tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236037492024-02-28T22:01:36.681-05:00The Ordinary Evening Reading Series“Bringing writers to the Elm City”
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Join us on an ordinary Tuesday for extra-ordinary writers at the Anchor Bar's Mermaid Room, 272 College St., New Haven, CT.
</p>AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-54989842436268370712011-07-12T14:35:00.003-04:002011-07-12T14:38:20.953-04:00That's All Folks!After five fabulous seasons, the Ordinary Evening Reading Series is ending. It's been an amazing time. We've met wonderful writers and had wonderful audiences show up every month, rain or snow or shine or holidays. In our absence, please support the other terrific literary events in the Elm City. Keep well and keep reading.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-72696122087566680482011-03-23T09:54:00.000-04:002011-03-23T17:09:28.974-04:00Rescheduled! - April 5: Annie Murphy Paul and Carl Zimmer<strong>Annie Murphy Paul</strong>'s most recent book is <em>Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of our Lives</em>. A magazine journalist and book author who writes about the biological and social sciences, she was born in Philadelphia, and graduated from Yale University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A former senior editor at <em>Psychology Today</em> magazine, she was awarded the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Her writing has appeared in the <em>New York Times Magazine</em>, the <em>New York Times Book Review</em>, <em>Slate, Discover, Health, O: The Oprah Magazine</em>, and many other publications. She is the author of <em>The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves</em>. An article based on <em>Origins</em> was included in the <em>Best American Science Writing 2009</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Carl Zimmer</strong> writes about science regularly for the <em>New York Times</em> and magazines such as <em>Discover</em>, where he is a contributing editor and columnist. He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which is <em>The Tangled Bank: An Introduction To Evolution</em>. Carl's books have won a number of accolades, including "One of the Top 100 Books of 2004" by <em>The New York Times Book Review</em>. His articles have been published in <em>the New York Times</em>, as well as magazines including <em>National Geographic, Time, Scientific American,Science</em>, and <em>Popular Science</em>. <br /><br />From 1994 to 1998 Carl was a senior editor at <em>Discover</em>, where he remains a contributing editor and writes a monthly column about the brain. He is now a lecturer at Yale University, where he teaches writing about science and the environment. He is also the first Visiting Scholar at the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Carl also hosts "Meet the Scientist," a podcast from the American Society for Microbiology.<br /><br />Carl's work has been anthologized in both <em>Best American Science Writing </em>and <em>Best American Science and Nature Writing</em>. He has won fellowships and a number of awards, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Journalism Award twice, for his work for <em>The New York Times</em> and for his blog, <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/">The Loom</a>. He is, to his knowledge, the only writer after whom a species of tapeworm has been named.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-61866203047327700462011-03-22T10:21:00.001-04:002011-03-23T17:36:16.302-04:00April 26: Eleanor Lerman and Gail Mazur<strong>Eleanor Lerman</strong>'s most recent collection of poems, <em>The Sensual World Re-Emerges</em> was published by Sarabande Press in 2010. It has been nominated for three awards: ForeWord's Book of the Year (poetry), The Audre Lorde Poetry Award from the Publishing Triangle and the Lambda Literary Award (poetry). Her collection of short stories<em>, The Blonde on the Train</em> (Mayapple Press), came out in 2009. <br /><br />Eleanor's first book of poetry, <em>Armed Love</em> (Wesleyan University Press), was published in 1973 when she was twenty-one and was nominated for a National Book Award. While Eleanor quickly became known as an exciting young poet with a direct, new voice, she also faced criticism for her explicit depiction of then-shocking subject matter. One more collection, <em>Come the Sweet By and By</em> followed in 1975, and then, partly in response to the backlash against her first book, she did not write another book of poems until 2001, when <em>The Mystery of Meteors</em>. This was followed by <em>Our Post-Soviet History Unfolds</em> (2005), which was awarded the 2006 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for the year's most outstanding book of poetry. <br /><br />Raised in the Bronx and Far Rockaway, Eleanor has lived in New York City all her life. <br /> <br /><strong>Gail Mazur</strong>’s poems celebrate the din and detail of ordinary life. Her most recent volume, <em>Zeppo’s First Wife: New and Selected Poems</em>, won the Massachusetts Book Award and her 2001 volume <em>They Can’t Take That Away from Me</em> was a finalist for the National Book Award. Gail published her first collection, <em>Nightfire</em> in 1978 and followed that with <em>The Pose of Happiness </em>(1986). <br /><br />A graduate of Smith College, Gail has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College. Active in the Boston and Cambridge literary communities, she has served as the founding director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Center, and as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emerson College.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-9433294727421735482011-02-21T12:03:00.000-05:002011-02-21T19:22:38.548-05:00March 15: Michael Alienikov and Daniel Swift<strong>Michael Alenyikov’s </strong>first book, <em>Ivan and Misha</em>, was called “Highly Recommended” by the <em>Library Journal</em>, while <em>Booklist</em> praised its “sweetness, compassion, and great beauty.” Michael’s short stories have appeared in <em>Canada’s Descant</em>, <em>The Georgia Review, the James White Review, New York Stories</em>, and <em>Modern Words</em>. They have been anthologized in <em>Best Gay Stories, 2008 </em>and <em>Tartts Four: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers</em>. His essays have appeared in The <em>Gay & Lesbian Review</em>. A MacDowell Fellow, Michael was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2007. He has worked as a bookstore clerk, clinical psychologist, cab driver, and interactive media writer, and lives in San Francisco.