Frequency North/CLMP present CAPITAL LIT!

This weekend Albany will be rocking with poetry!  Here is the info from Daniel Nester about a great day of poetry, literature, small press, karaoke, and of course…fun!

Attention Albany Lit Lovers! Start 2010 off right with all the literary magazines and books you can carry off from CAPITAL LIT, CLMP’s first-ever Albany Lit Mag & Small Press Fair.

Hundreds of regional and national independent literary publishers will converge to sell their journals for only $2 an issue and books for $4 each. Many publishers will attend in person to meet Albany’s eager readers, so don’t miss this opportunity to discover literature you are unlikely to find in a single store, and meet the publishers and editors who do the real work of keeping American Literature vibrant and vital.

An offering of Frequency North, the aggressively eclectic visiting writers reading series at Saint Rose, and the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, CAPITAL LIT will bring to Albany hundreds of regional and national independent literary publishers who will sell their journals for only $2 an issue and books for $4 each. The all-day festival includes a panel discussion on publishing, readings by some of the region’s most notable authors and the Albany debut of Karaoke + Poetry = Fun!

Schedule

12-6 Book fair, Saint Joseph Auditorium
1pm Potlach with Colie Collen
2pm Indie Publishing Discussion

5pm Reading and discussion with Shane Jones, Tobias Seamon and Barbara Louise Ungar

Shane Jones is a graduate of The University at Buffalo, and currently resides in Albany, New York. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in numerous literary journals, including: New York Tyrant, Unsaid, Typo, and Caketrain. His first novel, Light Boxes, will be published by Penguin Books in June, 2010. Director Spike Jonze (Where The Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich) purchased the film option for Light Boxes in July 2009.

Tobias Seamon is author of the novel The Magician's Study and a poetry chapbook Loosestrife Along the River Styx. He also wrote and directed the short mockumentary "Amerikan Partizan," which premiered at the 2007 Edwood Filmfest. A collection of stories The Emperor's Toy Chest and a novella The Fair Grounds are both forthcoming from the UK-based press PS Publishing. A contributor with the online magazine The Morning News, he lives in Albany. 

Barbara Louise Ungar's newest book, The Origin of the Milky Way, published last year, won the Gival Press Prize for Poetry. Barbara Louise Ungar is the author of Thrift. Her poems have appeared in Salmagundi, The Minnesota Review, The Literary Review among others. She is an Associate Professor of English at The College of Saint Rose.

7pm Karaoke + Poetry = Fun at Valentine's
17 New Scotland Avenue
Featuring Eric Auld, Cara Benson, R.M. Englehardt, Geof Huth, Murrow, Tara Needham, Mary Panza, Tobias Seamon, Alifair Skebe, Dan Wilcox
Come and sign up to read and sing!

Admission is free and open to the public. This program is made possible in part through support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Some Tuesday Poetry News

Happy New Year!  All of us here at Albany Poets wish you the best in the new year. 

Here is some upstate New York poetry news concerning some upcoming events and other things going on the community.

TONIGHT, Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 8:00PM

Albany Poets Presents NO GIMMICK OPEN MIC
Valentines, 17 New Scotland Ave, Albany

We start off the new year with our monthly open mic for poetry, music, and spoken word.  Old school open mic.  No gimmicks, no themes.   Sign up starts at 7:00, reading starts at 8:00.

Poet Rock Ritual
The Putnam Den, 63A Putnam Street, Saratoga Springs

If you are up in the Saratoga are tonight be sure to check out what Margot Malia Lynch is doing up at the Putnam Den with her weekly open mic of words and music.

The weekly poetry open mic continues!
Please join us at The Putnam Den every Tues.
Sign up is at 8
$5 suggested donation
21+

Poetry Slam
then the Poet Rock Ritual: open mic for poets and any kind of word artist. You will be backed up by a live band:
Chris Turano on Drums
Marc Latzky on Bass
and a mystery Guitarist.

Margot is hosting.

Happy new decade

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic
Caffe Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs

More poetry in Saratoga!  Here is the info from host Carol Graser:

the first Wednesday of every month Caffè Lena presents:

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic
Wednesday, January 6
7pm sign up, 7:30 readings start
Featured Poets:
Barbara Vink
$3
Hosted by Carol Graser
Caffè Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs
www.caffelena.org     583-0022

Barbara Vink has been coordinating the Voorheesville Public Library Every Other Thursday Night Poets since its onset in 1991. She also hosts Poetry Performance Day events, and has been in a performance trio for several years with Tom Corrado and Larry Rapant.  She has read her poetry at many local venues and was one of the editors and contributors to the anthology Poetry Don't Pump.

