Monday, August 30, 2010
Cerise Press, an international online journal based in the United States and France, builds cross-cultural bridges by featuring artists and writers in English and translations, with an emphasis on French and Francophone works. Co-founded by Sally Molini, Karen Rigby, and Fiona Sze-Lorrain in 2009, Cerise Press hopes to serve as a gathering force where imagination, insight, and conversation express the evolving and shifting forms of human experience.
The Poetry Society of America, the nation's oldest poetry organization, was founded in 1910 for the purpose of creating a public forum for the advancement, enjoyment, and understanding of poetry. Through a diverse array of programs, initiatives, contests, and awards, the Poetry Society of America works to build a larger audience for poetry, to encourage a deeper appreciation of the art, and to place poetry at the crossroads of American life.
The Writers' Block is a weekly reading series featuring stories, essays and poetry by all kinds of writers -- from accomplished beginners to established authors. The program includes all genres, from fiction and non-fiction to poetry and plays.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Charlotte's Web
Adapted from the book byE.B.White
By Joseph Robinette
Directed by Matt Pfeiffer
You grew up with it. Your kids love it. Now see it brought spectacularly and imaginatively to life onstage. With adults, kids, and puppets, too! Celebrate the true meaning of friendship and family with Charlotte the spider, Wilbur the pig, and all the humans and animals on the Zuckerman farm. From the director of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, this is perfect holiday experience to share with your whole family.
All's Well That Ends Well By William Shakespeare
Directed by Stephen Fried
Not seen on The Shakespeare Theatre stage in more than a decade, this new vision of Shakespeare's mercurial romance features an ensemble cast of nine actors switching identities as the play moves from Rossillion to Paris to Florence and back again. Whether
the love story ends well or not well is often a matter of debate, and that ambiguity is,
in part, what has made the tale so compelling to audiences for over four centuries.
The Little Prince by John Scoullar and Rick Cummins Directed and Conceived by Scott Hitz
Thursdays –Sundays, 8PM Saturdays & Sundays, 3PM
Written by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar, this beloved classic of children's literature has been turned into a warm, wondrous production for the whole family. Based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's fable ab
out a pilot who crash-lands in the desert and meets an openhearted boy from another planet, gently reminds us to hold onto what is truly important in life. Multiple Emmy Award-winning Designer Michael Schupbach (Avenue Q, Sesame Street, Jim
Henson's Puppet Workshop)designs the characters in this production!
Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare - Craig Colfelt, Play Master
7:30 p.m. Fridays
3:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Shakespeare’s definitive portrait of young love vs. old hatred comes to new life in this innovative and intimate staging. Featuring a cast of six and a blend of contemporary and Renaissance design elements, this is a Romeo & Juliet for everyone. Music, comedy, romance, drama and swordplay combine
to make it the ideal Shakespeare production for the whole family.
THE COLLECTION AND A KIND OF ALASKA Two plays by Harold Pinter
at Classic Stage Company
136 E. 13th St.
Atlantic eagerly returns to the work of Harold Pinter, several seasons after its acclaimed production of his first andlast plays, The Room and Celebration. Here again, the plays are separated chronologically by twenty years; both,however, are steeped in the author’s signature humor, mystery and psychological tension.
In The Collection (1962),a four am phone call and a surprise visitor set off a series of conversations about potential infidelities among twocouples. And a middle-aged woman who has been asleep in a hospital room awakens after thirty years and mustreorient herself to a greatly changed world in A Kind of Alaska (1982), which was inspired by the work of OliverSacks in his seminal book, Awakenings.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Do you know precocious and curious kids who love mail and love to read?
Each issue of Abe's Peanut is a series of four postcards featuring a narrative that unfolds in sequence, one part per week. The narrative is a combination of images and text, in the format of a traditional postcard.
Whereas Abe's Penny (our original publication) publishes only photographs, Abe's Peanut will feature illustrations, drawings, paintings, connect the dots, and other imagery that appeals to children. A different artist and writer will collaborate on each issue.
Whereas Abe's Penny (our original publication) publishes only photographs, Abe's Peanut will feature illustrations, drawings, paintings, connect the dots, and other imagery that appeals to children. A different artist and writer will collaborate on each issue.
Independently published by sisters Anna and Tess Knoebel, Abe's Penny launched in March of 2009. The short and accessible "micro-magazine" is essentially a boiled down magazine: image and text. Off-set printed on double thick matte card stock, each issue dispenses art and literature while becoming a collectible, temporal object.
About Knicks Poetry Slam
Knicks Poetry Slam was created in 2003 to reach high school youth by using the popularity of hip-hop and poetry as a vehicle to motivate and inspire expression through the written and spoken word. With the growth of the program, the Knicks and program partner Urban Word NYC have provided greater opportunities for high school students to use their poetic skills and talents to pursue higher education. The program serves over 10,000 students annually through school site visits, a Poetry Open Audition, a College Fair, Workshops and Poetry Slams.
