The Imaginary Press Reading Series

Delayed Farewell

2010-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who made the Imaginary Press Series a blast during its run. I'm leaving the blog up as a memento of several outstanding readings (though I do not know why I can't delete my personal bio on the sidebar. That bothers me.)

If you are looking for a great Twin Cities series, seek the Pocket Lab! Or Riot Act! Or Rain Taxi!

March 8 -- It's a special Sunday Imaginary Press!!

2009-02-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

Join us at Diamond's Coffee Shop at 7:30 for this very special event:

A former James Michener Fellow at the University of Texas-Austin, Jenny Browne is the author of three collections of poems, Glass (Pecan Grove, 2000), At Once (University of Tampa, 2004) and The Second Reason (Tampa, 2007). Her work has been featured on public buses in downtown Austin through the Poetry in Motion Program, on the walls of the Blanton Museum of Art and on stage with Texas Art and Letters Live. New poems and essays have been recently published or are forthcoming from American Poetry Review, AGNI, Massachusetts Review, the Texas Observer and Bat City Review. She lives in downtown San Antonio and teaches at Trinity University.

Jen March loves when spring sneaks in between the cold days of February. She loves Sylvia Plath. She loves reading poetry, sitting by books, walking around books, eating good food, drinking good wine, and sharing life with good people. She received her MFA in Writing from Hamline University, and she was the recipient of a 2006 Latitudes Grant from Mizna: A Forum for Arab American Art. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Mizna Journal, What Light: An Anthology from mnartists.org, Freshwater, and Flurry. She currently teaches English at Minneapolis Community & Technical College.

Paula Cisewski is... okay, this is me. What am I doing reading in my own reading series? Well, folks, I have a new little chapbook out from MaCaHu Press called Two Museums that I would like to share with you. I also would like to introduce you to my two new fellow Imaginary Press cohorts. That's right. Imaginary Press has become a TEAM!

Stay Tuned...

2009-01-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Imaginary Press is changing a bit, but please check in. Information will be coming soon about an OUTSTANDING March reading/event.
Thanks,
P

November 14th: come enjoy the last Imaginary Press of fall!!

2008-10-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hugh Behm-Steinberg is a poet based in Berkeley. He is the author of Shy Green Fields (No Tell Books) and Sorcery (Dusie). He teaches in the graduate writing program at California College of the Arts, where he is the faculty editor of Eleven Eleven. With Caroline Goodwin and Mary Behm-Steinberg, he is the publisher of MaCaHu Press.

Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in northern Virginia, Naca earned her B.A. at University of Washington, an M.A. in English Linguistics at University of Cincinnati, and MFA at University of Pittsburgh. In 2008, she graduated with a Ph.D. from University of Nebraska. Naca is also a member of Sandra Cisneros’ Macondo Workshop, in San Antonio, Texas, the city where she has resided for the past two years. This year, she teaches poetics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her book of poems, BIRD EATING BIRD, was a selection for the National Poetry Series and will appear with Harper Perennial in Fall 2009.

October 17th Updates

2008-09-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We have two amazing poets in a new, amazing venue for October:

Brenda Iijima is the author of Animate, Inanimate Aims (Litmus Press) and Around Sea (O Books). If Not Metamorphic was runner up for the Sawtooth Prize and will be published by Ahsahta Press. Also forthcoming is revv. you’ll—ution which will be published by Displaced Press. She is the editor of Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs (yoyolabs.com/). Together with Evelyn Reilly she is editing a collection of essays by poets concerning poetry and ecological ethics titled, )((eco (lang)(uage(reader). She is the art editor for Boog City as well as a visual artist. She lives in Brooklyn , New York where she designs and constructs homeopathic gardens.

Poet, critic, and translator G. E. Patterson grew up along the Mississippi River and was educated in the mid-South, the Midwest, the Northeast, and the western United States. His collections of poetry include To and From (Ahsahta Press, 2008), and his first book, Tug (1999), won the Minnesota Book Award. His work has also appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including Bum Rush the Page, Poetry 180, American Letters and Commentary, Fence, Five Fingers Review, nocturnes: (re)view of the arts, Seneca Review, Open City, XcP: Cross Cultural Poetics, and the webzine of the St. Mark's Poetry Project, Poems and Poets. Patterson's awards include fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem, the Djerassi Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. After living in the Northeast and on the West Coast, he now makes his home in Minnesota, where he teaches.

