 7-8:45 p.m.
Reading from my work, Susquehanna Art Museum,
301 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pa.
Plus open.
www.almostuptown.com
Thursday, April 19, 2007, evening
George Mason University
Student Union I ABC
Fairfax, Virginia
contact: Peter Klappert
petermail@verizon.net
April 13, 8:00 PM
Goerings Book Store
3433 W. University Ave.
Gainesville, FL
www.goerings.com
The Spot
4437 N. Broadway,
between Montrose and Wilson, the Wilson stop on the Red Line.
Admission is five dollars.
The event is hosted by poet Emily Rose.
Coming Soon, the Lip series, featured in The Literary Gangs of Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Art, April 17.
6:30 pm, SAIC Ballroom
112 S Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60603
$10, $8 for students; Free for members and SAIC students, faculty and staff
Dan Ferri, Billy Lombardo and Taylor Mali share their war stories from education's front lines. Their work will focus on their experiences with their students and stories from a child's perspective. Dan Ferri, a retired veteran educator, is a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered and Chicago Public Radio's 848, and hasreceived the Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Society of Professional Journalists. His work has appeared in Harper's and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry.
Billy Lombardo's collection of short fiction, The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories, was a Chicago Tribune Best of 2005 fiction selection. He teaches at The Latin School of Chicago where he is the co-founder of Polyphony HS, a student-run national literary magazine for high school writers.
Taylor Mali is a former teacher and a four-time National Poetry Slam team champion who has appeared in the film SlamNation and HBO's Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam. He has published one book of poetry, What Learning Leaves, and is featured on several CDs and compilations, including Conviction, and Poems from the Like Free Zone.
Founded in 1974, the award-winning Poetry Center of Chicago is an independent not-for-profit arts organization that is committed to building Chicago's access to poetry through readings, workshops, residencies and arts education. The PoetryCenter is currently in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Visit www.poetrycenter.org for more.
Sincerely,
Lisa Buscani, Executive Director
The Poetry Center
What:
Poetry Off the Shelf with Tony Hoagland and Dean Young
When:
Wednesday, April 4, 6:00 pm
Where:
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Chicago Public Library
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street
Admission is free, but seating is limited and reservations are required. For reservations call (312) 787.7070.
Join the RHINO 2004 kick-off reading at this elegant Sheridan Road landmark. Last year’s reading was lively and varied, and we expect the same this year. A host of contributors will read. Attendees are encouraged to stay late and enjoy the EAC’s show, “A Moment in Time,” which focuses on the work of thirteen influential women artists.
Evanston Arts Center
2603 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL
(847) 475-5300
http://www.evanstonartcenter.org
Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jack Hirschman: San Francisco Icons
Tuesday, April 10, 2007, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna St., San Francisco
Vietnamese Poetry in Performance: John Balaban & Le Pham Le
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna St., San Francisco
PIO Spring Poetry Recital
Saturday, May 12th, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Main Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 557-4400
PIO students reading their poetry and translations.
FREE
May 25, Friday, 2:00 P.M.
Reading, discussion, book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
9500 Gilman Drive, Literature Department 0410
La Jolla
May 25, Friday 7:00 P.M.
Reading, book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
D.G.Wills Books, 7461 Girard Avenue, La Jolla
APRIL 27, 2007 6-8PM
CODYS BOOKS
UNION SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO
contact: judy jones
joy@creationisbliss.com
or
mybeautifulmusic@gmail.com
April 28th:
Burning Word Cascade Stage on Whidby Island, WA, @ 5:30 pm.
For more information, see www.washingtonpoets.org/burning_word.php
May 26th:
Saturday, with Bruce Bond, and another Silverfish Review Press author TBA at the Hugo House,
on 11th Avenue between Pike and Pine, Seattle, WA, 7 – 9 pm.
276 Carlaw Ave. Ste 209
Toronto, ON M4M 3L1
http://www.artistsplay.com/contact.shtml
Contact person and or URL/information
Maria Meindl
bodylanguage@sympatico.ca
Date, time, price
May 16, 2007
$5 includes a copy of Draft publication
Readers
George Elliott Clarke
Flavia Cosma
Pasha Malla
rob mclennan
Merle Nudelman
Thank You For Choosing Toronto Writers' Centre!
