Unconscious Collective @ Mighty Fine Arts

0 CommentsWednesday • June 4, 2014 • by admin

Who: Unconscious Collective
Who’s that? Aaron and Stefan Gonzales, and Gregg Pricket
When: Saturday, June 28, 9 pm
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 N. Tyler St.

In conjunction with the opening of “Para Normalities” a solo show of work by Andy Don Emmons, The Brothers Gonzalez, known as the symbiotic avant garde rhythm foundation of Yells at Eels, have created a daunting side project with uber-accomplished guitar master Gregg Prickett with the intention of unsettling your musical horizons. Incorporating theatrical tribal costumes and spoken word interludes. The “Collective” will invoke ancient musical realms and inspired contemporary improvisation channeling punk, free jazz, funk, blues and metal. Be prepared for unworldly presences and expanded sensibilities and perhaps an after performance free for all jam with the notorious “Inferno Texino”.

Will Evans facilitates OffWorld: Definitely Maybe by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

0 CommentsThursday • May 15, 2014 • by admin

What: OffWorld Sci Fi Readers Club
The Book: Definitely Maybe  by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, Translated by Antonina W. Bouis
Facilitated by: Will Evans, publisher, Deep Vellum Publishing
When: Thursday, July 24, 7 pm
Where: The Wild Detectives, 314 W. 8th St., Oak Cliff
NOTE: The Wild Detectives will have plenty of copies of Definitely Maybe on hand to sell before the reading series.

About Definitely Maybe: This is its first-ever unexpurgated edition, a sci-fi landmark that’s a comic and suspenseful tour-de-force, and puts distraction in a whole new light: It’s not you, it’s the universe! It tells the story of astrophysicist Dmitri Malianov, who has sent his wife and son off to her mother’s house in Odessa so that he can work, free from distractions, on the project he’s sure will win him the Nobel Prize. But he’d have an easier time making progress if he wasn’t being interrupted all the time: First, it’s the unexpected delivery of a crate of vodka and caviar. Then a beautiful young woman in an unnervingly short skirt shows up at his door. Then several of his friends—also scientists—drop by, saying they all felt they were on the verge of a major discovery when they got . . . distracted . . .Is there an ominous force that doesn’t want knowledge to progress? Or could it be something more . . . natural?

In this nail-bitingly suspenseful book, the Strugatsky brothers bravely and brilliantly question authority: an authority that starts with crates of vodka, but has lightning bolts in store for humans who refuse to be cowed.

Boris and Arkady Strugatsky were the greatest science fiction writers of the Soviet era: their books were intellectually provocative and riotously funny, full of boldly imagined scenarios and veiled—but clear—social criticism. Which may be why Definitely Maybe has never before been available in an uncensored edition, let alone in English.

ARKADY STRUGATSKY (1925-1991) was a specialist in Japanese literature and a translator of numerous books from Japanese into Russian. BORIS STRUGATSKY worked as an astrophysicist and computer expert until starting to write full-time in the 1960s, in collaboration with Arkady. The Strugatskys were the most acclaimed Soviet science fiction writers of the period, and their influence in both Russia and the rest of the world has persisted. The asteroid 3054 Strugatskia, discovered by Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1977, was named after them. ANTONINA BOUIS is the noted translator of many Russian writers, including Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Tatyana Tolstoya, Sergei Dovlatov, and Andrei Sakharov.

Will Evans is the publisher/Executive Director of Deep Vellum Publishing. Their original translations  connect the world’s greatest formerly untranslated contemporary writers with English-language readers for the first time, including Russian Science Fiction. 

Click here for a very interesting interview with Will.

kYmberly Keeton and Opalina Salas

0 CommentsSaturday • May 3, 2014 • by admin

Poets on X Series
A Summer Series created by Opalina Salas —And she reads in this one!
When: August 16, 7 pm
Where: Lucky Dog Books, 633 W. Davis St. (Oak Cliff

kYmberly mieshia dionne Keeton received a BA with Honors in Creative Writing & Graduate Certificate in African-American Studies from University of Houston. She is the author of six books of poetry, and numerous short-stories. As former City Editor of Rolling Out *Dallas and Entertainment Editor for the Dallas Weekly Newspaper, Keeton interviewed Larenz Tate, Illyasah Shabazz, Haile Gerima, Usher, Dwele, Musiq Soulchild, Talib Qwele, Charles Stone III, Pam Grier, Mara Akil Brock, Tamara Peterson, Chi McBride, Monique, Tim Arnold, Mark Curry and countless others in the industry. Keeton’s articles have been published in the Ave Magazine, Young People For.org, The Atlanta Voice, Washington African American Post, The Capitol Outlook, National Society of Black Engineers, Rolling Out, the Dallas Weekly, SacObserver.com, WHERE Magazine, Miami Times Online, Spinner.com, UJIMA, ThyBlackMan.com and Black Chicago Online.net. Keeton created Literafeelya Magazine in 2003, and is also the former Publisher of Songhai News: The Black Collegiate Voice-Black Newspaper at the University of Houston, and one of three founders of the periodical. She now publishes soflynmythirties, an opinionated cultural blog.

