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ČERVENÁ BARVA PRESS NEWSLETTER
Gloria Mindock, Editor Issue No. 21 March, 2007
INDEX
POETRY READINGS
THEATRE:
Welcome to the March, 2007 Newsletter.
Interviewed this month are: Nahid Rachlin, David McNamara
and Louis McKee
The celebration of Somerville's Small Press was absolutely wonderful. I would like to thank the host
Richard Cambridge (Club Passim's Poets' Theatre), Doug Holder
(Ibbetson Street Press), and David McNamara (sunnyoutside Press).
It was such an honor to be among them. Thank you to Catherine Sasanov and
Mary Bonina who represented Červená Barva Press,
and all the other readers representing Ibbetson and sunnyoutside. All of you were great and the audience too!
I would like to thank Judy Jones of San Francisco, California, for volunteering to put up flyers
about The Lost Bookshelf. I really appreciate this.
Anyone else who would like to volunteer, let me know. I could really use the help getting the word out
about The Lost Bookshelf.
Be sure to visit The Lost Bookshelf.
The newest title published by Červená Barva Press is a fiction chapbook,
Out of the Arcadian Ghetto, by Ian Randall Wilson.
Always be sure to hit the refresh button when visiting the store.
- Description:
- Out of the Arcadian Ghetto is a work of great imagination. It features two previously published stories.
In "He Was Known For His Nose," a specialist employed by a reclusive millionaire selects female companionship
for his master by the women's smell. When his nose fails, disaster ensues. In "The Three Bears: A Retelling,"
this classic fairytale is reconceived as a contemporary commentary on race relations between
homo sapiens and Ursus arctos.
-
Two new chapbooks will be available for purchase next week by Červená Barva Press called Gothic Calligraphy by
Flavia Cosma
and Bilingual Poems by Richard Kostelanetz.
I will be e-mailing everyone information on these chapbooks soon.
After the Fairy Tale by Maureen Sherbony
Forthcoming in April by Main Street Rag
http://www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php
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CYCLAMENS AND SWORDS AND OTHER POEMS ABOUT THE LAND OF ISRAEL
by Helen Bar-Lev and John Michael Simon
Description:
The achingly beautiful cover of timeless trees, earth, flowers and rock, is redolent of Israel's destiny.
This little land, so hallowed in human history, seems the literary and spiritual core of existence to most
of humanity. If strife is ever present here, how can there ever be the peace of ancient promise? This land
seems to symbolize the eternal quest for harmony where forces of turmoil march ceaselessly. Bar-Lev and Simon
explore this theme for us. Cyclamens and Swords will become a treasured classic, echoing as it does so fluently,
the longing, fearing and questing that marks these troubled times. Helen Bar-Lev's poem Beauty sums up the reader's
feelings as we reluctantly finish this special book: "and I,/the ingrate,/ ever insatiable,/implore you,/please,/ show/ me/more."
Katherine L. Gordon Author, Editor, Publisher, Judge and Reviewer, Resident Columnist for Ancient Heart Magazine.
Ibbetson Street Press, 2007
$36.59
To order: http://www.lulu.com/content/641799
- Interviews by Martha Collins, Steve Glines, and others
- The second anniversary of Červená Barva Press
- April is fund-rasing month for the press
Write a bio.
Born in Philadelphia (July 31, 1951) I've been a part of the Philadelphia poetry scene since the late 60s / early 70s.
My books include Schuylkill County (Wampeter, 1982), The True Speed of Things (Slash & Burn, 1984) and eleven other
collections. More recently, I've published River Architecture: Poems from Here & There 1973-1993 (Cynic, 1999),
Loose Change (Marsh River Editions, 2001) and a volume in the Pudding House Greatest Hits series. Near Occasions of Sin
was issued in 2006 by Cynic Press.
I was a longtime editor of the Painted Bride Quarterly in the 80s. During this time I edited three special issues of
the journal, celebrating the work of Etheridge Knight and John Logan, as well as a retrospective 20th-anniversary volume
of the PBQ. I currently operate Banshee Press and was the editor of One Trick Pony until its demise in 2007.
A book of my critical essays and reviews, Sweet Cakes, Small Stories, and a Few Words on Poets and Poetry, is forthcoming,
and late in 2007, Adasta Press will publish a limited edition, letterpress collection of my translations from Old Irish of Monastic Poems
from the 9th - 11th Century.
Describe your favorite place to write.
I have a desk - two in fact. One I use for spreading out; I guess a lot of writing gets done there.
The other has the computer, and while poems rarely begin there, much of the revision is done on computer.
As often as not, though, my poems come about as I sit in my big comfortable chair in the living room.
The window there is bright, though I tend to work more often in the evening. It is pen and legal pad, until at
some point when I want to see the piece typed, get a feel for its look on the page. I print out a copy, then carry
it around, making changes wherever I might be. Later, I'll put those changes into the computer and make another copy,
a newer draft, that I can carry with me for a while. Eventually I get tired of tinkering, and I declare the poem finished.
Abandoned, as Auden suggests.
Who are some of your favorite writers?
There are so many. I always look forward to new poems by C. K. Williams, Gerald Stern, Stephen Dunn, and so many others.
Jim Daniels, Philip Dacey, Afaa Weaver, and Michael Waters - I know and like how different these poets and their poems are,
and I like to think I am learning something about poetry from all of them. I should also say that I return fairly regularly
to Yeats, James Wright, Dick Hugo, William Stafford, and John Logan.
Do you have one particular style you like to write in or do you try all forms?
I write a personal poem,; regardless of what the poem is about, it is likely to be full of "I" and "you."
I write mostly short lyrics, but with a winding narrative that goes through them. While I work in free verse,
I must admit that I am conscious of meter with every poem I begin. I may abandon it, the cadence, early, and it
is never strict to begin with, or I may consciously play against the expectations it sets up, but there is always a
sense of the dance in the back of my head. And I am equally conscious of sound - the rhymes, chimes, and noises the
words make. I avoid absolute rhyme, and don't want duck-stepping lines, but I want something around which to wrap my poem,
a frame or ribbing of sorts.
Where do you find inspiration for writing?
Actually, I don't have much trouble getting started. Toby Olson used to talk about "out the window" poems, and that can
sometimes be enough, to simply look around. I have a lot of years and miles behind me, as well as a big Irish family that
was full of characters. I teach. There are poems in every direction I look; it is simply a matter of slowing myself down
enough to recognize them. When I am in the right frame of mind, it is not difficult at all. And if I get stuck, I read.
Good poetry is always an inspiration.
Talk about your newest book, Near Occasions of Sin (2006)
A few years back, I published a selected poems, River Architecture (Cynic Press, 1999,) and I realized how many of my
poems dealt with love - if not love poems exactly, then poems that were informed by love, the need for love, the desire
for love, and the disappointments so often associated with love.
