Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tomorrow Night!!



The sixth annual Printers’ Ball, which this year takes as its theme “Print Loves Digital,” is an annual celebration of literary culture founded by Poetry magazine and other independent Chicago literary organizations. The Printers’ Ball is produced with the Center for Book & Paper Arts and the Student Affairs Offices of Columbia College Chicago.

Sixth Annual Printers’ Ball
The Ludington Building
Columbia College Chicago
1104 South Wabash Avenue
One block west of Michigan Avenue
Friday, July 30, 2010 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Free, all ages

In addition to featuring thousands of magazines, books, broadsides, and other takeaways available free of charge, the Printers’ Ball will showcase live readings, music, and performances and host letterpress, offset, silk-screening, rubber-stamping, and paper-making demonstrations. Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, will offer a welcome at the beginning of this year’s festivities.


Printers’ Ball 2010 Schedule
Friday, July 30, 6:00 – 11:00 PM
Scheduled Events:


6:00 PM: Christian Wiman introduces Printers’ Ball 2010

6:00 – 9:00 PM: PRINTERESTING.ORG’s “COPY JAM!,” an interactive art print occurrence.

6:00 – 10:00 PM: Dave Tompkins, the author of How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks, dee-jays his vocoder playlist, with live vocoder and special guest

7:00 – 7:30 PM: “The Precession,” a digital poem and live performance of original writing and real-time data collection by Mark Jeffrey and Judd Morrissey

8:00 – 10:00 PM: The Show 'n Tell Show, hosted by Zach Dodson and Michael Renaud, with Studio Blue’s Cheryl Towler Weese, Edie Fake, and Isaac Tobin

10:00 – 11:00 PM: Live music by Icy Demons



Ongoing Events:

Printers’ Ball limited-edition Busy Beaver Buttons to the first 500 guests

Red-carpet interviews with Amy Guth, digital news editor for books at the Chicago Tribune and co-host of ChicagoNow Radio on WGN

Gapers Block traffic jam of Chicago lit sites

Gallery presentation of and reading from the Printers' Ball 2010 Art Book, with broadsides featuring the work of the Chicago Printers' Guild and local poets and writers

Book binding by Chicago Books to Women in Prison

DEUSEXPAGINA, a live experiment in literary quantum mechanics and wholly fabricated reviews of wholly fabricated books

Elevated Diction: poems performed live during your elevator ride between floors

The Gnoetry poetry-making machine

"Pandora's Star Box," a poem-film by Carrie Olivia Adams

Public Media Institute’s Mobile Screen-printing Cart

“Text Object,” a featured digital reading provided by Vanessa Place

Video gallery featuring Bound Off, contratiempo, Rattapalax, Switchback Books, and Wholphin DVD, plus metal type animation by students from the London College of Communication

Fresh Squeezed Poetry, poetry written to order by Illinois Arts Council award winners

Plus more with Anchor Graphics, Captain Carpenter, the students and alumni of Columbia College Chicago, and others
>

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Institute for Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

Friday, July 30th
6:00-10:00 PM
Institute for Puerto Rican Arts & Culture
3015 W. Division

An Evening of Art, Poetry & Live Music Celebrating the Life & Work of Chicago’s Own Gamaliel Ramirez

Luis Tubens - host

With:

David Hernandez
Dean Karapsos-guitar
Eduardo Arocho

Music from:
Nuestro Tambor

Buya
& more
Tickets - $25

All proceeds go towards Gamaliel Ramirez who is facing pressing medical needs

Silent Auction
Cash Bar
Raffle

For info or to rsvp tickets: 773.782.0454

Rhino Reads!

Friday, July 30th
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Brothers K
500 Main St
Evanston, IL 60201

NICK DEMSKE lives in Racine, Wisconsin, and works there at the Racine Public Library. He was awarded the 2010 Fence Modern Poets Series prize for a self-titled manuscript that will be published in fall of 2010. He's a curator of the BONK! Performance series and is an editor of the online venue boo: a journal of terrific things. Visit him sometime at nickipoo.wordpress.com

NINA CORWIN is the author of Conversations With Friendly Demons and Tainted Saints and The Uncertainty of Maps (upcoming 2011, CW Books). Her work appears in ACM, Forklift OH, Hotel Amerika, New Ohio Review/nor, Parthenon West, Southern Poetry Review and Verse and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Psychotherapist in daylight hours, she has twice served as guest editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal and curates literary events at Chicago's WomanMade Gallery.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Special Feature: An Interview with Tara Betts



By Dan Godston


Tara Betts is the author of the book Arc and Hue, her debut collection on Aquarius Press/Willow Books. She is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and she is also a Cave Canem fellow. Her poetry and prose have appeared in various journals and anthologies, and she has been a freelance writer for publications such as XXL, The Source, BIBR, Mosaic Magazine, and Black Radio Exclusive.