Come celebrate their work at our new location, Diamonds Coffee Shoppe. This is my favorite neighborhood spot with a back "vault" to keep our verse safe! Besides for coffee, they've got beer and wine and snacks and the best iced chai in town.

Can't wait to see you there!

Paula

2008-09-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here's Matt Hart:

Here's Sun Yung Shin:
Here's Karen Carcia:

reading for Imaginary Press last Saturday. It was a really beautiful night. We were so very lucky to have them read their beautiful words about Satan and Todd Rungren and small animals and birds.

Here are some friends and poets mingling around the salon, awaiting the event.
And here are some happy friends and poets savoring the event once it was done.

Do you know what? I have yet to post these photos of last spring's fantastic final reading, when Melanie Figg:

And Rauan Klassnik:

read for Imaginary Press. Was that in the days when the sun stayed up past 8:00pm, or was it their illumination? Hmmm.....

Please allow me to introduce you to Karen, Matt and Sun Yung.

2008-08-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, September 20th at 7:30 PM at the Jon Oulman Salon, it shall be these three amazing poets who will be reading their work:

Karen Carcia's poems have appeared in Conduit; Forklift, Ohio; Field;
Born magazine; Diagram; and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative
writing from Indiana University and a PhD in creative writing from
Western Michigan University. She currently teaches as professor of
English at Southeast Missouri State University.

Matt Hart is the author of Who's Who Vivid (Slope Editions, 2006) and three chapbooks: Revelated (Hollyridge Press, 2005), Sonnet (H_NGM_N Books, 2006) and Simply Rocket (Lame House Press, 2007). A collaborative chapbook, Deafening Leafening, with poet Ethan Paquin, is forthcoming from Pilot Books. Additionally, his work has appeared in many print and online journals, including Gulf Coast, Harvard Review, Jubilat, and Octopus. He lives and teaches in Cincinnati where he edits Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, & Light Industrial Safety.

Sun Yung Shin is a 2007 Bush Artist Fellow for Literature and author of the collection of poems Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press 2007); co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoption; (South End Press 2006) and author of Cooper’s Lesson (Children's Book Press 2004) a bilingual Korean/English illustrated book for children. She's currently working on her second book of poems with the working title THE INVISIBLE CHOIR and a memoir of her immigration and naturalization. Her website is www.sunyungshin.com.

Fall schedule posted!

2008-08-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well it's about time I spilled the beans!

Here are the amazing poets who will be reading for us this very fall season of the Imaginary Press Reading Series:

September 20: Sun Yung Shin, Matt Hart, Karen Carcia
October 17: Andrew Lundwall, Brenda Iijima, G.E. Patterson
November 14: Louise Mathias, David Dodd Lee, Hugh Behm-Steinberg

I am so excited. I hope you, yes you, won't have to miss even one of these events.
--P

JUNE 20th!! Fun!!

2008-05-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Melanie Figg has an MFA from the University of Utah and has poems published, or forthcoming, in many journals including The Iowa Review, The Colorado
Review, LIT, MARGIE and Conduit. She is the recipient of a Loft-McKnight Award and numerous fellowships from the Jerome Foundation. Her first manuscript, Monarch, rigorously refuses publication: it has been a finalist for the Tupelo Prize, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, the Journal Prize, the
Anhinga Prize, the Ahsahta Prize and the Walt Whitman Award. Her chapbook, Hurry, Love, was a collaboration with paper artist Doug Abbott, and was published by Fuori Editions in 2004.

Rauan (Ron) Klassnik was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. After moving to Dallas and then dropping out of college he traded sports and gaming cards, beanie babies, pogs and memorabilia. He now spends most of his time down in Mexico with his wife Edith where, besides writing, he plays around with the family birds
and dogs. His poems have appeared in many print and on-line journals including The Mississippi Review, The North American Review, No Tell Motel, MiPoesias,
Sentence, Handsome, Pilot Poetry, Sleepingfish and others. His debut book of poems, Holy Land released April 1st from Black Ocean Press.

Mark your calendars: May 16th

2008-04-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Arrieu-King is a doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati and an echocardiographer. Her reviews and poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Diagram, Forklift Ohio, New Orleans Review, Hotel Amerika, Jacket, Octopus Magazine, etc. Her chapbook The Small Anything City is available from Dream Horse Press.

