April 12: Zach Savich and Joyelle McSweeny kick off the Cleveland Poetry Festival

CSU Poetry Center announces 2023-2024 Lighthouse Reading Series

 

CLE Poetry Festival: April 21-22

From our friends at Literary Cleveland:

Draft new poems, advance your craft, meet publishers, and celebrate poetry with the best poets and editors in the city.

Join Literary Cleveland, CWRU English Department, CSU Poetry Center, Grieveland, and Mac's Backs Books for the Cleveland Poetry Festival April 21-22.

Spots are limited. Register here.

The CSU Poetry Center Turns Sixty!

From our friends at the Cleveland State University Poetry Center:

The CSU Poetry Center is celebrating 60 years this Friday--join us in celebrating over half a century of publishing, programming, & pedagogy!!!

 

Publishing Poetry in Northeast Ohio: Roundtable, Readings, Book Fair

Join in a lively discussion with regionally and nationally known poetry publishers on Saturday April 13th at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

12:30-2:00 Roundtable

Representatives from Bottom Dog Press, Cleveland State University Press, Crisis Chronicles Press, NightBallet Press, Poet’s Haven, and University of Akron Press will share their thoughts and insights about publishing poetry and answer questions from the audience. Moderated by Bonné de Blas, an MFA Candidate in the Northeastern Ohio Master of Fine Arts program at Kent State University.

2:00-2:15 Break

Enjoy free refreshments while you browse the book fair, talk with local publishers, and check out their publications.

2:15-3:45 Readings

Several authors published by presses in today’s roundtable will read from their work. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Readers will include Phil Metres, Ray McNiece, Rikki Santer, Holli Rainwater, Robin Mullet, Larry Smith and more.

3:45-4:30 Book Fair

Browse the book fair, talk with local publishers, and check out their publications.

Cuyahoga County Public Library
South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio  44121
Phone 216-382-4880

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP at http://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/1408538.

New from CSU

The Cleveland State University Poetry Center sends along their most recent update on their activities this year:

END OF YEAR ROUND-UP We’ve had a wonderful year at the Cleveland State University Poetry Center, and as the days get shorter and the air gets chillier, we’d like to bring you some of our most exciting news and updates. If you’re inspired by what you see below and would like to donate to our cause of publishing 3-5 collections of contemporary poetry, prose, and translation a year in addition to running The Lighthouse Reading Series and providing pedagogical and outreach opportunities for CSU students please know that your support is what allows us to continue publishing and programming throughout the year. AUTHOR NEWS James Allen Hall’s collection of essays, I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well, appeared on SPD’s bestsellers list; QNotes’ “Ideas for the LGBTQ book lovers on your holiday gift list;” and Anomalous Press’ “Books to Watch Out For.” Hall was interviewed by Alex DiFrancesco at the CSU Poetry Center blog and appeared on Woodstock Book Talk in October. Colorado Review says Hall handles fraught topics “deftly, with a sly sense of humor;” Newpages writes that “a collection of essays has never been so utterly tragic and full of truth;” and Queen Mob’s Tea House says I Liked You Better “takes the cool, intellectual quality of conceptual writing and poetics and turns it in on the self, allowing for experimentation while maintaining intimacy.” More can be found at American Microreviews, Reviews by Amos Lassen, Hunger Mountain, and The Rumpus. In Entropy, Carrie Lorig writes of Jane Lewty’s second book, In One Form to Find Another, that “Lewty feels through the body’s ferocious, complex response to trauma while refusing to create a linearity and narrative arc which names or details the transgressive / traumatic event.” Lewty’s collection was named “Book of the Week” at the Volta and excerpts can be found at La Vague and Verse Daily. Sheila McMullin’s first book of poetry, daughterrarium has been beautifully reviewed at Forward Reviews, Southern Indiana Review, Heavy Feather Review, Galatea Resurrects, and So To Speak, where Kristen Brida writes that, “McMullin focuses and reveals the many ways the feminine body is exploited, is overpowered in the patriarchal schema of the world.” You can also find new books, poems, reviews, or interviews by Leora Fridman, Allison Titus, Lo Kwa Mei-en, Phil Metres, Dora Malech, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Zach Savich, Sandra Simonds, Elyse Fenton, Lee Upton, and Lily Hoang. Shane McCrae, author of Mule (CSU Poetry Center, 2010) ) was recently the winner of a Lannan Literary Award and a National Book Award finalist for his newest collection, In the Language of My Captor, published this year by Wesleyan. Congrats, Shane! CSU POETRY CENTER GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS The CSU Poetry Center offers graduate assistantships in small press editing and publishing for CSU-based students in the NEOMFA (Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing). If you or anyone you know is researching MFA programs in creative writing you might consider Cleveland State where we’re lucky to host the Lighthouse Reading Series, Playwrights Festival, and Whiskey Island Magazine, among other exciting writing programing. The NEOMFA is the nation's only consortial MFA program in the nation and boasts four schools’ worth of creative writing faculty and a great visiting writers series (this year includes CAConrad, Kelly Link, Emily Mitchell, Rob Handel, and Adam Gopnick). Application deadline: January 15th.  TRANSLATION SUBMISSIONS  The CSU Poetry Center invites queries regarding book-length volumes of poetry in translation for a new occasional series. Please send 1) A cover letter describing the project and confirming any necessary permissions; and 2) a sample translation of at least 20 pages. Full manuscripts are welcome. Email materials to associate director Hilary Plum at h.plum [at] csuohio [dot] edu. Submissions will be open until December 31, 2017. LIGHTHOUSE READING SERIES This year’s Lighthouse Reading Series has hosted Abraham Smith, Hayan Charara, Sheila McMullin, and Eric Fair, all of whom absolutely blew our audiences (and us!) away. Spring readers include Yona Harvey and James Allen Hall (2/9/18), and Dave Lucas and Renee Gladman (3/30/18). If you live in Northeast Ohio, we hope to see you in the spring! Share Tweet Forward Copyright © 2017 Cleveland State University Poetry Center, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a lover of poetry, prose, and innovative literary publishing. Our mailing address is: Cleveland State University Poetry Center 2121 Euclid Avenue Rhodes Tower, Room 1841 Cleveland, OH  44115

