Writing Happenings Around Philly–Winter/Spring 2015

So many great events for writers coming up as spring season slowly arrives in Philly! Check these out! What are YOU doing? Click the links for details. Leave a message about other events!

Thurs. March 26, 2015 – Small Press Symposium and Book Fair — Spring Poets & Writers Festival – Community College of Philadelphia
https://www.facebook.com/events/406861889476687/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_user_associated

Wed., April 1, 2015
Visiting Poet Eduardo C. Corral
Location: S2-3, Winnet Building, 2nd floor.·
Community College of Philadelphia
11:30-12:30 Reading, Q&A and book-signing with poet Eduardo Corral. Special focus: Immigration and the Latino Diaspora: Bridging Cultures through Poetry.

Friday, February 27 at 7:00pm
Poetry = Sound: Carolina Maugeri, Marion Bell, & Sex Panic!
Brickbat Books in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
https://www.facebook.com/events/1558635827726018/?ref=22&pnref=story

Sat. March 14, 205 – Rathalla Review Write-a-Thon at Rosemont College https://www.facebook.com/events/1593328014246046/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_user_invited

Thurs., March 19, 2015
One Book, One Philadelphia author Christina Baker Kline at Spring Poets & Writers Festival – Community College of Philadelphia
9:30 – 11:15 a.m., Room S2-3 *Winnett Building, 2nd Floor

Penn Shelley Seminars every Monday night at 5:45 through spring term 2015. Free. Van Pelt Library. U. Penn. https://www.facebook.com/events/1391867347781107/?ref=22&pnref=story

Open Letter to White Poets

Poets, what is an artist’s responsibility to the political moment? Poet Danez Smith raises that issue here. http://donshare.blogspot.com/2014/11/open-letter-to-white-poets-from-danez.html
Read his powerful, succinct poem “juxtaposing the black boy & bullet” here: http://blogthisrock.blogspot.com/2014/01/poem-of-week-danez-smith.html
#DanezSmith #Ferguson #poetry

Danez Smith, from Split This Rock

June 20th, 2014: ERNEST HILBERT & NATE KOSTAR, featuring JUSTIN “J-BOOGIE” HATCHER.

POETDELPHIA PRESENTS: ERNEST HILBERT & NATE KOSTAR, featuring JUSTIN  “J-BOOGIE” HATCHER.

Celebrating Music and Meter in Poetry! Friday, June 20, 2014 at the PHILADELPHIA SKETCH CLUB, 235 South Camac St., Philadelphia, PA 19107. 5:00 – 7:00 pm. (Upstairs on the second floor.) Doors open at 5:00 for a meet and greet, with the reading to begin at 5:30. About this special event: From spoken word to libretti, from structured sonnets to free-styling, join poets who find innovative ways of infusing their work with ideas old and new. How does form and innovation shape their work? Music and poetry combine in this lively performance and Q & A. Join us in a new space, the lovely surrounds of the Philadelphia Sketch Club (this month, an art show that benefits Philadanco will be on display). Browse the art, hear good poems (and a little music) and peruse our journal swap (trade a literary journal or poetry book for another from our stash). The arts are alive and well and inspiring each other in Philly!

ERNEST HILBERT is the author of the poetry collections Sixty Sonnets (2009) and All of You on the Good Earth (2013), as well as the spoken word album Elegies & Laments (Pub Can Records, 2013). He supplies libretti and song texts for contemporary composers Stella Sung, Daniel Felsenfeld, and Christopher LaRosa, as well as scripts for the post-punk conceptual band Mercury Radio Theater. He works as an antiquarian and first edition bookseller for Bauman Rare Books and teaches a summer graduate course on the art of the opera libretto at Western State University of Colorado Master of Fine Arts in Poetry program.