Tara will be participating in four events in Chicago over the next several days. Please scroll down below this interview to find out more.


How did you first get interested in writing?

As a kid, I was a voracious reader. The more I read, the more I wanted to write. I was about10 or ll when I started keeping a diary, but I knew that I wanted to be a writer at age 12.

Who are some of your influences?

Patricia Smith, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Nelson, Annie Finch, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Maxine Kumin, Lucille Clifton, Julia de Burgos, Sonia Sanchez, Anne Waldman. Martín Espada, Afaa Michael Weaver, Etheridge Knight. There’s a lot more I could name because I’ve been blessed to meet, read and work with so many talented writers.

What is any early memory that you have of writing?

I remember there was a little girl named Chandra who lived next door to us. She used to live in the house next door to my grandparents’ tavern. Her and her mother would be impeccably dressed every Sunday and they attended the Morning Star Baptist Church just across the street from us. I would watch when church would dismiss from my bedroom window just to see how perfect they looked together. Then Chandra got sick. She died in the house and she was not yet even 10. I remember being sad, and around that time my mother bought me a green leather diary with a lock on it. I wrote about her quite a bit because I couldn’t believe little kids died. It just didn’t seem right. That was definitely when I was figuring out that writing could help you make sense of things.

How did you first get involved with the poetry scene in Chicago?

I had started hanging out at Lit-Ex, a tiny black bookstore in Wicker Park that is now the home of Wicker Dog. I also hung out a bit at the hothouse just before I graduated from Loyola University in Rogers Park in 1996. I met a lot of people there, and I started making the rounds on the North, West, and South sides of the city. Malik Yusef invited me to do my first feature at The Cotton Club in 1997 for a series called “Full Moon Poetry”. I can’t remember who else featured that night, but I know it was me and Regie Gibson reading that night.

What are some highlights of the poetry in Chicago, while you were living here?

Definite highlights would be hanging at Lit-Ex, Afrika West, the Cotton Club, and Guild Complex. Guild Complex was where I met Afaa Michael Weaver, and the Power Lines release party, which was my first anthology publication. I also heard Yusef Komunyakaa read for the first time with jazz musician John Tchicai there. That peformance was recorded and released as a CD called “Love Notes from the Madhouse”. I met Patricia Smith at the Green Mill one night when I was hanging out with Regie Gibson, Maria McCray, Kent Foreman, and Chuck Perkins. Slamming was a highlight too, and I really enjoyed helping to promote women’s writing through Women Out Loud. There’s a lot more to consider, but I don’t want to write a memoir here!

Who is a teacher who had an impact on your work?


Afaa Michael Weaver had a huge impact on helping me mature as a writer and exploring new work. I participated in a workshop with him in 1998 or 1999, I think, at Guild Complex. My first writing workshop experience was with Sterling Plumpp. He encouraged me to read a range of black women writers. Paula McLain did a lot for me in my MFA program in terms of modeling how to be a sharp, careful reader of other people’s work, and her work in poetry and prose is stunning.

You’ve done a lot of teaching over the years. Please pick one writing activity you’ve taught, and describe that.

One of the writing activities that I did with every class I taught in Chicago was teaching Willie Perdomo’s poem “Where I’m From” and sometimes I taught it with George Lyons’ poem with the same title and Susan Hahn’s “Directions to Where I Live”. I would get students to notice the level of sensory detail and description and jumpstart them writing since everyone knows the place where they live. I often teach Neruda’s odes and The Book of Questions too.

What kind of work have you been doing on the East Coast, since you moved there?
Basically, similar work to what I’d done in Chicago, but now I teach creative writing classes for undergraduates. I still do some workshops with teens and readings. I’d like to do voiceover, write prose, and edit some anthologies

Have you ever collaborated with your partner Rich Villar?

We’ve talked about doing so, but typically we don’t collaborate. We talk about what we read, the writing process, readings we attend, and ideas. Basically, we sit down and write separately, even when we make coffee shop dates to go out and write.