For balance, I passed on a lot of these poems for River Architecture, and decided to create a manuscript that gathered
them together. Then there was the direction of the good sisters. The Oblates, the Christian Brothers, and eventually,
the Jesuits, lent their hand, and by the time I left grad school, eighteen-plus years of Catholic education, I was well
aware of the numerous near occasions of sin. I didn't do much to avoid them, either. And there were consequences.
And there are poems.
Other books you have published include River Architecture, Right as Rain, Loose Change,
and others. Please talk about these books. Is there one you feel especially close to?
In 1982, Wampeter Press accepted Schuylkill County for publication. I'd gotten some good feedback on the manuscript,
and Bill Stafford and Dick Hugo offered to do blurbs - the poems had appeared in lit mags here and there -- but it was
the acceptance letter from Wampeter that convinced me I was on the right track. That book will always be special to me.
And The True Speed of Things,(Slash & Burn Press,) which was actually published a couple of weeks earlier, though consisting
of newer poems, is another that means a lot. Suddenly, all the hard work was tangible. I think favorites tend to be the
more recent, though. Loose Change (Marsh River Editions) contains my newest work.
You were editor of The Painted Bride Quarterly. What was this like for you? How many years did you edit the review?
The PBQ is a brilliant literary journal that was created in 1973 by Louise Simons and R. Daniel Evans. It quickly
developed a solid reputation publishing the finest poets regionally and nationally. (In 1993 I edited PBQ: A Poetry Retrospective 1973-1993.)
I was a co-editor, (with Joanne DiPaolo and Lou Camp,) of the PBQ from about 1983-1988, and I can honestly say that I believe we
made the quarterly even better than it was. I also individually edited two special issues: one celebrating the work
of Etheridge Knight, and the other in memory of John Logan. Both men were good friends; Etheridge lived with me for a while,
and John used to stay at my house when passing through town. I enjoyed the experience of editing the PBQ. It seems as though
I have been involved with some magazine or other since college. I did have a problem with the triumvirate - we were three
strong and different personalities. I was the only one on the staff who wrote and published, so I served as the contact person
for contributors and submissions. This was also rewarding, getting to know the poets. Like anything else, though, one gets
worn down. I needed some time to myself, for my own writing. I did return to guest-edit the Logan issue and the 20th Anniversary
anthology. And I'm glad to report that the PBQ is still going strong, online and in print, under the direction of editors
Kathleen Volk Miller and Marion Wrenn.
You currently edit One Trick Pony and Banshee Press. When did you start these? Talk about the challenges you face.
How do you find time to write and balance your time with all your involved with?
Well, Banshee Press is still active, but One Trick Pony, I'm sorry to say, is no more. After eleven issues, the usual
bugaboos, financial and health woes, interfered. I hope when things improve, to do another two issues - the material
that had already been accepted before we shut the operation down. Those poets, I'm sure, will find another home for
their good work, but I still would like to see it where it was first intended to appear - with proper credits listed, of course.
Banshee - this last year we published a series of limited edition, letterpress broadsides, featuring Philip Dacey,
Paul Muldoon, Gerald Stern, and Denise Duhamel. These were intended as a fund-raiser for the magazine.
What are you working on now?
Poems. "Words, words, words." I write the poems first, then think about how they might fit together into a manuscript.
I don't set out to write with a particular intention. I did recently finish a group of Old Irish translations,
monastic quatrains, and I am supposed to be writing an introduction for the letterpress edition being done by Adastra Press.
And I have a collection of essays on poetry coming, so I am supposed to be working on them, my last chance to
tinker with the manuscript. Notice the word "supposed," in the two previous sentences.
What is the writing scene like in Philadelphia?
I used to be so much more involved, so much more conscious of what was going on. Of course, there are the school
programs, predominantly UPenn's Kelly Writers House and the Writing Program at Temple University. A grassroots
thing has been around for a long time; called Mad Poets, they have more than a dozen regular venues in the Philadelphia
area. There are other on-going ventures, including the Painted Bride, as well as those which come and go with the
drop of a hat. It is an active time in this city that has always been a vibrant place for poetry.
Any last comments?
Only to say thank you, Gloria, for this opportunity.
Write a bio about yourself.
I was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and am a terribly, ridiculously lucky person, especially when one considers that
I don't believe in luck. To wit, my parents love me more than I deserve and I'm living the sitcom paradox-the fat,
dumb guy who somehow ends up with the smart, sexy woman.
You graduated from the publishing program at Emerson College. What was your experience like there?
Overall it was an excellent experience. I applied with the intention of learning more about the marketing and business
aspects of publishing, to which extent the program definitely met my expectations. The director of the program, Dave Pallai,
was a mentor in many respects. Sunnyoutside definitely wouldn't be where it currently is without the knowledge and guidance
I received there.
When did you start as an independent press? How did you come up with the name sunnyoutside press?
I suppose, technically, I started as an independent press when I was in high school and my father, much to his credit,
brought home a hand-held scanner that I had declared I wanted, despite not really knowing why. It's been a steady descent
into the arts of publishing ever since.
I never referred to anything as an independent press until the reincarnation of sunnyoutside, even when I
published )ism(. I say "reincarnation" because sunnyoutside originally started as an online journal. So I guess the
answer to that first question is, consciously, sometime in 2005.
The history of the name is one of those stories that has been told so many different ways that I don't fully recall
the events accurately any more myself. I believe it was proposed by Nat Clark, an Australian zinester living in London
who did some writing for us, and I adopted it as a sort of tongue-in-cheek commentary on the internet-that is, a
facetious challenge to the reader: "Why are you sitting at your computer reading this when you could be outside
doing something more exciting?"
One of my favorite quotes has always been Brandeis's "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants," so that,
coupled with the following we'd garnered as an online journal, constituted the decision to keep the name
when I founded the press.
Talk about your newly released titles called, Dream Big Work Harder by Rebecca Schumejda, Rumors of Electricity
by Richard Kreck, and Modern Love by Andrew Scott.
Dream Big, Work Harder got Rebecca a featured reading spot at the huge Small Press Fair in New York City,
which then lead to a mention as a title of note in ForeWord, which itself speaks of the quality of the writing.
It's a fantastic read.
Richard Krech's Rumors of Electricity has probably been our most successful book out of the gate. The
reviews for both the writing and the presentation have been overwhelming, which has been a great compliment
and vindication because the original idea was just a broadside. But I noticed a geographical theme in a lot
of what Richard submitted, and he had these fabulous poems that all tied in with each other stylistically,
and the project just grew into the finished project, culminating with the great cover design that Kseniya Thomas
created-which in itself was a bit of a landmark, as it was the first cover that I didn't design myself.
