Award-Winning Poet Michael T. Young in Lambertville, NJ, Saturday, November 15

Poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, from his brand-new collection, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" (Poets Wear Prada) at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey.

 

Nov. 13, 2014 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Award-Winning New Jersey poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey, from his brand-new book "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," his second full-length poetry collection, soon to be released by Hoboken-based publisher Poets Wear Prada.



Michael T. Young, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost"

Michael T. Young has published three other books, including his prize-winning chapbook "Living in the Counterpoint" (Finishing Line Press, 2012), an earlier chapbook “Because the Wind Has Questions” (Somers Rocks Press, 1997), and a full-length collection of poems “Transcriptions of Daylight” (Rattapallax Press, 2000). Last month, Young was named co-winner of the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for "Living in the Counterpoint" by the New England Poetry Club. Young has received both Chaffin and William Stafford awards for his poetry, two Pushcart nominations, and a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Since "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" had its unofficial launch earlier this year in May at the West Caldwell Poetry Festival, the poet as been on tour throughout his home state of New Jersey, and in New York, to promote his new book. Mr. Young, a philosopher as well as poet, who works as as administrative assistant in the corporate world, writes about self-exploration and identity in the context of his real-life observations during his daily activities. New Jersey readers will recognize many references in his poems to places traveled during his daily commute such as Pulaski Skyway and the Hudson River waterfront. In one of his poems "Announcing the Stops," Young writes: "The conductor announces over the intercom: / "This is Grove Street," 'This is Exchange Place,' / 'This is World Trade Center'; and later, / when I return home, the same conductor, / like a faithful Blakean, announces the same stops, / but in reverse, as if this made them / into another world, another darkness / outside the windows, another night / with cool air streaming shells and sand / and other relics of merciful judgment. //"

Bertha Rogers, author of "Heart Turned Back," lauds "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" and says in his new book, "Michael T. Young leads his readers into loving the world in its beautiful day-to-dayness. He does this by showing the reader, in thoughtful and graceful language, how to look and listen."

Asked about the unusual title of his book, Mr. Young replied that it is simply the title of one of the poems included in the book. The book itself is dedicated to his wife, Chandra, "with whom every moment is a beautiful moment even when we are lost."

Michael T. Young was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York City in 1990. Young lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

A limited number of signed pre-release copies of "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" will be available for sale at the Lambertville reading.

Panoply Books Reading Series
Saturday, November 15 @ 6PM
Panoply Books
46 N. Union St.
Lambertville, NJ

Free.
Contact: (609) 397-1145 or  info@panoplybooks.com

Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey offers offbeat, rare and out-of-print quality used books, textiles, and artwork. The bookstore is open Monday through Thursday 11AM to 5PM and Friday through Sunday 11AM to 5:30PM.

Poets Wear Prada is a small literary press publishing beautifully designed, well-crafted poetry chapbooks from Sinatra’s hometown, the birthplace of professional baseball, Hoboken, New Jersey, since 2006.

For more details about how to purchase "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," and for additional events please visit the poet's website http://MichaelTYoung.com or his publisher's blog at http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com.

Contact
Roxane Hoffman
201.253.0561
roxy533@yahoo.com

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. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jack Cooper

atelierprincipen@gmail.com

201.253.0561

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.

Tonite 11/11/11: Book Party: Chocolate Waters's The Woman Who Wouldn't Shake Hands 7:30pm 400 W. 43rd St. (at 9th Ave) Ellington Rm. FREE

come celebrate with us!

the woman who wouldn’t shake hands

and here's a cool trailer, w/audio

http://tinyurl.com/3fyxbyx

chocolate will be reading from her new collection

featuring Mark Larsen, Fran Witte and Chavisa Woods

with emcee/publisher Roxanne Hoffman

Manhattan Plaza, 400 W. 43rd St. (SW corner at 9th Ave.)

Ellington Room, 2nd Floor

Nov. 11, Friday @ 7:30 p.m.

(11/11/11)

FREE

Single copies will be on sale: $12.

Signed, numbered collectible edition plus bonus CD: $25.

If you’re unable to attend but would like a copy: A single copy is $12. + $3. postage.

Collectors’ edition is $25. postage free for U.S. orders (foreign add $5.) and includes a CD with six audio tracks plus an extra bonus track of a poem not in the book.

Paypal is the best (cwaters@nyc.rr.com) or snail mail Chocolate Waters 

@ 415 West 44 St. Apt. 7 , NY, NY 10036-4440.

About the line up:

Chocolate Waters, the “Poet Laureate of Hell’s Kitchen,” is one of the first openly lesbian poets to publish in the U.S. during the second wave of feminism, and her contribution is documented in Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975 (U of Il. Press, Barbara Love, ed.). With 3 previous collections, including Take Me Like A Photograph (Eggplant Press), classics of the early women’s movement, Waters is also a founding mother of the radical women’s newspaper, Big Mama Rag, which was produced in Denver, Colorado from 1972 to 1982. We are celebrating the release of her 1st book in over 3 decades, The Woman Who Wouldn’t Shake Hands from Poets Wear Prada Press.