Kristi Maxwell is the author of Realm Sixty-four, published this year by Ahsahta Press. She is also the author of Hush Sessions (forthcoming in 2009) and a chapbook Elsewhere and Wise (forthcoming this summer). This will be her first time in Minneapolis.

Michael Rerick attends university in Cincinnati, OH. A chapbook, X-Ray, is forthcoming from Flying Guillotine Press.

Jon Skuldt currently lives in Minnesota. He has been published in Slope, LIT, Poets & Poems, etc. He received his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. You can find a good sampling of Jon's work on his mnartists.org page.

DATE CHANGE!!!! What April 19th Has in Store!

2008-03-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Justin Marks' latest chapbook is [Summer insular](Horse Less Press, 2007). His poems have recentlyappeared in Soft Targets, Tarpaulin Sky and theBedside Guide to No Tell Motel – Second Floor, and areforthcoming in Handsome, New York Quarterly and theOutside Voices 2008 Anthology of Younger Poets. He is the founder and Editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks andlives in New York City.

Matt Rasmussen’s poetry has been recently published oris forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Cimmaron Review,Passages North, Dislocate, New York Quarterly, LIT,and What Light: This Week’s Poem at mnartists.org. Hecurrently lives in Robbinsdale and teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College and Rasmussen College. Last year he participated in the Loft Mentor Series and this year he received a SASE/Jerome Grant for Emerging Writers to assist in the writing, editing, and publication ofhis first full-length manuscript. His chapbook,Fingergun, is available from Kitchen Press.

Chris Tonelli lives in the Boston area where he runs The So and So Series. He was work forthcoming in Saltgrass, Salt Hill, Absent, Good Foot, and the 2008 Anthology of Younger Poets and is the author of three chapbooks: For People Who Like Gravity and OtherPeople (Rope-A-Dope Press, forthcoming), A Mule-ShapedCloud (w/ Sarah Bartlett, horse less press, 2008), and WIDE TREE: Short Poems (Kitchen Press, 2006).

March 21st was fantastic!

2008-03-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

The gents'll kick off our season in our new digs on March 21st!

2008-01-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Imaginary Press Reading Series has found a new home at Jon Oulman Salon. Huzzah!

Come celebrate with us and hear the phenomenal work of these fine poets:

John Gallaher is the author of Gentlemen in Turbans, Ladies in Cauls, and The Little Book of Guesses. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Field, New American Writing, Boston Review, and The Best American Poetry. He lives in rural Missouri and co-edits The Laurel Review.

Dobby Gibson's first book, Polar (Alice James Books), won the Beatrice Hawley Award and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. A second collection, Skirmish, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in early2009. The recipient of fellowships from the McKnight Foundation andJerome Foundation, he lives in Minneapolis with his wife Kathy and their daughter Scarlett Moon.

Eric Lorberer holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts and has published dozens of poems in journals ranging from American Poetry Review to Volt. He lives in Minneapolis, where he edits Rain Taxi Review of Books and directs the Twin Cities Book Festival.

It's Ready!

2008-01-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

Listed on the side is the brand new season of the Imaginary Press Reading Series, folks!

As we celebrate the fine poets, we also lament the loss of a wonderful venue: Opposable Thumbs Used Books and Vinyl has closed its doors. I send an eternal Thank You to Ed Hilbrich for nurturing our tender first year.

I'll reveal the address of a new venue along with bios and photos of our dashing first readers of the season, in the coming weeks. Check back!

November 16th! November 16th!

2007-11-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

John Minczeski, award-winning poet, resides in the Twin Cities where he works and teaches. He's the author of four poetry collections, the editor of three anthologies, and his poems have appeared in journals around the US and abroad, including Poetry East, Quarterly West, Agni, Meridian, Pleiades, Free Lunch, Nowa Okolica Poetow and elsewhere. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Bush Foundation Artist's Fellowship, a LIN Grant, The 2000 Akron Poetry Prize, a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship. He was the Edelstein-Keller Distinguished Fellow at the University of Minnesota in 2005. His new chapbook, November, shall be appropriately celebrated at this reading.

