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FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES TOMORROW,11/12, 8-10PM: "A Night with Electric Lit"

penina — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:55:23 +0000

Hope you can make it to our lit bash tomorrow night! We’re teaming up with the innovative fiction publisher ELECTRIC LITERATURE, showcasing four of their outstanding contributors: LYNNE TILLMAN (American Genius: A Comedy, Someday This Will Be Funny), J. ROBERT LENNON (Familiar, Castle), STEPHEN O'CONNOR (Here Comes Another Lesson), and SETH FRIED (The Great Frustration). FREE ADMISSION! DRINK SPECIALS: $4 PINTS, PLUS AN EXTRA $1 OFF THE 1ST 100 DRINKS! AND A RAFFLE WITH AMAZING LIT-THEMED PRIZES! Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "A Night with Electric Literature" Monday, November 12, 8-10 pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More on our authors: LYNNE TILLMAN is the author of five novels, four short story collections, including, most recently, Someday This Will Be Funny, one collection of essays, and two other nonfiction books. She collaborates often with artists and writes regularly on culture, and her fiction is anthologized widely. Her novels include American Genius: A Comedy, No Lease on Life, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 1998 and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Cast in Doubt, Motion Sickness, and Haunted Houses. Her essay collection, The Broad Picture, features work published in literary and art periodicals. She is the Fiction Editor at Fence Magazine, Professor and Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany, and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. J. ROBERT LENNON is the author of seven novels, including Castle, Mailman, and the newly released Familiar, as well as a story collection, Pieces for the Left Hand. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, Playboy, and The New Yorker and been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories. His book reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Guardian, and the London Review of Books. He lives in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches writing at Cornell University. STEPHEN O’CONNOR is the author of the short story collections Here Comes Another Lesson and Rescue and the nonfiction works Will My Name Be Shouted Out? and Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, One Story, The Missouri Review, Poetry Magazine, Beloit Poetry Journal, Agni, Threepenny Review, Black Clock, The Quarterly, and other places, and his story “Ziggurat” was read by Tim Curry on Selected Shorts. His essays and journalism have been published in The New York Times, The Nation, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The New Labor Forum, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA programs of Columbia and Sarah Lawrence. For additional information, please visit <a href="http://www.stephenoconnor.net" rel="nofollow">http://www.stephenoconnor.net</a>. SETH FRIED’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including McSweeney’s, One Story, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and Vice. His debut short story collection, The Great Frustration, was published in May 2011 by Soft Skull Press. He also writes a literary humor column for Tin House, Das Kolumne.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES TONIGHT, 8-10pm: A.M. HOMES, EMMA STRAUB & MORE!

penina — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:12:17 +0000

Hope you can make it tonight at 8 for our fall blockbuster reading, featuring new fiction from stars on major and indie presses. Literary legend A.M. HOMES (May We Be Forgiven, The End of Alice) will be joined by acclaimed debut novelist EMMA STRAUB (Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures), Iowa Short Fiction Award winner MARIE-HELENE BERTINO (Safe as Houses), and two of the most prominent authors in indie publishing, MICHAEL KIMBALL (Big Ray, Us) and SCOTT MCCLANAHAN (The Collected Works of Scott McClanahan Vol. 1). People are still talking about Scott's mesmerizing performance at last year's event -- you can check it out here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2NqRU82WU" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2NqRU82WU</a> FREE ADMISSION! DRINK SPECIALS: $4 PINTS, PLUS AN EXTRA $1 OFF THE 1ST 100 DRINKS! We'll also have lit-themed giveaways and we'll be raffling off a coveted Small Demons T-shirt! Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "All-Star Fiction Night" Monday, October 15, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: A.M. HOMES is the author of the novels May We Be Forgiven, This Book Will Save Your Life, Music For Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, and Jack, as well as two story collections, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, and the memoir The Mistress’s Daughter. Her books have been translated into twenty-two languages. She has published fiction and essays in The New Yorker, Granta, Harper’s, McSweeney's, One Story, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, where she is a contributing editor. She lives in New York City. EMMA STRAUB is the author of the novel Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures and the story collection Other People We Married. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published by Tin House, The Paris Review Daily, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, and Slate, and she is a staff writer for Rookie. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn, where she also works as a bookseller. MICHAEL KIMBALL is the author, most recently, of the novel Big Ray, as well as the novels Us, Dear Everybody, and The Way the Family Got Away. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. His work has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and in the Guardian, Vice, Bomb, and New York Tyrant. He is also responsible for the project Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard) and a couple of documentary films. He lives in Baltimore. Visit his website at michael-kimball.com. SCOTT MCCLANAHAN is the author of Stories V! and the Collected Works of Scott McClanahan. In 2013 Two Dollar Radio will publish his book Crapalachia and New York Tyrant Books will publish his novel Hill William. He is co-partner of the company Holler Presents. Learn more at hollerpresents.com. MARIE-HELENE BERTINO is the author of the debut story collection Safe as Houses, which received the 2012 Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Pushcart Prize Anthology XXXIII, North American Review, Mississippi Review, Inkwell, The Indiana Review, American Short Fiction, and Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading. She received a Pushcart Prize in 2007 and a Pushcart Special Mention in 2011. She was chosen as a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer’s Fellow in 2011. She hails from Philadelphia and lives in Brooklyn, where for six years she was the associate editor of One Story.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TOMORROW, 8-10PM: BRIAN EVENSON, JOSHUA HENKIN+