Congratulations on the publication of Arc and Hue! I’ve really enjoyed reading that. Would you say the body of poems came together relatively quickly, or was it a long process?


I think the poems that came together in Arc & Hue came together over 2-3 years. Only a few of them were written before I entered an MFA program, but I had been publishing poems before then. I spent about a year sending the book out, but I kept playing with the sequence and tweaking the poems until I turned in the galleys of the book.

Several poems in that collection are about singers, such as “Understanding Tina Turner” and “When I First Listened to Billie.” What are some things that you find inspirational about music? Specifically, regarding those two artists, what are some things that you find so interesting about their work?

I think Tina Turner and Billie Holiday speak to women on many levels, which is way they’re still popular today. They’re rooted in the blues idiom. For me, they speak to a burgeoning understanding of relationships. In “Understanding Tina Turner”, I’m really reflecting on when I first saw her sing in the era of music videos coming to prominence and how she was seeking to redefine herself on her own terms. Billie addresses the tragic undertones of relationships. I think it’s important to have a range of voices, regardless of gender or genre.

Are there other writers who have written about music, whose work you particularly like, such as Sterling Plumpp and Jayne Cortez, to name two?

Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, Honorée Jeffers. There are particular poems by Kyle Dargan, A. Van Jordan, and Major Jackson that I like too.

“Hurricane Kwame” is a really interesting poem. How did you come up with that idea?

The idea of “Hurricane Kwame Offers His Two Cents” came from being glued to the television and articles about Hurricane Katrina. There was so much to outraged and appalled by in the whole situation, which is why I appreciate Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler. In one story, there was actually a journalist who said the hurricane should have been called Kwame or Keisha, and I just wondered what would Kwame say.

What do you think are some challenges regarding taking on something in the news, in poetry? For instance, how can it be approached in a fresh way, and in the case of “Hurricane Kwame” and Hurricane Katrina, how can the emotional and political intensity of the subject be rendered in a way so it “works” in the poem?

I think this is always the challenge for writers when they write about current events. How do you craft a timely poem that still carries the weight of the content. For me, it was based in giving a voice to a fictitious party who could tell the story from their point of view. Sometimes, it’s a matter of establishing distance to observe what someone might see as they’re observing and fully engaged in the experience.

I’m looking forward to your poetry reading at Red Kiva next Wednesday. Have you read with those other poets before?

I used to read with Quraysh quite a bit when I lived in Chicago, so I’ve known him since before his first book, Southside Rain, was published. One of the first gigs I saw at the hothouse was when Quraysh, Tyehimba Jess, and Keith Kelley were a performing group called Drapetomania, and they opened for The Last Poets.



photo credit: Taylor Mali.


***
Events

Saturday, July 24, 3-5 p.m.
Ricochets, 4644 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL
Tara Betts is one of the featured writers at Paper Machete hosted and created by Christopher Piatt. The Paper Machete is a "live magazine" addressing politics and culture.

Sunday, July 25, 6-10 p.m.
Music Lounge, 3017 W. Armitage, Chicago, IL
Laudanum Feminist Open Mic is a product of LGBTQ activist, photographer and booking agent Chelcie S Porter. Laudanum is held every Sunday at Music Lounge in Logan Square. Accompanied by DJ Mr. Mitchell. Tara Betts hosts on July 25. Sign up starts at 6:00pm.

Tuesday, July 27, 6:30-10 p.m. Jeffrey Pub, 7041 S. Jeffrey Blvd., Chicago, IL
Chicago's Pow-Wow Inc. provides a weekly performance space for women artists to present, create, develop and implement artistic performances and writing. Tara Betts is this week's feature, and she's leading a writing workshop prior to the show. The workshop is from 6:30-8 p.m. Open-mic sign-up starts at 7:30 p.m. She will be signing copies of her book "Arc & Hue".
###

Wednesday, July 28, 7:30 p.m.
Red Kiva, 1106 W. Randolph Ave., Chicago, IL
Tara will be reading with Quaraysh Ali Lansana, Bayo Ojikutu and Timothy Yu, as part of The Revolving Door reading series. This event is an Another Chicago Magazine release party as well.


