5/14 Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books

Why not? This Saturday, May 14, from 10 AM to 5 PM is this book fest in East Liberty. Six Gallery authors will be there, reading from their works, which will also be available at the book fair table we’ll most likely be sharing w/ pals from After Happy Hour.

11:45 AM at the Poetry Tent in Bakery Square (LOL), catch Angele Ellis (Arab on Radar, Under the Kaufmann’s Clock) & Don Wentworth (Past All Traps, Yield to the Willow, With a Deepening Presence).

Then, at 1:00 PM in the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, catch Paola Corso (Vertical Bridges), sharing the stage (or altar) w/ Sharon Dilworth. Register on Eventbrite to make sure you get a seat for this one.

There are all sorts of other events, readings, & whatnot throughout the day, including a puppet show at 10 AM & a jazz set by the excellent Deanna Witkowski Trio at 5 PM (also prob. a good idea to register).

So drop by if you’re not at Pittonkatonk or doing something else!

The Old Year & the New

So, 2014 was a year. A good one in that The Lower Forty-Eight by Jason Baldinger, Yield to the Willow by Don Wentworth, Imagination Motel by Chuck Kinder, &, most recently, the blue 2nd edition of A Film About Billy by Daniel McCloskey saw the light of print; & a devastating one in that we lost a luminary, Victor Navarro, on June 30.

On the slate for 2015 is a follow-up to Victor’s collection Short Works, which he asked demanded be released immediately the day before his death, but which will actually be released on June 30 of next year. Juggling as fast as I can here, Vic!

Gloom Hearts & Opioids, a new collection of poems by John Thomas Menesini, who will also be in town at the end of January to perform at at least two readings.

Hungry by Daniel Parme, a self-published novel which has recently been worked over by two editors & given a polish by the author.

The Apartment Building by Joe Musso, a bizarre novel about the inhabitants of, yes, an apartment building.

An untitled collection of poems by Stephanie Brea, whenever she’s done fiddling with it.

Aaand, in all likelihood, several other books from the back burner. Stay tuned & happy New Year!

Don Wentworth Noise & Silence Interview

Yes, this is some old shit, but I was just clued in to it by a Joan Bauer email & Don’s book launch is tomorrow, so…

Back in the summer of 1989, I was just beginning to send poems out into the small press poetry world and heard about a little magazine that had just printed its first issue called Lilliput Review, edited by Don Wentworth.  The actual size of the magazine (4.25” X 3.5”) reflected both its name and focus.  The submission guidelines asked for poems of ten lines or less.  Curious, I sent off a buck or two and received a copy in the mail.

I’ve been reading it ever since.

Do you REALLY care about poetry? Come to the launch tomorrow! There will be NINE fucking readers, all reading briefly, so in the unlikely event you don’t like one, there will be EIGHT more, plus whatever weird booze & food people bring…

Why do you think you’re so attracted to the short form?

The story of my attraction to the short form is a simple one. I returned to writing poetry around the age of 30 for a variety of life-inspired reasons. I wrote lots of work in what was, and still is, a fairly standard free verse lyric form of 20 to 36 lines or so, some a bit shorter, some a bit longer. A close friend at the time, a musician/song writer, who was the only one paying any attention to what I was doing and who was not a poet, simply said your short stuff is your best work, the rest is crap. At the time, Rolling Stone was using very brief works as column filler in their album review section at the end of every issue and my friend urged me to send them poems. Naively, I did. And, amazingly, the work was accepted. That was the beginning.

“Interview with Small Press Legend Don Wentworth (Editor of Lilliput Review and author of Past All Traps)” by Christien Gholson, Noise & Silence

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

THIS FRIDAY…

7/11 Friday Night Writes feat. Don Wentworth @ Poets’ Hall

THIS FRIDAY at 9:05ish, Don Wentworth will perform at Poets’ Hall in Erie. Copies of his new collection Yield to the Willow will be available!

The official Yield to the Willow launch will be September 26 at Modern Formations. More details soon…

Bloomsday Anniversary

It’s Bloomsday again, which means this blog has existed for one year! 98 posts (not including 4 I deleted) & counting – a busy year indeed for Six Gallery scribblers.

Hard Times Blues by Elwin Cotman

To Die Next to You by Rodger Kamenetz & Michael Hafftka

Sea of Dust by Kevin Finn

The Librarian by John Grochalski

&

The Lower Forty-Eight by Jason Baldinger

all came out during that time. Here are some quick updates regarding forthcoming books:

Yield to the Willow, the second collection by haiku master Don Wentworth, will have a soft release in July, so it’ll be available at Pittsburgh book stores & on Scamazon, if supporting corporate oppression is your bag. For Real release in the fall sometime.

We Are The… by “Sneaky” Mike Lubbert will be out in time for the 3rd anniversary of Occupy. Good Christ, that’s September 17th.

Imagination Motel, a collection of poetry by legendary novelist & edumacator Chuck Kinder, will exist & have some kind of legendary release party October 8.

Light on Yoga & Psychedelics by yoga master & psychonaut Alan Lowenschuss will manifest also this year, ASAP, as will

Hungry by Daniel Parme,

Gloom Hearts & Opioids by John Thomas Menesini

&

a currently untitled collection by local poet Stephanie Brea.

…

 

4/27 Traveling Souls Closing Exhibition @ Percolate

TODAY at 5PM in scenic Wilkinsburg,

Don Wentworth reads from his forthcoming collection Yield to the Willow & Bob Ziller reads from his translation of Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo’s Almost Dreams. Visual art by Ziller & Samir Elsabee, belly dancing by Jemeena.