Lighthouse Reading: Hayan Charara & Abraham Smith, 9/29 at CSU

Please join the Cleveland State University Poetry Center for the Lighthouse Reading Series's first event of the year! This reading will take place in Parker Hannafin 104 (on CSU's campus, across from the Student Center) on 9/29 at 7pm.

Hayan Charara is a poet, children’s book author, essayist, and editor. His third collection of poetry, Something Sinister (2016), was awarded the 2017 Arab American Book Award; he is also the author of The Sadness of Others (2006) and The Alchemist’s Diary (2001). His children’s book, The Three Lucys (2016), received the New Voices Award Honor, and he edited Inclined to Speak (2008), an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry. With Fady Joudah, he is a series editor of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He currently teaches in the Honors College at the University of Houston.

Abraham Smith is the author of four poetry collections: Ashagalomancy (Action Books, 2015); Only Jesus Could Icefish in Summer (Action Books, 2014); Hank (Action Books, 2010); and Whim Man Mammon (Action Books, 2007). In 2015, he released Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press), a co-edited anthology of contemporary rural American poetry and related essays. His creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Destruction of Man, his book-length poem about farming, is forthcoming in 2018 from Third Man Books. Presently, he is at work upon a poetry manuscript about cranes—birds whose song and stature electrify him. This fall, Smith joins the Weber State University community as an assistant professor of English.

Five to Nin

Nin Andrews answers five questions from Cleveland State University's Poetry Center:

• 5 Questions with Nin Andrews

National Poetry Month

(Guest post, from The Cauldron)

National Poetry Month

Timothy Cox

April is National Poetry Month, and for many poets — and a good number of poetry lovers and appreciators — it is a time to reflect on words and their beauty.

There are a number of ways to participate in the celebration.

The students of the poetry workshops offered by the Cleveland State University English Department come together for weekly classes to hone their craft and grow a greater love for the poetic word.

Organizations such as Speak Up!, a monthly poetry slam held at the university hosted by the Black Studies Department, bring together poets of the spoken word to do just that — speak up.

