Readers’ Bios – January 25 Session

17/01/12

Wow…2012. Time flies, eh? But that also means that session #4, very first session of the new year, is upon us! Please join us on Wednesday, January 25, from 7-8 PM, to hear the wonderful, uber-talented authors below read their work.

A native Detroiter, Amy Elliott Bragg left home for a while to edit an arts and culture magazine in Milwaukee. She returned to Detroit in 2009 where she lives with her husband, freelances as a writer and editor, and works hard at old books. She started the blog “The Night Train” (http://nighttraintodetroit.com/) about the history of metro Detroit.

Vievee Francis is the author of two poetry collections Blue-Tail Fly (2006) and Horse in the Dark (forthcoming 2012, Winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize). Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Sou’wester, Indiana Review, Best American Poetry 2010, and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, among others. In 2009 she was the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, and became a Kresge Fellow in 2010. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan where she was the 2009/2010 Poet in Residence for the Alice Lloyd Hall Scholar’s Program. In 2010/2011 she was the Visiting Poet at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies. A Cave Canem Fellow, she is currently an Associate Editor for Callaloo.

Jeff Kass is an award-winning poet and fiction writer who teaches Creative Writing at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Eastern Michigan University. He also directs the Literary Arts Programs at the Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor’s teen center. He was named the 1995-96 California Education Placement Association’s New Teacher of the Year for Northern California Secondary Schools. In April, 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union honored him as Michigan’s Wendy Joyrich Teacher of the Year. April 29, 2009, was proclaimed Jeff Kass Day in Ann Arbor in recognition of his work with young writers. Invisible Staircase, a chapbook of poems, was published by Winged City Press in January, 2010. His poems, stories and essays have been published in literary reviews, newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. Jeff has taught poetry workshops to thousands of young people in schools, juvenile detention centers and synagogues. His one-man performance poetry show, Wrestle the Great Fear, debuted in April, 2009.

If you haven’t yet been to one of our readers, the setting (Mentobe Cafe) is a brilliant little cafe with world-class coffee and snacks, and the overall atmosphere is fun, fun, fun. Hope to see you there!

November flier

19/11/11

Excellent flier for the November session courtesy of Scott at Black Coffee Press. Enjoy!

Readers’ Bios – November 30 Session

13/11/11

We are extremely excited to announce the line-up of Session #3 (on Wednesday, November 30, 7-8 PM). If you haven’t yet had a chance to stop by to one of the previous sessions, this is most definitely the month to do it!

David Blaine was born in a pizza patch in the Bronx, New York. When he was young, mafia hoodlums roughed him up and stole his middle name. His parents were too poor to buy him a new one. Dave’s family moved to Michigan when he was three. He attended his grandfather’s alma mater, Whasamata U, with a degree in history. It only took three years because, back then, there was a lot less history to learn. Don’t believe that? Fine: David Blaine’s poetry, prose, interviews, reviews and essays have been published widely in print and online. David lives in rural Michigan where he works in the family’s hardware business with his wife and children. His most recent poetry collection Antisocial was published by OW Press.

Keith Taylor is a poet and writer who coordinates the undergraduate program in creative writing at the University of Michigan, directs the Bear River Writer’s Conference, and is the poetry editor for Michigan Quarterly Review. He has published thirteen volumes, including collections of poetry and short fiction, edited volumes, and translations. His work has appeared in such publications as Story, The Los Angeles Times, Alternative Press, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, The Iowa Review, Witness, Chicago Tribune, and Hanging Loose. His most recent books are Marginalia for a Natural History published by Black Lawrence Press, and Ghost Writers, a collection of ghost stories co-edited with Laura Kasischke, published by Wayne State University Press.

Chris Tysh is a poet, playwright, and translator born and raised in Paris, where she studied American literature at the Sorbonne. She has been on the faculty of the English Department at Wayne State University since 1989, where she teaches creative writing and women’s studies. She has authored several poetry collections and completed a full screenplay based on a novel of Georges Bataille. Recently, her play, Night Scales, A Fable for Klara K was produced at the WSU Studio Theatre (April 22-May 1, 2010) in Detroit under the direction of Aku Kadogo and, later that year, was published by United Artists. She is a recipient of a 2003 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a 2010 Kresge Artist Fellowship. Her latest project, Hotel des Archives, features verse “transcreations” of Becket and Genet’s novels.

