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Black Clock

Singular, idiosyncratic and a little mysterious, Black Clock is one of America's leading literary journals.

Archive for the ‘Calendar’ Category—

SEE + HEAR + DO (9/30-10/31)

NY ART BOOK FAIR (9/30-10/2, NY)
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101
Presented by Printed Matter, this three-day exhibit of artists’ books, zines, and periodicals kicks off a month jam-packed with literary festivities. Includes artist-led workshops, symposiums, screenings, signings, readings, and special projects from international and independent presses and booksellers. Check out the program for a list of readers, exhibitions, and workshops. Free.

ROGER EBERT, LIFE ITSELF (10/1@1PM, CHGO)
The Newberry Library, 60 W Walton St, Chicago, IL 60610
The walking synecdoche for American film criticism introduces and signs his memoir, Life Itself, which the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist structured as a series of vignettes or self-contained essays–never far from, but never dominated by, his notorious love of the movies. Free.

DOC (10/1@7:30PM, NY)
Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003
Harold L. Humes’s daughter Immy Humes directs this documentary about the Paris Review founder and author, which will be shown alongside Dan Drasin’s Sunday, documenting Humes’s protest against the suppression of folk singing in Washington Square Park, as well as excerpts from Humes’s unfinished film Don Peyote. Alternate showtimes 10/2@6PM and 8:45PM. $9 ($7 students).

LITQUAKE (10/7@8PM-10/15@6PM, SF)
San Francisco, CA
The city by the bay, whose citizens spend twice the national average on books, unites in a week-long celebration of literacy spread across her picturesque hills and waterfronts. With a formidable list of authors including such diverse figures as Jennifer Egan, Robert Polito, Oscar Villalon, Ishmael Reed, Alice Sebold, Christopher Moore, and Andrew Altschul, there’s something here to pique everyone’s interest, including sub-quakes for kids and teens. Schedules for the main festival, as well as the concluding Lit Crawl, are online. Those who can’t make it out west might be interested in a follow-up Lit Crawl in Austin on 10/22. Free (tickets required for some events).

STEPHEN PINKER (10/13@6PM, CHGO)
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S State St, Chicago, IL 60605
The prize-winning author of The Language Instinct and The Stuff of Thought discusses and signs his newest book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. The latest in Pinker’s popular explorations into human nature and cognitive linguistics suggests that the world might be a far nicer place than we give it credit for. Free (registration required).

&NOW FESTIVAL: TOMORROWLAND FOREVER (9/13-9/15, SD)
UCSD, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093
&Now truly is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. A creative/critical festival/examination of all things incipient, ingenious, indefinite and intractable, festivities include conferences, multimedia performances, literary rituals, and a book fair hosted by the Rubber Rose adult boutique. You could paint an elephant with the list of Black Clock friends, contributors, and fellow-thinkers who will be presenting and have plenty of names left in the bucket. Don’t wait until tomorrow to start marking up your calendar: The schedule is packed tighter than a fallout shelter on doomsday. $100 Registration Fee.

UGLY FEELINGS (10/16@7PM, LA)
REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Jack Halberstam (Female Masculinity, The Drag King Book), Wayne Koestenbaum (Hotel Theory, The Queen’s Throat), and Maggie Nelson (The Red Parts: A Memoir; Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions) read from new critical works on the theme of failure, cruelty, and humiliation. Halberstam will be reading The Queer Art of Failure, an examination into the notion of failure in children’s animation, while Koestenbaum’s Humiliation is a meditation on the nature of shame. Nelson’s critically-acclaimed The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning questions the role of cruelty and violence in avant-garde art. $10 ($5 students).

MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI: THE FIFTY YEAR SWORD (10/31@8:30PM, LA)
REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
The award-winning, typographically challenging novelist, author of House of Leaves and Only Revolutions, conducts a polyphonic multimedia theatrical presentation of his limited-edition ghost story, The Fifty Year Sword, reprising last Halloween’s haunting performance. A live shadow play, arranged by Christine Marie & Ensemble, adds unexpected depth to Danielewski’s words, and audiences should come prepared for other audiovisual surprises from the man who often charts the limits of narratological structure. $20 ($15 students).

