Reading at AWP for The Rumpus on April 11th

The Rumpus and Fence proudly present GUTTER TALK, an AWP offsite event.

With readings by Antonia Crane, Nick Flynn, Ottessa Moshfegh, J. Ryan Stradal, and Amber Tamblyn!

Saturday, April 11th
Doors open at 6 p.m., readings from 7–8:30 p.m.

Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
810 W. Lake St.

Tickets $7/$5 with AWP badge.  Reservations:  www.bryantlakebowl.com  or (fee free!) 612-825-8949. Please call box office to receive AWP discount.

Space is limited, so reserve your spot now! Hope to see you there!

More info on the Facebook invite page.

Nick Hornby interview for Goodreads

English author and screenwriter Nick Hornby, perhaps best known for his autobiography  Fever Pitch    and his novels  High Fidelity  and  About a Boy, returns to bookstores this month with  Funny Girl, his first novel in over five years. 

Just before departing on his book tour, Hornby spoke with Goodreads Author  J. Ryan Stradal    about  Funny Girl's manifold influences, the challenge of writing a novel with no antihero, and his film projects, including his recent screen adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's  Wild. 

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Feature on Kitchens of the Great Midwest in the Hastings Star Gazette

Seems appropriate that my first interview for Kitchens of the Great Midwest is with my hometown newspaper. It was a forty-five minute conversation and a total blast to catch up and talk about the past & present with editor Chad Richardson.  

For now, their feature is available here, but it may go up behind a paywall before long.

Thanks for reading, as always.

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California Prose Directory Fiction Night to support 826LA

Please join us for the second and final California Prose Directory event in Los Angeles, featuring an all-star lineup of LA fiction writers:  Carribean Fragoza,  Jim Gavin, Dana Johnson,  Lou Mathews, and  Rob Roberge.

WHEN: Saturday, January 31st at 826LA Mar Vista, 12515 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Doors at 5:30 pm, event begins at 6:00 pm.

WHAT ELSE: There will be wine (and non-alcoholic beverages).

TO GET IN: $10 at the door (100% goes to 826LA) or free with  purchase of the anthology. Reserving your seat  in advance is highly recommended; both the advance tickets and the anthology are available now at the  826LA online store.

 

Interview with Dinah Lenney at Los Angeles Review of Books

“Whether you’re a resident, visitor, or future resident, whether you’re drawn to Joshua Tree, Silicon Valley, or the would-be breakaway counties on the Oregon border, you’ll find California plentiful with stories of reinvention and risk-taking […].” 

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California Prose Directory event to benefit 826LA

On Saturday, November 1st at 6:30 pm, the California Prose Directory is having its first Los Angeles event, featuring five of the anthology's non-fiction contributors: Ann Friedman, Rico Gagliano, Amelia Gray, David Ulin, and Deborah Vankin. The evening is a benefit for 826LA and will be held at its Echo Park location on 1714 W. Sunset Blvd.

For more information, including advance ticket sales, please visit 826LA's website.

California Prose Directory for sale now

The anthology I edited of California writers and writing -- featuring fiction and non-fiction from established authors like Aimee Bender, Dana Goodyear, Amelia Gray, and Jerry Stahl alongside emerging writers like Carribean Fragoza, Benj Hewitt, and Zoe Ruiz -- is now available for sale everywhere.  

Very proud of this collection. Huge thanks in particular to Jon Roemer, Charles McLeod, Sarah LaBrie, Lindsay Merbaum Sinclair, and Amanda Karkoutly.

 

 

 

 

Dinner Party Hot Dish at LitCrawl: Noho -- Wednesday, October 22nd

American Public Media's "Dinner Party Download" and LA's Hot Dish Reading Series team up with Art Institute: Los Angeles in a one-night only event, featuring dinner party-appropriate stories, anecdotes, and amusing asides from:

Rico Gagliano (public radio's "The Dinner Party")
Summer Block Kumar (McSweeney's, Hot Dish Reading Series)
Lou Mathews (writer of the novel "L.A. Breakdown" and award-winning short story writer)
Davy Rothbart (Found Magazine; My Heart Is An Idiot)
& Kent Woodyard (Non-Essential Mnemonics, featured in McSweeney's, forthcoming on Prospect Park Books)

Also, Chef Mauro Rossi and his culinary students at the Art Institute will be creating small plates themed to the content in some of the stories. Bring an appetite.

