Don’t forget that tomorrow night is 1718’s last event of the semester!
And it’s a big one! The esteemed Laura Mullen, LSU Professor, will be reading at the Columns this Cinco de Mayo at 7 pm. She’s published five books, three of poems and two of hybrid text, including the critically acclaimed “Murmur.” Her poems have also appeared across various literary journals and anthologies such as the Corpse, Octopus, and Ploughshares. Mullen has received the Ironwood’s Stanford Prize for her innovative poetry and frequently visits the summer workshops at the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poets.
As always, 1718 is free and open to the public. 1718 starts at 7 p.m. and is held at the Columns Hotel, 3811 St. Charles Avenue. We hope to see all of you there! For further information, please contact admin@1718.com
-1718 (is for lovers)
1718 Nation!
Our next event on April 1st is shaping up to be something different from the norm of 1718. Mark your calendars! In addition to our reading being on a WEDNESDAY (gasp!) this month, we are proud and excited to present Mr. David Carr. Mr. Carr is a media and culture columnist for the New York Times, and the author of “The Night of the Gun” (2008). The book is a memoir of addiction and recovery that used reporting to fact check the past. Much of the data he collected, including videos, documents and pictures, is available here. And if you want to purchase the book, you can always go here. For the past 25 years, Carr has been writing about media as it intersects with business, culture and government. Carr lives in Montclair, New Jersey with Jill Rooney Carr and has three children.
Again, this reading will be held on WEDNESDAY, April 1st, 7 p.m. at the Columns Hotel, 3811 St. Charles Ave. For more information contact admin@seventeeneighteen.com
See you at the Columns!
~ 1718
Though we were immediately greeted with tasks of room change/rearrangement on Tuesday night, the subsuquent reading went without a hitch. Our dear Britton opened the evening with a lurid piece by Bukowski, much appreciated by the audience. Jarret read various selections from the three books published by NOLAfugees: Life in the Wake, Year Zero, and Soul is Bulletproof. Interspersed through the reading, he shared his own experience of the hurricane and following years, telling the story of the satirical journalist in the face of tragedy with wit and compassion. The audience was engaged, and he answered all questions thoroughly, though he did refrain from reciting any of his dirty poetry–a choice bemoaned by all, but easily forgiven for the sake of such a great reader.
After the intermission, two Loyola students, Mark Burgunder and Megan Vonk (1718 Staff), and UNO student Ashley Clinton graced us with their poetry readings, all of which were excellent and thoroughly enjoyed by the sizeable remains of audience.
1718 nation! Mark your calendars for Tuesday March 10th, 7 p.m. at the Columns Hotel for an evening with Jarret Lofstead! Mr. Lofstead is the publisher of NOLAFugees.com and NOLAFugees Press, and the co-editor of the collections Year Zero: A Year of Reporting from post-Katrina New Orleans, Life in the Wake: Fiction from post-Katrina New Orleans, and most recently Soul Is Bulletproof: Reports from Reconstruction New Orleans. Lofstead lives in the 12th Ward.
1718 is very excited to have Mr. Lofstead read for us, so we’ll see you at the Columns!
For more information contact admin@seventeeneighteen.com
~1718
Despite frequent cloudbursts on Tuesday night, many faces both familiar and new attended Mr. Tom’s reading. 1718’s Lesley Lucas began the evening with a lovely reading from Frank O’Hara’s collection “Lunch Poems.” Tom read from an extended non-fiction piece describing a boxed set of Charley Chan mystery movies as his saving grace in the “oceanic” heat of the summer of 2006. The audience was fully engaged and had the opportunity to ask Tom many questions ranging from writing advice to movie critiques. Tom signed books and was visibly glowing after such a bang-up reading.
Student readers from Tulane, UNO, and Loyola followed the intermission. A large crowd stayed behind and was rewarded for their faith - two knockout poets and a spellbinding fiction reader delivered in the standard of excellence for 1718 student readers.
Stay tuned, faithful 1718 fans! Tuesday March 10th we will present Jarret Lofstead, Senior Editor and Publisher of NOLAFugees.com. We are very excited to have this dedicated and talented New Orleans figure, so come on out to the Columns on March 10th! Catch some of the infamous satire of NOLAFugees via the following links
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=41124619
http://blog.nola.com/susanlarson/2008/11/the_wicked_satirists_of_nolafu.html
http://nolafugeespress.com/?page_id=47
See you at the Columns…
~1718
Our evening with Andy Young started out with a burst of energy and just kept going. After Sam Jannenga’s stirring invocation, Ms. Young jumped right in, carrying us with her through her mesmerizing voice. This event was undoubtedly an “auspicious evening” for 1718 as well—a great start to our Spring series! Andy Young’s work had an international flair to it; this well-traveled writer has a gift of imagery that offers an eye into the elements of other cultures that are almost always lost in translation. The audience was treated with some of her new work, and the personality Ms. Young puts into her reading was not lost on the crowd. She threw in a few lighter, comedic notes, including one poem about Condoleeza Rice, and ended the evening’s traveling spree—which included Baghdad and the Gaza Strip—with a series of works in Egypt.
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Tags: Andy Young, Event Wrap-Up, Readers
Get ready for our December 2nd event! (This should give you just enough time to recover from your turkey-coma). Amanda Boyden will be reading at, as always, 7 pm at 3811 St. Charles Ave. This is our final event for the fall semester, and you don’t want to miss it!
Can’t wait to see you all at The Columns Hotel!
Tags: Events, reading
Having flown in from across the country, Claudia Rankine gave her multi-media reading to a full house. Claudia began her reading by playing a DVD which consisted of slow visuals, such as a scene from the World Cup or strangers sleeping on planes. One of the more interesting pieces featured two layers of sound: phone calls from twin towers on 9/11, and Claudia’s slow, precise voice reading her work. After the DVD, Claudia continued to read from her book, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely.
As usual, a large crowd, including Mrs. Rankine herself, stayed for the student readers. From Loyola, Rachel Crosbie read her creative non-fiction piece about how she ended up in New Orleans; from UNO, 1718’s own Britton Troy Blackall read some of his poems (including one dedicated to ovaries); and Chanel Clark from Tulane read poems that silenced the room.
The entire reading was incredible, though we would expect no less from our amazing 1718 readers and staff. Thanks to everyone who came out, and be sure to attend the last reading of the semester on December 2nd with Amanda Boyden.
Tags: Event Wrap-Up, Readers
Mark your calendars for Claudia Rankine on November 11th! She is flying all the way from New York to come and present her poetry (along with some fabulous multimedia presentations). The event is, as always, at the Columns Hotel (3811 St. Charles), at 7 pm. We hope to see you there!
Tags: claudia rankine, Events, poetry, reading
The October event brought us some competition on the national level. The reading conflicted with the Vice-Presidential debate, but we still managed to draw a spirited audience to fill every seat. Poetry v. Politics: you decide. I think we won.
It was a bit quieter than usual, but Peter Cooley gave a modest and marvelous reading. He read “a little bit of everything” from his seven collections. He also answered questions deftly and efficiently.
We also had the privilege of hosting three student readers: Daniel Dekegeland (Junior, UNO), Kerry Cullen (Sophomore, Loyola) and Nate Scott (Senior, Tulane). All of them continued to uphold the standard of excellence (some might say bodaciousness) that we’ve come to expect from our student readers.
As always, we had a drink-filled, literature-induced great time. Thank you to everyone who came to support us!
Tags: Event Wrap-Up, Readers