Kseniya also did the printing for Modern Love by Andrew Scott, although the art was by Ed Herrera, who contributed
illustrations throughout. Ed's main genre is comic books, but his style and interpretation of Andrew's writing
really nailed the feel of the writing, while also creating an added dimension-it's crisp and bold, while what won
me over in the story are the blurred lines of protagonist and antagonist. It's a story you can read a few times and
still be thinking about weeks later.
As a small independent press, what are some of the challenges you face?
The inability to capitalize on economies of scale, either due to smaller markets or because of production technique,
is a constant problem. Another major problem is doing the tasks that I'm not naturally inclined to or terribly keen on,
such as the accounting and public relations stuff. There are a lot of roles to fill, and until growth allows us other
employees and specialized tasks, doing everything is both a blessing and a burden.
How do you fund your press?
The press is a business. There was some investment in the beginning as startup capital, but since then the press
has been mostly self-sufficient as we base our growth on reinvestment of profits. So far we've been quite lucky to
have most of our titles be successful within our budget scheme, which really is credit due to our authors and the
amount of work they put into making the books a success.
What type of work do you look for?
I like creative work that uses solid imagery and intelligent metaphors and allusions. I suppose you could trace
a bit of darkness through our titles, and to that end I prefer work that applies to the human condition, but that,
naturally, isn't always despondent. But I do generally gravitate to innovative work that has multiple layers to it.
How many books, chapbooks, broadsides and postcards do you print a year?
That depends largely on the budget and the scope of the titles we have scheduled. I think we're currently on
pace for eight or nine books or chapbooks for 2007, including a second edition for a title on the verge of selling out.
Obviously paperbacks require more time and money than chapbooks and are also a greater risk, so there's a constant
fluctuation with the numbers. Last year was a good year for us, so three of our forthcoming titles are going to be
paperbacks-four if you count the postcard book we have scheduled, and possibly more if those have early
financial success.
You do your own printing with a letterpress. Please talk about this process.
Setting forms with lead and wood gives one a completely new perspective on dimensions and leading. It's a lot like
learning English grammar from taking Latin-it's much more structured. It gives you a lot more respect for how technology
has facilitated things, for better and worse.
That said, as rewarding as it is, it can also be a real pain in the ass. But even digital publishing should be given
the same care-it's just a different dimension. I learned that you shouldn't ever use automatic settings in a program,
and hand-setting type reinforces that a bit-you need to consciously decide what piece of type or leading you're setting,
and you have to be deliberate about it-if it doesn't work out, you might get stuck formatting the whole damn form again,
which is considerably more work than tweaking a point size in InDesign.
There is more freedom with digital layouts, but the same basic decisions need to be made-which fonts, how much leading,
which ligatures, which weight, what justification, et cetera.
There are probably more pitfalls in desktop publishing, too, such as poor renditions of typefaces, fake italics and
forced condensation, resolution and output issues, and so forth. With letterpress printing, it's sort of nice to not have to
worry about that, although that's not to say that all type and dies are cast equally, either.
Do you write at all or are you just into publishing?
Most of my writing these days involves press releases and grant proposals, I'm afraid. The occasional whim still strikes,
though, and I'm lucky enough to have had Hemispherical Press accept a very short manuscript of poems, which will be
released sometime this year.
Who is a literary influence for you?
On the poetry end of things, my favorite poets are probably e. e. cummings, Donald Hall, and Charles Simic, to name a few.
I could take up quite a lot of space listing everyone who's written a poem that significantly influenced me.
My personal preference for recreational reading has shifted dramatically to non-fiction in recent years, and I
suppose those most to blame/credit would be P. J. O'Rourke, Lawrence Millman, Tim Cahill, and Bill Bryson, off
the top of my head.
Somerville has many writers and is active in the arts scene. sunnyoutside press, Ibbetson St. Press and
Červená Barva Press are all based in Somerville. Do you see any changes in our community in regards to publishing?
Do you feel Somerville is a good base for all of us?
Somerville has a very rich literary history, once being home to writers like Denise Lebertov and presses like
Firefly Press. I'm not going to be daft and suppose that sunnyoutside is a suitable replacement for Firefly, who
has since relocated to Allston, but the tradition is there, so I see any change more as fluctuation rather
than linear in nature.
It's a very intelligent and cultured community. We're a city of only four square miles and we have more
decent coffee shops than most towns ten times that size. Culture has its own ecosystem-there's a lot going on
here and there will always be a creative spirit that manifests itself as some form of publishing.
Any last comments? Is there something else you'd like to say regarding your press
or the publishing scene in general?
I think the average person knows a lot more about typography and design than they realize, and that
people should start expecting the same standards of books and magazines that they do of anything else.
Most of typography is based on aesthetics, so if something doesn't look right, it probably isn't.
Write a Bio.
Nahid Rachlin, born in Iran, came to the United States to attend college and stayed. She has been writing and
publishing novels and short stories, in English. Among her publications are four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE
(City Lights), FOREIGNER (W.W. Norton), MARRIED TO A STRANGER (E.P.Dutton), THE HEART'S DESIRE (City Lights),
and a collection of short stories, VEILS(City Lights). Her latest publication is a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS
(October 2006, Penguin).
Her individual short stories and essays have appeared in about fifty magazines, including The Virginia Quarterly Review,
Prairie Schooner, Redbook, Shenandoah, Natural History Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series,
and is in press at an anthology, How I Learned to Cook and other writings On Complex Mother-Daughter Relationships, Penguin.
She has written reviews for the New York Times and Newsday.
While a student she held a Doubleday-Columbia fellowship and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship (Stanford).
The grants and awards she has received include, the Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award,
and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. Currently she teaches at the New School University and the
Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y and is an associate fellow at Yale.
Describe the room you write in.
It is a rectangular room with a desk, bed, chest, and Persian rug on the floor. It has very large windows on two sides,
one overlooking the East River and the other, facing New York City skyline, including the Empire State Building and Chrysler
Building. During the day because of a great deal of sun I have to pull down the shades but from midday on I can pull up the
shades and enjoy the views.
When did you move to the United States from Iran? Why?
I came to the United States when I was seventeen years old to attend college. I was very restless as a young girl growing
up in Iran, which was very restrictive for women, in spite of the Shah's attempts at modernization. I, and my sisters,
were expected to marry men arranged for us by our parents as soon as a suitable man came along. Education beyond high
school was for our brothers. That was the general attitude of most parents.
I wanted to go to college, I already wanted to write, what was considered dangerous with all the Shah's censorship.
