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Events Around Town

Freelance photographer Marcia E. Wilson gallivants around NYC looking for literary events to spotlight on the "Events Around Town" page. She may be at a reading near you.

   

 

Zwelethu Mthethwa
On Friday, July 16, MoCADA in association with the Studio Museum in Harlem presented a talk with South African photogapher Zwelethu Mthethwa, led by curator Kimberli Gant. In his work Mthethwa presents the humanity and creative style of day laborers, squatters, migrant workers and others who occupy the margins of Durban and Cape Town. His work is on view at the Studio Museum in Harlem, through October 24, 2010.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

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Ernessa T. Carter

Wednesday, July 21 - Georgia Beauty, the eclectic downtown make up spot, hosted a book launch party for first-time novelist Ernessa T. Carter. Her book, 32 Candles, "is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn’t stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams." -HarperCollins.

 


Ernessa T. Carter and fellow Smith College alums

 

   
editors Dawn Davis and Malaika Adero

 


 

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson

Photos may not be used without permission

 

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Chimamanda Adichie
On Thursday, June 17 2010; award-winning novelist Chimamanda Adichie read from her book of short stories The Things Around Your Neck. She was then joined by novelist Tayari Jones for a conversation about her work and process. The event took place at the Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan. Chimamanda was interviewed in Mosaic #17. Click here to view all pictures. 13mb
 

 

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Amiri Baraka at the Studio Museum in Harlem
Tuesday, June 8 - poet and activist Amiri Baraka and writer Norman Kelly discussed Black music, various art movements, and the influence on Black writers on music, specifically jazz. The conversation was held at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

 



 

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson

Photos may not be used without permission


 

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June Jordan's His Own Where
June 1, 2010 - The life of June Jordan (1936-2002) was multifaceted -poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, educator, and activist. To commemorate the Feminist Press's re-release of her YA novel His Own Where -a rare work of fiction- poet Sapphire and activist Laura Flanders read selections from Ms. Jordan's body of work and celebrated the life of this seminal figure. The event was held at the Strand Bookstore in NYC.

 


Sapphire reading from June Jordan's His Own Where
at the Strand Bookstore



Laura Flanders, Sapphire, Feminist Press editor Amy Scholder

 

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson

Photos may not be used without permission


 

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Bernice McFadden Reading

May 13, 2010 - A nostalgia for intimate readings in independent Black-owned bookstores was present at Brownstone Books thanks to Brooklyn's own literary author Bernice McFadden. She read from her latest novel Glorious. Click on images to view.
 


Bernice McFadden (center, black tank top)
with fans at Brownstone Books

 


Center image: Crystal Bobb-Semple,
owner of Brownstone Books with Bernice McFadden

 

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson
Photos may not be used without permission

 

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Ben Okri

May 2, 2010 - Ben Okri in conversation with Vanity Fair’s Anderson Tepper during the PEN World Voice Festival of International Literature.


Ben Okri, Marie Brown, agent; Troy Johnson, AALBC.com,
and Jacqueline Jacob, poet


Ben Okri, Vanity Fair's Anderson Tepper & Ben Okri

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson

Photos may not be used without permission

 

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Calabash Anthology Reading
On April 25, 2010, contributors to the new anthology So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival Edited by Colin Channer & Kwame Dawes presented individual work at Greenlight Bookstore in Bklyn. Click on images to view.
 


Colin Channer, Aracelis Girmay, Linda Jackson, Paul Holdengraber,
Justine Henzell, Kwame Dawes, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, and Everton Sylvester



Aracelis Girmay, Everton Sylvester, and Kwame Dawes



Justine Henzell, Amiri Baraka, and Willie Perdomo,

© WideVision Photography/Marcia E. Wilson

Photos may not be used without permission

 

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Up Jump the Boogie

On Thursday, April 1, 2010, I had the pleasure to attend the book launch for John Murillo's Up Jump the Boogie last Thursday at the Bowery Poetry Club. John's a fierce poet who's first release is receiving a lot of love in many different cliques. It's been a while since I was in attendance of such a packed poetry reading with so much love wafting through the room. Matter of fact, I've never witness a poetry spot closing its doors because it was over capacity.

 

Poets who honored the stage included Thomas Sayers Ellis, Aracelis Girmay, Patrick Rosal, Tyehimba Jess, Marcus Jackson, DeLana Dameron, Tara Betts, and Rich Villar. Other club-kids paying tribute included agent-supreme Marie Brown (w/her posse) Linda Jackson, Camille Dungy, Jennifer Steele (via Chi), and Kamila Aisha Moon.

 

Here's the official low-down on John: John Murillo is the current Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. A graduate of New York University's MFA program in creative writing, he has also received fellowships from the New York Times, Cave Canem, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He is a two-time Larry Neal Writers' Award winner and the inaugural Elma P. Stuckey Visiting Emerging Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College Chicago. His poetry has appeared in such publications as Callaloo, Court Green, Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, and the anthology Writing Self and Community: African-American Poetry After the Civil Rights Movement. Up Jump the Boogie is his first collection.

The book was published by Cypher Books --Willie Perdomo & Lisa Simmons-- http://www.cypherbooks.org. They previously published books by Suheir Hammad and Roger Bonair Agard.

Great night for poetry. Mosaic plans to interview him in an upcoming issue.

PS. the book cover art is by Krista Franklin, http
://www.kristafranklin.
com --her work graces my wall. Brooklyn's finest, photographer Marcia Wilson took the shots.

View event photos on facebook

 

 
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