The Knicks Poetry Slam Program is broken up into two contests, Spoken Word and Written. Participants have the option of performing poetry live, competing online through KnicksPoetrySlam.com or by submitting a portfolio of their original work. The 2009-2010 Program will provide winners with more than $350,000 in college grants and prizes. Next year’s program will start in the fall.
Passive Aggressive Notes is now available in the United States and Canada, and under the title Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here in the United Kingdom and Australia. (The titles and covers are different in order to confuse you.)
Murphy Writing Seminars
Check out Peter E. Murphy and his new online home of Murphy Writing Seminars that specializes in offering:
| ● Writing Getaways with challenging & supportive workshops |
| ● Resources for poets, writers and teachers |
Better Book Titles
This blog is for people who do not have thousands of hours to read book reviews or blurbs or first sentences.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Rosecrans Baldwin
Wednesday, September 15, 7:00 PM
McNally Jackson Books (with Maud Newton)
52 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
NATALIE LYALIN: Try a Little Time Travel
I Love Those
Stags
I mounted the fake stag.
This one had necklaces hanging on his antlers.
I predicted he could actually hear me.
I was tired.
See, I had been blanching and icing all day.
Also making delicately fried chicken.
I provided cloth napkins for everyone.
They all came over and we drank.
Some said this was a happy moment.
Some promised to never return.
I mounted a cold fake animal in the night.
The highway glittered out like real America racing in circles.
Why, why, why, did they all not go home?
I provided chicken, napkins, opportunity—all of these things.
Still, those crazy cold stags refused to leave.
With a tender stomachache I pretended to dry heave into a bucket.
This sent them galloping into the uncertain night.
Natalie Lyalin was born in Leningrad and currently lives in Philadelphia. She is the author of Pink & Hot Pink Habitat (Coconut Books, 2009) and a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the co-founder and co-editor of GlitterPony Magazine.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much:
The True Story of a Thief, a Detective,
and a World of
Literary Obsession
Excerpt from Chapter 9, "Brick Row" -
A couple of months after Gilkey's 2005 release from prison, I met him in front of 49 Geary Street, a building that houses several art galleries and rare book stores, in San Francisco. It was a September morning and he wore a bright white sweatshirt, pleated khakis, his beige leather sneakers, and the PGA baseball cap. He held a folder, on top of which lay a handwritten, numbered list, his to-do list for the day.
"So, how do you want to do this?" he asked.
The week before, he had agreed to let me tag along with him on one of his scouting trips, to learn how he selects books. I had suggested going to Goodwill, a frequent haunt of his now that he was persona non grata in most San Francisco rare book shops. Gilkey, though, wanted to take me to Brick Row, from which he stole The Mayor of Casterbridge. I tried to mask my disbelief and hoped he would think of another place.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "Wouldn't Goodwill work? Or, if not that, aren't there any other stores you can think of?"
Probably sensing my unease, he hesitated. "Maybe they'll recognize me," he said, but reconsidered. "On second thought, it won't be a problem."
At home, I e-mailed Sanders for his opinion: Would the owner, John Crichton, whom I had not yet met, be upset or angry that I'd knowingly accompanied a rare book thief into his store? I didn't relish dealing with the wrath of one of Gilkey's victims, however peripherally.
"Crichton's a good guy," Sanders assured me and gave me the impression that, as Gilkey had said, it wouldn't be a problem.
I was still wary, but too curious to walk away from an opportunity to see Gilkey in his element. What sort of person returns to the scene of his crime? So far, I had come to know Gilkey only through our private conversations. I still had no idea how he behaved out in the world, especially his idealized rare book world. He shared many characteristics of other collectors, but his thieving set him apart in ways that still confounded me—was he amoral or mentally ill? How are such lines drawn, anyway? Accompanying Gilkey to Brick Row was an irresistible chance to be an eyewitness. Also, I had heard that the shop was well regarded among rare book collectors, and I wanted to see it firsthand.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of Brick Row, Gilkey said he would show me what he typically looks for and how he goes about it.
He did not appear to be apprehensive. I, on the other hand, was all nerves. I had no idea what Crichton might do when we walked in. This, at the very least, was going to be awkward...
