9/17: R.A. Washington and company at Mac's Backs

September 17th at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry:

August 15th: Open Air Poets in Cleveland Heights

July 18th: Open Air Poets in Cleveland Heights

From our friends at Mac's Backs and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library:

Join us in the PEACE Park as Coventry Branch and Mac’s Backs Bookstore present an outdoor summer poetry series. Thursday July 18th, 2024, at 7 p.m.

July's reading features poets: Miles Budimir, Steve Goldberg, Jason Harris and Kevin Latimer.

 

Coventry Village Library

1925 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

There's Always This Year: Grace Harper interviews Hanif Abdurraqib

Grace Harper of Mac's Backs Books on Coventry has a wonderful monthly book blog called Grace Notes, and I was especially excited to see that for July's edition she has interviewed acclaimed Ohio author Hanif Abdurraqib, whose latest book is There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension [Penguin Random House].

Read this enlightening interview at www.macsbacks.com/grace-notes-july-2024.

June 29th: M.J. Arcangelini & Friends and Ground & Sky Poetry

Saturday, June 29, 2024 from 5:00pm to 7:30pm at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry

Mac's will host a gathering of poets with readings by MJ Arcangelini and Joel Lesses on Saturday, June 29th at 5 p.m. The event is also a book release celebration for Journeys of Sacred Community: A Collection Anthology of Ground and Sky Poetry

MJ Arcangelini, born in Pennsylvania in 1952, has resided in northern California since 1979. He has published in many magazines, online journals & over a dozen anthologies.  He is the author of six published collections, including  Pawning My Sins publlished in 2022 by Luchador Press.

Ground and Sky Poetry is a reading series in Buffalo and Rochester, NY and was inspired by the late poet Maj Ragain from Kent. 

Joel David Lesses is a counselor and the founder of Education Training Center in Buffalo, dedicated to reframing mental health distress as a potential spiritual marker and existential opportunity. He also does the Unraveling Religion podcast which focuses on spirituality, world religion, meditation and poetry.

Other poets scheduled to read include Dianne Borsenik, Chris Franke, Russ Vidrick, Steven Smith, Kathy “Lady” Smith, John Burroughs, Shelley Chernin, Ben Gulyas, Adam Brodsky, Steve Goldberg, Steve Thomas, Scott Silsbe and  Chandra "Peggy Honeydew" Alderman.

Mac's Backs
1820 Coventry Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
https://www.macsbacks.com

5/8: John Burroughs, Jeremy Jusek and Barbara Marie Minney at Mac's Backs

I look forward to reading with Jeremy Jusek and Barbara Marie Minney on May 8th, 7 p.m. at Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry in Cleveland Heights.

 

ABOUT BARBARA MARIE MINNEY

Barbara Marie Minney is a transgender woman, award winning poet, writer, speaker, teaching artist, and quiet activist. Her poetry and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Politico, The Buckeye Flame, The Gasconade Review, Gargoyle Magazine, The Pine Cone Review, Women Speak: Women of Appalachia Project, Woman Scream: The International Poetry Anthology of Female Voices, and I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing, Ohio’s Appalachian Voices. Barbara’s poetry has also been translated into Spanish. She is the author of If There’s No Heaven, the winner of the 2020 Poetry Is Life Book Award and an Akron Beacon Journal Best Northeast Ohio Book in 2020; the "Poetic Memoir Chapbook Challenge;" "Dance Naked With God;" and "A Woman in Progress." Barbara is a retired attorney and a seventh generation Appalachian and lives in Tallmadge, Ohio, with her wife of over 42 years and a menagerie of stuffed animals. You can follow Barbara at https://www.barbaramarieminneypoetry.com.

ABOUT JEREMY JUSEK

Jeremy is the poet laureate of Parma, Ohio. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University and chemistry/theatre degrees from Marietta College. He has authored more than a half-dozen plays and three poetry collections: We Grow Tomatoes in Tiny Towns (Unsolicited Press, 2019), The Less-Traveled Street (Maverick Duck Press, 2022), and The Details Will Be Gone Soon (ELJ Editions, 2023). He hosts the Ohio Poetry Association's podcast Poetry Spotlight, runs the West Side Poetry Workshop, teaches through Literary Cleveland, and founded the Flamingo Writers’ Guild. To learn more, please visit www.jeremyjusek.com.

