In exactly one week ASU will be hosting a reading by Alison Hawthorne Deming. The reading will take place at Arizona State University on the Tempe Campus in the Education Lecture Hall EDC Room 117. It will take place on Wednesday, April 13th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Check out the Superstition Review Facebook page for full details.
Tempe
Submission Period Ending March 31st and Alison Hawthorne Deming Reading
The Superstition Review submission period for Issue 7 ends tomorrow March 31st. There is still time to submit for publication. Just make sure you get your submission in on the 31st. Any later and you will have to wait till Fall to submit.
This has been a great year for literature and our fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art editors have been busy all semester viewing your submissions. With our reading period ending they will soon be turning their attention to making those submissions ready to go print.
In other literary news the upcoming Alison Hawthorne Deming reading at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus is coming up in just about three weeks. The reading will take place in the Education Lecture Hall EDC Room 117. It will take place on Wednesday, April 13th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Check out the Superstition Review Facebook page for full details.
Local Event: Black Pearl Poetry
Back in December, after spending an evening at the monthly downtown Phoenix street fair known as First Fridays, I wandered into Fair Trade Cafe near the LightRail station at Roosevelt and Central in search of a hot beverage. What I found (in addition to coffee) was a slam poetry show. As an English major, my definition of poetry has been shaped by classes spent examining poets with diverse styles, but I had never encountered spoken word poetry except in a disclaimer from a creative writing professor that we would be discussing written word poetry and not spoken, because slam poetry is “a whole different ball game.”
Watching spoken word, I did find it to be an entirely new experience that challenged my conception of poetry, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was drawn in by the blending of sets of words that fit into my definition of poetry and the stylized vocal delivery that turns slam poetry into a performing art and a category of its own. If you’re interested in trying a new way of experiencing poetry, you should check it out:
Ed Mabrey, the 2007-2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, is the founder of Black Pearl Poetry, which runs two shows in Phoenix per week:
Black Pearl Poetry Tempe Thursday: Every Thursday 8-10:15 p.m., $5.00 admission, MADCAP Theaters (the former Harkins theaters) at 730 S. Mill Ave in Tempe.
Black Pearl Poetry Phoenix Friday: Every Friday (except 3rd Friday) 7:45-10 p.m., $5.00 admission, Fair Trade Cafe at 1020 N. 1st Ave. in downtown Phoenix. *Every 3rd Friday instead of the evening show, there’s a poetry workshop in the same venue from 5:30-7 p.m.
This week’s lineup:
April 1 (Tempe): The National Poetry Slam Finals for Team Selection, an open mic, special guest performers, a farewell to the ASU SunDevilSlam Team, and featured performer Taalam Acey.
April 2 (downtown Phoenix): The Youth National Poetry Slam Finals for Team Selection, an open mic, special guest performers, and featured performer Taalam Acey.
These shows are both once a year events and two of the biggest shows that Black Pearl will host all year, which makes them perfect opportunities to get a feel for what slam poetry is all about. Don’t forget to say hi if you see me there!
Superstition Review’s Fourth Issue Reading Series, first reading
This past Monday was Superstition Review’s first reading of the semester and, I have to say, it was pretty amazing, particularly with the small and intimate setting of our favorite local bookstore, Changing Hands, literally setting the stage for the event!
Not only did we get to hear from American Book Award winner Stella Pope Duarte, who was previously featured as an interviewed writer for her award-winning book, If I Die in Juarez, but she also asked two of her writing students to join her. Accomplished writers Rita Ackerman and Annie Lopez accompanied our main guest reader that night as they too shared highlights from their varied portfolios. After a brief introduction to the readers for the evening via our Editor-in-Chief, I grabbed a seat off to the side and settled in for the reading–notebook, camera, and BlackBerry (for live-tweeting!) in hand.
Reading Series Editor, Samantha Novak, took the Changing Hands stage first, quickly introducing Trish Murphy, our Editor-in-Chief, inviting her to speak a little about SR. As Trish gave the rundown of how we work, take submissions, and run the magazine all through semester-long undergraduate internships, she also gave an update on submissions and solicitations that have already drifted into the magazine. Among the poets and authors submitting work, we learned that award-winning author and former ASU professor Ron Carlson will be interviewed for this upcoming issue–how exciting is that? With the logistical side of the reading out of the way, we were ready to hear from our esteemed readers.
First to read was Rita Ackerman, a scholar of the history of the American Wild West. She read an illuminating narrative on the shootout at the O.K. Corral from the perspective of Ike Clanton, an under-celebrated outlaw of Arizona’s history.