Mark Larsen has dabbled in stand-up comedy and poetry for over 25 years, refusing to go away and then refusing to show up, both at the same time. Recently married to Francine Witte, also on tonight’s bill, he lives in New York city and makes his living as a market researcher. He is happy to be a part of the book release party for Chocolate, and counts Ms. Waters as a close friend and mentor.

Francine Witte lives in NYC.  She received her MA from SUNY Binghamton and her MFA from Vermont College . Her flash fiction chapbook, The Wind Twirls Everything, was published by MuscleHead Press  in 2007. She is the winner of the Thomas A. Wilhelmus Award in fiction from Ropewalk Press, and her chapbook, Cold June was published in 2010. Her poetry chapbook, First Rain was published Summer 2009 by Pecan Grove Press.  She is a high school English teacher. She's happy to be a part of Chocolate's book release party!

Chavisa Woods is a Brooklyn based author whose work pushes boundaries of class culture, gender, literature and sexuality. Her debut collection of short stories, Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind (Fly By Night Press, 2008) was a Lambda Literary Award Nominee for Debut Fiction. Chavisa Woods is the recipient of the 2009 Jerome Foundation Award for emerging writers. Woods has featured as a reader with a number of renowned institutions and festivals. She featured in a performance series, which ran for five days at The Whitney Museum in New York City, as a member of the Chorus of Poets. She has also been featured at the New York Vision Festival as well as the New York Hot Festival in multiple years. Woods’ poetry, short stories and essays have been published nationally and internationally in a number of magazines and journals. Woods is currently completing her first full-length collection of poetry as well as her second work of fiction.

Nominated for a 2010 Pushcart, Roxanne Hoffman's work appears in several anthologies including The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates (Soft Skull Press), Love After 70 (Wising Up Press), and It All Changed In An Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial). Her vampire poetry can be heard during the 2005 indie flick Love and the Vampire, directed and produced by Dave Gold. She runs Poets Wear Prada, a small literary press, since 2006 and blogs at http://roxanne-hoffman.blogspot.com/.


* * *


POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Wear-Prada/41483895438
http://twitter.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

New press, great authors, a publisher who is one miracle short of sainthood.-Angelo Verga, Poetry Curator of The Cornelia Street Cafe

Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?-Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers

Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chaplets bear their own distinctive signature.-Linda Lerner, Small Press Review

Proud Member of CLMP
http://flordelconcreto.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/flordelconcreto

Joel Allegretti Joins Ravi Shankar for an Evening of New Poetry at RAW in Hartford, CT

Poet Ravi Shankar Launches "Deepening Groove" with Joel Allegretti, Susan Frischkorn & Lisa C. Taylor in an Evening of New Poetry at RAW, Hartford, CT.

Hartford, Connecticut, August 14, 2011 -- Real Art Ways’ Writers and Reader Series is pleased to announce an evening of new poetry with acclaimed poet, Ravi Shankar, who will launch his new book “Deepening Groove,” winner of the 2010 National Poetry Review Prize. Three notable authors will join Shankar, each reading from their new works -- Joel Allegretti, Susan Frischkorn and Lisa C. Taylor -- on Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 6 pm, at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St, Hartford, Connecticut 06106. Connecticut Poet Laureate Dick Allen, who has hailed Shankar as “one of America’s finest younger poets,” will introduce “Deepening Groove.”



“Deepening Groove,” described as “a book of savvy, delicious surprises" by Wyn Cooper, author of” New Calm,” is a collection of poems comprised of detailed observations about animals, trees, flowers, fish, the weather, and the human condition. Many of the poems are set in New England where Ravi Shankar lives. Poems from the collection have been featured by the Academy of American Poets and have appeared in such journals as “Blackbird,” “Barrow Street,” “Fulcrum,” “The Mississippi Review” and “Slope.”

Ravi Shankar is founding editor of “Drunken Boat,” an international online journal of the arts, and Co-Director of Creative Writing at Central Connecticut State University. A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, he has published five other books and chapbooks. With Tina Chang and Natalie Handal, he edited W.W. Norton's “Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond,” called "a beautiful achievement for world literature" by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer.


Joel Allegretti is the author of two full-length volumes of poetry from The Poet’s Press: “The Plague Psalms” and “Father Silicon,” selected by “The Kansas City Star” as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Poets Wear Prada released his third collection, “Thrum” (2010), a chapbook of prose poems and poetic essays about musical string instruments. Poets Wear Prada will publish his fourth collection, “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems,” in 2012.

Suzanne Frischkorn is the author of “Girl On A Bridge” (2010), and “Lit Windowpane” (2008) both from Main Street Rag Publishing. In addition she is the author of five chapbooks, most recently “American Flamingo” (2008). Her honors include the Aldridge Poetry Award for her chapbook “Spring Tide,” selected by Mary Oliver, a 2009 Emerging Writers Fellowship from the Writers Center, an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Lisa C. Taylor is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently a collaborative collection with Irish poet and writer Geraldine Mills, “The Other Side of Longing” (Arlen House/Syracuse University Press, 2011). They were both named 2011 Elizabeth Shanley Gerson Readers of Irish Literature at University of Connecticut. She has a new collection due out in 2012.
Writers and Readers is a social gathering for people who love books. Readings will be preceded and followed by an informal discussion providing an opportunity to talk with others interested in reading, writing and thinking. Newly released publications will be available for purchase. Admission is open to the public, free for all Real Art Ways’ members; $5 for non-members.