SEE+HEAR+DO (6/28-7/4)

THE RATTLING WALL (6/29@7PM, LA)
Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd, W. Hollywood CA 90069

Book Soup hosts the second in a series of readings celebrating the debut issue of The Rattling Wall, a new LA-based literary journal published by Narrow Books with funding from PEN Center USA. The reading will feature Black Clock 12 contributor Samantha Dunn (Failing Paris), alongside Alisa Slaughter, Libby Flores, KM Droney, and Eric Layer. Be sure to purchase a copy of The Rattling Wall Issue 1, which includes offerings from Black Clock contributors Lou Mathews, Tod Goldberg, and Matthew Zapruder, among other notable voices. Free.

MICHAEL SHOWALTER WITH JENNY SLATE (6/28@12:30PM, NY)
The Bryant Park Reading Room at 42nd Street between 5th and 6th, New York, NY 10018

A member of the surreal sketch comedy troupes The State, Stella, and Michael & Michael Have Issues, Michael Showalter also wrote and appeared in the 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer and 2005’s The Baxter. More recently, he has turned his pen to more introspective pursuits with his debut memoir, Mr. Funny Pants, described by comedienne Amy Poehler as “honest, absurd, and absolutely pointless.” Showalter will be joined by Jenny Slate (Dead Millionaire) as part of Bryant Park’s “Word for Word” outdoor reading series. Free.

DAN BERN W/ COMMON ROTATION (7/1@10:30PM, LA)
Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057

With a voice that channels the likes of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty perhaps a little too well, Dan Bern is a musical storyteller in the grand American tradition. He’s also a secret novelist, having published 2004’s Quitting Science under the nom de plume Cunliffe Merriwether. Joining him exclusively for his Los Angeles performance are LA-based trio Common Rotation. $10.

CODEPINK PRESENTS WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY (7/2@7:30PM, LA)
Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

Sponsored by the grassroots peace organization CODEPINK, this all-woman reading features nonfiction writer Jo Scott-Coe (Teacher at Point Blank), Bellwether Prize-winner Gayle Brandeis (The Book of Dead Birds, Delta Girls), two-time Pushcart nominee Stephanie Barbé Hammer, and Donna Hilbert (The Green Season, Traveller in Paradise). Free.

SEE + HEAR + DO (5/31-6/6)

BAXTER BLACK (5/31@7:00PM, Seattle)
The Elliot Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Ave, Seattle, WA

Cowboy poet, philosopher, veterinarian, NPR regular, and comedian, Baxter Black will be reading and performing from his newest book, Lessons From a Desperado Poet.  Though his work is maybe a stretch from the usual BC aesthetic (of such an aesthetic exists), in my opinion, Black is a real Western prize, a real voice of the rural West. For a preview, check out the video on his website. Free.

ALOUD: MELISSA FAY GREENE IN CONVERSATION WITH SETH GREENLAND (5/31@ 7:00PM, LA)
Los Angeles Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Through their ALOUD series, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles presents Melissa Fay Greene discussing her memoir, No Biking in the House Without a Helmet. She will be in conversation with Black Clock friend and frequent contributor Seth Greenland. An excerpt of Seth’s upcoming novel, The Angry Buddhist, is set to appear in BC 14. Free.

PETE’S READING SERIES: BRUCE BAUMAN (6/1@7:00PM, Brooklyn)
Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn, NY

Bruce Bauman, Black Clock Senior Editor, will be reading and signing with novelist Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life. Free.

AIMEE BENDER, SAMANTHA COHEN & ALLISON CARTER (6/5@7:00PM, LA)
Workspace, 2601 Pasadena Ave, Unit C, Los Angeles, CA 90031

Black Clock contributors Aimee Bender, Samantha Cohen, and Black Clock friend and Calarts Alum Allison Carter will be reading at Workspace. Samantha will also be featured in BC 14. Free.