My father was getting nervous that I would get the family into trouble with my "rebellious" nature. He was a lawyer
and he feared he would lose his license if his daughter was writing anything that could be remotely critical of the
country. He agreed to send me to America under the condition that I would go to a girl school, near one of my brothers,
so that he could look after me. He hoped by the time I finished college I would come to "my senses," and go back and
accept the roles prescribed for me. But I never returned.
What was the writing scene like for women while you were growing up as compared to now? Do you see any change for women in Iran now?
Censorship was heavy under the Shah and it is heavy under the new regime. Americans only became aware of censorship in
Iran since the death threat against Salmon Rushdi but censorship was just as heavy under the Shah. People went to jail
and were executed for writing or saying the "wrong" things. Only the two regime's sensitivities are different. Under the Shah
there was the fear that anything negative could lead to his being overthrown. Under the new regime anything that could be
interpreted as anti-Islam is censored. Oddly in spite of all the restrictions, the women have made progress in Iran. For
one thing, paradoxically the new regime has been encouraging education for everyone, including women. As a result more
than half of university students today are women. Women are also exposed to the outside world because of the internet
access so they are more aware of ways of lives in other cultures.
When did you start writing?
I started writing since I was an adolescent. I used to go to a room and write and that always made me feel at
peace, even if the subject of what I wrote was sad. I continued writing when I came to America..
Discuss your memoir Persian Girls. I think this book is gripping and shows what your
life was like growing up in Iran during the Shah.
PERSIAN GIRLS extends from the time of the late Shah to the present in Iran and goes back forth between
Iran and America. I develop my relationship with my aunt, Maryam, who adopted me from my mother when I
was six months old, and with my birth mother, after my father forcefully took me back from my aunt when
I was nine years old.
My aunt couldn't get pregnant and she had always been begging my mother, who was very fertile, if she could
adopt one of her children. In fact my mother gave birth to ten children. When I was six months old my mother
allowed my grandmother to take me to my aunt, who lived in Tehran, an eighteen hour train ride from Ahvaz
where my parents lived.
At the time my father was a circuit judge and traveled a great deal. Then when I was nine years old he decided
to take me back. By then he had resigned from being a judge and started a private practice. He was more focused
on his family and missed this child away from home. My being nine years old was significant since at the time that
was the legal age for a girl to marry.
A big part of PERSIAN GIRLS is also focused on the stories of my sister Pari's and my own lives in Iran and then
as we took different paths-- she remaining in Iran and I coming to America. When I started living with my birth family
I became very close to my older sister Pari. We both resisted the roles prescribed for us by our parents, our school,
the wider society. She wanted to become an actress and I a writer, both considered undesirable for one reason or another.
We were allies against our middle sister, whose dream was closer to what was expected of her.
Then I managed to come to America while Pari got trapped in a bad arranged marriage and had to give up her
aspiration to become an actress and all the independence she was striving for. I was stronger and more determined
than Pari, perhaps because of all the love and attention that my aunt Maryam had given to me, whereas Pari didn't
have that kind of attention from our mother.
After I had been in the U.S. for many years and witnessed the Islamic Revolution from here, I got a phone
call that Pari had fallen down the staircase of her house and died. I was married then and had a child and was
involved in writing and teaching but I dropped everything and went to Iran to find out more about what happened
to Pari. I knew it wasn't murder because she was with her friends when she fell but I feared it could have been
self-inflicted, since she had been depressed about her life for a long time.
How did you and your sister Pari find literature and books that were forbidden?
In a store whose owner was very daring and carried forbidden books in his basement. He began to sell them to me,
when he realized that I shared many of his ideas about the restrictions in our culture. Pari was mainly interested
in acting but unfortunately she wasn't allowed to act, though he was very talented. Our father stopped her after a
few times of her acting in our high school production on the basis that acting was improper. Then when she got married,
he forbade her to pursue her acting passion.
Discuss Jumping Over Fire, Foreigner, Married To a Stranger, Heart's Desire and Veils. Maybe talk about your process,
how long it took to write these, and what each one is about.
JUMPING OVER FIRE is mainly focused on Nora and her adopted brother, Jahan. Nora and Jahan are in their early teens,
when the book opens. The novel starts in Iran during the seventies, before the Shah's fall and continues in America,
where the family emigrates to after the Islamic Revolution, and then is set in Iran again, when Jahan returns there and
Nora goes in search of him.
Their father is an Iranian and their mother American. While they live in Iran, Jahan, the all-Iranian boy as he is,
blends in well. Nora, blond and identifying more with her American mother, feels like an outsider. They live in Masjid-e-Suleiman,
an oil refinery town, where their father is a doctor at the refinery hospital and their mother was a nurse.
There are many Americans living there because of the oil refinery but Nora still feels like an outsider, among her
peers and relatives, whereas Jahan feels at home.
During this period, in the seventies, the Shah has become very unpopular mainly because of the cruelty of the SAVAK,
his powerful secret police The country is in turmoil and no one knows what will happen. It's against this turbulent
background and the fact that Nora has little freedom as a girl in Iran that the relationship between her and
her brother develops.
When the Islamic Revolution is about to erupt the family escapes to America and there they cope with the
immigrant experience, complicated by the hostage crisis and the pervasive anti-Iranian feeling. Nora has an
easier time adjusting to this culture and Jahan immediately feels like an outsider, their situation having
reversed. The intense interdependency they had in Iran becomes much more complicated.
In my other novels and short story collection I also develop themes of identity, belonging, cross-cultural
clashes and similarities, yearnings on the characters' parts for better lives. Each book has taken me about
two years to write.
Do you still have family and friends in Iran? There is so much talk in the news about a possible attack on
Iran by our government. This must be difficult for you to hear about.
Have you been able to go home and visit or because you left, are your visits restricted?
Yes, I still have sisters, cousins, uncles and other relatives in Iran. I still go to Iran and visit,
though I am always a little anxious that I may be detained there for one reason or another. I am always envious
of people who can go home easily. I feel very apprehensive about the American policy towards Iran. I believe in
dialogue more than brutal force, that doesn't ever seem to work.
I imagine when you moved to the USA, it must have been such a major adjustment for you. Discuss this adjustment.
Did your writing help ease a transition for you? Was there anyone here to help you? Were you ever afraid to write
what you wanted? Any fear of repercussions of what you write on your family and friends who are still in Iran?
Are your books read in Iran? Or is there still a censored life for most women in Iran yet?
It was a hard transition for me from Iran to America. Although during my adolescent years I dreamed to come to
America, the country wasn't what I had imagined it to be. The college I went to in Missouri was very provincial
and had restrictions of its own. I took refuge in my writing as in a long-lasting friend. When I came to
New York after college I felt liberated, since there were so many people from other countries here and so much
ethnic influence that was absent in my college.
Who are some of your favorite writers? Who inspires you? What books do you read over and over?
I don't have a favorite writer. I like some books by some writers and not all by the same writer.