In 2000, Stobb was awarded the Nevada Arts Council Poetry fellowship, and his first collection, a chapbook entitled For Better Night Vision, was published by the Black Rock Press. Stobb's poems began appearing in journals and zines including American Poetry Review, Colorado Review, American Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, threecandles.org, PIFmagazine.com and others. In 2006, Stobb's full-length manuscript, Nervous Systems, was selected for the National Poetry Series and was published in 2007 by Penguin Books.

William Waltz grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio, home of the first man on the moon. He earned a B.A. in economics from Ohio State University and his MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Slope Editions released his first book, Zoo Music, in 2004, and it was one of four finalists for that year's Austin Community College Balcones Poetry Prize. The editor of Conduit, his poetry has been published in journals including Denver Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, Insurance, Verse, Spinning Jenny and elsewhere. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Brett Astor and their daughter Clark Mercy.

October 19th reading cancelled

2007-10-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

I'm very sorry to report that this month's Imaginary Press reading with Karen Carcia and James D'Agostino is cancelled.
I look forward to seeing you all on Friday, November 16th when William Stobb, William D. Waltz, and John Minczeski will be reading.

On October 19th

2007-09-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

We shall return to our regular Friday night slot at Opposable Thumbs, and joining us shall be Karen Carcia and James D'Agostino!!

Karen Carcia's poems have appeared in Conduit; Forklift, Ohio; Field;
Born magazine; Diagram; and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative
writing from Indiana University and a PhD in creative writing from
Western Michigan University. She currently teaches as professor of
English at Southeast Missouri State University.

James D'Agostino was born prematurely in Chicago, where he later received a B.A. from Loyola University. He took an M.F.A. from Indiana University, and is completing a Ph.D. at Western Michigan University. His poems have appeared in such magazines as TriQuarterly, Conduit, Forklift, Ohio, Green Mountains Review, ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), and Denver Quarterly. He currently lives in Missouri with his wife, the poet Karen Carcia.

2007-09-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

These are alpacas. I love alpacas. But what do alpacas have to do with the Imaginary Press Reading Series?

1. I loved Kelly, Kate, and Janet's reading more than alpacas. I believe every one of the audience members would have said they felt the same way if I had asked them. Though that's hardly fair...the poetry was really so soul crunchingly good, but alpacas are so cute.

2. My digital camera is dead. Though I knew it was dead even before the Healey/Ford reading (which was phenomenal and grossly underdocumented due to camera failure and my sloth), I still gave it one last go at the state fair, where it overheated and almost started a fire in my purse. This photo of the alpacas is the last to be coaxed from that machine. That's the real point here.

There are, I have heard, some few photos coming, and when they arrive I shall be prompt to post.

In the meantime, my gratitude goes out to the three lovely and outstanding poets for gracing the Imaginary Press stage.

Please note the exceptional Tuesday-ness of our fall launch!!

2007-08-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

On TUESDAY, September 18th, we will be kickstarting the fall 2007 Imaginary Press Reading Series!!!! As always, find us at Opposable Thumbs Books in friendly Nordeast Minneapolis. Please come celebrate with us by enjoying readings by these three outstanding poets:

(photo of Kelly, which shall go here, imminent)

Kelly Everding received her MFA from the University of Massachusettes, Amherst and has published poems in numerous journals, including Skidrow Penthouse, Colorado Review, The Bloomsbury Review, Conduit, Caliban, and Exquisite Corpse. Her chapbook, Strappado for the Devil, was published by Etherdome Press in 2004. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she works for the nonprofit organization, Rain Taxi, Inc., which publishes Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Janet Holmes is an award-winning poet and author of four books of poetry: F2F; Humanophone; The Green Tuxedo; and The Physicist at the Mall. She is director and editor of Ahsahta Press, an all-poetry press at Boise State University, where she is an associate professor in the MFA Program.

Kate Greenstreet is the author of case sensitive (Ahsahta Press, 2006), and three chapbooks, Learning the Language (Etherdome Press, 2005), Rushes (above/ground press, 2007), and This is why I hurt you (forthcoming from Lame House Press). Her second book, The Last 4 Things, will be out from Ahsahta in 2009. Visit her online at kickingwind.com.

Look What We're Doing!

2007-08-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Imaginary Friends,
Won't you look over to the right and note the stunning fall season!
Sincerely,
Paula

May 18th was phenomenal! June 8th is practically here!