SEE + HEAR + DO (5/25-5/31)

CHARLAINE HARRIS IN CONVERSATION WITH MELISSA MARR (5/25 @ 12:30PM, NY)
At the Bryant Park Reading Room located on the 42nd Street side of the park – under the trees – between the back of the NYPL & 6th Avenue. Look for the burgundy and white umbrellas.  Bryant Park phone number: 212-768-4242

Charlaine Harris will be interviewed by Melissa Marr, author of the young adult urban fantasy novel, Wicked Lovely, on May 25th. Charlaine will also take fan questions and sign books at the event which is part of the “Word for Word”, an outdoor reading series that features bestselling authors, celebrity writers, and expert-panelists sharing anecdotes, answering questions from the audience, and signing copies of their latest books. Free.

ALMOST FAMOUS READING SERIES (5/25 @ 6:30PM, NY)
apexart, 291 Church Street, New York, NY 10013

Join us for apexart’s third event in the fourth installment of the Almost Famous Reading Series, featuring four new authors each week of our May program. Initiated in March 2010, the series has gained momentum, asking previous participants to recommend their favorite authors from the New York City community, leading to a diverse and interesting spectrum of readers. Refreshments will be served, stories will be shared, and interests will be piqued. Angela Ashman, Dylan Landis, Eric Lindley, and Shelly Oria read. Free.

CHINA MIÉVILLE (5/29 @ 4PM, PORTLAND)
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR 97005

Sci-fi author China Miéville doesn’t follow trends. He sets them, relentlessly pushing his own boundaries as a writer — and, in the process, he expands the boundaries of the entire field. With Embassytown, Miéville has crafted an extraordinary novel that’s not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war. Free.

SEE + HEAR + DO (5/18-5/24)

BIG CITY FORUM – WRITERS EDITION (5/18 @ 7PM, LA)
LA Art Association, Gallery 825, 825 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069

Big City Forum in conjunction with LAAA/Gallery 825 present an evening about the written word. Join a group of L.A.’s most talented up and coming authors as they explore the ways in which fiction shapes our thinking about personal and collective narratives. Presenters: Harold Abramowitz, Grace Krilanovich, Margaret Wappler, and Lauren Strasnick. Free.

CALARTS WRITERS SHOWCASE (5/19 @ 7:30PM, LA)
REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The School of Critical Studies holds a reading of the best new fiction and poetry by MFA candidates in the Writing Program. Free.

LARRY FLYNT AND DAVID EISENBACH (5/20 @ 7:30PM, PORTLAND)
Powell’s City of Books on Burnside, 1005 W Burnside, Portland, OR 97209

In One Nation under Sex (Palgrave MacMillan), free-speech activist and notorious Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt teams up with Columbia University history professor David Eisenbach to peek behind the White House bedroom curtains and document how hidden passions have shaped public life. They unpack salacious rumors and outright scandals, showing how private affairs have driven pivotal decisions — often with horrific consequences. Along the way, they explore the origins of America’s fascination with sex scandals and explain how we can put aside our political moralism and begin focusing on the real problems that threaten our nation. Free.

OPEN CITY 2011 BENEFIT PARTY (5/24 @ 7PM, NY)
Open City, 162 E. 92nd St., New York, NY 10128

Sam Lipsyte and Amine Wefali read at a party to benefit Open City and to mark the release of an anthology with highlights from the magazine, They’re at It Again: Stories From Twenty Years of Open City. Tickets start at $100. Funds raised will support the continuation of Open City Books.

