Tag Archive for 'readings'

Farewell, LA reading series

Published on March 24, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Hi all,

I’m doing a few last readings before I move away to start my MFA and head out to the Prague Summer Writers Program.  I’d love to see everyone before I take off, so come out to one or more of these!  
This weekend, I’m reading on both Friday and Saturday, and here’s the info:
Friday, March 27th, 8 p.m. at Stories Bookstore in Echo Park, 1716 Sunset Blvd.  I’ll be reading with Karen Harryman, a Black Goat Press poet, and here’s her deal:
Karen Harryman’s poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly, Los Angeles Review, Poetry New Zealand, and the Cortland Review, as well as other print and online journals. Before moving to Los Angeles, she lived and worked in Kentucky for most of her life. Currently, she teaches English and creative writing at YULA, an Orthodox Jewish high school in Los Angeles. Auto Mechanic’s Daughter is her first book.
It will be a great reading–she’s really talented, and Stories, if you haven’t been yet, is a beautiful little bookstore that could use our support.
Saturday, March 28th, 8 p.m. (I go on at 9, though) Will Wright Reads at the Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N Alvarado St. (@ Sunset).  There’s a good possibility I might read prose (gasp)!  All of the other readers are good news, too.
And…finally…
Friday, April 3rd, 7:30 p.m., Skylight Books with Cati Porter, 1818 N Vermont Ave.  It’s Skylight, and they’re awesome.  Come.  Here’s Cati’s deal:

Cati Porter is founder and editor-in-chief of Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry and associate editor (poetry) for Babel Fruit. She is the author of two poetry collections, a chapbook of prose poems, small fruit songs (Pudding House Publications, 2008), and Seven Floors Up (Mayapple Press, 2008). Her poems have been anthologized in Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel – Second Floor (No Tell Books), Letters to the World: Poems from the Women’s Poetry Listserv (Red Hen Press), and White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (Demeter Press/York University, Canada), and appear widely online and in print. 

. 
Phew.  OK.  See you soon.

reading at Metropolis Books, 9/11 (Artwalk!)

Published on September 8, 2008 in Event, Out and About, Poetry and The City. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Here’s the deal with my reading at the Artwalk next Thursday:

“Metropolis Books is a great little bookstore in Downtown, sort of an anchor of literary goodness in this crazy beautiful part of the city. It is owned and operated by a really cool lady named Julie Swayze.

Please join us and hear Kim’s unforgettable poetry, buy a book or two if you haven’t already done so,
and have a good time with us.

For those of you who haven’t done the Downtown Art Walk before, it’s a real treat.
People are all over the streets, hopping from one packed gallery to the next, and you’re like us,
sipping free cheap wine at most of the galleries!! It’s a bucketload of fun.

So once again:

Thursday, 9/11
7 PM

Kim Calder
@
Metropolis Books
The Downtown Source for Books
440 S. Main St. L.A. 90013
Phone-213-612-0174 
www.MetropolisBooksLA.com 
www.Downtownbookblog.blogspot.com

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Chiwan & Judeth
writlargepress.com“

ghost of readings past

Published on September 8, 2008 in Event and Poetry. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m back from New York, and getting geared up to read next Thursday night at Metropolis Books during the Artwalk in Downtown LA.  I’ve posted some pictures from the reading I did at goodbye blue monday in Brooklyn, which was a great experience.  Check out the gallery section of the site if you’d like to see them.  I read a few short pieces from the book, and then read the 25 or so pages I have of prison-house (for the first time).  Generally, I’ve only read very short sections, so it was somewhat dizzying to read the whole thing.  I find it daunting, too, to read works-in-progress, but having some friends there to help me along was useful.  As I read prison-house, I was accompanied by 4 musicians: a drummer, violinist, guitarist, and a pianist.  We had no real plan and the whole thing was improvised, a form that seemed to match perfectly, for me, with the notion of presenting a work-in-progress publicly.  I feel even closer to the piece after performing it in this setting, and I learned a lot about what I’d like to accomplish with it.  It was a major challenge, acoustically and energetically, to read with and over the music, and the reading had a very different feel from other readings I’ve done.  We were well received, and GBM was packed for the duration, with both old friends and strangers.  If you live in Brooklyn, or are planning on visiting soon, I highly recommend paying goodbye blue monday a visit.  It’s located in Bushwick and is a great place to check out some free music/performance, have a drink, and buy weird stuff (everything in the place is for sale).

I’m planning on staging a similar reading of prison-house once it’s further along, and will keep all you LA people posted when I figure the timing of that out.  I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and it’s good to be home, where I’ll actually be staying put for a while.  Hope to see some of you at the Artwalk–I’ll post the info here, of course.  

reading/signing at Village Books

Published on July 8, 2008 in Event and Poetry. 0 Comments Tags: , .