Real Art Ways (RAW) is an alternative multidisciplinary arts organization, founded in 1975, that presents and supports contemporary artists and their work, facilitates the creation of new work, and creatively engages, builds, and informs audiences and communities. The RAW live arts program has featured poets Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Martin Espada and Sonia Sanchez among others. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street, Hartford, CT 06106, phone: 860.232.1006, fax: 860.233.6691, email: info@realartways.org , website: http://www.realartways.org/.

Contact:

Real Art Ways

Meghan Maguire Dahn

860.232.1006 x109

mdahn@realartways.org

http://www.realartways.org/



Michael's COOL LIMBO Book Launch Party at Elmo's 5/21 at 8:30pm

COOL LIMBO

Poems by

MICHAEL MONTLACK

(New York Quarterly, 2011)

Book Launch Party

May 21 at 8:30PM

@ ELMO'S

156 7th Avenue

(between 19th & 20th Streets)

RSVP:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141136609293605

 

Michael Montlack is the author of the poetry collection Cool Limbo (New York Quarterly Books, 2011) and the editor of the Lambda-nominated essay anthology My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009) and 3 poetry chapbooks, the most recent The Slip (Poets Wear Prada). He splits his time between New York City, where he teaches at Berkeley College, and San Francisco.

Good News from John J. Trause

Dear Family & Friends,

Last Wednesday’s reading was well attended and full of a diverse array of poetry. Marian Calabro started the evening with her detailed and engaging lecture on the relationship between William Carlos Williams and his life-long friend the painter Charles Demuth as expressed in Demuth’s poster portrait of Dr. Williams, The Figure 5 in Gold (1928). This iconic painting is based on Dr. Williams’s poem “The Great Figure” and elements of their friendship. Our features Caterina Belvedere and Davidson Garrett presented very powerful poetry in their individual dramatic styles. It was also a rare treat to see a professional actor such as Davidson perform Dr. Williams’s poem “The Tract”, which we learned was a rebuke of Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”.



I continue to co-host with Jane Fisher, Rutherford Free Public Library Director, this excellent series, now in its fifth year, so please come by for this upcoming reading. Mark your calendars now!



NOTE that this series is held on FIRST Wednesdays each month from now on.



I have three poems in The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow volume 3, and I look forward to joining in the celebration as both host and participating poet.



The WCW Poetry Cooperative of Southern Bergen County is pleased to invite as our next feature the Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow Poets, on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 7:00 p. m. This monthly program will also feature the words of William Carlos Williams (presented this month by Joel Lewis) and time-permitting open readings from the floor. No advanced registration is required and all poets and poetry lovers are invited. Note that we are now holding the WCW Poetry Cooperative readings on the Terrace of the Williams Center for the Arts (http://www.williamscenter.org/ ) located at 1 Williams Plaza in Rutherford, N. J. Download a program flyer here:




www.rutherfordlibrary.org/sept10poetry.pdf



Also, please remember that noted poet Jim Klein leads our peer-to-peer poetry workshops (Red Wheelbarrow Poets) on Wednesdays (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th) when we do not have the readings. These will continue in the Rutherford Free Public Library (http://www.rutherfordlibrary.org/ ). Please see the flyer here:





www.rutherfordlibrary.org/wedworkshops.pdf



Also, please see the Red Wheelbarrow website here:




redwheelbarrowpoets.wordpress.com/a-red-wheelbarrow/about



Remember that the Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow Poets have published volume 3 of The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow anthology including three poems of mine, those of many others associated with the WCW Poetry Cooperative and literary life in Rutherford, and some excellent essays. Copies of the anthology will be on sale, so please contact the editors at redwheelbarrowpoets@yahoo.com, if you would like more information or like to arrange the purchase a copy or two. They make excellent birthday or holiday gifts for poetry lovers and anyone who loves literature and history.



Please come out and support these creative endeavors.



Thank you.



Love & Peace,


JOHN

Sat. June 26 at 8PM The North Jersey Literary Series Presents Poets Wear Prada

Saturday, June 26, 2010

8PM-11PM

THE NORTH JERSEY LITERARY SERIES

presents

The Poets of Poets Wear Prada

* JOEL ALLEGRETTI * CYNDI DAWSON * JOHN J. TRAUSE * TANTRA-ZAWADI *

with Editor/Publisher ROXANNE HOFFMAN

+ OPEN MIC

@

CLASSIC QUICHE CAFÉ

Special Events Room

330 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck, New Jersey

FREE

Come early and enjoy a relaxing meal.
The quiches are famous,
and there are also other wonderful entrees,
as well as coffees, teas,
& desserts.

2 Sets by our features plus Open Mic and book signing


Space and sound are unrivaled by any other venue!

Hosted by Paul Nash and Denise La Neve

Café phone: 201 692 0150

 

Bios of our four PWP Poets:

In his new chapbook THRUM (2010, Poets Wear Prada), ...