I can't say I am directly inspired or influenced by any specific writers but since I read a great deal, both
classical and modern fiction, from America and all over the world, I must absorb a lot and that way I am
influenced by a lot of writers.
What are you working on now?
I am now beginning to work on a new novel, again with mainly Iranian and some American characters.
The whole story isn't formed in my mind yet.
(These readings current as of March 1st, 2007- go to the Readings page to see updated listings!)
1ST WEDNESDAY POETRY GROUP IN PLYMOUTH, MA.
Hosted by MIKE AMADO
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
Doc Brown's Traveling Poetry Show
at the Lily Pad
Doc Brown's Traveling Poetry Show
at the Lily Pad
(formerly the Zeitgeist Gallery)
Monday evenings from 7:30-9
now through December
Admission $5.
The Lily Pad
1353 Cambridge Street
PO Box 398096
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-388-1168
http://www.lily-pad.net/
See poets perform their own work
about Harleys, hockey, henna,old hardware stores, high school cafeteria fights, and those are just the women!
Plus a bunch of butch bards, birdmen, battlers, boygods, B-movie directors, and brash old men.
This talented group of journeymen poets do their fast-paced 90 minute show.
well-crafted poems, no cheap sitcom one-liners, but poetry, the real thing,
performed for your pleasure and pain, thrills and tears with a different show every Monday night at 7:30 for $5.
Contact: Michael Brown
Info: 508-759-2752
michaelbrown2@verizon.net
http://www.myspace.com/docbrowntroupe
Valerie Lawson
SoShorePoet@aol.com
Images & Imagery
Squawk Coffeehouse
March 1 The Church of the Flying Dreams
March 8: 3-song Night & Poetry Jam
March 15: 9PM ($4) Doug Holder, Tim Gager and
Harris Gardner (Three poet/activists read from their works) .
http://www.angelfire.com/music/squawk/weekly.html
March 22: Sweet & Lo, with Lo Galluccio and Josh Klein
March 29: co-featuring Fluttr Effect Trio & The Scissorsmen
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/
Bay State Underground Reading Series
Thursday, March 1st, 7:00 pm
In the offices of Agni Magazine at 236 Bay State Road (BU East T stop)
Readers:
Maggie Dietz, Mark Schafer, Rich Murphy,
& Thomas Hart
Doors open at 7:00/Refreshments served
Readings begin around 7:30 pm. Seating is limited, but standing room will be available.
Out Of The Blue Gallery
Dire Reading Series /Out of the Blue Gallery/
Cambridge, MA
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.
USUALLY the 3rd FRIDAY of the MONTH! NOLA’s TIGH FILI POETRY & OPEN MIC, $5, 8PM, Host:
Nola, poems/prose.
March 2nd
John L. Shepard, Evan Manderay
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.
OPEN BARK FEATURES @ OUT OF THE BLUE:
Saturday 2/17/07
Readers: Doug Holder and Tomas O'leary
Reading starts at 8PM Out of the Blue Gallery
106 Prospect St Cambridge
$4 donation. http://outoftheblueartgallery.com
MARCH:
Colleen Houlihan (Sat. march 3)
Coleen T. Houlihan is a novelist and poet who studied writing at Wellesley College. She has featured at Stone Soup, Best Sellers,
the Sherman Cafe and Walden Poetry Series and published poetry in The Alewife, The Wilderness House Literary Review,
Ibbetson Street Press, Spare Change and abroad. Her poetry could be described as sensual, magical, light and dark, with images so
vivid you can lose yourself in her hauntingly beautiful world. She has released two chapbooks, the most recent titled,
This Human Heart, a collection of eight poems spanning several years.
Mia Champion (Sat. march 17)
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)
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
CORMIER'S COMEDY MADNESS
Host JANET CORMIER
WOMAN COMEDY AND WIT
a comedy, poetry 'thang'
for Women's History Month...and spring
6:30 PM on Sunday March 4
admission $5.00
at the All Asia
334 Mass Ave, Cambridge
The Blacksmith House Poetry Series
March 5th
Rebecca Goldstein and Ann Harleman
March 12th
Nathaniel Bellows
March 19th
Laure-Anne Bossellar and Kathryn Maris
The Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA
8:00 PM
$3.00 Admission
New England Poetry Club Spring Program Calendar
Cambridge, MA
March 5th 7pm
Poet Members with New Books
Yenching Library 2 Divinity Avenue Cambridge
RICHARD WOLLMAN, GEORGE KALOGERIS AND GLORIA MINDOCK
Monday April 2 7 pm
Yenching Library 2 Divinity Ave, off Kirkland Cambridge near Sanders Theatre
PETER FILKINS, SUE OWEN and ?
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
Suffolk University Poetry Center
73 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02114
Contact: Keith Wise, 617-573-8271
Thursday, March 8, 2007
1:15 p.m.
free
Martha Collins, reading from Blue Front
Martha Collins Reading Schedule
Massachusetts:
March 8, 2007, 1:00-4:00 PM
Suffolk University
Boston, MA
contact: Fred Marchant
fjmarchant@aol.com
March 10, 2007, 8:00 PM
East Bridgewater Public Library
32 Union Street
E. Bridgewater, MA
contact: victoriaboschmurray@hotmail.com
www.poetribe.org
March 28, 11:00-12:20 PM
Simmons College
Boston, Massachusetts
March 28, 7:30 PM
Parker Damon School
11 Charter Road
Acton, MA
Robert Creeley Award Ceremony
featuring recipient Yusef Komunyakaa
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
Portsmouth, New Hampshire:
April 4, 2007, 7:00 PM
Café Espresso
738 Islington Street
Portsmouth, NH
contact: wigginml@comcast.net
(with L.R. Berger)
Gainesville, Florida:
April 13, 8:00 PM
Goerings Book Store
3433 W. University Ave.
Gainesville, FL
www.goerings.com
Fairfax, Virginia:
Thursday, April 19, 2007, evening
George Mason University
Student Union I ABC
Fairfax, Virginia
contact: Peter Klappert
petermail@verizon.net
California:
March 14, 2007, 12:30 PM
Oxnard College
4000 S. Rose Ave. 90003
Oxnard, CA
Contact: Shelley Savren
(805) 985-5800, x 1951
March 14, 7:15 PM
Poetry at the Loft
Mitten Building, 435 N. 5th Street
Redlands, CA
contact: contact@sholeh.info
www.performanceloft.org
(with Tony Barnstone)
March 15, 5:00 PM
University of California, Irvine
Room 411 HB
The Art and Craft of Literary Translation Reading Series
contact (949) 824-4638
(with Helene Cardova)
Tapestry of Voices and the Forest Hills Educational Trust present
Sunday, March 11, 2 pm Poetry in the Chapel
Presented withTapestry of Voices
Readings by local poets Kathleen Aguero, Meg Kearney, Jan Schreiber, Richard Wollman.