2007-05-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

***First off, I want to sincerely thank Misters Alex Lemon and Stephen Burt for an absolutely fantastic evening of poetry and good will on May 18th. Opposable Thumbs was standing room only with friends and fans of these fine gentlemen.***

And now, I'd like to present the two poets we have in store for you June 8:

Miss Terri Ford attended the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College lo, back in the 50s. Since then she’s received numerous grants and awards, including a Kentucky Arts Council fellowship and an Ohio Arts Council fellowship. She was the Ohio Arts Council writer in residence at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the summer of 2000. Miss Ford’s second book, Hams Beneath the Firmament, is newly out from Four Way Books. Her first book of poems, Why the Ships are She, was also published by Four Way Books in 2001 and she was a fellow at Bread Loaf that same year. Her poems always appear in Forklift, Ohio because Matt Hart filches them first. Her work has also appeared in Ploughshares, Agni, Conduit and numerous other publications, including the anthologies Poetry Daily: The Best from the World’s Most Popular Poetry Website (Sourcebooks, 2003), Four Way Reader #2 (Four Way, 2002) and The Beach Book (Sarabande Books, 1999). She was profiled in June of 2004 in the Minneapolis newspaper City Pages as one of five Minnesota poets who might be the state Poet Laureate if Minnesota had one (http://www.citypages.com/databank/25/1228/article12214.asp). She currently lives in triumph in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she hopes to change at least the lipstick on the face of Minnesota poetry.

Steve Healey's first book, Earthling, is available through Coffee House Press. He is associate Editor of Conduit. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, including American Poetry Review, Fence, jubilat, Open City, and Verse.

May 18th is right around the corner!!!

2007-05-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Would you get a load of who's reading in just under two weeks? Please join us, won't you?

Alex Lemon's first collection of poems is Mosquito (Tin House Books).
At Last Unfolding Congo, a chapbook, is forthcoming from Burning
Chair Books. He also has a memoir forthcoming from Scribner. His
poems have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous magazines
including Tin House, Denver Quarterly, AGNI, Black Warrior Review,
Gulf Coast and Pleiades. His translations (with Wang Ping) of a number
of contemporary Chinese poets are forthcoming in Tin House, Artful
Dodge, New American Writing and other journals. Among his awards
are a 2005 Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment
for the Arts and a 2006 Minnesota Arts Board Grant. He is the coeditor
of LUNA: A Journal of Poetry and Translation and is a frequent
contributor to The Bloomsbury Review. Currently, he teaches at
Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Stephen Burt chairs the English Department at MaCalester College
in St. Paul. He writes poems, essays on other people’s poems, books
about poets and shorter piecers about poems, poets, poetry, comics,
science-fiction writers, political controversies, obscure pop groups,
and the Womens National Basketball Association. His books include:
Brief History of North American Youth, Parallel Play, Popular Music,
Randall Jarrell and His Age, Randall Jarrell on W. H. Auden, Shot
Clocks: Poems and an Essay for the WNBA.
Stephen Burt grew up in and around Washington, D.C., attended Harvard
(A.B. 1994) and Oxford, and received his Ph. D. from Yale in 2000.

The Quiet Intensity Tour hits MPLS!!

2007-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here's what a good portion of the nice audience looked like last night. According to Mathias Svalina, there is at least one double werewolf in this shot. I don't know what that means, either. Sort of.
Zachary Schomburg's reading made the whole audience reel.
Then Mathias Svalina set us straight with ghosts and unicorns. I mean LIKE ghosts and unicorns.
Joshua Marie Wilkinson dedicated his entire gorgeous reading to Phyllis Diller. No, he didn't.
Julie Doxsee sent us all reeling the other way. The whole night was like being at sea. Or on an episode of Star Trek when the Romulans attack. We huddled together. We were different after.
Phyllis and Tammy Faye. Our strange backdrops.
This baby knows good poetry when he hears it!
Can we get directions to Psycho Suzi's? Paula doesn't seem to actually live in this town.
Success!!
Double success!!!

I am very grateful to all four poets for making the trek up to our town!

Look Who's Reading on APRIL 20th!!