Opalina Salas is a poet, former book store owner, editor of lit magazines and creator of the original Poets on X Reading Series, first held at Cliff Notes, the bookstore she owned with her husband-poet Carlos Salas. The series moved to Mighty Fine Arts when Cliff Notes closed and she has been an indie butterfly curator/hostess for many WordSpace events. Her work has appeared in a number of journals and is included in the Anthology of Texas Beat Poets, published by University of Texas Press. She has read all over Texas in festivals, galleries and nightclubs, is a regular contributor to Mad Swirl, and lives in Dallas with Carlos and their daughter, Paloma.

Christopher Carmona, Paul Koniecki, Isaac Chivarria

0 CommentsSaturday • May 3, 2014 • by admin

 Poets on X Series

A Summer Series hosted by Opalina Salas

When: July 19, 7 pm
Where: Lucky Dog Books, 633 W. Davis St. (Oak Cliff)

Christopher Carmona is a Chican@ Beat poet. He was a nominee for the Alfredo Cisneros de Miral Foundation Award for Writers in 2011 and a Pushcart Prize nominee in 2013. He has been published in numerous journals and magazines. His first collection of poetry called beat was published by Slough Press and his second book, I Have Always Been Here is published by Otras Voces Press. Currently he is the organizer of the Annual Beat Poetry and Arts Festival, the artistic director of the Coalition of New Chican@ Artists (C.O.N.C.A.), and the coordinator of the Writers Live Series at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Isaac Chivarria is on tour with Christopher: Los Dos Vatos Tour. Isaac is a pocho with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas-Pan American. He assists non-profit organizations in producing chapbooks for workshop participants. His poems are in The Acentos Review and Rio Grande Review online. His first book of poetry called Poxo won the NACCS Tejas Foco Best Poetry Book of 2013. Ultimately, he hopes the term pocho will represent a positive identity rather than a pejorative.  He is the Executive Director of The Coalition of New Chican@ Artists.

Born in back of the caretaker’s cottage at the Potosi Brewery in downstate Wisconsin, Paul Koniecki‘s humble beginnings are shrouded in mystery and yeast. Currently being held against his will in Fort Worth, Texas, his cries for help have been seen across the world and web at, Mad Swirl, Windy Hill Review, Kleft Jaw, Red Fez, The Fermoy International Poetry Festival, and many other places. Paul is the co-founder and co-host of The Pandora’s Box Poetry Showcase and on the staff of Mad Swirl.

Samira Noorali and Tamitha Curiel

0 CommentsSaturday • May 3, 2014 • by admin

“The Poets on X Series”
A Summer Series hosted by Opalina Salas

When: June 14, 7 pm
Where: Lucky Dog Books, OC, 633 W. Davis St.

Samira R. Noorali: Samira Noorali is a poet and playwright whose works explore trauma survival, relationships and identity.   She is originally from Porterville, California but now calls Austin, Texas home.  Last year, Noorali wrote and published “A Simple Rebirth” and went on tour to promote the book in Florida, California, and Texas.  She transitioned “A Simple Rebirth” into play format earlier this year and will see its first stage reading in June at Houston’s Shunya theater.    A well-rounded writer, Noorali has worked as a staff writer for ITL News and won awards for appellate advocacy while a Juris Doctorate candidate at Pacific McGeorge School of Law.  Noorali is currently teaching a poetry course at University of Texas, which focuses onmythical writing concepts as a tool for personal growth.

Tamitha Curiel is an educator, poet, singer, songwriter, and actress. She works in educational outreach at Writers Garret and along with her husband, Chris Curiel-and Gerald Bendicks, is a member of the spoken word music group Swirve. She has performed at galleries, clubs and theaters all over Dallas and Fort Worth and collaborated with many of the areas most happening projects, including Mad Swirl and productions by Tammy Gomez.

