Powells North Reading Series

The End

2009-09-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

The Powell's North Reading Series ended in May, 2009.

We appreciate your interest and support over the years.

We especially appreciate the generous support and partnership of the Powell's North Book Store and the Faculty of the Writing Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

2009-04-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

NO SHOW UNTIL MAY WHEN WE ARE HAPPY TO WELCOME ICE BOX PRESS. MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

April and May 2009 @ Powells North

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February 2009 @ Powells North

2008-12-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

AWP Offsite Reading: Chicago Six Pack
Wednesday, February 11
6:30 pm, Roosevelt University's Congress Lounge
430 S Michigan Ave

Drunken Boat, A Public Space, Circumference, jubilat, Words without Borders and Action Books present POEMS of all temperatures and volumes, from the pages and off the screen. Co-sponsored by Powells North, Serendib Press and the Roosevelt University MFA Program.

Don Mee Choi and Kim Hyesoon (Action Books)

Daniel Borzutzky and Jennifer Scappettone (Circumference)

Annie Finch and Thom Ward (Drunken Boat)

Suzanne Buffam and Srikanth Reddy (jubilat)

Arda Collins and Noah Eli Gordon (A Public Space)

Ellen Dore Watson and Matthew Zapruder (Words Without Borders)

Daniel Borzutzky's two collections of poetry include The Ecstasy of Capitulation (BlazeVox, 2007). He has also translated collections by Chilean poets Juan Emar and Jaime Luis Huenún, including most recently Port Trakl (Action Books, 2008). He teaches at Wright College.

Suzanne Buffam's first collection of poetry, Past Imperfect (House of Anansi, 2005), won the Gerald Lampert Award for the best first book of poetry published in Canada in 2005, and was named one of 2005's "Books of the Year" by The Globe and Mail. She teaches at the University of Chicago.

Don Mee Choi, translator of Kim Hyesoon's Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers (Action Books, 2008), lives in Seattle. Her poems have recently appeared in Action Yes, Cipher, Fairy Tale Review, La Petite Zine, and Tinfish.

Arda Collins is the 2008 winner of the annual Yale Series of Younger Poets competition for her book It is Daylight. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a Glenn Schaeffer Fellow, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in poetry at the University of Denver.

Annie Finch is professor of English at the University of Southern Maine and Director of the Stonecoast low-residency MFA Program in Creative Writing. She is the author of four books of poetry, including Calendars (Tupelo Press, 2003), as well as nine books about poetry, most recently The Body of Poetry: Essays on Women, Form, and the Poetic Self (University of Michigan Press, 2005). Her website is at anniefinch.com.

Noah Eli Gordon's seven collections of poetry include Novel Pictoral Noise (HarperCollins, 2007), selected by John Ashbery for the National Poetry Series competition. He currently teaches at the University of Denver.

Kim Hyesoon is the first woman to receive the Kim Su-yung Poetry Award. The author of numerous collections of poetry, including Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers (Action Books, 2008), she teaches creative writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts.

Jennifer Scappettone is the author of three chapbooks and the book From Dame Quickly (Litmus Press, 2008). The guest editor of the Aufgabe #7, she is working on the selected poems of Italian poet Amelia Rosselli. She teaches at the University of Chicago.

Srikanth Reddy's first collection of poems, Facts for Visitors, was published by the University of California Press "New California Series" in 2004. He teaches at the University of Chicago.

Thom Ward is Editor/Production Director for BOA Editions. He has published five collections of poetry, most recently The Matter of the Casket (CustomWords, 2007). He lives in Upstate New York.

Ellen Dore Watson has published three collections of poems, most recently Ladder Music (Alice James Books, 2001). She has also translated a dozen books from the Brazilian Portuguese, including Adélia Prado's The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems (Wesleyan, 1990). She is the Director of the Poetry Center at Smith College.

