Let’s be honest with each another for a minute.
Odds are, if you are a normal human being, the title of this article probably didn’t inspire anything in you that might be mistaken for excitement. In fact, its quite likely that you’re reading this, not because you are interested in the (very exciting) lineup of writers soon to be gracing our town with their literary verve, but because you needed something to gaze at mindlessly while wasting time at work. And really, that’s okay. Honestly. In fact, that’s actually sort of what going to a poetry or fiction reading is all about: momentarily tuning out the distracting persistence of your everyday life in order to enjoy something completely superfluous to your existence. Or perhaps its just the opposite of this — perhaps the written/spoken word is completely essential to your existence (although if it is, you probably have a closet full of black sweaters don’t you? and they’re turtlenecks, aren’t they?).
The bottom line here is, even if you don’t fully realize it, you actually have plenty of reasons to check out at least one reading this spring. For example:
- Do you have few (or no) friends?
Perfect! The literary community in this town is just that, a community — and despite the generally despotic nature of most “Literary Writers” (as they love to be called) its actually a pretty open community if for no other reason other than most all writers need someone to love them, hate them, but above all, pay attention to them. Your presence will most certainly be appreciated.
- Do you have many (or too many) friends?
Perfect! After you attend a reading, you’ll be able to impress said friends the next time you’re all being bored with one another by whistfully staring off into the distance and stoically mumbling something to the effect of: “Oh, sorry for zoning out there, guys – I was just thinking about a poem I heard at last night’s VOICE reading.” This is sure to impress that one guy/girl you’re secretly in love with.
Not really.
- Are you yourself a writer?
Perfect! Check out a VOICE reading or one of the Carr Readers so you can steal from them. Or, go to one of the open mics being held at the Women’s Resources Center and join the fun.
- Do you like famous people?
How cliche. Of course you don’t — unless they’re famous people nobody’s heard of, in which case…
- Do you like famous people nobody’s ever heard of?
Perfect! This year’s Carr Series is chock full of em. And for the record, the one I’m most excited about is most definitely Angie Estes.
- Do you like knowing who famous people are before they become famous so you can later say that you used to like them but now hate them (don’t deny it, hipster)?
Well, that’s what the VOICE readings are for — but you’d better get their soon, like all good things, obscurity can be fleeting.
- Do you like to be read to?
Perfect! Now get your shit together and come to one of these readings:
January
Thursday the 28th | 4:30 | Carr Reading Series | Illini Union Bookstore:
Allison Hedge Coke
Allison Hedge Coke holds the Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair at the University of Nebraska Kearney, directs the Reynolds Reading Series & Honoring the Sandhill Crane Migration Literary Tribute Retreat, has authored four books and one chapbook, edited eight anthologies, performed at the invitation of major poetry festivals around the world (Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, and Jordan), and served as a visiting poet Shandong University in China. She’s an American Book Award-winning American/Canadian poet of mixed Wendat/Huron/Metis/Tsalagi/ Creek/French Canadian/Portuguese/Irish/Scot/English ancestry. And you thought you were busy. Try keeping up with her on the internet. Here’s one place to start. http://www.hedgecoke.net/ (From the Carr Reading Series website)
February
Friday the 12th | 3:30pm | VOICE | Krannert Art Museum:
Blair Croan (fiction) Sean Karns (poetry) Matt Minicucci (poetry)
Thusday the 18th | 4:30 | Carr Reading Series | Illini Union Bookstore:
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s fiction and essays have appeared in StoryQuarterly, Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories 2009, The Kenyon Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. Born and raised in Memphis, a graduate of Harvard, and a former University of California postdoctoral fellow, Perkins-Valdez teaches creative writing at the University of Puget Sound. She splits her time between Washington, DC and Seattle, Washington. Wench is her first novel. Her website is www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com (From the Carr Reading Series website)
March
Thursday the 4th | 7:30 | VOICE | Krannert Art Museum:
Ashley Booth (poetry) Lindsey Drager (fiction) Max Somers (poetry)
Wednesday the 3rd | 4:30 | Carr Reading Series | Illini Union Bookstore:
Angie Estes
Angie Estes is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Tryst (Oberlin College Press, 2009). Her previous book, Chez Nous, also from Oberlin, appeared in 2005. Her second book, Voice-Over (Oberlin College Press, 2002), won the 2001 FIELD Poetry Prize and was also awarded the 2001 Alice Fay di Castagnola Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Her first book, The Uses of Passion (1995), was the winner of the Peregrine Smith Poetry Prize. Her awards include a Pushcart Prize, an NEA Fellowship in Poetry, and the Alice Fay di Castagnola Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Her website is www.angieestes.com.(From the Carr Reading Series website)
Writers Week
15th – 17th | 4:30 | Carr Reading Series | Illini Union Bookstore:
Manuel Martinez
Jane Ciabbatori
Eileen Favorite
Bayo Ojikutu
Event details forthcoming!
April
Thursday the 1st | 7:30 | VOICE | Krannert Art Museum:
Baron Haber (fiction) Eric Tanyavutti (fiction) Jessica Thom (fiction)
Thursday the 15th | 4:30 | Carr Reading Series | Illini Union Bookstore:
Kathy Fagan
Kathy Fagan’s newest collection is Lip (Eastern Washington UP, 2009). She is also the author of the National Poetry Series selection The Raft (Dutton, 1985), the Vassar Miller Prize winner MOVING & ST RAGE (Univ of North Texas, 1999), and The Charm (Zoo, 2002). Fagan is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohioana, and the Ohio Arts Council. Formerly the Director of Creative Writing and the MFA Program at The Ohio State University, she is currently Professor of English and Editor of The Journal. (From the Carr Reading Series website)
Finally, keep an eye out for a new reading series that should be hitting town in the very near future.