penina — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 23:09:44 +0000

We're launching our fall season tomorrow night with a lit extravaganza! Master storytellers BRIAN EVENSON (Windeye, Fugue State) and JOSHUA HENKIN (The World Without You, Matrimony) will be joined by acclaimed debut novelists KATHLEEN ALCOTT (The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets) and COURTNEY ELIZABETH MAUK (Spark), and Crown Heights short fiction star J.E. REICH (Armchair Shotgun). As we deal with sudden violence, sped-up technology and social upheaval, hear how these leading writers respond to our modern malaise through gripping stories of alternate realities, shifting identities, and time-space distortions. DRINK SPECIALS: $4 PINTS, PLUS AN EXTRA $1 OFF THE 1ST 100 DRINKS! We'll also have giveaways, lit trivia, a book raffle and prizes! Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Disorientation" Monday, September 10, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: BRIAN EVENSON is the author of over ten books of fiction, including, most recently, the short story collection Windeye and the novel Immobility. He has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the World Fantasy Award and the winner of the International Horror Guild Award and the American Library Association's award for Best Horror Novel. His short story collection Fugue State was named one of Time Out New York's Best Books of 2009. The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and three O. Henry Prizes, including one for the title story in Windeye, he lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he directed and currently teaches in Brown University's Literary Arts Department. JOSHUA HENKIN is the author, most recently, of the novel The World Without You, as well as the novels Matrimony, a New York Times Notable Book, and Swimming Across the Hudson, a Los Angeles Times Notable Book. His short stories have been published widely, cited for distinction in Best American Short Stories, and broadcast on NPR's "Selected Shorts." He lives in Brooklyn, NY and directs the MFA program in Fiction Writing at Brooklyn College. KATHLEEN ALCOTT is the author of the debut novel The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Slice Magazine, American Short Fiction; Vol. 1 Brooklyn; The Rumpus.Net, The Bold Italic, Explosion Proof, and Rumpus Women Vol. 1, an anthology of personal essays by women. Born and raised in Northern California, she currently resides in Brooklyn and is working on her second novel. COURTNEY ELIZABETH MAUK is the author of the debut novel Spark. She received an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University and has been published in The Literary Review, PANK, Wigleaf, Superstition Review, and other places. She is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse Magazine and teaches at the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop and Juilliard. She lives in Manhattan with her husband. J.E. REICH hails from Pittsburgh and recently received her MA in English Literature from Brooklyn College. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Armchair/Shotgun, Volume 1 Brooklyn, Plain China: The Best of Undergraduate Writing 2010, KGB Bar & Lit Journal, Underground Voices, The Emerson Review, and other publications. Her writing was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. She resides in Brooklyn, NY, and is a social media intern at Critical Mob and a contributor at Thought Catalog. She is currently working on her first novel.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TOMORROW, 8-10PM -- TAYARI JONES, VICTOR LAVALLE

penina — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:58:46 +0000

Hope you can join us tomorrow at 8 for an evening of secrets and mysteries with novelists TAYARI JONES (Silver Sparrow) and VICTOR LAVALLE (Big Machine), who'll be giving a sneak preview of his upcoming novel The Devil in Silver. They’ll be joined by short fiction stars LINCOLN MICHEL (Tin House), COURTNEY MAUM (Electric Literature), and CAITLIN ELIZABETH HARPER, the founder/curator of the Crown Heights series for emerging writers, the Renegade Reading Series. As always, admission is FREE and the drink special is $4 pints. And thanks to the literary website Small Demons, we'll knock an additional $1 off the first 100 drinks and provide great giveaways. If you can answer an NYC mystery trivia question, you could score a Small Demons T-shirt. Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Secrets and Mysteries" Monday, August 13, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: TAYARI JONES is the author of the novels Silver Sparrow, which was named a best book of the year by Library Journal, O Magazine, Slate, and Salon, The Untelling, and Leaving Atlanta. She holds degrees from Spelman College, Arizona State University, and the University of Iowa. Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowhip at Harvard University. She serves on the MFA faculty at Rutgers and blogs on writing at <a href="http://www.tayari" rel="nofollow">http://www.tayari</a> jones.com. VICTOR LAVALLE is the award-winning author of the upcoming novel The Devil in Silver and two previous novels, Big Machine and The Ecstatic, as well as the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus. Big Machine was the winner of an American Book Award and the Shirley Jackson Award in 2010 and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly. Other prizes include a Whiting Writers' Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the key to Southeast Queens. He teaches writing at Columbia University and lives in New York. LINCOLN MICHEL was born in Virginia and lives in Brooklyn. His fiction and essays appear in Tin House, NOON, BOMB Magazine, Oxford American, The Paris Review Daily, The Believer, and elsewhere. He is a founder and co-editor of the literary magazine Gigantic. His comic strips and comic collaborations appear in The Rumpus and Volume 1 Brooklyn. He can be found online at lincolnmichel.com COURTNEY MAUM is the humor columnist behind Electric Literature's "Celebrity Book Review," a frequent contributor of satirical essays about the writing life for Tin House magazine, and a book reviewer for BOMB Magazine. Her work has recently won awards from Hobart, The Cupboard, and Folio magazine and appeared online or in print in a number of places that make her very pleased. A Literary Death Match champion, her short story “Clarins” was a 2011 Million Writers Award notable story. At her Franklin Park reading, she will be debuting a novel written from the point of view of a celebrity she channeled for her Electric Literature column. You can read some of her work at courtneymaum.tumblr.com. CAITLIN ELIZABETH HARPER is the host and curator of the Renegade Reading Series, a series in Crown Heights featuring emerging writers. She received her MFA in fiction from The New School in 2011 and works as an administrator at a charter school in the South Bronx. She is currently working on her first novel

MOVIE NIGHT AT FANKLIN PARK, 8/19 8PM: REDLEGS

aschartoff — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:57:05 +0000

Presented by Filmwax, 'Movie Night at Franklin Park' continues with Filmmaker Magazine contributor, Brandon Harris' REDLEGS. 2012. 68 minutes. Presented in Blu-ray. Unrated. We seat a 7:30 to give folks a chance to order their food and to begin enjoying the $4 pints! The bar is open throughout and a server will be able to take your order while you enjoy the film. SYNOPSIS: old friends reunite to attend a funeral in their malaise ridden hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio after a mysterious murder. Mourning their incomprehensible loss, Marco, Aaron and Wilbur chase the ghosts of their shared past as they spiral out of boyhood and into a weekend of misplaced grief, unquestioned privilege and masculine bravado, one which will force them to come to terms with their capability of betrayal and desire for revenge. PRESS: "[CRITICS' PICK!] A riveting portrait of young men in shock and in mourning as the tragedy stirs feelings that have long lain dormant... dives into shared grief with candor and a refreshing curiosity." - Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES "I've watched REDLEGS twice and its raw power remains undiminished even the second time around... The authenticity of the performances is the most exciting I've seen since Cassavetes' debut." - Terry McMahon, director of CHARLIE CASANOVA (SXSW 2011) "REDLEGS is as much about directionless, confused young adults and class/race as it is about the city itself, with the filmmaker fixing a keen eye on the environment that houses his characters... You can also see some early Mike Nichols lurking within, showing the director as someone who can cull engaging, slice-of-life conversation from his actors without getting bogged down by forced dialogue." - Christopher Bell, THE PLAYLIST

