August 9, 2022 (Baldinger, McDermott, November & Ramirez)

Featured Readers

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Seated L-R: Jason Baldinger & Kristofer Collins

Standing L-R: Deena November, Adriana E. Ramirez, Joan Bauer & Sharon Fagan McDermott

Special thanks to Anna Claire Weber of White Whale Bookstore for hosting and recording this event.

Note that a link for the entire reading is available at the bottom of this post.

Kristofer Collins is the longtime Books Editor for Pittsburgh Magazine. He is the co-curator of The Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series. His latest book The River Is Another Kind of Prayer: New & Selected Poems was published in 2020 by Kung Fu Treachery Press. His latest project, The Pittsburgh Book Review can be found at https://pittsburghbookreview.blogspot.com/. He lives in Stanton Heights with his wife, son and daughter.

Opening Comments by Kristofer Collins - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Jason Baldinger is a poet from Pittsburgh .  His newest books include: A Threadbare Universe (Kung Fu Treachery Press), The Afterlife is a Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press) and A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery). He also has a forthcoming book with James Benger called This Still Life. His work has appeared across a wide variety of print journals and online. You can hear him read his work on Bandcamp and on lp’s by The Gotobeds and Theremonster.

Jason Baldinger - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Sharon Fagan McDermott is a poet, essayist, and teacher of literature at Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh . Her most recent collection of poetry, Life Without Furniture, was published by Jacar Press in May 2018. Additionally, Fagan McDermott has written three chapbooks: Voluptuous, Alley Scatting (Parallel Press) and Bitter Acoustic, winner of the 2011 Jacar Press Chapbook contest. Her collection of essays on the craft of Creative Writing, Millions of Suns, written collaboratively with Christine Benner-Dixon, was recently (2022) accepted for publication by the University of Michigan Press.

Sharon Fagan McDermott - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Deena November is the author of Mean Mama (Main Street Rag, 2017) She has edited two anthologies, Nasty Women & Bad Hombres(Lascaux Editions, 2017) and I Just Hope It's Lethal (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). Co. Her poetry has appeared in Nerve Cowboy, Chiron Review, Women Write Resistance, Keyhole Magazine, Mom Egg Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Review and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Her chapbook Dick Wad was published by Hyacinth Girl Press in 2012. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Carlow University . Deena has taught at CCAC, Robert Morris University , Carlow University , Seton Hill and The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online. She now curates the Blue Cactus Poetry Series at Trace Brewing. Deena enjoys strolling through the gardens of Phipps.

Deena November - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Adriana E. Ramírez is a Mexican-Colombian poet, critic, and writer. In 2015, she won the PEN/Fusion Emerging Writer’s Prize for Dead Boys (Little A, 2016)  and from 2016-2020 she served as Critic-at Large for the Los Angeles Times Book Section. She is the recipient of the Pittsburgh Foundation’s 2019 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award. Her work can be found in the LA Times, ESPN’s The Undefeated, Pen America and Literary Hub. Once a nationally ranked slam poet, she founded the infamous Nasty Slam in Pittsburgh and continues to perform around the country.  Her long-awaited book, The Violence, is forthcoming from Scribner.

Adriana E. Ramirez - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Joan E. Bauer is the author of The Almost Sound of Drowning (Main Street Rag, 2008) and The Camera Artist (Turning Point, 2020). For some years, she was a teacher and counselor in public and independent schools. In 2007, she won the Earle Birney Poetry Prize from Prism International and in 2018, she was a finalist for the John Ciardi Poetry Prize from BkMk Press. Since 2001, more than 250 of her poems have been published and three have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Joan co-curates the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series with Kristofer Collins. Her new book of poetry, Fig Season, is forthcoming from Turning Point in 2023.

Closing Remarks by Joan E. Bauer - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

The Entire Reading

The Whole Thing - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

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July 26, 2022 (Mant¿s, Pajich, Robinson, Tutolo and Walker)

 

Featured Readers

 

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Seated: Joan Bauer & Judith R. Robinson

Standing L-R: Scott Silsbe, Anastasia Walker, Mant¿s, Bob Pajich & Meghan Tutolo

Special thanks to Halsey Hyer of White Whale Bookstore for hosting and recording this event.

