Happy Poetry Month! & TONS of news

To begin with, since it’s April 1st: Happy National Poetry Month! In honor of the occasion Carrie Murphy and Birds of Lace bring you:

 

A website where we’ll be posting a poem/poet a day, plus a recommendation from the poet of a book of poems they’ve loved. Check in with us everyday here; Nicole Steinberg kicked us off today!

Did you know that Jeanine Deibel’s In the Grave is out NOW?

 

Boys boys boys, in the grave and in each other’s faces, pummeling and beating and traversing the land like they once owned it and mean to take it back with bloody fists or at least pretend to, or at least leave it scarred up and sweaty for the meek to inherit.

excerpt:

“After beating those boys after punching their faces with bats until the idea of face became blurry after huffing clouds against the sky doubled over we debated whether to drag them out of sight or bury our boots between slats of rib taking turns until we were forced to stop from the coughing to catch our breath and leave. We would come back for them Ty told me we would clean up our mess but that rarely happened.”

Purchase In the Grave here. Coming later this month: Carrie Hunter’s Inversion Twilight.

***

& now for news:

-Birds of Lace participated in a women publishers roundtable at Delirious Hem, curated by Kristina Marie Darling. Also on the panel are dancing girl press, Patasola Press, Noctuary Press, Switchback Books, and Sundress Publications. Read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

-all BoL poetry chapbooks are $3 for the entirety of April! Get ‘em at the shop

-Judy Berman and Niina Pollari’s awesome It’s Complicated project, which looks at problematic artists/art and the feminists who enjoy them, has just released it’s first zine in the series, Totally Crushed Out. This zine has these rad essays:

Nona Willis Aronowitz on Eminem
Brooklyn Copeland on Marlon Brando 
Elisabeth Donnelly on The Afghan Whigs
Nina Mashurova on Charles Bukowski
Tom Ribitzky on the men of Ayn Rand
Judy Berman on Glam Rock

Order it here! And read an interview with the editors here.

-Speaking of Niina Pollari, her excellent/sick/funny translations of Tyitti Heikkinen’s poetry, The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal, is out now from Action Books. Get your copy here.

-If you didn’t make it to the Dancing Birds Brunch at AWP ’13, JD Scott recaps it for your convenience here.

-Carrie Murphy has a new poem in Big Lucks and another at The Bakery

-Rohin Guha wrote about the Bechdel test as applied to some of your favorite tv shows

-Carina Finn has a poem in the new issue of Coconut

-and finally, Bambi Muse reviewed Anna Joy Springer’s The Birdwisher

xox

 

 

 

Birds of Lace at AWP + news

Birds of Lace and Dancing Girl Press authors have teamed up to present you with a brunch-time affair (12:12pm) on Saturday March 9th. If you are in Boston and cold and in need of some entertaining & distinctly lacey literary stylings you may want to find yourself in a certain hotel suite to hear readings by:

Lisa Marie Basile
Stephanie Berger
Jeanine Deibel
Carina Finn 
Megan Milks 
Niina Polari
JD Scott
Nicole Steinberg
& Melinda Wilson

More information can be found here; there will be giveaways!  

Additionally, Jeanine Deibel will be giving an early debut for her BoL chapbook In the Grave at AWP (it will be out in our etsy store later this month). She’ll have copies on hand to sell and will be reading at the Queertopia off-site event on Thu. March 7th at Club Cafe in Boston; she will also be on the panel Teaching Mutt Lit: Genre-benders, Hybrids, and other Weirdness in the Creative Writing Classroom Saturday, March 9 in Room 202, Hynes Convention Center from 9:00am – 10:15am. 

*   *   *

Other news:

-Carrie Murphy wrote this post on Bitch Magazine’s blog about Benjamin Percy and his pregnancy suit

-Niina Pollari’s translations of Tytti Heikkinen’s poems, The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal, will be out at AWP from Action Books; read Danielle Pafunda’s thoughts on it at Montevidayo as well as some words on it by Joyelle McSweeney

-Megan Milks’ TWINS is now available at Chicago bookshops Quimby’s and Uncharted Books. There are also only 3 more copies left at our etsy store before it’s sold out forever!

