Up Next – Poet Robert Kelly

Posted on March 29, 2007March 29, 2007 by Steve Evans

Each semester, the NWS joins with the Honors College to create a poetry event for the Honors Cultural Odyssey (HON 180). This semester, our featured poet is the prolific and renowned Robert Kelly, author of more than fifty books of poetry and prose since he first began publishing in 1961, including Red Actions: Selected Poems 1960-1993 (Black Sparrow) and, most recently, May Day (Parsifal Press).

Robert Kelly’s reading will take place Wednesday, 4 April, at 8PM in Murray Hall 102 (note unusual time and place). As with all NWS events, this one is free and open to the general public.

To read an excerpt from a recent long interview with Kelly, visit here.

Event Reports

Event Report – Steve Tomasula

Posted on March 23, 2007March 23, 2007 by Steve Evans

An audience of forty-five students, faculty, and members of the local community turned out to hear Steve Tomasula read “The Color of Flesh,” a short story that takes up and further explores themes from his earlier novels The Book of Portraiture and In & Oz. After the reading, Tomasula fielded questions about his sources of inspiration, his relationship to the tradition of psychological realism, his collaborations with visual artists, the emotional undercurrents in experimental writing, the aesthetics of prosthetic limbs, anime and manga, the once solitary pursuit of novel writing, and other topics. After two busy days in Orono, Tomasula headed down to New York City for a reading Friday night at the KGB Bar.

Archival record. A digital videotape recording was made of the event. In addition to the dv masters, vhs and dvd duplicates will be available shortly. An 8-bit mp3 recording of the reading was also made. Contact Steve Evans for more information about acquiring copies.

Read Erin Frauenhofer’s review of The Book of Portraiture at PopMatters.

A row of well-thumbed copies of The Book of Portraiture could be spotted before the reading:

Dave Kress elbowed aside a galoot to make a great introduction:

Steve Tomasula smiling at the podium:

Events

Up Next – Fiction Writer Steve Tomasula

Posted on March 21, 2007March 21, 2007 by Steve Evans

The spring New Writing Series resumes after the March break with a solo reading by novelist, essayist, and multi-media author Steve Tomasula on Thursday, 22 March, at 4:30pm in the Soderberg Center auditorium. Bookforum called Tomasula’s The Book of Portraiture, a “grand historical account of how the act of representing others always includes a representation of the self” and said that it “re-imagines what the novel, particularly the historical novel, might mean in the digital world, and it does so with verve, gusto, and style.” The American Book Review described his novel VAS as, “the most visually exhilarating fiction to appear in years.” Come see for yourself, this Thursday.

Event Reports

Event Report – Grady Awards Reading

Posted on March 21, 2007March 21, 2007 by Steve Evans

A capacity audience was on hand to hear the seven writers recognized with Steve Grady Awards for Creative Writing read from their works on 22 February 2007. Author statements for each of the participants can be read here. Below are a few amateur snapshots that capture something of the flavor of the event. If you attended, and want to share your impressions, please feel free to comment!

The readers before the event (from l to r): Nicholas Mohlmann, Jason DiGioia, Ashlyn Giles, Megan Arsenault, Polaris Garfield, Ryan Weibush, and Kiera Seekins.