Wednesday, October 22nd / 9:00 PM / 5250 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601

Hosted by Rico Gagliano & myself. Hope to see you there.

Two Readings in August

Sunday, August 24th at 6:00 pm at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, I'm reading with the excellent Jim Ruland and Dinah Lenney, among others, as part of Conrad Romo's long-running Tongue & Groove series. 

Tuesday, August 26th, at 8:00 pm, I'm joining fellow Rumpus contributors Antonia Crane, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Seth Fischer, and Ashley Perez at Union Station's TRAXX Bar in a show called "Rumpus Rebels: A Night of Hilarity." This is part of WritLarge Press' wonderfully ambitious #90for90 series, where they're hosting a literary event in Los Angeles for 90 consecutive nights. 

 

Reading tonight at Union Station

Tonight: I'm joining local writers reading their latest works at WILL WRIGHT READS with Peter Darchuk, Chip Godwin, Linda Immediato, Alissa Walker, Margaret Wappler, and myself.

Monday, July 28 (7pm)
DTLAB @ TRAXX
800 North Alameda Street, #122
Los Angeles, CA 90012

"A Picture is Worth 500 Words" in Hollywood

For one night, a pop-up entitled ‘A Picture is Worth 500 Words’, will feature seven architects and six writers who will read in a space near Hollywood. 

Conceived and produced by Martina Dolesjova, each writer received an image from a participating architect, with an assignment of interpreting it in no more than 500 words. The information of the title, artist, and any historic nature was left out on purpose in order for them to bring their own understandings to the image. With the rapidity of visual representation in today’s world, quick understandings or misunderstandings are a part of the narratives that deepen the meaning of an image. As we are all exposed to interpretation, this is to be celebrated. 

Each story will inspire the artist and audience to rethink visual context and relationships. It is a dialogue between art, space and storytelling. The writers include: Taleen Kali, Gabrielle Lim, Matt MacFarland, Anthony Miller, Theresa Sotto, and myself. There will also be music by John Isaac Watters.

6:30 pm on Friday, July 25th at 5544 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. Free.


2014 California Prose Directory available for pre-sale

I edited this collection of California writing & writers, featuring stories from Aimee Bender, Ann Friedman, Rico Gagliano, Jim Gavin, Dana Goodyear, Dana Johnson, Eyad Karkoutly, Lou Mathews, Joshua Mohr, Wendy C. Ortiz, Rob Roberge, Jim Ruland, Jerry Stahl, Deborah Vankin and more. Additional details, and pre-order information, here.

 

The Silent History book release event at 826LA Echo Park

I contributed "field reports" to the app version of this inventive literary project -- and now it's time for its physical publication. Join authors Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby, and Kevin Moffett and friends James Ransone (The Wire) and Miranda July (The Future) for a celebration of the release of The Silent History. 6:30 PM on Saturday, June 14th at 826LA Echo Park. 

More info here.

Release party for Aaron Burch's debut collection BACKSWING

While Hot Dish is on a brief hiatus until the late summer, I'm helping produce this event for the excellent Aaron Burch: 

The Hobart founder/publisher reads & signs his debut short story collection, BACKSWING, with bonus stories from authors Amelia Gray, Tim Kinsella, Dylan Nice, and Adam Novy. There will be whiskey.

Thursday, June 26th at the Pop-Hop in Highland Park; 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90042
Doors at 7:30; start time around 8:00 pm. FREE.

2014 American League predictions, for Hobart's annual baseball web series

This offseason, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R. A. Dickey—a book enthusiast who claims that he would be an English professor if he wasn’t a baseball player—traveled to the red-light district of Mumbai as part of his charity work to curb sex trafficking in India.

“It made me want to grab every downtrodden person I could find,” he told the New York Daily News, “and walk them through the door, into the light and possibility, beyond the vile and violent world they’ve grown so accustomed to.” 

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