MOVIE NIGHT AT FRANKLIN PARK (7/16)

aschartoff — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 22:25:27 +0000

Meet Kevin Corrigan! This month MOVIE NIGHT AT FRANKLIN PARK is excited to present a screening & DVD release party of the dark comedy hit, SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE with special appearance by actor Kevin Corrigan. Directed by Jack Perez, 2011, 97 mins. We seat a 7:30 to give folks a chance to order their food and to begin enjoying the $4 pints! The bar is open throughout and a server will be able to take your order while you enjoy the film. SYNOPSIS: A dark comedy directed by Jack Perez & written by Ryan Levin. Ken Boyd, played by indie icon, Kevin Corrigan (SUPERBAD, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, GOODFELLAS), a lonely man fresh out of the loony bin, who sets out to kill those he deems responsible for his miserable life. We should have copies of the DVD on hand, thanks to Anchorbay Entertainment, for purchase and raffle. Filmwax presents MOVIE NIGHT AT FRANKLIN PARK, a monthly screening series and Q&A with filmmakers. Folks are invited to eat, drink, and partake in a wonderful movie every 3rd Monday of the month. The event takes place in the main room at Franklin Park, Brooklyn's number one bar & beer garden!

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TOMORROW, 5/14 --ELISSA SCHAPPELL, ROBERT LOPEZ+

penina — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:15:10 +0000

Hope you can join us TONIGHT at 8 for our fourth annual travel-themed reading! Tonight's stars include literary icon MARK LEYNER (The Sugar Frosted Nutsack, The Tetherballs of Bougainville), short fiction author ERIC SASSON (Margins of Tolerance), humor writer and memoirist RUPINDER GILL (On the Outside Looking Indian), poet/novelist/memoirist MATTHUE ROTH (Losers, Yom Kippur a Go-Go), and an innovative translator of The Odyssey, POLLY BRESNICK (Old Gus Eats). We have a special sponsor -- the website Small Demons, which indexes people, places, and cultural references in books and will be providing extra drink discounts, giveaways, and a mixtape based on Mark Leyner's work As always, admission is FREE and we'll have $4 PINTS. In addition, SD is sponsoring an additional $1 off the first 100 drinks. Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Travels & Journeys" Monday, July 9, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: MARK LEYNER is the author of the novels Et Tu, Babe, The Tetherballs of Bougainville, and, most recently, The Sugar Frosted Nutsack. He has also written several short story collections, including My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist. His nonfiction includes the #1 New York Times bestseller Why Do Men Have Nipples? He cowrote the movie War, Inc. and lives in Hoboken, New Jersey. ERIC SASSON is the author of the story collection Margins of Tolerance, which won the 2011 Tartt Fiction Award. An MFA graduate of NYU, he has taught fiction writing at the Sackett Street Writers Workshop. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Nashville Review, The Puritan, Connotation Press, Liquid Imagination, Alligator Juniper, Trans, The Ledge, and other places. RUPINDER GILL is the author of the memoir On The Outside Looking Indian. She has written for The Rumpus, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The National Post, CBC Radio, and the Canadian television comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes. MATTHUE ROTH is the author of the memoir Yom Kippur a Go-Go and the novels Losers, winner of an ALA Rainbow Award, Never Mind the Goldbergs, named an. NYPL Best Book for the Teen Age, and Candy in Action. His picture book, My First Kafka, is forthcoming from One Peace Books. He also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming film 1/20. He is publishing his novel Enemies one chapter at a time in a scavenger hunt, and he will be starting graduate school at Brooklyn College in the fall. Also a video game designer, he lives in Brooklyn. POLLY BRESNICK's work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Brooklyn Rail, The Fiddleback, elimae, LIT, MonkeyBicycle, decomp, The Six Sentence Review, and others. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is visually mistranslating Homer's The Odyssey, a section of which has been published as a chapbook by Publishing Genius. Curator and host of the monthly reading series "Writers Reading to Writers Listening to Writers Reading to Writers," she teaches creative writing to all sorts of people and is searching for a home for her novel.

