May 28: Coney Island's On Our MInd: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Jack Cooper Dreaming of Coney Island
Hmmm...Those Nathan's Franks

Join us for a celebration of the writings of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, this Memorial Day, Monday May 28th, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Yippie Cafe & Museum, 9 Bleecker Street (Just West of Bowery), New York, NY 10012.  Poets Wear Prada Production Editor JACK COOPER will be among the readers honoring Ferlinghetti with poems by the celebrated poet and some of their own.  The event is hosted by Gordon Gilbert. $3 Suggested Donation. RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/events/246679128765087/

A CONEY ISLAND OF THE MIND
Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

By Subway: Take B, D, F, M to Broadway/Lafayette, 6 to Bleecker Street, or  F or V to 2nd Avenue. 

Celebrants: 

Bernard Block  

Tom Oleszczuk   

Kim Kalesti   

Jessica Femiani  

Barbara Ann Branca  

Jack Cooper  

Richard West  

Bob Quatrone  

Patricia Brody  

Thad Rutkowski  

Dorothy Friedman  

Linda Lerner  

Evie Ivy  

Steve Bluestone  

Robert Agnoli  

David Elsasser  

Orion 0.62

About Our Host:  

Gordon Gilbert (Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)

Gordon Gilbert, a long-term resident of the West Village, is a writer of short stories, poetry and monologues, currently writing, directing and producing a work-in-progress, "Monologues from the Old Folks Home." He has only been exploring the NYC spoken word scene since 2008. And of course, he is working on the great American novel, a life-long project to which he returns every few years.

Sun., May 27: Phoenix Reading w/ Allegretti, Kolm and Padki in Greenwich Village, NYC

Three local writers, Joel Allegretti, Ron Kolm and Melind Padki -- an eclectic mix of voices: a pop-culture chronicler, a "Downtown" cultural revolutionary and archivist, and an inside observer of Indian diaspora in America -- will be reading for Michael Graves' Phoenix Reading this Sunday afternoon May 27 from 4:00 p.m.  to 6:00 p.m. at Scalinatella (formerly Scali Caffe), 245 Bleecker Street (west of Carmine), (212) 255-5353, in Greenwich Village, New York City. 

PHOENIX READING SERIES
Sundays at 4PM
@ Scalinatella
245 Bleecker Street
(west of Carmine)
New York, NY 10014
www.scalicaffe.com

 

"The Kansas City Star” counted Joel 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. Allegretti’s poetry has been set to music by Frank Ezra Levy with performances at  Kean University and at Holy Trinity, New York City.  His fourth poetry collection, “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems,” which the pop-culture chronicler describes as his "jet-setting, la dolce vita collection," was recently released by Poets Wear Prada.


Ron Kolm is probably best known for his involvement with the Unbearables, a loose collective of cultural revolutionaries -- poets and artists, he founded in 1985 with  Bart Plantenga, Mike Golden, and Peter Lamborn Wilson, inspired by  Hakim Bey's seminal book "TAZ" (Temporary Autonomous Zone).  In addition to organizing and participating in the group's performance-demonstrations, he has co-edited the group's anthologies, all published by Autonomedia, the latest titled "The Unbearables Big Book of Sex." "The Ron Kolm Papers," some thirty-five cartons of correspondence, notebooks, objects, chapbooks, signed first editions and runs of literary magazines,  were purchased by the Fales Library at New York University, where they now reside.

Melind Padki, originally from India, now residing in New Jersey, has had poems and short stories published in both English and “Marathi,” his mother tongue. He spent twelve years in the great city of Mumbai before coming to Unites States as a post-doctoral fellow at University of Southern California, Los Angeles. His observations, up close and personal, of Mumbai's massive slums and local workers' movements, have appeared in India’s national newspaper, “Times of India.”

Michael Graves

Michael Graves, author of four poetry collections, the most recent, “In Fragility” from Black Buzzard, hosts The Phoenix Reading Series every Sunday afternoons series at Scalinatella, 245 Bleecker Street (west of Carmine), (212) 255-5353, from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM. An open reading follows the featured guest writers. There is an $8 food/beverage minimum plus a suggested $3 donation.


By Subway: Take the 1 train to Christopher Street-Sheridan Square; alternatively the A, B, C, D, E, or F train to West 4th Street and exit at the West 3rd Street exit.

