Author Joel Allegretti in New York with New Poetry Book from Poets Wear Prada

NJ poet Joel Allegretti today announced 3 New York readings for his new book “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems”: Sun., May 6th, in Washington Heights; Thurs., May 17th, in Astoria, Queens; Sun., May 27th, in Greenwich Village. 

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Joel Allegretti [Credit: John Paul]

Hoboken, NJ - Apr 30, 2012 - Joel Allegretti announced three stops in New York this May on the East Coast leg of the book tour for his recently released “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems” from Poets Wear Prada. “‘Europa/Nippon/New York’ is my jet-setting, La dolce vita collection,” said Joel Allegretti. “The Kansas City Star” counted Allegretti’s “Father Silicon” among the “100 Noteworthy Books of 2006,” a list that included Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” and “Against the Day” by Thomas Pynchon.

Pop culture chronicler Allegretti leads readers of his latest book on a cinematic journey through time and space replete with airplanes, submarines, the expected cathedral stops, plus surprise encounters with marquee idols and urban legends. “Come, children, and take your seat for ‘Europa/Nippon/New York,’ where Joel Allegretti spans the globe with ears to the ground and eyes toward the stars,” Daniel Nestor, author of “How to Be Inappropriate,” urges. Commends Peter Covino, winner of the 2007 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, “Everything instructs, engages, and delights us through the wide-angle lens of this wonderful new collection where ‘the next world is the next movie.’”

Allegretti, who now makes his home across the Hudson in North Jersey, is no stranger to the “bullying illuminations of New York.” He attended Xavier High School on West 16th Street in Manhattan, graduated with a degree in journalism from New York University, and worked until recently only a few blocks from Radio City Music Hall.

Allegretti will be in Washington Heights at 4 PM on Sunday, May 6th. He joins writers Sheila Maldonado and Jane LeCroy for Patricia Eakins’s Sunday Best Reading Series, at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 116 Pinehurst Avenue (at West 183rd Street) in that uptown Manhattan neighborhood. $7 at the door includes light refreshments. Take the A train to 181st Street. (212) 923-7800.

Thursday, May 17th, Allegretti will participate in Boundless Tales, the Astoria Reading Series curated by Aida Zilelian, 7:30 until 9:30 PM, at Waltz Astoria, 23 – 14 Ditmars Boulevard (corner of 24th St), in Queens, with Nancy Agabian, Cassandra Faustini, Yvette Perez, and Michael T. Young. $10 drink minimum. Take the N or W trains to Ditmars Blvd. (718) 956-8742.

Allegretti will be back in Manhattan, this time in Greenwich Village, Sunday afternoon at 4:00, May 27th, reading at Michael Graves’s Phoenix Series with two co-features to be announced, at Scalinatella, 245 Bleecker Street (west of Carmine). $5 food/beverage minimum plus $3 suggested donation. Take the 1 train to Christopher Street-Sheridan Square; alternatively the A, B, C, D, E, or F train to West 4th Street. (212) 255-5353.

“Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems”
by Joel Allegretti
(Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2012)

“Europa/Nippon/New York” is Joel Allegretti’s second book project with Poets Wear Prada. The Hoboken-based press brought out “Thrum,” Allegretti’s meditation on stringed musical instruments, in 2010. Two previous collections, “Father Silicon” and “The Plague Psalms,” 2006 and 2000, respectively, were published by The Poet’s Press. Allegretti’s poetry has been set to music by Frank Ezra Levy for two song cycles: “A Cycle by the Sea,” which had its world premiere at Kean University in 2009, and “Night Keeps Its Promise,” first performed by Cantori New York at Holy Trinity, New York City, in 2011.

Founded in 2006, Poets Wear Prada publishes beautifully designed, well-crafted poetry chapbooks from Sinatra’s hometown, the birthplace of professional baseball.

“Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not Poems” by Joel Allegretti (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2012), 52 pages, ISBN-10: 0615600204, ISBN-13: 978-0615600208, list price: $12.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.