TONIGHT AT 8! FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES W/DIANE WILLIAMS, PATRICK SOMERVILLE+

penina — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Hi, if you're free tonight, come join us as we launch our summer season with a stellar lineup of fiction writers: DIANE WILLIAMS (Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty, NOON annual founder), JENNIFER MILLER (The Year of the Gadfly), indie superstar ELIZABETH ELLEN (Fast Machine), and Crown Heightser ANDREW COTHREN (Pushcart Prize-nominated short fiction writer). And in a rare NYC appearance, acclaimed Chicago-based author PATRICK SOMERVILLE (The Cradle, The Universe in Miniature in Miniature) will be giving a special preview of his upcoming novel THIS BRIGHT RIVER. NO COVER! $4 PINTS! FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES: Summer Kickoff Monday, June 11, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn FREE; $4 pints ONGOING SCHEDULE: Second Mondays Subway: 2/3/4/5 trains to Franklin Avenue <a href="http://franklinparkbrooklyn.com/category/events/" rel="nofollow">http://franklinparkbrooklyn.com/category/events/</a> More about our authors: DIANE WILLIAMS is the author of seven books, including, most recently, the short story collection Vicky Swanky Is A Beauty. The publisher and founding editor of the literary annual NOON, she has taught at Bard College, Syracuse University, and the Center for Fiction. Currently, she lives in New York City. PATRICK SOMERVILLE is the author of two novels, the forthcoming This Bright River and The Cradle, as well as two books of short stories, The Universe in Miniature in Miniature and Trouble. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, One Story, Epoch, GQ, Esquire, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He is a MacDowell Fellow and the winner of the 2009 21st Century Award, given annually by the Chicago Public Library. He lives with his wife and son in Chicago, and he teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Warren Wilson and Northwestern University. JENNIFER MILLER is the author of the novel The Year of the Gadfly and the nonfiction book Inheriting the Holy Land: An American’s Search for Hope in the Middle East. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Marie Claire, Men's Health, Salon, Guernica, The Millions, The Daily Beast, and other places. She holds an MFA in fiction and a MS in journalism from Columbia University and has taught writing at Columbia, WritopiaLab, and the Free Bird Writer's Workshop. A native of Washington, D.C., she now lives in Brooklyn. ELIZABETH ELLEN is the author, most recently, of the short story collection Fast Machine, which features her best work from the last decade. Her stories have appeared in numerous online and print journals, including elimae, Quick Fiction, Hobart, Lamination Colony, Mud Luscious, Sleepingfish, kill author, and Pindeldyboz. She is also the author of the chapbook Before You She Was a Pit Bull (Future Tense), and her collection of flash fictions, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix, was included in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks of Short Short Fiction by Four Women (Rose Metal Press). Currently, she lives in Ann Arbor, where she co-edits the literary journal Hobart and oversees Hobart's book division, Short Flight/Long Drive books. ANDREW COTHREN received his BA from Binghamton University. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Legendary, Drunken Boat, and Eleven Eleven, which nominated him for a Pushcart Prize. He currently lives in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

MOVIE NIGHT AT FRANKLIN PARK (5/21)

aschartoff — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:55:35 +0000

A new monthly film series launches this coming Monday evening, May 21st at <a href="http://franklinparkbrooklyn.com/">Franklin Park Bar & Beer Garden</a> 618 St. John's Place, Brooklyn, NY 7:30 seating / 8:00 screening Free admission / $4 beer drink special <a href="http://www.imnotmethemovie.com/im_not_me/im_not_me.html">I'M NOT ME</a> directed by Rodrigo Lopresti & Zak Mulligan Starring Rodrigo Lopresti As Josh struggles with the death of his wife Sam, his grief begins to manifest itself in haunting and strange ways. When Josh comes face to face with his dead wife who is somehow alive and well, he slowly realizes that his world consists of two divergent realities. As he journeys between the two realms, hopeful of recreating the life he shared with Sam, tragedy ensues.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TOMORROW, 5/14 --ELISSA SCHAPPELL, ROBERT LOPEZ+

penina — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:32:55 +0000

Hope you can join us TOMORROW NIGHT at 8 as we celebrate literary magazines and indie lit with readings from editors and fiction writers ELISSA SCHAPPELL (Blueprints for Building Better Girls, Tin House) and DANIEL LONG (The Fiddleback), along with indie stars ROBERT LOPEZ (Asunder, Kamby Bolongo Mean River), MILES KLEE (Ivyland), and JAC JEMC (My Only Wife). Subscriptions to TIN HOUSE, THE PARIS REVIEW and the acclaimed Park Slope-based lit journal THE COFFIN FACTORY will be raffled off, along with books from the night's authors and some special PARIS REVIEW merch. As always, admission is FREE and we'll have $4 PINTS. Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Literary Journal & Small Press Night" Monday, May 14, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: ELISSA SCHAPPELL is the author of the story collections Blueprints for Building Better Girls, named one of the best books of 2011 by The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and Use Me, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, a New York Times Notable Book, and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. She is a contributing editor and the Hot Type book columnist at Vanity Fair, a former senior editor of The Paris Review, and co-founder and now editor-at-large of Tin House magazine. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. ROBERT LOPEZ is the author of two novels, Part of the World (Calamari Press) and Kamby Bolongo Mean River (Dzanc Books), and a collection of short fiction, Asunder (Dzanc Books). He has taught at The New School, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, and Pine Manor College's Solstice Low-Res MFA Program and was a 2010 Fellow in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts. MILES KLEE is the author of the novel Ivyland (OR Books). He studied at Williams College under writers Jim Shepard, Andrea Barrett, and Paul Park. His writing has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Awl, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, Salon, The Millions, and many other publications, online and off. He was born in Brooklyn and now lives in Manhattan. JAC JEMC is the author of the novel My Only Wife (Dzanc Books). Her work has appeared in The Denver Quarterly, Caketrain, Handsome, Sleepingfish, and other places. She is also the author of a chapbook of stories, These Strangers She'd Invited In (Greying Ghost Press), and the poetry editor for decomP Magazine. Jac blogs her rejections at jacjemc.wordpress.com. DANIEL LONG is an Oklahoman living in New York. His work has appeared, most recently, in New York Tyrant, elimae, and The Carolina Quarterly. He is managing editor of The Fiddleback and was recently named an Emerging Writers Fellow by the Center for Fiction.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TOMORROW, 4/16 -- HEID JULAVITS, TOURE & MORE!