<br /><br /><em>Bomber County</em>, <strong>Daniel Swift’s </strong>first book, has been reviewed in the <em>Times Literary Supplement </em>and <em>The Guardian</em>, among others. <em>The New York Times</em> called the book, Daniel's account of his lost bomber pilot grandfather interspersed with the poetry of the World War II aviators, "a freewheeling exploration elegantly spiraling from the airborne Icarus to the husk of Cologne." Daniel teaches in the English department at Skidmore College, and his essays and reviews have appeared in <em>the New York Times Book Review, the Guardian, Bookforum</em>, and <em>the Nation</em>. Born in the U.K. and educated at Oxford and Columbia, he lives in New York City.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-58351826332851635112011-02-15T10:23:00.001-05:002011-02-21T19:29:55.819-05:00The Ordinary Evening Reading Series Announces its Spring 2011 SeasonThe Ordinary Evening Reading Series starts its 2011 Spring Series on Tuesday January 18th -an ordinary evening -at 7PM in the <a href="http://www.anchornewhaven.com/">Anchor Bar's </a>Mermaid Room (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-anchor-new-haven">272 College Street</a>, New Haven). We're excited to welcome a diverse range of writers - and we hope to welcome you, too.<br /><br />Our Spring line-up includes:<br /><br />February 15: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/12/february-15-edith-pearlman-and.html">Edith Pearlman and Elizabeth Ziemska</a><br />March 15: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2011/01/march-15-michael-alienikov-and-daniel.html">Daniel Swift and Michael Alenyikov</a><br /><b>RESCHEDULED</b> April 5: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/11/january-18-anne-murphy-paul-and-carl.html">Annie Murphy Paul and Carl Zimmer</a><br />April 26: Gail Mazur and Eleanor Lerman<br /><br /><p>If you wish to join our email list, send a note to <a href="mailto:news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com">news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com</a></p><p>We welcome drinkers and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">teetotallers</span> alike for an evening of readings by writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Please join us for what the New Haven Independent called "one of those unofficial civic ventures that make New Haven such a vibrant place."<br /></p>AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-31745909201519228342011-01-25T11:09:00.001-05:002011-01-25T13:19:28.127-05:00February 15: Edith Pearlman and Elizabeth ZiemskaReviewing <strong>Edith Pearlman’s </strong><em>Binocular Vision </em>on the front page of the January 14th <em>New York Times Book Review</em>, Roxana Robinson wrote that in Pearlman’s stories “we’re caught up in a stream of beguiling details. . .as Pearlman describes a world that’s familiar, beloved and fascinating all at once.” But then, says Robinson, Pearlman “slips in an emotion. . . which permeates the landscape, leaving it known but dreaded, familiar but unbearable, a place we never want to inhabit, but do.” <br /><br />Edith Pearlman’s <em>Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories</em> has just been published by Lookout Press. She is the author of three other collections of stories: <em>Vaquita</em> (1996), <em>Love Among The Greats</em> (2002), and <em>How To Fall </em>(2005). She has published more than 250 works of short fiction and short non-fiction in national magazines, literary journals, anthologies, and on-line publications. Her work has been selected by <em>Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize Collection, Best Short Stories from the South</em>, and <em>The Pushcart Prize Collection</em>. Her essays have appeared in the <em>Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Preservation</em>, and <em>Yankee</em>. Her travel writing has been published in the <em>New York Times, The Boston Globe</em>, and <em>salon.com</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Elizabeth Ziemska</strong>'s first published story "A Murder of Crows," appeared in <em>Tin House</em> (Spring 2007), was a finalist for the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award, and made the extended list for <em>Best American Non-Required Reading</em>. "Count Poniatowski and the Beautiful Chicken" was published in <em>Interfictions:2</em> (2009). Elizabeth is currently at work on a novel that combines Russia, mythology, sturgeon, and two women.<br /><br />Born in Poland, Elizabeth grew up in New York and L.A. She went to Vassar and UCLA, where she earned a degree in Biology. After several years working as an agent first in the New York publishing industry and then in L.A.’s film industry, she decided to pursue writing at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She earned her MFA in 2008 and lives in L.A. with her husband, stepson, and three crazy dogs.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-43856669045124931232010-11-22T10:27:00.001-05:002010-11-22T14:12:52.144-05:00December 14: Phillip Lopate and Cynthia Zarin<strong>Phillip Lopate</strong> was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943, and received a BA from Columbia in 1964, and a doctorate from the Union Graduate School in 1979. The most recent of his many books is <em>At the End of the Day</em>, a collection of his selected poems published in 2010. He has written prolifically in many genres: personal essay, novel, poetry, memoir, criticism, and biography, in addition to editing a number of anthologies. His essays, fiction, poetry, film and architectural criticism have appeared in <em>The Best American Short Stories</em>, <em>The Best American Essays </em>, several Pushcart Prize annuals, <em>The Paris Review</em>, <em>Harper's, Vogue, Esquire, Film Comment, Threepenny Review, Double Take, New York Times, Harvard Educational Review, Preservation, Cite, 7 Days, Metropolis, Conde Nast Traveler</em>, and many other periodicals and anthologies. <br /><br />Among Phillip's many awards are a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants. <br /><br />After working with children for twelve years as a writer in the schools, he taught creative writing and literature at Fordham, Cooper Union, University of Houston, and New York University. He currently holds the John Cranford Adams Chair at Hofstra University, and also teaches in the MFA graduate programs at Columbia, the New School and Bennington.<br /><br /><strong>Cynthia Zarin </strong>'s newest poetry collection is <em>The Ada Poems</em>, published in September. She has written three other books of poetry—<em>The Watercourse</em>, <em>Fire Lyric</em>, and <em>The Swordfish Tooth</em>—and five books for children. Born in New York City and educated at Harvard and Columbia, Cynthia is a longtime contributor to <em>The New Yorker</em>. Her recent articles include “An Enlarged Heart,” an autobiographical essay on a child’s sudden illness, which was selected for the 2004 “Best American Essays,” and “Big Cheese,” about the reincarnation of Murray’s Cheese Shop, in Greenwich Village, which appeared in “Best Food Writing,” in 2005. Cynthia's Profiles include “Not Nice: Maurice Sendak and the Perils of Childhood,” which won a 2006 Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, and “Seeing Things: The Art of Olafur Eliasson.” “Green Dreams: A Queen, A Shipwreck, and the Mystery Behind a Rare Set of Jewels” won the 2006 Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Consumer National Reporting. She has also written for <em>the New York Times</em>, <em>Architectural Digest</em>, and <em>Gourmet</em>, where she is a contributing editor. <br /><br />The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and winner of the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award and the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> Book Prize, Cynthia teaches at Yale and lives in New York City.