Support Small Press

This is a repost via Amy King

Eat* Drink* Bid* Participate* Get Down*!

We've got something for you at our Annual Benefit Performance and Live Auction!

Incuding:
* rope climbing and circus arts workshops
* two stunning collages by Laynie Browne
* signed copy of Zippermouth by Laurie Weeks
* sets of broadsides from Poetry Foundation AND The Center for Book Arts!

And while you're bidding on exciting auction items, getting your raffle tickets, taking in the performances and sipping on (complimentary) beer from Brooklyn Brewery, you'll be helping Belladonna* publish innovative writers and create yet another season of diverse, adventurous events.

Loving it? Tantalized? Check out our full online auction catalog.
We hope to see you!


Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 6:30 pm
Location: Hi Art! 227 West 29th Street, 4th Floor (between 7th & 8th) New York, NY 10001


Advance tickets only $12. Click here to purchase.

The Belladonna* Benefit will showcase a performance by Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye, live auction by renowned auctioneer Erin Ward of Star Benefit Auctions with special assistant Amy King, and a dance performance by the A.O. Movement Collective.

The Auction and the Benefit will support Belladonna*s 2012 season of publications and events, which share a theme of caring for the material realities of poets, viewing a publishing project holistically. We're referring to 2012 as The Year of Material Lives, and we plan to host combination readings/dinners with ample time set aside to discuss the economic and social concerns of writers, artists, publishers, and other creators. Moreover, in addition to continuing our commemorative chaplet series, we hope to publish five full-length books of hybrid and experimental work in the coming year including new work by Julie Patton, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, R. Erica Doyle and Tonya Foster.
~~~~

LITMUS PRESS

Dear friends of Litmus Press & Aufgabe,

As someone who has published or worked directly with Litmus Press, we hope you'll consider giving us a boost during our Winter Fundraising Campaign.

We have just received multi-year support from NYSCA, which is wonderful, though their support of our full-length publications was cut in half. We are also supported by the Leslie Scalapino -- O Books fund, and this support has been crucial, allowing us to hire a part-time staff member to keep things moving.

However, it's the support of individuals through memberships, subscriptions & donations that creates the most solid foundation for the continuation of our programming.

I'm writing to enlist your help spreading the word about our Winter Fundraising Campaign. It will be the support of individual members, subscribers, and donors in the coming years that will support us in our efforts to do more on behalf of our authors, artists, and their work, so this drive is important!

We've just updated our website and will be sending out an email tomorrow morning announcing our Winter Fundraising Campaign. We are only asking that you forward this email (if possible, with a personal appeal to friends and family), and/or post it to your Facebook page, and/or share the link wherever you can. The email will also be posted on the Litmus Press Facebook page, so you can go there and "like" it (and anything else there!), which will give the appeal more visibility.

If you don't usually receive our emails, you may not be on our list -- there is an email list sign up box at the bottom of each page of our website. You can select preferences, so you only receive the announcements you want. If you don't receive our email tomorrow morning please let me know, and I will forward it to you.

To visit our newly updated support page, click http://www.litmuspress.org/support.html

Best wishes for the month, the new year, the poetry, the art, the occupation, & with deep gratitude for your artistic contributions to Litmus Press.

Warmly,
Tracy

--
E. Tracy Grinnell, Editor & Director
Litmus Press/Aufgabe
925 Bergen St. Suite #405
Brooklyn, NY 11238

www.litmuspress.org


NEW from Litmus Press:
O Bon by Brandon Shimoda
I Want to Make You Safe by Amy King

Sawako, J.Mae, Rob, & Chris Enter A Room & Awe Begans

I had an idea, probably three years or so ago when I curated the Teachers & Writers reading series to have Sawako as a reader. She was never able to make it from the West Coast to NYC. Emails, postal mail, & friendship continued. Last year she was going to be at AWP, but again the traveling, the distance, proved not so. So when I found out she would be in New York briefly (2-3 days) I immediately set about to schedule a reading. I also wanted J.Mae Barizo & Chris Martin to read with Sawako. Mae & her husband generously offered the use of their beautiful apartment which made the reading much more intimate and cozy-- it also helped with the little ones (Marina & Ada) as bars tend to not be the most baby-friendly.

Chris Martin read first, delighting us with new poems which he referred to as "hymns." He finished off his reading with an acapella rap. Yep, dope.

J.Mae Barizo read her poems to the accompaniment of musician Rob Moose's( Anthony & the Johnsons) guitar. The music & poems fit perfectly & everyone seemed transfixed including Anne Carson- who was kind enough to stop by & support poetry & music & her fellow Canadian (J.Mae).

Sawako Nakayasu closed out the evening. It was my intention to get her set-list for Coldfront but in my awe & consumption of wine, this did not happen. She read two titles then would ask the audience which they wanted to hear. The first group of poems were "ant" poems. She said they were old poems, but for most us they were "new" poems. She followed this up by reading a few translations from Time of Sky // Castles in the Air by Ayane Kawata (which Sawako translated).
Sawako closed her set out by reading from the immensely popular book, Texture Notes, if you haven't read this book, definitely do!

Then after the readings people mingled, ate bread & cheese, & drank wine. It was a great night & we were all lucky to hear Sawako, J.Mae, Rob, & Chris.

Special thanks to J.Mae, Wolfram, & Lila without whom the reading would not have happened.

to know this

In to know this Angela Veronica Wong maps the constellation of the body and its desires. The life of a star is the life of a person. Wong's spare, precise lines chart a firmament that is both celestial and down-to-earth.

Buy here!

Come out on Tuesday and hear Veronica read:

Boog City 60: NYC Small Presses Issue

in conjunction with our New York City Small Presses Night Event
Tues. Dec. 15, 6:00 p.m. sharp, free

ACA Galleries, 529 W.20th St., 5th Flr., NYC

with pages put together by the participating six presses:

**Flying Guillotine Press, Sommer Browning and Tony Mancus, eds.

**Litmus Press/Aufgabe, E. Tracy Grinnell, ed.

**Mal-o-mar Editions, Ariana Reines, ed.

**Mermaid Tenement Press, Laura Hinton, ed.

**The North Beach Yacht Club, Ryan Murphy, ed.

**3 Sad Tigers Press, Mariana Ruiz Firmat, ed.

featuring work from:

Charles Baudelaire * Abigail Child
Norma Cole * Kari Edwards
Steven Karl * Brenda Borofsky Serpick
Stacy Szymaszek * Angela Veronica Wong


***As well as your usual swell Boog City content***

**From Our Music section, Urban Folk
edited by Jonathan Berger**

BK Book Fest

The Brooklyn Book Festival will kick into gear tomorrow, Sunday the 14th. Mathea Harvey and Kevin Young are two of the poets definitely worth checking out. I've seen both of them read before so I might not get over there early enough, but for those early birds I know A Public Space, Litmus Press, and Academy of American Poetry will all have goods for free at their booths.

I plan on just stretching my legs, saying hi to friends, and then catching the reading with Thurston Moore and Ian Mackaye (yeah as in Sonic Youth & Fugazi = A.W.E.S.O.M.E!)