penina — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:49:30 +0000

Hope you can join us at Franklin Park TOMORROW at 8 for "A Night of Betrayal." HEIDI JULAVITS, the celebrated novelist (THE VANISHERS) and editor of the prestigious literary journal THE BELIEVER will be joined by the prominent essayist/cultural commentator/TV host TOURE (WHO'S AFRAID OF POST-BLACKNESS), acclaimed fiction writer FIONA MAAZEL (LAST LAST CHANCE), indie superstar JOSEPH RIIPPI (A CLOTH HOUSE, THE ORANGE SUITCASE) amd poet/reading series curator LEAH UMANSKY. Tales of backstabbers, frenemies, traitors and adulterers will abound. As always, admission is FREE and we'll have a $4 pint drink special. Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "A Night of Betrayal" Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Ave. More about our authors: HEIDI JULAVITS is a founding editor of The Believer magazine and the author of four critically acclaimed novels: The Vanishers, The Uses of Enchantment, The Effect of Living Backwards, and The Mineral Palace. She is a Guggenheim recipient, and her work has appeared in Esquire, Time, The New York Times, McSweeney's, and other publications. TOURE is an American novelist, essayist, music journalist, cultural critic, and television personality based in New York City. His most recent book is a collection of interviews and essays, Who’s Afraid of Post Blackness? He is also the author of the essay collection Never Drank the Kool-Aid, the novel Soul City, and the short story collection The Portable Promised Land. He is the host of Fuse's Hiphop Shop and On The Record and an MSNBC contributor. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, where he is a contributing editor, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Believer, and other publications. His work has also been featured in several anthologies, including The Best American Essays, The Best American Sportswriting, and The Da Capo Best Music Writing. FIONA MAAZEL is the author of the novel Last Last Chance. She is the winner of the Bard Prize for 2009 and a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" honoree for 2008. Her work has appeared in Bomb, Bookforum, The Common, Conjunctions, Fence, The Mississippi Review, The New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Salon, n+1, and The Yale Review. She lives in Brooklyn, and her second novel, Woke Up Lonely, will be published by Graywolf Press in the spring of 2013. JOSEPH RIIPPI is the author, most recently, of the novella A Cloth House and poetry chapbook Treesisters. His novel Do Something! Do Something! Do Something! was published in 2009, and his story collection, The Orange Suitcase, was released in 2011. His work has appeared in a wide range of venues, including The Collagist, BOMB's Word Choice, Tin House Flash Fridays, Pank, Elimae, NANO Fiction and The Brooklyn Rail. A Seattle native, he now lives with his wife in New York City. LEAH UMANSKY is a New Yorker by birth, a teacher by choice, and an anglophile at heart. Her first book, “Domestic Uncertainties,” is floating around contest piles and hoping for someone to say, “yes!” She received her BA in English/Creative Writing from SUNY Binghamton and her MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. She has contributed to the BOMB Magazine and Best American Poetry blogs and reviewed poetry for The Rumpus. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Barrow Street, Contemporary Verse 2, Cream City Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Magma Poetry, and elsewhere. She blogs at iammyownheroine.wordpress.com and is the host and curator of COUPLET: A Poetry and Music Series on NYC’s Lower East Side.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES TONIGHT, 8-10PM -- SHALOM AUSLANDER, ADAM WILSON

penina — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:15:48 +0000

If you don't have plans for tonight, head over to Franklin Park for our reading series's 3rd birthday bash! We're celebrating with a multimedia event, featuring readings from SHALOM AUSLANDER (Hope: A Tragedy), ADAM WILSON (Flatscreen), MELISSA BRODER (Meat Heart) and BEN TOWNSEND (Stonecutter Journal) and a comics screening from JOHN DERMOT WOODS (The Complete Collection of People, Places & Things). As always, admission is free and we have a drink special of $4 pints. Added incentive: sweet treats courtesy of Crown Heights sweet shop The Candy Rush! Hope you can join us! Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Third Anniversary Celebration" Monday, March 12, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn FREE; $4 pints ONGOING SCHEDULE: Second Mondays Subway: 2/3/4/5 trains to Franklin Avenue Featuring: SHALOM AUSLANDER (Hope: A Tragedy) ADAM WILSON (Flatscreen) MELISSA BRODER (Meat Heart) JOHN DERMOT WOODS (The Complete Collection of People, Places & Things) BEN TOWNSEND (Stonecutter Journal) SHALOM AUSLANDER was raised in Monsey, New York. He is the author of the novel Hope: A Tragedy, as well as the short story collection Beware of God and the internationally bestselling memoir Foreskin’s Lament, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and Slate. Nominated for the Koret Jewish Book Award for writers under thirty-five, he has published articles in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and Tablet and has had stories aired on NPR’s This American Life. He lives in upstate New York. ADAM WILSON is the author of the novel Flatscreen. His fiction has appeared in many publications, including The Paris Review, Washington Square Review, New York Tyrant, Cousin Corinne’s Reminder, The Coffin Factory, and elimae, as well as the anthology Promised Lands: New Jewish American Fiction on Longing and Belonging. A founding editor of the The Faster Times and former culture critic for Blackbook, he is currently a regular contributor to Bookforum and The Paris Review Daily. His essays, journalism, and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Forward, The Rumpus, and the anthologies Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex and A Friday Night Lights Companion: Love, Loss, and Football in Dillon, Texas. He holds an MFA from Columbia University, where he received a fellowship, and teaches creative writing at NYU and the Sackett Street Writer’s Workshop. He lives in Brooklyn with his cat. MELISSA BRODER is the author of two poetry collections, Meat Heart and When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Guernica, Redivider, Court Green, The Missouri Review online, Barrelhouse, The Awl, Drunken Boat, and other places. She edits La Petite Zine and curates the Polestar Poetry Series at Cakeshop in New York. By day, she is a publicity manager at Penguin. JOHN DERMOT WOODS draws comics and writes stories in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of The Complete Collection of People, Places & Things. The image-text novel he wrote with J.A. Tyler, No One Told Me I Was Going to Disappear, has recently been published by Jaded Ibis Press. A collection of his comics will be released by Publishing Genius Press later this spring, and a collection of his illustrated stories, The Baltimore Atrocities, is forthcoming. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including The Fairytale Review, The Collagist, Hobart, Caketrain, Opium, The Salt Hill Review, The Indiana Review, and 3rd Bed. A professor of English at Nassau Community College, he is also the editor of the arts quarterly Action, Yes and co-curator of the Soda Series readings in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. BEN TOWNSEND grew up in a brown house on a small hill overlooking a very large cornfield. He has since lived in a few different places and still owes library fines in Ann Arbor, MI, Lexington, VA, and New York City, where he currently resides. He holds a Comparative Literature degree from the University of Michigan and has published fiction in Stonecutter Journal. He now calls Crown Heights, Brooklyn home.[b]

