Mandy Kahn's "I Like Peace" FREE Poetry Event (Jan. 27)

Mandy Kahn, I LIKE PEACE, Philosophical Research Society, Hollywood

PRS (Philosophical Research Society) Artist-in-Residence Mandy Kahn

Performance: Monday, Jan. 27, 7:30 PM, PRS, 3910 Los Feliz Bl., L.A. 90027

• Eventbrite (FREE): eventbrite.com/i-like-peace-with-mandy-kahn...seven dhar

Poet Mandy Kahn returns for the fourth installment of her peace-building series entitled "I LIKE PEACE"

PRS Artist-in-Residence Mandy Kahn will present a poetry installation that coordinates nine decorated poets—all reading their own peace-building works—in a continuous poetic offering that moves through the ground’s buildings and courtyards.

The included poets are:

• Brendan Constantine
• Seven Dhar (feature performance)
• Elena Karina Byrne
• Lois P. Jones
• Peggy Dobreer
• Frankie Drayus
• Nicelle Davis
• Eric Ernest Johnson
• Nancy Romero

Together they have authored 19 collections between them. Musical guest Henry Wolfe, who’s been on the Jimmy Kimmel Show and was named an artist to watch by the Los Angeles Times, will give a concert in the library.

Scholar and writer Dr. Gustavo Turner (Harvard doctorate in English literature), who recently re-catalogued a portion of the PRS’s collection, will present and discuss rare peace-focused volumes from the library’s vaults.

And concert pianist Marina Pakowski, who is a professor at the Conservatory Maurice Ravel in France, will play peaceful works by Ravel and Debussy.

Kahn explains: “The revolution of peace begins with the individual: with the tiny, private peace-building practices we choose to incorporate into our own lives. When we build peacefulness in the self, we become conduits of peace in the world. This series gives its guests—musicians, choreographers, filmmakers, writers—the chance to both share their work and to speak of the ways that they choose to build peace into their lives.”

Mandy Kahn, PRS Library (Courtney Sell)

ABOUT: Mandy Kahn is the author of two collections of poems. Her poetry is included in The Best American Poetry 2018 and was featured in former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s newspaper column "American Life in Poetry." And she’s been interviewed by BBC Radio and read at Cambridge University. She frequently collaborates with composers to create new works that combine verse and classical music; she’s made several pieces with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid and was a librettist for Yuval Sharon’s acclaimed opera Hopscotch. She recently presented a program of her immersive poems at the Getty Center. This series is free (donations always welcome and can be made in person at the event or through Eventbrite) and open to the public (age 15+). Donations help support programming at PRS. Thank you!

Lee Rossi, Abel Salas, Thelma Reyna @ Askew Reading Series, Sat. (Dec. 14)

FREE FOOD
The Pasadena Highlands is serving us up a seasonal spread and drinks for the holidays: That means FREE food for all performers, open mic sign ups, and attendees. It's a Festivus miracle!

ABEL SALAS

Abel Salas, LA Weekly contributor, is the editor and publisher of Brooklyn & Boyle (brooklynboyle.com), a print and online magazine dedicated to art and life in Boyle Heights and beyond. It features stories from the greater eastside arts scene in Los Angeles, including the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, City Terrace, East L.A., Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, South Pasadena, Cypress Park, Arroyo Seco, Highland Park, and Eagle Rock. His goal is to support the arts and creative projects which support community integrity and respect the history and heritage of the area. It is currently in its seventh year in print, expanding into a digital format.

THELMA REYNA

Former Altadena Poet Laureate Thelma T. Reyna, Ph.D. (UCLA), founder and editor of Golden Foothills Press (goldenfoothillspress.com) who edited and brought the local Altadena Poetry Review to national prominence, will be reading from her new memoir, her eighth book of poetry. The cover is in development, but the contents are all composed. We will be given the first look at her newest work since 2018's Reading Tea Leaves....

Her books have collectively won 16 national literary honors. She has written a short story collection, The Heavens Weep for Us and Other Stories, two poetry chapbooks (Breath & Bone and Hearts in Common), and a full-length poetry collection, Rising, Falling, All of Us.