NATHANIEL KOSTAR FEATURING JUSTIN “J-BOOGIE” HATCHER: Originally from New Jersey, Nathaniel Kostar now lives in New Orleans where he fronts a local hip-hop blues band and is an MFA candidate at The University of New Orleans. His work has appeared in The Legendary, Haggard & Halloo, Burlesque Press, The Litro and Buried Letter Press. A travel junky, Nathaniel has roamed to Argentina, South Korea, Thailand, Edinburgh, France, Italy, and Costa Rica. He is writing a book that details his journey to six different countries to study a different skill at each stop—an idea expected of Italian Renaissance Men. So far the project has taken him to Italy for Poetry, Thailand for Muay Thai, Paris for Art, New Orleans for Music, and Puerto Rico and Mexico for Salsa.

JUSTIN HATCHER hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He currently lives in New Orleans where he sings, plays guitar, bass, congas, and orcarina in the hip-hop blues band Tha Neighbors. According to Tha Neighbor’s frontman, “If a songbird and angel had a love child, his name would be Justin Hatcher.”

 

Cool Events listed at our brother blog by Poetdelphian Kelly McQuain

Michael Cunningham, Edward Hirsch –FREE!   #EdwardHirsch, #MichaelCunningham #Philadelphia

http://kellymcquain.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/michael-cunningham-free-edward-hirsch/

Hello, writer friends! The podcast of Edward Hirsch’s talk at the Free Library of Philadelphia is below at the link. I was happy to introduce him when he visited the Library recently, and I am likewise excited to introduce Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham on May 22^nd. The new novel tackles religion, drugs and politics and is called The Snow Queen. The event is free! Learn more at http://libwww.freelibrary.org/authorevents/index.cfm?ID=42446&type=2   –Kelly McQuain

Edward Hirsch on The Poet’s Glossary (podcast)

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/?podcastID=1222

Talking Ideas

Reason to hang out at the Poetdelphia salon #63: The pre- and post-reading conversations. This time around, there was talk about war poet Wilfred Owen with John Gery, director of the Ezra Pound seminar in Brunnenberg, Italy, and discussions about the Internet and the Dark Web with the Inky’s social media editor, John Timpane. Plus free whiskey!

March 2014

Poetdelphia: Terranova, Levin, Gery. March 14, 2014

We’re happy to announce Poetdelphia’s March 14th Reading and Salon line-up:

JOHN GERY, LYNN LEVIN & ELAINE TERRANOVA!

Time and Place: Friday, March 14th, 2014 6:30 – 8:00 pm at Cups &Chairs Tea Cafe, 701-03 S. 5th Street (just below 5th and South)

Books by the authors will be available for sale.
*********************************************

JOHN GERY is the author of seven volumes of poetry, as well as a wide range of criticism and translation. His latest collection, Have at You Now!, is available from CW Books (http://www.readcwbooks.com/gery.html). His previous books of poetry are Charlemagne: A Song of Gestures, The Enemies of Leisure, American Ghost: Selected Poems, Davenport’s Version, A Gallery of Ghosts, and Lure, as well as two chapbooks. His poetry has appeared in Gulf Coast Review, The Iowa Review, New Orleans Review, New South, Paris Review, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, Southwest Review, West Branch, and elsewhere, as well as in Canada and Europe. Among his accolades are an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship and a Fullbright Fellowship. He has been translated into seven languages. A Research Professor of English and Seraphia D. Leyda Teaching Fellow at the University of New Orleans, he directs the Ezra Pound Center for Literature, Brunnenburg, Italy. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, poet Biljana Obradović, and their son, Petar Gery.

LYNN LEVIN is the author of four collections of poems, most recently Miss Plastique (http://www.raggedsky.com/miss-plastique), which has garnered rave reviews from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rain Taxi, Rattle, The Rumpus, Cleaver, and other places. She is, with Valerie Fox, co-author of the craft-of-poetry textbook Poems for theWriting: Prompts for Poets (Texture Press, 2013) and translator from the Spanish of Birds on the Kiswar Tree (2Leaf Press, 2014), a collection of poems by the Peruvian poet Odi Gonzales. Lynn Levin teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Her poetry, prose, and translations have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Boulevard, Ploughshares, Hopkins Review, Cleaver, and Per Contra.

