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dateline: Chicago, April 2006

e-poets.net spotlights affairs in the language arts for April 2006...

jump to: poetry in video | poetry in print | e-literature | local Chicago events | links we like

in the greater sphere of poetry...

Karimi scores big in grants, interdisciplinary works

Good news for e-poets contributor Robert Karimi: He has just received the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for New Performance Forms for 2006. The grant will help him to work on original performances and develop new material for the rest of 2006 and into 2007.

Karimi also received a grant from the City of Chicago and a National Performance Network Creation Fund to work on a solo and group version of "Cooking Con Karimi", a show with a leftist chef who dreams of being Iron Chef Fusion and uses his cooking spoon to change the world. The chef, El Mero Cocinero, will be cooking in people’s homes, theaters, and other community locations around the nation, sharing his revolutionary recipes and recipes for revolution.

Adding to the interdisciplinary mix, Karimi was also featured 13 April at Columbia College's Glass Curtain Gallery, in a show called Lo Romantico that will remain up through 5 May. His contribution, yo = tu: reclamando mi zero, is billed as, "a live visual performance utilizing open source." Citing Karimi:

"This is a live visual performance mural to reclaim the mathematical symbols from my calculus past and to explore my Mayan and Persian ancestry’s connection to these symbols. These symbols I use as a point of departure to intertwine mathematics, Martin Buber’s I and Thou, identity construction and representation. These symbols are the hieroglyphics of my spiritual quest of identity. Language is a code of this quest, and we use this code to construct our world around us, I wish to find what are the formulas and graphical representation of this relationship between the code and the quest.

"This is about how we create our language, our culture, our spirituality based on the interactions we have with the variety of inputs around us.

"This is my visual representation of sampled consciousness, an idea borrowed from hiphop, where identity is negotiated, that we sample, blend, fade in and fade out the various subcultures and experiences we come into contact to create self.

"We are living convergences in relation with all the living things around us. We are part of a process of continuity. We remix and remix so that we are in relation with the ethereal and physical parts of our existence. We seek balance, duende, zero."

e-poets.net congratulates Robert Karimi on his continuing success and recognition.

The Lo Romantico exhibition is on display 7 April through 5 May 2006 at Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash Avenue, 1st floor, Chicago. (South Loop district). For more information about the show, click to the Galería Polvo info page. This program is funded by the Latino Cultural Affairs Office of Columbia College Chicago. You can audition Robert Karimi's work on e-poets.net in the Book of Voices.

health care issues for writers and artists in NYC: 6 May

Are you a working artist dealing with healthcare issues? Want to testify and share your experience?

Members of the Creative Community from all disciplines of the arts have joined forces to organize a Citizens/Congressional Hearing on Healthcare for Artists. Artists are being encouraged to organize and come out on May 6th to give their personal testimonies about the lack of health care before Congressman Conyers, Councilmember Charles Barrone, and a panel of other elected officials, artist and community activist.

Congressional Hearing with Congressman Conyers on Healthcare for all. 6 May, 2006, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St., Brooklyn. Joining him will be New York City Councilmember Charles Barron. Partners: Musicians Union - Local 802, Fractured Atlas, The Actor's Fund, Healthcare-NOW!, FEVA, The Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for a National Health Care Program, the Alliance of African American Artists, Pierogi Gallery, ENABLE Passion, Harlem Tenant Council, Rattapallax, Healthcare-NOW!, Art Without Walls & Acts of Art Email us at actsart@gmail.com or Ms. Mae Jackson at 718-852-879.

source: Ram Devineni, publisher, Rattapallax

2nd New York Round Table Writers' Conference, 28-29 April

The second installment of the New York Round Table Writers’ Conference occurs 28-29 April, 2006. If features a first-rate lineup of confirmed speakers. In addition, there are several just-for-fun events scheduled in between sixteen (count ‘em, sixteen) panels, including a cocktail party, a gala dinner featuring keynote speaker Jonathan Ames, and a special performance presented by Bowery Poetry Club.

