River Writers Presents: Lavender/Vodicka/Munsterman/RIVER

Well, you prayed to the river to bring three wonderful poets together like three tributaries flowing together to flood the river to your doorstep. Guess what. Yet again the river has answered your wild call with a wild night of amazing verse coming your way! Join us on Tuesday April 24^th at 8pm for three poets hailing from two parts southern Louisiana, one part Arkansas, and 1000 parts unknown. Bill Lavender, Arkansas-grown poet, tamer of the winged beast of memory and man behind Lavender Ink in New Orleans, will be joined with Kim Vodicka, spinner of memorized souls she eats for a late breakfast 50, 000 nights a year, and Geoff Munsterman, a river-born poet from the smoky depths whose unemployment tasks him with the best job of all, bringing poetry to your door!

More about our wonderful poets:     

Bill Lavender's most recent book of poetry is Memory Wing, published in 2011 by Black Widow Press.  transfixion appeared in 2009 from Trembling Pillow and Garret County Presses. Poems have appeared in print in YAWP, Fell Swoop, and Prairie Schooner. Books also include I of the Storm (Trembling Pillow 2006), While Sleeping (Chax Press 2004), look the universe is dreaming (Potes and Poets 2002), and Guest Chain (Lavender Ink 1999). He has been a guest editor at Exquisite Corpse and Big Bridge, and has edited an anthology, Another South: Experimental Writing in the South, from University of Alabama Press (2003). His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous print magazines including Praire Schooner, Jubilat, New Orleans Review, Gulf Coast Review, Skanky Possum, YAWP, and Fell Swoop, and web publications including Exquisite Corpse, E•ratio , CanWeHaveOurBallBack, Moria, Big Bridge, and Nolafugees. He has published scholarship in Poetics Today and Contemporary Literature. More about Bill and his work can be found at http://lavenderink.org/mw/cov600a.jpg and http://www.memorywing.com

Kim Vodicka grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana and received her B.A. in English from UL Lafayette in 2010. She is currently working on her M.F.A. in Poetry at LSU, where she is also a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Co-Coordinator of Delta Mouth Literary Festival 2012. Kim is an avid lover of music, hosts a psychedelic rock show, "Shangri-La-La Land," on KLSU, and is involved in musical-poetic projects. She believes that poems are songs and can recite most of her work from memory. Her artwork has been published in Tenderloin, and her poems have been published in Shampoo, Ekleksographia, and Dig. Her first book, Aesthesia Balderdash, is forthcoming in June from Trembling Pillow Press.

Geoff Munsterman is a poet hailing from Plaquemines Parish. He's managed to trick websites like Steel Toe Review, story|south, and Poets for Living Waters into publishing his works. You can also find his work in old copies of YAWP, Margie, The Plaquemines Parish Literary Journal and The Georgia Review. As an editor, Geoff has worked for The Kenyon Review, The New Laurel Review, The Levee Review, and worked as poetry editor for Leaning House Press, which specialized in imaginary poets. Currently, he is the editor-in-chief of Entrepôt, a monthly New Orleans periodical of cultural archeology and a lowly minion for Trembling Pillow Press. In other words, he's unemployed.

river writers at houston indie book festival

After-fest reading with Word Around Town Series
Dean's Downtown.
312 Main St. April 14th: 7-10pm 

HOUSTON INDIE BOOK FESTIVAL, APRIL 14, 2012

The Fifth Annual Houston Indie Book Fest Celebrates Small Presses, Magazines, and

Independent Bookstores in Houston

The Houston Indie Book Festival is hosted by NANO Fiction and Gulf Coast through a collaboration with The Menil Collection, and the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses at Menil Park (view map).

The 2012 festival will be on Saturday, April 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. The event  is completely free and open to the public and remains the only one of its kind in the Houston and Austin areas, featuring a variety of nationally-distributed literary journals and small-press books alongside local booksellers, book and magazine publishers, small presses, literary organizations, and writers.