Toronto Writers' Centre
Suite 200
101 Yorkville Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 1C1
t: 416-975-5172
f: 416-975-3978
md@writerscentre.ca
www.writerscentre.ca
Plaza Black Box Theater at Boston Center for the Arts
569 Tremont Street (South End / T – Orange Line to Back Bay)
Boston, MA 02159
BostonTheatreScene.com Box Office 617-933-8600 / www.bostontheatrescene.com.
Performances Wednesdays through Sundays
General: $18.50-$23 (call for info) / $15.50 Seniors & Students
Wed evening special! Pay What You Can! (starts at $5)
Festival opens Wednesday, March 14 at 8pm! Performances through Saturday April 7
Each production will be ASL-interpreted by Joan Wattman
The third in Pilgrim Theatre’s ambitious and successful series Crossing Borders brings together an extraordinary array of performative voices in a theatre festival at Boston Center for the Arts’ Plaza Black Box Theatre. Accordingly, the Festival’s title this year is Voices. Each of the four productions proposes a different and fascinating use of the voice. A courageous artist confronts his aphasia (vocal impairment due to stroke) and creates a performance; another challenges bureaucracy in search of the meaning buried under what is NOT spoken; cabaret performers traverse geographic and historical borderlines in song; a calmly intelligent woman confronts a cockroach and discovers her passionately wild side; the four productions offer a feast for the theatre-lover. Pilgrim Theatre, a Resident Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts, has won an NEA Challenge America award to bring the Deaf and Deaf-Blind communities to the Crossing Borders III festival this spring.
2007 marks Gene-Gabriel Moore’s 54th year in the acting profession. His solo performance of Struck Dumb, the classic solo work written by Jean-Claude van Itallie and Joseph Chaikin, opens the Crossing Borders III festival. Moore is 72 and a stroke survivor. He has spent the last 14 years learning to live and work with aphasia. During that time he has also founded and directed his own theatre company, Not Merely Players, an international professional theatre whose central focus is on people with disabilities and the performing arts. Struck Dumb is a co-production of Moore’s company and 7 Stages, the renowned theatre in Atlanta Georgia, under the artistic direction of founder Del Hamilton. Hamilton directed Moore in this production.
[Gene-Gabriel Moore in Struck Dumb] |
Aphasia is a communication impairment. Playwright van Itallie writes: "It has been said that one does not usually recover from aphasia, but that, by dint of hard work and time, one recovers with aphasia. Intelligence is intact, but speaking takes a little more time, speaking is often very difficult.” Struck Dumb was commissioned in the 1980s by the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and performed by the late director, actor and theatre visionary Joseph Chaikin, first at the Taper and then at American Place Theater in New York City. The character is drawn from Chaikin’s own life experiences managing a series of strokes and resulting aphasia. Moore became disabled with aphasia 15 years ago when, during surgery, he suffered the first of three strokes. He met Chaikin at 7 Stages where the latter had been directing for many years. Chaikin agreed, shortly before his death, that Moore should perform Struck Dumb. Two years later playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie urged him to make the performance. Wendell Brock of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says of Moore’s work that “the production is an intimate act of faith between Moore and his audience…one of those rare soul-baring theatrical experiences where life and art are so interlaced that you almost forget where the actor leaves off and the character begins.” Supertitles are used as part of the set for the production, both for the audience and for Moore, whose disability makes it impossible for him to memorize lines. |
Struck Dumb opens Wed. March 14 at BCA’s Black Box Theatre. The opening performance will be ASL-interpreted by Joan Wattman. Performances are Wednesday, March 14 through Saturday, March 17 at 8 pm. On Saturday March 17 and Sunday March 18 there will be matinees at 2 p.m.
After the closing Sunday matinee performance there will be a post-show reception and symposium about aphasia and the creation of the production with actor Gene-Gabriel Moore, playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie, Jerome Kaplan of the Boston Aphasia Society and members of Pilgrim Theatre. It is sponsored by the Boston Center for the Arts.
The second week’s production, opening on Wednesday, March 21, Pilgrim Theatre’s Kafka’s The Trial: “An Extraordinary Rendition” - a comedic solo performance create by Kermit Dunkelberg - is the company’s latest project, coming directly on the heels of the critically acclaimed N (Bonaparte).
