What’s Happening at Writers & Books?

April 2008 Programs & Events

Individual Teen Poetry Slam

April 3rd, 6 p.m.
Writers & Books, 740 University Avenue
9th –12th graders in Monroe and surrounding counties are eligible.

SEEKING: Teen Poets Ready to Raise Their Voices
Teens who are not on a school team compete to represent "Writers' Block," the Writers & Books independent teen slammers team, at the Teen Grand Slam Championship for the Rochester area. Four poets and an alternate will be chosen. Cash and other prizes will be given!

Participants must be registered in advance, using the registration form. Poems must be original/poet’s own work (W&B will require a typed or handwritten copy “script” be handed in at the Playoff and Final slams). 3-minute time limits will be enforced with a ten second grace period. After the grace period, a half (.5) point penalty will be assessed. Beyond three minutes and thirty seconds, we pull the plug and you will be judged at that point. Click here for more information and to obtain a registration form.

Genesee Reading Series

Hosted by: Wanda Schubmehl
Featuring: Robb Tillett & Jon Palzer
Tuesday April 8 7:30 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
$3W&B members, $6 general public

Now in its 23rd year, the Genesee Reading Series presents writers from the greater Genesee Valley region reading in the Verb Cafe. Learn more about our featured authors.

Senior Reading Group

Tuesday April 8 2:00 pm- 4:00p.m.
In the Verb Café at W&B
Free and open to the public

Share your writing with other seniors in a comfortable, supportive atmosphere at W&B.

Book Publication Party: John Roche.

Wednesday, April 9
$4 W&B members, $6 general Public
7 p.m., W&B

Don’t miss the celebration of the publication of Topicalities, the new book of poems by RIT professor John Roche! John will read and sign copies.

The Bertrand Russell Society

Hosted by: Dr. David White
Thursday, April 10, at 7:00 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
Admission: Free to W&B Members; $3/General Public

This ongoing lecture series promises to enlighten and entertain. Monthly meetings are open to everyone, not just members of the Bertrand Russell Society.

This Month: Solomon Blaylock on The Sage in the World: Bertrand Russell's Activism

During the late 1920s and early 30s, Bertrand Russell, then a world-famous philosopher, did a series of three books for Horace Liveright, the New York publishing house which had invented the Modern Library and was well known for publishing controversial authors. Russell's books and the U.S. lecture tours he took at the same time were all great successes. Some of his ideas for reform of self, marriage, education and society are taken for granted today, others have been rejected, but the study of Russell's popular advocacy between the wars provides us with a unique portrait of what the American mind was seeing and thinking about during what came to be called the Jazz Age..

David White
Dr. White teaches philosophy at St. John Fisher College, is president of the New York State Philosophers Association, and is a founder of the Greater Rochester Russell Set.

For further information, call 415-5925 or e-mail: tmadigan@rochester.rr.com

Open History Reading Group

Hosted by: Steve Huff
Thursday, April 17, at 7:00 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
Free to W&B members, $3 general public

Join us for meetings of an open history-reading group. In these gatherings we choose historical topics rather than specific books, and then you choose a book on the subject that most interests you. The discussions are convivial, exciting, and informative.

Visiting Writers Series: Laure-Anne Bosselaar

Thursday, April 17
$4 W&B members, $6 general public
7 p.m., W&B

Laure-Anne Bosselaar grew up in Belgium, and moved to the United States in 1987. Fluent in four languages, she published poems in French and Flemish before authoring The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, and Small Gods of Grief, which won the Isabella Gardner Prize for Poetry for 2001. Both books were published by BOA Editions. Her newest book is A New Hunger from Ausable Press.

Sherlock Holmes Appreciation Society.

Monday, April 21
$3 W&B members $5 general public
7 p.m. W&B

Join this new organization of Sherlock Buffs for discussions of the archetypal sleuth. Bring your own magnifying glass

The Regional Playwrights Festival

Monday, April 21, 6:00 p.m.
at Geva Theatre Center
Admission: $6 W&B Members & Geva Subscribers/ $8 General Public

This festival gives promising regional playwrights a chance to hear their work given a dramatic reading by professional actors at Geva’s Second Stage.

25 & Under: Rochester's Young Writers Read

Hosted by Sally Bittner Bonn
Featuring: Alex Dedicke, Jessica Bryant, and Whitney Domigan
Tuesday April 21 at 7:00 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
Free toW&B members and students/ $3 general public

Twenty-five years ago W&B first opened its doors. To celebrate this milestone anniversary we present a new monthly reading series featuring writers who are 25 and younger. Join us as we discover a new generation of writers for the next quarter century.

Click here to learn more about this months featured writers.

Visiting Writers Series: Philip Terman

Thursday, April 24
$4 W&B members, $6 general public
7 p.m., W&B

Philip Terman His collections of poems include The House of Sages and Book of the Unbroken Days (both from Mammoth Books) and his newest, Rabbis of the Air (Autumn House Press, 2007). His poems and essays have appeared in The Georgia Review, Poetry, and The Kenyon Review, and other journals. He teaches at Clarion University and co-directs the Chautauqua Writers’ Festival at the Chautauqua Institute. That same day he will be holding a discussion of his books at The Jewish Community Center at noon.

Wide Open Mic

Hosted by: Norm Davis
Monday April 28 7:30 pm
In the Verb Café at W&B
Free to W&B members, $3 general public

W&B is proud to sponsor Rochester's largest running open mike, hosted by Norm Davis, poet and editor of HazMat Review. Known for its eclectic mix. Wide Open Mike welcomes poets, performers, and writers of all kinds.

The Regional Playwrights Festival

Monday, April 28, 6:00 p.m.
at Geva Theatre Center
Admission: $6 W&B Members & Geva Subscribers/ $8 General Public

This festival gives promising regional playwrights a chance to hear their work given a dramatic reading by professional actors at Geva’s Second Stage.

Visiting Writers Series: Jim Cohn and Janine Pommy Vega

Thursday, April 28
$4 W&B members, $6 general public
7 p.m., W&B

Jim Cohn is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Quien Sabe Mountain, (2004). Anne Waldman described Prairie Falcon as "a strong, shapley collection with intelligence, heart, and love of the breadth of life." Anselm Hollo said of Quien Sabe Mountain that, "one follows this poet on his journeys to places both distant and familiar, trusting him, trusting his words."

Janine Pommy Vega is the archetypal New York Beat. Her poetry is intelligent and politically aware, and her performances––in English and in Spanish, with and without music––are intense, incantatory.

Vega grew up in New Jersey, and at the age of 15, inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, traveled to Manhattan to become involved in the Beat Scene there. She has lived in Europe and Mexico, and traveled throughout the world. She now lives near Woodstock, NY, and conducts writing programs for women in prison.

She has published more than a dozen book, including her most recent, The Green Piano, from Black Sparrow Books.

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