Exhibiting Authors

Jason Poland, Austin Bedell, Victoria J. Hyla, Gabrielle Faust, Kerry Sparks, DJ Werx, KC Williams, Chris Sweet, Bob Doerr, Missy Jane, Lester Morris, Kathy Culver, Diana Oliver, Bill Megenhardt (lllustrator), Fara Walker, Ana Maria Rodriguez, & Ryan Dilbert.

Bookstores

Brown Book Shop, Kaboom Books, Domy Books, Light of Islam Bookstore, Good Books in the Woods, Becker’s Books, Brazos Bookstore, & Book Haven.

Magazines

NANO Fiction, Gulf Coast, American Short Fiction, The Cupboard, Tifferet, Little Red Leaves Textile Series, Bat City Review, GIGANTIC SEQUINS, The Aletheia Literary & Arts Journal, CALLALOO, Film Monitor, Unstuck, Glass Mountain, OH NO Magazine, & NAP.

Presses

Slough Press, Blue Cubicle Press, Arte Publico Press, Haymarket Books, Bright Sky Press, Triscelle Publishing, Blessed Butterfly Productions, Kaleidoscope in Black Arts & Entertainment, Doodles Ave., Imagine Nation, Sociosights Press, CBAY Books, Dos Gatos Press, UHV Publishing Center, Javelina Books, The Minted Mouse, haha, Radical Books, Mutabilis Press, Host Publications, & The Underground Forest.

Other Organizations

CLMP, InPrint Houston, Zine Fest Houston, Texas Authors of Romance Fiction, WiVLA, Writers in the Schools, Writer’s Revisions, River Writers Reading Series, Houston Public Library, Poison Girl Bar / Poison Pen Reading Series, Literacy Advance of Houston, BOOTOWN, Reaching Out, Texas Authors and Poets, Write by Night, Houston Poets,  & FotoFest.

RIVER WRITERS PRESENTS: THE MARCHAN / ESTEP / CHUN RIVER / 3.27.12 / readings by Jeri Marchan and Brit Estep

The river never stops roaring. This big truth will be true as ever come Tuesday March 27^th at 10pm when Jeri Marchan and Brit Estep join us at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s for a roaring river not to be missed! Come out and give a listen to these two Baton Rouge poets who promise to tell the truth the river throws our way. And if that means telling tiny lies, spilling best kept secrets hiding in your own past, or making one long wish, why would you not do this? More about our wonderful readers here:   

Jeri Marchan is an senior English/Creative Writing major at LSU and co-editor of fiction for the delta journal. She is in the process of submitting her first full-length poetry collection for publication and will be pursuing her MFA degree at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop come fall.

Brit Estep is a writer and educator originally from Indiana. She has spent the last three years completing in MFA in creative writing in South Louisiana. Her spiritual practices include: studying with her teacher Lama Surya Das, forgiveness, watching westerns and trying to be in her body as much as possible. She is interested in contemplative and integrative education and believes in the power of creativity with all her heart.

Part of Estep’s thesis Signals was published by Shambhala in their young Buddhists project, 35<35, where Estep said this about her work: 

“Vulture Biology is an excerpt from my dharma nature poetry memoir, Signals. Signals is the writing that happened after my father suddenly died in 2010. It is a collection of contemplative stories which detail the nature of impermanence both personally and planetary. When my eyes were opened by the deep sadness I was experiencing, I could not stop looking at just my pain. My previous pronoun boundaries of me, you and them- all became a blurry mess as the world I had known was wiped clean away. Grief handed me Buddhism as a way to continue to open my heart.”

Carolyn Chun also read form her book How to Break the _______   _______ (Article) (Noun).