Matthew Zapruder is the author of two books of poems, including The Pajamaist (Copper Canyon Press, 2006), winner of the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award, and book of translations from the Romanian, Secret Weapon: The Late Poems of Eugen Jebeleanu (Coffee House, 2007). He is the editor of Wave Books and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Houston.

_________________

Eula Biss
Thursday, February 19
7 PM @ Powells North

Eula Biss holds a BA in nonfiction writing from Hampshire College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Northwestern University, where she teaches nonfiction writing, and she is a founding editor of Essay Press, a new press dedicated to innovative nonfiction. Her essays have recently appeared in The Best Creative Nonfiction and the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Nonfiction as well as in The Believer, Gulf Coast, Columbia, Ninth Letter, the North American Review, the Bellingham Review, the Seneca Review, and Harper’s.

MONDAY, December 8 at 7:00 P.M.

2008-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring poet and author John Keene. John will be joined by students from the MFA in Writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

John Keene is the author of the acclaimed experimental novel Annotations (New Directions), and Seismosis (1913 Press), a collection of poetry with artwork by Christopher Stackhouse. He has published his fiction, poetry, essays and translations in a wide array of journals, including African-American Review, Gay and Lesbian Review, Hambone, New American Writing, AGNI, and Ploughshares. Keene is the recipient of fellowships from the Artists Foundation of Massachusetts, the New York Times Foundation, Yaddo, and the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. A graduate of NYU, John is a longtime member of the Dark Room Writers Collective of Cambridge and Boston and a Graduate Fellow of Cave Canem. He is currently an Associate Professor of English and African American Studies and the Director of the English Major in Writing Program at Northwestern University.

Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 P.M.

2008-11-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring the playwright Mickle Maher. Mickle will be joined by Adam Rosenberg and Amy Stern, students from the MFA in Writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mickle Maher is a co-founder of Chicago's Theater Oobleck and the author of numerous plays, including An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, and The Hunchback Variations. Recent plays include Spirits to Enforce (Theater Oobleck), Cyrano (translator) and The Cabinet (Redmoon Theater), and Lady Madeline (Steppenwolf). His children's book, Master Stitchum and the Moon, is published by Bollix Books. His plays are published by Hope and Nonthings, available at hopeandnonthings.com. He is currently working on a libretto about Don Quixote.

Tuesday, October 21 at 7 p.m.

2008-09-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to welcome poet John Taggart to Powells North on Tuesday, October 21st.

John's latest collection of poems, There Are Birds is available from Flood Editions.

...AND UPCOMING:

November 2008:

* Mickle Mahr, (playwright) see performances here.

December 2008:

* John Keene, (poet) author of Seismosis (1913 Press)

January 2009:

* TBA

February 2009:

* Eula Biss, (nonfiction) author of The Balloonists (Hanging Loose); and Notes from No Man's Land (Graywolf, February 2009).

*AWP OFF-SITE READING!!!! with your favorite presses and journals, TBA

March 2008:

* Kyle Beachy, (fiction) author of The Slide (Dial Press)

April 2008:

* Michael Dumanis, (poet) author of My Soviet Union (UMass Press: Amherst)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 at 7:00 PM

2008-09-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North Bookstore reading featuring the graphic novelist and comics artist Anders Nilsen with students from the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Anders Nilsen is the author and artist of *Big Questions* (Drawn and Quarterly), *Dogs and Water* (Drawn and Quarterly), and *Monologues for the Coming Plague* (Fantagraphics) among other titles. The eleventh installment of *Big Questions *is forthcoming in October 2008. His work has been translated into several languages and has been featured in *Kramer's Ergot, The Best American Comics, Best American Non-Required Reading, The Utne Reader* and elsewhere. Together with Jeffrey Brown, John Hakiewicz, and Paul Hornschimeier, Anders is a member of the collective The Holy Consumption; you can view their work at The Holy Consumption. Born in Northern New Hampshire, Anders is a graduate of the University of New Mexico. He currently resides in Chicago.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 at 7:00 p.m. and THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 at 7:00 p.