2007-03-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Julie Doxsee lives in Denver, Colorado, where she is pursuing a PhD in English and Creative Writing at the University of Denver. Her chapbook, The Knife-Grasses, was recently published by Octopus Books, a new press launched by the editors of Octopus Magazine. Other forthcoming publications include a chapbook, Fog Quartets (horse less press), and a book, Undersleep (also from Octopus Books, Winter 2007/2008).

Zachary Schomburg's first full-length book of poems, The Man Suit, is available through Black Ocean Press, and a chapbook, Abraham Lincoln's Death Scene is published by horse less press. He has poems from a new manuscript in, or forthcoming in Pilot, Absent, SameStorm, the Hat, Swink, Forklift Ohio, and Denver Quarterly. He lives inLincoln, NE, with A, M, S and G where he is a co-editor of OctopusMagazine and Octopus Books, a co-curator of the Clean Part ReadingSeries, and a PhD student.

Mathias Svalina lives in Lincoln, Nebraska where he co-curates The Clean Part Reading Series & co-edits Octopus Magazine & Books. His poems have appeared in jubilat, Fence, Typo, H_ngm_n & the DenverQuarterly. His first chapbook, Why I Am White, is available from Kitchen Press Books.

Joshua Marie Wilkinson is the author of four books: Suspension of a Secret in
Abandoned Rooms (Pinball, 05), Lug Your Careless Body out of the Careful Dusk (Iowa, 06),
Figures for a Darkroom Voice (with Noah Eli Gordon; Tarpaulin Sky, 07), and
The Book of Whispering in the Projection Booth (Tupelo, 08). New Michigan
Press and Octopus Books have recently released two chapbooks, and new
poems are forthcoming in New American Writing, Colorado Review, Seattle Review,
Court Green, and the Modern Review. His first film, Made a Machine by Describing
the Landscape, a tour documentary about the band Califone, is due out later
this year. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Here is what March 16th looked like at Opposable Thumbs

2007-03-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Chris and Amanda read their fascinating collaboration.
There were handouts.
Here are photos of some of the crowd. I wish I would have caught everybody on film.
We had fun!

Amanda brought a bowl of chocolates.
It was a wonderful kick-off for Imaginary Press Reading Series. Thanks so much to Chris and Amanda, Ed and Gerry (above), everybody who attended, and me mum and dad for the gift of the camera!

Yikes!

2007-03-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

When I was forcibly switched to the new Blogger, it changed the "About Me" section from good, pertinent Imaginary Press info to the bio from my personal weblog! I don't know how to solve this yet (suggestions are welcome and appreciated!), so please disregard it for now, and here are the details you need!

Where: Opposable Thumbs Books and Vinyl
2833 Johnson St NE.
Phone: (612) 706-2020
When: 7:30 PM, monthly, spring and winter Fridays, as a general rule

Let's Kick off the Series! March 16th, 7:30 PM

2007-02-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

It's time to mark your calendars!! Please don't miss your chance to see what these two folks have in store for us!

Chris Fischbach has worked at a golf course since 1987. His favorite poet is Smokey Robinson.

AND

Originally from Boston, Amanda Nadelberg attended Carleton College and her first book, Isa the Truck Named Isadore, won the Slope Editions Book Prize and was published in 2006. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in jubilat, Conduit, Octopus, Typo, No: a journal of the arts, and Vanitas. She currently lives in Minneapolis.

REVISED: Ta Daaaa!

2007-01-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Oh Friends the spring line-up is finished and I couldn't be more pleased.

You will note on the sidebar that we are kicking off our season in March with an amazing reading bonanza:

Chris Fischbach and Amanda Nadelberg on March 16th!

More information soon.
I look forward to seeing you all there!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

How mid-January it is already!

I believe I promised to unveil the new spring lineup around now. It is neeeeearly ready.

If you'd like to whet your appetite just a bit, check out some of the new links on the sidebar over yonder.

More soon....

Stunning Again!

2006-11-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

If the three readings that comprised this inaugural Imaginary Press season are any indication, I am going to have a freaking BLAST come spring!

Both Juliet and Rachel were phenomenal last Friday. They charmed and awed.

Thanks scads for the support thus far, and please come back to our humble weblog in the new year when a whole new season of Imaginary Press shall be announced!

Can you believe our luck??

2006-10-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

The next Imaginary Press event takes place in just over two weeks! November 10th at 7:30pm to be exact. We wanted to be sure you had enough time to plan for/relish in/freak out about your holiday season, as the case may be.