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES: THIS MONDAY, 2/13 -- BEN MARCUS, MARTHA SOUTHGATE

penina — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:47:11 +0000

We're kicking off Valentine's one day early, with tales of unconventional love from BEN MARCUS (The Flane Alphabet), MARTHA SOUTHGATE (The Taste of Salt), KATE ZAMBRENO (Green Girl), CHIARA BARZINI (Sister Stop Breathing), and Crown Heights star WILL SNIDER (The Halloween Plays). Poisoned love notes, obsession and dark liaisons are all in the mix! Hope you can make it! The d[/b]etails: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Unconventional Love" Monday, February 13, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn ONGOING SCHEDULE: Second Mondays FREE! $4 PINTS! SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Park-Reading-Series/136238993071415" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Park-Reading-Series/136238993071415</a> [b]Featuring: BEN MARCUS (The Flame Alphabet) MARTHA SOUTHGATE (The Taste of Salt) KATE ZAMBRENO (Green Girl) CHIARA BARZINI (Sister Stop Breathing) WILL SNIDER (The Halloween Plays) BEN MARCUS is the author, most recently, of the novel The Flame Alphabet, as well as three other works of fiction: Notable American Women, The Father Costume, and The Age of Wire and String, and he is the editor of The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Believer, The New York Times, McSweeney's, Tin House, Conjunctions, and other publications.. Amongst other awards, he is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in fiction, and three Pushcart Prizes. He lives in New York City and Maine. MARTHA SOUTHGATE is the author, most recently, of The Taste of Salt, as well as three acclaimed earlier novels, including The Fall of Rome and Third Girl from the Left. Her work has been widely anthologized, and she has written for Essence, Premiere, the New York Daily News, and The New York Times. A graduate of Smith College, she has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and has taught at Brooklyn College and The New School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. KATE ZAMBRENO is the author of two novels, O Fallen Angel and Green Girl. Heroines, a critical memoir centering around her obsession with the wives and myths of modernism, will be published by Semiotext(e) in September 2012. CHIARA BARZINI is a fiction writer and screenwriter, whose films have been shown in Italy, Spain, Japan, and Latin America. “Into Paradiso,” her most recent film, premiered at the 67th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Noon, Bomb Magazine, Sleepingfish, The New York Tyrant, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone Italy, Italian Vanity Fair, and other places. WILL SNIDER is a Brooklyn-based fiction writer and playwright. His plays have appeared in the New York International Fringe Festival, The Shortened Attention Span Festival at The Player’s Loft, and on stage at The Red Room and Columbia University. He is the recipient of the 2008 Best Undergraduate Play Award from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is the co-founder of The Old Grand Theater Company. Currently, he is working on his first collection of short stories and lives in Crown Heights.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES TONIGHT, 1/9, 8-10PM: SAM LIPSYTE, GARY LUTZ & MORE

penina — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:02:27 +0000

Hope you can join us TONIGHT at 8 for our third annual short fiction night! We'll be featuring two of contemporary literature's most acclaimed and influential authors, SAM LIPSYTE (The Ask, Home Land) and GARY LUTZ (Divorcer, Stories in the Worst Way). Co-stars include Crown Heights resident CHRISTINE VINES, curator of an East Village reading series, CATHERINE LACEY (Fifty-Two Stories, The Believer) and MITCH LEVENBERG (Fiction, The Saint Ann's Review). As a sponsor of this special event, the new, Park Slope-based literary magazine THE COFFIN FACTORY will be giving away copies of its latest issue to the first 50 attendees. The details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Short Fiction Night with Sam Lipsyte and Gary Lutz" Monday, January 9, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Crown Heights, Brooklyn ONGOING SCHEDULE: Second Mondays FREE! $4 PINTS! SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Park-Reading-Series/136238993071415" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Park-Reading-Series/136238993071415</a> Featuring: SAM LIPSYTE (The Ask, Home Land) GARY LUTZ (Divorcer, Stories in the Worst Way) CATHERINE LACEY (Fifty-Two Stories, The Believer) MITCH LEVENBERG (Fiction, The Saint Ann’s Review) CHRISTINE VINES (Fiction Addiction Reading Series) SAM LIPSYTE is the author of the novels The Ask, The Subject Steve and Home Land, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 2005 and winner of the Believer Book Award. He is also the author of the story collection Venus Drive, named one of the 25 Best Books of 2000 by The Village Voice Literary Supplement. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Paris Review, Tin House, Noon, N+1, McSweeney's, Esquire, The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post, among other places. In 2008 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in New York and is a professor of fiction at Columbia University. GARY LUTZ is the author of the short story collections Stories in the Worst Way, I Looked Alive, Partial List of People to Bleach and, most recently, Divorcer. His work has appeared in Noon, Conjunctions, Unsaid, Fence, StoryQuarterly, The Believer, Cimarron Review, Slate and other publications. His story “People Shouldn’t Have to be the Ones to Tell You” was featured in the anthology The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories. A recipient of a literature grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he is currently a professor of English and composition at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. CATHERINE LACEY has published fiction and nonfiction in Fifty-Two Stories, Cousin Corinne's Reminder, The Believer, elimae and other places. She co-owns and operates a B&B in downtown Brooklyn called 3B. MITCH LEVENBERG has published essays and short fiction in journals such as The New Delta Review, Fiction, The Assisi Journal and The Saint Ann’s Review and is the author of a story collection, Principles of Uncertainty and Other Constants. Two of his essays about his father’s experiences in the Philippines during the Second World War were included in the anthologies Pain and Memory and Common Boundary. Currently, he is working on a book of poetry, Transformational Love, and teaches at St. Francis College and New York University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. CHRISTINE VINES is a fiction writer and the curator of Fiction Addiction, a reading series in the East Village. She received a BA in English from Vassar College and lives in Crown Heights.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- MONDAY, 12/12 -- LEV GROSSMAN, WILLIAM GIRALDI

penina — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:11:50 +0000

TONIGHT at 8: Magic! Monsters! Cheap beer and "creature cocktails"!Trivia and prizes! Author LEV GROSSMAN reading from THE MAGICIAN KING, named one of the best books of 2011 by numerous publications. And admission, as always, is FREE. Details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Monster Bash" Monday, December 12, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue FREE; $4 PINTS