... JOEL ALLEGRETTI deftly and delightfully strums his magical musical instrument, which is poetry, as he forges fresh forms of songs and stories that are inspired by strummers' strings ... Prepare yourself for the revelatory performance. – Martine Bellen

Joel’s two previous collections (published by The Poet’s Press) are THE PLAGUE PSALMS (2000, now in its third edition) and FATHER SILICON, selected by THE KANSAS CITY STAR as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Allegretti's work has also appeared in many national literary journals and in two major anthologies: CHANCE OF A GHOST (2005) and BEYOND THE RIFT: POETS OF THE PALISADES (2010). For a more complete bio, please visit his website: www.joelallegretti.com

TANTRA-ZAWADI is an award winning poet/artist/filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York. She has performed at major venues around the world in places like South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto. Her book GATHERED AT HER SKY (2010, Poets Wear Prada) contains excerpts from her Off-Broadway production SOLDIER BLUES, as well as from her one-woman performance piece GIRL: A CHOREOSPECTIVE, plus text from previously recorded spoken word tracks. Tantra's poem and video "Scarlet Waters" was featured on the Product (RED) video wall to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Tantra-zawadi's poetry speaks of a global consciousness and ambassadorship; each word of every line reminds us of the connection we have to one another in the race to win. – Tshombe Sekou Harris

Follow Tantra-zawadi online at: www.tantra-zawadi.com, www.youtube.com/tantrazawadi.

CYNDI DAWSON, international wordrocker and spoken word artist, curates the Poets and Angels music and poetry series. As an actress in TV and film, she has stood in for Madonna and appeared on Law and Order. She is also famous for her performance art collaboration with Venezuelan SoHo-based artist Rene in the 1980s. Her two previous books of poetry are DREAM SEQUENCES and INSIDE OF OUTSIDE.

 

With her new collection OUTSIDE GIRL (2010, Poets Wear Prada), Ms. Dawson takes ...

... the reader through the scene, the clubs, the drugs, the grit, and ties it all together with love. Dawson ... establishes herself as a fierce, forceful, raw, punk poet in the tradition of Jim Carroll. – Puma Perl

Visit her online at www.myspace.com/insideofoutside

JOHN J. TRAUSE is the author of the chapbook SERIOUSLY SERIAL (2007, Poets Wear Prada). He is the new Director of the Oradell Library, and former Director of the Wood-Ridge Memorial Library, as well as Serials (seriously) Librarian at the MOMA Library from 1991 to 2000. Trause has been an active part of the NYC art scene as well as an avid devotee of avant-garde public raucousness. His work has appeared in many literary publications, both in-print and online, and most recently in the major new anthology: BEYOND THE RIFT: POETS OF THE PALISADES.

John Trause is unique: a classicist who loves pop. His poems capture our desire to mock and at the same time learn every juicy detail of pseudo-celebrity (Edie Sedgwick, Doris Duke, Gov. McGreevey) with all the classical style of Plato writing about Atlantis. He is our generation's undiscovered T.S. Eliot. – David Silverman

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey, devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high-quality chapbooks, primarily of poetry. Roxanne Hoffman, Publisher: http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/  

 

Contact for queries regarding The North Jersey Literary Series: njlspoetry@yahoo.com  

Cyndi Dawson Rocks Mulligan's on Friday, July 9 at 7 p.m.

On Friday, 7/8, Cyndi Dawson will read from her new poetry collection “Outside Girl” from 7-8 p.m.

Joining her for the celebration will be Kat Georges, David Lawton, Jane Ormerod and Puma Perl.


Stick around for The Trash Mavericks. Hear live old school rock and roll at 9 p.m.


Mulligans Pub
159 First St
Hoboken NJ

http://www.mulligansonfirst.com/
(201) 876-4101

Sun May 23: Tantra with New Book at Monteserrat Poetry Festival, Missouri

Photo Credit: Arnold Browne

Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Montserrat Poetry Festival

Montserrat Vineyards
Montserrat, Missouri
Knob Noster, MO 65336
(660) 747-WINE (9463)

Hosted by: Mark Pearce

Here is the line-up:

1:00 Katy Trail Trio*, Sedalia
1:20 Larry Welling, Kansas City
1:40 James Kneece, Independence
2:00 Christina Pacosz, Kansas City
2:20 Dave Ewing, Warrensburg
2:50 Alec Bell, London, U.K.
3:20 Gustavo Adolfo Aybar, Kansas City
3:40 Hubert Neth, Lee’s Summit
4:10 Jim Coffman, Columbia
4:40 Eva Ridenour, Armstrong
5:00 Walter Bargen, Ashland
5:30 Tantra Zawadi, New York City
6:00 Doug Kiburz, Sedalia
6:20 Debbie Noland, Sedalia
6:40 Glen Enloe, Independence
7:10 Larry Allen, Columbia
7:30 Mark Pearce, Warrensburg
7:50 Rachel Brown, Warrensburg

* Anna Lee Bail, Mable Fowler and Mary Frances Herndon

There are a few returnees and a number of new presenters this year. With over four dozen submissions, the field is strong and varied. Though it’s designed as a come-and-go affair, you might find yourself wanting to stay for all seven hours.