Welcome to the 21st century: bureaucracy, alienation, and perpetual all-consuming guilt! Pilgrim Theatre’s original theatrical exploration based on Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” intends an “extraordinary rendition” of Kafka’s tale of domestic surveillance and undisclosed charges. After all, someone must have been telling lies about Yusef K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one morning. Guilt and innocence become immaterial when a bureaucracy has the strength to not only create the laws, but to choreograph the trials and compose the verdicts. Where is truth to be found when one is uncertain not only of one’s crime, but whether one has even committed a crime? Do we, perforce, lose belief in our own innocence?
“If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear – never to see them again – you send them to Egypt.” (former CIA agent Robert Baer).
Where will Yusef K. land?
And don’t forget – March is Cabaret Month! To celebrate one of Boston’s favorite music-theatre styles, on Wednesday, March 28th legendary cabaret diva Belle Linda Halpern brings her fabulous voice to the festival with Songs on the Brink: A Cabaret. She is joined by Ron Roy at the piano and special guest Jeffrey Korn. Last season she appeared as decadent and delicious Josephine in Pilgrim’s N (Bonaparte) and previously she, Ron Roy and Kermit Dunkelberg created Pilgrim Theatre’s long-running Moon Over Dark Street. Now she carries us along with her on a pointed, funny and profound journey through the songs of Tin Pan Alley, classic cabaret, and Broadway.
A colorful two-act celebration of the siren songs that have tempted audiences toward the brink of a new life. From the gritty Yiddish theatres of 2nd Avenue, the honky-tonks of Harlem and the smoky clubs of Paris — Songs from the Brink brings to life the voices that have tantalized and lured generation after generation across boundaries...
On Friday March 30 Songs from the Brink will be a special Benefit Performance for Pilgrim Theatre. Meet the Artists over a fabulous desert buffet after the show!
The final production of the Crossing Borders festival arrives on Wednesday, April 4th from NaCl Theatre (North American Cultural Laboratory). Based in Highland Lake, New York, NaCl will present The Passion according to G.H., a bewitching solo performance adapted from the Brazilian novel by Clarice Lispector. Directed by Brad Krumholz, Tannis Kowalchuk portrays G.H., a woman whose normally uneventful life is turned upside down by the discovery of an enormous cockroach in her home. The whimsical, and profoundly physical performance delves into personal and universal themes of existence, spirituality, and awareness. A limit of 28 spectators are invited to witness the lively and intimate show-- a Kafka-esque transformation of the human psyche. So book early to assure yourself a place!
So get ready for March madness! A full palette of fabulous and unique performance is right at your doorstep. Check out the BCA website for more information at www.bcaonline.org.
# # #
-submitted by marycurtinproductions
c/o Mary Curtin
PO Box 290703, Charlestown, MA 02129
marycurtin@comcast.net
"dedicated to staging insightful entertainment, particularly in non-traditional venues"
www.marycurtinproductions.com
InterAct Theatre Company’s Writing Aloud: Going Forward
Featured Stories & Writers:
“The Bard of Frogtown” by Allison Whittenberg
“Smart” by Benjamin Matvey
“The Bridge Keepers” by Neda Scepanovic
Featured Readers To Be Announced
On the Mainstage at The Adrienne
2030 Sansom St., Philadelphia
Monday, October 30, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are $12.00 for general admission or $6.00 for InterAct subscribers
For tickets or information: BoxOffice@InterActTheatre.org or (215) 568-8079
David Golston
InterAct Theatre Company’s Writing Aloud: Going to Pieces
Featured Stories & Writers:
“Bent and Blue” by CJ Spataro
“Smoke” by Robin Parks
“Pablo and the Frogs” by Steven Schutzman
Featured Readers To Be Announced
On the Mainstage at The Adrienne
2030 Sansom St., Philadelphia
Monday, December 12, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are $12.00 for general admission or $6.00 for InterAct subscribers
For tickets or information: BoxOffice@InterActTheatre.org or (215) 568-8079
David Golston
web: http://www.InterActTheatre.org
Philadelphia, PA - InterAct Theatre Company is excited to announce the eighth season of Writing Aloud, a series of one-night-only evenings of short contemporary fiction written by the region’s finest writers and read on stage by professional actors. The 2006/2007 Season will feature a selection of twenty-one short stories by area writers, including New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner. David Sanders, Director of the Writing Aloud program, recently announced the season line-up while adding, "We are thrilled to have received such a high number of outstanding submissions this season, making our eighth season one of our most exciting ever."