Friday, January 8

No Gimmick Open Mic at the UAG
UAG Gallery, 247 Lark Street, Albany

No Gimmick Open Mic at the UAG is Albany Poets’ open mic series for poetry and spoken word held at the UAG Gallery on the second Fridays of the month during the fall and spring semesters.

We return Friday, January 8 to kick off the new year with your words.

The UAG Gallery is located at 247 Lark Street, Albany NY. The readings start at 7:00PM. This is a free event.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Woodstock Poetry Society
Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, Woodstock

Poets Bruce Weber and Laurie Byro will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, January 9th at 2pm. The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Bruce Weber - Bruce Weber is the author of five published books of poetry, "These Poems are Not Pretty", "How the Poem Died", "Poetic Justice", "The First Time I Had Sex with T. S. Eliot", and the just released "The Break-up of My  First Marriage".  Bruce’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, as well as in several anthologies including recently in Up is Up, But So Is Down: Downtown Writings, 1978-1992, and Riverine: An Anthology of Hudson Valley Writers (New Paltz, NY: Codhill Press, 2007). He has performed regularly in the tri-state area, both alone and with his performance group, Bruce Weber’s No Chance Ensemble, which has produced the CD "Let’s Dine Like Jack Johnson Tonight". He is the organizer of the Unorganicized Sunday Reading at ABC NO RIO, editor of the broadside Stained Sheets, and the producer of the long running Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza. By day, Bruce is Senior Curator at the National Academy Museum, and splits his time between his homes in New York City and Saugerties, New York.

Laurie Byro - Laurie Byro's short stories and poetry have appeared in a dozen or so small presses. Additionally, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Single Parent, Redactions, Aim, Chaminade Review, Chronogram, Grasslimb, Re:al Journal, The New Jersey Journal of Poets, Red Rock Review, The Paterson Literary Review among others. Her work can be googled in on-line e-zines and in the Guardian Unlimited on-line workshop. She was thrice nominated for “The Pushcart Prize” and has won or placed in 27 IBPC competitions.  Her work was recently published in The Poetry of Place Anthology (honoring William Carlos Williams).  Her children’s poem "A Captain's Cat" has appeared in Cricket Magazine and a textbook "Measuring up to the Illinois Learning Standards". In 2009, Mayor Barra proclaimed Laurie Byro as the “Official Poet Laureate of Allendale, NJ.”  Her work draws on myth and fairytale and her experiences of foreign places in the years she worked as a travel agent. Her poetry insists upon the continuing importance of fantasy, mystery and “the other” in our lives. Laurie is head of circulation at a library in New Jersey where she facilitates a poetry circle.

Poets Speak Loud Tonight at Tess’ Lark Tavern

Tonight we will be gathering around the fire, rather the stage, at Tess’ Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave., Albany) for our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word hosted by Mary Panza.  This time around we are having a straight-up, old school, no-holds-barred, in between Christmas and New Years Day open mic with no special guests or featured poets.

Come out with your poetry and family holiday stories to share!

Sign up starts at 7:00PM, the open mic begins around 7:45.

Poetry and Spoken Word in Albany This Week

Here is some information on some poetry and spoken word events and open mics coming up this week.  It appears that this month’s VoX at the Fuze Box has been moved from the last Friday to this coming Friday for the holidays…mystery. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night
Thursday, December 17, 7:00PM
Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany

the Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Thursday, December 17
7:00 sign up; 7:30 start
Featured Poet: Urayoán Noel

-- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your host: Dan Wilcox & the annual visit from Sanity Clause.

Urayoán noel is the author of Kool Logic/La Lógica Kool (bilingual press; a 2006 books of the year selection by el nuevo día) and Boringkén (ediciones callejón/la tertulia, 2008). Other works include the artist’s book Las Flores del Mall (2000) and various text-sound collaborations with composer Monxo López, some of which are featured on the dvd Kool Logic Sessions (bilingual press) and on the cd included with Boringkén.

Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, he divides his time between Albany and the Bronx, NY, and teaches literature and creative writing at the University at Albany.

v0x
Friday, December 18, 8:00PM
Fuze Box, 12 Central Ave., Albany

V O X :
ALBANY'S POETRY OPEN MIC
Special Mystery Edition

WHISKEY, RYE & POEMS .
At The Fuze Box

ON FRIDAY December 18th, 2009

Albany, NY's Open Mic For Poets
POETRY & THE WORD
*8pm Start time*
$4.00 Donation Requested

WHISKEY, RYE & POEMS ...
The Mystery "Noir" Edition. Bring your detective prose & mystery poems, even dress the part!

If you don't have any bring some excerpts by your favorite writer.

Hosted by R.M.Engelhardt
FuzeBox, 12 CENTRAL AVENUE, ALBANY, NY
Always Held On The Last Friday of Each Month.

HVWG Holiday Open Mic
Sunday, December 20, 2:00PM
Perfect Blend, 376 Delaware Ave., Delmar

The Hudson Valley Writers Guild will host "Season's Readings," an open mic for writers with a holiday theme on Sunday, December 20, at 2 p.m., at Perfect Blend in Delmar. Writers are invited to read two pieces on holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, etc.) or holiday-related themes, such as kindness or generosity: one piece from a famous or published author other than themselves, and one piece that they have written. Hot coffee and warm words: what a great way to slow down for a couple hours this season!

The Perfect Blend is located at 376 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, at the 4 Corners. Hosts are Jill Crammond Wickham and Carolee Sherwood. There is no cover charge, but please bring canned goods or other nonperishable food items for donation to the local food bank. The event is open to the public. Bring family and friends for a new holiday tradition!

Approximately 30 minutes prior to the event start time, a sign-in sheet will be available for those interested in reading. To keep the reading moving along, please select poems no longer than one page. If reading prose, please limit each piece to excerpts of 400 words per piece.

CONTACT: For more information, email hvwginfo@gmail.com.

For the complete calendar of events, go to www.albanypoets.com/events.  While you are there, be sure to subscribe to calendar so you can always know what is going on in upstate poetry and spoken community.

“Poet Rock Ritual” Coming to Saratoga Every Tuesday Starting Tuesday, Dec. 15

Just got this in from Margot Malia Lynch about a new music/poetry/spoken word series up in Saratoga.  Sounds very interesting and should be a great time, especially considering where the inspiration came from.

Margot Malia Presents: POET ROCK RITUAL
An open mic for poets backed up by live musicians.

Every Tues night
Starting December 15th

PUTNAM DEN
Saratoga Springs, NY
(where backstreet billiards used to be, an alley street between phila and caroline, walking distance from caffe lena's, the library..)
518-584-8066

Sign up @8
830 SLAM (if there's enough people...)
9pm POET ROCK RITUAL
This is going to be a very interesting and organic process. I have a clear vision of how I would like it to go but new projects like this take time to get in the groove. I hope you'll stop in a be a part of the process. I've been wanting to bring the poetry and music phenomenon to my hometown for several years and am ECSTATIC it's happening.
$3 wines
2 for one well drinks
$3 suggested donation

The Putnam Den just opened up this summer and is a FABULOUS, huge NYC warehouse like spot. There's couches, plenty of breathing space, murals.

I remember when I was going to the Poetry Jam in boston from the beginning. It feels awesome to be a part of a growing and evolving creative community. The Poetry Jam is celebrating it's 13TH YEAR. www.poetryjam.com Let's make this!

Your help in spreading the word is awesome to me.

MUSICIANS! CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS. If you are a good listener and think you can support the mood of any kind of poem and improvise with others. Margotproductions@yahoo.com

Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival Reading, Saturday, Dec. 12

Who says business and poetry don’t mix?  This weekend in Woodstock: 

Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival will hold its annual Annual Business & Planning Meeting (& Open Mike) at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, December 12th at 2pm. Note: WPS&F meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of every month at the Woodstock Town Hall, except during the winter months when we meet at the Woodstock Community Center (56 Rock City Road).