2008-08-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Please join us at our two August events, the first with poet Gabriel Gudding, and the second with poet Averill Curdy. Gabriel Gudding will read Friday, August 15 and Averill Curdy on Thursday, August 21. Gudding will read with Justin Cabrillos and Amy Anderson both students from the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Curdy will also read with two students from the Writing Program.

Gabriel Gudding is the author of two volumes of poetry, A Defense of Poetry (Pitt Poetry Series) and Rhode Island Notebook (Dalkey Archive Press). His poems have appeared in numerous publications and his translations of Spanish language poets are available in the Oxford Anthology of Latin American Poetry and elsewhere. Educated at the Evergreen State College (BA), Purdue (MA), and Cornell University (MFA), Gabriel is an Assistant Professor of writing and literature at Illinois State University at Normal.

Averill Curdy is the co-editor of the Longman Anthology of Poetry. Her poems and translations have appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, Partisan Review, and Slate among others. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Illinois Council for the Arts, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation. Averill is currently an Artist in Residence at Northwestern University's Department of English.

Thursday, July 17 at 7 pm

2008-07-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North Bookstore reading featuring fiction writer Jonathan Messinger and emerging author Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf, a graduate student from the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jonathan Messinger is the author of Hiding Out (featherproof books). His fiction has appeared in McSweeney's, Pindeldyboz, The 2nd Hand, and elsewhere. He is the host and founder of the popular Chicago reading series, The Dollar Store. In addition to being the Books Editor at Time Out Chicago Jonathan is also the founder, co-publisher, and editor-in-chief of featherproof books, an independent press specializing in perfect bound full length fiction, and downloadable mini books. You can download free mini books or purchase other featherproof titles (including Hiding Out) here.

Monday, June 9 at 7 pm

2008-05-18T15:14:00.002-07:00

**Please note that our June reading will occur earlier than our usual third Thursday date:

On MONDAY, June 9 at 7pm, Nam Le will read with emerging authors Devin Bustin and Sarah Rosenblum, both graduate students in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Nam will be introduced by Eula Biss, author of *The Balloonists* (Hanging Loose Press).

*The Boat*, just released by Knopf, is Nam Le's first collection of stories. He was born in Vietnam and raised in Australia. After working in law, Nam came to America to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop as a Truman Capote Fellow. He has also received fellowships from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and Phillips Exeter Academy. His fiction has won the Pushcart Prize and appeared in various publications, including *Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, Zoetrope: All-Story, A Public Space*, and *One Story*. He is currently the fiction editor of the Harvard Review. He divides his time between Australia and the United States.

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Thursday, May 15 at 7 pm

2008-05-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North Bookstore Reading featuring Dan Beachy-Quick and emerging authors Erin O'Neill and Kristen Courtney Phillip, both graduate students in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Dan Beachy-Quick the author of three books of poetry, *North True South Bright *(Alice James Books, 2003), *Spell* (Ahsahta Press, 2004), and * Mulberry* (Tupelo Press, 2006). *A Whaler's Dictionary* (Milkweed Editions, 2008) and *This Nest, Swift Passerine **(Tupelo Press, 2009)* are forthcoming. His poems have appeared widely, in such journals as *The Boston Review, The New Republic, Fence, Poetry, VOLT, **and New American Writing.* His essays and reviews have appeared in *The Southern Review, Rain Taxi, The Denver Quarterly* and elsewhere. A recipient of a Lannan Foundation Residency, Dan currently teaches at Colorado State and is the Poetry Advisor for the literary journal *A Public Space.*

Thursday, April 17 at 7pm

2008-04-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North Bookstore reading featuring poet Dan Machlin and Heidi McKye and Sarah Rosenblum, both graduate students in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Dan Machlin's first book-length collection of poems is *Dear Body:* (Ugly Duckling Presse). His chapbooks include *6x7* (Ugly Duckling), *This Side Facing You* (Heart Hammer), and *In Rem* (@ Press), as well as *Above Islands* (Immanent Audio), an audio CD collaboration with singer/cellist Serena Jost. His poems and reviews have appeared in *Fence, The Poetry Project Newsletter, Brooklyn Rail*, and *Soft Targets*. Dan is founding editor and publisher of Futurepoem books, and co-curated of The Segue Series at Bowery Poetry Club in NYC.