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-36291496559085800312010-11-15T10:55:00.002-05:002010-11-16T15:45:18.008-05:00November 16: Paul Beckman and Mark Wunderlich<strong>Paul Beckman</strong> is a real estate salesman, writer, snorkeler, traveler and photographer. His most recent collection is the chapbook <em>Maybe I Should Sit Quietly In A Dark Room For A While</em>, published by Silkworms Ink. His earlier collection <em>Come! Meet My Family and Other Stories</em> was published by Weighted Anchor Press. Paul specializes in the short story, flash fiction and micro stories. His work has appeared in a large number of journals including <em>The Connecticut Review</em>, <em>The New Haven Review</em>, <em>Onthebus</em>, <em>Playboy</em>, <em>5 Trope</em>, <em>Exquisite Corpse</em>, and <em>Opium</em>. Three of his six-word stories about New York City were selected as winners in the competition sponsored by the 92 Street Y. Paul holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and lives with his wife in Madison, Connecticut.<br /><br /><strong>Mark Wunderlich</strong> is the author of <em>The Anchorage</em>, which received the Lambda Literary Award, and <em>Voluntary Servitude</em>, which was published by Graywolf Press in 2004. He is the recipient of fellowships from the NEA, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Wallace Stegner Fellowship Program at Stanford, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Amy Lowell Trust. Individual poems have appeared in such journals as <em>Poetry</em>, <em>Paris Review</em>, <em>Slate</em>, <em>Boston Review</em> and <em>Yale Review</em> and his work has been widely anthologized. He has taught in the graduate writing programs at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, Ohio University and San Francisco State University, and currently teaches literature and writing at Bennington College in Vermont. He lives in New York's Hudson Valley.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-61616166825924418432010-09-21T13:14:00.004-04:002010-10-19T12:16:05.638-04:00October 19: Ruth Lepson and Joanna Smith Rakoff<strong>Ruth Lepson</strong> is poet-in-residence at the New England Conservatory of Music and has been collaborating with jazz musicians and a few classical ones in recent years. Her books of poems are <em>Dreaming in Color</em>, which was published by Alice James Books along with Alice Mattison’s book of poems, <em>Animals</em>, lo these many years ago; <em>Morphology</em>, a book of synaesthetic moments from dreams written as prose poems, along with photographs of hers and artist Rusty Crump; and <em>I Went Looking for You</em>. The last two were published by <a href="http://blazevox.org/">blazevox.org</a>. You can see <em>Morphology</em> at their website as it’s a free ebook as well as a printed book. Ruth edited <em>Poetry from Sojourner: A Feminist Anthology</em>, published by the U of Illinois. Her poems and prose have been in <em>Jacket, Harvard Review, The Boston Phoenix, EOAGH, Shampoo</em>, <em>Carve, Agni</em>, and many other periodicals and online magazines. She used to organize poetry readings for Oxfam America. She lives in Cambridge.<br /><br /><strong>Joanna Smith Rakoff</strong> is the author of the novel <em>A Fortunate Age</em>, which was a <em>New York Times</em> Editors' Pick, a winner of the <em>Elle</em> Readers' Prize, a selection of Barnes and Noble's First Look Book Club, an <em>IndieNext</em> pick, and a <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em> bestseller. As a journalist and critic, she's written for <em>The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post Book World, the Boston Globe, Vogue, Time Out New York, O:The Oprah Magazine</em>, and many other newspapers and magazines. Her poetry has appeared in <em>The Paris Review, Western Humanities Review, Kenyon Review</em>, and other journals. She has degrees from Columbia University; University College, London; and Oberlin College. You can read some of her articles and essays at <a href="http://joannasmithrakoff.com/articles-essays.html">her webpage.</a>AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-11493680176137186182010-08-25T20:20:00.004-04:002010-11-15T10:47:58.407-05:00The Ordinary Evening Reading Series Fall 2010 Series Starts September 21st!The Ordinary Evening Reading Series starts its 2010 Fall Series on Tuesday September 21st, an ordinary evening -at 7PM in the <a href="http://www.anchornewhaven.com/">Anchor Bar's </a>Mermaid Room (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-anchor-new-haven">272 College Street</a>, New Haven). We're excited to welcome a diverse range of writers - and we hope to welcome you, too.<br /><br />Our Fall line-up includes:<br /><br />September 21: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/04/caryl-phillips-was-born-in-st.html">Caryl Phillips and Matt Debenham</a><br />October 19: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/09/october-19-ruth-lepson-and-joanna-smith.html">Ruth Lepson and Joana Smith Rakoff</a><br />November 16: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/08/mark-wunderlich.html">Mark Wunderlich and Paul Beckman</a><br />December 14: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/11/december-14-phillip-lopate-and-cynthia.html">Phillip Lopate and Cynthia Zarin</a><br /><p>If you wish to join our email list, send a note to <a href="mailto:news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com">news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com</a></p><p>We welcome drinkers and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">teetotallers</span> alike for an evening of readings by writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Please join us for what the New Haven Independent called "one of those unofficial civic ventures that make New Haven such a vibrant place."<br /></p>AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-58874154448981893372010-08-24T10:29:00.001-04:002010-08-30T20:15:52.427-04:00Caryl Phillips and Matt Debenham<strong>Caryl Phillips</strong> was born in St.Kitts, West Indies, and brought up in Leeds. He is the author of numerous books of non-fiction and fiction. <em>Dancing in the Dark</em> won the 2006 PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and <em>A Distant Shore</em> won the 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His other awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for <em>Crossing the River</em>, which was also short-listed for the Booker Prize. He has written extensively for the stage, television, and film, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Professor of English at Yale University, he currently lives in New York City.