Those wanting to attend from out of town might choose to stay in nearby Warrensburg, Missouri, where there are three or four Bed and Breakfasts and several nice motels from which to choose. http://www.visitwarrensburg.org/

Tantra-zawadi, an award winning poet/artist/filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York, has performed to standing-room audiences in the USA, South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto. Her new book, GATHERED AT HER SKY, contains excerpts from her off-Broadway production SOLDIER BLUES, and her one-woman performance piece GIRL: A CHOREOSPECTIVE, as well as the text of previously recorded spoken word tracks.

Gathered at Her Sky
Life Poems by Tantra-zawadi
ISBN 978-0-9841844-6-0

Trade Paperback, 42 pp.

List Price: $12.00

Poets Wear Prada, May 2010

Soon Available from Lulu.com, CreateSpace.com and on Amazon.com

“Tantra-zawadi is one of the finest and greatest female poets who undoubtedly has ushered in a new era and genre that will take the 21st century into one where humanity will move forward. She rejuvenates the weak mind, shakes and
moves hard hearts. If one wants the power of poetry, then Tantra’s is the
holistic package.”

— Betty Makoni, Founder of the Girl Child Network
and a 2009 Top Ten CNN Hero

“Tantra-zawadi's poetry speaks of a global consciousness and ambassadorship; each word of every line reminds us of the connection we have to one another in the race to win.”

— Tshombe Sekou Harris, Founder/Host of Freedom Verse Café

“Tantra's writing oozes with the passion of Neruda and the sensitivity of Sonia. Her words can warm the coldest of hearts.”

— Bruce George, Co-Founder of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam

“The power in her words percolates; the truth in her story persuades; and the activism in her message is victorious.”

— Chuma Whahid Rasul, Founder/CEO of Chuma Spirit Books, LLC,
and author of The Third Eye of a Butterfly

About the Author:

Tantra-zawadi, an award winning poet/artist/filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York, has performed to standingroom audiences at venues as far away as South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto. She has performed original works in off-Broadway productions including Soldier Blues, and her one-woman performance piece, Girl: A Choreospective. She is known for being on the cutting edge as an artist regarding issues such as HIV and AIDS awareness. Tantra’s poem and video, “Scarlet Waters,” was featured on the Product (RED) video wall to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS in Africa and her short documentary, A Silent Genocide ~ A Brief Insight into HIV/AIDS edited by Oliver Covrett, takes another look at the personal impact of the disease.

Follow Tantra-zawadi online:

www.tantra-zawadi.com
www.facebook.com/tantrazawadi
www.myspace.com/tantrais
www.youtube.com/tantrazawadi

Greatest thanks to Montserrat Vineyards for hosting the event and to public television station KMOS-TV for helping to promote and sponsor it.

Sat May 22 Art & Healing Anthology Reading: Alexis, Johnson, Maney @ African Voices, NYC

Saturday, May 22

4:00 p.m.

Art and Healing Anthology Reading

@
African Voices
270 West 96th Street
New York, NY

~with~
Austin Alexis

Jacqueline Johnson

John Maney

and others

Copies of Art's Buoyant Felicity will be on sale.

This Event is Free!

For Lincoln & Other Poems
by Austin Alexis
ISBN 978-0-9841844-3-9
6" x 9" Saddle Stitched, 36pp.
$10.00 (+ $2 S&H by Mail Order)
Release Date: March 2010

Perfect Bound Edition Now Available from Create Space: www.createspace.com/3440550
And on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Other-Poems-Austin-Alexis/dp/0984184430/

Austin Alexis contemplates the way time's passage alters our sense of artists such as Chopin, Haydn, Poe, and Martha Graham as well as, among others, grandparents, Einstein, and presidents Lincoln and Obama. The way the poet
cultivates sound, sense, and form, he grows, as he writes George Sand did for
Chopin, "the branch he needs / in order to soar."

— George Held, author of Phased, Grounded, and other poetry collections

By use of precise imaginings, Austin Alexis allows us an intimacy with select artists: Chopin, or a street poet, or Lincoln, that great artist of rhetoric and vision. An engaged and observant poet, Alexis reveals grace, connection, legend and mortality. This book is an ode to all of us.

— Sarah Sarai, author of The Future Is Happy

The poet's vision enables the reader to see connections between Einstein and Merce Cunningham whose choreography "penetrates... the mysteries of space time [and] weight," and how Lincoln's last day actually culminates in another with the inauguration of Barack Obama: "each verse a fetus / waiting to be born / in the heart of a reader."

— Linda Lerner, author of Something is Burning in Brooklyn, and thirteen other collections

Poems and stories by Austin Alexis have appeared in journals such as Six Sentences and Tuesday Shorts and in the chapbook Lovers and Drag Queens (Poets Wear Prada, 2007). Recently he served as a panelist for The Bronx Council on the Arts Literary Fellowships. One of his poems won a prize in the 2008 Poets for Forest Competition. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Bowl of Stories (Oregon Council of Teachers Anthology Winners Publication), Off the Cuffs (Soft Skull Press), Dinner with the Muse (Ra Rays Press), Art's Buoyant Felicity: Art/Healing/Creativity (Lickle Nine Press), and And We the Creatures (Dream Horse Press), among others.

Sun May 23 Allegretti Rises Like a Phoenix, Serving Up Bengal Curry & Poetry!