Thursday, March 20 (7:00 p.m.)

2008-02-23T12:01:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring the poet Gillian Conoley and emerging writers from Lake Forest College.

Gillian Conoley's latest book, her fifth full-length collection, is Profane Halo; Barbara Guest said of it, "I am taken by surprise by the wit and jeopardy, by the way an ending is avoided on the surface of the book's meaning. I am excited by the triumph of this writing." An earlier book of poems Tall Stranger was nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award; among her other honors are a Fund for Poetry Award, several Pushcart awards, and the Jerome J. Shestack Award in Poetry. She's also been anthologized in Best American Poetry, Counterpath's Lyric Postomodernisms, and W.W. Norton's new anthology, American Hybrid. She edits Volt.

Thursday, February 21 (7:00 p.m.)

2008-02-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring the poet Daniel Tiffany and emerging writers Ira Murfin and Meredith Clark.

Daniel Tiffany is the author of Radio Corpse: Imagism and the Cryptaesthetic of Ezra Pound (Harvard University Press), Toy Medium: Materialism and Modern Lyric (University of California Press), and Puppet Wardrobe (Parlor Press). His poems have appeared in The Paris Review, The Boston Review, and Tin House. Educated at Julliard and the University of Chicago, he now teaches at University of Southern California. A recipient of a Whiting Fellowship and a residency at the MacDowell Colony, Daniel lives in Venice, California.

Thursday, November 15 at 7:00 pm

2007-11-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading on Thursday, November 15th at 7:00 p.m. for a reading featuring the poets Oni Buchanan and Jon Woodward with emerging writers Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf and Katherine Harbaugh.

Oni Buchanan is a pianist and poet with degrees in Music, English, and Writing from the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Virginia, and the Iowa Writers Workshop. Her first book of poems, What Animal was chosen by Fanny Howe for the University of Georgia Press Contemporary Poetry Series. Her latest volume of poems Spring was chosen by Mark Doty for the 2007 National Poetry Series Open Competition. Oni's poems appear in Conduit, Seneca Review, Gulf Coast, LIT Magazine, Columbia Poetry Review, Columbia: A Journal of Literature & Art, and Forklift: Ohio. She currently lives in Boston.

Jon Woodward is a poet; his first book, Mister Goodbye Easter Island was published by Alice James Books in 2003. His poems appear in Colorado Review, Barrow Street, The Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, and The Laurel Review. His second book of poems, Rain, is available from Wave Books. Jon currently lives in Boston and works at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Thursday, October 18 at 7pm

2007-10-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring the poets Michael Heller and Norman Finkelstein and an emerging author from the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Michael Heller is a poet and literary critic. Heller is the author of several volumes of poetry including Accidental Center, In The Builded Place, Wordflow, and Exigent Futures. Most recently is a volume of criticism Uncertain Poetries: Selected Essays on Poets, Poetry and Poetics. He is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities award. He lives in New York City.

Norman Finkelstein is a poet and literary critic. Finkelstein's books of poetry include Restless Messengers, and the three volume serial poem Track: Track (1999), Columns (2002), and Powers (2005). Titles of his criticism include The Utopian Moment in Contemporary American Literature, and Not One of Them In Place: Modern Poetry and Jewish American Identity among others. Finkelstein is currently a professor of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.

September Readings (9/15 and 9/20)

2007-09-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

Please join us Saturday, September 15 at 7 pm for a special reading hosted by Terri Kapsalis and featuring Nathalie (Nathanaël) Stephens, Bin Ramke, and Deb Olin Unferth. On Thursday, September 20 at 7 pm we will be featuring the novelist Nick Mamatas and two emerging writers from Lake Forrest College.