Attracting writers of all levels from beginner to seasoned professional, the New York Round Table Writers' Conference provides access to the nation's leading literary figures, including editors, agents, publicists, reviewers, bestselling authors and publishers, speaking on the business and career of writing. The conference is in a unique position, being located in New York, the literary capital of the United States, to bring publishing professionals together to discuss the promises and pitfalls of the writing life.

• Authors scheduled to speak include Jonathan Ames (Wake Up, Sir!), Sean Wilsey (Oh, The Glory of It All), Kevin Baker (Strivers Row), Greg Godek (1001 Ways to Be Romantic), Relentless Aaron (To Live & Die In Harlem).
• Focus on Children’s Literature featuring authors Bennett Madison, Paul Dubois Jacobs and Eric Suben and author/illustrator David Ezra Stein
• Special poetry performance sponsored by Bowery Poetry Club
• Organizations confirmed to take part include CBS 2, FOX 5, Time Magazine, The New York Times, Random House, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Viking Press, Trident Media Group, iUniverse, The Smoking Gun.com, New York Daily News, Village Voice, National Writers Union, Gotham Writers’ Workshop, Slate.com, Black Issues Book Review, James Fitzgerald Agency, Salon.com, Black Book, GQ, Poets & Writers, Hannacroix Creek Press, Mediabistro.com, Fence, Rattapallax Press, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Riverhead Books, Ecco Press, New Partisan.com, PMA Literary and Film Management, Writers House, n+1, Open City, NYU Summer Publishing Institute and Pace University MS in Publishing Program.

The Round Table is sponsored by the Small Press Center, and will be held at the historic General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Library at 20 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan on Friday and Saturday, April 28-29, 2006. Prices for the conference are a very reasonable $325 for two days and $225 for one day. For additional information and to register, visit writersconferencenyc.org or call 212-764-7021. Out-of-town attendees may consult the conference web site for a list of recommended hotels.

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poetry in video...

See The Voice:
Visible Verse 2006 calls for videos

Pacific Cinémathèque and curator Heather Haley have opened a call for videopoems from around the world for the annual Visible Verse screening and performance poetry celebration. Visible Verse is North America's sustaining venue for the presentation of new and artistically significant videopoetry.

Official guidelines:

• Visible Verse seeks videopoems, with a 15 minutes maximum duration.
• Either official language of Canada is acceptable, though if the video is in French, an English-dubbed or-subtitled version is required for consideration. Videos may originate in any part of the world, however.
• Pieces will be judged on true literary merit. The ideal videopoem is a wedding of word and image, the voice seen as well as heard.
• Please, do not send documentaries, as they are outside the featured genre.
• Videopoem producers should provide a brief bio, full name, and contact information in a cover letter. There is no official application form nor entry fee.
• Submission deadline is 1 September, 2006.

Send, at your own risk, videopoems and poetry films/preview copies (which cannot be returned) in DVD format to: VISIBLE VERSE c/o Pacific Cinémathèque, 200--1131 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2L7, Canada. Selected artists will be notified by 1 October, 2006 and receive a screening fee. For more information contact Heather Haley at: heatherhaley.com or by e-mail.

The 3rd ZEBRA Poetry Film Award:
call for entries closes 15 June

"On your marks, get set, go!" (Or possibly, "On your Euros, get set, go!") But seriously, Zebra is the biggest of poetry video showcase in the world. And this is the call for entries.

"So entertaining that even people who think poetry is the absolute pits can't help but fall under the spell of this event", is what the Berliner Zeitung wrote about the last Zebra Poetry Film Award. It was an enormous success: over 800 films came from 57 countries, a sign that the poetry film is enjoying growing popularity worldwide.

Apply now! Together with interfilm berlin the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin is now calling for submissions for the 3rd Zebra Poetry Film Award. The deadline for receiving entries is 15 June 2006. From 11 to 14 October 2006 an international jury will decide the winner of the 3rd Zebra Poetry Film Award, whose total prize money amounts to 10,000 euros. The registration form and rules of entry are at: zebra-award.org.