Who shall be reading you ask? Excellent question, and one that I'm thrilled to answer:

Rachel Moritz's poetry chapbook, The Winchester Monologues, won the 2005 New Michigan Press Competition. Her poems have appeared recently in ColoradoReview, Denver Quarterly, How2, Indiana Review, typo and other journals. She co-edits WinteRed Press, a poetry chaplet pubisher(www.winteredpress.blogspot.com); she also edits, with Juliet Patterson, poetry for Konundrum Literary Engine(lit.konundrum.com).

Juliet Patterson's first book, The Truant Lover, was selected by Jean Valentine as the 2004 winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in American Letters & Commentary, Bellingham Review, Bloom, Conduit, Hayden's Ferry Review, New Orleans Review, The Journal,Verse and other magazines. She is the recipient of a SASE/Jerome fellowship in poetry, a 2004 fellowship with the Institute for Community and Cultural Development through Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, and an arts fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She teaches poetry and creative writing in Minneapolis through the College of St. Catherine, Hamline University, The Loft Literary Center, and the Perpich Center for Arts Education. She lives near the west bank of the Mississippi in Minneapolis and edits poetry for the Konudrum Engine Literary Review with Rachel Moritz.

(Juliet's photo wouldn't get any bigger for me, so I put in two because they're nice.)

Last Friday's Event

2006-10-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am a little late getting to this, but may I just make clear how amazing last Friday's reading by John Colburn and Sarah Fox was. I wish so earnestly that I had filmed the entire event, which they staged as a series of prepositionally phrased dialogues (on, under, around) salvia divinorum. They read their conversations, which included readings from the likes of Gaston Bachelard and Dale Pendell, and then finished with one lovely poem a piece.

I think no one was expecting this. And that's what made it so wonderful and what makes me so grateful to them.

See, in addition to giving a performance space to emerging poets who might grace the Twin Cities for periods of greater or lesser permanency, I have had this image of this reading series being a place for poets to stretch the boundaries of what a poetry reading "is". And Sarah and John did that so interestingly. I feel, in a way, that they did us all a service.

READING OCTOBER 20TH!

2006-09-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sarah Fox lives in Northeast Minneapolis. She works as a doula and as a teacher of poetry and creative writing in schools and literarcy centers throughout Minnesota. her first book, Because Why, is published by Coffee House Press.

photo: Bill Waltz

John Colburn is originally from Mantorville, MN, and is an editor and co-publisher at Spout Press. His poetry chapbook, Kissing, was published by Fuori Editions in 2002. His poems have also appeared in such journals as Jubilat, Black Warrior Review, Spinning Jenny, Columbia Poetry Review, Forklift, OH., and Swerve. He works as a high school teacher at the Perpich Center for Arts Education.
(No photo of John yet. He's a surprise.)

Allison Titus and Joshua Poteat rock.

2006-09-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

They just do. If you haven't noticed, I suggest you make a point of noticing for your own good. Both of their readings were spectacular, moving, and yes, even informative.

There will be photos once they are developed. Sorry for the delay; I have not reached the digital age yet.

How else was it? There were poets. There were books. There was vinyl, both classic and confusing. There was a hedgehog. And there was a fabulously receptive crowd.

You can be a part of that crowd for next month's reading with John Colburn and Sarah Fox. More soon.

Imaginary Press Gets Real!

2006-08-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Please attend the launch of the Imaginary Press Reading Series

Friday, September 22
7:30 PM
Opposable Thumbs Books
2833 Johnson Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418

and treat yourself to readings by Joshua Poteat and Allison Titus.

Joshua Poteat's Ornithologies won the 2004 Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and his chapbook Meditations won the Poetry Society of Americas 2004 National Chapbook Award. In the last several years, Joshua has won awards from American Literary Review, River City, Nebraska Review, Marlboro Review, Columbia, Bellingham Review, American Poetry Archives/San Francisco State University, and many others. He has new poems in Virginia Quarterly Review and Ninth Letter.

Allison Titus has poems forthcoming in Caketrain, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, jubilat and Typo. Her manuscript Barter, Fasten was a finalist in the 2006 National Poetry Series competition. She lives in Richmond, VA where she is at work on a novel.