It’s February and when it’s February I always think of Shane Jones’s imaginative book Light Boxes, in which the month is personified as a malevolent, godlike antagonist, wreaking cold, unending havoc on the world. Jones said somewhere that the idea came to him because that’s what February is: cold and unending and evil.
Hopefully some literary events will warm things up. Baltimore is a lit-rich environment, so highlighting it will be the focus of the “Baltimore Reader,” my new bi-monthly column here. I welcome your tips at BaltimoreReader@publishinggenius.com. Here’s a roundup of what’s happening around Baltimore this month.
This Sunday, Julie Fisher hosts her “Essential Sundays” series at Minas’ Gallery in Hampden. She’ll be featuring Melanie McCabe, who’s had her work published in more journals than you can shake a snowball at. The Sunday readings at Minas are usually casual, and they’re preceded by an open mic.
On the 12th, Chris Mason will be reading at the Enoch Pratt Central library as part of their Poetry and Conversation series. Chris is the author of Hum Who Hiccup, from Narrow House, the recently defunct local press. Chris is also a member of some of the scene’s coolest bands, like The Tinklers and Old Songs. He says he’ll be playing music at the event. He’ll be joined by your truly, but I won’t be playing music.
I like the Enoch Pratt library. It’s encouraging how much one of the city’s main literary institutions invests in all the different levels of the local scene. On February 28th they’re hosting Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose new book is called My Beloved World. If that doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what will.
On the 15th, there are two book release parties. The first is for Night Moves (out from my own micro press, Publishing Genius). Stephanie Barber’s book is a painful and sad—but hilarious—conceptual long poem based on Bob Seger’s song of the same name. The event starts at 7pm at Atomic Books, where bookstore owner Benn Ray will be hosting Barber in a Q&A. Cellist Kate Porter will also be performing, and drinks will be provided.
Later that night, join local luminaries and Espresso Ink co-founders Amanda McCormick and Tracy Dimond as they release their press’s first chapbook, the beautifully constructed Sorry I Wrote So Many Poems Today, by Dimond herself. She’ll read and will be joined by one of my favorites, Mark Cugini. The event will be at EMP Collective at 8:30. (You might have heard about this on WYPR, when they were on The Signal last week.
On the 16th, celebrate the release of Jen Michalski’s amazing new book, Could You Be With Her Now, a collection of two novellas, just out from Dzanc, a big small press located in Michigan. I started reading the first part, “I Can Make it to California Before Dinner,” in the checkout line at Safeway and almost forgot to swipe my saver’s card. That’s high praise. Jen will be reading as part of the 510 Readings, which she co-founded, and which is now in its fifth year. The special guest host is Joseph Young, and the event starts at 5pm at Minas’ Gallery.
Red Sammy is a “graveyard country” band that does a lot with the local writing scene. On Sunday the 17th they’ll be releasing their new CD, these poems with kerosene, at WindUp Space at 5pm. The album is a collaboration with poet Steve Matanle, who reads his work between the tracks.
Then it’s back to Tracy Dimond, who might get the win for busiest month; not only is she publishing a chapbook and throwing a party for it, but a couple days later she’ll be reading at WORMS, one of the city’s coolest series, hosted by funnyman R.M. O’Brien. That’s February 19th at the Metro Gallery. Jeremy Hoevenaar and Christopher Stackhouse are also on the bill.
I feel like that’s a lot. Surely there are some I missed. Load up the comments. Oh! February also brings the release of PARLOR, a “blind exquisite corpse poetry project” edited by Baltimore’s super-prolific Sarah Jean Alexander. This second issue features new poems by Rachel Hyman and Stephen Tully Dierks, among others.
What I like about readings and book release parties is that this is where the cutting edge literature happens. It’s where writers try out their new stuff. Sometimes a performance leaves me confused, sometimes it makes me bored or angry, but often I’m completely engaged. For instance, Kate Greenstreet gave the most riveting reading I’ve ever seen at WORMS a week ago, and I’ve been puzzling over it since. She was conversational and slow as she flipped around in her new book, and I wasn’t sure what words she was reading and what were scintillating thoughts just occurring to her. It all fit together. Afterwards I went out and marveled about the performance with some friends. I never do that after a movie (but maybe I did feel that way after Sunday’s Super Bowl) (no I didn’t) (but it was awesome).
Tune in next time for an interview with some of Baltimore’s bookish tastemakers.