O'kay, maybe Allegretti doesn't quite rise like a phoenix in the morning, especially on Sunday. But he will be serving up some great poetry from his new collection THRUM, recently released from Poets Wear Prada, and other work. And joining him will be Tom Oleszchuk and host Mike Graves. You don't want to miss this triple treat! Plus the Indian food is good and reasonably priced.

Sun., May 23:

5:30PM-7:30PM

*JOEL ALLEGRETTI*

*TOM OLESZCHUK*

*MICHAEL GRAVES*

@

Bengal Curry
65 West Broadway
New York, NY 10007-2292
212.571.1122

Between Murray and Warren.
1 1⁄2 blocks below Chambers St

Take the 1, 2, 3, A, C or E trains to Chambers Street

Hosted by Mike Graves & George Spencer

*An Open Mic, if time permits, will be at the Discretion of the Hosts*

This Sunday will be another great experience at the Phoenix Reading @ Bengal Curry. If you love poetry you will not want to miss it. If you love Indian food, including the best naan in NYC, you will not want to miss it. If you love both you will be in Nirvana.

About the Featured Writers:

Joel Allegretti is the author of two full-length collections from The Poet's Press: The Plague Psalms which appeared in 2000 and is now in its third edition and Father Silicon which appeared in 2006. In March 2010 Poets Wear Prada published his third collection, Thrum, a chapbook of poems, prose poems and brief poetic essays about musical instruments. Allegretti’s work has appeared in Art/​Life Limited Editions, Rattapallax, New York Quarterly, Descant, The Laurel Review, Margie, Confrontation, Xcp Cross-Cultural Poetics, Slipstream and many other journals. He is represented in the anthology Chance of a Ghost (Helicon Nine Editions, 2005, and his poem in that collection received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, published by St. Martin’s Press. His website is http://www.joelallegretti.com/

Tom Oleszczuk has published his verse in New Press Quarterly, Medicinal Purposes, Pivot, Poetalk (California), Brownstone Poets Anthology, and others, including online at RogueScholars.com. He has been featured throughout New York City and has written several chapbooks, the latest being Time Out for Good Behavior and A Million Tons of Rubble. Tom recently won an Honorable Mention in the Lucidity International Clarity Poetry Competition. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Heidi and their 4 cats.

Michael Graves is the author of a full-length collection, Adam and Cain (Black Buzzard, 2006) and two chapbooks, Illegal Border Crosser (Cervana Barva, 2008) and Outside St. Jude’s (R. E. M. Press, 1990). In two thousand four (2004), he was the recipient of a grant of four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500.00) from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation. He has published the third issue of his magazine PHOENIX.

Have you had your poetry today?

THRUM
Poems by Joel Allegretti
ISBN 978-0-9841844- 4-6
Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 40 pp.
$12.00 (+ $1.50 S&H)
Release Date: March 2010

"In Thrum Joel Allegretti, deftly and delightfully, strums his magical musical instrument, which is poetry, as he forges fresh forms of songs and stories that are inspired by strummers' strings. 'Context is everything,' Allegretti reminds us, and we’re planted in the heart of a global ancient/modern orchestra. Prepare yourself for the revelatory performance."

Martine Bellen
Author of Tales of Murasaki and Other Poems,
1997 National Poetry Series selection

"Joel Allegretti's latest collection of poems is as enjoyable as it is different. Thrum takes the reader on a journey that explores known musical instruments, such as the mandolin, dulcimer and fiddle, as well as some not-so-known instruments, such as the oud, koto and theorbo. But what makes this journey unique is that each instrument is in a sense personified as the emotive element of each instrument is brought to life. Allegretti does a wonderful job tuning every poem so that the music of each instrument is realized again and again in the words on the page. An intriguing and must read for anyone who has a sense of all that culminates in the commingling of the arts."

Raymond Hammond
Editor, The New York Quarterly

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/
http://thesmokingbook.blogspot.com
http://poetswearprada.blogspot.com
http://issuu.com/pradapoet
http://twitter.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high-quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

Proud Member of CLMP

April 11: Joel Allegretti Bakes a Cake(Shop) in NYC

O'kay, maybe Allegretti doesn't quite bake. But he's definitely going to heat up the place reading from his new collection, THRUM, recently released from Poets Wear Prada, and other work.

Sun., April 11:

Polestar Poetry Celebrates National Poetry Month!

with

~JOEL ALLEGRETTI~

~JOANNA FUHRMAN~

~MICHAEL LEONG~

~LAURA HINTON~

~ADAM GALLARI~

@ CakeShop
152 Ludlow Street
btwn. Stanton & Rivington
New York City's Lower East Side, NY 10002
212-253-0036

4PM-6PM

Directions:
J, M, Z or F to Delancey. Exit on the North side of Delancey at Essex. Walk north on Essex to Rivington. Left on Rivington. Right on Ludlow. Cake Shop will be on your right.

Have you had your poetry today?

THRUM
Poems by Joel Allegretti
ISBN 978-0-9841844- 4-6
Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 40 pp.
$12.00 (+ $1.50 S&H)
Release Date: March 2010

"In Thrum Joel Allegretti, deftly and delightfully, strums his magical musical instrument, which is poetry, as he forges fresh forms of songs and stories that are inspired by strummers' strings. 'Context is everything,' Allegretti reminds us, and we’re planted in the heart of a global ancient/modern orchestra. Prepare yourself for the revelatory performance."