ELAINE TERRANOVA is the author of six collections of poems, most recently, Dollhouse, which won the Off the Grid Press 2013 poetry award, and Dames Rocket (http://www.penstrokepress.com/dames_rocket.php). Her work has appeared in a number of literary magazines including The New Yorker, Ploughshares, The American Poetry Review, Per Contra, and Boulevard, and in anthologies such as Blood to Remember, Riffing on Strings, and A Cadence of Horses. Her translation of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis is part of the Penn Greek Drama Series. She has received the Walt Whitman Award, an NEA, a Pew Fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize.

Here’s a link to one of Elaine’s poems: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20925

Sept. 20th, 2013 — Lisicky, Rosemurgy and Long!

Hey friends! Poetdelphia is happening this Friday night, September 20th. Details are here: This time around, we are instituting a JOURNAL SWAP. Bring a copy of a literary journal and trade it for one someone else brings. In this way, we teach each other about new literary resources. Here is the line-up for Friday night!

https://www.facebook.com/events/699173163432182/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Sample a Catie Rosemurgy poem here:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22728

Poetdelphia presents ROSEMURGY, LISICKY & LONG on Sept. 20, 2013!

Friday, September 20th, 2013
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Poetdelphia Reading & Salon
at Cups & Chairs Tea Cafe
701-03 S. 5th Street
(just below 5th and South)

Poetdelphia is an ongoing salon/quarterly reading series run by Valerie Fox, Dawn Manning & Kelly McQuain. Poetdelphia provide a time and space for hearing great literature and fostering salon-style conversations. Writers and readers tend to adjourn to New Wave Cafe afterward for a beer and more conversation.

CATIE ROSEMURGY’s most recent book, The Stranger Manual, was published by Graywolf Press. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Boston Review, American Poetry Review, and the Gettysburg Review. Her awards include a Pew Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship. She lives in Philadelphia and teaches at The College of New Jersey. Read some of Catie’s poems through the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

PAUL LISICKY’s books include Lawnboy, Famous Builder, The Burning House, and Unbuilt Projects. His work has appeared in Conjunctions, Denver Quarterly, Ploughshares, Tin House, Unstuck and other publications. His awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the James/Michener Copernicus Society, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He teaches writing in the MFA Program at Rutgers-Camden and in the low residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College. A memoir, The Narrow Door, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press. Visit him at paullisicky.com.

ALEXANDER LONG’s third book of poems, Still Life, won the White Pine Press Poetry Prize in 2011. His first two books are Vigil (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2006) and Light Here, Light There (C & R Press, 2009). With Christopher Buckley, Long is co-editor of A Condition of the Spirit: the Life & Work of Larry Levis (Eastern Washington University Press, 2004). His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in, among others, AGNI, The American Poetry Review, Blackbird, Callaloo, The Southern Review, and Third Coast. Long has received grants and fellowships from The Prague Summer Seminars, The Vermont Studio Center, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the City University of New York. Currently an associate professor of English at John Jay College of the City University of New York, Long also plays bass and writes with the band Big Terrible. Reviews of Still Life can be read at Philadelphia Stories and The Offending Adam.

Poetdelphia presents ROSEMURGY, LISICKY & LONG on Sept. 20, 2013!

Poetdelphia presents ROSEMURGY, LISICKY & LONG on Sept. 20, 2013!

Friday, September 20th, 2013

6:00 – 7:30 pm
Poetdelphia Reading & Salon
at Cups & Chairs Tea Cafe
701-03 S. 5th Street
(just below 5th and South)

Poetdelphia is an ongoing salon/quarterly reading series run by Valerie Fox, Dawn Manning & Kelly McQuain.  Poetdelphia provide a time and space for hearing great literature and fostering salon-style conversations.  Writers and readers tend to adjourn to New Wave Cafe afterward for a beer and more conversation.

