Lara Glenum reads February 2nd!

On the 2nd day of February (Tuesday), featured reader Lara Glenum will read from her poetry at 7pm at the Columns Hotel. In addition to having published two books of poetry, The Hounds of No and Maximum Gaga, Glenum is also the co-editor of Gurlesque. She is a translator of the Czech language, received a Fulbright Fellowship to Prague and her translation of Vladmir Holan has received an NEA translation fellowship. Additionally, Glenum’s critical research includes women Modernists, the historical avant-garde, gender and the grotesque, and the gothic. Glenum teaches creative writing in LSU’s MFA program and holds the chair of Writing Advisory Board on WILA (Women in the Literary Arts, also co-directed by past featured reader Cate Marvin).

Arrive early to get a seat and enjoy the Columns’ happy hour. Student readers to follow.

1718 Presents Ed Skoog

The first 1718 event of 2010 will be held Tuesday, January 19th at 7pm! Our featured reader, Ed Skoog, is flying in from Seattle and is the author of “Mister Skylight.” Though Skoog was born in Topeka, Kansas, he served as an Adjunct Instructor at both U.N.O. and Tulane, taught poetry at N.O.C.C.A. and served as a grant writer and website manager for the New Orleans Museum of Art. His poetry has appeared many prestigious literary journals such as American Poetry Review, Paris Review, Poetry, and Plougshares. He’s received awards such as four Pushcart nominations, the Poetry Society of America’s Lyric Poetry Award and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference Morrison Scholar.

And, as always, student readers from the local universities will follow Skoog after a brief intermission. So put on your scarf and gloves and meet at the Columns for a warm night in the cramped space of spoken literature.

Also, feel free to look at Ed Skoog’s website at www.edskoog.com to learn more about his work.

Our student readers include Engram Wilkinson from Tulane and Jonas Griffin from Loyola.

2009 Wrap-Up!

I hope you didn’t miss December’s reading! Joseph Boyden interspersed Canadian jokes–the repeating of which this American dares not attempt–between his readings: creative non-fiction and excerpts from two of his novels (part of a proposed trilogy). Perhaps this was to lighten the rather somber mood of his readings; the non-fiction pieces were tied together by car-rides and the power of birth and death, and the fiction held some of the horrors of war. To paraphrase Mr. Boyden from the question and answer session, it was not possible to make up anything more horrifying than what actually happened. Still, the overall result of Mr. Boyden’s reading was not chilling, but quite simply, captivating.

After the intermission, Katie McGinnis from Tulane read a collection of Jewish-themed poetry, followed by Britton Blackall of UNO, reading a miscellaneous collection of poetry, including a few that seemed to follow the Native American theme that had risen in Joseph Boyden’s fiction. Kathryn Bell, a senior at Loyola, finished the evening with a gripping work of fiction reflecting the bloody tale of a modern Prometheus.

That wraps it up for 2009, but 1718 is headed for a great year in 2010! Hope to see you next month!

Joseph Boyden to read on December 8th!

For the last event of the fall season, Joseph Boyden will read Tuesday, December 8th at 7pm at the Columns Hotel. Boyden is an internationally renowned Canadian fiction writer who won the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel, Through Black Spruce. His first novel, Three Day Road, has won numerous awards including the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize in 2006. Boyden studied writing at York University and the University of New Orleans and has taught at the Aboriginal Student Program at Northern College.

Following Joseph’s reading, student readers Kathryn Bell from Loyola University, Britton Blackall from University of New Orleans and Katie McGinnis from Tulane University. Arrive early for a seat and to enjoy happy hour from 5-7pm!