Web links:
http://tarabetts.net/

http://www.revolvingdr.com

Tara Betts @ Mike Geffner’s Inspired Word http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZkMlWW88k

Tara Betts featuring at the June 2008 Art House http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrH1Nr94Xk0

9.07 the Cafe open mic & feature


September 7 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). September 7th has Rochelle Holt as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

8.10 the Cafe open mic & feature


August 10 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). August 10th has Michael Bernstein as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

8.03 the Cafe open mic & feature


August 3 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). August 3rd has Cousin Bones as the feature (so get ready for great guitar with poetry), after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

B.Y.O.P. - Bring Your Own People w/dancing girl press & Proyecto Latina

Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Time: 8:30
Cost: Free admission (ages 21+ plus, i.d. required - bar venue)
Location: California Clipper, 1002 N. California, Chicago
Like literary mash-ups? Like tipping back a few cocktails? Then come to our next B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own People) Wednesday July 28th - an evening combining voices from dancing girl press and Proyecto Latina, plus Q&A and chit-chat to get to know each other better. (Snacks provided; cocktails are on you.) Cheers!

More about our invited guests:

the dancing girl press chapbook series was founded in 2004 to publish and promote the work of women poets and artists through chapbooks, journals, book arts projects, and anthologies. Spawned by the online zine wicked alice, dgp seeks to publish work that bridges the gaps between schools and poetic techniques--work that's fresh, innovative, and exciting. With a particular interest in Chicago area and midwestern authors, the press has published over 70 titles by emerging women poets in delectable handmade editions.

Proyecto Latina is a multi-media project that amplifies the success and impact of Latinas in our community. Our initiatives include a reading series and a website that allow us to: create a culture of self-empowerment, spotlight emerging and established Latina talent, create safe spaces in underserved communities, and provide a virtual platform to chronicle stories, share resources and start dialogue. Proyecto Latina Monthly Reading Series to date has featured the work of over 300 plus established and emerging Latinas in the arts.

Monday, July 19, 2010

ACM Release @ The Revolving Door


Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 9:00pm
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 1:00am
Red Kiva
1108 West Randolph
Chicago, IL


Revolving Door is hosting the ACM Pre-Release Party!
ACM50 is coming soon! Come help us raise awareness!
Copies of ACM49 & Pre-Orders of ACM50 will be available for sale


Wednesday :: July 28, 2010 :: 9p.m.-1a.m.
Red Kiva :: 1108 W. Randolph :: Chicago
!!No Cover!!

Drink Specials! (So bring your beer guts!)
Music provided by: DJ Third Degree & FathomDJ

Featured Readings by:

Tara Betts
Quaraysh Ali Lansana
Bayo Ojikutu
Timothy Yu & much more!


RSVP @
jamie@revolvingdr.com or jen@revolvingdr.com

www.revovlingdr.com
www.anotherchicagomagazine.net

Saturday, July 17, 2010



The sixth annual Printers’ Ball, which this year takes as its theme “Print Loves Digital,” is an annual celebration of literary culture founded by Poetry magazine and other independent Chicago literary organizations. The Printers’ Ball is produced with the Center for Book & Paper Arts and the Student Affairs Offices of Columbia College Chicago.

Sixth Annual Printers’ Ball
The Ludington Building
Columbia College Chicago
1104 South Wabash Avenue
One block west of Michigan Avenue
Friday, July 30, 2010 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Free, all ages

In addition to featuring thousands of magazines, books, broadsides, and other takeaways available free of charge, the Printers’ Ball will showcase live readings, music, and performances and host letterpress, offset, silk-screening, rubber-stamping, and paper-making demonstrations. Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, will offer a welcome at the beginning of this year’s festivities.

Immediately following are descriptions of the events leading up to the Friday, July 30, Printers’ Ball. To learn more about the schedule of the Printers’ Ball itself, please scroll down.

***

Printers’ Ball Lead-Up Events

Wednesday, July 1 to Friday, July 30
Chicago Underground Library’s Daily Blog-Down to the Printers’ Ball


In celebration of this year's Printers’ Ball theme, Print <3 Digital, Chicago Underground Library presents a daily online preview of the Printers’ Ball throughout the month of July. CUL editors, volunteers, and guest bloggers are working around the clock to bring readers a preview of what can be found and who can be met at the Ball, in addition to spotlighting relevant archives of small press and independent local media. CUL’s model borrows community-building principles from digital culture to strengthen and draw attention to local networks in print, proving that not only does Print <3 Digital, but Digital <3 Print, too.