The Zebra Poetry Film Award has established itself as the largest forum for the international poetry film and offers filmmakers from around the world the opportunity to exchange ideas and define positions. The Zebra Poetry Film Award offers a platform for a dynamic genre within the short film, a genre which has developed into an independent art form somewhere between literature, film and new media. Various special programs, an international colloquium and a comprehensive retrospective complete the 3rd Zebra Poetry Film Award.

The ZEBRA Poetry Film Award is a project of the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin together with interfilm berlin, and gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) and the Goethe Institute. For more information, call (Berlin) telephone: [+49. 30] 48 52 45-24 Fax: [+49. 30] 48 52 45-30. Or e-mail: nitzsche@literaturwerkstatt.org, or click into literaturwerkstatt.org, lyrikline.org, or poesiefestival.org/.

other potential venues for poetry video...

entry deadline: 28 April 2006
the 18th Onion City Experimental Film & Video Festival

Your film or video entry, accompanied by a signed entry form and entry fee (for US entrants; free for international entrants) must arrive at our office by 5:00 PM, 28 April, 2006. Send to: Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St., 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60640.

US entrants: Please enclose a non-refundable entry fee (check or money order in US Dollars only) for each entry, made payable to "Chicago Filmmakers." $25 for the first entry and $5 for each additional entry by the same entrant. For more about the host organization, click to chicagofilmmakers.org.

entry deadline: 20 May 2006
Ravenreel Film Festival

The Ravenreel Film Festival is currently accepting submissions, from Pacific Northwest and Seattle area film makers, in an eclectic variety of categories that include: illustration, documentaries, music videos, environmental global issues, films by youth, and more. You can read more Festival information available online. Films will be shown in three acts, under one roof, in the 150-seat Thelma Dewitty Theater. Proceeds will benefit the Youngstown Cultural Arts.

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poetry in print...

Tianguis: published authors read on 22 April and 19 May

Saturday, 22 April at 3:00 PM
PAUL MARTINEZ-POMPA will read from his recently published chapbook, Pepper Spray which features this forward by Luis J. Rodriguez:

"Paul Martinez Pompa's poems sizzle like Chicago on a sticky August night [...] Paul's longer poems are walking stories-some have wheels on them. His shorter ones are the quick punches of a young and talented boxer whose ring is the white blank page [...] You can go through hundreds of contemporary poems written today and not find any crawling this terrain [...] don't just read them once. Visit them several times. Some come at you sideways. When you least expect it. Sucker punching their way to existence..."

Friday, 19 May at 7:00 PM
Reading by New York poet Lidia Torres the author of A Weakness for Boleros. Lidia Torres will be doing other readings while she is in Chicago, including the Palabra Pura event on Wednesday, 17 May at the California Clipper.

At Cafe Mestizo / Tianguis Bookstore, 1646 W 18th Street, Chicago (Pilsen/Little Village neighborhood), just one block west of Ashland Avenue, and a few steps away from the 18th street CTA Blue Line stop. For event details visit: tianguis.biz.

Maureen Flannery subject of book circle in Andersonville

"Ancestors in the Landscape: Poems of a Rancher's Daughter" by Maureen Flannery will be the subject of the monthly book discussion at Women and Children First Bookstore at 5233 North Clark St. on Tuesday, 18 April from 7:30 to 9:00 PM.

Look also for Ms. Flannery appearing as a featured reader along with Susan Moss at Café Express on Dempster in Evanston on Saturday, 20 May, and then at Café Express at 500 Main in Evanston 7:00 Friday, 26 May. Both Café Express events include an open mic.

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in electronic lit'...