Nathalie Stephens (Nathanaël) writes l'entre-genre in English and French. She is the author of a dozen published works, including *Touch to Affliction* (2006), *L'Injure* (2004), *Je Nathanaël* (2003), *Paper City* (2003), and a forthcoming essay of correspondence, *L'Absence au lieu* (Claude Cahun et le livre inouvert). Her lastest work: *The Sorrow And The Fast Of It* is being published by Nightboat Books. She lives in Chicago.

Bin Ramke teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is the Phipps professor of English at the University of Denver. He is the author of more than eight poetry collections, including *Airs, Waters, Places*; *Matter*; and *Wake*. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Deb Olin Unferth's work has appeared in *Harper's, Conjunctions, NOON, Fence*, the *Pushcart Prize *anthologies, and elsewhere. *Minor Robberies*, a selection of her stories, will appear as one volume of three from *McSweeney's.*

Terri Kapsalis is a performer and health educator, author *of Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum*. Her writings have appeared *in Lusitania, New Foundations, Public*, and *the Drama Review*, among other publications. She has taught in medical schools as a gynecology teaching associate and is currently teaching in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University.

Nick Mamatas is a two-time nominee for the Bram Stoker Award and the 2005 nominee for the International Horror Guild Award for a first novel. Other titles include *Northern Gothic*, *3000 MPH In Every Direction At Once: Stories And Essays and Cthulhu Senryu*. His writing has appeared widely in publications such as *The Village Voice*, *The Mississippi Review* and *In These Times*. Educated at SUNY Stony Brook and the New School University, Mamatas currently lives in Boston. Copies of his most recent titles, *Under My Roof *(2007) and *Move Under Ground* (2006) will be for sale at the event.

Thursday, August 16 at 7 pm

2007-07-31T17:23:00.001-07:00

Chicago-area writers appearing in P-Queue, vol. 4 will read.

Elizabeth Cross, Anthony Hawley, Meg Barboza, David Driscoll, Michael Robbins, Jordan Stempleman & Michelle Taransky

Thursday, July 19 at 7:00 pm

2007-07-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading on *Thursday, July 19, at 7:00 p.m*.; this will be a farewell reading for Powell's North co-organizer, Dan Beachy-Quick. Dan will be taking leave of Chicago to take up a teaching post at Colorado State University. So come join us for a night of readings from some of* our favorite authors including Naeem Murr, Leila Wilson, Dan Stolar, and Nick Twemlow*. There will even be some poems from Mr. Beachy-Quick himself. Bring your hanky and your best goodbye kiss!

*Dan Beachy Quick* is a wonderful man who will be dearly missed. He has written some excellent poems, too, which can be found in his books, *North True, South Bright; Spell; *and *Mulberry.*

Thursday, June 21 at 7:00 pm

2007-06-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading; the reading will feature comic book artist Jeffrey Brown and readings by Lane Williams and Joanna Kenyon.

Jeffrey Brown received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A recipient of the 2003 Ignatz Award, his books include Clumsy, Unlikely, AEIOU, Be A Man, Bighead, I Am Going To Be Small, Minisulk, and Every Girl is the End of the World For Me. Most recently released or forthcoming are Feeble Attempts and Cat Getting Out Of A Bag And Other Observations (2007). His work has appeared in a variety of venues and publications such as McSweeney's, Time, The Chicago Reader and Time. A native of Grand Rapids Michigan, Brown currently lives in Chicago.

Thursday, May 17 at 7 pm

2007-05-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powells North Reading in celebration of the release of the Cracked Slab Books anthology The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century featuring readings by

Raymond Bianchi
Mark Tardi
Kerri Sonnenberg
Chris Glomski
Erica Bernheim

When Carl Sandburg asked in his Chicago Poems, close to a hundred years ago, for "a voice to speak to me in the day end, / A hand to touch me in the dark room / Breaking the long loneliness," little did he know his city would be so fully and livingly answered and so honored. Chicago is again transformed by poetry. Here in these myriad acts of imagination, the poets of The City Visible give to it again, in Shakespeare's terms, "a local habitation and a name."
-Peter Gizzi

THURSDAY, MAY 10 (7:00 p.m.)