From New Jersey: Take NJ PATH to Christoper Street.


The first Phoenix reading took place in 1995 at La Poeme, a venue on Prince and Elizabeth Streets, and in the years since the series has grown and evolved into the friendly forum it is today. Each week, Phoenix features a set of talented and recognized poets (usually two or three) who read for 20 minutes each. Following the spotlight readings, there is an open mic, and any and all audience members are welcome to share 3-5 minutes of their own material. Phoenix also publishes a print review.


For more information about the series and the print review, please contact Host Michael Graves by email to mikegraves50@hotmail.com

About the Readers:

Joel Allegretti

Joel Allegretti is the author of four collections of poetry: Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems (Poets Wear Prada, 2012); Thrum (Poets Wear Prada, 2010); Father Silicon (The Poet’s Press, 2006), selected by The Kansas City Star as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006, a list that included novels by Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon; and The Plague Psalms (The Poet’s Press, 2000). 


Allegretti’s poems have appeared in Smartish Pace, PANK, The New York Quarterly, Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art, MARGIE, Fulcrum and many other national journals, as well as in The Best American Poetry blog. His work has be published in several anthologies, including three this year: Divining Divas (Lethe Press), Token Entry: New York City Subway Poems (Smalls Books), and In the BLACK, In the RED (Helicon Nine).


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. 

Ron Kolmn

Ron Kolm is an American poet, editor, activist and bookseller. In 1985, Kolm, Bart Plantenga, Mike Golden, and Peter Lamborn Wilson founded the Unbearables, a loose collective of poets and artists based on the precepts of Hakim Bey, as set forth in his seminal book, TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone). Taking their name from a short story by Mike Golden, they target literary cliches, which they attempt to deconstruct with humor.


Kolm is a co-editor of the groups anthologies: Unbearables (1995), Crimes of the Beats (1998), Help Yourself! (2002) and The Worst Book I Ever Read (2009) all published by Autonomedia. Kolm's own publications include The Plastic Factory (1989, Red Dust), Welcome to the Barbecue (Low-Tech Press, 1990) and Rank Cologne (P.O.N. Press, 1991). His work can also be found, along with the other Unbearables, in the Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999), and in Up Is Up, But So Is Down: New York's Literary Scene, 1974-1992 (New York University Press, 2006). He has collaborated on a novel, Neo Phobe, written with Jim Feast (Unbearable Books, 2006).


Historian Robert Siegle describes Kolm as "an editor and facilitator for magazines and presses as well as a writer of fiction and poetry" who "carried boxes of little magazines around to bookstores, passed around copies of new work, and connected people" in general, noting that "wherever we look along the networks that hold together the diverse creative talents who constitute this cultural revolution, we find Kolm."

Milind Padki, was born in India to a famous bohemian literary couple. Grew up in a house full of books and literary discussions. Published bits and pieces in school and college magazines. For his pharmaceutical education and PhD in the pharmaceutical sciences, he lived in the great city of Mumbai for 12 years, where Indian society was and still is, under constant churn. Observed Mumbai’s massive slums and slum dwellers up close and personal. Observed workers’ movements very closely. Published small pieces in India’s national newspaper, the “Times of India”. Came to the US as a Post-doctoral fellow at USC, Los Angeles. On the east Coast since 2002, where he has participated in many open poetry readings. Has published poems and short stories in both English, and “Marathi”, his mother tongue. His literary interests are in the interaction between the Indian immigrant and American culture.

About the Host:

Michael Graves is the author of two full-length collections of poems, Adam and Cain (Black Buzzard, 2006) and In Fragility (Black Buzzard, 2011) and two chapbooks, Illegal Border Crosser (Cervana Barva, 2008) and Outside St. Jude’s (R. E. M. Press, 1990). In 2004, he was the recipient of a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation. He is the publisher of the small magazine PHOENIX. Many years ago, he was a student of James Wright and organized a conference on James Wright at Poets House in 2004. And he became a member of P. E. N. a couple of years ago. In addition to leading a Finnegans Wake Reading Group, he has published thirteen poems in the James Joyce Quarterly and read from them and others of his poems influenced by Joyce to a gathering of the Joyce Society at the Gotham Book Mart.

