11/19 The New Yinzer Presents @ ModernFormations

THIS THURSDAY…

Please join us at ModernFormations Gallery on Thursday, 11/19, for the last TNY Presents reading held at MoFo. The readers will be Morgan Eldridge, Danielle Gagliano, Nathan Kukulski, Kinsley Stocum, and Richard Wehrenberg

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

When: Thursday, November 19th, 8pm
Where: ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Ave. (in Garfield)

Also, pre-game drinks at Lou’s Little Corner Bar at 6:30!

 

11/7 How to Be an American & Love Songs from Flood City launch party @ ModernFormations

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 8PM…

Here are some nice things people said about How to Be an American:

The poems in How to Be an American strike the chords of conversations we should be having, should have already had and resolved, or conversations that should be irrelevant. In this generation’s remake of democracy, Malinenko’s book is an incendiary device.
—Jason Baldinger, author of The Lower Forty-Eight

Ally Malinenko is the embodiment of what E.L. Doctorow meant when he said we need writers because we need witnesses to this terrifying century. In How to Be an American, she dissects the American dream and breaks it down to its petri-dish truths. Malinenko’s America is a country that exports ignorance and consumerism, where the greatest embarrassment is to be poor, vulnerable, and in need. In a voice as direct and unstoppable as an ambulance, Malinenko paints a raw, visceral, and essential portrait of a country without pity, without compassion, and makes the need for change feel like the emergency it is.
—Lori Jakiela, author of Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe

Ally Malinenko has an exceptional ability to observe life and write honestly. She is an absolute treasure.
—Moriah LaChapell, editor of The Blue Hour

This is a devastating book that reads as the polar opposite of Walt Whitman—here, the speaker does not see herself of them, these demented Americans. Here, the speaker rises up and says to the Bible and all its believers, to the box stores and all their consumers, to the patriots and all their patriotism, “Absolutely not.” The country inside these pages is lit up like a Walmart commercial and packed with the same ugliness that makes minimum wage unlivable and bargain shoppers unbearable. The loudest voices are all dressed up in stars-and-stripes bikinis, shouting about how great it is to be red-white-and-blue, while the rest of us rape and kill and need a drink to stand the sights. Here are poems that say, “Enough,” that say, “Quit insulting the world.” Watch out, America. Ally Malinenko’s poems are dodgeballs and she’s throwing them at your head.
—Dave Newman, author of The Poem Factory

How to Be an American is a how-to guide without instructions. This book is brave, bold, and honest—a fucking atom bomb to the political and personal poetry scenes.
—Ben John Smith, editor of Horror Sleaze and Trash

It ain’t pretty and it ain’t poesy, at least the way most Americans think of poesy, thank you, Jesus. And it ain’t political, except in the larger sense of human-ness, of flaming outrage, and of deeply longed for compassion. Simply put, this is Ally Malinenko’s incisive deconstruction of many a fetid cranny and nook of the collective American psyche. Pilgrim, save yourself: read it now.
—Don Wentworth, editor of Lilliput Review

Matcho’s Love Songs from Flood City (Low Ghost) is pretty good too, BTW.

Eat, drink, listen to poems, yak w/ the authors, buy the books—one of the last chances you’ll have to do any of this at ModernFormations!

 

10/27 After Happy Hour Review launch @ ModernFormations

NEXT TUESDAY…

9/12 A Writer Rodeo @ ModernFormations; 9/13 I Don’t Know What I Would Do If I Couldn’t Speak My Mind @ City of Asylum Pittsburgh