Martine Bellen
Author of Tales of Murasaki and Other Poems,
1997 National Poetry Series selection

"Joel Allegretti's latest collection of poems is as enjoyable as it is different. Thrum takes the reader on a journey that explores known musical instruments, such as the mandolin, dulcimer and fiddle, as well as some not-so-known instruments, such as the oud, koto and theorbo. But what makes this journey unique is that each instrument is in a sense personified as the emotive element of each instrument is brought to life. Allegretti does a wonderful job tuning every poem so that the music of each instrument is realized again and again in the words on the page. An intriguing and must read for anyone who has a sense of all that culminates in the commingling of the arts."

Raymond Hammond
Editor, The New York Quarterly

About the Author

Joel Allegretti is the author of The Plague Psalms, which appeared in 2000 and is now in its third edition, and Father Silicon, selected by The Kansas City Star as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Allegretti’s work has appeared in many national journals, including The New York Quarterly, Margie, The Laurel Review, Art/Life Limited Editions, Rattapallax, Slipstream, Confrontation, and Xcp Cross-Cultural Poetics. He is represented in the anthology Chance of a Ghost (Helicon Nine Editions, 2005), and his poem in that collection received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, published by St. Martin’s Press. In April 2009, Kean University in New Jersey presented the world premiere of a song cycle based on Allegretti’s poetry, “A Cycle by the Sea” by Frank Ezra Levy, who served several decades as cellist with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and whose symphonic work is available in the American Classics series on Naxos. Allegretti is a graduate of New York University and lives in Northern New Jersey. His website is www.joelallegretti.com

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/
http://thesmokingbook.blogspot.com
http://poetswearprada.blogspot.com
http://issuu.com/pradapoet
http://twitter.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high-quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

Proud Member of CLMP

Have you had your poetry today?

March 28: Allegretti in Orange, NJ

Sun., March 28:
Literary Lounge

~JOEL ALLEGRETTI~

@ Studio Luna
406 Tompkins Street, Orange, NJ
3PM-5PM



THRUM
Poems by Joel Allegretti
ISBN 978-0-9841844- 4-6
Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 40 pp.
$12.00 (+ $1.50 S&H)
Release Date: March 2010

"In Thrum Joel Allegretti, deftly and delightfully, strums his magical musical instrument, which is poetry, as he forges fresh forms of songs and stories that are inspired by strummers' strings. “Context is everything,” Allegretti reminds us, and we’re planted in the heart of a global ancient/modern orchestra. Prepare yourself for the revelatory performance."

Martine Bellen
Author of Tales of Murasaki and Other Poems,
1997 National Poetry Series selection

"Joel Allegretti's latest collection of poems is as enjoyable as it is different. Thrum takes the reader on a journey that explores known musical instruments, such as the mandolin, dulcimer and fiddle, as well as some not-so-known instruments, such as the oud, koto and theorbo. But what makes this journey unique is that each instrument is in a sense personified as the emotive element of each instrument is brought to life. Allegretti does a wonderful job tuning every poem so that the music of each instrument is realized again and again in the words on the page. An intriguing and must read for anyone who has a sense of all that culminates in the commingling of the arts."

Raymond Hammond
Editor, The New York Quarterly

About the Author

Joel Allegretti is the author of The Plague Psalms, which appeared in 2000 and is now in its third edition, and Father Silicon, selected by The Kansas City Star as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Allegretti’s work has appeared in many national journals, including The New York Quarterly, Margie, The Laurel Review, Art/Life Limited Editions, Rattapallax, Slipstream, Confrontation, and Xcp Cross-Cultural Poetics. He is represented in the anthology Chance of a Ghost (Helicon Nine Editions, 2005), and his poem in that collection received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, published by St. Martin’s Press. In April 2009, Kean University in New Jersey presented the world premiere of a song cycle based on Allegretti’s poetry, “A Cycle by the Sea” by Frank Ezra Levy, who served several decades as cellist with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and whose symphonic work is available in the American Classics series on Naxos. Allegretti is a graduate of New York University and lives in Northern New Jersey. His website is www.joelallegretti.com.

March 28: Alexis, Lerner & Mapp in NYC

On Sunday, March 28: Austin Alexis will be launching his new collection FOR LINCOLN & OTHER POEMS (Poets Wear Prada, March 2010). A special hand saddle-stitched edition of his book will be made available to the poetry community at $6 ($4 off the list price of the 6x9 trade book edition). Artist Charles Haywood Johnson who created the front leaf illustration, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, will also be present to sign copies.

Please come. 2 other wonderful poets are reading: Linda Lerner and Erica Mapp!



For Lincoln & Other Poems
by Austin Alexis
ISBN 978-0-9841844-3-9
Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 36pp.
$10.00 (+ $1.50 S&H)
Release Date: March 2010


* * *

Phoenix Reading Series @ Bengal Curry, March 28, 2010
Please note: There will not be an Open Mic
Bengal Curry
65 West Broadway
Take the 1, 2, 3, A, C or E trains to Chambers Street
Sunday, March 28, 2010, 5:30 pm
1 1⁄2 blocks below Chambers St


This Sunday will be another great experience at the Phoenix Reading @ Bengal Curry. If you love poetry you will not want to miss it. If you love Indian food, including the best naan in NYC, you will not want to miss it. If you love both you will be in Nirvana.

