The next New Writing Series event is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, October 28, when fiction writer Jessica Anthony will be on campus to read from and discuss her work.
In the meantime, have a look at the Flickr sets we’ve created for the first three events of the season: Rick Snyder & Joanna Fuhrman (here), the Millay Prize event featuring Ann Lauterbach and Rachel Perry (here and here), and Lance Olsen’s reading (here).
Poet, translator, and editor Donald Revell performed in front of a near-capacity crowd on Thursday, April 22, 2010 in the Soderberg Auditorium. Revell, who was the final visiting poet in the Spring 2010 New Writing Series lineup, read from Thief of Strings and his newest volume, The Bitter Withy, both published by Alice James Books, whose director Carey Salerno was also in attendance. Professor Steven Evans introduced Revell, who read for 40 minutes.
The event was recorded on digital videotape by Carey Haskell and as a wav file on a Zoom H4n digital audio-recorder by Steve Evans.
A photo set of Revell’s reading is available on the NWS Flickr page.
Set List — compiled by Jason Canniff (after the jump) Continue reading
The New Writing Series was proud to host two events this spring that celebrated the work done by Master’s Candidates in Creative Writing as they neared completion of their theses in fiction and poetry.
On Tuesday, March 23, 2010, poet Rebecca S. Griffin read a baker’s dozen of poems from the thesis she defended in fall 2009, after which Michael T. Fournier read excerpts from his novella “Hidden Wheel.” Griffin was introduced by her advisor Jennifer Moxley, Fournier by his advisor David Kress.
A week later, on March 30, 2010, poets Amy Jirsa and Rachel Perry performed from their manuscripts, introduced by Jennifer Moxley. Each poet read for roughly twenty minutes (see set lists below).
Lively Q&A sessions followed each reading.
The events were recorded on digital videotape by Carey Haskell and as wav files on a Zoom H4n digital audio-recorder by Steve Evans.
Some photographs of the events can be found on the NWS Flickr page. For Griffin & Fournier click here; for Jirsa & Perry, here. Continue reading
Poet William Corbett read before an audience of approximately 45 people in the New Writing Series on Thursday, March 18, 2010. Corbett began his set with selections from James Schuyler’s Other Flowers and concluded with poems by—and in dialog with—Philip Whalen. He also read from his own collection Opening Day, a “documentary poem” on Willem de Kooning, and “Tokyo Travel Diary.”
The event was recorded on digital videotape by Carey Haskell and as a wav file on a Zoom H4n digital audio-recorder by Steve Evans.
Photo sets of Corbett’s reading and a class visit are available on the NWS Flickr page. Continue reading
The poet Catherine Wagner read to a capacity audience of more than seventy people in the first event of the spring 2010 New Writing Series on Thursday, February 4, 2010.
Wagner read from her books Macular Hole and My New Job, from a manuscript tentatively titled “Mercury Vectors: A Romance,” and a new poem beginning “If you put the hand inside….” The poet also entertained a number of questions from audience members on a range of topics including her use of song, her approach to compositional processes, and her feelings about public performance of her work. A full set list will follow shortly.
To view more photographs of the event, click here. The event was documented on digital videotape by Carey Haskell. A digital soundfile was created using a Zoom H4n recorder. As audio and video clips becomes available, they’ll be posted to this blog.
On April 2, 2009, in the penultimate event of the Spring 2009 New Writing Series schedule, Flarf poets Nada Gordon and Gary Sullivan read to an audience of nearly 60 people in Soderberg Auditorium. After a combined reading of about 40 minutes, Gordon and Sullivan took questions from the audience.
Documentation
For more photos, visit the NWS flikr page. The event was recorded on digital video tape by Carey Haskell.
Set Lit
For the first half of the reading, the poets read alternately. In the following set-list, GS beside a title denotes that Gary Sullivan was the reader, NG beside a title denotes that Nada Gordon was the reader.
1) To a Sought Caterpillar (GS)
2) An Abecedarian of Spam Senders (NG)
3) They of the Mayonnaise (GS)
4) Unicorn Believers Don’t Declare Fatwas (NG)
5) The Giraffe (GS)
6) A Fun fact About Light (NG)
7) Plop Takes (GS)
Nada Gordon
8] Ding
9) Between “Cartoon Sight” and “Floozy Winds”
10) Voice Dhoti Gong
11) Wrong Face
Gary Sullivan
12) Mmhmm
13) Anagrams of American Imperialism
14) Poem
15) Mooing Sound
16) Own Face
17) Kenfuckintucky
18) My Poetry
19) My Favorite Poets
Nada Gordon
20) I Love Men
Nada Gordon and Gary Sullivan (song)
21) “A Few of My Favorite/ Inexplicable Things”
Questions
1) Are there more poets like you out there?