-Issue #8 of Requited feats. work from Kristina Marie Darling as well as BoL favorite Gillian Cummings

-A few BoL authors filled out the Next Big Thing interview: Carrie Murphy, Rohin Guha, JD Scott (who writes about his forthcoming BoL chapbooks Funerals & Thrones) and Andrea Quinlan, who writes about her forthcoming BoL chapbook The Mysteries of Laura

-The Dictionary Project interviewed Anna Joy Springer

xo

 

 

Forthcoming releases + lots of news

 

No, we won’t be publishing Francine Pascal, but we will be publishing Megan Milks’ wild and uncanny take on Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield via her chapbook TWINS, coming in November. We’ve been announcing forthcoming titles over on the BoL twitter, as well as posting excerpts from the chapbooks at our new tumblr. Here’s a round-up of what’s been announced so far, as well as links to the excerpts:

-TWINS by Megan Milks
-macey [triolets] by Seth Oelbaum
-FunSize&BiteSize by Jiyoon Lee
-The Mysteries of Laura by Andrea Quinlan
-Shell of an Egg in an Effort by Anne Marie Rooney

Keep an eye on our twitter + tumblr over the next few days for the rest of the titles. It’s going to be a full year of worrisome brilliance around here.

More (a LOT more) news on what our authors have been up to lately:
-The new issue of NAP features work from several BoL babes, including Anna Joy Springer, Niina Pollari, Carina Finn and Ji Yoon Lee
-Helen McClory reviewed Anna Joy Springer’s The Birdwisher for Pank’s blog
-Perhaps a Girl Elsewhere author Adam Strauss has new work up at Word for Word
-Relief Work author Rohin Guha has an essay up at The Rumpus on the shooting of Mollie Olgin and Mary Kristene Chapa
-Andrea Quinlan has new work up at NNATAN
-An interview with Meet the Lavenders author Carrie Murphy about her (excellent) new books of poems, Pretty Tilt
-An interview with They Really Want You contributor Ben Fama on his new project Mall Witch
-Carina Finn for Becca Klaver’s “What’s So Hot” salon
-Niina Pollari for “What’s So Hot”

xo

Friday April 13th BoL Reading in Brooklyn

facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/239242356174116/?context=create

xo

Upcoming Rohin Guha and Jason Helm reading + some

Hello all,

This coming Saturday 2/25, in Brooklyn, both Jason Helm (Fetish) and Rohin Guha (Relief Work) will be reading at the Slapdash reading series. Click the link for more info; rumor has it Rohin will be raffling off some copies of Relief Work, and Jason will have copies of Fetish on hand to sell you.

AWP is coming up! There are a hundred million readings to tell you about. As the time comes closer- aka later this week- I will post a list of not-to-miss readings, including a few from our own Anna Joy Springer and Carrie Murphy, who will be a part of our jointly hosted event on 3/1 with Action Books and Kate Durbin.

Speaking of Carrie Murphy, you can now pre-order her gorgeous, astonishing first book Pretty Tilt ( from Keyhole Press) here, which you should really, really do. Trust.

A Birds of Lace favorite, Mica Sigourney, has a new performance premiering in SF in March. It’s called Masterwork and you can learn more about it here. Mica does phenomenal, genre-bending, avant-drag as Vivvyanne Forevermore!, often showcased at his weekly party in SF called Something. Mica is also a beautiful, heart-rending writer; I am awed by his recent contribution to offcenter.org’s series of posts on queer economy, which was be found here.