Blithe House Quarterly seeks new staff

Blithe House Quarterly : queer fiction lives here (http://www.blithe.com/) seeks a responsible, skilled volunteer to handle the web publishing needs of BHQ on an ongoing basis starting on May 1st, 2006. This volunteer position carries the title and a front cover credit of Associate Publisher and requires between 10 to 20 hours of work every three months.

This is a high-skills but fun-based volunteer assignment suitable to anyone who both loves queer fiction and web publishing and wants to work for one of the most visible and long-standing literary magazines on the web.

The web publishing Associate Publisher volunteer is responsible for the following:

• Taking word processing files of short stories and translating them into error- and junk-free HTML code that accurately represents the original paragraphing, italics, etc, of the short story manuscript.
• Pasting/coding the text of the short stories into pre-designed HTML page layouts.
• Updating the design of informational/utility pages whose content doesn't change from issue to issue (like the submission guidelines) to match pre-designed HTML page layouts.
• Updating the design of the "Books by BHQ authors" pages and adding new titles every season.
• Designing/pasting banner ads for the "Books by BHQ authors" pages on other site pages.
• Making sure the site architecture and link structure works correctly.

Eventually, the web publishing Associate Publisher can expand his/her/hir responsibilities into the area of graphic design and/or team up with the publicity Associate Publisher and the Publisher to design and execute ways for expanding and maintaining traffic to the site. The web publishing Associate Publisher is also free to create/manage new web publishing projects that fit/expand the site's charter, such as, say, managing/producing a podcast of BHQ authors reading from their short stories.

As BHQ is a web-enabled electronic publication, we encourage English-speaking applicants from any country who can handle communications and responsibilities electronically. (Previous and current staff members have lived in Chicago, Boston, L.A., N.Y.C., S.F., Vancouver, Tokyo and London over the last ten years so location is not an issue.) To apply for the web publishing Associate Publisher position, please contact Aldo Alvarez, Executive Editor and Publisher of Blithe House Quarterly : queer fiction lives here, at adalvarez@aol.com. Please include a short bio and a resume with contact information. You do not have to be a literary professional to apply but web publishing experience and skills are most definitely required.

For more info, click Blithe House Quarterly : queer fiction lives here

ShortDocs: The Third Coast Festival
seeks audio artworks & narratives

e-poets.net readers -- or should we say listeners? -- are very familiar with the blend between spoken word, poetry, narrative, and the audio arts. Chicago has a particularly strong public radio station that features work in this very sphere as a part of their weekly broadcast schedule. The Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCF) has been serving listeners through their radios, and in theaters and galleries for a few years now. The TCF's programs continue to impress, year after year.

Audiopoetry artists may be particularly well-adapted to this year's call for contributions, which is why e-poets.net cites the Third Coast Festival's announcement below:

announcing the 2006 TCF ShortDocs:
99 WAYS TO TELL A RADIO STORY

This year's ShortDocs are taking shape as a "radio experiment" - 99 Ways to Tell a Radio Story. Here's the deal: we'll provide an opening sentence and descriptions of three sounds; you'll give us a 2min 30 sec audio piece including all of that in return. 99 Ways aims to explore radio's potential and is open for anyone and everyone to participate. We hope you will.

Our goal this year is to collect 99 (or more) different stories. We'll choose four from the pool of work that's submitted to be our 2006 ShortDocs. Producers whose submissions are chosen will be invited to attend the TCF Conference in October in Chicago (all expenses paid) and present their work there. The deadline for submissions is 8 September.

99 Ways to Tell a Radio Story is a collaboration with cartoonist Matt Madden, and inspired by the French literary group Oulipo.

Third Coast International Audio Festival. Phone 312-948-4682, send send e-mail, or click the the Festival site for more info.

source: TCF

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in Chicago's lit/arts community...

Entorno: artists respond to the (socio-cultural) environment

"ENTORNO: GRASS GROW S GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE" explores a united response to "environment" by re-examining Chicago’s architectural and physical spaces, public policies, political referendums and urban culture, moreover it tackles the dynamics of Chicago’s race and class structures. Artists, community activists and scholars will use different formats: installation, sculpture, video, photography, mixed media and painting. From comical satires to specific cultural examinations, the artistic responses have agency expressing the opinion and voice of exhibiting artists.

