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

4/1/06

Alan Semerdjian & Barbara DeCesare: Wilkes-Barre: 4/21/06

[from Paper Kite Press:]

April 21st, 7pm: Alan Semerdjian & Barbara DeCesare

Third Friday @ the Mansion with Paper Kite Press
156 S. Franklin Street * Wilkes-Barre

April 21st, 7 p.m.
$5 suggested donation @ the door (all money from the door goes to our featured performers!)

Featuring Poet & Songwriter Alan Semerdjian and Poet Barbara DeCesare
OPEN MIC to follow. Arrive early to sign up - 8 slots available for open mic.

Alan is a published singer/songwriter (ASCAP) with film and television credits. His music has charted on CMJ, and he performs regularly in the tri-state area in a myriad of musical outfits including Surreal, Milquetoast, Watercats, Stratosphere, Diet Kong, and as a solo artist. His album, "When There Was Something Wrong With You," was released in the fall of 2005. Recently, Alan had poems appear in Lyric Review and Ararat, an essay in Chain, film reviews in Aitia, and a music column for thelongislandmusicscene.com. Alan has given readings in a wide variety of settings, hosted open mic nights, and organized and featured at literary events in Long Island and New York City. He recently released a chapbook of poetry entitled An Improvised Device with Lock n Load Publishing in NYC. He can be found on the web at: http://www.alanarts.com

Barbara is a 2003 Pushcart nominee. She is the Poet Laureate of 98 Rock WIYY Baltimore. Her work has appeared in over forty American journals, including Poetry, Alaska Quarterly Review and Birmingham Poetry Review. Her first collection of poetry is titled, "jigsaweyesore." You can find her on the web at
http://www.emster.com/barbara.

For more information call: (570) 328-8658

Lynn Emanuel: Keystone College: 4/11/06

Poet Lynn Emanuel will read at Keystone College on Tuesday, April 11, 12:30 PM in Brooks Theatre [#15 on interactive campus map here]. Click here for driving directions to Keystone College.

For more information about this event, e-mail David Elliott.

River Poets feature Bloom students: Bloomsburg: 4/11/06

from the River Poets Calendar:

APRIL 11 – BU Students: Steven Good, Alissa Jo Eaton, Mary Jane Buehner, Bob Antonozzi, & Frank Cunniff -are featured. Creative writing, poetry, and healthy spring offerings are encouraged. Share the muse, muse the brews, brew the crew, do the news, you may get the point by now. Jerry Wemple, recently published and a Big Dog Reading Series founder, will be present, too. Second half will be an open reading format for others for input, meters, free verse, and random thoughts of kindness. River poet Dick Brook will guide the evening line-up as MC.

Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Philips Emporium, 10 East Main Street in downtown Bloomsburg [click here for information and directions]

Dick Brook: Scranton: 4/8/06

Congratulations to River Poet Dick Brook who won 3rd prize (and $50) for a poem he entered in the MWPA Poetry Contest and an honorary mention for another poem. He will have 12 minutes of reading fame on Saturday, April 8, at 7:30 pm at the AFA Gallery, 514 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton.

Gary Fincke: Lock Haven: 4/5/06

from the Lock Haven University web calendar:

Poet and prose writer Gary Fincke will be reading as part of LHU's Pennsylvania Author's Reading Series. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Gary Fincke is director of the Writers Institute and a professor of English and creative writing at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

From his web site: A 2003 winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (Sorry I Worried You), Gary Fincke has published sixteen books of poetry and short fiction, most recently Standing Around the Heart, a collection which “shows Gary Fincke at his inimitable best.” His nonfiction account of his son's life as a rock guitarist, Amp'd: A Father’s Backstage Pass, was published by Michigan State in 2004. In 2002, Fincke completed Writing Letters For the Blind, which won the 2003 Ohio State University Press/The Journal poetry prize, and The Stone Child, a collection of short stories that earned Fincke praise as “one of literary America’s best-kept secrets.”

Date: Wednesday, April 5
Time: 7 PM
Location: Parsons Union Building Multipurpose Room
Contact: Marjorie Maddox-Hafer, 893-2044

Steven Herb: Lycoming College: 4/4/06

from the Lycoming web calendar:

April 4 — "Is there a Future for the Book?" A program and discussion featuring Steven Herb, Director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and Sandy Thatcher, Director of the Penn State University Press. 4:00 p.m. College Archives, Snowden Library. Free.