I’m having a book signing/reading at Village Books in the Palisades this Thursday, July 10th. It’s the first thing I’ve done on the westside, so hopefully I’ll see some of you who haven’t been able to get out to the other readings there, and everyone in general! Here’s the info:

Kim Calder signs Who’s to Say What’s Home

Village Books

1049 Swarthmore Ave. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

(310)-454-4063

7:30-8:30

and their website:

http://www.palivillagebooks.com/vb/index.php  

chiwan choi (and this wednesday)

Published on May 19, 2008 in Event, Poetry and Recommends. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

As y’all know, I’m reading with Chiwan Choi this Wednesday at Good Hurt and had promised to post a sample of his work. Chi’s a genius, and he’s also 1/2 of my publisher, Writ Large Press. Here’s a poem from his website:

Jacob and Israel

it’s how the story was told to me
on the steps of the kitchen,
my little belly hanging out over the waist
of the beige shorts mom made me,
with seams stitched in
so i’d know which side was the front,
the comic book in my hands,
unable to admit to her
that i was making up the words
after overhearing her tell her sister
who lived next door with her unbearable husband
that i could already read at not quite 4,
sitting there on the steps that my father built
just like he built the rest of the house
once over the business of having me,
sitting on those steps that went down into the kitchen,
as she stuck her hands
into cabbage and pepper flakes
and drew me the picture of that cliff,
that mountainside of rocks,
with her words
and i pretended not to care
and held the book i couldn’t read to my face
and pretended i didn’t hear the story
of jacob,
of israel,
hanging there on the rocks,
his hands on the cloth of the angel’s robe,
whose wings were no match
for a young man’s desperation.

Chi’s one of the best poets writing today–so I highly recommend you make it out for this one. I know it’s the westside, but it’s worth it, I promise.

Here’s the info, one more time:
Wednesday, May 21st
8 pm (Chi and I will be reading between 8:45-9:45)
Good Hurt Bar
12249 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90066

and, be sure to check out Chi’s website, www.chiwanchoi.com, and Writ Large Press’ website, www.writlargepress.com.

Reading w/Sarah Heston and Gabriela Jauregui 6/7

Published on May 13, 2008 in Event and News. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

That’s right, folks, ANOTHER reading!  I’ll be reading with Sarah and Gaby, who are both absolutely amazing.  Here’s the deal:

Sarah Heston’s Art Jam Out

June 7th, 7 p.m.
in basement of 810 e 3rd st, # 45
(enter at the big iron gate at 801 e Traction across the street from Blooms Store at Hewitt and Traction)

Hey friends, so I’m heading to Finland in June and then I’m off to Missouri to get my Ph.D. from the Univ. of Missouri, where I’ve been named the (duh duh) Distinguished Fellow of Creative Non-Fiction, for my memoir, which some of you are mentioned in. And I’ve only been back in LA for mere months…so, I will read a bit from the memoir, sing, dance, and humiliate myself, all for you. In addition, there will be other readers and performers, art on display, and drinks and food in this incredible downtown studio of Dave’s and Frank’s (the dads).

Sarah Heston reads from the memoir
Kim Calder and Gabriela Jauregui read from their *new and awesome* books of poetry
David Hollen’s fabulous and slightly dangerous sculptures will be on display, so be careful and bid high!
and I think many others, like beautiful Swedish jazz musicians? erudite accomplished Armenians?  unicorns? my grandparents??
Google names for books and art. Forward email to mutual friends.

But most importantly, this is my way to party with you before I take off, once again, but this time with university backing for a book that is saving my life. Please come dance with me, bring alcohol if you can, and check out the work of my friends and my own, because we’re all doing what makes life great. And you are great. I’ve seen your bands a million times, now you can come see what I do.

Please RSVP by letting me know you’d like to come, and I’ll advise Sarah so she can make enough food, etc.  I can’t say enough about Sarah’s writing–and she’s also just one of my favorite people out there.  Gaby’s going to be incredible, as well, and it should be one hell of a party.  So come on out!!

I advise you check out Ms. Heston’s writing, ASAP, at:

http://sarahheston.blogspot.com/

and, this is what none other than Marjorie Perloff said about Gaby’s book:

Remarkable. . . . Gabriela Jauregui displays perfect pitch: Her lyrics are impressive in their scope, range, empathy-and especially their authentic passion.-Marjorie Perloff , author of 21st-Century Modernism

Reading at Good Hurt 5/21

Published on May 13, 2008 in Event. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

So, I’ve got the details for my next reading all nailed down.  Chiwan Choi (1/2 of Writ Large Press) and I will be reading at the Good Hurt bar in Culver City, along with some other poets, on Wednesday, May 21st.  The reading begins at 8 p.m.  I’m really excited–Chiwan is one of my favorite poets writing today, and it’s an honor to read with him.  I’ll post a piece of his so you can all see what a treat you’re in for!

The other wonderful thing about this reading is that Good Hurt is a concept bar, the concept being that the bar is staffed by hot nurses.  What an excellent idea, no?

You can see the hot nurses, along with other venue information at http://www.goodhurt.net.  Hope to see you all there:

Kim Calder and Chiwan Choi

(plus others)

Wednesday, May 21st, 8 pm

at Good Hurt Bar

12249 Venice Blvd., West Los Angeles, CA 90066

(310)-390-1076