She served as Altadena poet laureate from 2014 to 2016, and in this capacity edited the long-standing Pauli Dutton creation Poetry & Cookies anthology, which she rechristened the Altadena Poetry Review. Under her guidance it won two national book competitions in 2016.

Thelma Reyna’s fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals, anthologies, textbooks, blogs, newspapers, and other media (print and online) for over 25 years. She is a 2017 Pushcart Prize for Poetry nominee, and was selected as a “Top 10 San Gabriel Valley Poet” in 2016 by Spectrum Publications.

She is the founder and owner of the editing consultancy, The Writing Pros (thewritingpros.com), based in Pasadena, California, and taught "The Elements of Poetry" Workshop at Vroman's Bookstore. Her previous book, Reading Tea Leaves After Trump, came out in 2018. She has a new book in the offing, a memoir in poem commemorating her husband, which she will be introducing at Askew.

LEE ROSSI

Lee Rossi is a winner of The Jack Grapes Poetry Prize as well as of the Sense of Site poetry contest sponsored by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. He edited Tsunami, a journal of contemporary poetry focused on Los Angeles, from 1986 to 1992.

He is the author of four books of poetry -- Darwin’s Garden (Moon Tide Press, 2019), Wheelchair Samurai (Plainview Press, 2011), Ghost Diary (Terrapin Press, 2003), and Beyond Rescue (Bombshelter Press, 1992).

He has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Don’t Leave Hungry: 50 Years of Southern Poetry Review (University of Arkansas Press, 2010), Blue Arc West (Tebot Bach, 2006), Chance of a Ghost (Helicon Nine Editions, 2005), Mischief, Caprice, & Other Strategies (Red Hen Press, 2002), and Grand Passion: the Poetry of Los Angeles and Beyond (Red Wind Books, 1995).

His poems have appeared in many journals, including The Southern Review, The Harvard Review, Poetry Northwest, The North American Review, Main Street Rag, Tar River Poetry, The Spoon River Poetry Review, The Southeast Review, The Atlanta Review, The Green Mountains Review, The Sun, Poetry East, Chelsea, The Wormwood Review, Nimrod, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poet Lore, The Southern Poetry Review, The Southern Indian Review, Poetry/LA, Onthebus, and others.

His poetry has published reviews in ~88~, Poetry International, Smartish Pace, Poetry Flash, The Los Angeles Review, and the online journal Pedestal. He is a member of the Northern California Book Reviewers and a Contributing Editor at Poetry Flash. His email address is ghostdiarist@yahoo.com.

MERANO WRITERS

MERANO WRITERS PRESS (meranowriterspress.com) is launching. The Merano (named after a picturesque city in Italy) Group is a consortium of authors and teachers.

Their mission is to support the creation and publication of stimulating and relevant literature. A few of its artists -- Dr. B. K. De Paolis, Prof. Jane Hallinger, and Editor Chris Askew -- will visit to share some of their new releases and introduce their visionary mission.

