WRITE NOW NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2010
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
- Barbara Levenson reads from Fatal Friday - Feb. 4
- Lisa See Reading - Feb. 4
- The Poetry Forum - begins Feb. 8
- Poet Aracelis Girmay Reading - Feb. 8
- Valentine’s OSU Libraries ReadAloud - Feb. 11
- Writing Events at 10th Annual Arti Gras Celebration - Feb.13
- Ohio Poetry Assn. Meeting & Workshop with Dr. Kathy Fagan - Feb. 13
- Love Me, Love My Dog: A Writing Workshop for Dog Lovers with Pat Snyder - Feb. 13
- Adriana Trigiani Reading - Feb. 17
- OSU Student/Faculty Reading - Feb. 18
- Why Women Should Rule the World: Readings and lecture with Dee Dee Myers - Feb. 24
- Clothesline Logic: Readings by Poet Rikki Santer - Feb. 24
- Reading with Poet Patricia Jabbeh Wesley - Feb. 25
- Poetry Workshop: Jazz and Its Legends - begins Feb. 27
- Peripatetic Poets - Feb. 28
- Bryan Mark Rigg Reading Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers - March 2
- Antonya Nelson, Fiction Reading - March 2
- Rebecca Skloot Reading - March 4
EVENTS
1. BARBARA LEVENSON to read from FATAL FRIDAY
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.
Northeast Jewish Community Campus
150 E. Granville Rd. (New Albany)
Tickets $7 for the Jewish Community Center event only
For half-Jewish, half-Southern Baptist Miami criminal defense attorney Mary Magruder Katz, life starts to spin completely out of control when a minor fender bender turns out to be an unlikely shot from Cupid’s bow. Carlos Martin, the other car’s driver, isn’t just a distracted driver; he’s distracting. Carlos is charming, handsome, and mysterious. Hardly before she knows what hit her, Mary breaks off her engagement, jumps into a sizzling romance with Carlos, gets fired from her former fiancé’s highbrow law firm, starts her own practice, and lands her first client, Lillian Yarmouth. But Lillian isn’t just any client; she’s the prime suspect in what’s become the Miami society murder of the year. While investigating Lillian’s alleged crime of passion, Mary finds that this case, like all matters of the heart, is anything but black and white. And Mary has clearly stumbled onto something that has someone seeing red. February may be the shortest month of the year, but Mary’s got some long days (and nights) ahead. This month could be a real killer.
For more information or tickets, call 614-855-4865 or visit www.columbusjcc.org.
2. THURBER HOUSE EVENINGS WITH AUTHORS presents LISA SEE reading SHANGHAI GIRLS
Thursday, February 4 - 7:30PM
Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Ave.
$18.00 in advance; $20.00 at the door.
Lisa See is the author of five previous bestsellers, including the critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Peony in Love, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. She is also the author of the highly praised memoir, On Gold Mountain. Her first novel to take place in America, Shanghai Girls is a richly woven tale about two sisters who, through arranged marriages, leave Shanghai in 1937 for Los Angeles.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 614/464-1032 or visit www.thurberhouse.org
3. THE POETRY FORUM
Each Monday of the month at 7PM
The Rumba Cafe
N. High St (OSU campus area)
2507 Summit Street @ Hudson
- February 8 - Fred Kirchner
- February 15 - Louise Robertson
- February 22 - Sophia Kartsonis
- March 1 - Leslie Jenike
For more information call 614-268-5006 or visit Poetry Calendar Columbus http://www.puddinghouse.com.
4. DENISON BECK LECTURE SERIES presents ARACELIS GIRMAY
Monday, February 8 - 8PM
Barney-Davis Board Room
Denison University - Granville
Aracelis Girmay, the winner of the 2009 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for poetry, will read from her latest work, Teeth (Curbstone Press, 2007). Girmay, raised in southern California, is the inheritor of Eritrean, Puerto Rican, and African American traditions, and writes poetry, essays, and fiction. She holds a B.A. from Connecticut College and an M.F.A. in poetry from New York University. Her children’s art book, Changing, Changing, was published by George Braziller in 2005. A former Watson fellow and Cave Canem fellow, she has published extensively in journals and literary magazines. Girmay is on the faculty of Drew University’s low residency M.F.A. Program. She also leads community writing workshops in New York.
For more information, contact Anneliese Deimel Davis 740-587-6207 or davisa@denison.edu.
5. VALENTINE’S OSU LIBRARIES READALOUD
Thursday, February 11 from 3 to 4PM
Thompson Library - Room 202
The Ohio State University - main campus
Ohioana Library Association in conjunction with Central Ohio Fiction Writers and Romance Writers invites you to join them at the Valentine’s OSU Libraries ReadAloud. Three authors, Jules Bennett, Susan Gee Heino, and Karin Shah, will read from their recently published books.