Nicole Callahan

0 CommentsFriday • May 2, 2014 • by admin

May 8 @ Mighty Fine Arts, 409 N. Tyler St. 7 pm

Nicole Callihan’s debut book of poems, SuperLoop, was published by Sock Monkey Press in early 2014. Her poems, stories and essays have appeared in forklift, ohio, Painted Bride Quarterly, Salt Hill, The L Magazine, North American Review and Cream City Reviewand have been translated into German and Spanish. A finalist for the Iowa Review’s Award for Literary Nonfiction, she was named Notable Reading for Best American Nonrequired Reading and awarded Best of the Net 2010 for fiction. She has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and also co-authored the nonfiction book Henry River Mill Village. A Senior Language Lecturer at New York University, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.
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Borrowing her title from the old carnival ride that loops its riders round and round, Nicole Callihan’s SuperLoop is as familiar and as thrilling as another go on a long loved ride. Paired with artwork from fellow Brooklyn-ite Re Jin, Callihan’s poems—sometimes wild, sometimes quiet, always unassuming—take us to a place we’ve been before, but through her eyes that dusty place becomes a bit more magical. Here, the waitress always brings extra whipped cream; divorced parents fall into each other’s arms; orchids grow; and, in spite of themselves and the world around them, people find love and walk, albeit reluctantly, into the sunset. Fierce, funny, at times, downright sweet—for Callihan, just making it is a miracle, and it’s a miracle she’s not afraid to name.

“Precise, graceful, and generous, the poems in Super Loop, seem to be born out of a deep, careful attention

and a profound compassion. Sometimes the quiet observer, sometimes the kid in the center of the messed-up

carnival, these poems are the fireflies you’ve missed all winter, the longed-for return of the bees. Unaffected

and inherently hopeful, Callihan’s work is as merciful as it is moving.”–Ada Limón

“These poems dig deep into the ragged nature of what it means to be alive, unveiling in bristling clarity, the

cracks, quirks, “thorny edges,” and great beauty of being. A master in the language of blush and bruise, Nicole

Callihan tells stories that rub the mind like a fever in a cool wind.” –Dawn Lundy Martin

“So unpretentious and alive and interesting.”–Jean Valentine

ihan, formerly Nicole Hefner, writes poems, stories and essays. Her work has appeared in, among others, Painted Bride Quarterly, Salt Hill, New York Quarterly, North American Review and cream city review and has been translated into German and Spanish. A finalist for the Iowa Review’s Award for Literary Nonfiction, she was named as Notable Reading for Best American Non-required Reading and awarded Best of the Net 2010 for fiction. In addition, Nicole was a contributor to Playing with Poems, an educational textbook published by Heinemann, and is a frequent contributor to Teachers & Writers Magazine. She has received grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and from the Rockefeller Institute and is a founding member of the Brooklyn Writers Collaborative. Her nonfiction book, Henry River Mill Village, which she co-authored with Ruby Young Keller was published by Arcadia Press in July 2012. Her collection of poetry SuperLoop was released by Sock Monkey Press in February 2014.

A 1995 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, summa cum laude, with additional study at Oxford University, Nicole also holds two advanced writing degrees from New York University (MA Poetry–1998; MFA Fiction–2005). Currently a full-time Senior Language Lecturer at New York University where she has received an Excellence in Teaching Award every year since she began in 2002, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.

ole Callihan, formerly Nicole Hefner, writes poems, stories and essays. Her work has appeared in, among others, Painted Bride Quarterly, Salt Hill, New York Quarterly, North American Review and cream city review and has been translated into German and Spanish. A finalist for the Iowa Review’s Award for Literary Nonfiction, she was named as Notable Reading for Best American Non-required Reading and awarded Best of the Net 2010 for fiction. In addition, Nicole was a contributor to Playing with Poems, an educational textbook published by Heinemann, and is a frequent contributor to Teachers & Writers Magazine. She has received grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and from the Rockefeller Institute and is a founding member of the Brooklyn Writers Collaborative. Her nonfiction book, Henry River Mill Village, which she co-authored with Ruby Young Keller was published by Arcadia Press in July 2012. Her collection of poetry SuperLoop was released by Sock Monkey Press in February 2014.

A 1995 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, summa cum laude, with additional study at Oxford University, Nicole also holds two advanced writing degrees from New York University (MA Poetry–1998; MFA Fiction–2005). Currently a full-time Senior Language Lecturer at New York University where she has received an Excellence in Teaching Award every year since she began in 2002, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.

Youth Poets Workshops 1 & 3 Saturdays

0 CommentsMonday • April 21, 2014 • by admin