THIS WEEKEND…

11:00 AM-11:10 AM Aubrey Baker

11:10 AM- 11:20 AM Joshua Bellin

11:20 AM-11:30 AM Wendy Scott

11:30 AM-11:40 AM Judith Dorian

11:40 AM-11:50 AM Julie Cecchini

11:50 AM-12:00 PM Sarah Williams-Devereux

12:00 PM- 12:10 PM Angele Ellis

12:10 PM-12:20 PM Bonita Lee Penn

12:20 PM-12:30 PM Malcolm Friend

12:30 PM-12:40 PM Sheila Kelly

12:40 PM-12:50 PM Jay Carson

12:50 PM-1:00 PM Arlene Weiner

1:00 PM-1:10 PM Barbara Dahlberg

1:10 PM- 1:20 PM Michael Albright

1:20 PM- 1:30 PM Kris Collins

1:30 PM- 1:40 PM Ann Curran

1:40 PM-1:50 PM E.B. Bortz

1:50- 2:00 PM Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

2:00 PM- 2:10 PM Kath Donnelly

2:10 PM-2:20 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:20 PM- 2:30 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:30 PM- 2:40 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:40 PM-2:50 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:50 PM-3:00 PM Jessica Server

3:00 PM-3:10 PM Joanne Samreny

3:10 PM- 3:20 PM Dakota Garilli

3:20 PM-3:30 PM R.J. Gibson

3:30 PM-3:40 PM Kelly Andrews

3:40 PM-3:50 PM Don Wentworth

3:50 PM-4:00 PM Stephen Pusateri

4:00 PM-4:10 PM Jean Croyle

4:10 PM-4:20 PM Jen Ashburn

4:20 PM-4:30 PM Jason Irwin

4:30 PM-4:40 PM City of Asylum

4:40 PM-4:50 PM City of Asylum

4:50 PM-5:00 PM City of Asylum

5/21 TNY Presents @ ModernFormations

TOMORROW…

Two local comics artists help close out the season for the TNY Presents reading series. One of them is Daniel McCloskey, known for founding the Cyberpunk Apocalypse writers’ residency, but a prolific artist and writer in his own right. He’ll present the fifth installment in his original series America’s Lesser Known Predators, each written specifically for a local reading event. McCloskey is joined at ModernFormations Gallery by comics artist Nils Balls and writers Caitlin Bender and Adrienne Jouver. BO 8 p.m. 4919 Penn Ave., Garfield. $5 (free with potluck contribution). www.modernformations.com

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/short-list-may-20-26/Content?oid=1826978

 

4/24 Roberta Beary & Don Wentworth @ Classic Lines, Adjunct Open Mic @ ModernFormations

TONIGHT at 7…

Award winning poet Roberta Beary was born and raised in New York City. In 1990 she moved to Japan for five years of haiku study. Her individual poems, an unconventional hybrid of haiku and senryu, have been honored throughout North America, Europe and Asia for their innovative style. Her book of short poems, The Unworn Necklace, Snapshot Press, 2007, selected as a William Carlos Williams Book Award finalist (Poetry Society of America), was named a Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award prize winner. Her latest books are Deflection (Accents Publishing 2015) and fresh paint (Red Moon Press, 2014). She and her husband, writer Frank Stella, live near Washington, DC.

Don Wentworth is a Pittsburgh-based poet whose work reflects his interest in the revelatory nature of brief, haiku-like moments in everyday life. His first full-length collection, Past All Traps, was published in 2011 by Six Gallery Press and was shortlisted for the Haiku Foundation’s 2011 Touchstone Distinguished Books Award. His second book, Yield to the Willow, was published by Six Gallery Press in 2014.

ALSO TONIGHT…

If you can’t open the Fascbook event, Jason Baldinger has the scoop:

It’s an open mic for adjuncts and allies starting at 8 at Modern Formations. An end of the semester celebration.

2/19 TNY Presents @ ModernFormations

TONIGHT at 8PM…

Dear Friends,

Please join us at ModernFormations Gallery tonight, for the first 2015 installment of our TNY Presents reading series. This month features Rich Gegick, Karen Lillis, Erin Oh, Jude Vachon, and special guest Andy Hoffman.

 

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

When: Tonight (Thursday, February 19th), 8pm
Where: Modern Formations, 4919 Penn Ave. (in Garfield)

https://www.facebook.com/events/436493913186616/440062469496427

Also, pre-game drinks at Lou’s Little Corner Bar at 6:30!