This exhibition is coordinated by Polvo's founders: Elvia Rodriguez-Ochoa, Miguel Cortez and Jesus Macarena-Avila, and includes a Butoh-inspired performance/installation work by Anida Esguerra called, "What is green?" Other featured presenters include D. Denenge Akpem, AREA Chicago, Amy Castaneda, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Naomi Martinez, Mess Hall, PERRO (Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization), and Bernard Williams.

28 April 2006, Opening reception from 6:00 to10:00 PM, with installations and performances at Galería Polvo, 1458 W. 18th Street 1R, Chicago, IL 60608 (Pilsen/Little Village). Phone 773-344-1940. Exhibit runs exhibit runs through 20 May 2006. For full info, click to polvo.org. This program is free and open to the public.

Woman Made Gallery, 26 April:
Size Matters

The Size Matters reading will be hosted by featured reader and Moon Journal Press editor Christine Swanberg. Diverse poets will join her to read poems 35 lines or less - small packages with a big punch. Featured readers include Jan Bottiglieri, Nina Corwin, Kathy Kubik, Margaret Dubay Mikus, and Phyllis Natanek.

Sunday 23 April at Woman Made Gallery, 685 N. Milwaukee Ave. (new location in River West, former Little Sicily neighborhood) Chicago. For full info on the host venue and its many programs, click to womanmade.org, or phone 312-738-0400.

Nicole Garneau on HEAT:05 -
making in situ performance and poetry

Throughout 2005, writer/performer Nicole Garneau created a performance piece each day. Poets in Chicago noticed her at the many open mics around the city. But her work was often created as public encounters, seemingly random acts of art perpetrated in spaces where any passers-by could watch or, if they chose and circumstances allowed, even participate. The aggregate of all these performances was titled HEAT:05.

Friday April 21, 7:00-8:30 PM
Public Dialogue: Making Public Art without Permission

It’s great to get a commission for a mural or site-specific installation. But in this dialogue, participants will look at how artists reclaim public space without official sanction. Explore how and why we make art that is legal or illegal, and how we talk to cops, audience members, and passers-by. Tonight’s talk will use as a jumping-off point the HEAT:05 events of January 30, 2005 or, "How Nicole got Busted Doing Beet Juice Painting on Frozen Lake Michigan."

Friday April 28. 7:00-8:30 PM
Public Dialogue: Themes, Materials, and Process in HEAT:05

HEAT:05 was initiated in order to publicly mark 10 years since the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster, in which 739 people died in a week. Nicole Garneau approached the practice of daily artmaking as a way of doing research; of exploring the content of the heat wave; of figuring out -- as she went -- how to commemorate this tragedy. The project unfolded in an organic way with the help, input, and collaboration of many people. Over the course of two evenings, the public can look back at the themes that emerged out of the year, the materials used, and the processes involved in making and documenting 365 performances in a year. If you missed any of HEAT:05, this will be an excellent opportunity to appreciate some of the scale, the joy, and the occasional heartbreak in rendering such an expansive series of performances.

HEAT:05 by Nicole Garneau, with public dialogues at Vespine Gallery, 1907 S. Halsted, Chicago (East Pilsen). During the month of April 2006, Vespine Gallery provides a space for the documentation of the HEAT:05. Vespine Gallery is an artist-run independent gallery providing intimate exhibition space for emerging artists. The exhibition is open from 7 April and continues through 29 April. Gallery hours are: Monday through Thursday, by appointment only; 4:00 to 9:00 PM Fridays, and 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Saturdays. Please call 312-962-5850 or click to the gallery's website for more information.

source: Nicole Garneau

Chicago Council on Foreign Relations presents Wole Soyinka, 20 April

Wole Soyinka -- author, poet, and 1986 Nobel Laureate for Literature -- will speak on “Navigating the Shoals of Oil and Power in Nigerian Politics” on 20 April before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

Oil-rich Nigeria, long troubled by political instability, corruption, and inadequate infrastructure, has now experienced the transition to civilian government following the adoption of a new constitution in 1999. It previously had nearly sixteen years of military rule, with both civilian rule and military rule alternating before that. The country has also struggled with longstanding ethnic and religious tensions.

