WRITE NOW NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2012
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
- The Poetry Forum - begins Feb. 6
- ReadAloud Series - begins Feb. 9
- Amit Majmudar and Andrew Hudgins Poetry Reading - Feb. 9
- Claire Holden Rothman Reading - Feb. 9
- Ohio State Student/Faculty Reading - Feb. 9
- Meet the Author with Dessert: Eva Dimel - Feb. 10
- Writing from the Inside Out with Nita Sweeney - Feb. 11
- Jill McCorkle Reading - Feb. 16
- Writing from the Heart with Pam Cline-Hitchcock - Feb. 18
- Writers Ink featuring Joan Connors - Feb. 19
- Meet the Author with Dessert: Terri Glimcher - Feb. 21
- Blogging Made Accessible with Hannah Stephenson - begins Feb. 21
- Wyatt Prunty Reading - Feb. 21
- Tim Dorsey Reads Pineapple Grenade - Feb. 22
- Michael dumanis and Andrew Grace Reading - Feb. 23
- Michael Gates Gill on How Starbucks Saved My Life - Feb. 24
- Peripatetic Poets - Feb. 26
- Michele Norris Lecture - March 8
- Poet Stephen Haven Reading and Workshop - March 10
- Adult Writing Workshops at Thurber House - begin March 19
- Dorothy Allison Lecture & Reading - March 27
- Write to the Finish - begins April 2012
- Mad Anthony Writers Conference - April 13 to 15
EVENTS
1. THE POETRY FORUM
Mondays from 7 to 9:30PM
The Rumba Cafe
2507 Summit Street, Columbus (north University area)
Featured reader followed by open mic.
- 2/6/12 - Ethan Rivera
- 2/13/12 - TBA
- 2/20/12 - TBA
- 2/27/12 - Commemorative Reading of the works of Robert Pringle
Information: 614/268-5006
2. READALOUD EVENTS AT THOMPSON LIBRARY
Thursdays, beginning February 9 from 3 to 4PM
All events are held at
The Ohio State Univeristy
Mortar Board Centennial Suite
202 Thompson Library (OSU campus)
Thursday, February 9 - A Valentine Day’s presentation featuring a variety of Ohioana romance authors reading from their own works.
Thursday, February 16 - Robyn Warhol, a Distinguished Professor, Vice Chair of the Department of English and Director of Project Narrative, will read from her own works: Having a Good Cry: Effeminate Feelings and Popular Forms, and Adventures in the Archive: Two Literary Critics in Search of a Victorian Subject.
Thursday, February 23 - Dan Noonan will offer a multi-generational presentation of the works of Dr. Seuss. (Dr. Seuss’ birthday is March 2)
Thursday, March 1 - Naked Sunfish will return with Rick Brown, Elisa Phillips and John Bennett, each reading original work. Also, Rick’s wife, Yvonne, will join him for a few musical numbers.
Please contact readaloud@osu.edu with questions or to subscribe to weekly reminders or visit the ReadAloud Website.
3. AMIT MAJMUDAR and ANDREW HUDGINS POETRY READING
Thursday, February 9 at 4:10PM
Cheever Room of Finn House,
102 W. Wiggin Street (Gambier)
Amit Majmudar is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist and an award-winning poet whose work has been featured in The Best American Poetry 2007, the New Yorker, and Poetry magazine. His first poetry collection, 0°, 0°, was selected by Andrew Hudgins for publication by Northwestern University Press in 2009, and a novella, Azazel, was serialized in The Kenyon Review. Partitions, a novel about the India/Pakistan border came out in 2011 from Metropolitan Books. A second book of poems, Heaven and Earth, was published by Story Line Press in 2011 as well.