See the OSU Read Aloud blog for more information. http://library.osu.edu/blogs/readaloud/
6. WRITING EVENTS AT 10TH ANNUAL ARTI GRAS CELEBRATION
Saturday, February 13, 8:45 AM to 4PM
North Campus of First Community Church
3777 Dublin Road, Columbus, OH
Cost: $30 pre-paid, $40 at the door.
Preregistration Required.
Arti Gras, falling just before the start of Lent, is an ecumenical celebration that offers participants the opportunity to revel in creativity and discover the freedom of the creative life. Among the variety of artistic expressions featured in the 13 breakout sessions are two in particular that should appeal to writers – Poems, Parables, and Earth Songs: Contemplation with Images, led by John Hollinger and Storytelling as a Spiritual Discipline, led by Janice and Roger Burns-Watson.
The day starts with coffee and ends with the spirited music of Arnett Howard. Lunch and two raffle tickets are included. A brochure of the day’s activities including a registration form can be found in the Events and Programs section of the Spirituality Network’s home page: www.spiritualitynetwork.org
7. OHIO POETRY ASSOCIATION MEETING & WORKSHOP with KATHY FAGAN
Saturday, February 13 - 10AM meeting; 10:30 Reading; 11:30AM Open Mic; 1PM writing prompts; 2 to 5PM Workshop
Areopagitica Books
3510 North High Street (Clintonville)
Join featured reader and workshop leader Dr. Kathy Fagan. Participants should bring 20 hard copies of one poem to workshop.
For more information, contact Doug Rutledge at 614-499-0899 or email doug@ohiopoetryassn.org .
8. LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG: A WRITING WORKSHOP for DOG LOVERS with PAT SNYDER
Saturday, Feb. 13 - 2PM
Borders Books
4545 Kenny Road (Upper Arlington)
No Charge
Registration required by Feb. 11
Local columnist and author Pat Snyder will share her pet pointers for writing true tales and inspire participants to create original entries (due March 1) for Modern Dog Magazine’s first-ever writing contest. Bring a pen, notebook and a picture of your favorite pooch. Pat’s first book, “The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life,” came out in September 2009. Read more about Modern Dog Magazine’s first-ever writing contest at http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/blogs/connie/2009/12/modern-dogs-first-ever-writing-contest
Sign up by Feb. 11 by emailing Pat at balancingact@columbus.rr.com.
9. THURBER HOUSE EVENINGS WITH AUTHORS presents ADRIANA TRIGIANI reading BRAVA, VALENTINE
Wednesday, February 17 - 7:30PM
Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Ave.
$18.00 in advance; $20.00 at the door.
Adriana Trigiani’s last five novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. There are more than three million copies of her books in print in the United States. Her first young adult novel, Viola in Reel Life, begins a new series. Brava, Valentine is the sequel that continues the story started in Very Valentine about the life of shoemaker Valentine Roncalli.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 614/464-1032 or visit www.thurberhouse.org
10. OSU STUDENT/FACULTY READING
Thursday, February 18 - 7PM
311 Denney Hall
OSU Campus
Join Professor Lee Martin, Samara Rafert, and Heather Price at this OSU sponsored reading. Call 614-292-2242 for more information.
11. WHY WOMEN SHOULD RULE THE WORLD: READINGS & LECTURE by former White House Press Secretary DEE DEE MYERS
Wednesday, February 24 - 11AM
Otterbein College
Cowan Hall
30 S. Grove St. (Westerville)
No Charge
Myers served as White House press secretary under President Clinton from 1993-1994 and is a political analyst and commentator, contributing editor to Vanity Fair and author of Why Women Should Rule the World. Myers is an expert on the issues facing women in Washington and in leadership positions of all kinds and one of the top commentators on national elections, the players and the issues.
Dee Dee Myers is the first woman and one of the youngest people ever to serve as White House press secretary. During the first years of the Clinton Administration, Myers explained the actions of the new president to a vigilant press corps and to the nation. She earned the respect of both with her sharp political instincts, sense of humor and ability to explain complex subjects in straightforward language. Since leaving the White House, Myers has worked as a political analyst, commentator and writer.
A book signing and reception will follow in Fisher Gallery on the first floor of Roush Hall, 27 S.Grove St., Westerville. The event is free and open to the public.
12. CLOTHESLINE LOGIC: READINGS by POET RIKKI SANTER
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7PM
Upper Arlington Public Library
2800 Tremont Road - Friends Theater
Rikki Santer has worked as a journalist, a magazine and book editor, co-founder and managing editor of an alternative city newspaper, a poet-in-the schools, and her all-time favorite job–bagel street vendor. She earned a M.A. degree in journalism from Kent State University and a M.F.A. degree in creative writing from The Ohio State University. Her work has won honors from The Poetry Forum (the William Redding Memorial Contest), Black Lawrence Press (the St. Lawrence Book Award Competition), the Ohio Poetry Association, and the Best of Ohio Writer Contest sponsored by the Poets’ & Writers’ League of Greater Cleveland. She currently lives in Columbus where she teaches literature, writing, and film studies at Upper Arlington High School. Her first poetry collection, Front Nine: A Biography of Place, which explores the mysteries of the Newark, Ohio Earthworks, was published by Kulupi Press. Clothesline Logic is her most recent work.
