KAREN RUSSELL (02/02@7pm, NYC)
when February 02, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where Book Court, 163 Court St. Brooklyn, NY 11201
Karen Russell (named one of The New Yorker’s Best 20 Writers Under 40) reads from her latest book, Swamplandia. Free.
LITERARY DEATH MATCH (2/02@8PM, DC)
when February 2, 2011 @ 8:00pm
where The Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
With enthusiasm tickling our brains, and patriotism in our hearts, Literary Death Match is thrilled to descend on the Nation’s Capital for our first-ever LDM D.C. event, sponsored by ModCloth and celebrating the inaugural issue of The Written Wardrobe.
Produced in conjunction with 826DC, the night’s AWP-centric event at The Black Cat will feature a fierce foursome of scribes, including world-class performance poet Regie Cabico, …The Written Wardrobe’s own nonfiction mastermind David Wanczyk, shock-good midwest cleverista Elena Passarello, and Moon Milk Review‘s sharp-penned founder Rae Bryant.
They’ll be judged by the dazzlingly blissful and multiple-award-winning author of How to Leave Hialeah Jennine Capó Crucet, actor extraordinaire Delaney Williams (a.k.a. Sergeant Jay Landsman from HBO’s The Wire), and Washington Post-er and former Q And Not U-er Chris Richards! $10 preorder; $25 T-shirt and entry.
KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE: HOW LA HARDCORE CHANGED THE WORLD (02/03@7PM, LA)
when February 3, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd, W. Hollywood, CA 90069
A panel discussion in conjunction with the Steven Blush release of American Hardcore (Second Edition): A Tribal History. Featuring guests Steven Blush, Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, OFF!), Tony Cadena (Adolescents), Lisa Fancher (Frontier Records) and punk photographer Edward Colver (of the recent book Blight at the End of the Funnel).
Among the important figures who emerged from hardcore are Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters), Ian MacKaye (of Fugazi), and the Beastie Boys. Hardcore’s legacy, however, continues to influence the do-it-yourself anti-commercial trend of independent record labels and touring networks. The author experienced hardcore firsthand as a promoter, record label owner, and radio DJ, and he intersperses the book’s oral histories with his informed commentary. Steven Blush’s “definitive treatment of Hardcore Punk” (Los Angeles Times) changed the way we look at Punk Rock. The Sony Picture Classics–distributed documentary American Hardcore premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. This revised and expanded second edition contains hundreds of new bands, thirty new interviews, flyers, a new chapter (“Destroy Babylon”), and a new art gallery with over 125 rare photos and images. Free.
CUNY WRITERS’ INSTITUTE READING (2/04@7PM, NYC)
when February 4, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where KGB Bar, 85 East 4th St, New York City 10003
Humera Afridi, moved to New York City in 2001 to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at NYU, where she was the recipient of a New York Times Fellowship. Humera’s work has appeared, amongst other publications, in Pakistan’s news weekly, The Friday Times, The New York Times, and in the anthologies, Leaving Home (Oxford University, 2001), 110 Stories. New York Writes After September 11 (NYU Press 2002) and in And the World Changed (The Feminist Press, 2008).
Debora Kuan is a poet, writer, and art critic. She holds a BA from Princeton University and an MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the recipient of a Fulbright media arts scholarship (Taiwan), University of Iowa Graduate Merit Fellowship, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference work-study scholarship, and Pushcart Prize nomination. Her first poetry collection, XING, is forthcoming from Saturnalia Books in Fall 2011.
Martin Quinn was born in Limerick. After graduate study in engineering, he worked as a proprietary trader in currencies and fixed income in London and Greenwich, CT. His work has appeared in Arena and Esquire (UK). Free.
JOYCE FARMER READING (2/05@5PM, LA)
when February 5, 2011 @ 5:00pm
where Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Joyce Farmer, together with Lyn Chevely, was the creator of Tits & Clits Comix in 1975. They had formed their own publishing company, Nanny Goat Productions, to counter the sexism they saw in male-produced underground comix of that time. Apart from Tits ‘n Clits, they also produced a comic about abortion, Abortion Eve, in 1973. Joyce also contributed to the other all-woman comix publication, Wimmen’s Comix. In 2000, Joyce Farmer published her work in magazine Zero-Zero. For the last decade-plus, Joyce has been working on her first long-form work, SPECIAL EXITS, a graphic memoir chronicling the decline of the author’s elderly parents’ health, their relationship with one another and with their their daughter, and how they cope with the day-to-day fragility of the most taxing time of their lives. She lives in Laguna Beach, CA. Free.
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE BOWERY SHOWCASE (2/06@4PM, LA)
when February 6, 2011 @ 4:00pm
where Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd, W. Hollywood, CA 90069
Lonely Christopher presents and signs The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse with special guest Joseph Mattson (Empty The Sun) reading from Matthew Stokoe’s Cows and host Dennis Cooper.
The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse, a radical map of shortcomings in our daily experiences in the form of a debut story collection, presents thematically related windows into serious emotional trouble and monstrous love. Lonely Christopher combines a striking emotional grammar, reminiscent of Gertrude Stein’s Three Lives, with an unyielding imagination in the lovely/ugly architecture of his stories. Free.
BOOK GROUP DISCUSSES IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS (2/07@7PM, OAKLAND)
when February 7, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland, 5433 College Ave, Oakland, CA 94618
Diesel, a Bookstore in Oakland hosts Book Group #3 as they discuss In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin. Free.
ELIZABETH BISHOP AT 100 READING (2/08@7PM, NYC)
when February 8, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where Cooper Union, The Great Hall 7 E 7th Street, New York, NY 10003
(courtesy of The New Yorker): Twenty poets, including John Ashbery, Frank Bidart, Kimiko Hahn, and Marie Ponsot, each read their favorite Bishop poem on her hundredth birthday. Excerpts from a newly published volume of correspondence between the poet and this magazine will be read by Paul Muldoon, Alice Quinn, and Maria Tucci. For more information, call 212-254-9628 or visit poetrysociety.org.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK TWAIN CELEBRATION (2/08@7PM, LA)
when February 8, 2011 @ 7:00pm
where Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024
The Hammer Museum celebrates the publication of Mark Twain’s autobiography with Twain scholar and editor of the Mark Twain Project, Robert Hirst, who will discuss Twain’s life and work, followed by a panel discussion with Hal Holbrook,moderated by David Kipen, who will discuss Twain’s life and work, followed by a panel discussion with The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. In addition there will be a reception with live music and a no-host bar in the courtyard, as well as a book signing.
Free tickets are required, and are available at the Billy Wilder Theater Box Office one hour prior to start time. Limit one ticket per person on a first come, first served basis. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required. Free.
Death matches, musicians-turned-authors and more in this week’s See + Hear + Do.