In Forsyth Chapel at historic Forest Hills Cemetery
95 Forest Hills Avenue, Boston, MA
617.524.0128
Admission: $5
no reservations required
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
Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan at Bestseller's Cafe
Our venue meets the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM.
Free refreshments Open Mic.
Readings commence at 6:30 PM. Readings conclude 8:00 PM.
Some dates and readers: To be announced
March 16th: Major Retired Thomas E. Convery
April 19th brings the Second Annual ALL LADIES reading
May 17th First all male readers
August 16th- Third Annual Biker Poetry Month Celebration and BBQ afterwards!
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!
October 18th First ever SENIORS Reading.
Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan at Bestseller's Cafe
24 High Street
Medford, MA. 02155
Powow River Poets Monthly Reading Series
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
Mar, 21, Wed., 7:30 PM
JOSH MEHEGAN
MILDRED NASH
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
Bridgewater Reading Series
East Bridewater Public Library
The Community Room
32 Union Street
East Bridgewater, MA
508-378-1616
www.poetribe.org
Featured reader: Dzvinia Orlowsky
reading from previous collections and forthcoming book
Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones
Saturday, March 24, 9:00 PM
preceded by open mike
free and open to the public
Cambridge Cohousing presents
The Fireside Reading Series
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, March 27, 2007
7:30 PM
Readers: Jean Alonso and H. susan Freireich
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
The Seventh Annual ROBERT CREELEY AWARD
Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet Yusef Komunyakaa
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 7:30 P.M.
Parker Damon School,
11 Charter Rd., Acton, MA
Tickets are available at:
Acton Memorial Library,
W. Acton Market, Willow Books Acton.
Concord Bookshop, and Porter Square Books, Cambridge
***********************************************************************************************
EMACK & BOLIO, 2 BELGRADE AVENUE, ROSLINDALE
************************************************************************************************
2 Belgrade Avenue
Roslindale, MA
Marc Widershein
Thursday, March 29th 7:30 pm Free
Lo Galluccio, Richard Cambridge
Both Richard and Lo will be reading from manuscripts of prose poetry work at this event.
COMING THIS SPRING-2007
Thursday, March 29th Lo Galluccio, Richard Cambridge
Thursday, April 27th Ellen Steinbaum, Susan Donnelly
Thursday, May 24th John Wunjo, Walter Howard
Thursday, June 28th Joanna Nealon, Danielle Georges
Suffolk University Poetry Center
73 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02114
Contact: Keith Wise, 617-573-8271
Thursday, March 29, 2007
6:00 p.m.
free
David Rivard, reading from Sugartown
City Night Reading Series
Friday, March 30th, 7:00PM
A Reading of women's work
Readers: Doug Clifford, Helene Poiree, Carol Dine, Jenny Barber, Elizabeth Bennett, Amy Grunder
La Luna Caffe
403 Mass Ave.
Cambridge, MA
Woodberry Poetry Room events:
(note: not all are *in* the Poetry Room!)
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.
Readings by Don Share
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
Brockton Library Poetry Series
Saturday, May 18th, 2007, 2-5 PM:
Ryk McIntyre
Brockton Library
304 Main St, Brockton, MA
OUT OF THE BLUE GALLERY
MAY 19TH, 4:00-6:00PM
HUGH FOX TO LAUNCH HIS LATEST POETRY BOOK, DEFIANCE,
TO BE PUBLISH BY HIGGANUM HILL PRESS
Portsmouth, New Hampshire:
April 4, 2007, 7:00 PM
Café Espresso
738 Islington Street
Portsmouth, NH
contact: wigginml@comcast.net
(with L.R. Berger)
Nahid Rachlin Reading
FREE
March 29, Thursday 4:00-6 P.M with Patricia Carlin
the University of Rhode Island, English Department,
Hoffmann Room 154, Independence Hall, Upper College Road
212-996-3478
Nahid Rachlin Reading
FREE
March 8, Thursday 1:00 P.M.-3:45 P.M.
Panel and discussion, Iranian women sharing their creative work- memoir, play
Cohen Lounge, Montclair State University in Montclair,
Information: 973-655-4000
92nd Street Y Reading Series
92nd Street Y Reading Series
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
New York, NY
LALITA JAVA READINGS
3rd THURSDAYS 7-9 PM
HOSTED BY DOROTHY F. AUGUST
Lalita Java
210 East 3rd St.
(Btwn. B & C)
Poets in Nassau
Friday, March 2nd, 7:30 P.M.
Poets in Nassau presents Barb Reiher-Meyers
and Edgar Carlson reading at
Village Bookshoppe
7 North Village Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
516-764-1395
Email: info@myvillagebookshoppe.com
PERCH Reading Series
March Reading Schedule
7:30 PM
FOLLOWED BY OPEN MIC
March 6-Lillian Greene-Has had work published in The Heroic Young Woman and other publications.
She has been writing since 1991, when she first moved to Brooklyn. Greene's strict
upbringing led to serious subjects, including a painful autobiography. In her current work, she
fictionalizes with more humor, drawing on memories, dreams, things she has heard, personal
involvements. A memory of the telephone party line became the basis for a conflict between a
farm renter and the owner, and an old model Studebaker
became the focus of Love Affair with a Car.
March 13-MS 51 student Readers : Neidy Cortez, Alexi Block Gorman, Kayla Paula,
Nika di Liberto Sabasteanski-Neidy is a 12-year old 6th grader. She has a sixteen year old
brother. Her mother and brother give her the strength to fight for what she wants. Alexi is currently
a 7th grade student. When she is not writing poetry, she likes to paint and sketch. Kayla
is a 6th grader. She loves to be with her friends and family. Nika is a twelve year old student
at MS 51. She has had poetry readings at Perch and Cornelia Street Café. She was one of the
winners of The City College poetry contest, and her poem was subsequently published in a
book called, Poetry in Performance. They will be joined by their teachers, Denise Galang, a
poet, junior high school English teacher and soon-to-be mother. Her work has appeared in The
Brooklyn Review, Maganda Literary Review and UpSet Press website and Rachel Rear, an 8th
grade English teacher, who received an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her
poetry has appeared on a number of websites, and she has been heard at various readings
throughout New York City.