13. READING with POET PATRICIA JABBEH WESLEY
Thursday, February 25 - 7PM
311 Denney Hall
OSU Campus
Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is the author of three books of poetry: The River is Rising, (Autumn House Press, 2007) Becoming Ebony, (SIU Press, 2003) and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa, (New Issues Press, 1998). She and her family survived the first two years of the Liberian civil war, immigrating to the United States in 1991. Dr. Wesley has won several awards, including the World Bank Fellowship in 1983, a 2002 Crab Orchard Award, Second Book of Poetry Competition for Becoming Ebony, and the 2006 Victor E. Ward for Literary Excellence Award. She is a regular featured author and speaker both in the U.S. and internationally, and her poetry has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers. In 2008, Dr. Wesley testified as an Expert Witness for Advocates for Human Rights’ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia’s Diaspora Hearings on the Liberian Civil War. In the Academia, Dr. Wesley served as the Chairperson for Modern Language Association (MLA’s) Division on African Literature in 2007. Dr. Wesley has recently completed the field research and is currently compiling her research on her project, entitled: “They Tell Their Stories: Liberian Women’s Trauma Stories from the Civil War.” Her research, which took her to three major cities in the US, to Ghana’s Buduburam Refugee Camp, and to Monrovia, Liberia over the past four years is an audio/video recording of more than one hundred and fifty diverse stories of rape, torture and executions of women in the Liberian civil war. Dr. Wesley is also working on her memoir of her own experiences of the Liberian civil war while editing the final draft of a fourth book of poems, entitled: Love Songs and Other Taboos. She is currently an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at the Pennsylvania State University’s Altoona campus. She lives in Altoona with her family. For more information, see her website at http://www.pjabbeh.com.
14. POETRY WORKSHOP: JAZZ AND ITS LEGENDS
Saturdays, February 27, March 6 & 13 from 10:00AM to 11:30AM
Jazz Academy
771 East Long Street
Class Fee: $45.00 / $55.00
Registration Deadline: Friday, Feb. 19
Join William Evans to learn poetry mechanics and basics while developing poems based on a figure or time period from jazz history. Create, improvise and explore poetry and music in this unique workshop opportunity.
For more information contact Carol Argiro, Director of Community Programs at cargiro@jazzartsgroup.org or 614.294.5200 x 107.
See also https://www.thejazzacademy.com/secure/registration
15. PERIPATETIC POETS READING AND OPEN MIC
Sunday, February 28 - 7PM
Areopagitica Books
3510 North High Street - Clintonville
All Welcome
Featured readers Jeremy Glazier and T.M. Gottl followed by an open mic. For information call 614-268-5094.
16. BRYAN BARK RIGG READING LIVES of HITLER’S JEWISH SOLDIERS
Tuesday, March 2 at 7PM
Congregation Beth Tikvah
6121 Olentangy River Rd. (Worthington)
Join Bryan Mark Rigg, author of Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers: Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent Who Fought for the Third Reich for a reading and talk.This companion volume to Rigg’s very successful first book, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, provides a closer look at the experiences of nearly two dozen of these soldiers, deepening our understanding of the complex intersection of Nazi race laws and German military service, before and during WWII. Bryan Mark Rigg is a former US Marine Corps officer and volunteer in the Israeli Army. His work has won the William E. Colby Award for Military History, has been featured on NBC-TV’s Dateline, and has been translated into eleven languages.
17. DENISON BECK LECTURE SERIES presents ANTONYA NELSON
Tuesday, March 2 - 8PM
Barney-Davis Board Room
Denison University - Granville
Antonya Nelson teaches at the University of Houston, where she holds the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing. Her first story collection, The Expendables, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1990. She is the author of five other short story collections, including Nothing Right (Bloomsbury, 2009), and three novels: Talking in Bed (winner of the Heartland Prize), Nobody’s Girl, and Living to Tell. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the Rea Award for Short Fiction. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Harpers, Mademoiselle, Redbook, and many literary journals, as well as in Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, and O. Henry: Prize Stories anthologies. In addition, she is a Writer at Large for Texas Monthly magazine.
For more information, contact Anneliese Deimel Davis 740-587-6207 or davisa@denison.edu.
18. REBECCA SKLOOT READING
Thursday, March 4 - 7PM
Ross Heart Hospital Auditorium
The Ohio State University
No Charge
Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; Prevention; Glamour; and others. She has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s Radio Lab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW, and is a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine. Her work has been anthologized in several collections, including The Best Food Writing and The Best Creative Nonfiction. She is a former vice president of the National Book Critics Circle, and she blogs about science, life, and writing at Culture Dish, hosted by Seed magazine. Skloot has taught creative nonfiction at the University of Memphis and the University of Pittsburgh, and science journalism at NYU’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. Her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was published in February, 2010 by Cown. For more information, visit http://www.rebeccaskloot.com.