CATIE ROSEMURGY’s most recent book, The Stranger Manual, was published by Graywolf Press. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Boston Review, American Poetry Review, and the Gettysburg Review.  Her awards include a Pew Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship. She lives in Philadelphia and teaches at The College of New Jersey.  Read some of Catie’s poems through the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

PAUL LISICKY’s books include Lawnboy, Famous Builder, The Burning House, and Unbuilt Projects. His work has appeared in Conjunctions, Denver Quarterly, Ploughshares, Tin House, Unstuck and other publications. His awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the James/Michener Copernicus Society, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He teaches writing in the MFA Program at Rutgers-Camden and in the low residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College. A memoir, The Narrow Door, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press.  Visit him at  paullisicky.com.

 

ALEXANDER LONG’s third book of poems, Still Life, won the White Pine Press Poetry Prize in 2011. His first two books are Vigil (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2006) and Light Here, Light There (C & R Press, 2009). With Christopher Buckley, Long is co-editor of A Condition of the Spirit: the Life & Work of Larry Levis (Eastern Washington University Press, 2004). His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in, among others, AGNI, The American Poetry Review, Blackbird, Callaloo, The Southern Review, and Third Coast. Long has received grants and fellowships from The Prague Summer Seminars, The Vermont Studio Center, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the City University of New York.  Currently an associate professor of English at John Jay College of the City University of New York, Long also plays bass and writes with the band Big Terrible.  Reviews of Still Life can be read at Philadelphia Stories and The Offending Adam

April 5th Lineup Announced

Join guests KAREN RILE, LUKE STROMBERG and HEATHER THOMAS at Poetdelphia this APRIL 5TH!

Friday, April 5th, 2013
Poetdelphia Reading & Salon
at Cups & Chairs Tea Cafe*
701-03 S. 5th Street
(just below 5th and South)
6:00 – 7:30 pm

Poetdelphia is an ongoing salon/quarterly reading series.
(*Coffee drinkers, don’t fret! Cups & Chairs has coffee too!)

KAREN RILE is the author of Winter Music, a novel set in Philadelphia, and numerous works of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in literary magazines such as The Southern Review, American Writing, Creative Nonfiction, The Land Grant College Review, Other Voices, and Apiary, and has been listed among The Best American Short Stories. Karen has written articles and essays for many publications including The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Daughters magazine. She is a frequent contributor to the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is also the fiction editor and managing editor of Cleaver Magazine (http://www.cleavermagazine.com/), an online quarterly featuring poetry, literary fiction and nonfiction, dramatic writing, and art. Karen lives in Philadelphia and teaches fiction and creative nonfiction at the University of Pennsylvania.

LUKE STROMBERG’s work has appeared in several literary journals and has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer on multiple occasions: once in an article about young poets in the Philadelphia area and another time as a winner of a poetry contest. In 2008, his poem “Black Thunder” was set to music by composer Melissa Dunphy and performed at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA. Luke lives in Upper Darby, PA and works as an adjunct English instructor at Eastern University and West Chester University. You can read some of his recently published poems through The Tower Journal: http://towerjournal.com/fall_2012/part_two_Luke_Stromberg.htm.

HEATHER THOMAS is the author of several books of poetry, including Blue Ruby (FootHills Publishing), Resurrection Papers (Chax Press), and Practicing Amnesia (Singing Horse Press). Her work has been translated into Spanish, Lithuanian, and Bosnian. A professor of English at Kutztown University, she has published essays on H.D., Wallace Stevens, and contemporary poets, and lives in Reading, Pennsylvania. You can learn more about Heather through her website (http://faculty.kutztown.edu/hthomas/), and read some recent poems online through Press 1: http://www.leafscape.org/press1/v6n1/thomas.html.

December 2012 Poetdelphia Reading/Salon

Last night’s Poetdelphia Salon, featuring Mike Ingram, Kathleen Volk MIller, and Leonard Gontarek, was a fun mix of prose and poetry with a lively Q & A afterwards. Thanks to all our writer for joining us, and to the friends who came, many of whom kept the night going at the New Wave Cafe afterward. Here are some pics! –Kelly McQuain