The many diverse voices you may encounter in the hallways of CSU or in the Black Studies Department are the backdrop for the amplification of the university's poets. As poets, we harmonize, and in the celebration of ceremony, turn verse to life and life to verse.

For National Poetry Month, find a poetry reading on campus, and open yourself to a reality you may not otherwise encounter — for the word is life, and all young people seek life in some form or another.

Try a poetry challenge — write a poem for each of the 30 days of April in celebration of the occasion, a feat of no meager means.

Young poets have taken to social media to challenge their fellows to dedicate themselves in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The challenge is to be vigilantly creative and steadfast to honor those poets who have done so throughout their careers — in the virtues of passion and discipline and little else. A daunting task turns into routine when one loves what one does.

Some may be turned away by words. Some may be turned away by language. Some may be turned away by art.

But what is more important is love — for poems and for those who write them. There is warmth in verses of poetry that is not found elsewhere in the realm of the arts.

Be as it may, the task of the poet has been to introduce, inculcate and conclude one's journey through the arts. It is a lifelong journey for some — for others, it may simply be an interesting semester.

This month, read Countee Cullen or Dylan Thomas, Saul Williams or Jack Kerouac. Read poetry.com. But you would be remiss not to read a poem this month.

Find what you enjoy and indulge, for there is much on the other side of the cover of a book of poetry.

And before you make it to the rear side of the book you will have breathed and blinked and grown and understood that there is much more to the written word than meets the eye. Celebrate a poem. Celebrate a poet. Celebrate National Poetry Month.

Timothy Cox

Timothy Cox is a senior English major at CSU.
Originally appeared in The Cauldron, Tuesday, April 14, 2015 
Reprinted with permission of the editors.

Cleveland Public Poetry presents Caryl Pagel 4/18

More info at http://www.ohiocenterforthebook.org/Blog/tabid/786/EntryId/985/Cleveland-Public-Poetry-featuring-Caryl-Pagel.aspx

CSU Poetry Center Presents New Reading Series!

• CSU Poetry Center
• Upcoming Readings

Ready for Levyfest?

Friday is Ohio Poetry Day, and here in Cleveland, this year that means one thing: first day of Levyfest

Ready for Levyfest?

• Levyfest Facebook Page
• Who was d.a. levy, anyway?

As an added bonus, if the weekend-long Levyfest isn't enough poetry for one city, on Saturday afternoon the East Cleveland Public Library is sponsoring a celebration of Cleveland legend Russell Atkins, with a reception following for poets to view some of the Atlanta University Center archival materials and share their own memories of Atkins and his work.

Friday, October 24th - 6-9 PM: An intimate reading and publishers' mixer at The Spotted Owl in Tremont - Join us for cocktails, poetry, and the release of the Renegade Flowers anthology! Stick around afterwards for cocktails and conversation!

Saturday, October 25th - 9:30AM - 5PM: Festival events at Cleveland State University's Michael Schwartz Library - Panels, readings, and discussions, including a curated tour of CSU's levy collections, documentary screening, and meet-and-greets!

Saturday, October 25th - 7:00PM - 10:30PM: The community reading series at Lava Lounge in Tremont, including readings hosted by The Writing Knights starting at 7:00pm (Knightmares Halloween show) and hosted by Deep Cleveland's Joshua Gage starting at 8 pm!
 
Saturday, October 25th - 7:00PM - Close: A knock-down, drag-out poetry experience at The Literary Cafe in Tremont hosted by the inimitable Steve Goldberg and Nick Traenkner, featuring several panelists and poets from the festival.

Sunday, October 26th - 10:00AM - 12:00PM: Levy memorial service at Edgewater park by the beach (Weather Permitting.)

On-Campus events at Cleveland State University's Michael Schwartz Library) for Saturday are listed here: http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/levyfest/2014/campus/
Off-Campus events are listed here: http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/levyfest/2014/community/

 Not all of the readings have been announced yet, but Joshua Gage has posted the line-up for the readings at Lava Lounge, 2061 West 10th Street, Tremont, on Saturday night.  Watch for:

•  8:10 Mary A. Turzillo
• 8:20 Jill Riga
• 8:30 Geoffrey A. Landis
• 8:40 Marissa Hyde
• 8:50 John Burroughs
• 9:00 Batya Weinbaum
• 9:10 dan smith
• 9:20 Elise Geither
• 9:30 Ryan Sagert
• 9:40 Marie Lillian Vibbert
• 9:50 Vertigo Xi'an Xavier
• 10:00-10:30 Open Mike

See you all there!

