Tuesday, June 24, 2014

June 24, 2014 (Caliban Book Shop & Low Ghost Press)

Hemingway's Poetry Series
June 24, 2014

Jason Baldinger has spent a life in odd jobs, if only poetry was the strangest of them he’d have far less to talk about.  Somewhere in time, he traveled the country, and wrote a few books, the latest of which are “The Lower 48” on Six Gallery Press and “The Studs Terkel Blues” on Night Ballet Press. A short litany of publishing credits include The New Yinzer, Shatter Wig Press, Blast Furnace and you can also hear audio of some poems at http://jasonbaldinger.bandcamp.com/.



M. Callen is a multidisciplinary artist and poet from Pittsburgh, PA.  Her work has appeared in Fence, Gigantic, The Atlas Review, The New Guard, and other fine publications.  She is the recipient of fellowships from the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets.  You can find her online at m-callen.com



Kristofer Collins is the Books Editor at Pittsburgh Magazine. He runs Low Ghost Press. He also owns Desolation Row Records and manages Caliban Bookshop in Oakland. His most recent chapbook is "Last Call" published by Speed & Briscoe in 2010.




Bob Pajich is a writer and musician from the Burgh. His latest book, The Trolleyman, was published by Stanton Heights' Low Ghost Press. He is a Taurus. 



Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit and now lives in Pittsburgh where he sells books, plays in bands, watches local sports and edits The New Yinzer.  His work has appeared a number of places including Third Coast, Kitchen Sink, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.



 Daniel M. Shapiro is a special education teacher in the Woodland Hills School District. His first full-length collection of poems, How the Potato Chip Was Invented, was published by sunnyoutside press in December 2013. He is also the author of two chapbooks and a collection of collaborations with Jessy Randall. His poems have appeared in such journals as Sentence, Gargoyle, Rhino, Ping Pong, Barge, and Word Riot.



John Schulman is the co-owner of Caliban Book Shop in Oakland.


Jimmy Cvetic reads A Conversation With God


Open Mic


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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

June 17, 2014 (Davis, Kerr, Scott, Walicki)

Hemingway's Poetry Series
June 17, 2014

Todd Davis is the author of four full-length collections of poetry—In the Kingdom of the Ditch, The Least of These,Some Heaven, and Ripe—as well as of a limited edition chapbook, Household of Water, Moon, and Snow: The Thoreau Poems He edited the nonfiction collection, Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball, and co-edited Making Poems: Forty Poems with Commentary by the Poets His poetry has been featured on the radio by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac and by Ted Kooser in his syndicated newspaper column American Life in Poetry His poems have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, have been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize, and have appeared in such journals as American Poetry Review, Iowa Review, Indiana Review, Gettysburg Review, Shenandoah, West Branch, River Styx, Poetry Daily, Quarterly West, Green Mountains Review, Sou’wester,Verse Daily, and Poetry East He teaches creative writing, American literature, and environmental studies at Penn State, Altoona.


Diane Kerr has been a member of the Madwomen in the Attic workshops for many years and holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. Her chapbook ONE was published by Parallel Press. A full length book,Butterfly, has just come out from WordTech Press in March 2014. Her poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly, Pearl, Kalliope, Zone 3, and Poetry East, among others.  She lives in Regent Square and teaches at the University of Pittsburgh Writing Center.


Wendy Scott, the author of Soon I Will Build an Ark (Main Street Rag, 2014),  has taught composition and creative writing at a variety of colleges and other institutions, including a women’s halfway house. She has also worked as a social worker and a communications writer. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Paterson Literary Review, Fourth River, Oakland Review, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Voices from the Attic, Pittsburgh City Paper, and Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, among others. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

  
Robert Walicki's debut chapbook is: A Room Full Of Trees (Redbird Press). His work has appeared  in The Stone Highway Review, The Pittsburgh City Paper, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Grasslimb, and others.Most recently he was awarded third place in Finishing Line Press' Open Chapbook Competition in 2013. He lives in Verona PA with his wife Lynne and curates the monthly reading series, VERSIFY.


Jimmy Cvetic reads Building a Sunny Dome in a Dream Called Guantanemo


Jimmy Cvetic reads Twanger With a Deaf Ear


Open Mic


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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

June 10, 2014 (Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange)

Hemingway's Poetry Series
June 10, 2014

Michael Albright has published poems in various journals and periodicals, including Loyalhanna Review, Uppagus, U.S. 1 Worksheets, The New People, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and others. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange and the Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop. Michael lives on a windy hilltop near Greensburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lori, and an ever-changing array of children and other animals.


Ziggy Edwards grew up in Pittsburgh and earned a BA in Fiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.  Her poems and short stories have appeared in publications including 5 AM, Paper Street, Nexus, Main Street Rag, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh City Paper, and Ship of Fools.  She has also been a guest on the radio program, Prosody.  Ziggy's first chapbook, Hope's White Shoes. was published in 2006.