ABOUT THE READERS:

 

Richard L. Gegick is from Trafford. He writes and waits tables for a living.

 

Karen Lillis was born in Washington, DC during the Vietnam War and has lived in Virginia, Texas, New York, Paris, and Pittsburgh. She is the author of four short novels, including “Watch the Doors As They Close” (Spuyten Duyvil, 2012) and “The Second Elizabeth” (Six Gallery Press, 2009). She was a writer in residence at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, a regular contributor to the anti-war/poetry newspaper New York Nights after 2001, and once wrote a short story on the side of a freight train. In 2014 her fiction was recognized with an Acker Award for Avant Garde Excellence. She runs Small Press Roulette, an indie bookselling service.

 

Erin Oh grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in Canada for eight years where she studied the sociology of education. She has worked as a union organizer, researcher, video instructor, and workshop facilitator. Erin is currently interested in growing community around feminist, anti-racist parenting. Her favorite books are “Just Kids” and “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.”

 

Jude Vachon lives in Pittsburgh with a pack that includes a beagle and a cat. She works as a librarian, which unfortunately does not mean that she sits around and reads all day.

 

Andy Hoffman knew from an early age he’d make a lousy woman. Every time he looked at himself, he thought, “I hope I never produce a bunch of estrogen.” One Summer, he dropped everything and drove to Alaska to work in a fish cannery. He’s lived in Pittsburgh far too long and works as a web developer at IBM.

Hope to see you there!

The New Yinzer

11/22 Little as Living launch @ ModernFormations

THIS SATURDAY…

11/20 The New Yinzer Presents @ Modern Formations

THIS THURSDAY…

Please join us at ModernFormations Gallery on Thursday 11/20, for the last 2014 installment of our TNY Presents reading series. This month features Christina Ailor, Caitlin Crawford, Scott Silsbe, Stefanie Wielkopolan, Laura Zurowski

As always, admission is $5 or free with pot luck contribution. Proudly sponsored by Mellingers Beer Distributor. BYOB encouraged. When: Thursday, November 20th, 8pm
Where: ModernFormations, 4919 Penn Ave. (in Garfield)Also, pre-game drinks at Lou’s Little Corner Bar at 6:30!

ABOUT THE READERS:

Christina Ailor lives in Carnegie with her roommate’s cat. She is a member of the Hour After Happy Hour Writing Workshop and an editor of the After Happy Hour Review. She writes future speculation fiction, love poems to television series, and is currently working on a web series about long distance relationships.Her favorite use of her political science degree is to write letters of complaint to elected and appointed officials.

Caitlin Crawford is the proprietor of Belleville, an arts and performance space in Wilkinsburg. There she lives with Steve and Lucifer, her two cats, and ample amounts of whiskey. She spends most of her time dancing with an amazing group of smart, talented and gorgeous friends, who help keep her feet on the ground.

Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit. He now lives in Pittsburgh, where he sells books, makes music with friends, and writes. His poems have recently appeared in Nerve Cowboy, Words Dance, the Cultural Weekly, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Six Gallery Press published his book Unattended Fire in 2012 and Low Ghost published The River Underneath the City in 2013.

Stefanie Wielkopolan is a Michigan poet that keeps moving back to Pittsburgh. Up until the age of eight, she spent every Saturday watching cartoons at a bowling alley bar. She credits this experience for her love of a good dive bar, people watching, and writing poetry. Her first collection of poetry, “Border Theory,” was published by Black Coffee Press in 2011. She currently teaches students ages 2-82 in the Pittsburgh region.

and

Laura Zurowski of Lovelorn Poets. Lovelorn Poets celebrates the beauty of written language found on missed connections websites all over the country – love letters, missives of regret, poems, and crazy rants. This literary blog strives to preserve and publish the best writing posted to Craigslist’s Missed Connections and curate an ever-growing collection of the passions, thoughts, and romantic encounters found there. Faceless, nameless (typically), and devoid of most context, these writers and their words are fleeting in nature and seen by few – until now.