>


Wednesday, July 7, 8:30 PM
Thursday, July 8, 3:30 PM
Chic-A-Go-Go Show #679
CAN-TV Cable channel 19


Lil’ Ratso, the puppetronic host of Chicago’s dance show for kids of all ages, meets the Printers’ Ball! Combining classic TV entertainment with an original, quirky style, Chic-A-Go-Go creates a diverse TV world where people of all ages, colors, and backgrounds are linked together by their love of music and dance.


Saturday, July 10, 7:00 – 10:00 PM
Son of Science of Obscurity
Jupiter Outpost
1139 West Fulton Market
Free admission


Chicago Underground Library presents a celebration of literary experiments! It’s the return of the Science of Obscurity, the Chicago Underground Library’s annual lead-up event to the Printers’ Ball. Featuring new, unpublished, and in-progress works presented as science fair experiments, the night will also offer a public “book launch” via catapult, scientist speed dating, and digital readings to warm your hardened techie heart. Left and right brains come together for Print <3 Digital—everyone wins when the laws of physics and literature collide.

Date TBA: Watch Site for Release Date!
Printers’ Ball Art Book Release
www.printersball.org


A collaborative art book produced by the Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College, the Chicago Printers’ Guild, and Poetry magazine will be released and ready for circulation. Twenty writers were paired with 20 printers to create a limited-edition (only 50 copies!), hand-printed art book. The book, a compilation of broadsides, features the work of Kathleen Judge, Steve Walters, Audrey Niffenegger, Ed Roberson, and others.

Dates TBA
Behind-the-Scenes Documentaries and Slideshows

http://www.flavorpill.com/chicago


Flavorpill.com will spotlight video documentaries on featured Printers’ Ball collaborations with Busy Beaver Button Co., Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, Chicago Printers’ Guild, Poetry magazine, Sonnenzimmer, and others.

***

Printers’ Ball 2010 Schedule
Friday, July 30, 6:00 – 11:00 PM
Scheduled Events:


6:00 PM: Christian Wiman introduces Printers’ Ball 2010

6:00 – 9:00 PM: PRINTERESTING.ORG’s “COPY JAM!,” an interactive art print occurrence.

6:00 – 10:00 PM: Dave Tompkins, the author of How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks, dee-jays his vocoder playlist, with live vocoder and special guest

7:00 – 7:30 PM: “The Precession,” a digital poem and live performance of original writing and real-time data collection by Mark Jeffrey and Judd Morrissey

8:00 – 10:00 PM: The Show 'n Tell Show, hosted by Zach Dodson and Michael Renaud, with Studio Blue’s Cheryl Towler Weese, Edie Fake, and Isaac Tobin

10:00 – 11:00 PM: Live music by Icy Demons



Ongoing Events:

Printers’ Ball limited-edition Busy Beaver Buttons to the first 500 guests

Red-carpet interviews with Amy Guth, digital news editor for books at the Chicago Tribune and co-host of ChicagoNow Radio on WGN

Gapers Block traffic jam of Chicago lit sites

Gallery presentation of and reading from the Printers' Ball 2010 Art Book, with broadsides featuring the work of the Chicago Printers' Guild and local poets and writers

Book binding by Chicago Books to Women in Prison

DEUSEXPAGINA, a live experiment in literary quantum mechanics and wholly fabricated reviews of wholly fabricated books

Elevated Diction: poems performed live during your elevator ride between floors

The Gnoetry poetry-making machine

"Pandora's Star Box," a poem-film by Carrie Olivia Adams

Public Media Institute’s Mobile Screen-printing Cart

“Text Object,” a featured digital reading provided by Vanessa Place

Video gallery featuring Bound Off, contratiempo, Rattapalax, Switchback Books, and Wholphin DVD, plus metal type animation by students from the London College of Communication

Fresh Squeezed Poetry, poetry written to order by Illinois Arts Council award winners

Plus more with Anchor Graphics, Captain Carpenter, the students and alumni of Columbia College Chicago, and others
>

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Red Rover Series / Experiment #38


Red Rover Series
{readings that play with reading}

Experiment #38:
Poetics of the Multitude

SATURDAY, JULY 17th
7pm / doors lock 7:30

Featuring:
The Next Objectivists
with members
Adriene Dodt
Denise Dooley
Elizabeth Marino
Scott McFarland
Matthias Regan
Gene Tanta
Adam Weg
and a few surprises

at Outer Space Studio
1474 N. Milwaukee Ave
suggested donation $4
we've got air-conditioning!