<br /><br /><strong>Matt Debenham's</strong> story collection <em>The Book of Right and Wrong </em>(published in 2010) won the Ohio State University Press Prize for fiction and featured the Pushcart Prize-nominated title story “The Book of Right and Wrong.” Matt holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including <em>Roanoke Review</em>, <em>The Pinch</em>, <em>Weston Magazine</em>, <em>Dogwood</em>, <em>Painted Bride Quarterly</em>, and <em>North Atlantic Review</em>. He teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, writes a <a href="http://www.mattdebenham.com/blog/">blog</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/debenham">twitters</a>.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-16320996984479778042010-04-26T10:04:00.003-04:002010-04-27T13:57:54.416-04:00May 18th: Sven Birkerts and Rebecca Chace<strong>Sven <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Birkerts</span></strong> is a noted essayist, editor, instructor, and reviewer. The editor of <em><a href="http://www.bu.edu/agni/">AGNI</a></em> since July 2002, he also is director of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bennington</span> Writing Seminars. His most recent books are <em>Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again</em> (2007, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Graywolf</span>) and <em>Reading Life: Books for the Ages</em> (2007, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Graywolf</span>). The best-known among his many books is <em>The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age</em> (Faber & Faber), and he has also written a memoir, <em>My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time</em> (2002, Viking). Sven has edited a number of works, including <em>Tolstoy's Dictaphone: Writers and the Muse</em> (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Graywolf</span>), <em>Writing Well</em> (with Donald Hall), and <em>The Evolving Canon</em> (Allyn & Bacon).<br /><br />The recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation grant, among others, Sven has also won the Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle and the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Spielvogel</span>-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Diamonstein</span> Award from PEN for the best book of essays. Sven reviews regularly for <em>The New York Times Book Review</em>, <em>The New Republic</em>, <em>The Atlantic</em>, and other publications. He has taught writing at Harvard University, Emerson College, and Amherst. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children. Sven also plays guitar in the Doghouse Band.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rebecca</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Chace</span></strong> is the author of the forthcoming novel <em>Leaving Rock Harbor </em>(Scribner, June, 2010) and the memoir <em>Chautauqua Summer</em>, which was a <em>New York Times</em> "Notable Book" and named "Editor's Choice" and one of the "Picks for Summer" in the <em>New York Times Book Review</em>. She wrote the novel <em>Capture the Flag</em> and the essay “<em>Looking for Robinson Crusoe</em>” (Fiction Magazine), which was recently nominated for a Pushcart prize.<br /><br />An actress and playwright, Rebecca's plays include <em>Colette</em> (Theatre for the New City) in which she played Colette and hung from a trapeze. She also wrote <em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Vershinin</span>’s Wife </em>(performed in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">FringeACT</span> festival) and adapted Kate Chopin's novel <em>The Awakening </em>(produced by Book-It Repertory Theatre at the Seattle Repertory Theatre). <em>Capture the Flag</em> was adapted as a screenplay by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rebecca</span> and director <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lisanne</span> Skyler, and premiered at the Aspen Short Film Festival in April, 2010. In addition to acting in the film, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rebecca</span> has moonlighted as a trapeze artist and likes to swing flaming torches (outdoors only).<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rebecca</span> has won several prizes and fellowships. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bard College and also teaches Fiction and Dramatic Writing in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the City College of New York. One of her favorite things in the world is to sing country western songs in the Doghouse Band with Sven <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Birkerts</span> playing guitar, along with other members from the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bennington</span> Writing Seminars.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-42400332812250202972010-03-18T10:27:00.002-04:002010-03-29T17:59:43.334-04:00April 20: Allan Appel and Jake Halpern<strong></strong><br /><strong>Allan <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Appel</span></strong>'s most recent book is <strong></strong><em>The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air</em> (2009). A novelist, poet, and playwright who was born in Chicago in 1946, Allan's books include <em>Club Revelation, High Holiday <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Sutra</span></em> (winner of a Barnes & Noble <em>Discover Great New <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Writers</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Award</span>)</em> and <em>The Rabbi of Casino Boulevard</em>, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. His writing has appeared in <em>The National Jewish Monthly, The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Progressive</span></em>, and <em>National Lampoon, </em>and his plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, New Haven, and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Provincetown</span>. He has published six novels, a biography, two <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">collections</span> of poetry, a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">book</span> on botany, and <em>A Portable Apocalypse,</em> a handy anthology of erudite and humorous <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">quotations</span> about the end of the world. Among his plays, <em>Dear <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Heartsey</span></em>, a staged <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">adaptation</span> of the letters of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">a colonial</span> New Yorker, Abigail Franks, was commissioned by the American Jewish <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Historical</span> Society, and presented, starring Anne Jackson and Eli <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Wallach</span>, at New York's Jewish Museum, at Queens College, City University of New <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">York</span>, and at Yale. In 2003, <em>Flight</em>, a play about the perils of patriotism, was presented <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">in a</span> staged reading by the New <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">England</span> Academy of Theatre in New Haven.