2) What kind of reactions do you get from different audiences?
3) How long have you guys been together, either working professionally or personally?
4) When did you start combining comic art and poetry? (for GS)
5) What do you think the computer is going to be to poetry?
6) How did you write that question poem? (for Nada)
7) Do you guys have a specific writing process?
8] What kind of balance do you try to achieve between the realistic/ concrete and the absurd/ abstract in your poetry?
On March 25, 2009, in an event co-sponsored by the Honors College, poet, editor and anthologist Claudia Rankine read to an audience of more than 145 people in Little Hall 130. Steve Evans introduced the event, which was the fifth of the Spring 2009 New Writing Series schedule. After the nearly hour-long video-screening and reading, Rankine took questions from the audience.
Documentation For more photos, visit the NWS flikr page. The event was recorded on digital video tape by Carey Haskell.
Set List – compiled by Katie Lattari (after the jump)
Continue reading
Event Report
On March 19, 2009, the undergraduate and graduate winners of the Steve Grady Awards for Creative Writing (full bios here) read their original works to a packed Soderberg Auditorium for the fourth event of the Spring 2009 schedule. Steve Evans introduced the poets and Dave Kress introduced the fiction writers who together read for about an hour and a half.
Set List
Amber Kapiloff – “Pieces” (undergraduate fiction: honorable mention)
Katie Lattari – “I Break Leaves in Brittle Mornings”, “Reference” (undergraduate poetry: honorable mention)
Michael Fournier – “Dramatic Persuasion” (graduate fiction: honorable mention)
Rick LaPlante – “Magic”, “Double You”, “Petrified Forest”, “Let’s Tango At Night”, “Well-Wishers” (undergraduate poetry: second place)
Katie Lattari: “Origins and Interviews” (undergraduate fiction: second place)
Meghan Dowling – “Americana”, “Men at Work”, “Gone” (graduate poetry: second place)
Shaun Irland – “Breaking Everest” (graduate fiction: second place)
Dane Bolding – “Summer Rain”, “A Scent of Smoke”, “Leaves of Clouds”, “Almost the same as eating snow.”, “Presidents Pass the Time”, “Dakota”, “Out of State”, Haiku (untitled), Haiku (untitled), “Post Office Blues #22” (undergraduate poetry: first place)
Chris Tarbell – “The True Story of Peter Danvers” (undergraduate fiction: first place)
Alison Fraser – “When Paul Marries and I am His Groom”, “A Narrow Cavity for Him”, “If I Do or Don’t”, “On Both Sides”, “What Has Happened After 1947” (graduate poetry: first place)
Meghan Dowling – “ReadMe” (graduate fiction: first place)
Documentation
The event was recorded on digital video tape by Carey Haskell.
Description
Kenneth Goldsmith read to an audience of 45 people in the UMaine New Writing Series on February 19, 2009. Goldsmith opened his set with an homage to Maine artist and poet Bern Porter before excerpting widely from his own works. A question and answer session with the audience followed.
Documentation
For more photographs, visit the NWS Flickr page here. An mp3 recording was made using an Audio-technical condenser Lo-Z AT835b microphone attached to a Marantz PMD660 Portable Solid State Recorder. The event was recorded on digital video tape by Carey Haskell.
SET LIST – compiled by Stephanie Schaffner
1. The Last Acts of St. Fuck You by Bern Porter
2. Excerpt from The Weather
3. Excerpt from Sports
4. Excerpt from Traffic
5. Excerpt from “Poem for Larry Craig”
6. Excerpt from An Attack – NYC on 9/11 (title approximate)
7. Excerpts from Head Citations
This event was co-sponsored by the UMaine Intermedia Visiting Artist Program, with generous support from the Lloyd H. Elliott Fund and the Distinguished Lecture/Cultural Affairs Committee.
Description
On January 30, 2009, fiction writer Magdalena Zurawski and poet CA Conrad read to an audience of about 35 people in Soderberg Auditorium for the second event of the Spring 2009 schedule. Steve Evans introduced the writers, who each read for about 25 minutes. Conrad read from The Book of Frank and Soma(tic) Midge. Zurawski read excerpts from her book The Bruise. Afterward, Zurawski and Conrad took questions from the audience.
Documentation
For more photographs, visit the NWS Flickr page here. An mp3 recording was made using an Audio-technical condenser Lo-Z AT835b microphone attached to a Marantz PMD660 Portable Solid State Recorder. The event was also recorded on digital video tape.
UMaine New Writing Series 