5/6 The Kansas City Pittsburgh Connection @ White Whale Books

SATURDAY…

Saturday May 6th at White Whale, three awesome Kansas City writers are blowing into town with the Midwest wind. Join Victor Clevenger, Jason Preu, and Pittsburgh expat Nikki Allen, along with locals Karla Lamb and Becky Corrigan for an almost Midwestern rumble. Jason Baldinger will be hosting, not that that really matters, and we’ll be passing the hat to send our out-of-towners away with a little pay ($5 suggested donation, in other words). Hope to see yinz there.

Bios:

Nikki Allen is a lover & a writer, getting on stages for 15+ years in various places that include Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Seattle, war protests, music festivals, charity events, backyards and art openings. She is the author of numerous books, including “Gutter of Eden, “Quite Like Yes,” and Ligaments of Light Tigering the Shoulders(Night Ballet Press). Her work has appeared in Nailed, Crash, Open Thread Regional Review Vol. 2, out of nothing, Profane Journal(Pushcart Prize nominee ’14/’15), and Encyclopedia Destructica among others. Allen has also contributed vocal tracks to recording artists Poogie Bell (“Question Song”) and Jack Wilson (“NYC”). More of her writing can be found at honeydunce.com.

Victor Clevenger hopes for the more exciting side of death, as he spends his days in a Madhouse and his nights writing poetry. He sleeps with his second ex-wife and raises his six children in a small town northeast of Kansas City, MO. Selected pieces of his work have appeared at, Poems-For-All, Chiron Review, GTK Journal, Yellow Chair Review, Rat’s Ass Review, Blink Ink, Thirteen Myna Birds, the 2016 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology (Crisis Chronicles Press), Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince (NightBallet Press, 2016), Prompts! (39 West Press, 2016). Victor’s poetry collections include Come Here (Least Bittern Books, 2016), The More Exciting Side Of Death (Epic Rites Press/Tree Killer Ink, 2016), and Soulwhore (Svensk Apache, 2017)

Becky Corrigan has spent most of her adult life working menial jobs, playing in bands and not writing enough. Her body of work includes some ratty folders of poetry from the 90’s, several pieces of short fiction, and many years’ worth of journals. Mainly a prose writer, her work is usually autobiographical and focuses on mental health, love and poverty. She is currently writing a book of short essays about her life.

Karla Lamb’s work has appeared in Word Riot, Brooklyn-based A Women’s Thing Magazine, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Pittsburgh City Paper, Runaway Hotel, and Voices from the Attic Vol. XIX. Lamb is a current MFA candidate in Carlow University’s Creative Writing program, and is currently working on her full length manuscript. She edits for After Happy Hour Review, and curates DOUBLE MIRЯOR EXHIBIT in Pittsburgh, PA.

Jason Preu writes while not living in Brooklyn. He is the author of a number of sonnets about your mom. His last book of poems was about fruit and God. It is titled The Avocado Among Other Fruits (Spartan Press, 2016). His next book of poems is about more than fruit and God. It is about wizards…and being awesome…and sadness. That book is titled More Poems About Purple Wizards and Our Neon Bright Exceptionalism (39 West Press, 2017). You may stalk Jason online at jasonpreu.com.