2007-05-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring novelist Naeem Murr and two of our finest emerging writers!

Naeem Murr is the author of three novels, The Boy, The Genius of the Sea, and most recently, The Perfect Man (Random House). Murr's work has garnered international attention and his novels have been the recipient of the New York Times Notable Book Award and The Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Best Book of Europe/South Asia. Murr has been the recipient of a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, as well as Fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim Foundations. He has been a writer-in-residence at the University of Missouri, Western Michigan University, and Northwestern University. Born and brought up in London, Murr currently lives in Chicago.

Thursday, April 19 at 7 pm

2007-03-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

Please join as at the next Powells North reading featuring Joseph Coulson.

Joseph Coulson, novelist, poet, and playwright, was born in Detroit in 1957. His first novel, The Vanishing Moon (2004) was selected for the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers series and won the Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal in Literary Fiction, from ForeWord Magazine. Coulson is the author of three volumes of poetry: The Letting Go, A Measured Silence, and Graph. His first play, A Saloon at the Edge of the World (co-authored with William Relling, Jr.), a noir drama showcased by Theater Artists of Marin, won both popular and critical acclaim in the San Francisco Bay area. Coulson has been the recipient of a Gray Writing Fellowship (selected by Robert Creeley) and a Ph.D. in American literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. A teacher for many years, he recently served as Editorial Director for the Great Books Foundation in Chicago. He now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

http://www.archipelagobooks.org/authors/coulson.html

Thursday, March 15 (7:00 pm)

2007-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading featuring playwright Beau O'Reilly and new work from students in the MFA Writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Beau O'Reilly is co-founder of the Curious Theater Branch, Chicago's only all original theater company ( http://www.curioustheatrebranch.com/ ). In addition to writing, directing, producing, and acting in Curious productions Beau also serves as the theater's programming administrator. In addition to his work with Curious, Beau teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has appeared at The Curious Theatre Branch, The New Athenaeum, The Lunar Cabaret, The Steppenwolf Studio Theater (Chicago) and on WBEZ's "This American Life".

Thursday, February 15 (7:00 pm)

2007-01-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

Steve Tomasula
with emerging writers

Steve Tomasula's short fiction has appeared widely and most recently in
McSweeney's, The Denver Quarterly and The Iowa Review where he received the
Iowa Prize for the most distinguished work published in any genre. His
essays on body art and culture can be found in Leonardo ( M.I.T. Press) and
other magazines both here and in Europe. He is the author of the novels IN &
OZ (Ministry of Whimsy Press); The Book of Portraiture (FC2); and VAS: An
Opera in Flatland, a novel of the biotech revolution which has just been
re-released in paper by The University of Chicago Press. He teaches in the
program for writers at the University of Notre Dame.

CANCELED * Friday, January 26
The Ad-Hock Avant Troika
Debra DiBlasi, Steve Tomasula and David Schneidermann

Thursday, January 18 (7:00 pm)

2007-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

Please join Powells North for our first reading of the new year featuring poet Zach Barocas with Justin Palmer and Amira Hanafi.

Zach Barocas' first book, Among Other Things: Poems and Proposals is available from The Cultural Society.

"Among other things, poems are proposals: proposals that the world may be regarded differently. Zach Barocas does so again and again in this off-beat, pitch-perfect collection. These poem-proposals are among the things of the world, stand out among them, help us see them and ourselves more clearly and from a different, unwonted angle. As Barocas tells us, “one / must at all times act // graciously with one’s / realizations.” And so he has, with a sort of tact and understatement and plain good sense that is surprisingly rare in contemporary poetry. I urge you to accept his proposals."
-Normal Finkelstein

Thursday, November 16

2006-11-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading on Thursday, November 16, at 7:00 p.m.; the reading will be a special all-student feature billed as Wild Minds & Wild Finds: Nature Writing in Chicago. In the spirit of bringing you the best in words from established and emerging writers, Powell's brings you the work of Jill Riddell's graduate writing seminar students.