March 20-Linsey Abrams is the author of the novels, Charting by the Stars, Double Vision and
Our History in New York. Her stories have been published in such magazines as Bomb, New
Directions Annual and Glimmer Train. Her work has been anthologized in Editor's Choice: Best
Short Fiction and Tasting Life Twice: Literary Lesbian Fiction. Most recently, she was a finalist
for The Mississippi Review Fiction Prize and a recipient of a Pushcart Prize. She has received
many grants, among them New York State Foundation for the Arts. Linsey is founding editor of
Global City Review. She directs the MFA Program at The City College. She will be reading with
Ernesto-Mestre Reed, a native of Cuba, and author of The Lazarus Rumba and The Second
Death of Unica Aveyano. He has received fellowships from The New York State Foundation for
the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives in Brooklyn.
March 27-Paul Oppenheimer is the author of twelve books, three of which are poetry: Before
a Battle and Other Poems (Harcourt); Beyond the Furies: New Poems (Editions Faust, Paris)
and The Flame Charts: New Poems (Spuyten Duyvil Press). His poetry has appeared widely, in
such places as Literary Imagination, The Quarterly Review of Literature and The New York
Times. He teaches at The Graduate Center and The City College of The City University of New
York as well as, frequently, as an exchange professor at University College London.
365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
W W W . T H E P E R C H C A F E . C O M
Launch Party for POETS WEAR PRADA at The Cornelia Street Cafe
Thursday March 8, 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Downstairs @ The Cornelia Street Cafe
CHAPBOOKS LAUNCHED
Launch Party for POETS WEAR PRADA, a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new
authors through limited edition, high-quality chaplets primarily of poetry.
Readings by Brant Lyon, Alex O. Bleecker, Bob Heman, Efrayim Levenson, Jee Leong Koh,
Iris Berman, Susan Maurer, Peter Chelnick, Sheryl Helene Simler & others
Hosted by Editors/Publishers: Roxanne Hoffman & Herbert Fuerst
Editors and Authors will be present to celebrating the release of:
"Your Infidel Eyes" by Brant Lyon (Oct. 2006)
"Freak Show" by Ricki Stuart (Nov. 2006)
"Found in a Cord" by Alex O. Bleecker (Dec. 2006)
"Cone Investigates" by Bob Heman (Feb. 2007)
"Dances With Tears" by Efrayim Levenson (March 2007)
"The Little Book of Fairy Tales & Love Poems" by Iris Berman (April 2007)
"Pay Day Loans" by Jee Leong Koh (April 2007)
and other titles to TBA. Reading and Signing.
Cover $6 (includes one house drink)
Promote yourself at Poets Wear Prada
http://poetswearprada.home.att.net
join our yahoo group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/poetswearprada/
List your open poetry mike at www.poetz.com.
For listing guidelines, send a blank email message to
listhelp@poetz.com
Check me out! Visit http://www.myspace.com/poetswearprada
& Listen to tracks from my new CD "Stolen Moments"(Poetry Thin Air 2006)
Poetry Readings: Robert Dunn emcee
Poet to Poet Open Mic featuring Goldiva; Kathryn Fazio
Sunday, March 4th, 2007 3 pm
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker Street
Manhattan, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee via dunnmiracle@juno.com
Poet to Poet Open Mic featuring Ann Kenna
Thursday, March 8th, 2007 8 pm
The Vault
90-21 Springfield Blvd
Queens Village, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee via dunnmiracle@juno.com
Poet to Poet Open Mic featuring Eric Schayer
Sunday, March 11th, 2007 3 pm
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker Street
Manhattan, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee via dunnmiracle@juno.com
Poet to Poet Open Mic featuring Susan Pilewski; George Guida
Sunday, March 18th, 2007 3 pm
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker Street
Manhattan, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee via dunnmiracle@juno.com
Poet to Poet Open Mic featuring Evie Ivy; Laura Lonshein Ludwig
Sunday, March 25th, 2007 3 pm
Back Fence Bar
155 Bleecker Street
Manhattan, NY
Robert Dunn, emcee via dunnmiracle@juno.com
Readings featuring Thad Rutkowski:
UPCOMING READINGS
March 8, Thursday, 10:00p.m.
Praise Charles Bukowski Night #3. Bowery Poetry Club, 308 The Bowery, Manhattan.
Hosted by Tsaurah Litzky.
Probably free.
www.bowerypoetry.com
March 16, Friday, After 7 p.m.
Group reading for Shalom's art opening: State of Mind: Death Row.
Pratt Manhattan, 144 West 14th Street, Room 213.
Info: deborah54@aol.com
March 17, Saturday, 6-8 p.m.
Reading with Dean Kostos.
Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, Manhattan.
$6, includes drink. (212) 989-9319.
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
July 6, 2007, Friday, evening.
Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY. $3. Plus open reading. rnrcurmudgeon@yahoo.com
Hope to see you! --Thad Rutkowski
http://www.thaddeusrutkowski.com
The Intercollegiate Poetry Slam
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
New York, New York
www.bowerypoetry.com
SAT, MAR 10th, 6 p.m., $5 Admission, $100 First Prize
Visit www.bowerypoetry.com or call 212-614-0505 for further information.
Nahid Rachlin Readings
MARCH:
NEW JERSEY
FREE
March 8, Thursday 1:00 P.M.-3:45 P.M.
Panel and discussion, Iranian women sharing their creative work- memoir, play
Cohen Lounge, Montclair State University in Montclair,
Information: 973-655-4000
NEW YORK
$10 suggested
March 15, Thursday 8:00 P.M.
Reading, book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS, memoir
(There will be short Iranian films and Iranian music also-after my reading)
Persian Arts Festival
Jonathan Shorr Gallery
109 Crosby Street, Soho
Information: 212 334 1199
NEW YORK
FREE
March 16, Friday 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.
Reading, PERSIAN GIRLS, book signing
Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction
34 Avenue A
212 996 3478
RHODE ISLAND
FREE
March 29, Thursday 4:00-6 P.M with Patricia Carlin
the University of Rhode Island, English Department,
Hoffmann Room 154, Independence Hall, Upper College Road
212 996 3478
***
APRIL:
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
***
MAY:
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
Bowery Women Poets Readings
Featuring poets from Bowery Women: Poems
Bob Holman and Marjorie Tesser, Eds. (Bowery Books)
contact: bowerywomen@gmail.com
website: www.bowerypoetry.com/bowerywomen,
www.myspace.com/bowerywomen
Bowery Women Poetry Salon
Friday March 16, 2007
7 - 9 p.m. Free admission
Penington House
215 E. 15th St. (3rd Ave.) NYC
Poets to read include Fay Chiang, Cynthia Kraman, Tara Betts, Gabriella Santoro, maryreilly,
Sarah Herrington, Alana Free, Marjorie Tesser, Amy Ouzoonian, and surprise guests.
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 Back Fence Series
The Back Fence
155 Bleeker Street,
New York, New York
For further information call (212) 475-9221.
SUN, MAR 18th, 3 p.m.: Free admission. One drink minimum.
Featured: George Guida
Open Reading Follows.