Hope the month of Pisces is treating you well so far.

xo

New issue of Prayers for Children + news

The third and final issue of Prayers for Children (an online art zine I co-edit) is now up over here. Our swan song is a love letter to music and how it inspires; this issue features the genius of Jack X. Taylor, Leon Baham, Cleonette Harris, Matthew Gallaway (author of the excellent The Metropolis Case), Mindtroll (a band featuring BoL’s own Niina Pollari), Ula Zuhra, Christine Vi-Van Nguyen, Susanna Troxler, Meghan Lamb, B.C. Edwards, Lustcats of the Gutters, Andrew Bell, Rohin Guha, Jef Barbara, Erik Peterson, Samuelroy, Inbred Hybrid Collective, Demian Dine’Yazhi’, Thomas Boettner, and Matt Momchilov, plus interviews with SSION’s Cody Critchole and Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin.

Laura Beth Davis wrote a great post on chapbooks over at the ModCloth blog which features Birds of Lace, Dancing Girl Press and Blood Pudding Press. You can find it here. We’re honored to be featured alongside two other presses that we love!

This Thurs. in NYC you can (and should!) go to the Sweet! Actors Reading Writers Series. This event will feature a reading of Jason Helm’s Fetish, and early copies of the chapbook will be available from the author. More information on the event can be found here.

Speaking of Fetish, here are a few examples of the collaged covers for the CD of Helm reading the story, which is being sent out with pre-orders:

xox

Happy New Year! + etc.

Welcome to 2012! Birds of Lace has some exciting things planned, beginning with the release of Jason Helm’s Fetish at the end of this month- pre-orders will be up soon!

A few copies of the limited-edition (of 30) catalog BoL did for Matt Momchilov’s show They Really Want You are now available for purchase here. The catalog features full color photos of all the work in the show, plus writing inspired by that work by Leon Baham, Ben Fama, Kate Durbin, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Rohin Guha, Mike Kitchell, and Niina Pollari. Each catalog also comes with a one-of-a-kind polaroid of a sculpture from the show and a mix cd of music relating to the show. Read more about the show here and view more of Matt Momchilov’s work here.

Leon Baham’s Ponyboy, Sigh was named a best read of 2011 by both Johannes Goransson and Mike Kitchell.

Carrie Murphy has a poem up over at JMWW.

Rohin Guha has posted the title story from Relief Work just for you over here.

Finally, will you be AWP Chicago this year? Birds of Lace will be part of an event co-hosted by Action Books and Kate Durbin- stay tuned for more…

xox

Giant BoL-related News Update

It has been far too long since I’ve posted, so there is quite a bit of news to share.

First, I’m excited to announce that our first publication of 2012 will be Jason Helm’s chapbook Fetish. I was lucky enough to hear Jason read this story at the release party for Rohin Guha’s Relief Work earlier this year; I loved the story then and can’t wait to unleash it upon the world, soon.

Birds of Lace authors have been up to quite a bit in the past few months. Here are some links to a few of those endeavors:

- Meet the Lavenders author Carrie Murphy had some poems published in NAP Magazine, which can be read here. She also has a poem up over at Story Bought Dress which can be read here. Additionally, Carrie is an excellent cook, and her food blog Plums in the Icebox is full of wonderful recipes, and even more of those recipes are available via Carrie’s posts over at Hello Giggles. In the most exciting C.M.-related news of all, her first full-length book of poems, Pretty Tilt, will be published by Keyhole Press in 2012!

-Relief Work author Rohin Guha has been making videos of his lovely self reading Courtney Stodden’s tweets. (If you are unaware of who Courtney Stodden is, a quick google search will illuminate.) Those videos are compiled here for your viewing pleasure.

-Fabulous Essential author Niina Pollari’s newest & beautiful chapbook, Book Four, is now available from Hyacinth Girl Press here.

-Perhaps a Girl Elsewhere author Adam Strauss has a poem up in the new issue of Smoking Glue Gun here.

-The Birdwisher author Anna Joy Springer has work up at Joyland here.

-BoL is having a holiday sale: seven chapbooks PLUS The Birdwisher for only $20! Available at the etsy shop here.