Wole Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1986) and a political activist, has been in exile three times and marked for death on at least five separate occasions because of his opposition to dictatorship. A former political prisoner, he is now a voice for human rights, democracy, and freedom. Born in western Nigeria, he earned a doctorate in 1973 from the University of Leeds in England. Writing in English, Soyinka has published about twenty works of drama, novels, and poetry. He has been professor of comparative literature at the university in Ife since 1975 and has also taught at universities in Ibadan, Lagos, Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale. His memoir of his adult years, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, will be published by Random House in April and will be available for purchase and signing at the program.

Thursday, 20 April, 2006. 5:30 PM: Cash bar. 6:00 to 7:30 PM: lecture, discussion, and book signing. At the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605 (South Loop). For tickets, see the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations website. Questions? Phone 312-726-3860.

Danny's Series hikes to MCA for 18 April reading

On Tuesday, April 18th, The Danny's Reading Series takes a field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art to host poets Cole Swensen and Ed Roberson, as part of the ongoing 'Literary Gangs of Chicago' series presented by Weep.

Ed Roberson is the celebrated author of, most recently, City Eclogue; Voices Cast Out to Talk Us In, winner of the 1994 Iowa Poetry Prize, as well as several earlier books including When Thy King Is a Boy, Etai-Eken, and Lucid Interval as Integral Music. His selected poems, Just In: Word of Navigational Challenges, was published in 1998, and Atmosphere Conditions, which was a National Poetry Series winner, came out in 2000. Roberson has been compared to such masters as Ornette Coleman, Gabriel García Márquez, Romare. Dedicated to experimentation, his poetry explores the African-American experience, seen and heard backwards and forwards in time and space. EdRoberson was formerly assistant director of special programs at Cook College, Rutgers University. Currently, he is a visiting poet at Columbia College.

Cole Swensen is the author of Goest (Alice James Books, 2004); Such Rich Hour (2001); Oh (2000); Try (1999), which won the Iowa Poetry Prize; Noon (1997), which won the New American Poetry Series Award; Numen (1995); Park (1991); New Math (1988), which won the National Poetry Series competition; and It's Alive, She Says. Her translations of contemporary French poetry include Art Poetic (1999, by Olivier Cadiot), Natural Gaits (1995, by Pierre Alferi), Past Travels (1994, by Olivier Cadiot), and Interrmittances II (1994, by Jean Tortel). Her work as a poet and a translator has appeared in many journals and anthologies. She is a Contributing Editor for American Letters and Commentary and for Shiny, and is the translation editor for How2. Cole Swensen currently teaches at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop.

Danny's Series at the MCA, Puck's Cafe, 6:30PM 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago (Streeterville district). Poetry by Cole Swensen and Ed Roberson. Music, before and after, provided by DJ Brian Kelly. Admission to the Museum is free, so come early to check out the Warhol and 12' x 12' space. Click to the MCA or noslander.com for more info.

Chicago Public Library hosts a Poetry Wheel reading, 22 April

Join Jan Ball, Nancy Carrigan, Susan Cherry, Maureen Flannery, Sandy Goldsmith, Glenna Holloway, Larry Janowski, Wayne Jones, Carol Kanter, Robert Karimi, Charlie Newman, Donna Pucciani, Tom Roby, and Connie Vogel as The Poets' Club of Chicago Presents: The Poetry Wheel.