Mac's Backs
1820 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
216-321-2665
www.macsbacks.com

Poets John Dorsey & Ken Gierke to appear March 22nd at Mac's Backs

Friday, March 22, 2024 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm

Poets John Dorsey, author of Pocatello Wildflower and Ken Gierke, author of Glass Awash will read at Mac's on Friday, March 22nd at 7 pm.

John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO and the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022, and Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023). 

Ken Gierke is a retired truck driver, transplanted to Missouri from Western New York. In spite of muddy water and a dearth of maples, after only ten years he is coming to think of Missouri as home. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming both in print and online in such places as Ekphrastic Review, Amethyst Review, Silver Birch Press, and The Gasconade Review. His first collection of poetry, Glass Awash, has been published by Spartan Press.

Mac's Backs Books on Coventry
1820 Coventry Road
Cleveland, Heights, Ohio
www.macsbacks.com

 

Coming Early October in the Land:

[Shared from the Literary Cleveland newsletter:]

Thrity Umrigar & Karan Mahajan

Wednesday, October 4 at 7pm at CCPL Parma-Snow

Spoken Word: Poetry Open Mic Nights

Thursday, October 5 at 7pm at Kaiser Gallery

Literary Citizenship Seminar

Saturday, October 7 at 4:30pm virtual with Ashland University

Con Tu Variety Show

Sunday, October 8 at 10pm at Dunlaps Corner Bar

Indigenous People's Celebration

Monday, October 9 at 8pm virtual with Ashland University

Poetry ~ Cathy Barber & EF Schraeder

Wednesday, October 11 at 7pm at Macs Backs-Books on Coventry

Broadsides & Ephemera featuring Judith Mansour

Thursday, October 12 at 7pm at Loganberry Books

Cris Harris & Mary Quade

Saturday, October 14 at 7pm at Macs Backs-Books on Coventry

Coming to Cleveland July 12th

 

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 Bookshop Podcast features Mac's Backs and Larry Smith

This week on The Bookshop Podcast, host Mandy Jackson-Beverly talks to northern Ohio lit icons Suzanne DeGaetano of Mac's Backs Books on Coventry and Larry Smith of Bottom Dog Press:

Listen on Spotify, Podcast Addict, PlayerFM or BuzzSprout.

Mac's Backs: www.macsbacks.com

Larry Smith: https://smithdocs.net/LarrySmithHomepage.htm

Altered Landscapes: Poets Interpreting Surrealist Landscape Photography at Mac's Backs opening 10/25

Cleveland Photo Fest presents Altered Landscapes: Poets Interpreting Surrealist Landscape Photography, opening November 25th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry in Cleveland Heights.

Photographers: Kat Cade, Mary Ford, Samantha Bias, Janet Century, Tim Lachina, Anthony Demarco, Todd Hoak and Catherine McManus.

Poets: Krystal Sierra, Jim Szudy, Nicole Hennessy, Jimi Remick, Miguel Moor, John Burroughs, Siaara Freeman, and Doc Janning.

https://www.facebook.com/clevelandphotofest
https://clevelandphotofest.org
https://www.macsbacks.com 

Celebrate Indy Bookstores!

• Cleveland.com celebrates Cleveland's wonderful independent bookstores!

Loganberry Books - Photo by Stu Spivack

Mac's Backs - Photo by GL

Appletree Books - photo by Lute Q.

... and the Cleveland Scene also celebrates https://photos.clevescene.com/where-to-find-the-best-independent-bookstores-in-cleveland/!

Waiting for the Wind to Rise August 30th at Mac's Backs

poster by Christopher Franke

M.J. Arcangelini's new chapbook, Waiting for the Wind to Rise, was released today by Greater Cleveland's own NightBallet Press. Originally from Ohio, Arcangelini now lives in California but will be returning to Cleveland for a special book release event and reading on August 30th at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry.

Kleft Crisis 2018 and Steven Smith Book Launch

Where Never Was Already Is by Smith
(2018, Crisis Chronicles Press)

This weekend, Crisis Chronicles Press (out of Cleveland) and Kleft Jaw Press (out of Denver) celebrate National Poetry Month by presenting a Friday/Saturday litfest you won't want to miss featuring authors from across the United States at three of the best bookstores in Ohio. Then Ray McNiece will follow it up on Sunday with a Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam featuring Cleveland art/poetry legend Steven Smith, whose new book, Where Never Was Already Is, was just published this month by Crisis Chronicles.

