Edge 43: a Reading Series of Emerging and Younger Writers
w/Naomi Benaron, Logan Phillips, and Maria-Elena Wakamatsu
Curator: Melissa Buckheit
Melissa Buckheit's Bio |
A note from the curator: I have often wanted to listen to authors who are in the same place in their career as myself--emerging, published in journals, with a chapbook and/or a first full-length book, still growing but full of passion, new ideas, and an edge. But there is often infrequent opportunity for this; in fact, I have often felt disappointed in the lack, that such an open community might often be circumscribed in its literary programming. Additionally, featuring emerging writers engages other young as well as established writers, to support, frequent and attend Casa Libre and other writing events. This cycle creates the foundation for a writing community which self-generates, remains true, open, and allows many voices the opportunity for visibility and being heard. I want Tucson to be an artistic community which includes and features many voices and peoples. Literature is the province of communication, but also reflectivity, the reflection and representation of all our narratives and of new narratives and ideas, voices which are challenging and also challenge us. |
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
7:30 p.m.
Suggested Donation: $5
Come to Edge: A Reading Series of Emerging and Younger Writers. Edge is a series of local and national writers and cross-genre artists, emphasizing diversity of narrative, identity and literary source. Its purpose is to create community, visibility and voice for emerging and younger writers. Broadsheets of the authors' work will accompany each reading. Books and journals will be available for purchase and signing by the authors. Refreshments will be available after the reading.
Readers:
Naomi Benaron is the author of Running the Rift, published in Spring 2012 by Algonquin Books, and Love Letters from a Fat Man (BkMk Press, 2008). She holds a master of fine arts degree from Antioch University and a master of science degree in earth sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is also an Ironman triathlete. She teaches at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and mentors for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. She works as an advocate for African refugees in the community and has worked extensively with genocide survivor groups in Rwanda. She is the winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, and the 2005 Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition.
Logan Phillips works to create new opportunities for the intersection of poetry and wider society. As a bilingual poet, performance artist, teacher and DJ, he has toured throughout the United States, Mexico and as far afield as Vancouver, Paris, Bogotá and Penzance, England. Phillips is Artistic Director of the trans-disciplinary performance troupe Vero•bala, which explores border identity through storytelling and digital media. Verbo•bala is the recipient of a 2012 Artist Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts for their work-in-progress based on Phillips' upcoming book The Sonoran Strange. Phillips also works as Director of the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam, which he co-founded in 2010 to widen access to critical literacy through dynamic, diverse and youth-centered events. During its first year, the program reached more than 5,000 students across Arizona. Born and raised in the Arizona / Mexico borderlands to a family of Irish / Slavic decent, he lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
Maria-Elena Wakamatsu was born in the border town of San Luis R.C. Sonora, Mexico. The daughter of a Mexican mother and Japanese father, she writes from the border between cultures, between patterns of discourse, between first and third worlds. Her work appears in Cutthroat, Southwestern Women New Voices and Cantos al Sexto Sol. She produced From the Lair, A Spoken Word Poetry CD and Speakwater: Regando La Frontera--A Multimaterial Visual Poetry Installation. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2008 Mary Ann Campau Memorial Fellowship Award and the 2006 Ohio State Scarlet and Gray Award for Southern Arizona Teacher of the Year. She is a member of Mujeres Que Escriben, a Latina Writers Group.
Next Edge Reading will be held March 21, 2012.
Past Edge Readings:
Jan 2012
Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sept 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