RIVER WRITERS PRESENTS: THE FERRARA / KLINE / RIVER / 3:13

/ readings by Gina Ferrara and Jonathan Kline

Join River Writers at 8pm on Tuesday March 13^th at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s (214 Third Street) as we welcome two new wonderful readers to our stage for the first time! Just up the river from New Orleans, Gina Ferrara and Jonathan Kline will bring everything the river rivers rivering with them! This is an event not to be missed and a perfect start to a week of literary bliss for Baton Rouge as we roll into the festivities of Delta Mouth just two days later. Come out to hear and support these traveling poets and storytellers as they make their offerings to the river! Why would you not do this?  Read more about our wonderful readers and their work here:

Gina Ferrara received her MFA from the University of New Orleans and teaches English at Delgado Community College. In 2006, her chapbook, The Size of Sparrows, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals including: The Poetry Ireland Review, The Briar Cliff Review, and Callaloo. She was awarded a grant from The Elizabeth George Foundation for her work in poetry and currently directs a monthly reading series for the New Orleans Public Library. Her book, Ethereal Avalanche, was published by Trembling Pillow Press in October of 2009. Her latest collection of poems, Amber Porch Light, will be published in 2013 by Wordtech Press.

Jonathan Kline grew up in northern Michigan. After receiving his MFA in Time Art from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, he moved to NYC and then New Orleans. His poems have been published in Tribes Magazine The Cooper Point Journal, Yawp, Cocktail, and The Maple St. Rag. Cds of his work include Conceptual Cowboy Yodeling , produced by H.O.M.E. Studio and Stories My Mother Told Me Never to Tell produced by Puppethead Productions. He was recently awarded a residency by the Santa Fe Art Institute and currently teaches visual art at a charter school in New Orleans.

The Hulyk Maxwell / Carey / River / 2.28

Join River Writers Tuesday February 28^th at 10pm at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s (214 Third St) for two LSU MFA’s who will bring to the stage the only things that really matter- themselves, their wonderful words, and their ability to bring out the river inside us all! Bring it to River Writers and River Writers will bring it to you! 

Sarah Hulyk Maxwell is a writer first and foremost, but is concentrating on poetry since she was accepted into LSU's MFA program. She writes poems to bring pleasure, interpret how you will, through a sound, an image, or a line break. This is her second year in Louisiana but her first time reading at River Writers.

Julia Carey has known life as a concert pianist, a restauranteur, a scapegoat, a wife, a homeless person, and a roofer.  She writes fiction and poetry, sometimes both at the same time, and her most recent work is forthcoming in Tiferet Journal's next issue, The Fifth Gate.

The Tusa / Haas / River

Back to our original time at 10pm, The River brings back two oldies but goldies to the third installment of the spring lineup! Benjamin Haas and Chris Tusa will bring everything they have to the river this coming Tuesday February 7th at 10pm! You will not be disappointed. The river has started its 2012 roar in full force and these two will only push us further along. Bring it to the river and the river will bring it to you! More info about our awesome guests here:

Chris Tusa was born and raised in New Orleans. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida. His debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, was published by The University of West Alabama in March of 2009. With the help of a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, he was able to complete his debut collection of poems, Haunted Bones, which was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2006. His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, Texas Review, Prairie Schooner, New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, The Southeast Review, Passages North, Spoon River, storySouth, and others. Aside from teaching in the English Department at LSU, he also serves as Editor for Fiction Southeast. He is currently working on a collection of flash fiction entitled Mean Blood and on two novels: In the Valley of Falling Stars, a dark tragicomedy set in post-Katrina New Orleans featuring a middle-aged man who’s convinced his wife has been chosen by God to give birth to Jesus Christ; and a second novel set in New Orleans in 1878 involving a young girl who is abducted to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

Benjamin Haas is a graduate student in performance studies at LSU. He has performed in numerous shows and spaces in the last year but most recently directed and performed in Tricycling, a multimedia performance event in the HopKins Black Box. Benjamin's work has focused on combining philosophy, performance, and popular culture and has taken many forms including: shows, workshops, essays, poems, and performative writing.  He has published poems in The New Delta Review, ditch, Clockwise Cat, and Kerouac's Dog. This is to be his second River Writers featured appearance, though he most looks forward to reading the exquisite corpse at the end of the night, if allowed.