The off-site events at the AWP Conference are almost better than the on-site events this year! You'll find a meager sampling from the conference website of some of the things (and people) I'd love to catch below:
LITERARY EVENTS
If the 500 exhibits of the Bookfair and the 300 events on the official schedule of the AWP Conference are not enough for you, you should consider a few of the off-site alternatives, listed below.
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
8:00PM
Page Meets Stage8:00PM
Page Meets Stage: Paul Muldoon & Thomas Sayers Ellis
Bowery Poetry Club308 Bowery (btn Houston & Bleeker)
Cost: $12
The reading series known as Page Meets Stage is like no other poetry reading series anywhere. Each month two different poets, one who writes primarily for the page and another who is more performance oriented, take the stage together and read back and forth, poem for poem. The current schedule includes Pulitzer Prize winners, Macarthur Fellows, poetry slam champions, and other spoken word icons. Co-produced by Words Worth Ink & Blue Flower Arts.
10:00PM
10:00PM
2nd Annual Cave Canem Fellows Reading
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery (At the foot of First Street, between Houston & Bleecker, F train to Second Ave, or 6 train to Bleecker)
Admission: $10
Readings by Michelle Berry, DeLana Dameron, Jacqueline Johnson, LaTasha Nevada Diggs, Krista Franklin, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Richard Hamilton, Myronn Hardy, Randall Horton, Marcus Jackson, Amanda Johnston, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, January O'Neal, Ernesto Mercer, Dante Micheaux, Indigo Moor, Nicole Sealey, Shia Shabazz, Evie Shockley, and Bianca Spriggs.
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
6:00PM
The Affrilachian Poets @ The Nuyorican Poets Café
Readings by Michelle Berry, DeLana Dameron, Jacqueline Johnson, LaTasha Nevada Diggs, Krista Franklin, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Richard Hamilton, Myronn Hardy, Randall Horton, Marcus Jackson, Amanda Johnston, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, January O'Neal, Ernesto Mercer, Dante Micheaux, Indigo Moor, Nicole Sealey, Shia Shabazz, Evie Shockley, and Bianca Spriggs.
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
6:00PM
The Affrilachian Poets @ The Nuyorican Poets Café
236 East 3rd Street, between Avenues B and C(Closest Subway Stop is "2nd Avenue" on the F Train)
Admission: $7 student, $10 general
Featuring: Kelly Norman Ellis, Ellen Hagan, Parneshia Jones, Amanda Johnston, Hao Wang, Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Bianca Spriggs, Natasha Marin, Marta Miranda and special guest Rane Arroyo.
Persea Books Poetry Reading
McNally Robinson Bookstore
52 Prince Street in SoHo
Persea Books Poetry Reading
McNally Robinson Bookstore
52 Prince Street in SoHo
Readings by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Alena Hairston, Kate Northrop, Patrick Rosal, Anne Shaw, Sidney Wade, and Rachel Wetzsteon read. Introduction by Gabriel Fried, Persea Poetry Editor.
7:00PM - 10:00PM
Courting Risk: Multicultural, Multi-genre, Multidimensional Women
Macaulay Center
Macaulay Honors College
35 W. 67th Street
Cost: Free
Complimentary refreshments will be provided. There might even be some music and interactive performance art thrown in. Stick around after for a book signing and art sale. Featured Readers: Esther Belin, Naomi Benaron, M. L. Brown, Ching-In Chen, DéLana R. A. Dameron, Ashaki M. Jackson, Anne Liu Kellor, Natasha Marin, Maureen Owens, Khadijah Queen, Susan Southard.
Friday, February 1st, 2008
6:00PM - 9:00PM
Celebrating New Asian American Poetry
New York University19 University Place, The Great Room (101)
Please RSVP at http://www.apa.nyu.edu/
In recent years, there's been a palpable increase in books published by Asian American poets. A flight of fancy? A movement? Has our time finally come? One thing is certain: Asian American poetry is thriving with a panoply of enigmatic individual voices. The participants will read from their respective collections published in 2007 and forthcoming in 2008. Authors include Kazim Ali, Rick Barot, Jennifer Chang, Lisa Chen, Oliver de la Paz, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, Joseph O. Legaspi, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Jon Pineda. This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Supported by Kundiman and the Asian American Writers' Workshop.
6:30PM
ACENTOS: A Gathering and Celebration of Latino and Latina Poets
The School of Social Work at Hunter College
129 E. 79th Street (Corner of 79th St. and Lexington Ave.)
Presented by El Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños and Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase.
To coincide with the AWP conference, Acentos and El Centro present a celebration and reading of more than twenty emerging and established poets of Latino/a descent. Scheduled readers include Martin Espada, Rafael Campo, Aracelis Girmay, Willie Perdomo, and many more. Hosted by Rich Villar. Directions: #6 Train to 77th Street. Walk two blocks north to 79th Street and Lexington Avenue. The School of Social Work is located on the northwest corner of 79th and Lexington.
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
1:00PM - 3:00PM
Book Celebration: 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Book Celebration: "On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail"
Join Charles E. Cobb, Jr. in celebrating the publication of On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail. With real grassroots stories in the words of those who lived it, Charles E. Cobb leads us from Washington, D.C., through eight Southern states to visit the places where the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement fought for freedom. A book signing will follow the presentation.
7:00PM
Not for Mothers Only Anthology
NYU Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
7:00PM
Not for Mothers Only Anthology
NYU Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
58 West 10th Street(between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas)
Free and open to the public.
Featuring poets Lee Ann Brown, Gillian Conoley, Beth Ann Fennelly, Miranda Field, Annie Finch, Akilah Oliver, Alicia Ostriker, Molly Peacock, Eleni Sikelianos, Anne Waldman, Zhang Er, Rachel Zucker, and more. Fence Books Party following the reading.
Featuring poets Lee Ann Brown, Gillian Conoley, Beth Ann Fennelly, Miranda Field, Annie Finch, Akilah Oliver, Alicia Ostriker, Molly Peacock, Eleni Sikelianos, Anne Waldman, Zhang Er, Rachel Zucker, and more. Fence Books Party following the reading.
