extended hiatus

Due to expanded commitments to my small press, I've been forced to cut down on some other projects. I would be delighted if someone else came forward to carry on this blog. Meanwhile, I hope some of the links and contacts herein are of some use.

-RM

11/1/08

The Beards Anthology: Philadelphia: 11/21/08

Friday, November 21, 6 PM: Robin's Bookstore (108 S 13th St, Philadelphia) presents The Beards Anthology

"At first, The Beards seem like a most unlikely group of people to come together. The Administrator. The Angry Poet. The Hippie-Chick Feminist. The Postman. The Skateboarder. The Artist. The Political Activist." - Aleathia Drehmer (Editor)

"At the last minute I was asked to publish this great anthology of amazing poetry. Initially I felt as if I were dancing on the grave of a dead friend, but decided that this is an important volume of work. These writers best characterize a rising trend of excellence from the underground. Each poet brings a unique and dynamic vision." -Jack Henry (Publisher)

Throughout the history of literature, there have always been literary movements comprised of friends. I believe the beat movement would be a perfect example of that. That is all we, The Beards are. We were all friends online and met for the first time when we were all asked to read in June 2008 at the Connecticut Beat Poetry Festival. There we stayed in the same hotel, and got to know each other very well. Jacob and Katie did not stay with us, but they spent a lot of time in our hotel room. It was like the perfect storm, we all banded together against a common enemy, and just had fun. The locals loved us and news traveled fast of the antics of The Beards. Two weeks later The Beards minus two all performed in Kansas City for the Offbeat Pulp/Kill Poet Summer Accident. There was quite a buzz growing about The Beards.

For more information: www.beardspoetry.com

Sascha Feinstein: Williamsport: 11/21

Friday, November 21, 5-8 PM: Sascha Feinstein

Sascha Feinstein will be signing copies of his most recent book, Black Pearls: Improvisations on a Lost Year at Otto's Bookstore, 107 W Fourth Street in Williamsport.

"Sascha Feinstein’s passion for the creative arts and his memories of the heartbreaking loss of his mother entwined to become the book Black Pearls. In the spirit of jazz improvisation these essays are governed by theme and variation more than by strict chronology, each essay repositioning riffs and choruses of personal experience within the wider cultural landscapes of literature, painting, and music. The project began as an exploration into the archeological nature of memory, but it matured into a far more complex evocation of personal identity."

[from the publisher's website; more information may be found here.]

Sascha Feinstein is a poet, essayist, and editor. It was during his college years that he discovered the crossovers between jazz and poetry, and a life’s love was forged. In addition to works of poetry—his collection Misterioso won the Hayden Carruth Award—Feinstein is the author of Jazz Poetry: From the 1920s to the Present and Ask Me Now: Conversations on Jazz and Literature. He is also the coeditor, with Yusef Komunyakaa, of The Jazz Poetry Anthology and its companion volume, The Second Set. He teaches in the MFA Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Sarah Dowling, Chris McCreary, Aaron Kunin: Philadelphia: 11/20/08

Thursday, November 20, 7 PM: Robin's Bookstore (108 S 13th St, Philadelphia) presents a poetry reading by Sarah Dowling, Chris McCreary, and Aaron Kunin.

Sarah Dowling's poetry has appeared in Cue, Descant, EOAGH, and How2.

Chris McCreary is the author of two books of poems, Dismembers and The Effacements.

Aaron Kunin is the author of Folding Ruler Star, Secret Architecture, and a novel, The Mandarin.

For more information: http://www.robinsbookstore.com/events/112008.html

Ervene Gulley Memorial: Bloomsburg: 11/20/08

Ervene Gulley, chair of the Bloomsburg University English Department, colleague, and friend, passed away on July 25, 2008. Please join us for an evening of words and music in celebration of her life.

Ervene! A Celebration
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Carver Hall
7:00 p.m.

All are welcome. Reception immediately following.

A Bloomsburg University scholarship has been set up in memory of Ervene and her mother, Helen Arthur Gulley, a BU alumna. Please call the Development Office at 389-4525 if interested in making a contribution.

Oni Buchanan: Bucknell: 11/18/07

Tuesday, November 18, 7PM:

Oni Buchanan will read from her poetry in Bucknell Hall, on the campus of Bucknell University.

Buchanan is the author of What Animal (Georgia) and Spring Illinois), which was selected by Mark Doty for the 2007 National Poetry Series. Buchanan is also a concert pianist, has released three solo piano CDs, and actively performs across the U.S. and abroad. She lives in Boston, maintains a private piano teaching studio, and serves as an online poetry mentor for the Anna Akhmatova Foundation.

The annual Drew Darrow Memorial Poetry Reading is cosponsored by the Writing Center.

Brian Brodeur, CA Conrad, Jeffrey Ethan Lee: Philadelphia: 11/16/08

Sunday, November 16, 2 PM: Robin's Bookstore (108 S 13th St, Philadelphia) presents poets Brian Brodeur, CA Conrad & Jeffrey Ethan Lee.

Brian Brodeur is the author of Other Latitudes, winner of the University of Akron Poetry Prize, and So the Night Cannot Go on Without, which won the White Eagle Coffee Store Press Poetry Chapbook Award.

CA Conrad is the son of white trash asphyxiation whose childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift.

Jeffrey Ethan Lee's poetry book, identity papers, was a 2007 Colorado Book Award finalist. He is the senior poetry editor for Many Mountains Moving and teaches creative writing at West Chester University.

For more information: http://www.robinsbookstore.com/events/111608.html

Hanoch Guy & Ashraf Osman: Philly: 11/11/08

Tuesday, November 11, 6 PM: The Moonstone Poetry Series at Robin's Bookstore (108 S 13th St, Philadelphia) presents Hanoch Guy and Ashraf Osman.

Hanoch Guy spent his childhood and youth in Israel. A bilingual poet in Hebrew and English, Hanoch is an Emeritus professor at Temple University. He has published poetry in Genre, Poetry Newsletter, Tracks, the International Journal of Genocide Studies, Poetry Motel, Visions International and several times in Poetica where he won an award. He has just published three poems in Hebrew and English in the magazine: In other words.

Ashraf Osman is a practicing architect who's been living and working in Philadelphia since 2002. Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon during the war, Ashraf came to the United States in 1998 to pursue his graduate studies at Syracuse University. His poetry has been featured in the Mad Poets Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal and Islamica magazine, and has been selected for inclusion in several anthologies including Queering Language, Outside Voices 2008 Anthology of Younger Poets, and The Other Voices International Project. Ashraf has been engaged in poetry blogging since 2002. His poetry blog, called arch.memory, has been featured on Blinq, the blog of the Philadelphia Inquirer; voted amongst the Best of the Web Blogs for poetry, and he was selected as one of 100 Blogging Poets on the web. In addition to his blog, Ashraf maintains a website of Philadelphia poetry links and calendars called PhillyPoetry.com.

Ewuare Osayande: Philly: 11/3/08

Monday, November 3, 6 PM: Robin's Bookstore (108 S 13th St, Philadelphia) presents their Pre-Election Poetry Bash featuring Ewuare X. Osayande.

Poet and activist Ewuare Osayande will read poetry and offer a political analysis not found on the networks the night before this historic presidential election. Join us for a night of poetry, politics and progress as we raise our spirits with an eye on making history.