Sponge Cake Reading in D.C!

On Saturday night, July 21, Rose Metal hosted an event in honor of I Take Back the Sponge Cake at the Black Squirrel in Washington, D.C. We were thrilled to have two local poets kick off the event: Maureen Thorson, reading angry feminist rhyming poems, and Jill Leininger, reading her series of prose poems inspired by the artwork of William Kentridge.

In the main event for the evening, Sponge Cake authors Loren Erdrich and Sierra Nelson read collaboratively from their popular lyrical choose-your-own-adventure, and the images from the book were projected on a screen next to them. Loren and Sierra allowed the audience to choose their own path through Sponge Cake, using the cheers of the audience in response to each option to determine which path to take. After several adventures, Loren and Sierra answered audience questions about the book, including about how they collaborated on the poetry and artwork.

It was a fabulous night of poetry and art! Thanks to all who attended and read and to the Black Squirrel for providing the space. Photos and video below!

Maureen Thorson reading feminist rhyming poems

Jill Leininger reading prose poems inspired by the work of William Kentridge (art on the screen)

Loren and Sierra begin the first adventure through I Take Back the Sponge Cake

In this video, Loren and Sierra discuss their collaborative process. Lighting in the video is poor, but the discussion is awesome!

Jim Goar's U.S. Tour... and Video!

The Louisiana Purchase author Jim Goar just completed an East Coast reading tour with events in Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, Providence, and Boston. Thanks to all who came out to hear Jim read from his linked series of poems offering an alternate and personal history of Lewis and Clark's journey through the Louisiana Purchase. Thanks also to D.C.'s In Your Ear reading series, Brooklyn's Stain of Poetry series, Providence's CousCous Sur L'Herbe reading series, and Boston's Dirty Water reading series for including Jim in their line-ups!

If you couldn't make it out to his readings, check out the below video of Jim reading at the DC Arts Center. Also, catch Jim reading this July 7 in Raleigh at the So and So reading series.

Last night at Open Books in Chicago...

...Open Books Marketing Director Becca Keaty...
...welcomed the audience...
...and apologized for the lack of air conditioning in the store. But that was okay. And it certainly didn't faze Dan Brady...
...of Barrelhouse as he introduced James Tadd Adcox, whose purple mohawk (a product of the Artifice subscription drive) was also unfazed...
Next, I introduced Mary Hamilton. I was so excited about her chapbook coming out this week that my arm got blurry...
Then Mary Hamilton and her sequinned rib shirt read two fantastic stories from We Know What We Are...
...and then Simone Muench and Philip Jenks read from their collaborative work... ...and last but not least, a feathery Tim Jones-Yelvington read one story from his forthcoming chapbook, Evan's House and the Other Boys Who Live There, sans props...
...and his second story with slime!

Thanks to Open Books for hosting us, and thanks to our lovely audience... ...for sweating it out for the sake of independent literature!

Carol Guess and Andrew Michael Roberts...

...launched The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon on Sunday, May 23rd. Here is Carol:
And here is Andrew (and David Bowie, lower right):
Thanks to them both for reading, and to everyone for coming to hear them and to talk about prose poetry, line breaks, and BP.