Author Meg Wolitzer writes for the New York Times of Unsheltered, “A dual narrative needs to be not only well choreographed, but also, more important, necessary. Kingsolver’s dual narrative works beautifully here.”
You can find copies of the book at the Mahoning and Trumbull County libraries, YSU Maag Library via OhioLink and the YSU Barnes & Noble.
March’s First Wednesday Reading, March 4, 7:00, The Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St., will feature fiction writer Kayla Jeswald & poet Cliff Richeal, followed by an open mic emceed by Kelsey Myers. We will also be celebrating National Poundcake Day.
The 2nd Annual Winter Writing Festival planning is underway and NEW this year is an Speaker Series featuring Kent native Jason Prufer who authored: “Small Town, Big Music” and Award winning Author Angela Johnson! Writing workshops will be scheduled at locations all around town, The WICK Poetry Center from KSU will again be leading a poetry slam, a Story Walk is being planned and more! Register here. Like to carpool with Lit Youngstown? Send us a note: LitYoungstown@gmail.com.
This round, our book discussion is immersed in a theme of humankind and the natural world. Our next Food for Thought selection is a heavy lift, but after the fiction and poetry we have read, set so intensely in the natural world, this book will lend us the accuracy and language to understand contemporary interconnections between humans and the natural world. The book opens with the words, “It is worse, much worse than you think.” Read an NPR review here.
Join us for a First Wednesday Series reading by Akron Beacon Journal columnist Holly Christensen and Youngstown poet Chris Gibowicz. Open mic to follow, emceed by Jimmy Sutman. We will also be celebrating National Nutella Day. Wednesday, February 5 at the Soap Gallery at 7:00.
Holly Christensen is a 2010 graduate of the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. The mother of five children between the ages of 26 and seven, Holly has been the parenting/family/community columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal since 2016. She also teaches writing at the University of Akron. Continue reading
New Year’s Day bumps our book discussion to the 15th! Join us for a conversation about the short story collection For a Little While by acclaimed writer Rick Bass.
New York Times reviewer Dwight Garner writes of Bass’s collection, “He is a keen and relentless observer of woods and prairies and beasts of every variety, so much so that many of these stories could be dropped intact into The Best American Science and Nature Writing and no one would blink.” Continue reading
Join us for a First Wednesday Series reading January 8 (Happy New Year!) by Cleveland poets John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin. Open mic to follow emceed by Rae McCann. We will also be celebrating National English Toffee Day.
John Burroughs of Cleveland was recently honored as the 2019-2021 Beat Poet Laureate for the State of Ohio. He serves as the founding editor for Crisis Chronicles Press and is the author of a dozen books including, most recently, Rattle and Numb: Selected Poems, 1992-2019, published by Venetian Spider Press. Continue reading
Author Tamiko Beyer writes in the Georgia Review of Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s Oceanic, “The poet reminds her readers that as human beings of all races and genders, we must stay open to the world. We must forge connections with other humans and the nonhuman—and remain vulnerable.”
You can find copies of the book through YSU Maag Library via OhioLink, the Copper Canyon Press website, and the YSU Barnes & Noble. Continue reading
Yo, Yo-Towners! Join us for a reading by Pamela Anderson & Steve Thomas. Open mic to follow, emceed by Beth Franklin. We will also be celebrating National Nachos Day. Wednesday, November 6 at 7:00, Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St.
Pam Anderson has an MFA from the NEOMFA, which also awarded her a Bisbee Fellowship. Much of her writing focuses on the Holocaust, with one of her Holocaust poems receiving an AWP Intro Journals award. Her work has appeared in JennyMag.org, Atticus Review, Mason’s Road, The Listening Eye, Whurk, and elsewhere. Continue reading
Summer Festival of the Arts is one of our favorite events of the year! We’ll be there with the “Where I’m From” poem template, in anticipation of Fall Literary Festival visiting writer George Ella Lyon and her international project.
We’ll also have paper sidewalk squares for visitors to decorate, in celebration of our poems stamped in sidewalk squares, part of the Words Made Visible project. We’ll dedicate them and introduce the poets at the Fall Literary Festival. Continue reading