Andrew Hudgins is the author of American Rendering: New and Selected Poems (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010), Shut Up, You’re Fine: Poems for Very, Very Bad Children (Overlook Press 2009), Ecstatic in the Poison (Sewanee/Overlook Press 2003), Babylon in a Jar (Houghton Mifflin 1998), The Glass Anvil (University of Michigan 1997), Saints and Strangers, After The Lost War: A Narrative, The Never-Ending: New Poems, and The Glass Hammer: A Southern Childhood. Hudgins is the recipient of the Witter Bynner Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Saints and Strangers, and finalist for the National Book Award for After the Lost War. He received The Poet’s Prize for After the Lost War and the Haines Prize for poetry from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He has also recieved The Taft Distinguished Faculty Award, the Ohioiana Award for lifetime contributions to poetry in Ohio and two NEA fellowships. In 2007, he was inducted into the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
4. CLAIRE HOLDEN ROTHMAN READING
Thursday February 9 from 6pm to 8pm
Reception – 6pm
Reading – 7pm
Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington
777 Evening Street
Worthington, OH 43085
$10 MAC Members/Library Friends (includes reception), $15 for general public(reading only), $5 for meet the author reception.
Claire Holden Rothman is a Montreal writer. After early training as a lawyer, she taught college literature, and creative writing at McGill University. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary periodicals. She has published two story collections, Salad Days and Black Tulips. The Heart Specialist is her first novel. Long-listed for Canada’s prestigious Scotia Bank-Giller Prize, it is a Canadian bestseller and will soon be released in Italy, Germany, the US, the UK and French Canada. Claire Holden Rothman lives in Montreal with actor Arthur Holden and their two sons.
Visit Ms. Holden’s Website for more information.
5. OHIO STATE STUDENT/FACULTY READING
Thursday, February 9 from 7PM to 8:30PM
The Ohio State University
Denney Hall 311
This student/faculty reading will feature Kathy Fagan, Andrew McIntosh, and Nancy Dinan.
6. MEET THE AUTHOR with DESSERT: EVA DIMEL
Friday, February 10 from 2:30-3:30PM
Evans Center
4330 Dudley Ave. (Grove City)
Fee: $3
Activity #: 302461.13
Meet Eva Dimel, a long-time Grove City resident who has written numerous inspirational books. Visit with her and hear an update on where her writing path has taken her. The Evan’s Center provides dessert.
For more information visit the Grove City Parks & Rec Website.
7. WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT with NITA SWEENEY
Saturday, February 11 from 9AM to 3PM
1945 Ridgeview Road - Building 1 - Room 104
$60.00 for UA residents; $66.00 for non-residents
Does that nasty inner critic keep you from writing? If so, spend a day doing writing practice with Nita Sweeney, freelance writer and long-time student of Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones
Go to Nita’s website for more information about her.
For the full catalogue of Lifelong Learning Classes go HERE!
To register Call 614-583-5333 between 9:30 AM and 3:30 PM weekdays.
8. JILL McCORKLE READING
Thursday, February 16 at 7PM
The Ohio State University
311 Denney Hall
Jill McCorkle is a professor in the MFA in Creative Writing program at NC State. She has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts University and Brandeis, where she was the Fannie Hurst Visiting Writer. She was a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Creative Writing at Harvard for five years where she also served as chair of the creative writing program. She was one of the original core faculty members of the Bennington College MFA program and is a frequent instructor at the Sewanee Summer Writers Program. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, McCorkle has the distinction of having published her first two novels on the same day in 1984. Since then, she has published three other novels and four collections of short stories. Five of her eight books have been named New York Times notable books. Her stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Oxford American, Southern Review and Bomb Magazine, among others. Four of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories and several have been collected in New Stories from the South. Her story, “Intervention,” is in the most recent edition of the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. McCorkle has received the New England Book Award, The John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature and the North Carolina Award for Literature. Aside from published fiction, her essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Books Review, The Washington Post, The News & Observer, Southern Living, Real Simple and the American Scholar. She lives with her husband in Hillsborough.