Sat. 5/19: Fink, Hoffman, Karageorge, Shmailo at Cornelia St. Cafe in NYC

The Greek-American Writers’ Association

 

Presents

Tom Fink, Roxanne Hoffman,

Penelope Karageorge & Larissa Shmailo

 

6-7:30 PM, Saturday, May 19^th, 2012

The Cornelia Street Café

29 Cornelia Street (Between West 4^th & Bleecker Streets)

(212) 989-9319

A $7.00 entry fee includes one complimentary house drink.

Hosted by Dean Kostos

Thomas Fink is the author of seven books of poetry, including Peace Conference (Marsh Hawk, 2011) and Autopsy Turvy (Meritage, 2010), a collaboration with his daughter, Maya Diablo Mason. His work appears in The Best American Poetry 2007 (Scribner’s). A Different Sense of Power (Fairleigh Dickinson, 2001) is his most recent book of criticism, and in 2007, he co-edited Burning Interiors: David Shapiro’s Poetry and Poetics. Fink’s paintings hang in various collections.


A freelance journalist, Penelope Karageorge writes frequently about film and theatre. She is the author of a crime novel, Murder at Tomorrow (Walker Publishing), Stolen Moments (Pinnacle Press) and a poetry collection, Red Lipstick and the Wine-Dark Sea (Pella Publishing). Her short stories have been published in journals as diverse as Mouth Full of Bullets and The Charioteer. Penelope began her career as a Newsweek reporter, interviewing luminaries including Bette Davis and Cary Grant. She was publicity director of People magazine. She's currently developing her original film script, a romantic comedy set on the Greek island of Lemnos, Drinking the Sun.


Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street, now answers a patient hotline for a New York home healthcare provider. Her words can be found, on and off the net, in Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Clockwise Cat, Danse Macabre, The Fib Review, Hospital Drive, Lips Magazine, Lucid Rhythms, Mobius: The Poetry Magazine, The New Verse News, The Pedestal Magazing and Shaking Like a Mountain; the indie flick Love and the Vampire starring Dave Gold and Rick Poli; and several anthologies including The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates (Soft Skill Press), Love After 70 (Wising Up Press), and It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial). She started the small literary press Poets Wear Prada with her late husband in 2006, and continues to runs it with the poet, fiction writer and translator Jack Cooper.Her elegiac poem "In Loving Memory" with illustrations by Connecticut artist Edward Odwitt was published as a chapbook in 2011.


Larissa Shmailo has been published in The Unbearables Big Book of Sex, Barrow Street, Fulcrum, Rattapallax, Drunken Boat, Big Bridge, Mad Hatters Review, Naropa’s We among other publications. Larissa translated the Russian Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by A. Kruchenych for the original English-language production performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, archived at the Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her CD, Exorcism won her the 2009 New Century Music Awards for spoken word with music. Her first CD, The No-Net World, is heard frequently on the radio and internet. She has published three books of poetry, In Paran (BlazeVox), A Cure for Suicide (Cervena Barva Press), and the e-book Fib Sequence (Argotist Ebooks).

Robert Gibbons featured at Go Cat Go, May 14th, in Yorkville, NYC

Monday, May 14th

6:45 PM - 9 PM

Peter Chelnik's GO-CAT-GO! Poetry Event
~featuring~

ROBERT GIBBONS

@

Gracie's Corner Diner

352 E 86th St

(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)\

New York, NY 10028

Neighborhoods: Yorkville, Upper East Side

(212) 737-8505

http://graciescornerdinernyc.com

FREE!  Open Mic for Poetry

your food/beverage purchase helps support the venue

Robert Gibbons, originally from Belle Glade (Palm Beach County) Florida, is an actor, model, musician, educator, writer and spoken word artist.  His work has been published widely online and in print in places like Cartier Street Review, Nomad's Choir, Stained Sheets, and The Palm Beach Post, appearing in several anthologies, Dinner With the Muse, The Anthology of the Green Pavilion Poetry Event, ed. Evie Ivy (Ra Rays Press, 2009), The Brownstone Poets, ed. by Patricia Carragon and hell strung and crooked, eds. Jane Ormerod, Ice Gayle Johnson, Brant Lyon, Tom Fucalora (Uphook Press, 2011).