FREE downloads of RATTLE ebook-issues from the archive

Timothy Green (rattle.com), posted by Ellie Askew

Some News in May

Dear Rattle Readers, It's only a random Monday in May, but we've reached a critical mass of news and updates, so I hope you don't mind a quick off-season email blast before our summer issue appears. The most exciting thing might be that we've finally figured out what to do with ebooks: we're giving them away. For the last decade we've had a love-hate relationship with ebooks: There are some wonderful benefits for some people but, frankly, we'll always prefer the stillness of paper. We've experimented with different ebook distribution methods, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but what makes the most sense is just to make them free. Subscribers can still use a password to download the current issue, but once all of the poems have appeared individually at rattle.com, we'll release those ebooks into the wild. At the moment, we have issues 50–62 available for download in standard EPUB and MOBI-Kindle formats. We'll also be adding new issues as we go, and gradually converting older issues into ebooks, so that eventually our entire archive will be available this way. Put them on your phones and tablets and bring poetry everywhere you go, even where there isn't wifi! This also means that many of our conversations will be available online for the first time. This set of issues includes great interviews with poets like Jimmy Santiago Baca, Francesca Bell, and Maggie Nelson. See more on that below. We've interviewed nearly 100 poets over 24 years, and it's time we put that resource online in a way that's searchable, so we'll also be republishing them as regular web pages. To start, I've just put up my conversation with Stephen Dunn from issue #60. This is one of our most popular interviews—some have called it a "master's class in poetry," and Dunn truly is a master, with a tremendous amount of wisdom to share over these 10,000 words. We'll be adding more conversations like this throughout the rest of the year, so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates. In other news, we're happy to announce the next round of Rattle Chapbook Prize winners. This trio of manuscripts covers a wide range of topics and moods. Print subscribers can look forward to each of them riding along with issues starting this fall. Finally, we've released our third A Poet's Space video, visiting with 2018 Rattle Poetry Prize winner Dave Harris on campus at U.C.-San Diego. We're trying to decide whether or not we should make more of these, so if you enjoy it, be sure to share and give it a thumbs-up or comment on YouTube to let us know. That's all for now. The summer issue and chapbook are at the printer and about to be shipped. I'll check in with our regular summer calls for submission email next month. Until then— Cheers,

Timothy Green Editor / Rattle rattle.com

p.s. You're receiving this email because, as someone who has submitted poems, subscribed, or purchased issues, we think these occasional updates serve your established legitimate interests, but you can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of the email any time if you'd rather not get them.

2019 Rattle Chapbook Winners

We're excited to announce the three winners of the 2019 Rattle Chapbook Prize: Al Ortolani, Christina Olson, and Jimmy Pappas. Visit the winners page for more on each of them. Their chapbooks will be included free to all subscribers for three straight issues, starting with Al's Hansel and Gretel Get the Word on the Street this fall. Click for more information

"Turbulence" by Dave Harris

The third installment of our new series with Blank Verse Films, A Poet's Space, was released last month, featuring 2018 Rattle Poetry Prize winner Dave Harris's "Turbulence." As with the first two videos, the goal is to provide an intimate glimpse into the spaces where poems are actually born. Join Dave in La Jolla, California, at the link. Click to watch the video on YouTube

Conversation with Stephen Dunn

An excerpt from the conversation … __________ GREEN: You said that poetry matters, and that’s something I’m always curious about. Why does poetry matter? There’s a sense that it does, that we take it for granted as readers and writers of poetry, but to communicate that to other people who haven’t had the experience yet is difficult. So why does poetry matter?  DUNN: The poetry that ends up mattering speaks to things we half-know but are inarticulate about. It gives us language and the music of language for what we didn’t know we knew. So a combination of insight and beauty. I also liken the writing of it to basketball—you discover that you can be better than yourself for a little while. If you’re writing a good poem, it means you’re discovering things that you didn’t know you knew. In basketball, if you’re hitting your shots, you feel in the realm of the magical. GREEN: Do you think that writing is that same feeling as being “in the zone”? DUNN: Yes. But then, almost always, you have to revise. Read the rest at Rattle.com...

Rattle eBooks

Finally, here's your chance to download all those ebooks. We have a baker's dozen online to start with, featuring the following conversations and tribute themes: #62: Jimmy Santiago Baca & 2018 Poetry Prize #61: Marvin Artis & First Publication #60: Stephen Dunn & Athlete Poets #59: Alejandro Escudé & Immigrant Poets #58: Diana Goetsch & 2017 Poetry Prize #57: Ken Meisel & Rust Belt Poets #56: Francesca Bell & Mental Illness #55: A.M. Juster & Civil Servants #54: Meena Alexander & 2016 Poetry Prize #53: Jennifer Jean & Adjuncts #52: Brendan Constantine & Angelenos #51: Maggie Nelson & Feminist Poets #50: Lester Graves Lennon & 2015 Poetry Prize Click here to start downloading

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