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- MONDAY, 12/12 -- LEV GROSSMAN, WILLIAM GIRALDI

penina — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:16:20 +0000

Hope you can join us for our pre-holiday reading! We're throwing a monster bash with novelists LEV GROSSMAN (The Magicians) and WILLIAM GIRALDI (Busy Monsters), short fiction authors NELLY REIFLER (See Through) and RYAN BRITT (Opium Magazine, Tor.com) and poet MONTANA RAY (La Petite Zine). Beware – you may encounter Sasquatch, aliens, werelions,dragons and demons! Check out our “creature cocktails” (rumor has it they may be green) if you dare, or just enjoy our usual $4 pints. And test your knowledge of movie and literary monsters with our trivia quiz. Prizes include books (The Magicians series, Busy Monsters and director John Landis's Monsters in the Movies)and fiendish paraphernalia. The details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Monster Bash" Monday, December 12, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue FREE; $4 PINTS Featuring: LEV GROSSMAN (The Magicians, The Magician King) WILLIAM GIRALDI (Busy Monsters) NELLY REIFLER (See Through) RYAN BRITT (Opium Magazine, Tor.com) MONTANA RAY (guns & butter, La Petite Zine) LEV GROSSMAN is the author of the bestselling novels The Magicians, The Magician King and Codex. A well-known cultural commentator, he is the book critic for TIME magazine and has written for numerous other publications, including the New York Times, The Believer, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, Salon and Wired. He is a graduate of Harvard and Yale and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters. WILLIAM GIRALDI is the author of the debut novel Busy Monsters. His work has appeared in Harper’s, the New York Times Book Review, Georgia Review, The Believer, Kenyon Review and Poets & Writers. A senior editor at AGNI, he teaches in the Arts & Sciences Writing Program at Boston University. NELLY REIFLER is the author of See Through, a collection of stories. Her work has been published in McSweeney's, BOMB, Jubilat and the Milan Review, among others. She is an editor for the Recommendations section of Post Road, and she teaches at Sarah Lawrence and Pratt. RYAN BRITT writes fiction, non-fiction and plays. His writing has been published with Opium Magazine, Nerve.com, Soon Quarterly, Clarkes World Magazine, Good Magazine and elsewhere. He is the staff writer for the science fiction/fantasy blog Tor.com and teaches at The Gotham Writers’ Workshop. He lives in Brooklyn. MONTANA RAY is a writer and mother. Her concrete gun poetry appears in Lana Turner Journal, La Petite Zine and in her chapbook (guns & butter) published by Chicago-based dancing girl press (Sept. 2011). Her translations of the early work of Spanish poet Francisca Aguirre appear in Asymptote and in The Other Music: Selected Poems from the 1970s published by Brooklyn-based Argos Books (2011).

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES TMW, 11/14 -- COLSON WHITEHEAD, JIM SHEPARD & MORE!

penina — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:49:57 +0000

This month we’re teaming up with the innovative literary magazine ELECTRIC LITERATURE for a multimedia night of readings, animated films, and a dance party with mixtapes from Electric Lit authors. We'll be featuring five ELECTRIC LITERATURE contributors: two of FRANKLIN PARK’s most popular alumni – COLSON WHITEHEAD (Zone One, Sag Harbor) and BEN GREENMAN (Celebrity Chekhov, What He’s Poised to Do) – along with JIM SHEPARD (You Think That’s Bad, Like You’d Understand Anyway), MATT SUMELL (Electric Literature, Noon), and STEVE EDWARDS (Breaking Into the Backcountry). The details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "A Night with Electric Literature" Monday, November 14, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue FREE; $4 PINTS Featuring: JIM SHEPARD (You Think That’s Bad, Like You’d Understand, Anyway) COLSON WHITEHEAD (Zone One, Sag Harbor) BEN GREENMAN (Celebrity Chekhov, What He’s Poised to Do) MATT SUMELL (Electric Literature, Noon) STEVE EDWARDS (Breaking Into the Backcountry) JIM SHEPARD is the author of six novels and four story collections, including, most recently, You Think That’s Bad. His third collection, Like You’d Understand, Anyway, was a finalist for the National Book Award and won The Story Prize. His short fiction has appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Esquire, Granta, and other publications, and he was a columnist on film for The Believer. Four of his stories have been chosen for the Best American Short Stories, and his story “Your Fate Hurtles Down at You,” published in Electric Literature No. 1, won a 2011 O. Henry Jury Prize. He teaches at Williams College and lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with his family. COLSON WHITEHEAD is the author of the new novel Zone One, as well as the novels Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, and Apex Hides the Hurt. He has also written a book of essays about his hometown, The Colossus of New York, and his reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper's, Granta, and other publications. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Whiting Writers Award, he has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award. He lives in New York City. BEN GREENMAN is an editor at the New Yorker and the author of several acclaimed books of fiction, including Superbad, Please Step Back, and, most recently, What He’s Poised to Do and Celebrity Chekhov. His fiction, essays, and journalism have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, and Opium Magazine, and he has been widely anthologized. He lives in Brooklyn. MATT SUMELL is currently finishing up his first collection of stories, tentatively titled Making Nice. His short fiction has appeared in The Brooklyn Review, Noon, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. STEVE EDWARDS is the author of the memoir Breaking Into the Back Country, the story of his seven months in solitude as the caretaker of a remote mountain homestead along the Rogue River in Oregon. His fiction has most recently appeared in AGNI Online, The Silk Road Review, and Bellingham Review. He is working on a new nonfiction book about his grandfather’s appearance on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1942.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- MONDAY, 10/10 -- ALEXANDER CHEE, BLAKE BUTLER

penina — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:00:38 +0000

Hope to see you all tonight at 8!

