Monday, March 30, 2020

natalie hanna, Chris Banks, Kayla Czaga, David Koehn + Melissa Eleftherion : the virtual reading series #12


a series of video recordings of contemporary poets reading from their work, prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellations, shut-downs and isolations; a reading series you can enjoy in the safety of your own protected space,

natalie hanna : “deep light (i),” “the year that nothing turned”

natalie hanna is an Ottawa lawyer working with low income populations. her writing focusses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She is the past Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series and served on the board of Arc Poetry Magazine. She is the author of ten chapbooks, three with above/ground press, and an eleventh is forthcoming with Baseline Press in the Fall of 2020. Her poetry and interviews have been published in Canada and the U.S. Her poem “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. hanna runs battleaxe press, a small poetry press in Ottawa. Find her online at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com/

Chris Banks : “Resemblances”

Chris Banks is a Canadian poet and author of five collections of poems, most recently Midlife Action Figure by ECW Press 2019. His first full-length collection, Bonfires, was awarded the Jack Chalmers Award for poetry by the Canadian Authors' Association in 2004. He is an associate editor for The New Quarterly and poetry editor of The Miramichi Reader.

Kayla Czaga : “Finnish Schooling” and “Goodbye Kyla”

Kayla Czaga is the author of two collections of poetry—For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions, 2014) and Dunk Tank (House of Anansi, 2019). You can find out more about her at kaylaczaga.com or @kaylaczaga on twitter.

David Koehn : “Delta 1: What We Called Pickleweed Was Everywhere,” “Delta 11: We’ve Heard Rumors the Water Hyacinth Was So Thick,” “Scatterplot: In a Family Room Of a House Where a Three-Year-Old Is Raising His Parents”

David Koehn’s Scatterplot was published by Omnidawn in Spring 2020. His chapbook Coil (University of Alaska, 1998), won the Midnight Sun Chapbook Contest. His first full-length manuscript, Twine (Bauhan Publishing, 2013), won the May Sarton Poetry Prize. David co-edited Compendium (Omnidawn Publishing, 2017), a text offering Donald Justice’s original syllabus on prosody. David holds an MFA from the University of Florida, a Bachelors in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon, an M.Ed (TFA) from the University of Alaska. David’s writing appears in a range of magazines including Prairie Schooner, Gargoyle, Hotel Amerika, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Volt, Carolina Quarterly, Diagram, McSweeney’s, The Greensboro Review, North American Review, and many others.

Melissa Eleftherion : “in the skinned phylum,” “kletic”and “her story is my story is your story”

Melissa Eleftherion is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. She is the author of field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & nine chapbooks, including little ditch (above/ground press, 2018) & trauma suture (above/ground press, 2020). Born & raised in Brooklyn, Melissa created, developed, and currently co-curates The Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange with Elise Ficarra. She now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Library, teaches creative writing, & curates the LOBA Reading Series. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.

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