A popular performance poet he has been featured for Kairo's Cafe at the Church of the Village, Saturn Series at Nightingale Cafe, Poets on White at Space on White, and at The Cornelia Street Cafe, among other venues.

He received his B.S. in History from  Florida A&M University in Tallahassee in 1989. Robert has taught in the Palm Beach County School District; the Prince George’s County School District; the Fairfax County School District; and now works as an English Specialist for the Renaissance Charter High School of Innovation of East Harlem (Manhattan), New York City.

Robert has studied poetry at Cave Canem and the 92Y with master poets Cornelius Eady, Marilyn Nelson, KImiko Hahn, Nathalie Handal, and Linda Susan Jackson.

 

Peter Chelnik

Publisher/Editor Roxanne writes a little bit about the host of Go Cat Go!:

Peter Chelnik is responsible for getting me to read my work in public.  In 2003 I went to hear him read at The Back Fence at Dee Anne Gorman's invitation.  I had never met him before. There was this big burly "all-American" guy at the mic wearing his trademark Pendleton plaid wool shirt, baseball cap, glasses, mustache. reading list poems and what lists he read.  It sounded like jazz rants. No music.  But he was making music with his words.And his words were filled with American people and American scenes. big and real just like him. He was terrific.  Then after the reading broke up, Bridgid Murnagham, reading curator and our waitress for the day, dragged Dee and me on to the stage to read from our notebooks while Chelnik, along with his brother and nephew cheered us on.

We became fast friends, and Herb and I had the pleasure of publishing a chapbook of his poetry,  "Paradise Highway," four years later in 2007.

Chicago Poet Ice Gayle Johnson at CCNY Poetry Festival on May 11th

Hair stylist turned poet Ice Gayle Johnson to spotlight the 40th annual City College (CCNY) Poetry Festival featuring fellow Chicago native Patricia Smith.

Chicago Poet Ice Gayle Johnson

Chicago hair stylist, professional photographer Ice Gayle Johnson kicks off her book tour for “The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter,” her debut collection of poems, with a spotlight reading at the 40th annual City College of New York (CCNY) Poetry Festival, Jack Cooper, Production Editor at Poets Wear Prada, announced today. Dubbed “Woodstock of the Spoken Word,” the all-day, all-verse event takes place Friday May 11, from 9:15AM to 5:00PM, in Theater B of Aaron Davis Hall located on campus at West 135th Street and Convent Avenue. Fellow Chicago native Patricia Smith, with Richard Tillinghast, originally of Memphis, Tennessee, will be featured guest poets this year.

Announcing publication of “The Key” recently, Jack Cooper described Johnson’s book as “profoundly beautiful: an unexpected turn of the lock. Hidden chambers of the heart lead from a girlhood kitchen to the panorama of windows that survive the woman's adult life.” Johnson, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, shares her very personal experiences of love and loss, first the familial and then the romantic, in her debut collection. Her mentor and longtime friend, the poet Barry Wallenstein, founder of The Poetry Outreach Center at City College, invited Johnson to take part in the festival where upwards of 150 students from as many as 50 New York public schools will recite their poems. Winners of the festival’s citywide high school contest will also read, the top-three receiving cash prizes awarded by Alfred A. Knopf, the New York publisher. Johnson will be among the invited published poets from around the country joining City College students, alumni, and faculty in reading their work to close out the event.

Barry Wallenstein
Founder of The Poetry Outreach Center, CCNY

Of Johnson, Barry Wallenstein, himself, author of six poetry collections, “Drastic Collections” (New York Quarterly, 2012) his most recent, has written “Ice is anything but cold,” and of her poems, “These confessions of unashamed love, expressed frankly and directly, are warm enough to heat a city.”

Johnson continues her book tour, visiting New Jersey next month to read on Wednesday June 6th at the Williams Center for the Arts, located at 1 Williams Plaza in Rutherford. In addition to reading from her new book, Johnson has been invited to make a brief presentation on the life and work of Williams. The event is sponsored by The William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative of Southern Bergen County and hosted by the poet John J. Trause. Free and open to the public, the monthly first Wednesday poetry series starts at 7:00PM and includes an open reading. Also in attendance will be The Red Wheelbarrow Poets, participants of the local peer-to-peer poetry workshops led by Jim Klein.