Note that a link for the entire reading is available at the bottom of this post.

Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit. He now lives in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. His poems and prose have appeared in numerous periodicals and have been collected in four books: Unattended Fire, The River Underneath the City, Muskrat Friday Dinner, and Meet Me Where We Survive. He is also an assistant editor at Low Ghost Press.

 

Opening Comments by Scott Silsbe - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Mant¿s writes from the intersections of Black, femme, queer, and artist. They are Pittsburgh born, and Hill District raised. She has performed her poetry at universities, open mics, launch parties, book tours, and featured showcases throughout Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City. Mant¿s is creating work that reflects their healing. Their writing has appeared in various publications under their name, Tyra Jamison, such as Whirlwind Magazine (2017), APIARY Magazine (2017), Underground Pool (2018), L’Éphémère Review (2018), The Bridge Magazine (2019), and TENDER a literary anthology and book of spells: evidence (2020).

Mant¿s - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Bob Pajich is a long-time creative writer from Pittsburgh . He runs the chapbook press Zigler Boy and writes poker news articles for money. His book of poems, The Trolleyman, was published by Low Ghost Press in 2015. His latest collection Panda Magic was published in 2020.

Bob Pajich - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)    

Judith R. Robinson is an editor, teacher, fiction writer, poet and visual artist. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, she is listed in the Directory of American Poets and Writers. She has published 100+ poems, five poetry collections, one fiction collection; one novel; edited or co-edited eleven poetry collections. Teacher: Osher at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Newest poetry collection is Buy A Ticket, WordTech Editions, due April 1, 2022 Newest edited collection is “Speak, Speak,” poetry of Gene Hirsch, Cyberwit.com 2020. Latest gallery exhibit was “The Numbers Keep Changing,” at The Pittsburgh Holocaust Center, April-June, 2019. *publication info & credits, art exhibitions, awards, including Pushcart nominations, on request or at: www.judithrrobinson.com, alongtheserivers@gmail.com

Judith R. Robinson - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)      

Meghan Tutolo is an artist with some writing degrees and two smooshy-faced cats. She romances olives and Italian food by day and stays up all night creating things. When Meghan isn’t writing or creating, she can be found riding around on her pipsqueak motorcycle, stalking cats on Instagram or binging another true crime podcast. Her poems have appeared in Rattle, Weave, Nerve Cowboy and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette among others. Her first chapbook, Little As Living, was published by Dancing Girl Press.

Meghan Tutolo - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)      

Maine native Anastasia Walker is a poet, essayist, and scholar living in Pittsburgh. Her poems have appeared in several journals, and her first book of poetry, The Girl Who Wasn’t and Is, was published in February 2022. Her essays have appeared in Shenandoah, Fourth Genre, and The Rambling. She has blogged on politics, social media, and LGBTQ+ issues for both Huffington Post and Medium. She’s a proud member of her community’s Indivisible group, a passionate amateur photographer and musicologist, and a lover of long walks and (when she visits home in the summers) swimming in the ocean.

Anastasia Walker - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)        

Joan E. Bauer is the author of The Almost Sound of Drowning (Main Street Rag, 2008) and The Camera Artist (Turning Point, 2020). For some years, she was a teacher and counselor in public and independent schools. In 2007, she won the Earle Birney Poetry Prize from Prism International and in 2018, she was a finalist for the John Ciardi Poetry Prize from BkMk Press. Since 2001, more than 250 of her poems have been published and three have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Joan co-curates the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series with Kristofer Collins. Her new book of poetry, Fig Season, is forthcoming from Turning Point in 2023.

Closing Remarks by Joan E. Bauer - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

The Entire Reading

The Whole Thing - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

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July 12, 2022 (McNaugher, St. John, Ellis, Obisie-Orlu & Wentworth)

Featured Readers 

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Seated: Joan Bauer & Angele Ellis 

Standing L-R: Don Wentworth, Danielle Obisie-Orlu, Kristofer Collins, Heather McNaugher & Richard St. John 

 

Special thanks to Anna Claire Weber of White Whale Bookstore for hosting and recording this event.

