Photos and videos from the January 20 reading

January 25th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Monday night’s reading was such a great, varied collection of work. Carolyn, Alysia, and Rodney were a delight.

For those of you who missed it, photos and videos are below.

Thanks, as always, to Randolph Pfaff, for taking them.

Carolyn Zaikowski reads from a new novel manuscript.

Carolyn Zaikowski reads from her new novel manuscript.

Alysia Abbott reads a new essay.

Alysia Abbott reads a new essay.

Rodney Wittwer reads a wide breadth of poems, old and new.

Rodney Wittwer reads a wide breadth of poems, old and new.

Carissa Halston hosts and reads (but mainly listens).

Carissa Halston hosts and reads (but mainly listens).

Ladies, gents, readers, writers—thank you so much for being there.

The videos are here. The next reading is in April. I can’t wait to see you then.

TONIGHT

January 20th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Alysia Abbott. Carissa Halston. Rodney Wittwer. Carolyn Zaikowski.

7pm. Middlesex Lounge.

Be there, Boston.

January’s Literary Firsts!

December 16th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink

The next Literary Firsts is only five weeks away!

Be there for Alysia Abbott, Rodney Wittwer, Carolyn Zaikowski, and me!

See you then!

Alysia Abbott

December 16th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink

Alysia Abbott is a cerebral somersault.

Alysia Abbott is a cerebral somersault.

Alysia Abbott was born in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury, the only daughter of gay poet and critic, Steve Abbott. After receiving her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from New School University, she worked at the New York Public Library and WNYC Radio. In 2013, she published her first book, Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, which was named a New York Times “Editors’ Choice,” a “Book of the Week” at Oprah Magazine, and one of The New Yorker’s “Books To Watch Out For” in June 2013. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Slate, Salon, TheAtlantic.com, Psychology Today, Real Simple, and various anthologies.

Alysia is the essayist for the January 20 reading.

Carissa Halston

December 16th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink

Carissa Halston is your host.

Carissa Halston is your host.

Carissa Halston has written a couple books, is working on a couple more, edits a literary journal (apt), runs a small press (Aforementioned Productions), hosts and curates a reading series (Literary Firsts), and is currently teaching undergraduates about rhetoric and composition. She’s been a prose editor at AGNI, and the recipient of grants and awards from the Wesleyan Writers Conference, UMass Boston, San Francisco State University, The New York Book Festival, and a few other places. She’s generally a fiction writer, but she’ll be reading non-fiction this time around. She loves you just for showing up. Honest.

Carissa is the confessional reader for the January 20 reading.

Rodney Wittwer

December 16th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink

Rodney Wittwer is a foregone conclusion.

Rodney Wittwer is a foregone conclusion.

Rodney Wittwer’s poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Barrow Street, DIAGRAM, The Literary Review, Memorious, and Ploughshares. In 2012, Red Hen Press published his first book of poems, Gone & Gone, and he also received an Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He lives in West Medford, where he writes and works with his wife, a clothing designer.

Rodney is the poet for the January 20 reading.

Carolyn Zaikowski

December 16th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink

Carolyn Zaikowski is a tiger lily of a different stripe.

Carolyn Zaikowski is a tiger lily of a different stripe.

Carolyn Zaikowski is the author of the novel A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013). Her fiction and poetry, as well as her musings on veganism, feminism, and trauma theory, have appeared in The Rumpus, Everyday Genius, Eleven Eleven Journal, Sententia, 1913: A Journal of Forms, Nebula: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship, PANK, Get Fresh Magazine, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

Carolyn is the fiction writer for the January 20 reading.

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