December Events:

Thursday, December 7th
Janet Holmes, Director and Editor of Ahsahta Press

Tuesday December 19th
at the MCA with the Literary Gangs of Chicago
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm.

Thursday, October 26

2006-10-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading on Thursday, October 26, at 7:00 p.m.; the reading will begin with Louie Holwerk and Jes Wigent and will feature the authors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden.

Matt Madden is the author of the graphic novels Black Candy (Black Eye Books) and Odds Off (Highwater Books). His most recent book, 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, is a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's seminal 1947 textbook of the same name. Madden's collected short stories and comics appear in A Fine Mess, a bi-annual series published by Alternative Comics. His reviews have appeared in The Comics Journal and elsewhere. Madden lives in Brooklyn where he works in comics and illustration, and teaches at the School of Visual Arts.

Jessica Abel is best known for her comics series Artbabe, which ran from 1992-1999. The Artbabe series and Abel's fiction and nonfiction writings are collected in Mirror, Window (2000) and Soundtrack (2001) both available from Fantagraphics Books. With Ira Glass, she co-authored the how-to book Radio: an Illustrated Guide for WBEZ's This American Life. Her most recent work, La Perdida (Pantheon), was first published as a five part miniseries between 2000 and 2005. Carmina, a young adult novel is forthcoming from Harper Collins in 2007. Abel lives in Brooklyn and teaches at the School of Visual Arts.

Please mark your calendars for our next reading on November 17 featuring Jill Riddell and student curated nature writing.

Thursday, September 21

2006-09-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Please join us for at the next Powells North Reading.

The reading will begin with fiction writers Lindsay Hunter and Mary Hamilton and will feature Peter Markus.

Peter Markus is the author of three books of short-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.

To commemorate the reading, a limited edition broadside of Markus' work will be available.

Thursday, August 17

2006-08-02T14:18:00.001-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North Reading on Thursday, August 17 at 7pm. The reading will begin with poets Della Watson and Olivia Cronk and feature Tony Tost.

Tony Tost holds degrees from Green River Community College and College of the Ozarks. A graduate of the University of Arkansas MFA program, Tost is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Duke University. His book Invisible Bride (Louisiana State University Press) won the 2003 Walt Whitman Award. His newest collection, Amplifier for Hercules will be published by University of Iowa Press' Kuhl House Poets series in the fall of 2007. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Fence, Verse, Typo, Jacket, Drunken Boat, can we have our ball back? and others. He currently edits the journal fascicle.

Thursday, July 20

2006-07-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Please join us at the next Powell's North reading on Thursday, July 20, at 7:00; the reading will begin with Kathy Regina and Amanda Traxler, and will feature the poet Srikanth Reddy.

Srikanth Reddy's first collection of poetry is Facts for Visitors (University of California Press ). His poems have appeared in various journals, including APR, Grand Street, Fence, and Ploughshares, and his critical writing has been featured in publications such as The New Republic, The Chicago Tribune, and American Literature. He has held fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the Whiting Foundation (in the Humanities) and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and doctoral candidate at Harvard University, Reddy was the William Vaughan Moody Writer-in-Residence at the University of Chicago prior to being appointed Assistant Professor in English at the College.

Please mark your calendars for our next reading: August 20th featuring poet Tony Tost.

Thursday, June 15

2006-06-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, (7:00 p.m.)

Nathalie Stephens with
Dana Vinger and Allison Gruber

Nathalie Stephens writes in English and French and sometimes neither. She is the author of several published works, including L'Injure (l'Hexagone, 2004), Paper City (Coach House, 2003), and Je Nathanaël (l'Hexagone, 2003); Touch to Affliction is forthcoming from Coach House Books in fall 2006. Stephens's work was selected as a finalist for the 2005 Prix Alain-Grandbois and Prix Trillium, and the 2000 Grand Prix du Salon du livre de Toronto. Her poems have appeared in Jacket, and Perihelion. Stephens has guest lectured and performed her work in the US and abroad and her work has been translated into Basque, Bulgarian and Slovene. Her translations to English include the work of Mavrikakis and François Turcot; she has also translated Gail Scott and R. M. Vaughan into French. On occasion, Stephens translates herself.