Friday 4/20, 7pm till ? at Guide to Kulchur Books
5222 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102
featuring readings by
Iris Appelquist (Kansas City, MO)
Steve Brightman (Akron, OH)
John Burroughs (Cleveland, OH)
Ryder Collins (Milwaukee, WI)
Azriel Johnson (Canton, OH)
Mark S Kuhar (Medina, OH)
Frankie Metro (Denver, CO)
Jeanette Powers (Kansas City, MO)
Austin Price (New York, NY)
Gabriel Ricard (East Northport, NY)
Margie Shaheed (Memphis, TN)
Nathanael Stolte (Buffalo, NY)
RA Washington (Cleveland, OH)

Saturday 4/21, 2pm to 4pm at Main Street Books
104 N. Main St,, Mansfield, OH 44902
emcee: Mark Sebastian Jordan
featuring readings by
Iris Appelquist (Kansas City, MO)
Frankie Metro (Denver, CO)
Jeanette Powers (Kansas City, MO)
Gabriel Ricard (East Northport, NY)
plus open mic

Saturday 4/21, 7pm to 10pm at Mac's Backs
1820 Coventry Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
featuring readings by
Dianne Borsenik (Elyria, OH)
Theresa Brightman (Akron, OH)
Christina Brooks (Detroit, MI)
Shelley Chernin (Novelty, OH)
Ryder Collins (Milwaukee, WI)
Juliet Cook (Medina, OH)
Steve Goldberg (Cleveland, OH)
Clarissa Jakobsons (Aurora, OH)
Alynn Mahle (Mentor, OH)
Austin Price (New York, NY)
Heather Ann Schmidt (Oberlin, OH)
Margie Shaheed (Memphis, TN)
Kathy Smith (Cleveland, OH)
Steven Smith (Cleveland, OH)
Nathanael Stolte (Buffalo, NY)

Sunday 4/22, 6pm at the Millard Fillmore Presidential Library
15617 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, Ohio 44110
Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam
emceed by Ray McNiece
featuring a performance by Steven Smith
plus open mic (your chance to perform with the band)

Please come celebrate with us!

Two of Cleveland's Best Read Wednesday 8/9 at Mac's Backs

Forget Black Friday- We Have Small Business Saturday!

Forget "Black Friday"-- we have "Small Business Saturday" (or, for the book version, "Indies First").  

Save your black Friday money for some of our local independent bookstores-- Mac's Backs Books On Coventry, Loganberry Books, Appletree Books, or your favorites around town (and, if you're further away, don't forget Learned Owl in Hudson, Main Street Books in Mansfield, and the Wooster Book Company in Wooster.)

Saturday Nov 26 they will ALL have events going on featuring local writers! And it's a good day to stroll Coventry, or Larchmere, or Cedar-Fairmont (or, why not all of these?) to check out the quirky local stores to get a start on your Christmas list.

Mac's Backs Small Business Saturday:

This year Small Business Saturday is November 26th. Mac's will be featuring specials throughout the day, sweet treats and raffling some cool stuff.

• Portrait photographer Laura Wimbel will be at Mac's between Noon-1p.m. to sign copies of Faces of Cleveland 
• Terry Pluto will be signing The Comeback: LeBron, The Cavs and Cleveland (and the rest of his books!) between 1-2 p.m. 
• Artist Dakarai has just published a book of collages and he will be signing between 5-6 p.m.

Shop Small is a nationwide movement to celebrate small businesses every day and to help communities thrive. While Small Business Saturday is highlighted as a special day when we can show our support as a nation for small business owners and our communities, the Shop Small Movement is a year-round campaign to celebrate and support small businesses every day.

Loganberry Books Indies First:
Larchmere Holiday Stroll Friday, November 25, 2016, 10:00AM—8:00PM

Now in its 45^th year, the Larchmere Holiday Stroll is our kick-off to the holiday season!  The dozens of shops on Larchmere represent the gamut from fine antiques to thrift, high style to barber shops, Brazilian fine dining to Michael Symon’s favorite dive --  but not a single store here is a chain store! Browse the boulevard to see what’s new (Ipanema Market, Whiplash Studio, Fasi's Cultural Experience, Poisonberry Bakery, Grey's Pie Shop), and enjoy treats at each (hot mulled cider and cookies at Loganberry).  Traditional horse and buggy can help you traverse the 10 blocks on Friday and Saturday, 12-4pm.  And at Loganberry, enjoy the sweet sounds of guitar maestro Brian Henke, 12-2pm. We’ll be open until 8pm! 