Note that a link for the entire reading is available at the bottom of this post.

Kristofer Collins is the longtime Books Editor for Pittsburgh Magazine. He is the co-curator of The Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series. His latest book The River Is Another Kind of Prayer: New & Selected Poems was published in 2020 by Kung Fu Treachery Press. His latest project, The Pittsburgh Book Review can be found at https://pittsburghbookreview.blogspot.com/. He lives in Stanton Heights with his wife, son and daughter.

Opening Comments by Kristofer Collins - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Heather McNaugher is the author of four poetry collections and the inaugural winner of the 2021 Southern Humanities editor’s chapbook prize for fiction for her story collection, States of Emergency. She teaches at Chatham University, where she is nonfiction editor of The Fourth River.

Heather McNaugher - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Richard St. John’s newest poetry collection is Book of Entangled Souls (Broadstone Books, 2022).  He is also the author of The Pure Inconstancy of Grace (published by Truman State University Press in 2005 as first runner-up for the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry), Each Perfected Name (Truman State University Press, 2015), and Shrine (a long poem released as a chapbook in 2011.)  St. John lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and enjoys connecting not only with university and literary audiences, but also with listeners new to poetry.  For more information, please visit his website: www.richardstjohnpoet.com.   

Richard St. John - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Angele Ellis’ writing has appeared on a theatre marquee—after winning Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ G-20 Haiku Contest—and in over seventy journals and seventeen anthologies. She is a staff writer for Cultural Daily; her reviews also are featured in Al Jadid Magazine and Vox Populi. Angele is author of Arab on Radar (Six Gallery), whose poems on her heritage won a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Spared (A Main Street Rag Editor’s Choice Chapbook), and Under the Kaufmann’s Clock (Six Gallery), a poetry/flash fiction hybrid inspired by her adopted city of Pittsburgh, with photographs by Rebecca Clever.

Angele Ellis - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)     

Danielle Obisie-Orlu is a Nigerian-American student, actress and poet who grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is is the Youth Poet Laureate of Allegheny County 2021-22, a program of City of Asylum. She is a trained public speaker, receiving accolades in speech, drama, and debate. She attends the University of Pittsburgh and is double majoring in International & Area Studies and Political Science, with minors in Sociology and French. She is devoted to fostering environments of intersectional community, belonging, and empowerment. She is passionate about migration, belonging, and international human rights law; partners with ARYSE to empower migrant youth and refugee voices; and is a student leader on her campus.

Danielle Obisie-Orlu - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)   

Don Wentworth is a Pittsburgh-based poet whose work reflects his interest in the revelatory nature of brief, haiku-like moments in everyday life. His haiku, ghazals, and tanka have appeared in journals and anthologies, including Modern Haiku, Gargoyle, Frogpond, Chiron Review, and Rolling Stone. Six Gallery Press published 3 full-length poetry collections: Past All Traps (2011), Yield to the Willow (2014), and With a Deepening Presence (2016). He collaborated with the British poet, Joy McCall, on a tan-renga sequence, Touching the Now (Skylark Publications, 2018). twenty-seven sparrows, a haiku chapbook, is available from Grackle and Crow (2021).

Don Wentworth - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)  

Joan E. Bauer is the author of The Almost Sound of Drowning (Main Street Rag, 2008) and The Camera Artist (Turning Point, 2020). For some years, she was a teacher and counselor in public and independent schools. In 2007, she won the Earle Birney Poetry Prize from Prism International and in 2018, she was a finalist for the John Ciardi Poetry Prize from BkMk Press. Since 2001, more than 250 of her poems have been published and three have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Joan co-curates the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series with Kristofer Collins. Her new book of poetry, Fig Season, is forthcoming from Turning Point in 2023.

Closing Remarks by Joan E. Bauer - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

The Entire Reading

The Whole Thing - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Mac users who lack a 2-button mouse may press Control-Click on the appropriate links to enable downloads.