At the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State Street, Chicago Authors Room, 7th Floor. (Loop/Downtown) 3:00 PM, Saturday 22 April. Click to the CPL website for more info.

at Columbia College 19 April:
Mullen & Valentine

Harryette Mullen's poems, short stories, and essays have been published widely and reprinted in over 40 anthologies. Her poetry is included in the latest edition of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature and has been translated into Spanish, French, Polish, Bulgarian, and Swedish. She is the author of six poetry books, most recently Blues Baby (Bucknell, 2002) and Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California, 2002). The latter was a finalist for a National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 2004 she received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts and in 2005 she was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She was born in Alabama, grew up in Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches at UCLA.

Jean Valentine is the author of nine books of poetry, most recently Door in the Mountain, New & Collected Poems (Wesleyan 2004) for which she received The National Book Award in poetry for 2004. Valentine graduated from Radcliffe College, has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, NYU and Columbia University, and lives and works in New York City.

At Columbia College, 600 South Michigan, Ferguson Theater, 19 April, 2006 at 6:30 PM. Free admission. For further information, phone 312-344-8139.

Molly Malone's on 10 April:
Tony Trigilio

Nina Corwin and Al DeGenova host the monthly readings at Molly Malone's Open Mic, and invite you to one of the most respected poetry venues in suburban Chicago. On Monday, 10 April, hear Tony Trigilio.

Tony Trigilio is the author of the book of poems, The Lama's English Lessons, and the critical book, "Strange Prophecies Anew": Rereading Apocalypse in Blake, H.D., and Ginsberg. His poems have been published widely, including anthologies such as America Zen, a collection of American Buddhist poets, and A Gathering of Poets, a volume commemorating the students killed at Kent State University and Jackson State University. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as Hotel Amerika, La Petite Zine, The Laurel Review, Three Candles, The Spoon River Poetry Review (Featured Illinois Poet, Spring 2004), The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Iowa Review, Rhino, Admit Two, and Jack Magazine. Trigilio has taught since 1999 at Columbia College Chicago, where he also is Director of Columbia's Undergraduate Poetry Program and Associate Chairperson of the English Department. He co-edits the poetry magazine Court Green. He also has served as a Visiting Faculty member in the July Program at Bennington College.

At Molly Malone's Irish Pub, 7652 Madison Street, Forest Park, IL (near west Chicago suburbs). Phone 708-366-8073. Guests are invited to donate, "$5 if you can, $3 if you can't." Poetry and fiction at Molly's is the second Monday of every month. Sign-up begins at 7:00 PM, followed a half-hour later by open mic and featured readings.

Homolatté for April-May 2006

Check out Chicago's weekly LGBT/Q coffeehouse for the latest in queer music and spoken word. This months' schedule for Homolatté includes:

• 19 April: Lisa Hemminger (words) / Aerin Tedesco & Andrea Bunch (music)
• 26 April: Lars von Keitz hosts monthly OUTmusic outLOUD
• 3 May: David Trinidad & Gregg Shapiro / Joan Larkin
• 10 May: Kay Barrett / Angie Heaton

Homolatté queer words and music, weekly on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM at Marrakech Expresso, 4747 N Damen Avenue (just south of Lawrence Avenue, Ravenswood neighborhood), Chicago. Phone 773-271-4541. Admission is free, though the host, Scott Free, invites guests to donate $5; all collections go the featured artists and only the artists. Full program listing is available at homolatte.com.

The Café for April-May 2006

MC Charlie Newman rocks the house on Tuesday nights every week at The Café, home to one of Chicago's liveliest poetry open mics. This month's featured readings include:

• 18 April: Lauren Mathews Levato
• 25 April: Lee Kitzis
• 2 May: Sandy Goldsmith
• 9 May: Mark Passero
• 16 May: Larry Janowski
• 23 May: Charlie Newman himself
• 30 May: Cathleen Schandelmeier

The Café, 5115 N Lincoln Avenue, Chicago (Lincoln Square/Bowmanville neighborhoods). Open mike poetry with featured writer every Tuesday from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. For more info on the venue and MC, click through to Unit N or CharlieNewman.com.