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Jake <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Halpern</span></strong> is an author, journalist, and radio producer. His first book, <em>Braving Home</em> (2003), was a main selection for the Book of the Month Club by Bill <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bryson</span> and was a Library Journal “Book of the Year.” His next book, <em>Fame Junkies</em> (2007), was the basis for an original series on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">NPR's</span> All Things Considered and portions of the book were published in both the <em>New Yorker</em> and <em>Entertainment Weekly</em>. His first work of fiction, a fantasy novel entitled <em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dormia</span></em> (2009), has been hailed by the American Library Association as the next <em>Harry Potter</em>. As a journalist, Jake has written for a wide variety of publications, including <em>The New York Times Magazine</em>, <em>The New Yorker</em>, <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, <em>Sports Illustrated</em>, <em>Entertainment Weekly, </em>and <em>Outside</em>. In the realm of radio, Jake is a contributor to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">NPR's</span> All Things Considered and This American Life. Last, but not least, he is a fellow of Morse College at Yale University, where he teaches a class on journalism. His website is <a href="http://www.jakehalpern.com/"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">jakehalpern</span>.com</a>.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-33743172543010888902010-02-07T09:52:00.000-05:002010-03-01T20:27:26.721-05:00March 23: Robin Abrahams and Susan Barr-Toman<strong>Robin Abrahams</strong> writes the popular “Miss Conduct” social advice column for the Boston Globe Sunday magazine. <em>Miss Conduct’s Mind Over Manners </em>is her first book.<br />A Cambridge resident with a PhD. in research psychology from Boston University, Robin also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Previous jobs include theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and writing. She occasionally writes for the science-humor magazine <em>Annals of Improbable Research</em> and performs in Improbable Research cabarets.<br />Robin blogs six days a week at <a href="http://robinabrahams.com/">robinabrahams.com</a> and at <a href="http://boston.com/missconduct">boston.com/missconduct</a>, and conducts online chats twice a month on <a href="http://boston.com/">boston.com</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Susan Barr-Toman</strong> was born and raised in Philadelphia where she still lives with her husband and two children and where she teaches writing at Temple University. <em>When Love Was Clean Underwear</em>, her debut novel, was selected by Ann Hood as the winner of the Many Voices Project's Fiction Prize 2007.<br />Currently, she’s working on a collection of connected stories called <em>Breathing Water</em>. She just completed <em>Mary Mulgrew, What Did You Do?</em> a children's book with her sister artist <a href="http://www.sarahbarrstudio.com/">Sarah Barr</a>.<br />Her blog <a href="http://phillywordofmouth.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html">Philly Word of Mouth</a> features information about author readings and events in the Philadelphia area.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-12431481449157617262010-01-19T15:11:00.003-05:002010-01-19T15:23:42.931-05:00February 16: The Wallace Stevens AnthologyOrdinary Evening takes its name from a poem by Wallace Stevens, so we were thrilled to learn of <em>Visiting Wallace: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Wallace Stevens</em>, edited by Dennis Barone and James Finnegan. This is the first anthology of poems by a full range of poets, inspired by Stevens's life and work. We are fortunate to have five of them read from the collection on February 16th.<br /><br /><strong>Dennis Barone’s </strong>recent books are <em>Precise Machine</em> and <em>North Arrow </em>. In 2006 he edited <em>Furnished Rooms </em>, poems by early twentieth-century poet Emanuel Carnevali. He has published a collection of selected poems, and in 1997 he received the America Award in fiction for <em>Echoes</em>. He is Director of American Studies at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut.<br /><br /><strong>James Finnegan </strong>has published poems in <em>Ploughshares, Poetry East, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review </em>& other literary magazines. He started an internet discussion list related to contemporary poetry called New-Poetry. He cofounded the web-radio project LitStation.com and he posts aphoristic musings to <a href="http://ursprache.blogspot.com/">ursprache</a>, a poetics blog. He lives in West Hartford, CT, and works as an insurance underwriter of financial institutions risk.<br /><br /><strong>Richard Deming</strong> is a poet and a theorist who works on the philosophy of literature. His poems have been published in such journals as <em>Sulfur, Field, Indiana Review, and Mandorla</em>, as well as <em>Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present</em>. His book of poems is <em>Let's Not Call it Consequence.</em> With Nancy Kuhl, he edits Phylum Press. He is a lecturer at Yale University and the author of <em>Listening on All Sides: Toward an Emersonian Ethics of Reading</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Susan Howe</strong> is the author of several books including <em>Souls of the Labadie Tract</em>, <em>The Midnight</em>, <em>Kidnapped</em>, <em>The Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems</em>, <em>Pierce-Arrow</em>, and <em>Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979</em>. Her books of criticism are <em>The Birth-Mark: Unsettling the Wilderness in American Literary History </em>, which was named an "International Book of the Year" by the <em>Times Literary Supplement</em>, and <em>My Emily Dickinson</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Clare Rossini’s </strong>second collection, <em>Lingo</em>, was released in 2006. Her first full-length collection, <em>Winter Morning with Crow</em>, was selected for the 1996 Akron Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, as well as in textbooks and anthologies, including <em>Poets for the New Century</em>, <em>An Introduction to Poetry</em>, and <em>Best American Poetry</em>. Rossini is currently on the faculty of Trinity College in Hartford and the MFA program at Vermont College in Montpelier, VT.