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- MONDAY, 10/10 -- ALEXANDER CHEE, BLAKE BUTLER

penina — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:01:53 +0000

We're exploring the dark side this month with the influential novelist ALEXANDER CHEE (Edinburgh, The Queen of the Night), literary iconoclast and HTMLGIANT editor BLAKE BUTLER (There Is No Year, Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia), poet ROBIN BETH SCHAER (Tin House), and short fiction authors SCOTT MCCLANAHAN (Stories V!) and SARAH ROSE ETTER (Tongue Party). The authors will delve into the seedy side of urban nightlife, recall hallucinations and nightmares, and share chilling experiences with somnambulism and insomnia. This reading will also be the official launch of Blake Butler's experimental nonfiction book NOTHING: A PORTRAIT OF INSOMNIA. The details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Nocturnes" Monday, October 10, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue As always, the fun is FREE and the drink special will be $4 pints. Plus, we'll be raffling off a copy of Blake Butler's latest novel THERE IS NO YEAR. Featured authors: ALEXANDER CHEE (Edinburgh, The Queen of the Night) BLAKE BUTLER (There Is No Year, Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia) ROBIN BETH SCHAER (Tin House) SCOTT MCCLANAHAN (Stories, Stories II, Stories V!) SARAH ROSE ETTER (Tongue Party) ALEXANDER CHEE is the author of the novels The Queen of the Night (forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Edinburgh (Picador, 2002), which won the Michener Copernicus Prize, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Lit Award, and the Lambda Editor’s Choice Prize and was named a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year. He is a recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and an NEA Fellowship. He has written essays and stories for Granta, the Paris Review Daily, NPR, and the Morning News, where he is a contributing writer, and many other outlets online and in print. He has taught fiction and nonfiction writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the New School, Wesleyan, and Amherst. Currently, he lives in New York City and teaches in the MFA program at Columbia University. He blogs at Koreanish.com. BLAKE BUTLER is the author of the new nonfiction book Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia, the novel There Is No Year, the novella Ever, and the novel-in-stories Scorch Atlas, which was named Novel of the Year by 3:AM Magazine and was [b]a finalist for the Believer Book of the Year Award. He edits HTML Giant, “the internet literature magazine blog of the future,” as well as two journals of innovative text, Lamination Colony and No Colony. His writing has appeared in The Believer, Unsaid, Fence, and Dzanc’s Best of the Web 2009, and in many other places online and in print. He has also been shortlisted in Best American Nonrequired Reading. He blogs at gillesdeleuzecommittedsuicideandsowilldrphil.com and lives in Atlanta. ROBIN BETH SCHAER’s poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Denver Quarterly, Washington Square, Tin House, and Prairie Schooner, and other publications. She has received fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Djerassi, and the Saltonstall Foundation. She teaches writing on both sides of the Hudson, occasionally lives in Oaxaca, Mexico, and moonlights as a deckhand aboard the Tall Ship Bounty. SCOTT MCCLANAHAN is the author of Stories and Stories II (published by Six Gallery Press), and, most recently, Stories V! (Holler Presents). His debut novel, Hill William, will be released by Tyrant Books in 2012. His other forthcoming works include the novel Crapalachia and the nonfiction book The Nightmares. Currently, he lives in West Virginia and is a filmmaker and co-partner at Holler Presents. SARAH ROSE ETTER is the author of Tongue Party (Caketrain Press), which was selected by Deb Olin Unferth as the winner of the 2010 Caketrain chapbook competition. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Collagist, Flatmancrooked, PANK Magazine, elimae, The Baltimore Review, and elsewhere. Her stories have also been performed in London by the Liars' League. She earned her B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University and her M.F.A. in Fiction from Rosemont College. She lives in Philadelphia, where she is co-curator of the Tire Fire Readings.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- TMW, 9/12 at 8 -- SHOWALTER, YANIQUE, STRAUB, FR

penina — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:41:14 +0000

So these are trying times, and we thought you all could use a bit of comic relief. At tomorrow's installment of the FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES, we'll have some incredible talent on hand to cheer you up: comedian, writer and director MICHAEL SHOWALTER (of Wet Hot American Summer fame and author of the hilarious new memoir Mr. Funny Pants) and four of today's most inventive short fiction authors -- Prospect Lefferts Gardens superstar EMMA STRAUB, TIPHANIE YANIQUE, SETH FRIED & Crown Heightser ELIZA SNELLING. Can't wait to see you! The details: FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES -- "Funny People" Monday, September 12, 8-10pm Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden 618 St. Johns Place, between Franklin and Classon Avenues Subway: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue Featuring: TIPHANIE YANIQUE (How to Escape from a Leper Colony) MICHAEL SHOWALTER (Mr. Funny Pants, Wet Hot American Summer) EMMA STRAUB (Other People We Married) SETH FRIED (The Great Frustration) ELIZA SNELLING (The L Magazine) As always, the fun is FREE and the drink special will be $4 pints. SUBWAY: 2/3/4/5 to Franklin Avenue TIPHANIE YANIQUE is the author of How to Escape from a Leper Colony. Her writing has won the Boston Review Prize in Fiction, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award and a BOCAS prize in Fiction. She has been listed by the Boston Globe as one of the sixteen cultural figures to watch out for and by the National Book Foundation as one of the 2010 5 Under 35, a list announcing the next generation of fiction writers. She is currently a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Tiphanie is from the Virgin Islands and is a professor in the MFA program at the New School. MICHAEL SHOWALTER is a comedian, screenwriter, and director and the author of the comedic memoir Mr. Funny Pants. He was a founding member of the sketch comedy troupe The State, which ran as a series on MTV. He is also the creator and star of the films Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter, as well as the Comedy Central series Michael and Michael Have Issues. He teaches screenwriting at the NYU Graduate Film School and lives in Brooklyn with his lady and a bunch of cats. EMMA STRAUB is the author of the story collection Other People We Married. Her stories and essays have been published by Tin House, The Paris Review, Barrelhouse, The Saint Ann’s Review, Cousin Corinne’s Reminder, The L Magazine, and many other journals. Her novel is forthcoming from Riverhead Books. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. SETH FRIED is the author of the debut story collection The Great Frustration. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Tin House, One Story, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and Vice and have been anthologized in The Better of McSweeney's, Volume 2 and The Pushcart Prize XXXV: YaniqueThe Best of the Small Presses. ELIZA SNELLING is a Master of Fine Arts student in the fiction program at Brooklyn College. Her work has appeared in the online journals The Writing Disorder and Swamp Writing and is forthcoming in the Wolf Review and The Brooklyn Review. She was also a finalist in L Magazine’s Literary Upstart Contest. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Crown Heights.