9. WRITING FROM THE HEART with PAM CLINE-HITCHCOCK
Saturday, February 18 from 1 to 3PM
Cline’s Plant Farm /The Mustard- Seed Retreat
9820 Long Rd. (Ostrander)
Fee: $20
Grow your writing skills in this mini-seminar taught by Pam Cline-Hitchcock that focuses on putting ‘heart’ into your writing. Bring your favorite writing utensils…you will be writing! AAll age groups/writing levels welcome. Drinks/snacks/encouragement provided.
Call 937-243-0596 to register.
10. WRITERS’ INK featuring JOAN CONNORS
Sunday, February 19 from 5 to 7:30
Columbus State Community College
315 Cleveland Avenue, 4th floor gallery
Professor Joan Connors is author of a collection of short stories enttiled, How To Stop Loving Someone, Leapfrog Press, 2011. She writes essays, short stories, books, journal articles and is author of the following books: The World Before Mirrors, River Teeth award, essays; University of Nebraska Press, 2006; History Lessons, University of Massachusetts Press, AWP Award Series in Short Fiction, 2002; Frederick Busch, Judge, November, 2003; We Who Live Apart, University of Missouri Press, August, 2000; and, Here On Old Route 7, University of Missouri Press, August, 1997.
For more information, contact Nora Holt at noraholt85@yahoo.com.
11. MEET THE AUTHOR with DESSERT: TERRI GLIMCHER
Tuesday, February 21 from 1 to 2PM
Evans Center
4330 Dudley Ave. (Grove City)
Fee: $3
Activity #: 302461.10
Meet Terri Glimcher, author, senior activist and winner of the 2009 Senior Champion Award from the Assisted Living Federation of America for her work going above and beyond to enrich the lives of seniors. She wrote “G is for Golden Years,” a life-enrichment guide for seniors, and is dedicated to ensuring everyone lives out their golden years with dignity and grace. Tea and finger sandwiches are provided by the author.
For more information visit the Grove City Parks & Rec website.
12. BLOGGING MADE ACCESSIBLE with HANNAH STEPHENSON
Tuesdays February 21 and 28 (2 sessions) from 7 to 9PM
Upper Arlington Municipal Service Center
3600 Tremont Road (Upper Arlington)
Lower Level Meeting Rm
$35 R | $39 NR
What are you passionate about that you would like to share with others? Starting and maintaining a blog is an exciting (and surprisingly simple) way of connecting to what you love. Poetry blogger Hannah Stephenson talks about how starting a blog can bring creativity and community to your life. Discussions include how to begin a blog, the benefits and challenges of writing online, and strategies for connecting with other bloggers. This class is for anyone who is interested in writing, creativity and sharing ideas with others. No experience or technical knowledge needed. Visit Hannah’s blog, The Storialist, where she has been posting every weekday since July of 2008.
For the full catalogue of Lifelong Learning Classes go HERE!
To register for classes, call 614-583-5333 between 9:30AM and 3:30PM Monday through Friday.