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-84943954814878255142010-01-10T12:58:00.000-05:002010-02-07T10:26:45.535-05:00The Ordinary Evening Reading Series Spring 2010 ScheduleThe Ordinary Evening Reading Series announces its line-up for the 2010 Spring season! Join us on ordinary evenings - Tuesday nights - at 7 PM in the Mermaid Room at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-anchor-new-haven">the Anchor Bar & Restaurant</a> (272 College Street, New Haven) for readings from an exciting variety of writers.<br /><br />January 19: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/12/january-19th-sheila-kohler-and-lisa.html">Sheila Kohler and Lisa Siedlarz</a><br />February 16: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/01/february-16-wallace-stevens-anthology.html">A Tribute to Wallace Stevens</a>, with work by poets including Richard Deming<br />March 23: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2010/02/march-23-robin-abrahams-and-susan-barr.html">Susan Barr-Toman and Robin Abrahams </a><br />April 20: Allan Appel and Jake Halpern<br />May 18: Rebecca Chace and Sven Birkerts<br /><br />If you wish to join our email list, send a note to <a href="mailto:news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com">news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com</a>.<br /><br />We welcome drinkers and teetotallers alike for an evening of readings by writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Please join us for what the New Haven Independent called "one of those unofficial civic ventures that make New Haven such a vibrant place."AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-42052522962275132332009-12-29T13:31:00.010-05:002009-12-29T14:23:30.176-05:00January 19th: Sheila Kohler and Lisa Siedlarz<strong>Lisa <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Siedlarz's</span></strong> debut poet collection, <em>I Dream My Brother Plays Baseball</em>, was published in 2009 by Clemson University Digital Press. Lisa holds a Masters in Fine Arts from Western Connecticut State University. She is the editor of <em>Connecticut River Review</em> and managing editor of <em>Connecticut Review</em>. She has won the John Holmes Poetry Prize and the Leo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Connellan</span> Award and was nominated for the 2009 Best New Poets Award. She also facilitated a 16-week writing workshop with Vietnam veterans and edited a collection of their work called <em>The Season of Now</em>. Lisa works for Southern Connecticut State University and lives in New Haven.<br /><br /><strong>Sheila <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kohler</span>’s</strong> most recent novel, <em>Becoming Jane Eyre</em>, will be published in January 2010 by Viking, Penguin. She has written six other novels: <em>The Perfect Place</em> (1989) ; <em>The</em> <em>House on R Street</em> (1994); <em>Cracks</em> (1999); <em>Children of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Pithiviers</span></em> (June, 2001); <em><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Crossways</span> </em>(2004); and <em>Bluebird or the Invention of Happiness</em> (, 2007); and three collections of short stories: <em>Miracles in America</em> (1990); <em>One Girl</em> (1999); and <em>Stories from Another</em> <em>World</em> (2003). Her work has been translated in a variety of languages including Hebrew and Japanese and published widely abroad.<br /><br />Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in a host of top publications. A very abbreviated list includes <em>The Antioch <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Review</span>, the Yale Review, the Boston Globe, Bomb magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle</em>, and <em>Story</em>. Sheila has received the O.Henry twice, the Open Voice Award, the Smart Family Foundation prize, The Willa Cather Prize, and the Antioch Review Prize. In addition, Sheila was a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Cullman</span> Center for Scholars and Writers in 2003-4.<br /><br />An acclaimed instructor, Sheila has taught creative writing in many programs such as the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Bennington</span> Writing Seminars, City College, The New School, the West Side YMCA, and Columbia's program in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Montolieu</span>, France. She currently teaches at Princeton.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-51798683450359243592009-11-17T13:13:00.001-05:002009-11-17T16:26:57.868-05:00December 15: April Bernard and Jude Stewart<strong>April Bernard</strong> is an author and teacher from <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bennington</span>, VT. She teaches at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bennington</span> College and at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Skidmore</span> College in New York.<br /><br /><em>Romanticism,</em> April's most recent poetry collection, was published in June 2009. Her prior publications include three books of poetry: <em>Swan Electric</em>, <em>Psalms</em>, and <em>Blackbird Bye Bye</em>, and one novel, <em>Pirate Jenny</em>. Her work has appeared in <em>The New Yorker</em>, <em>The Boston Review</em>, <em>Agni</em>, <em>Ploughshares</em>, <em>Parnassus</em>, and <em>The New York Review of Books </em>and is included in <em>The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English </em>and <em>By Herself: Women Reclaim Poetry</em>. She has also received a Guggenheim Award.<br /><br /><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><b>Jude Stewart</b> has written on design, art and culture for <i>Slate</i>,<i> the Believer, I.D., Metropolis, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">BusinessWeek</span></i>, <i><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Nextbook</span></i> and <i>Print, </i>as well as a column on color for <i>STEP Inside Design Magazine <span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span">which she is developing into a book. She has lectured about design at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">RISD</span>, the Adult Education series in Brooklyn, and the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Fachhochschule</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mainz</span> in Germany and been interviewed on related topics on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">NPR's</span> </span>Day to Day<span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span"> and by Brian <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lehrer</span> on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">WNYC</span>. Her introduction to mobile architecture appears in </span>More Mobile: Portable Architecture Today<span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span"> (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008).