Barry Govenor was born and raised in the steel town of Charleroi, PA, and now resides with his wife and two dogs in Brentwood. He earned his B.A. in biology at California University (PA) and split his healthcare career between Nuclear Medicine and Infection Control & Sterilization Technology. His subject material draws from his mill town roots and outdoor experiences and has appeared in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette,Flip Side, The Loyalhanna Review, The Pittsburgh Quarterly and Avocet.  He is a long time member of Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange and has led poetry workshops at Brentwood Public Library, where he is currently a member of the Board of Trustees.              


As a youngster, Gene Hirsch studied “New” music with Stefan Wolpe. He received an MD degree with an academic career in Cardiology, Geriatrics, and Humanities in Medicine.  He has written poetry since medical school with poems appearing in medical journals, anthologies, Crossing Limits, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and others.  In 1992, Gene initiated a writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC, in which he teaches and has produced five anthologies featuring students and an active poetry community.  He has been resident poet at the folk school, Consortium Ethics Program (Univ. Pitt.), and Forbes Hospice.  He attends the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. 


Joe Kaldon lives in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where he has resided most of his life.  He works as a product manager for a steel company and is a graduate of Penn State.  His work has appeared in the Taproot Literary Review, Eye Contact, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the blog 99 Poems for the 99 Percent.  His chapbook, Rust Belt, is available at his website, www.joekaldon.net."


Kathy McGregor grew up in a rural Western PA town, left home for the bigger world, then settled in Pittsburgh long enough to qualify as “almost a native” She’s worked as an English teacher, union organizer, non-profit director, social change advocate, and headed her own consulting business. She currently owns and operates a specialty native plant nursery here in the city. Several of her poems appeared in the former Mill Hunk Herald. She is a regular in the CMUOSHER Poetry class and is active with the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange.


Edward Murray is the author of Stranger’s Pilgrimage. Stranger has been published in Dionne’s Story, two anthologies of poetry and prose for the awareness of violence against women, as well as other publications. He is a member, and past president, of the Langston Hughes Poetry Society of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Writer’s studio and the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. He likes avocados. He is an artist, filmmaker, photographer and poet and his work can be seen and heard at elmurray.com and around the Braddock Carnegie Library. He welcomes questions, comments, or exchanges of ideas by email: edleemu1@verizon.net


Stephen Pusateri lives in the South Hills and works for WYEP-FM on its soul and blues programs.  He studied English literature at the University of Pittsburgh and is actively involved in Pittsburgh's Bhutanese refugee community. 



Squirrel Hill native Stuart Sheppard hit the road immediately after graduating from Kenyon College, working as a literary editor, marketing manager, and technology executive in Santa Barbara, New York City, and Cambridge, before returning home recently.  During his hiatus, he studied poetry with Gordon Lish (Jack Gilbert’s editor), and published a well-reviewed novel, Spindrift, in 2003.  He is currently working on a poetry manuscript.


Jimmy Cvetic reads Irish Eyes Don't Always Smile


Open Mic


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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

June 3, 2014 (Grochalski, Harvey, Oresick, Oresick)

Hemingway's Poetry Series
June 3, 2014

John Grochalski is the author of The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch Out (Six Gallery Press 2008),Glass City (Low Ghost Press, 2010), In The Year of Everything Dying (Camel Saloon, 2012), and the forthcoming novel, The Librarian.  Grochalski currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he constantly worries about the high cost of everything.


Yona Harvey is the author of the poetry collection, Hemming the Water (Four Way Books), and the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation.   Her poems can be found in jubilat, Gulf Coast, Callaloo, West Branch, and various journals and anthologies, including A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry (Ed. Annie Finch). In addition to her undergraduate and graduate degrees in English from Howard University (BA) and The Ohio State University (MFA), she also earned a Master of Library and Information Science degree from The University of Pittsburgh.  She is an Assistant Professor of English at The University of Pittsburgh.


Jake Oresick is a poet-lawyer who lives in Oakland, is the title poet of a new poetry anthology from Ave Maria Press called ST. PETER'S B-LIST: CONTEMPORARY POEMS INSPIRED BY SAINTS, that features Jim Daniels, Daniel Gioia, Kate Daniels and others. He is a graduate of John Carroll University and the University of Pittsburgh Law School.  He currently serves as the Judicial Law Clerk at the Washington County's Court of Common Pleas. 
Jake Oresick's Reading - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Peter Oresick earned his college tuition in the 1970s during summers laboring for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. He worked as a publisher for 22 years, and as a high school teacher, a Poet-in-the-Schools, and director of Master's programs in both publishing and creative writing. As an editor, his anthologies include Working Classics: Poems on Industrial Life; For a Living: The Poetry of Work; and the forthcoming The Pittsburgh Novel: A Readers' Guide to Western Pennsylvania in Fiction & Drama, 1792-2014. His most recent book of poems is a verse biography of Andy Warhol, Warhol-o-rama.


Open Mic


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