The Lower Forty-Eight CP review & Menesini performance video

The Lower Forty-Eight was reviewed in this week’s City Paper! & here’s a fun video of John Menesini performing at last month’s Karl Hendricks benefit.

10/10 Imagination Motel & All That Yellow by Chuck Kinder launch party @ Modern Formations

FRIDAY, October 10th…

In the unlikely event the poems aren’t your bag, you will at least get some good popcorn & a condom. What other poetry reading can you say that about?

 

9/27 Karl Hendricks Literary Benefit @ Modern Formations

TONIGHT…

9/26 Yield to the Willow by Don Wentworth Launch Party @ Modern Formations

THIS FRIDAY…

5/15 The New Yinzer Presents @ Modern Formations

THIS THURSDAY at 8PM,

Angele Ellis, Mike Knapps, John Korn & Kelly Scarff will close out the spring season.

4/17 The New Yinzer Presents @ Modern Formations

TOMORROW at 8PM, Jason Baldinger (whose new Six Gallery book The Lower Forty-Eight comes out in June), Stephanie Brea, Andrea Laurion & Bob Walicki will regale you with their words.

4/15 2nd Annual Rahnd Table Reading @ Modern Formations

THIS TUESDAY at 8, drop by MoFo for the 2nd Annual Rahnd Table Reading.

Words by Elizabeth Abeling, Joseph Castellano, Nathan Kukulski, Olivia Mancing, Hank Morris, Daniel Parme, Jessica Simms & Brendan Sullivan. Food by Sonoma Grille. Booze by whomever brings it (maybe you). FREE!

 

 

2/8 A Confluence of Poets @ Modern Formations

This is happening in ONE WEEK:

UPDATE 2/6

From City Paper‘s Short List:

Tonight, Pittsburgh’s singular Lilliput Review puts poetry on the map — or maybe makes a map out of poetry — with A Confluence of Poets. The reading at ModernFormations Gallery spotlights poets from six cities, with a Rust Belt focus. Readers include: Sara Ries, of Buffalo; Chuck Joy (Erie); Diane Borsenik and John Burroughs (Cleveland); Ally Malinenko and John Grochalski (New York City); Maggie Glover (San Francisco); and Heather McNaugher, Kristofer Collins and Lilliput’s own Don Wentworth (Pittsburgh). BO 8 p.m. 4919 Penn Ave., Garfield. $5 or covered dish.

1/31 “How the Potato Chip Was Invented” Book Release Party @ Modern Formations

Next Friday at 8 PM, a FREE event:

Daniel M. Shapiro invites you to celebrate the release of his first full-length book of poems. Special guest readers will include Nikki Allen, Jason Baldinger, Margaret Bashaar, Lori Jakiela, and Brian Mihok. Food and drinks will be provided.

 

12/23 The Librarian/River Underneath the City Release Party @ Modern Formations

Next Monday, TWO books are being released at ONCE! This is the “Best of Culture” according to Pittsburgh Magazine, whatever that says about our culture:

Book-release parties are always a blast. The author is noticeably excited and flushed, having seen years of toil on a project come to fruition. That feeling is contagious, as audiences universally catch the bug and get in the spirit. Join John Grochalski, author of The Librarian, and Scott Silsbe, who penned the poetry collection The River Underneath the City, as they share excerpts from their newly published works. Taylor Grieshober and Jason Irwin also will be reading at this shindig.

[ModernFormations Gallery, 4919 Penn Ave., Garfield; modernformations.com]

& here’s the Bookface, with a festive flyer by the great Paulette Poullet:

11/21 The New Yinzer Presents @ Modern Formations

Last one of the year is THIS THURSDAY:

Don’t miss out on our last reading of the 2013 season this Thursday, November 21, at Modern Formations. It’s going to be a fantastic finale! 

As always, admission is $5 or free with pot luck contribution. Proudly sponsored by Mellingers Beer Distributor. BYOB encouraged. 

 

When: Thursday, NOVEMBER 21

Where: Modern Formations, 4919 Penn Ave. (in Garfield) 

Time: 8PM

And now, a little bit about our stellar readers:

Raiona Gaydos grew up in a Brooklyn soap-factory-turned-performance-space that, on weekend nights, was commandeered by street poets, topless drummers, and white-faced Butoh dancers who used her childhood lair as their dressing room. When a radio interviewer asked her at eight years old how she felt about all of this, she is reported to have said, “I’m gonna be really weird when I grow up.” She was right. She has studied at the New School in New York City, lived in Paris, and is now back in her birth-town of Pittsburgh running “B.E. Literary” events and publications at Biddle’s Escape. She has finally started to edit and share some of the things she’s been writing over the years.

Julie Ann Cook, of Rock Hill, SC, is a happily married, joyfully outnumbered mother of five boys, two who were stillborn. Between assisting in living room railroad construction and addressing concerns of who would win in a fight between Megatron and Iron Man, Julie is an author, artist, and webmaster. With her mom and dad having been raised in the Pittsburgh area (Carrick and Kennedy Township respectively), Julie grew up in Beaver County until she flew south for college in 1998. A graduate of Winthrop University, Julie has been published in various venues, including Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets, Iodine Poetry Journal, moonShine review, MaMaZina.com, and The Wolf. She is celebrating the release of her inaugural poetry book, Love Like Weeds, (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, October 2013).

Kelcey Parker’s first book, For Sale By Owner (Kore Press), won the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award in Short Fiction and was a Finalist for the 2012 Best Books of Indiana. She directs the creative writing program at Indiana University South Bend. During the summer of 2012, she worked as an Ask-Me Guide at Fallingwater, where she asked as many questions as she answered, helped visitors get the perfect photo of Fallingwater, and always kept an eye out for Liliane’s ghost. Visit Kelcey’s website.

Paula Martinac is the author of three published novels, including the Lambda Literary Award-winning Out of Time, which was recently re-released as an e-book. She has also published three nonfiction books on lesbian and gay culture and politics, and numerous articles, essays and short stories. Her plays have had productions with Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Source, the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, No Name Players, and others. Find out more about her writing atwww.paulamartinac.com.