Photos from Session #2!

27/10/11

Session #2 was a success!

It may have been a blustery evening, but thanks to those who braved the weather to come out and listen to some fantastic readers. If you couldn’t make it out, we’ve posted some photos from the event on our photos page here.

Enjoy!

Readers’ Bios – October 26 Session

10/10/11

We had such a great time first time around, and we’re doubly excited for our next session on Wednesday, October 26. If you couldn’t make it last month, make sure you stop by this time around to hear the fantastic line-up of talented readers we’ve assembled:

Matt Bell is the author of How They Were Found, a collection of fiction, and Cataclysm Baby, a novella. His fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Gulf Coast, Willow Springs, Unsaid, and American Short Fiction, and has been anthologized in Best American Mystery Stories 2010, Best American Fantasy 2, and 30 Under 30: An Anthology of Innovative Younger Writers. He is the Senior Editor at Dzanc Books, where he also runs the literary magazine The Collagist.

Aaron Burch is the author of How to Predict the Weather and How to Take Yourself Apart, How to make Yourself Anew, which won PANK’s inaugural chapbook contest. He’s had stories in Unsaid, New York Tyrant, Barrelhouse, and Quick Fiction, and he edits HOBART: another literary journal.

Donora Hillard appears in Pedagogy, Monkeybicycle, Hint Fiction (W.W. Norton), Best of the Web (Dzanc Books), etc. and edits poetry for Midwestern Gothic. She teaches at Wayne State University in Detroit while pursuing a PhD emphasizing poetics and postpedagogy. Her first poetry collection is Theology of the Body (Gold Wake Press), and a second, Jeff Bridges, is in progress.

First session was a success!

30/09/11

Thanks to everyone who came out this week to our very first session! We had a great turnout, great readers, and, most importantly, great fun.  Pictures have been added to the site here.

And if you couldn’t make it, we’d love to see you next month, October 26. More details to come soon!

Readers’ Bios – September 28 Session

05/09/11

We are very excited for our first reading session, Wednesday, September 28 from 7-8 PM, and thought we’d share with you the bios of the first round of readers:

David James’ second full-length book, She Dances Like Mussolini, won the 2010 Next Generation Indie book award for poetry. He’s also published four other chapbooks, including one of prose poems. His one-act plays have been produced from New York City to California. James earned a doctorate from Wayne State University and teaches for Oakland Community College.

Poet and novelist, David LaBounty lives in suburban Detroit. He is the author of Affluenza, The Trinity and The Perfect Revolution (all from Silverthought Press) and has had over a hundred poems published in various journals. In 2013 Black Coffee Press will release a collection of his poetry and short stories.

Peter Markus is the author of three books of short-fiction, Good, Brother; The Moon is a Lighthouse; and The Singing Fish. His stories and poems have appeared in such literary magazines as Black Warrior Review, Quarterly West, Massachusetts Review, Northwest Review, New Orleans Review, Third Coast, Post Road, 3rd Bed, Seattle Review, The Prose Poem, The American Journal of Print, Willow Springs, Another Chicago Magazine, Phoebe, as well as online at 5_Trope, failbetter, taint, elimae, Pindeldyboz, La Petite Zine, Eyeshot, DIAGRAM, and Eleven Bulls. His work has also appeared in numerous anthologies including New Sudden Fiction (Norton) and Fiction Gallery (Bloomsbury USA). He has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Peter holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University.

*Wednesday Night Sessions takes place at Mentobe Cafe in downtown Farmington, Michigan the last Wednesday of every month. If you can, stop by and support local authors and poets–we’d love to see you!

We are live!

12/08/11

Hello, there! We are Wednesday Night Sessions–a new monthly reading series based out of the ever-so charming Farmington, Michigan, sponsored by four local publishers: Absinthe: New European Writing, Black Coffee Press, Dzanc Books and Midwestern Gothic. Our goal is to bring together local authors and poets, listen to some great readings, and have a good time.

As our name suggests, we’ll be meeting the last Wednesday of every month. Our first session, Wednesday, September 28, is jam-packed full of goodness, featuring the following talented folks:

David James
David LaBounty
Peter Markus

We’ll be meeting at the Mentobe Cafe in downtown Farmington, and if you can swing by, we highly suggest you do.

Oh, and one last thing: We’re on Twitter and would love it if you gave us a follow.

Thanks!