Myopic for April '06

Here are profiles for two of this month's featured artists at Myopic:

Catherine Daly was born and raised in Decatur, Illinois and now lives in Los Angeles. She's the author of DaDaDa (Salt, 2003) and Locket (Tupelo, 2005). Forthcoming titles include Secret Kitty (Ahadada), Paper Craft (Moria), To Delite and Instruct (Blue Lion), and Chanteuse/Cantatrice (Factory School).

Geoff Bouvier's first book, Living Room, was selected by Heather McHugh as the winner of the 2005 APR/Honickman Prize. His writings have appeared in dozens of journals, including American Poetry Review, jubilat, New American Writing, and VOLT. He currently lives in San Diego and writes for The San Diego Reader.

Upcoming features:

Sunday, 7 May: The Dollar Store Show's impresario Jonathan Messinger is the featured reader, hosted by Adam Levin.

Sunday, 21 May 21: Juliet Patterson & Jacqueline Lalley

The Myopic Poetry Seriesm a weekly series of poetry, fiction, and occasional talks convening at Myopic Books, 1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago (Wicker Park neighborhood). Sundays at 7:00 PM. Free. Click to Myopic Books' page for details.

"The Interzone" in the Fox Valley:
poetry series emerge in the far west suburbs

Chicago's far western suburbs have always had the disposition of being not too connected to the city. Raised on the premise of being un-urban, and often with a bit of pride in that, Fox Valley communities are nevertheless growing toward that critical mass of people when culture wells up among them in a most urban way. The rise of a writing community is among these effects. Artists struggle for benign recognition and communion in these dispersed reaches of the metropolis. However, a quartet of writers are working to change that, and they're putting two Fox Valley venues on the greater Chicago area's poetry circuit.

The Interzone Poets, a down-to-earth group of west suburban writers, have set up a bi-monthly open mic at the Three Stags Pub in downtown Geneva, Illinois. All poets and musicians (or other) are welcome to participate or just watch. Sign-up is at 8:00 PM and the open mic goes until 11:00 PM or later. Admission is free, and the atmosphere is fun. The Interzone Poets convene every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. (See links below for specific dates.)

In addition to the Three Stags Pub, the Interzone Poets plan to host a variety of other open mics as they're booked. Future events will be held at libraries, coffee shops, or wherever else the group can work. Updates for these events will be available through jason e.'s web page and those of his associates below.

Fortnightly readings at the Three Stags (under the Geneva Theatre Marquee) 319 W. State St. Geneva, IL 60134 630-208-8400. Consult jason e.'s web page for precise dates.

Also, note the upcoming reading at Ragamuffin Coffee House on 24 April. Interzone open mics and readings have free admission. Many will have a free chapbook give-away containing the group's poetry.

The 24 April special is at Ragamuffin Coffee House, 1 W. Illinois St. St. Charles, IL 60174. Phone 630-377-7174. The Interzone Poets are jason e., Nicole Manisco, Anne M. Kelly, and Bill Robertson.

Thanks to Charlie Newman for this item.

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and finally...

links we like

Some links into the arts online, shaken, not stirred...

What do Othervoicespoetry.org, ahapoetry.com, midnightedition.com, voicesnet.com, takingitglobal.org, madpoetry.org, shopwealth.com, baobaconnections.org, poetry.com, forwardpress.co.uk and workingtoempower.org have in common? Odimegwu Onwumere. Click through them, and see if you can see the thread.

Seen recently at &NOW, the Lake Forest Literary Fest and other venues around Chicago, Spuyten Duyvil Press, visiting from Brooklyn... Also spotted in Lake Forest lately: e-lit' pioneer Stephanie Strickland and intermedia writer and novelist Elizabeth Block.

And for those seeking some sharp spoken word by artists you can count on, we heartily recommend clicking into Indie Feed's performance poetry channel. Make your iPod happy.

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