SEE + HEAR + DO (5/11-5/17)

A LITERARY CELEBRATION! GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ’S ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE (5/11 @ 7:30PM, NY)
Leonard Nimoy Thalia, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990

Oscar Hijuelos (Pulitzer Prize winner of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love), Esmeralda Santiago (When I was Puerto Rican), and Kevin Brockmeier (The Illumination) discuss Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece. This event will include a performance of Judah Adashi’s Songs and Dances of Macondo with music by Quintet of the Americas and a reading by Sonia Manzano. $25

CALARTS MFA STUDENTS READ FROM THEIR WORK (5/13 @ 7:30PM, L.A.)
Skylight Books, 1818 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Students in the CalArts Master of Fine Arts writing program read from their work. Diana Arterian, Marco Di Domenico, Henry Hoke, Emily Kiernan, and Amanda Montei read. Free.

POETRY FESTIVAL: A CELEBRATION OF LITERARY JOURNALS (5/15 @ 1PM, WEST CALDWELL)
West Caldwell Public Library, 30 Clinton Road, West Caldwell, NJ 07006

In its eighth year, this showcase event displays journals, holds poetry readings, and makes editors available for questions about publication. Free.

LUNADA WRITING WORKSHOP (5/16 @ 6:30PM, SF)
Galeria de la Raza, 2857 24th Street (at Bryant), San Francisco, CA 94110

“Coming Home, Making Home” is a writing workshop facilitated by Cathy Arellano, Andrea Serrano, and Michelle Otero, featured poets of the Lunada  Lunada ~ Literary Lounge & Open Mic SPRING SEASON FINALE: “Búrque to The Bay.”  From the Mission District, and Albuquerque New Mexico, the featured poets of the Lunada Spring Season Finale will offer a special writing workshop, open to the general public, to nurture a poetic exchange between writers from the Bay Area and the Southwest ~ Búrque to The Bay! $10-15 sliding scale; no one turned away for lack of funds.

SEE + HEAR + DO (5/3-5/10)

STEVE ERICKSON AT THE JAPAN SOCIETY IN NYC: SEEING STORIES: FICTION, MANGA & GRAPHIC NOVELS (5/03@76:30PM, NY)
East 47th St, New York, NY 10017
 American and Japanese artists have been inspiring each other for decades. Tonight, authors Hideo Furukawa and Steve Erickson share their strong apocalyptic imaginations, and Roland Kelts, half-Japanese author of Japanamerica, will discuss the mutual influences in narrative visual art. Followed by a reception. Buy tickets online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon– Fri 11AM–6PM, weekends 11AM–5PM. $12/$8 Japan Society members, seniors & students.
LARRY FLYNT + DAVID EISENBACH (5/04@ 7PM, LA)
 Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
 The authors will discuss and sign their book One Nation Under Sex. Free.

CHICAGO DURUTTI SKOOL: WORKSHOP WITH THE NEXT OBJECTIVISTS (5/05@7PM, CHICAGO)
The Mess Hall, 6932 North Glenwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60626
A free, open-to-the-public poetry workshop dedicated to the study & reproduction of the outsidereal. Free.

THE POETRY OF GLOBAL CITIZENS (5/06@7:30PM)
 Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
 Celebrate the launch of new works by Iranian-American poet and artist KATAYOON ZANDVAKILI in our upstairs Project Room. Readings to follow. Admission $7, students/ seniors/children $5, Free for members.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY (5/07@ALL DAY)
Various Locations
 Free Comic Book Day is a single day–the first Saturday in May each year–when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely Free to anyone who comes into their stores.

MOTHER’S DAY FESTIVAL ON OLVERA STREET (5/8@ 10AM, LA)
Olvera Street, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Site, Main St & Cesar E Chavez Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
 Food, fun and celebration of moms. Free.

AN EVENING WITH LEONARD NIMOY (5/09@6PM, BOSTON)
 Metcalf Hall, Boston University,  775 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02116
 The pop-icon and Boston native discusses his life and multi-faceted career. $25 admission, Free to members of the Friends of the Libraries and the BU Community.

See + Hear + Do (4/27-5/02)

BEYOND MUSIC: VOICING THROUGH SAUSSURE – JACQUES DEMIERRE & VINCENT BARRAS (4/28@7:30PM, LA)
Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Bl. Venice, CA 90291
Barras and Demierre present their intense and eccentric performance deconstructing Saussure’s linguistic structures in a mad tour de force of synchronic poésie sonore. $10/ $5 for seniors, students and UCLA faculty, Free for BB members.