Indies First Saturday, November 26, 2016, 10:00AM—6:00PM 

Now in its 4^th year, the national Indies First event celebrates the quirky, bedrock resource that independent bookstores bring to their local communities. Gathering grounds for people to talk to their neighbors, find inspiration and relaxation in books, to explore other viewpoints, historical and international perspectives, and classic children’s lit, independent bookstores are all different and yet all the same.  Greater Cleveland is fortunate to have half a dozen indie bookstores, so check us out on Indies First, and enjoy our special offerings, too.  At Loganberry, we’ll have free tote bags (while supplies last), refreshments, customer appreciation gifts, and local author book signings.  You can ask the authors for book recommendations, too! Here’s the author schedule: 

·         11:00-12:00 Tricia Springstubb, Every Single Second

·         12:00-1:00 Nikki Delamotte, 100 Things to Do in Cleveland Before You Die 

·         1:00-2:00 D.M. Pulley, The Buried Book 

·         2:00-3:00 Laura Wimbels, Faces of Cleveland 

·         3:00-4:00 Joanna Connors, I Will Find You 

Small Business Sunday, November 27, 2016, 12:00PM—5:00PM

 If we still have Shop Small tote bags in stock, we’ll keep on giving them away on Sunday, too, and you get American Express extra points until the end of the year.  Sundays are generally a little quieter, so we scheduled the children’s activity for Sunday.  Join us for a Very Bear Affair with author Dave Cockley (Those Rockin’ Cleveland Kids) at 1:00, and bring your teddy bears if you’re so inspired!  Dave will have many bears, including Benjamin Bear, for games and photo opportunities. 

Appletree books Small Business Saturday:

Support your local favorite independent bookstore and other small businesses as you shop for holiday gifts! Joining us for the day will be:

• Susan Rich, designer and owner of Hazelmade, creator of notecards, one-of-a-kind greeting cards, calendars, tea towels, and more
• Marsha Everett, jewelry designer and author of the historical novel, Matthew Brayton, Indian Captive (Windjammer Adventure Publishing).

• About Indies First
• Indie Bound

Cleveland: A Premier Literary Destination

Poets from all over hear (or already know) about the lively Cleveland area literary scene and look forward to coming (and coming back) as soon and as often as possible.  This week is no exception, as several well-regarded out-of-state poets will be here to share their literary wares. Two of the more notable events will happen Saturday 2/27 at Mac's Backs and Sunday 2/28 at Guide to Kulchur.  So whether you're an east-sider, a west-sider, or the more adventurous sort who enjoys the best of both, you have something to look forward to. It won't be the same reading twice, but it will be supremely worth your while both times.  The visiting poets will include: 

Jason Ryberg is the author of nine books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and, a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in residence at The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and an aspiring b-movie actor. His latest collections of poems are Motel, Diner, Liquor (co-authored with John Dorsey, Jason Hardung and Seth Elkins, Spartan Press, 2014) and Beauty Parlors,Train Yards and Everything In Between (co-authored with George Wallace, David Smith and Charly Fasano, Spartan Press, 2014). He lives in Kansas City, Missouri with a rooster named Little Red and a billy goat named Giuseppe.

Shawn Pavey has delivered newspapers, mowed lawns, bagged groceries, cut meat, laid sewer pipe, bussed tables, washed dishes, roofed houses, crunched numbers, rented cars, worked in hotels, worn an apron at Kinko's, and been paid to write everything from résumés to music reviews. Currently, he earns a living as a Technical Recruiter in Mission, KS where he lives with his fiancée and three worthless but adorable cats. He is the author of Talking to Shadows (Main Street Rag Press, 2008) and Nobody Steals the Towels From a Motel 6 (2015, Spartan Press), Co-founder and former Associate Editor of The Main Street Rag Literary Journal, and a former board member and officer of The Writers Place, a Kansas City-based literary non-profit. His poems, essays, and journalism appear in a variety of national and regional publications. He's hosted poetry readings in bars, coffee shops, haunted houses, bookstores, libraries, front porches, and abandoned warehouses. A graduate of the University of North Carolina's Undergraduate Honors Creative Writing Program, he likes his Tom Waits loud, his bourbon single barrel, and his basketball Carolina Blue.