The 2006-2007 season of Writing Aloud kicks off on October 30, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. with an evening entitled Going Forward, featuring “The Bard of Frogtown,” by Allison Whittenberg, “Smart,” by Benjamin Matvey, and “The Bridge Keepers,” by Neda Scepanovic.
The second installment in the series, entitled Going to Pieces, takes place on December 12, 2006 and features “Bent and Blue,” by CJ Spataro, “Smoke,” by Robin Parks, and “Pablo and the Frogs,” by Steven Schutzman.
Going Down, on February 5, 2007, will be Writing Aloud’s first performance in the new year. It will feature the stories “He Did It for Morgan,” by Kathryn Watterson, “Loss Prevention,” by Marion Wyce, “Child at Play” by Manini Nayar, and “The Captain is Sleeping,” by Norman Lock.
The series reconvenes on March 19, 2007 with a series entitled Coming Apart, featuring “The Black Box,” by Clare Keefe Coleman, “Feeding the Ducks,” by Jim Ray Daniels, “The Embrace,” by Niama Leslie Williams, and “Between States,” by Greg Downs.
The fifth installment, Coming to Terms, on April 30, 2007, will feature an exciting story from Jennifer Weiner, New York Times bestselling author of Good in Bed and In Her Shoes. Also featured in Coming to Terms will be “The Haircut,” by Linda Blaskey, “Dog Whispers,” by Randall Brown, and “Make Me Over,” by Amina Gautier.
The 2006-2007 Season of Writing Aloud concludes on June 11, 2007 with an evening of stories entitled Coming Together, featuring “Good Providers,” by Miriam Fried, “The BVM” by Tree Riesener, and “Measures of Sorrow,” by Jacob M. Appel.
Casting for the upcoming 2006/2007 Writing Aloud season has not yet been announced, however, InterAct is in the process of finalizing a line-up of some of Philadelphia’s best actors to read the short fictional stories. The recently completed 2005/2006 season of Writing Aloud included twenty-seven actors, including Barrymore Award winners Catharine K. Slusar, Madi Distefano, and Maureen Torsney-Weir, as well as Barrymore-nominated actors Matt Saunders, Amanda Schoonover, Buck Schirner, David Ingram, and Karen Peakes.
Each event in the 2006/2007 Writing Aloud season will be held on InterAct Theatre Company's Mainstage at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street in Philadelphia. All performances are on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $12.00 for general admission or $6.00 for InterAct subscribers. Season subscriptions to the Writing Aloud season are available starting at only $10 an event, or $60 for the entire six-show season. Seating is limited, so advance reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling InterAct’s Box Office at 215-568-8077. Group rates are also available.
Directed by David Sanders, Writing Aloud was established in 1999 to present diverse voices in contemporary fiction by the region’s best writers, read on stage by professional actors. Quickly establishing itself as the region’s premiere reading series, Writing Aloud has attracted sold-out audiences, has been featured in special broadcasts on WHYY-FM public radio, and is a recipient of Philadelphia Magazine’s 2001 “Best of Philly” award.
Founded in 1988, InterAct Theatre Company is a theatre for today's world, producing new and contemporary plays that explore the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Lead by Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin, InterAct is one of the nation’s leading centers for new writing in theatre, introducing important contemporary writers to audiences through its world premiere stage productions, developmental residencies, and Showcase of New Plays. The Writing Aloud program extends InterAct’s mission of cultivating and presenting diverse artistic voices into the realm of short fiction.
InterAct’s 2006/2007 Mainstage Season begins on October 20 with the classic play, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, written by Manuel Puig and translated by Allan Baker. Directed by Seth Rozin and featuring Philadelphia favorite, Frank X, and 2004 Barrymore nominee, Vaneik Echeverria, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN opens officially on Wednesday, October 25, and runs through November 19, 2006. Continuing the season in the new year will be the world premieres of Thomas Gibbons’ A HOUSE WITH NO WALLS (January 19-February 18, 2007) and Sherry Kramer’s WHEN SOMETHING WONDERFUL ENDS (April 6-May 6, 2007). The season will then conclude with May 25-June 24 production of SKIN IN FLAMES, the East Coast premiere of a new play written by Catalan playwright Guillem Clua and translated by DJ Sanders.
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