13. WYATT PRUNTY READING
Tuesday, February 21 at 7PM
The Ohio State University
Wexner Center Film/Video Theatre
His critical study Fallen from the Symboled World is available from Oxford University Press and a new critical study, Rationed Compassion: Poetry Since World War II has just been completed. His Sewanee Writers on Writing is available from Louisiana State University Press. He is a recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and Guggenheim Foundation and has taught at the Johns Hopkins University (where he held the Elliot Coleman Chair), Washington and Lee University, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Bread Loaf School of English. He currently serves as Sewanee’s Carlton Professor of English and directs the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
14. TIM DORSEY READS PINEAPPLE GRENADE
Wednesday, February 22 at 7:30PM
Columbus Museum of Art
480 E. Broad Street (downtown)
Cost: $20 for adult; $18 for students and seniors
“Part thriller, part comedy, part travelogue and all insanity.” - The Florida Times Union on Electric Barracuda. That quote could well describe any of bestselling author Tim Dorsey’s fantastic, hilarious, page-turning novels including his brand new and fifteenth novel, Pineapple Grenade. Dorsey sets his novels in the Sunshine State and Florida has never been funnier than when Serge Storms, erstwhile hero of Dorsey’s stories, turns spy, getting involved with Homeland Security, umbrella drinks, a dictator, and general mayhem, murder and madcap adventure. Concerned citizen Serge, also known to be considered a psychopath when he chooses, finds himself in the middle of messes that leave him no choice but to pull the pin out of the Pineapple Grenade! Tim Dorsey was a reporter and editor for the Tampa Tribune where he lives and writes such bestsellers as Florida Roadkill, The Big Bamboo, Electric Barracuda, and Hurricane Punch.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 614/464-1032 or visit www.thurberhouse.org
15. MICHAEL DUMANIS and ANDREW GRACE READING
Thursday, February 23 at 4:10PM
Cheever Room of Finn House,
102 W. Wiggin Street (Gambier)
Michael Dumanis teaches literature and creative writing at Cleveland State University, where he serves as Director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center and edits the books in their poetry series. His first collection of poems, My Soviet Union, won the Juniper Prize for Poetry and was published in 2007 by the University of Massachusetts Press. He is also the co-editor, with poet Cate Marvin, of the anthology Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century and the Section Editor for the poetries of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Russia, and Slovakia in the Graywolf Press anthology The New European Poets, edited by Kevin Prufer and Wayne Miller. His poems have appeared in such journals as Conduit, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, New England Review, Post Road, Prairie Schooner, and Verse, and his writing has been recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship, a James Michener Fellowship in Fiction, a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, and fellowships to Yaddo, the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbertide, Italy.
Andrew Grace lives in Gambier, OH with his wife Tory and daughter Lily. His books include Sancta (Ahsahta Press, 2012), Shadeland (Ohio State University Press, 2008), and A Belonging Field (Salt Publishing, 2002). Grace was chosen runner-up for the 2009 Sawtooth Poetry Prize by Rae Armantrout. In 2008-2010, he was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He currently serves as a consulting editor for The Kenyon Review.
16. MICHAEL GATES GILL on HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE
Friday, February 24 at 8:00PM
Irving E. Schottenstein Theatre
McCoy Center for the Arts (New Albany)
100 W. Dublin-Granville Road
Ticket prices from $15; Discounts available for Students and Seniors
Michael Gates Gill is the New York Times Best-selling author of the poignant memoir, How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else. Gill details his life as an entitled, Yale educated, highly paid executive for the prestigious J. Walter Thompson ad agency and the regrets that come with the perception of success. It is the story of the fortunes of a man from a privileged background whose life takes a sharp downward turn when he looses his high-powered position, destroying his marriage and encountering personal illness in middle age. Unemployed and unhappy, his chance encounter at Starbucks changes his life and outlook on what success really means. His own errors and hard-won life lessons give the story a bittersweet piquancy saving it from self-pity or self-congratulations.
The contrast between Michael Gill‘s upper-crust background and his employment at Starbucks is striking. This is a man who once socialized with Frank Lloyd Wright, and enjoyed lunch with Queen Elizabeth and the Kennedy’s. His clients included Ford Motor Company and Christian Dior, but now he serves the daily brew at a local Starbucks. Interestingly, the respect and dignity he now finds serving coffee was never found in his high powered position. The coffee store becomes his refuge where he doesn’t dwell on what he’s lost but enlightens us in all he has gained – a serving of hot brewed happiness henever could have imagined. Universal Studios recently bought the film rights and Tom Hanks is slated to play Gill in the upcoming feature film highlighting how moving from the ruling class to a member of the serving class is a surprisingly joyous journey.
“Happiness in the daily grind.” – The Wall Street Journal
Click Here to Purchase Tickets for Michael Gates Gill.