</span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><i><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span">A recipient of the Free University Berlin's European Journalism Fellowship, in 2005 - 2006 she pursued a year-long independent project on the influence of the former East Germany's design on current visual culture in Berlin. </span></i><i><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal" class="Apple-style-span">Jude divides her time between Berlin, Germany, and New Haven, USA, where she is also co-curator of the Ordinary Evening Reading Series.</span></i> Read more at </span><a href="https://email.hbs.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=e1bd696f19d04a9ba6811d907f05b01b&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.judestewart.com%2f" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:georgia;">www.judestewart.com</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> or follow her daily tweets on color at </span><a href="https://email.hbs.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=e1bd696f19d04a9ba6811d907f05b01b&URL=http%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2fjoodstew" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:georgia;">twitter.com/joodstew</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">. </span></span></div>AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-11169064231570273902009-10-20T13:09:00.000-04:002009-10-20T13:26:50.309-04:00November 17: Susan McCallum-Smith and Adrienne Kane<strong>Susan McCallum-Smith</strong> is a freelance editor, and writes fiction, non-fiction and reviews. Her work has been featured in, amongst others, <em>Urbanite</em>, <em>The Scottish Review of Books</em>, <em>The Philadelphia Inquirer</em>, and <em>The Gettysburg Review</em>, and her reviews are often heard on Maryland Public Radio. She received her degrees in creative writing from Johns Hopkins and Bennington College. Her short story collection, <em>Slipping the Moorings</em>, was published in early 2009 by Entasis Press. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and currently lives in Baltimore, USA.<br /><br /><strong>Adrienne Kane</strong>'s most recent book, <em>Cooking and Screaming</em>, was published in February 2009 by Simon & Schuster. She is also the author and photographer of the popular food blog <a href="http://nosheteria.com/">Nosheteria.com</a>, which has a permanent link on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">Huffington Post</a>. Adrienne's work as a food writer, recipe developer, and food photographer has appeared in <em>Natural Health</em>, <em>Chow</em>, and <em>Digs</em>, and on FoodandWine.com. Her personal essay, "Bring Tenacity to a Boil: Then Serve" is featured in <em>Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Humiliation, Heartbreak, and Overcoming It All</em>. She currently lives and cooks in New Haven, CT.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-33253960634355832302009-10-20T10:30:00.000-04:002009-09-16T09:30:34.708-04:00October 20: Debby Applegate and Adam Braver<strong>Debby Applegate’s </strong>first book, <em>The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher</em>, was the product of 20 years of research. It won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was widely acclaimed as one of the best books of 2006.<br />Debby holds degrees from Amherst and Yale and has taught at Yale and Wesleyan Universities. She currently teaches a master class on writing biography and memoir at the Writing Center at Marymount Manhattan College in New York. She lives in New Haven with her husband, the business writer Bruce Tulgan, and serves on the governing boards of the <em>New Haven Review</em>, the Yale Summer Cabaret and the Friends of the Amherst College Library. Debby is currently researching a cultural biography of Polly Adler, Manhattan's most infamous madam from the 1920s through the 1940s, and whose 1953 autobiography, <em>A House is Not a Home</em>, became a best-selling book and a Hollywood film starring Shelley Winters. <br /><br /><strong>Adam Braver</strong> is the author of <em>Mr. Lincoln’s Wars</em>, <em>Divine Sarah</em>, <em>Crows Over the Wheatfield</em>, and <em>November 22, 1963</em>. His books have been selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers program, Border’s Original Voices series, the IndieNext list, and twice for the Book Sense list; and have been translated into Italian, Japanese, and French. His work has appeared in journals such as <em>Daedalus</em>, <em>Ontario Review</em>, <em>Cimarron Review</em>, <em>Water-Stone Review</em>, <em>Harvard Review</em>, <em>Tin House</em>, <em>West Branch</em>, and <em>Post Road</em>. He is on the faculty and writer-in-residence at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI. He also teaches in the Stonecoast MFA, and at the NY State Summer Writers Institute.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-58154654496546539482009-08-18T15:05:00.006-04:002009-09-15T10:41:06.688-04:00Ordinary Evening Reading Series Fall 2009 ScheduleThe Ordinary Evening Reading Series is back for its 2009-2010 season! Join us on orindary evenings - Tuesday nights - at 7 PM in the Mermaid Room at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-anchor-new-haven">the Anchor Bar & Restaurant</a> (272 College Street, New Haven)for readings from a variety of writers.<br /><br />Our season begins on <strong>September 15th</strong> with the exciting new novelists <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/05/september-15-eugenia-kim.html">Eugenia Kim and Tim Parrish</a>.<br /><br />We then present:<br /><strong>October 20</strong>: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/04/october-20-debby-applegate-and-adam.html">Debby Applegate and Adam Braver</a>,<br /><strong>November 17</strong>: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/05/november-17-susan-mccallum-smith.html">Susan McCallum Smith and Adrienne Kane</a>, <br /><strong>December 15</strong>: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/05/december-15-april-bernard.html">April Bernard and Jude Stewart</a>.<br /><br />If you wish to join our email list, send a note to news.ordinaryevening@gmail.com.<br /><br />We welcome drinkers and teetotallers alike for an evening of readings by writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Please join us for what the New Haven Independent called "one of those unofficial civic ventures that make New Haven such a vibrant place."AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-55006005786496865782009-05-24T13:04:00.002-04:002009-08-18T15:00:21.386-04:00September 15: Eugenia Kim and Tim Parrish<strong>Eugenia Kim</strong> is the daughter of Korean immigrant parents who came to America shortly after the Pacific War. She has published short stories and essays in journals and anthologies, including <em>Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings</em>, and is an MFA graduate of Bennington College. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and son. <em>The Calligrapher’s Daughter</em> is her first novel.<br /><br /><strong>Tim Parrish</strong> is author of <em>Red Stick Men </em>, a collection of stories set in and around his hometown of Baton Rouge. His most recent fiction and nonfiction appear in <em>Cincinnati Review, Idaho Review, Hotel Amerika,</em> and in the anthologies <em>Alive and Awake in the Pelican State</em> (LSU Press) and <em>Louisiana in Words </em>(Pelican Press). He has a story and an essay forthcoming in <em>Maanha</em>, an upcoming on-line journal of North American and Iranian writers. He is currently at work on a memoir, entitled <em>Southern Man</em>, about being raised a racist, fundamentalist Southern Baptist and subsequently becoming involved in street and race violence. He has received a Gerald E. Freund Grant-in-Aid from the Whiting Foundation due to a nomination by the late Ted Solotaroff and has received fellowships through the Connecticut Arts Council and Sewanee Writers Conference. He teaches in the MFA and undergraduate creative-writing programs at Southern Connecticut State University.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-71571432302998212812009-04-27T08:51:00.002-04:002009-04-28T14:28:38.337-04:00May 19th: Major Jackson and Lynne Sharon Schwarz<strong>Major Jackson</strong>'s books of poems are <em>Hoops </em>(2006, Norton) and <em>Leaving Saturn</em> (2002, University of Georgia Press). He has published poems and essays in <em>American Poetry Review</em>, <em>Callaloo</em>, <em>The New Yorker</em>, <em>Poetry</em>, and other literary magazines. <em>Hoops</em> was selected as a finalist for a NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry, and <em>Leaving Saturn</em> was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry. His third volume of poetry <em>Holding Company </em>is forthcoming from W.W. Norton. He is a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress. He took a B.A. from Temple University and an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon. Mr. Jackson has worked as the curator of literary arts at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia and the Mountain Writers' Center in Portland, and has taught at Columbia University, Xavier University of Louisiana, New York University, and University of Massachusetts - Lowell as the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence. He lives in Burlington, Vermont, where he is the Richard Dennis Green and Gold Professor at University of Vermont. He serves as the Poetry Editor of the <em>Harvard Review</em>.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s </strong>most recent book is the memoir, <em>Not Now, Voyager</em>, just out from Counterpoint. Among her 21 books are the novels <em>The Writing on the Wall</em>; <em>In the Family Way</em>, <em>Disturbances in the Field</em>; <em>Leaving Brooklyn</em> (nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award) and <em>Rough Strife </em>(nominated for a National Book Award). She is also the author of the poetry collection,<em> In Solitary</em>; the memoir, <em>Ruined by Reading</em>, and, most recently, she edited <em>The Emergence of Memory: Conversations with W.G. Sebald</em>, a collection of essays and interviews. Her work has been reprinted in <em>The Best American Short Stories</em>, <em>The O. Henry Prize Stories</em>, <em>The Best American Essays</em>, and many other anthologies, and her reviews have appeared in leading magazines and newspapers. She teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-69048700166410611642009-04-22T16:36:00.000-04:002009-04-27T09:03:42.395-04:00Spring 2009 Ordinary Evening Reading Series ScheduleFor Spring 2009, the Ordinary Evening Reading Series is thrilled to present an array of extra-ordinary writers reading on an ordinary Tuesday night at 7PM in the Mermaid Room at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-anchor-new-haven">the Anchor Bar & Restaurant </a>(272 College Street, New Haven).<br /><br />January 20: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2008/12/january-15-barry-mccrea-and-mark.html">Mark Oppenheimer and Barry McCrea</a><br />February 17: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2008/11/february-17-susan-holahan-and-lewis.html">Susan Holahan and Lewis Robinson</a><br />March 24: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/02/march-24-doug-bauer-and-lisa-starr.html">Douglas Bauer and Lisa Starr</a> <br />April 21: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-17-randall-peffer-and-ann-hood.html">Ann Hood and Randall Peffer</a><br />May 19: <a href="http://ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/2009/04/may-19th-major-jackson-and-lynne-sharon.html">Major Jackson and Lynne Sharon Schwarz</a><br /><br />We welcome drinkers and teetotallers alike for an evening of readings by writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. We hope you can join us for what the New Haven Independent called "one of those unofficial civic ventures that make New Haven such a vibrant place."AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23603749.post-59276695603674592692009-03-30T13:18:00.007-04:002009-04-01T10:49:25.641-04:00April 21: Randall Peffer and Ann Hood<p><strong>Ann Hood </strong>is the author, most recently, of the novel<em> The Knitting Circle</em> and the forthcoming memoir, <em>Comfort: A Journey Through Grief</em>. Her short stories and essays have appeared in <em>The New York Times</em>, <em>Tin House</em>, <em>The Paris Review</em>, <em>Bon Appetit</em>, <em>Traveler</em>, and many more publications. She has won two Pushcart Prizes, The Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction, and a Best American Spiritual Writing Award.<br /><br /><strong>Randall Peffer</strong> has written extensively in genres ranging from nonfiction, travel, and memoir through naval fiction and literary detective novels. His most recent work, <em>Bangkok Dragons, Cape Cod Tears</em>, is the fourth installment of the Cape Islands Mystery series, and in November, he introduced a Civil War naval trilogy with <em>Southern Seahawk</em>. His first publication, <em>Watermen</em>, which described the lives of Chesapeake Bay fishermen, won the Baltimore Sun's Critic's Choice award and was Maryland Book of the Year in 1985. <em>Provincetown Follies/Bangkok Blues</em>, the first of the Cape Islands Mystery series, was a finalist for the Lambda Award. His travel pieces appear in most major metro daily papers, and in magazines like <em>National Geographic</em>, <em>Smithsonian</em>, <em>Reader's Digest</em>, <em>Travel Holiday</em>, <em>Islands</em>, and <em>Sail</em>.<br /><br />Randy captained the research schooner <em>Sarah Abbot</em> for 14 years, and has also worked as a commercial fisherman. Currently, he teaches literature and writing at Phillips Academy/Andover.AnnLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03092474571024196927noreply@blogger.com