Renegade Flowers: LevyFest 2014

www.facebook.com/levyfest

"For the first time since 2006, Cleveland will be host to levyfest, which honors the city’s own alternative publisher and poet d.a. levy, as well as his contemporaries in the Mimeograph Revolution.  This festival will celebrate the history of small press publication and poetry in Cleveland and from around the world. It will include guest panels, readings, community and publishing events, and other programming" [info swiped from the HydeOut Press blog].

Here's the listing of On-Campus events (at Cleveland State University's Michael Schwartz Library) for Saturday, October 25th:
http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/levyfest/2014/campus/

Information on Off-Campus events can be found at http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/levyfest/2014/community/

Writers Make the Big Time on Center Stage

It's so jejune to be a fan of Billy Collins these days, but for those of us who aren't afraid to like a poet just because he's gotten popular, the Writers Center Stage series sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation and Cleveland State University will be bringing Billy Collins to the Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square on November 8.

Tickets are $30... if you think that's a lot of cash to go hear a writer, hey, at least I'm glad to see writers get the star treatment...

Info on the William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage program is here:

The full list of 2011-2012 writers being featured includes in 2011

ELIZABETH STROUT Sept. 20
MICHAEL POLLAN Oct 24
BILLY COLLINS Nov. 8

and in Spring 2012:
ABRAHAM VERGHESE March 20
ANNE LAMOTT April 17
COLM TOIBIN May 1

CSU

 From the CSU Poetry Center:

We are delighted to report that Cleveland State University Poetry Center is featured on the Front Page of today's Huffington Post, a major national current affairs and culture on-line newspaper, as the ninth of a list of fifteen exciting independent presses. To look at our profile and read the article, click on the link below. The article quotes Poetry Center Director, Dr. Dumanis and singles out three of our recent books.

Check it out 

Congrats from Clevelandpoetics the Blog!

CSU 4-1-10 – McDaniel and Dougherty

michael dumanis, director of the csu poetry center introduces jeffrey mcdaniel and sean thomas dougherty

Okay – so even the academic readings don’t start on time in Cleveland. The McDaniel – Dougherty reading was advertised as starting @7:30 and true to Poetic Standard Time things got rolling with Dumanis introducing the readers at around ten ‘til eight. Dougherty kicked things off launching into a rustbelt cinched treatise. Paisley flowered shirt rolled to his elbows showing tattooed forearms a cap that looks like it was plucked from a black and white photo of Ellis Island immigration line dwellers he reminded me more of an eastern bloc uncle than a professor from Case.

His work carried the same sort of unapologetic sensibility as his wardrobe. He himself later said that the pieces he was reading (from a forthcoming manuscript) were an attempt to just say things. “Sometimes things just need to be, said.” Dougherty’s reading style falls somewhere between a beat jazz sing song reminiscent of kinescopes of Kerouac on the Steve Allen show and the hip hop influenced delivery of contemporary slammers.

“this is going to be one of those readings where i really f*** myself up”

Dougherty finished his twenty-five minute set with a couple list poems – one titles Ex and finally a love poem with the refrain “you are…” I enjoyed his set and hope to see more of this  local writer.

McDaniel began his set with an excerpt from a longer piece of fiction, possibly a novel – something he has been working on for a couple years and not quite sure what to do with yet. He clutched the lectern and lowered his head looking as if he was reading in a wind tunnel and there was no warning when the fan might be turned on.

The five minute excerpt  started out with a hilarious rendering of a family cat in heat  swerved into a road trip to Niagra Falls with his father and brothers engaged in close quarter conflict and ending with a drug dependant mom vegetating back at home. McDaniel's work borders on the absurd at times and he uses humor like a knitting needle at a birthday party popping  balloons. I’ve always liked his work and was somewhat disappointed when he confessed that he has probably only written four new poems in the last couple years.  Let’s hope he rectifies this situation.