**NEW VENUE**
near CTA Damen blue line
third floor walk up
not wheelchair accessible

THE NEXT OBJECTIVISTS is a free, open-to-the-public poetry workshop dedicated to the study & reproduction of the outsidereal. We take this term from the “Black Mountain” poet Edward Dorn & our name from the second generation modernist poets associated with The Objectivist Press. Although writers associated with the Objectivists and Black Mountain “schools” (Bunting, Creeley, H.D., Niedecker, Pound, Reznikoff, Williams, Zukofsky to name only those we've already studied) are prominent stars in our constellation, our objective is not to reproduce any particular style, mode or tradition, but instead to draw on many different ways of doing and making in order to isolate those practices of writing & publishing & above all those poetic effects which lead us out of the neoliberal present & the future it imagines.

The Next Objectivists Poetry Workshop was founded in January 2009. From then until now it meets every other Thursday evening (7:00 - 10:00) at Mess Hall (
http://www.messhall.org/) in Rogers Park. Members make the curriculum as we go along. Our meetings are potlucks and beginners are always welcome. We read, discuss & write poetry together. As time allows we publish our findings through our website: http://nextobjectivists.blogspot.com

Red Rover Series is curated by Laura Goldstein and Jennifer Karmin. Each event is designed as a reading experiment with participation by local, national, and international writers, artists, and performers. The series was founded in 2005 by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin.

Email ideas for reading experiments to us at
redroverseries@yahoogroups.com

The schedule for events is listed at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/redroverseries

Rose Metal Press and Barrelhouse Collaborate at Open Books



Join Rose Metal Press and Barrelhouse at Open Books as they present five fabulous Chicago writers of flash fiction and poetry…

What are Rose Metal Press and Barrelhouse? What’s flash fiction? Who will be there? Why does the earth rotate around the sun? Well, let me explain!

Rose metal is an alloy of 2-3 different metals. Rose Metal Press however, is an independent, not-for-profit publisher of hybrid genres (literary alloys!) and other works that transcend the typical classifications of poetry, fiction, and essay to create new forms of expression. While Rose Metal Press is busy with cross-bred works, Barrelhouse, a print and online journal, puts a funky spin on “music, art and the detritus of popular culture” via traditional publishing formats like interviews, poetry, and essays.



And flash fiction? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like, extremely brief fictional literature, also known as sudden fiction, microfiction, postcard fiction, prosetry and short short story. Still not sure what this means? Think of Ernest Hemingway’s powerful six-word tale- For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Joining forces at Open Books will be James Tadd Adcox, editor of Artifice Magazine; Mary Hamilton, author of the chapbook We Know What We Are; collaborative poets Philip Jenks and Simone Muench; and Tim Jones-Yelvington, author of the forthcoming short fiction chapbook, Evan’s House and the Other Boys Who Live There.

And finally, why does the Earth rotate around the Sun? Because of the pull of the Sun’s gravity, that’s why!

We hope to see you at Open Books for this wonderful evening on Wednesday July 28 at 7 p.m. The event is FREE and open to the public!

Open Books
213 W. Institute Pl.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Palabra Pura

Palabra Pura Special Event with Maria Luisa Arroyo & Roger Bonair-Agard


Wednesday, July 21, 2010
7:30 p.m.
Admission is free
Décima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis, Chicago


With this event, the Guild Complex will take a step toward enhancing the dialogue and awareness of work coming out of the Latino and African American poetry communities. Palabra Pura, Chicago’s monthly bi-lingual reading series, initiates Palabra Pura Special Events by inviting African American poets to share its stage.

Palabra Pura Special Events are the brainchild of Francisco Aragón, poet and Director of Letras Latinas at the Institute for Latino Studies at Notre Dame, and Quraysh Ali Lansana, poet and Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature & Creative Writing at Chicago State University. The vision is to have writers from these two communities come together to share their work and respond to each other’s work.

The first Palabra Pura Special Event will be Wednesday, July 21, with acclaimed Latina poet María Luisa Arroyo reading alongside noted African American poet Roger Bonair-Agard. This is the first time a non-Latino poet will be featured on the Palabra Pura stage. After the reading there will be a moderated conversation and audience Q&A.

A short Open Mic will begin the evening.


Born in Puerto Rico, bi-lingual poet and translator Maria Luisa Arroyo won a 2004 Massachusetts Cultural Council poetry grant. Her collection of poetry, Gathering Words: Recogiendo Palabras was published in 2008. A chapbook, Touching and Naming the Roots of this Tree, was published in 2007. Maria Luisa Arroyo writes for The Springfield Institute, blogs at Maria Luisa Arroyo's Blog, leads writing workshops, teaches GED courses.