If the weather is bad please call Bengal Curry at 212-571-1122 to verify that the venue is open.

The following poets will be featuring:

Poems and stories by Austin Alexis have appeared in journals such as Six Sentences and Tuesday Shorts and in the chapbook Lovers and Drag Queens (Poets Wear Prada, 2007). Recently he served as a panelist for The Bronx Council on the Arts Literary Fellowships. One of his poems won a prize in the 2008 Poets for Forest Competition. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Bowl of Stories (Oregon Council of Teachers Anthology Winners Publication), Off the Cuffs (Soft Skull Press), Dinner with the Muse (Ra Rays Press), Art's Buoyant Felicity: Art/Healing/Creativity (Lickle Nine Press), and And We the Creatures (Dream Horse Press), among others.

Linda Lerner is the author of thirteen poetry collections, the most recent from Iniquity Press / Vendetta books, Something Is Burning In Brooklyn, (2009), Living In Dangerous Times, Presa Press (2007) & from March Street Press, City Woman (2006); (both a Small Press Reviews’ Pick of the Month.) Her poems have recently appeared in or been accepted by Danse Macabre, The Chiron review, Literary Gazette, Onthebus, Home Planet News and The New York Quarterly among others.

Erica Mapp is a visual artist as well as a poet. She studied Fine Arts and also Art Education. She loves to teach art and also literature. Her poems have appeared in Commonweal, Columbia, Lake Effect and other magazines. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, was a semi-finalist for the Morse Poetry Prize, and won first prize for her poems in the Freshmeadows Poets Open Competition. She has also been awarded first prize by the Graduate Department Poetry Club at Queens College, where she studied as a continuing education student for two years. Originally from Trinidad, she loves New York and is a long time resident.


For more information about the Phoenix Reading Series and for bookings contact: George Spencer.

April 10: Lanzillotto & Lisella in NYC

~~~~~~

IAWA Presents
Annie Lanzillotto & Maria Lisella
for Book Launch and Reading
on
Saturday, April 10, 2010

~~~~~~

New York, NY- On Saturday, April 10, 2009 the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) celebrates its 19th Anniversary with the zany performance artist, Annie Lanzillotto and Maria Lisella, journalist, poet and co-curator of the IAWA Reading series at Cornelia St. Café, who will read from her new chapbooks.

Annie Rachele Lanzillotto is a poet, performance artist, songwriter, lead vocalist of her band FIASCO. Her first solo show, "Confessions of a Bronx Tomboy: My Throwing Arm," was staged at the Manhattan Class Company's “New Works Festival,” Under One Roof's “Women 9 to 90” Festival. Her writing has appeared in numerous anthologies including Our Roots Are Deep With Passion: Creative Nonfiction Collects New Essays by Italian American Writers (edited by Gutkind and Herman, New York: Other Press, 2006); her story, "Cosa Mangia Oggi" appeared in Gastropolis: A History of Food and New York City (edited by Deutsch and Lawson, Columbia University Press, 2007) and "Strike One," a poem in Italian American Writers on New Jersey: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose (edited by Gillan and Giunta, Rutgers University Press, 2003)

In Lanzillotto's signature performance, "Icewoman," she spins and destroys a 200- pound block of ice in her homage to her Barese father and grandfathers who delivered ice in the Bronx. She recently performed at IAWA's social event in Fall, 2009 at the Italian Cultural Institute. Videos of her performances and solo-theater teaching can be seen on YouTube, and http://www.annielanzillotto.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria Lisella's two chapbooks, Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press) and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada) were published in 2009. She has also authored poetry, a few short stories and won awards for her creative non-fiction that has appeared in anthologies such as Avanti Popolo: Italian American Writers Sail Past Columbus (ManicDPress, 2008), More Sweet Lemons (2011, Legas Press) while her Pushcart-Prize nominated poetry can be seen online and in print in Felie-Festa, Gradiva, Italian Americana, The New York Quarterly, Skidrow Penthouse, and others. She was a finalist in the competition for Poet Laureate in Queens in 2007.

She has been reporting on the travel industry for the travel trade and consumer publications for the past 25 years and is a member of the New York Travel Writers Association. She has spelunked in caves in Madhyar Pradesh, rafted the Jordan River, ridden horseback in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, explored the great art museums of Europe, hiked Mt. Etna in Sicily and Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Visit www.nytwa.info/marialisella/

TWO NAKED FEET
by Maria Lisella
ISBN 978-0-9817678-8-8
Soft Cover, Saddle Stitched, 24 pp.
Poets Wear Prada, 2009
$8.00 (+ $1.50 S&H)

AMORE ON HOPE STREET
by Maria Lisella
Finishing Line Press, 2009
$14

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reading takes place Saturday, April 10, 2010, 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., at the Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, (212-989-9319); http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/). The evening starts with Open Mic readings of five minutes each.

IAWA is a 501(3) © not-for-profit corporation. Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month. For membership information, visit: http://www.iawa.net/


The three rules of IAWA:

Write or be written, Read each other and Buy our books.

Contact: Gil Fagiani (718-777-1178)
Authors Available for Interviews