Inside Brick Row, natural light streamed through the windows, illuminating books sitting in cases along every wall and under windows, and on a graceful arc of shelves that ran through the middle of the shop. It was a quiet refuge from the city streets below, and if you ignored the computer and phone on Crichton's heavy, oak desk, it could be a nineteenth-century bookshop. Thousands of majestic leather-bound books, many with gold lettering, caught the light as I walked by. Given Gilkey's Victorian library fantasies, I could see why he favored this shop, why he chose to bring me there. Unlike Sanders's shop in Salt Lake City, Brick Row was tidy and appeared highly ordered. I got the sense that only serious collectors would venture inside, in contrast to Sanders's shop, where collectors mingled with people in search of a good used paperback (he offered a selection at the back of the store). The doors of the locked bookcases on the right-hand wall near the entrance had metal screens in a crosshatch pattern that made deciphering titles a challenge. These cases contained some of Crichton's more valuable books. A filmmaker would do well to use Brick Row as a set for a gentleman's fine library. "More classier feel than some of the other bookstores that just rack them up in average bookcases," is how Gilkey had described it.
Crichton spoke from behind his desk. "May I help you?"
His question seemed to ask much more. He was looking hard at Gilkey.
"I'm not here to buy anything," said Gilkey congenially, "just to look around, if that's okay. We're just here to look."
No answer.
Crichton stood facing us. He was in his fifties with white hair, a ruddy complexion, and clear blue eyes. He had an assured air and seemed to be the kind of person who rarely had the wool pulled over his eyes.
Gilkey referred to his list of the Modern Library's "100 Best Novels," and explained to me how he often looks for books on it. He pointed to the name Nathaniel Hawthorne.
"Do you have any Hawthorne?" Gilkey asked Crichton.
Crichton answered curtly, "No."
"I know he has one," Gilkey whispered to me.
His comment was a hint at his antagonism toward dealers, which he had made plain in our prior meetings. He'd argued that there was, in fact, widespread fraud among rare book sellers, fraud that made him not only blameless, but also a victim.
One example Gilkey had cited was rebinding. Dealers, he explained, would remove the cover and title page from a second or later edition of a book, and then rebind it with a title page from a first edition that was in poor condition.
"They make it look like a first edition, first printing," he said. "That's part of the fraud they do. That's actually legal."
Later, I learned that there was nothing legal about this practice, but that it was not uncommon. The more expensive the book, the more likely it is that someone may have tampered with the binding. Such fraud is hardly new. In the eighteenth century, for example, facsimiles of pages, or "leaves," of ancient texts were sometimes created by hand and to near perfect effect. Of course, these efforts did not always go undetected, particularly when the pages were printed on eighteenth-century paper with an identifiable watermark. Even now, dealers come across pages of books that have been washed to give them a uniform appearance. Reputable dealers judiciously examine books for telltale signs of rebinding, but there are less upstanding dealers who don't.
As we inched down Brick Row's bookshelves, Gilkey pointed to another book on his list, "Kurt Vonnegut," he said. "I'd like something from him, too. And D. H. Lawrence," he said. "He's also good."
Crichton looked stunned and turned his back to us, then turned around again to face Gilkey. A few seconds later, while Gilkey was explaining to me which books he might like to look for, Crichton asked, "What's your name?"
"John."
John—as though Crichton would be satisfied with a first name! I looked down at my notes while my heartbeat threatened to drown out everything around me.
"John what?"
"Gilkey."
Crichton waited a moment, glanced down at his desk, then looked up. He didn't take his eyes off us as Gilkey pointed to various books and whispered, as one does in a library or museum, informing me about additional authors he was interested in: Vladimir Nabokov, Willa Cather. He commented that he stays away from bibles.
"And who are you?" Crichton asked me.
Broken Glass Park
about the author:
Russian-born Alina Bronsky has been the subject of constant praise and debate since her debut novel, Broken Glass Park, was published in Germany in 2008. She has been hailed as a literary prodigy and her novel as “an explosive debut” (Emma Magazine). Now, Broken Glass Park makes its first appearance in English in Tim Mohr’s masterful translation.
summary:
summary:
The heroine of this engrossing and thoroughly contemporary novel is seventeen-year-old Sascha Naimann. Sascha was born in Moscow, but now lives in Berlin with her two younger siblings and, until recently, her mother. She is precocious, independent, street-wise, and, since her stepfather murdered her mother several months ago, an orphan. Unlike most of her companions, she doesn’t dream of escaping from the tough housing project where they live. Sascha’s dreams are different: she longs to write a novel about her beautiful but naïve mother and she wants to end the life of Vadim, the man who brutally murdered her. Sascha’s story, as touching as any in recent literature, is that of a young woman consumed by two competing impulses, one celebrative and redemptive, the other murderous. In a voice that is candid and self-confident, at times childlike and at others all too mature, Sascha relates the universal and timeless struggle between those forces that can destroy us, and those that lead us back from sorrow and pain to life itself. Germany’s Freundin Magazine called Broken Glass Park “a gripping portrayal of life on the margins of society.” But Sascha’s story does not remain on the margins; it goes straight to the heart of what it means to be young, alive, and conscious in these first decades of the new century. (taken from Europa editions)
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