Roger Bonair-Agard is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, a Cave Canem fellow and co-author of Burning Down the House. He is a two-time National Slam Champion and is co-founder of The louderARTS Project. Roger's work has been widely anthologized and commissioned and he has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour. His publications include Tarnish and Masqueradepublished in 2000.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Son of Science of Obscurity

Chicago Underground Library presents
Son of Science of Obscurity!
Chicago’s celebration of literary experiments returns for a second year!
Saturday, July 10, 7pm-10pm
Jupiter Outpost
1139 W. Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

Free, all ages

The Chicago Underground Library celebrates the return of the “Science of Obscurity,” our annual lead up event to the Printers’ Ball featuring new, unpublished, and in-progress works presented as science fair experiments. The night will also feature a public “book launch” via catapult, scientist speed dating, and digital readings to warm your hardened techie heart. Left and right brains come together, print <3s digital, everyone wins when the laws of physics and literature collide.


If you’re a writer, publisher, bookmaker, or booklover of any stripe who has recently finished writing a book, has published a book in the past year, or just feels like taking out some aggression on a publication of your choice, we invite you to celebrate by participating in our public reading and launching your work into space–or at least halfway down the block. We define “book” broadly, so zines, magazines, chapbooks, textbooks, and more are welcome. Read a paragraph, then release! And if you want to donate your book to the collection of the Chicago Underground Library after it’s caught some air, we’re here for you.

While we’re busy launching texts outside, we’ll be dissecting the mysteries of the literary universe inside. Join an awesome line up of writers, designers, and publishers as they intricately explain the scientific principles underlying their work, real or imagined. Reading experiments with Jen Karmin! Storigami with Zach Dodson! Distress charts with A D Jameson! Teenage taxonomies with Mairead Case! Curmudgeonly cuttlefish with Libby Walker! Hand-cranked projector mad libs with Two With Water! Nightmares on posterboard with Vicki Lim! All participants will also have work for sale.

Special projects from the Society of Furthering Truth (SOFT), The Book Bike, readings from Featherproof Books’ iPhone application TripleQuick, surprise musical guests, video interviews with the CUL crew about your favorite forgotten and under-recognized Chicago publishers and writers, and Scientist Speed Dating! Yes! We said Scientist Speed Dating. You’ll have two minutes to ask real honest-to-goodness scientists any burning questions of your choice like why recycled paper tastes better and how quickly to induce vomiting after consuming The Christmas Sweater.

This event is free and for all ages.

Logistics
Saturday, 10 July 2010, 7–10pm
Jupiter Outpost (1139 W. Fulton Market, Chicago)
Food and drink will be available for sale

About the Chicago Underground Library
The Chicago Underground Library provides an open forum for creative exchange between all producers and patrons of Chicago’s independent media, facilitating collaboration and awareness between diverse communities. Through innovative and inclusive approaches to acquisitions, cataloging and programming, we illuminate connections and provide both a historical and contemporary context for the creation of new local media.
http://www.underground-library.org

About the Printers’ Ball
Founded by Poetry magazine with other independent Chicago literary organizations, the Printers’ Ball is an annual celebration of print culture, featuring thousands of magazines, books, and broadsides available free of charge; live readings and music; letterpress, offset, and paper-making demonstrations; and much more. The Printers’ Ball is co-produced with Columbia College Chicago and the Center for Book & Paper Arts, and takes place July 30th, 2010 in Chicago’s landmark Ludington Building, former home to the American Book Company, at 1104 South Wabash.
http://www.printersball.org

For questions or more information about the event
Contact: Nell Taylor, nell@underground-library.org
Cell: 773-336-2516

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Poetry Brothel


The Poetry Brothel, Chicago
Saturday, July 10th, 8pm-Midnight
The House of Blues Foundation Room
329 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60654
$15
http://www.thepoetrybrothel.com/events.html

The Poetry Brothel is an organization of poets, artists, and designers, directed by The Madame and Tennessee Pink, whose mission is to expand both poets' and non-poets' personal, intellectual and fiscal interest in poetry through performances, workshops, publications, and other projects. Intimacy, service, community, exaltation, and transformation of environment and self are The Poetry Brothel's guiding principles. With these principles in mind, The Poetry Brothel creates worlds in which poets and non-poets can better come together to celebrate the pleasures of poetry.