17. PERIPATETIC POETS
Sunday, February 26 at 7PM
The Gardens
3700 Olentangy River Road
Featured readers will be Doug Rutledge and John Kneisly. The Peripatetic Poets meet the 4th Sunday of each month.
For information call 614-769-4851 or 614-915-3139.
18. THE GRACE of SILENCE and the POWER of WORDS with MICHELLE NORRIS
Thursday, March 8 at 7PM
Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts
100 W. Dublin-Granville Road (New Albany)
Award-winning journalist, and co-host of NPR’s longest-running national program, All Things Considered, Michele Norris has a voice that is undeniably recognizable and that embodies both authority and calm. Captivating and astute on air, Norris has presented leading news, weighing in on American culture including race and the influence of new media since she joined NPR in 2002.
Norris’s 2010 book, The Grace of Silence, started out as a quest to uncover how America talked about race in the wake of the Obama presidential election. What resulted was what Norris calls an “accidental memoir.” Named one of the year’s best books by The Christian Science Monitor, the book became an eye-opening family history lesson revealing her own family’s racial legacy and the larger conversation surrounding race in America. The book has also led to the spinoff blog, “The Race Card Project,” and a deeper look at our attitudes and beliefs about race.
Tickets: $7 for adults, students FREE (but must reserve a ticket)
Click here to purchase tickets for Michele Norris.
19. STEVEN HAVEN READING and WORKSHOP
Saturday, March 10
Reading: 4 to 5PM
Workshop: 5:30 to 7PM
Riffe Gallery
77 South High Street (downtown)
Reading is free
Workshop is $30 and limited to 15 people.
Pre-registration for workshop is required.
Stephen Haven is the author of Dust and Bread and The Long Silence of the Mohawk Carpet Smokestacks. He is Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Ashland University. His poetry has been in The American Poetry Review, the Southern Poetry Review and other journals. He was voted Co-Poet of the Year by the Ohio Poetry Association.
To register please click here.
For more information call Mary Gray: 614-728-2239 or Doug Rutledge: 614-499-0899 Mary.Gray@oac.state.oh.us
20. WINTER/SPRING ADULT WRITING WORKSHOP SERIES at THURBER HOUSE
begins Monday, March 19
and runs for six consecutive Mondays until April 23 from 6 to 8PM
Thurber Center
91 Jefferson Avenue.
Tuition: $40 per course and is non-refundable.
The Winter/Spring 2012 Thurber House Adult Writing Workshops will offer a different class each week, each class running for two hours only. This is a way for you to sample a genre or two, each taught by professionals in that field. Attend as many classes as you like, Class size is limited to 15 per course. You must be over 18 to participate.
Parking is metered along Jefferson Avenue so bring change or you risk being ticketed. Parking is available for free in the lot behind Thurber Center and in the lot at the corner of Jefferson and Long.
Choose one or more of the following classes:
March 19: How to Be a Freelancer
Instructor: Gretchen Hirsch, freelance writer, editor, and ghostwriter
Deadline to register: March 9
March 26: The Graphic Novel
Instructor: Paul Hornschemeier, author of several acclaimed graphic novels, including Mother, Come Home, and the New York Times bestseller, Life with Mr. Dangerous.
Deadline to register: March 16
April 2: Structuring Your Novel: Theme - How to Find It, How to Use It
Instructor: Carla Buckley, author of The Things that Keep Us Here and the soon-to-be published, Invisible.
Deadline to register: March 23
April 9: Visual Journaling: Using Images and Words to Tell a Story
Instructor: Brooke Hunter-Lombardi, an artist/educator who shows how visual techniques and images can propel the writer’s vision.
Deadline to register: March 30
April 16: Plotting Your Romance Novel
Instructor: Donna MacMeans, author of several award-winning romance novels and the upcoming, The Casanova Code.