The author returns to New York City as featured poet on July 9th for Peter Chelnik’s Go Cat Go! reading series, a monthly poetry event, at Gracie’s Corner Diner, 352 East 82nd Street (at 1st Avenue). Sign up for the open reading begins at 6:45PM. The reading starts at 7:00PM and continues till about 9:00PM. No cover, but a food/drink purchase is required.

Creator of “The Five-point Cut,” “Graduated Bob” and “Fire Fly,” Chicago-based stylist Johnson, a member of Intercoiffeur, the international honorarium and organization for hairdressing professionals, served on Clairol’s Presidential Council with First Lady Nancy Reagan’s colorist. An accomplished photographer, she has been represented by the Ward Nasse Galley of New York, her photos appearing on Marcel Schulman Greeting Cards, Signature Greetings, and others.

A founder and shaper of Uphook Press, Johnson co-edited and contributed to its debut collection, “A Cautionary Tale: Peer into the Lives of Seven New York Performing Poets,” in 2008. Three other anthologies have followed: “you say. say.” (2009), “Hell Strung and Crooked” (2010), and “gape-seed” (2011).

“The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter” by Ice Gayle Johnson (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2012), 42 pages, ISBN-10: 0615606512, ISBN-13: 978-0615606514, list price: $12.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Jack Cooper
atelierprincipen@gmail.com
201.253.0561

Poets Wear Prada Furnishes “The Key” by Chicago Stylist Ice Gayle Johnson

Poets Wear Prada announced today publication of Ice Gayle Johnson’s debut poetry collection “The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter,” her very personal account of love and loss, both familial and romantic.

(Hoboken, NJ – May 6, 2012) Poets Wear Prada today announced release of “The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter” by Ice Gayle Johnson. Creator of “The Five-point Cut,” “Graduated Bob” and “Fire Fly,” Chicago-based stylist Johnson, a member of Intercoiffeur, the international honorarium and organization for hairdressing professionals, served on Clairol’s Presidential Council with First Lady Nancy Reagan’s colorist. An accomplished photographer, she has been represented by the Ward Nasse Galley of New York, her photos appearing on Marcel Schulman Greeting Cards, Signature Greetings, and others. Jack Cooper, Production Editor at Poets Wear Prada, said “I am happy and proud to announce ‘The Key’ by Ice Gayle Johnson. It is profoundly beautiful: an unexpected turn of the lock. Hidden chambers of the heart lead from a girlhood kitchen to the panorama of windows that survive the woman's adult life. Its author already distinguished for her perspective gained through the camera lens and in fashioning the human head turns observant eye and scissor-hands to literary style.”

THE KEY
By Ice Gayle Johnson

Johnson’s debut poetry collection shares her very personal experiences of love and loss, first the familial and then the romantic. The books begins with scenes from life with a mysterious, mysteriously well-educated father, lone survivor of Nazi tyranny in a Lithuanian town living out his days as a janitor in Chicago; a neurotic, often-abusive mother, rival for the father’s affection; and an older sibling, rival for the mother’s. Mother and daughter become estranged, reuniting shortly before the mother’s death. The book ends with a sequence of love poems recounting romances mostly broken but still treasured.

“The appeal of this book begins in its generosity as a memoir. The real-life scenes seem triggered by the discovery of a shoebox full of unsorted snapshots, the same moments seen again and again, different angle and lens -- out of focus, in focus, telescopic to panoramic. In fact, they are carefully selected and laid out on the kitchen table steadily to reveal ‘the big picture,’ as the author matures, accepting the truth about her family, her lovers and herself,” said Poets Wear Prada Publisher and Senior Editor Roxanne Hoffman.

Leni Zumas, author of “Farewell Navigator: Stories” (Open City, 2008) writes “These poems are raw, brave, and sometimes hilarious. Ice Gayle Johnson searches the hidden rooms of family history with a determined eye. From nuns to nightmares to cheesecake, she traces with great compassion the debris of haunted relationships.” Barry Wallenstein, author of six poetry collections, “Drastic Collections” (New York Quarterly, 2012) his most recent, writes “Ice is anything but cold. These confessions of unashamed love, expressed frankly and directly, are warm enough to heat a city.”