The AmperLanterProof Last Chance Literary Blast for the Endtimes


The AmperLanterProof Last Chance Literary Blast for the Endtimes
Fri., July 9, 7 p.m.


Oil is spewing into our waters and European volcanoes spit ash into the skies. Earthquakes spreading like swine flu. The end, clearly, is upon us. So join Featherproof Books, Green Lantern Press, and Ampersand Books for a literary apocalypse kickoff party that would go down in the history books…if someone were around to write them. Featuring the Five Horsemen (and women), cause for this apocalypse, Four just ain’t enough! Tim Jones-Yelvington AD Jameson Adam Gallari Lindsay Hunter Benjamin Lowenkron Don't let the world end without you. Free


The Green Lantern Gallery
2542 W. Chicago Ave.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Requited - issue #3

REQUITED
http://www.requitedjournal.com

Issue #3 now online
with work by many Chicago writers

FICTION
Lydia Ship
James Tadd Adcox
Cami Park
Patrick Crerand
A D Jameson
Neil De La Flor

POETRY
Arlene Ang
Clint Campbell
Nicholas Destino
Daniel Godston
Jennifer Karmin
P. A. Levy
Stefania Irene Marthakis
Kristen Orser
Lana Rakhman
Susan Slaviero

ESSAY
Laura Krughoff
Ish Klein
Carmen Giménez Smith
Tyler Flynn Dorholt

DRAMA
Nathan Child and Andrew K. Peterson

VISUAL / VIDEO
Eula Biss and John Bresland
Suzon Fuks
Fereshteh Toosi
Eric Fleischauer
Todd Mattei
Lindsay Page

Rec Room Series

wednesday, july 7, 2010
black rock bar
3614 n. damen
chicago, il
8:00 pm



I Love My Job; I Hate My Job

curated by Elizabeth Harper

Ah, the world of work. Yes, you're told you should be grateful for the job you have, and you know you should be. And it's nice to have an answer when potential pickups and future in-laws ask, "So, what do you do?" And your coworkers are sometimes entertaining. But then there are rules to obey, dress codes to follow, busy work that seems totally unnecessary, corporate culture, a bizarre language that's a combination of psychobabble and business speak, Foucauldian disciplines, self-monitoring, competition, hierarchy, and the strain of leading a double life. This rec room show will feature poems, songs, skits, stories, performance art, etc. about jobs, compromises, and ambivalence.

7.27 the Café open mic & Feature


July 27 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). July 27th has Gregg Shapiro as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

7.20 the Café open mic & Feature

July 20 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). July 20th has Esteban Colon as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

7.13 Café open mic & Feature
July 13 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). July 13th has Nicole A.M. Collins (some of you may remember her as Nicole Aimiee Macaluso...) as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

7.06 Café open mic & Feature

July 6 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 cover
(plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry and performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). July 6th has Lucia Blinn as the feature, after the weekly open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 weekly podcast.

Also, there is great food at the restaurant at the Café (there is even a link to the menu at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/), and we are offering a free poetry book (of your choice from a large collection of books) to people who order food or a beer/wine/liquor drink at the Café during the open mic!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Myopic Books

THE MYOPIC POETRY SERIES — a weekly series of readings and occasional poets' talks

Myopic Books in Chicago — All readings begin at 7:00 / 1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor

http://www.myopicbookstore.com/poetry.html
773.862.4882
Contact curator Larry Sawyer for booking information and requests.
E-mail: milkmag@rcn.com




SATURDAY, July 10 at Myopic Books:


(This reading will begin at 6:00)

Poets from Wisconsin team up with poets from Chicago for a poetry fest unlike any other.

::::::::::::::::Roberto Harrison, Nick Demske, Mike Hauser, Brenda Cardenas, Tom Hibbard, Caryl Pagel, plus Anthony Madrid, John Beer, Gene Tanta, Larry Sawyer, and more!:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Don’t miss this one.






UPCOMING


Sunday, July 25 — Devin King & Peter O'Leary

Tuesday, August 17 — Nico Vassilakis, mIEKAL aND, Crag Hill, and James Yeary

Friday, September 10 — Catherine Wagner

Saturday, September 18 — Adam Golaski & Jennifer Karmin

Saturday, October 2 — Chicago Calling (with Dan Godston; guests to be announced)

Saturday, October 16 — Mark Wallace

Saturday, October 30 — Carol Novack