Deadline to register: April 6
April 23: Introduction to Poetry
Instructor: Maggie Smith, award-winning poet and author of Lamp of the Body, Nesting Dolls, and The List of Dangers.
Deadline to register: April 13
You can register online or download an application form on our website: www.thurberhouse.org (follow the link below). Application and tuition fee(s) must be received at Thurber House, 77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215 by the deadline provided for each individual class. You can also fax your application, with credit card information to 614-280-3645.
Click here for more information and to register online!
21. DOROTHY ALLISON LECTURE and READING
Monday, March 26: Open class session ~ 3:05-4:15, Science 238
Inside the Writer’s Studio ~ 8pm, Chapel
and
Tuesday, March 27
Open class session ~ 12:00-1:45, Towers 112
Literary Reading ~ 8pm, Riley
All events are on the campus of Otterbein University (Westerville)
An award winning editor for Quest, Conditions, and Outlook—early feminist and Lesbian & Gay journals, Dorothy Allison’s chapbook of poetry, The Women Who Hate Me, was published with Long Haul Press in 1983. Her short story collection, Trash (1988) was published by Firebrand Books.
Allison received mainstream recognition with her novel Bastard Out of Carolina, (1992) a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. The novel won the Ferro Grumley prize, an ALA Award for Lesbian and Gay Writing, became a best seller, and an award-winning movie. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Cavedweller (1998) became a national bestseller, NY Times Notable book of the year, finalist for the Lillian Smith prize, and an ALA prize winner. Adapted for the stage by Kate Moira Ryan, the play was directed by Michael Greif, and featured music by Hedwig composer, Stephen Trask. In 2003, Lisa Cholendenko directed a movie version featuring Krya Sedwick.
Fall 2009, Allison was The McGee Professor and writer in residence at Davidson College, in North Carolina.Spring, 2007, Allison was Emory University Center for Humanistic Inquiry’s Distinguished Visiting Professor. Summer, 2007, she was Famosa in residence at Macondo in San Antonio, Texas. 2006, she was writer in residence at Columbia College in Chicago.
Awarded the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction, Allison is a member of the board of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
A novel, She Who, Is forthcoming.
22. WRITE TO THE FINISH: For Writers Working on a Book Project
Starts: April 2012. Online/All locations
A 9-month, online course by email & phone so you can take part wherever you are. Nobody can write your book for you, but you don’t have to be alone in the process. Write to the Finish supports you through the long-haul with craft, community, focus, and feedback. Includes manuscript critique, online seminar days, craft lessons, mentor calls with published authors. (Support on marketing too if you’re at that stage.) We welcome writers working on any book-length project, fiction or non-fiction. Led by award-winning authors Sean Murphy and Tania Casselle. Spaces are limited. Info (and fun video) at www.murphyzen.com or email wordworkers@juno.com for details and comments by previous participants.
[Editor’s Note: I took this class and found it very useful.]
23. MAD ANTHONY WRITERS CONFERENCE
Friday April 13 through Sunday, April 15
Miami University, Harry T Wilks Conference Center
1601 University Blvd. (Hamilton)
The Mad Anthony Writers Conference presents a Friday the 13th Day of Murder & Mayhem featuring The Stories Bones Tell with Dr. Elizabeth Murray, Forensic Anthropologist; Forensic Tales of the Dead with Brenda Robertson Stewart, mystery author and forensic artist specializing in facial reconstruction; The Art of Catching the Crook with Gary Good, Bail Bond Agent; Police Women of Cincinnati with Sergeant Tia (Pearson) Miller; Crime Scene/Death Scene Investigation with Justin Weber - board registered Medicolegal Death Investigator and Latent Print developer at the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office and member of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.
Saturday and Sunday schedules and registration available on the Mad Anthony website.
The Mad Anthony Writers Conference is a non-profit organization raising funds to promote literacy. To date, Mad Anthony has donated $31,000 to family literacy programs. Proceeds will benefit the literacy program of Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton, Ohio.