BRENT CUNNINGHAM, BRANDY NALANI MCDOUGALL & CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ (4/30 Doors@7PM, LA)
The PRB @ The Public School, 951 Chung King Rd, Los Angeles, CA, 90012
Brent Cunningham is a writer, publisher and visual artist, Brandy Nālani McDougall and Craig Santos Perez: authors and scholars. Free with $5 suggested donation.

LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS (4/30-5/1@10AM-6PM and 5PM on Sunday, LA)
University of Southern California, Exposition Blvd and S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90089.
Panel Discussions, Booksellers, All Things Literary, Food, and of Course, Black Clock! Free. Parking at the USC campus will be $10.

THE DEAD MILKMEN (4/30@7:30PM, CHICAGO)
Congress Theater, 2135 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL, 60647
“What Spinal Tap is to hair metal, Philly’s The Dead Milkmen was to punk music.” Their latest album, The King In Yellow, was released in March. $18-70.

SEE + HEAR + DO (4/20-4/26)

In this week’s SEE + HEAR + DO, we consider the world.

PAUL FITZGERALD & ELIZABETH GOULD (4/21 @ 7PM, WALTHAM)
Back Pages Books, 289 Moody Street, Waltham, MA 02453
In Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire, the authors explore the war in Afghanistan and its consequences for Pakistan, Russia, India, China, Iran, and America. Free.

GABRIEL TOSO (4/21 @ 7:30PM, LONDON)
Treadwell’s, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS
Toso lectures on Vodou Flags: Sequined Spirits of Haiti – their origins, ritualistic uses, value as art objects, and their complex iconography. £7.

ICE-T (4/25 @ 7PM, NY)
Barnes and Noble, 33 E. 17th St. New York, NY 10003
Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—From South Central to Hollywood, Ice-T’s second memoir, recounts his life’s many exploits, the roles he has played, and surviving Hollywood. Free.

PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE (4/26  @ 7:30PM, NY)
The Lighthouse, Pier 61, Chelsea Piers
PEN, the world’s oldest literary and human rights organization, kick-offs of its annual festival with words from festival chair Salman Rushdie, a literary fashion show, and entertainment from favored authors and actors galore, all to celebrate freedom of expression around the world. $30.

ASHLEY GOSSMAN (4/26 @ 7PM, PORTLAND)
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR 97232
Join John Sibley Williams, A. Molotkov, Carrie-Ann Tkaczyk, David Cooke and Ragon Linde for A Night of Poetry and Experimental Music. Free.

BILL MORGAN (4/26 @ 6:30PM, SF)
San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Ever wonder where the Beats loved to crash? Get your thirst quenched in Beat Atlas: A State by State Guide to the Beat Generation from City Lights. Free.

SEE + HEAR + DO (4/13-4/19)

This week, we’re sustainable, sexy, and on a mission.

SUSIE BRIGHT (4/13 @ 7PM, LA)
Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
In Big Sex, Little Death, Susie Bright recounts a personal history rife with political activism, sex-positive feminism, and sexual experimentation. Free.

NIKKI SIXX (4/14 @ 6PM, SF)
Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA 94111
The Mötley Crüe bassist and songwriter (now radio personality, author, and photographer as well) exposes underbellies and surprising beauty in his book of writing and photography: This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx. Free with purchase of book.

RYE BARCOTT (4/15 @ 6PM, SEATTLE)
Town Hall,  1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
It Happened on the Way to War is Rye Barcott’s bold memoir of founding a nonprofit organization, Carolina for Kibera, which endeavors to provide sustainable solutions to poverty in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. $5.

RENEE WILKINSON (4/17 @ 4PM, PORTLAND)
Powell’s Books, 1005 W Burnside, Portland, OR 97209
Wilkinson lights the path toward better autonomy and economy in Modern Homestead: Grow, Raise, Create. Free.

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