Rachel Levitsky & Rosalyn Story
Mad Swirl Night
Featuring: Johnny Olson, MH Clay and Swirve
Mad Swirl –Johnny Olson is the editor-in-chief of Mad Swirl, and the host at Mad Swirl Open Mic night at Absinthe Lounge. When Johnny is not nurturing his love/lust-child, Mad Swirl or painting, he savors the time swirling around with his fellow mad ones. MH Clay is Mad Swirl’s new poetry editor and a huge advocate on all that is Mad Swirly. He’s a poet, writer, musician and general mad man. Swirve, aka Chris Curiel, Tamatha Curiel, and Gerard Bendicks, is a poetics, avant-garde person/instruments-sound-space group from Dallas.
Here’s a video of the performance (videographer: Peter Orozco):
Destiny Lane
Destiny Lane is a poet that writes from her soul. She connects words that resonate with thoughtfulness. Her work is spiced with sultry soliloquies that flow fluidly off her tongue while dripping with steaming hot passion leaving the imaginations of audiences moist and wanting more.
In Memoriam - Jack Myers
November 29, 1941 - November 23, 2009
Jack Myers taught and directed the creative writing program at Southern Methodist University. He served on the Board of Directors of the Writer’s Garret, with his wife, Thea Temple, as its Executive Director.
Jack was a past Vice-President of the 15,000-member Associated Writing Programs, taught creative writing in the low-residency Vermont College MFA Program in Writing and in 2003 was named Poet Laureate of the State of Texas.
His work has been widely anthologized and has appeared in hundreds of literary journals, from Esquire and The Nation to POETRY and The American Poetry Review. His book of poems, As Long As You’re Happy, was a National Poetry Series selection by (Nobel Laureate poet Seamus Heaney) for 1985. He has been granted many fellowships and awards for his work: among them, two from both the National Endowment For the Arts, and two from the Texas Institute of Letters.
A Memorial Celebration for Jack Myers will be held on the campus of Southern Methodist University, Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 3 PM in the Hughes-Trigg Theater. A reception (in Ballroom West Central) will follow at 4:30 PM.
Rachel Levitsky & Rosalyn Story
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Rachel Levitsky’s second book, Neighbor is just out from Ugly Duckling Presse. Levitsky’s first full length volume, Under the Sun was published by Futurepoem books in 2003. She is the author of five chapbooks of poetry, Dearly (a+bend, 1999), Dearly 356, Cartographies of Error (Leroy, 1999), The Adventures of Yaya and Grace (PotesPoets, 1999) and 2(1×1)Portraits (Baksun, 1998). Levitsky also writes poetry plays, three of which (one with Camille Roy) have been performed in New York and San Francisco. Levitsky’s work has been published in magazines such as Sentence, Fence, The Brooklyn Rail, Global City, The Hat, Skanky Possum, Lungfull! and in the anthology, 19 Lines: A Drawing Center Writing Anthology. She founded Belladonna–an event and publication series for avant-garde poetics in August 1999. A past fellow of The McDowell Colony and Lower Manhattan Community Council, she teaches at Pratt Institute and lives steps away from The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
Rosalyn Story lives in Dallas. Her first book, And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert (Warner), inspired the PBS documentary Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: A History of Blacks in Opera, in which she appeared as featured narrator. She has written on music and art for Essence, Emerge, American Visions, Stagebill, Opera News, and The Crisis magazines. A full-time classical musician, she plays violin with the Fort Worth Symphony. More Than You Know is her first novel.
Dallas Poets Community Events
- FIRST FRIDAY OPEN MIC READING - On the first Friday of each month at 7 pm at Half Price Books (NW Hwy just east of Central). FREE!
- SECOND WEDNESDAY POETRY WORKSHOP - On the second Wednesday of each month at Half Price Books (NW Hwy just east of Central). FREE!
- FOURTH WEDNESDAY POETRY WORKSHOP - On the fourth Wednesday of each month at Half Price Books (NW Hwy just east of Central). FREE!
Sabrina Gilbert
Sabrina Gilbert is a very crafty writer and a skilled performer. Her work is bold and heartfelt and will leave even the most critical minds craving more.
She is sharing the stage at B&N with Michael Guinn.
Avante!
Featuring: Shin Yu Pai, Jerry Kelley
Shin Yu Pai grew up in the Inland Empire of Southern California and has lived and worked in Boston, Madrid, Boulder, Chicago, Dallas, Taipei, and Seattle. Currently, she resides in San Marcos, TX, where she is Assistant Curator for Acquisitions for The Wittliff Collections, which specializes in Southwestern and Mexican photography, as well as literary archives related to the Southwest. She is the author of seven books of poetry, as well as being an oral historian, photographer, and editor. Recent titles include Haiku Not Bombs, Sightings: Selected Works, and Works on Paper. White Pine Press will publish Adamantine in 2011.
Jerry Kelley–Harvard in the Sixties, living in the “bush” of British Columbia in the 70’s, musician with arts-family legacy, long-time WordSpace Board Member and aesthetics advisor. His work is Elevated–at-the-13th Floor. He travels often and widely with his wife, poet Patty Turner.
Jeffrey Davis & Linda Jones
Jeffrey Davis is author of the non-fiction book The Journey from the Center to the Page (Penguin 2004; updated ed., Monkfish 2008) and the poetry collection City Reservoir (Barnburner Press). He teaches in Western Connecticut State University’s MFA in Professional Writing Program, at the UNM Taos Writers’ Conference, and elsewhere. He also coaches best-selling authors and aspiring authors around the country. He lives in upstate New York and is at work on a collection of short stories and a non-fiction book that tracks wonder.
Linda Jones has used stories about hair in her writing as a device to explore lifestyle and cultural issues. She founded A Nappy Hair Affair in 1998 and made it an extension of her commitment as a writer to help dispel stereotypes and negative perceptions of people of color. With the help of her team of nappy proponents, Linda produced a short video documentary, which was part of the 2000 Dallas Video Festival. She also gathered artists together to produce the “Love & Nappiness,” spoken work and music CD and a stage production called “The Love and Nappiness Revue.” She also produced a member newsletter called the Nappy News and her Natually Speaking column became a monthly feature of the website Naturallycurly.com.
Candy
Candy is a poet that has a huge presence on stage with her voice and choice of words that are righteous to the hearts and minds of the audience and raunchy and raw when necessary. She is no stranger to poetry and performing on stage for she has been writing and performing for ten years and she has represented the city of Dallas on the national level in poetry competitions for three years. With a candid, sassy yet sexy performance style, Candy is known for lighting up venues with the air of eroticism and leaving audiences cold with appealing truths about the error of one’s ways and what is needed to make a difference.