Sunday Salon Readings
All readings are free and take place at 7pm at Stain Bar
766 Grand St. in Brooklyn, NY.
(Take the "L" train to Grand and walk one block west).
Check out the website for reader bios: www.sundaysalon.com
March 18: Kate Hunter, Mitch Levenberg, Shelly Marlow, Jeffrey Renard Allen
Reading/Event: Poetry Events at Molloy College
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
Sunday, March 25, 2007, 3-5 pm, Free
Featured Poet: George Wallace
Open reading follows featured poet
Complete information and reader bio on www.barbaranovack.com
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
Write Books Series
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
The Writer's Voice Visiting Author Series Presents:
John Amen, Colette Inez & Larissa Shmailo
Friday, May 4, 2007 7:30 PM
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.
Mondays at Colony Arts Center
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
The Intercollegiate Poetry Slam
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.
Reading and Cocktail Party for
The Mom Egg
A Journal of Writing and Art by Mothers
Edited by Alana Ruben Free and Marjorie Tesser
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.
"Poetry & Prose & Anything Goes with Dr. Ni"
(radio show; internet radio)
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/
1ST FRIDAYS ON VINE
Hosted by Aziza Kintehg
Every First Friday of the Month
Be part of an Art Extravaganza
* Spoken Word * Music Freestyle * Open Mike
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
Susquehanna Art Museum Harrisburg, Pa.
Reading featuring Thad Rutkowski
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
Fairfax, Virginia:
Thursday, April 19, 2007, evening
George Mason University
Student Union I ABC
Fairfax, Virginia
contact: Peter Klappert
petermail@verizon.net
Gainesville, Florida:
April 13, 8:00 PM
Goerings Book Store
3433 W. University Ave.
Gainesville, FL
www.goerings.com
CHICAGO — The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, announces a reading and discussion with poet Martín Espada.
What: Poetry Off the Shelf with Martín Espada
When: Thursday, March 15, 6:00 pm
Where: The Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago
Admission is free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.
For reservations call (312) 787-7070.
Poetry Center March and April Events
Please join The Poetry Center for these upcoming Spring events. You won't want to miss any of them!
Claudia Emerson
Wednesday, March 21
6:30 pm, SAIC Ballroom
112 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60603
$10, $8 for students; Free for members and SAIC students, faculty and staff
Emerson is the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for her collection of poems, Late Wife. Her poems have also appeared in Poetry,
The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, Crazyhorse, New England Review, and other journals. She is Associate
Professor of English at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA.
Poetry Workshop
Tuesday, March 20
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
37 S. Wabash, Room 817
Workshop Fee: $95 non-members/$75 members;
To participate, please call 312 899-1229
Lip, Featuring: Mary Hawley and Michael Puican
Thursday, March 1
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.
Mary Hawley has been active in the Chicago poetry community for twenty years as a
writer, editor, translator, and curator of poetry events. She has published one collection of poems, Double Tongues, with
Tía Chucha Press, and co-translated a Tía Chucha bilingual poetry anthology, Astillas de luz/Shards of Light.
Mike Puican was a member of the 1996 Chicago Slam Team. He has had his poetry published in the US and in Canada in journals
such as: Michigan Quarterly Review, Crab Orchard Review, Anoth er Chicago Magazine, The Bloomsbury Review, SpoonRiver Review
and Malahat Review. He won the 2004 Tia Chucha Press Chapbook Contest for his chapbook, 30 Seconds.
Teachers Speak, Featuring: Dan Ferri, Billy Lombardo,
and Taylor Mali
Wednesday, April 11
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.
Lip, Featuring: Ian Belknap and Sharon Green
Thursday, April 5
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.
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
Evanston Arts Center
Reading to launch Rhino, 2007
Sunday, April 4th, 2:00PM Free
Readers: Allan Johnston and others
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
USC Faculty and Alum Reading "The Alphabet of Bones"
PLACE: USC Fisher Gallery on the SOUTH side of the USC Campus, right off Exposition Blvd.,
between Figueroa and Vermont. Parking on campus will be in Gate # 6, off Vermont and 36th Street.
Parking is $7, but meters are FREE after 6pm on Exposition Blvd.
Address: 823 Exposition Blvd.,HAR 126
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0292
213-740-4561
www.fishergallery.org
Contact person and or URL/information: RSVP to Tracy at chabala@usc.edu
Date, time, price -- Friday, March 9th, 7pm - 9pm, free
Readers - Paula Brancato and Brad Listi, plus USC alum
Other appropriate info - Reception and refreshments
Center for the Art of Translation
Spring Lit&Lunch Series, 2007
Senghor Celebration: The Life and Poetry of Léopold Sédar Senghor
Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna St., San Francisco
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.
Martha Collins Readings
March 14, 2007, 12:30 PM
Oxnard College
4000 S. Rose Ave. 90003
Oxnard, CA
Contact: Shelley Savren
(805) 985-5800, x 1951
March 14, 7:15 PM
Poetry at the Loft
Mitten Building, 435 N. 5th Street
Redlands, CA
contact: contact@sholeh.info
www.performanceloft.org
(with Tony Barnstone)
March 15, 5:00 PM
University of California, Irvine
Room 411 HB
The Art and Craft of Literary Translation Reading Series
contact (949) 824-4638
(with Helene Cardova)
Lucille Lang Day reading with Stewart Florsheim
Saturday, March 17, 2007, 2-4 PM
Oakland Public Library
Lakeview Branch
550 El Embarcadero
Oakland, CA
510-238-7344
Nahid Rachlin Readings:
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
'WINE, SONG, POEM, DANCE AT OUR GALA CELEBRATION'!!!
http://www.joinheartsandhands.com/
APRIL 27, 2007 6-8PM
CODYS BOOKS
UNION SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO
contact: judy jones
joy@creationisbliss.com
or
mybeautifulmusic@gmail.com
Judith Skillman Readings
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.
Draft Reading Series
Artists Play Studio Theatre
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
The 2nd Triennial
Prague International Poetry Festival
Pilgrim Theatre Opens new Spring Festival!
Crossing Borders III / Voices
4 productions and 4 absolutely unique voices!
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
INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES
2006/2007 SEASON OF WRITING ALOUD
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."
ABOUT THE 2006/2007 SEASON
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.
ABOUT THE WRITING ALOUD PROGRAM
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.
ABOUT INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY
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.
If you would like to be added to my monthly e-mail newsletter, which gives information on readings,
book signings, contests, workshops, and other related topics...
To subscribe to the newsletter send an email to:
newsletter@cervenabarvapress.com
with "newsletter" or "subscribe" in the subject line.
To unsubscribe from the newsletter send an email to:
unsubscribenewsletter@cervenabarvapress.com
with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
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