Author Ice Gayle Johnson

A founder and shaper of Uphook Press, Ice co-edited and contributed to its debut collection, “A Cautionary Tale: Peer into the Lives of Seven New York Performing Poets,” in 2008. Three other anthologies have followed: “you say. say.” (2009), “Hell Strung and Crooked” (2010), and “gape-seed” (2011). Ice Gayle Johnson has performed her poetry, coast to coast -- from the Bowery Poetry Club in New York to The Beat Museum in San Francisco. Her spoken word tracks have been featured by Stay Thirsty Media and Poetz.com. Eponymous CD and DVD are available at CDbaby and at DVD.com.

“The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter” by Ice Gayle Johnson (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2012), 42 pages, ISBN-10: 0615606512, ISBN-13: 978-0615606514, list price: $12.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Jack Cooper
atelierprincipen@gmail.com
201.253.0561

Hoboken Publisher and Author Roxanne Hoffman in New York City This May

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jack Cooper

atelierprincipen@gmail.com

201.253.0561

Hoboken Publisher and Author Roxanne Hoffman in New York City This May

Poets Wear Prada announced Senior Editor, Hoboken author Roxanne Hoffman in New York this month to promote her new book: Sundays, May 6^th and 13^th, and Saturday May 19^th.

(Hoboken, NJ – May 4, 2012) Poets Wear Prada announced today Senior Editor Roxanne Hoffman will be reading at several literary events in New York City this month. “In Loving Memory,” her lyrical ballad chronicling a small-town church congregation from funeral to marriage, features illustrations by Connecticut artist Edward Odwitt.

IN LOVING MEMORY
by Roxanne Hoffman
illustationsby Edward Odwitt

“‘In Loving Memory’ should be on everyone’s shelves as it reflects on one of the darkest human experiences with insight and humanity in a charmingly gothic presentation,” said Garth von Buchholz, publisher, member of the National Book Critics’ Circle and author. Vampire verse by author Hoffman, a frequent dabbler in the horror genre, can be heard during Dave Gold’s 2005 indie flick “Love and the Vampire.” Twice included in the “House of Horror” best-of-the-year anthology, her 2010 contribution was nominated for Pushcart Prize.

Hoffman, now making her home in Hoboken, New Jersey, grew up on Manhattan’s Upper Westside. A Bronx High School of Science alumna, she lived for several years in Greenwich Village, while attending New York University’s Stern School of Business and later when she worked on Wall Street at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Roxanne Hoffman
[Credit:  Hugh Thompson]

This coming Sunday, May 6^th, Hoffman returns to her hometown where from 6:00 until 8:00 PM she joins The Hebrew Mamita Vanessa Hidary at the JujoMukti Tea Lounge, located at 211 East 4th Street, between Avenues A and B. Five dollars admission buys both a pot of tea and a spot on the roster for anyone wishing to participate in the open portion of the "unplugged" reading hosted by David Lawton, poet, actor and musician. Directions: F train to Second Avenue, 6 to Bleecker, or 14A bus from Union Square along Fourteenth to Third Street at Avenue A.

Host Lawton described the event where Hoffman and Hidary will read round-robin as “Mixed communities. Different backgrounds. Contrasting styles. Two lovely female poets come together to represent the state of the art with good humor and sex appeal.” Featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, Hidary, herself a native New Yorker, recently published her first book “The Last Kaiser Roll in the Bodega.”

The Hebrew Mamita Vanessa Hidary

May 13^th, the following Sunday, Hoffman goes west, to Greenwich Village where she joins Michael Graves, author of four poetry collections, the most recent, “In Fragility,” from Black Buzzard, for his Phoenix Reading Series at Scalinatella, 245 Bleecker Street (west of Carmine), from 4:00 until 6:00 PM. An open reading follows two additional features to be announced. There is an $8 food/beverage minimum plus a suggested $3 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.

Again in Greenwich Village, Saturday, May 19^th, Hoffman will be reading for the Greek American Writers Reading Series at the Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street (off Bleecker). Convening every third Saturday of the month, for poetry, prose — music, occasionally, and song — from 5:45 until 7:45 PM, the series, with Dean Kostos — his latest book, “Rivering,” soon to be published by Spuyten Duyvil Press — as host, has a $7 cover charge, which includes one free house drink. Co-featuring with Hoffman on the 19^th will be Larissa Shmailo, Tom Fink and Penelope Karageorge.

Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street. She divides her time now between a “night” job, answering the patient hotline for a New York home-healthcare provider, and a “day” one, running the literary press Poets Wear Prada. Her writing has appeared and continues to appear in periodical publication, widely — “Champagne Shivers,” “Danse Macabre,” “Dark Eye Glances,” “Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine,” “Hospital Drive,” “House of Horror,” “Lucid Rhythms,” “Mirror Dance,” “The Pedestal Magazine,” “Scarlet Literary Magazine,” “SNM Horror Magazine” among many others, and numerous 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 Changes in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure” (Harper Perennial).

“In Loving Memory,” by Roxanne Hoffman with illustrations by Edward Odwitt, paperback: 24 pages, ISBN-10: 1468019074 ISBN-13: 978-1468019070, list price: $12.00, is now available from Amazon Books, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers. Signed copies may be purchased directly from the author at readings.

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

From the News Front

The Key: Lady Grizzly and Sir Charles Otter
by Ice Gayle Johnson
Poets Wear Prada, 2012

April 30, 2012

Dear Friends,

I am happy and proud to announce "The Key" by Ice Gayle Johnson. It is profoundly beautiful: an unexpected turn of the lock. Hidden chambers of the heart lead from a girlhood kitchen to the panorama of windows that survive the woman's adult life. These poems follow Joel Allegretti's "Europa/Nippon/New York," recently released, a log -- part cata-, part travel -- chronicling metaphysical peregrinations of a 21st-century explorer and bricoleur. Available at Amazon. Coming soon: Patricia Carragon's "The Cupcake Chronicles," a confectionery tale for the ages--all ages.

John Jack "Jackie" (Edward) COOPER
Poets Wear Prada

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.

New Poems by Joel Allegretti from Poets Wear Prada: "Europa/Nippon/New York" Takes the Reader Around the World in 52 Pages

Poets Wear Prada announced today publication of “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not Poems” by the American poet Joel Allegretti, a cinematic travel log through space and time replete with airplanes, submarines, the expected cathedral stops, and surprise visits with pop culture icons, and other legends.

EUROPA/NIPPON/NEW YORK
Poems/Not-Poems
by Joel Allegretti
Paperback: 52 pages
ISBN-10:0615600204
ISBN-13:978-0615600208
Poets Wear Prada: 2012
list price: $12.00

Hoboken, NJ, April 27, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Poets Wear Prada announced today publication of “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not Poems” by the American poet 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.

“Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not Poems” is a cinematic travel log through space and time replete with airplanes, submarines, the expected cathedral stops, and surprise visits with pop culture icons and other legends. Publisher Roxanne Hoffman said, "Allegretti convincingly defies gravity in the best modern way: with verve, intelligence, marquee names and loads of special effects."

“The trip is shorter than Phileas Fogg's— the book takes but a fraction of the time to read; still, Jules Verne (who figures prominently in it) remains in the balloon’s gondola,” said Jack Cooper, who as production editor at Poets Wear Prada guided “Europa/Nippon/New York” to its elegant landing. “The difference is Fogg’s out and Allegretti’s pulling the strings,” he continued. Roxanne Hoffman called it a “vacation between book covers," adding "You go to Italy. It’s a day at the beach (and undersea) with nights at the movies combined: Phantom of the Opera, one time; howling at the moon, another.”

“‘Europa/Nippon/New York’ is my jet-setting, la dolce vita collection,” said Joel Allegretti. “I absolutely love the cover! It shows a side of Steve I never knew.” Steve Dalachinsky, a widely celebrated poet, created the collages featured on both front and back of the book.

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

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

Thur. March 29 - Fri. March 30: Poets Wear Prada at 2012 Chapbook Festival @ CUNY Graduate Center

2012 Chapbook Festival 

Please join us at 2012 Chapbook Festival this Thursday, March 29 and Friday, March 30, held at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, NYC.  The festival is on the C-Level.  The bookfair starts at 12:00 noon each day.

The festival is free and open to the public, though workshops  require advance registration.