The story came from her recently published O.K. Corral Postscript: The Death of Ike Clanton and provided a street view of the shootout. It was particularly interesting because it viewed the famous Earp brothers from a fairly neutral position. Ackerman continued with a short dip into the death scene she has reconstructed from the obituaries and accounts of Ike Clanton’s death. Introducing ‘Pigleg Wilson,’ her writing explained that Ike, though a pivotal member of the Clanton gang, is not buried in a dignified grave in Tombstone like the rest of his family, but he instead resides in a unmarked grave somewhere in Springerville, Arizona.
It was particularly interesting to hear a detailed and engaging account of one of Arizona’s famous outlaws. Ackerman really brought to light the benefits of well-written nonfiction narratives, highlighting one of the under-sung genres of many literary journals, and one that SR is proud to feature.
Next up was Annie Lopez. Not only is Lopez a great storyteller, but she’s also an artist–one featured at the Phoenix Art Museum (and giving a lecture on her work on October 21st at 4 and 7 p.m.).
Lopez’s work collectively focused on the naivety of youth, especially as a young woman growing up in Phoenix. In her partly auto-biographical stories, the fourth-generation Phoenician read about her young adult mishaps. In, The Dress, a middle school-aged Lopez shows us a glimpse into a home-economics class. She and a friend made complete fools of themselves by knowing a little too much about sewing and trying to flaunt their skills, resulting in becoming the laughing stock of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. Her other story not only brought about laughs from the audience as she explained the awkward situation she was put in when her high school guidance counselor exposed herself to Lopez, but also reinforced the need to feel comfortable in your surroundings as a young adult.
Enterprising on the hilarious hi-jinx of youth, Lopez really connected with her audience as she shared her humorous tales and reminded everyone in the audience the importance of staying on the good side of friends-who-happen-to-be-writers–whatever you do, she warned via her shared anecdote, don’t forget that whatever you say and do can, and often will, be written down and used against you in the future if it has high humor value. In all fairness, you should know better!
Finally, it was Stella Pope Duarte’s turn to take the small stage. The audience seemed particularly excited to hear from her as she was introduced.
The ABA award-winner greeted everyone with a quick, unabashed admission: she loves rumors and secrets. As she talked about the upcoming acceptance of her award, she revealed that, though she loves Phoenix more than she could ever like NYC, she enjoyed the City for its eavesdropping goldmine that it is; she claimed she loves nothing more than walking the streets there to gather as many rumors as she could. It wasn’t just a random comment, though–she said none of her stories would really be possible without them, especially from the collection she was reading from.
Duarte is a passionate activist and writer defending human rights issues, particularly bringing child prostitution wrongs to light. On Monday she shared one of her newer stories, “One of These Days I’m Gonna Go Home,” a selection to be published in her upcoming collection of short stories, with the working title of Women Who Live in Coffee Shops, that focus on rumors and the lives of individuals whose worlds are affected by the rumors. The story dealt with the adoption and rehabilitation of a former child prostitute being raised in the Phoenix desert.
Our featured reader was really engaging with her audience and she had complete command of local Phoenician dialogue, slang, and speech. Her reading, as well the other women’s, really featured the outstanding talent of local writers. It was refreshing to hear these home-grown southwestern stories of our state’s history, growing up in Arizona, and dealing with the complexities of such a culturally rich state.
Overall, I’d say that the reading was a complete success and a wholly enjoyable event. I’m extremely excited about the next one, October 26!
Did you attend the event? What did you think? What was your favorite work you heard?
Video Interview with Rita Ackerman on ‘O.K. Corral Postscript: The Death of Ike Clanton’
Phoenix Art Museum lecture schedule
Don’t Forget!
The first of the Superstition Review Reading Series is debuting today, February 25th at the ASU Polytechnic Campus in Cooley Ballroom B, near the Student Union.
The readings start at 3 p.m.and end at 5 p.m.; there is no admission fee, and free refreshments will be provided to anyone who attends.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Superstition Review Reading Series
Starting Monday, February 25th, Superstition Review will host the first reading of a three-part series that will introduce the magazine to the public. Each reading will take place on a Monday at the ASU Polytechnic Campus in Cooley Ballroom B, near the Student Union.
The reading series is FREE to the public and will offer refreshments along with an exciting cast of authors.
If you are a student who lives in the Phoenix/Tempe area and you would be interested in reading a piece of your work for the Superstition Review reading series, please email us at: superstitionreview@asu.edu or visit our homepage to find out more about the magazine.
To get directions to the readings, click here. We look forward to seeing you there!