The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Here's our 2010 schedule of featured readers:

January 9th, 2010 – Bruce Weber; Laurie Byro
February 13th, 2010 – Richard Boes Memorial
March 13th, 2010 – Roger Michell; Philip Memmer
April 10th, 2010 – Jacqueline Ahl; Joann Deiudicibus
May 8th, 2010 – Alison Koffler; Barry Wallenstein
June 12th, 2010 – Joan I. Siegel; Mary Makofske
July 10th, 2010 – Carl Rosenstock; Richard Levine
August 14th, 2010 – Bert Shaw; Lee Gould
September 11th, 2010 – TBA
October 9th, 2010 – Tyler Wilhelm; TBA
November 13th, 2010 – Lea Graham; Reagan Upshaw
December 11th, 2010 – Open Mike & Annual Business & Planning Meeting

 

Busy Week of Poetry in the Area

A busy week here in the upstate poetry and spoken word community.  Here is some information on two of the readings coming up.   For a complete list of events, go to the Events Calendar.

Wednesday, November 18
7:00PM
Cock N Bull Restaurant
Parkis Mills Rd, Galway, NY 12074

You very well may have heard about the Open Mic to be held at the Cock n Bull Wed., Nov. 18 at 7pm-9pm.  I am writing to ask you all to come and share in this fun event.  This isn't your usual open mic.  We are expecting a host of performing artists -- readers, singers, musicians from the community of Galway and beyond.  If you want to share your talent, sign up is at 6:30.  If you want to just enjoy the events, the fun begtins at 7.  Or you can come earlier and have a bite to eat.  The bar will be open for those who wish to have a drink.

This event is sponsored by the Galway Public Library, the biggest little library in the state.  Please come and support the library and have a good time.  It's free, though a small donation will be welcomed.  Oh, and there's free refreshments, compliments of the Cock n Bull. What more could you ask?

Thursday, November 19
7:00PM
Third Thursday Poetry Night
Social Justice Center
33 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on Thursday, November 19 with a 7:00 sign up; 7:30 start

Featured Poet: Barbara Adams -- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your turkey host: Dan Wilcox

Barbara Adams is the author of two books of poems, and a book of literary criticism on Laura Riding. She is a retired Professor of English at Pace University. Born in Manhattan, she has lived in the mid-Hudson valley most of her life. Her poems appear in the two anthologies of Hudson River writers, "Riverine" and "WaterWrites."

21st Annual Day of the Poet Contest on Thanksgiving Saturday, Nov 28

After the Thanksgiving holiday and all the Black Friday madness, be sure to go over the Colonie Library and check out this great annual poetry and spoken word event.

POETS' CORNER at the COLONIE TOWN LIBRARY and the SPC present the 21st Annual DAY OF THE POET --a poetry reading contest

Saturday, November 28, 2009 at the Colonie Town Library (William K.Sanford Library), 629 Albany Shaker Road, Loundonville, NY (near the Times Union Building off the Northway)

Reading starts at 10:00AM. Entrance fee: $3.00

Day of the Poet also features open stage readings by past champions and other local poets not competing.

How it works:
Competing poets are given three rounds. Poets present their original work only. Rounds are timed at two, three and four minutes respectively.

Poets are judged based on:
1. timing( get it close to the mark.)
2. presentation
3. content( profanity is discouraged unless used well. It is a library.)

Note: No artificial timing devices (watches, timers, alarm clocks, folks in the audience waving hands) are allowed. Timing is a unique feature of this contest. Poets have to depend on their own internal clocks. Preparation ahead of time to stay close to the time targets is recommended.

Prize amounts:
$200 First Prize
$50 Second prize
Third place prize is based on Entrance fees

To register or for more information call Timothy Lake at 518-274-0131.

Past First Place Winners:
1989- J.J. Clarke
1990-Roberta Waugh
1991- Paul Genega
1992- Judith saunders
1993-Frank Murphy
1994- Kym Flemming
1995-James Patrick Casey
1996- Sylvia Barnard
1997- Laura Minita( age 8)
1998-Anne Goodwin
1999-Viktor Batorsky
2000-Edward Sherlock
2001-Margaret Black
2002-Therese Broderick
2003-Todd Broomhead
2004-Serafina Whelen
2005-Kathy O'Brien
2006-Timothy Lake
2007-Alan Casline
2008-Miriam Axel-Lute
2009- who knows? Maybe you will take this spot in an auspicious list of competitors.

Poetry at the UAG Gallery This Friday, Nov 13

Albany Poets and Jawbone are once again combining forces to bring poetry to the UAG Gallery.  This Friday Jawbone will present a reading with James Belflower and Lucyna Prostko followed by our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word.