Jameson Bayles: A side effect of the military industrial complex, Jameson Bayles was born at the hospital at Forbes Field AFB just south of Topeka, KS. By the age of eighteen, Jameson had participated in a refueling mission with F-16s over the skies in South Dakota, stood atop of an active missle silo, and was the bait in a counter terrorism exercise with Air Force Special Forces at Whiteman AFB. After watching Krist Novoselic obtaining a head injury at the 1992 MTV music awards, Jameson decided to pursue the path of becoming a poet and eventually crawled into a dimly lit coffeeshop in dowtown Topeka in 1997 participating in his first open mic. Jameson Bayles is the senior editor of Asinimali Publications based in Kansas City, MO and the curator of The Cellar Poetry Series at the Weston Wine Company in Weston, MO. Jameson has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines and currently, his work can be found in three books. “The Cataman Years”, published by Mistop Publications, “The Artistic Muses” published by True Color Press and the collaborative reader "A Case For Ascension" by Asinimali Publications. Jameson resides in Kansas City, Missouri and can be reached at jamesonbayles@gmail.com.

And they will be joined by two Cleveland favorites:

Dianne Borsenik is active in the northern Ohio poetry scene and regional reading circuit. Her poems have appeared in Great Lakes Review, Slipstream, Rosebud, and many others; upcoming publications include Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Dirty Chai, and The Stars Look Very Different Today: A David Bowie Tribute (Poems-For-All). Her poem "Disco" was chosen to be printed on the 2015 Youngstown Summer Festival of the Arts tote bags and on Lit Youngstown tee shirts. In 2011 she founded NightBallet Press, and in September 2015 produced BeatStreet Cleveland as part of the International Beat Poetry Festival. She lives in Elyria with husband James and dog-sons Bodhisattva and Michel-Angelo. Find her at www.dianneborsenik.com.

John Burroughs was born in West Virginia, raised in Elyria, Ohio, and now lives and works in Cleveland. Along the way, he won the first poetry competition he entered as a high school student, served for several years as playwright-in-residence at Marion Correctional Institution, became a number one blogger on MySpace, won his first-ever poetry slam in his 40s, has hosted several esteemed reading series, and co-founded the annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. John's poetry volumes include Beat Attitude [2015, NightBallet Press], It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change [2013, The Poet's Haven], The Eater of the Absurd [2012, NightBallet], Barry Merry Baloney [2012, Spare Change Press] and the collaborative book Oct Tongue -1 (with Weems, Swain, Smith, Lady, Chernin and Brightman). Since 2008, Burroughs has run Crisis Chronicles Press, publishing fine indie writers from around the world.

So please join us this weekend and give our visiting artists a warm Cleveland welcome!

February 27th at 7 pm - KC & CLE: A Case for Ascension at Mac's Backs
Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry
1820 Coventry Road
Cleveland, Heights, Ohio
(216) 321-2665

February 28th at 7 pm - Guide to Kulchur Red Room Reading Series
Guide to Kulchur: Text, Art & News
5900 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio
(216) 314-4644

Great Bookstores in Cleveland

Cleveland.com features 13 Great Independent Bookstores in Cleveland (and surroundings).
For bonus points, visit them all!

Poetry Shops

The New Yorker has an article "the curious persistence of poetry shops": book stores that specialize in poetry, and how they are surviving, and even in a small way thriving, in an era in which many large bookstores have been failing.

"Retail may not get much more niche than poetry, which historically has never been a lucrative proposition. But it does have cachet in some circles, and a dedicated readership. The best poetry stores mix the scholarly with the whimsical, the linear with the arty. Berl’s is in a former gallery space, subleased from two artists, with exposed brick walls that have been painted white, barrel ceilings, a gray Lego sculpture of Walt Whitman, and an eighteen-chair area for readings. On one wall are seventy black-and-white portraits of anarchists and monarchs by the artist Miranda White, Jared’s sister, with whom he has collaborated on a book."

Book Reader (photo by GL)

They somehow fail to mention Cleveland in the article, but we do have a few bookstores that are very friendly to poetry, particularly notably Guide to Kulchur and Mac's Backs.

So, horray to our very own poetry shops

-- and we've got art, too.

• Guide to Kulchur has a new location