For the complete schedule and list of participating publishers please visit: http://chapfest.wordpress.com/ 

The facebook event page is http://www.facebook.com/events/328260763891509/

Tonite: Small Press Celebration at Left Bank Books 7-9pm Wed 21 March 2012

Left Bank Books"In Praise of Great and Small"
C E L E B R A T E S
S M A L L   P R E S S   M O N T H
(The  E Y E S  of  M A R C H)

W e d n e s d a y
21 March 21
2 0 1 2

THREE ROOMS PRESS + FINISHING LINE PRESS + RAIN MOUNTAIN PRESS + LITTLE SKY PRESS + POETS WEAR PRADA

hosted by

Roxanne  H O F F M A N  and  Jack  C O O P E R
POETS WEAR PRADA
f e a t u r i n g
Five (5) Great Poets!
Kat  G E O R G E S + Peter  C A R L A F T E S + Peter  C H E L N I K +

Gil  F A G I A N I + Michael T.  Y O U N G

7 to 9 p.m.

17 Eighth (8th) Avenue,
Corner of  West 12th Street, G r e e n w i c h  V i l l a g e

plus--

A f t e r   P a r t y !
at

C H O C O L A T E   B A R

(n e  x   t        d     o      o       r        ...        1         9          )

KAT  G E O R G E S is an NYC poet, playwright, performer and designer. Her full-length poetry collection, Our Lady of the Hunger will be released soon on Three Rooms Press. In New York since 2003, she has directed numerous Off-Broadway plays, curated poetry readings (including the bi-monthly Son of a Pony poetry reading series at Cornelia Street Cafe), and performed widely. She is co-founder and editor of Three Rooms Press; their most recent books include Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art; Have a NYC: New York Short Stories; and Mike Watt: On and Off Bass, a collection of photos and distilled tour diaries from the great punk rock bass player.


PETER  C A R L A F T E S  is an NYC playwright, poet, and performer. He is the author of 12 plays, including a noir treatment of Knut Hamsun’s Hunger, and his own celebrity rehab center spoof, Spin-Dry. Carlaftes has recently published three books: A Year on Facebook (humor), Drunkyard Dog (poetry) and Triumph for Rent (3 plays). He is co-founder and editor of Three Rooms Press; their most recent books include Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art; Have a NYC: New York Short Stories; and Mike Watt: On and Off Bass, a collection of photos and distilled tour diaries from the great punk rock bass player. 

PETER  C H E L N I K's latest book is Strawberry Harmony:New Poems (Little Sky Press, March 2010).  His chapbook "Paradise Highway" was published by Poets Wear Prada in 2007. Other books include Railroad Heart, East Coast Line, Manhattan Wilderness, Eternity Road and Wildflower Serenade. He has had seven plays produced Off-Off-Broadway. These dramatic works include Street Rag, Prairie Fire, Parking Lot, Moving Target, Scarsdale Station and Tremont Vortex. Peter has also written Trick Bag, a novel of the 1960's. And yes, he does believe "the word will set you free."

GIL  F A G I A N I’s poetry collections include: Rooks (Rain Mountain Press, 2007), Grandpa’s Wine (Poets Wear Prada, 2008); translated into Italian by Paul D’Agostino, A Blanquito in El Barrio (Rain Mountain Press, 2009), Chianti in Connecticut (Bordighera Press, 2010) and just recently, Serfs of Psychiatry (Finishing Line Press).  He has translated into English poetry written in Italian, Abruzzese dialect and Spanish. Gil co-curates the Italian American Writers’ Association’s monthly readings at the Cornelia Street Café and is the Associate Editor of Feile-Festa: A Literary Arts Magazine.

MICHAEL T.  Y O U N G  has published three collections of poetry: Transcriptions of Daylight, Because the Wind Has Questions and, most recently, Living in the Counterpoint, which was published by Finishing Line Press.  His next full-length collection, The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost, will be published in 2013 by Black Coffee Press.  He received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  He received a William Stafford Award and the Chaffin Poetry Award.  His work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous print and online journals including Fogged Clarity, Iodine Poetry Journal, The Potomac Review, The Raintown Review, and The Same.  His work is also in the anthologies Phoenix Rising and Chance of a Ghost and forthcoming in The Bug Book, and In the Black/In the Red.  He lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Go to the link on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/​events/346193165425594