Here is the information from the good folks at Jawbone:

Jawbone is pleased to host a first book release party/reading this Friday, November 13th at 6:30pm in the United Artists Guild Gallery (247 Lark Street). Please come early and enjoy a refreshment/chat with the authors.

An open mic hosted by Albany Poets will follow at 8pm.

We hope that you will attend and support two very talented poets and PhD Candidates.

COMMUTER by James Belflower: Modeling the courage of the witness as a compelling poetic subjectivity, COMMUTER attempts to encourage response by negotiating notions of the self. Juliana Spahr calls COMMUTER "a painfully beautiful and transformatively aestheticized book."

James Belflower is the author of Commuter (Instance Press) and And Also a Fountain, (NeOpepper Press) a collaborative echap with Anne Heide and J. Michael Martinez. He won the 2007 Juked Magazine poetry prize and his work  appears, or is forthcoming in: Jacket, EOAGH, Denver Quarterly, Apostrophe Cast, First Intensity, Reconfigurations, Konundrum Engine and O&S, among others. He curates PotLatchpoetry.org, a website dedicated to the gifting and exchange of poetry resources.

Infinite Beginnnings—Lucyna Prostko's fierce, quiet book shines like the
wooden boat in "Homecoming" that "beckons the winds with all its power."  Prostko makes poetic speech feel somehow inevitable, yet unexpected and fresh; there is nothing self-conscious, no straining for high art, in her mastery. "The human stories in her poems haunt me. . . . Clear-eyed and steadfast in her honesty, Prostko doesn't pretend to easy understanding of the mystery she touches at the deep heart of our being, but her love for the world is palpable in every poem"--Joan Larkin, Judge, Bright Hill Poetry Book Competition.

Lucyna Prostko was born in 1971 in Poland, where she grew up in a small village of Solistowka in Mazury. From an early age, she has been immersed in the stories of her grandparents' lives who have been tragically affected by the outbreak of World War II. She came to New York City at the age of 19. She received her BA degree in English from Hunter College and MFA in poetry from New York University, where she was awarded The New York Times Fellowship. She has been writing poetry in both Polish and English, and her work has been influenced by both Polish and American poets, in particular Boleslaw Lesmian, Czeslaw Milosz, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Wislawa Szymborska as well as Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Galway Kinnell, Philip Levine, Sharon Olds, and Louise Gluck. Her poetry has appeared in The Bitter Oleander, Fugue, Washington Square, Painted Bride Quarterly, Ellipsis, Quiddity, Five Points, and other literary magazines and in her collection, Infinite Beginnings, judged winner of the Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Competition by Joan Larkin and published by Bright Hill in 2009. She has been teaching literature and creative writing for the past ten years. She currently teaches at Queensbury High School in upstate New York and pursues Ph.D. in English at SUNY Albany. She lives on Hunt Lake in the Adirondacks with her husband, Mirko.

The evening starts at 6:30PM with the “No Gimmicks Open Mic” hosted by Mary Panza will begin after the two featured poets at 8:00PM.  Sign up for the open mic will be available throughout the night. 

Spoken Word and Hip Hop at Valentines Tonight

Poetry, spoken word, music, hip hop and more is happening tonight at Valentines as The Intangible Collective is coming into town for what is sure to be a great show.  If you remember, these guys were a big part of the Psycho Cluster F*#k at the 2006 Albany Word Fest (Download Albany Poets Podcast #13 mp3).

Here is the info from Dan Stalter:

Static After The Storm
Friday 11/6 // Valentines 9PM // $5 Cover // 18+

The world ends often. Every moment offers the opportunity of new beginnings, as our past becomes engulfed in the apocalypse of our future. If you survive, the choice becomes yours: wallow in despair or effect change upon circumstance. 28 of us chose creation. This is Intangible. This is Collective. This is the Static After the Storm.

The Intangible Collective will kick off the evening with a full set of spoken word poetry at 9pm. A handful of local Albany Poets [editors note: Murrow and Dan Wilcox, among others] will also read. Following the poetry we will shift gears and bring Hip Hop to the stage. Headling the set will be Xkwisit, Killa Kev, Absolute, & DJ SG. Representing the Intangible Hip Hop faction will be Fascious, Bamboo MC, & B.Nice

For more information: http://www.intangiblecollective.com and http://www.valentinesalbany.com