-Lastly but not leastly, Birds of Lace created a limited-edition (of 30) catalog for Matt Momchilov’s recent show They Really Want You at Unspeakable Projects Gallery in San Francisco, CA. The catalog features writing in response to the pieces in Momchilov’s show by Niina Pollari, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Rohin Guha, Kate Durbin, Mike Kitchell, Leon Baham, and Ben Fama. The catalog also includes a mix cd of music chosen to accompany the art, as well as a one-of-a-kind polaroid of a sculpture from the show; a few copies will be available later in the month for purchase through the Birds of Lace etsy store.

xox

BoL News Round-up

*Tomorrow night in NYC our very own Rohin Guha (Relief Work) is reading with BoL favorite Jason Helm at the Gaslight Reading Series. The event starts at 7pm and is being held at 116 bar @ 116 MacDougal.

*Mr. Guha is also busy infiltrating the UK’s pop-media, as evidenced by his cameo over at The Guardian regarding the firing of Cheryl Cole.

*Niina Pollari has an article up over at Jezebel. Additionally, you may or may not know that she is in an excellent punk-rock accordian-and-megaphone-touting band called Mindtroll, whose music can be enjoyed here.

* Starting tomorrow, Anna Joy Springer (The Birdwisher) is going on tour for her new book The Vicious Red Relic, Love, out from Jaded Ibis Press. You can view tour dates here; The Birdwisher will be available for sale at the San Francisco and Berkeley dates.

*Next month will see the release of two new BoL titles: Ponyboy, Sigh by Leon Baham and Meet the Lavenders by Carrie Murphy. There will also be special pre-order extras going out with both of these chapbooks which I can’t wait to share with you, soon!

This Week’s To-Dos

Tonight in Brooklyn Niina Pollari, author of Fabulous Essential, will be reading poems and bringing some multimedia excitingness into the mix. The event, focusing on art from Scandanavia, begins at 8pm. More details here

On Friday night, also in Brooklyn, Relief Work author Rohin Guha will be emceeing Earshot, an excellent reading series curated by Nicole Steinberg. Featured that night are Helen Phillips, Micaela Mascialino, Sean Edgley, Anna Voisad and the fantastic Jason Helm, who also read at the Relief Work launch party.

On the West Coast I recommend going to see Jason Fritz Michael’s new show This is How We Do It, currently up at As Is Exhibitions in Oakland. From the As Is website:

“Fritz’s 2011 solo show with As Is Exhibitions, “This is How We Do It” serves as a meditation on fear and comfort, healing and sickness, mind and body, past and future, make believe and reality. Using the vast media culture of the late 1980s and early 90s, which conflated queerness with illness, Fritz provides a counter-reading of these images from our current moment.

For queers, and many others, HIV/AIDS created a fear of ones own body as the promise of a future was thrown into jeopardy. As AA Bronson has pointed out this historical moment was “the continuous interweaving of care-taking, funerals, memorials, anniversaries, and more deaths.“ Indeed, death as a way of life, this work asks if we can change this trajectory already assumed by history. And if we can change our bodies and futures into something not tethered to the chains of death.

Let go of the fear and get better, let positive thinking cure and experience pure joy. -Eric Stanley”

For more information, please visit the As Is website.

Coming up in a week, Jason Fritz Michael and Eric Stanley will have a collaborative installation and related film show at San Francisco’s ATA:

“Necrocapital is an installation created by Eric Stanley and Jason Fritz that brings together the HIV/AIDS pandemic, global capital, and the work of death. In conversation with the ghosted histories of AIDS art and current writing on biopolitics, we question our silent cohabitation of a world where life is predicated upon access to cash. Through the abundance of American deco design and the everydayness of medication, Necrocapital wants to more than aestheticize the death-worlds of pharmaceutical accumulation, it seeks to obliterate them.

Installation April 14- May 31, 2011
Film program May 26, 2011 7pm

Artists’ Television Access
992 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110

Jason Fritz is an interdisciplinary artist whose work shuttles between performance, installation, and disaster.

Eric Stanley is a filmmaker, academic, and radical queer activist currently organizing with Gay Shame and Critical Resistance.”

*I’m going to start posting more non-BoL related (but BoL favorited!) events and recommendations here, because there is always so much exciting, brilliant art and literature happening that I feel Birds of Lace is some sort of sister to- a constellation of inspiration.