Powell's North is sponsored by the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Poetry Center of Chicago, and Powell's Bookstore. Each reading pairs an established poet, fiction, or non-fiction writer from around the nation with one or two emerging writers in an event that exposes the community to a dynamic variety of work from writers at different stages in their career.

Please mark your calendars for Powells' next reading, July 20, featuring poet Srikanth Reddy.

Thursday, May 18 at 7 PM

2006-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Peter Orner and Chaz Reetz-Lailo with Lauren Pretnar

Peter Orner is the 2002-2003 winner of the Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His story collection, Esther Stories, was a New York Times Notable Book, a Finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award, and winner of the Samuel Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction. Orner holds both an MFA from the University of Iowa and a degree in law. His work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize Anthology and has appeared in a number of national publications, including The Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review. Orner currently lives in San Francisco and teaches at San Francisco State University.

Chaz Reetz-Laiolo is a fiction editor at NorthernPros.com. A recent recipient of a Writer’s Grant from the Vermont Studio Center, Reetz-Laiolo has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He lives in California with his daughter, Isa.

One Year Anniversary Show

2006-03-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hey! It's time for the One Year Anniversary of the Powell's North Reading Series!

Happy Birthday, Powell's! We're throwing a party and would like to invite you and all of your friends to a celebration of the highest accord, including featured readers Peter O'Leary and John Tipton, AND a selection of readers from our past 12 months. The event promises poetry, fiction, merriment, and nostalgia. It will begin at 7:00.

Peter O'Leary is the author of a book of poetry, Watchfulness (Spyten Duyvil) as well as a book of criticism, Gnostic Contagion: Robert Duncan & the Poetry of Illness (Wesleyan). As literary executor for the Ronald Johnson Estate, he has edited two collections of Johnson's poetry: To Do As Adam Did: Selected Poems (Talisman House) and The Shrubberies (Flood Editions). He also co-edits the literary magazine LVNG.

John Tipton's book of poetry, Surfaces, was published by Flood Editions in 2004. His poems have appeared in LVNG, Poetry New York, Nedge, and elsewhere. He is also the founder and director of Chicago Poetry Project

Thursday, March 16 at 7 pm

2006-03-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

Meg Barboza and Elizabeth Graettinger with Robyn Schiff

Robyn Schiff's first book of poems, *Worth*, was published in 2002 (Kuhl House Poets Series, University of Iowa Press). Her poems have appeared in *Black Warrior Review, Explosive, Fence, Volt, *and* Verse*. Robyn Schiff holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and an MA in medieval studies from the University of Bristol. She currently teaches at Northwestern University.

Thursday, October 20th

2005-10-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

Fiction from Kyle Beachy, Melissa Walker and featuring Dan Stolar (The Middle of the Night).

September 15th, at 7:00

2005-09-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

The September reading features Sally Keith (Design, Dwelling Song), Manda Aufochs Gillespie and Michelle Taransky.
Powells Bookstore: 2850 N. Lincoln

August 18th, 7:00

2005-08-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The August reading features Lisa Fishman (author of The Deep Heart's Core Is a Suitcase and Dear, Read) along side poets Andrea Rexilius and Bobby Fieseler.
Powell's Bookstore, 2850 North Lincoln on Thursday, August 18th, 7:00 p.m.

July 21st at 7:00

2005-06-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

The July reading features Joe Meno (autor of 'Hairstyles of the Damned'), Margaret Chapman and Chris Michael Shea.

June 16th at 7:00

2005-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

The June reading features poets Suzanne Buffam, Chris Bower and Carina Gia Farrero.