#YeahYouWrite
Spoiler alert: We have no dearth of reading series here in New York City. But there’s a fairly new one that I had the good fortune to discover last week.
And I’ll be returning.
I found out about #YeahYouWrite when the amazing Sara Lippmann, whom I’m lucky enough to call a good friend, let me and a few other people know that she’d been invited to participate. I would have gone to support Sara in any case (even if she hadn’t generously offered to feed her fans). But the fact that Jacob Appel was on the roster to read the same evening was a definite plus: I’ve admired Jacob’s work for years but had never had the chance to meet him. (Unfortunately, the third featured reader, E.J. Levy, turned out to be unable to be there.)
Sara read, and Jacob read (and, to my delighted surprise, gave me one of his books in addition to the one that I bought on site), and the excellent event curator led a terrific Q&A session. Throughout, there were delicious drinks (including the specialty cocktails described to the right) and yummy food.
And then, the evening segued into an open mic session during which audience members read from their work. (We were told that the first reader was an MFA student who was appearing in order to earn class credit! An interesting idea for all of you instructors out there, yes? If you have reading series nearby?) I read two (as yet unpublished) poems.
And I was photographed! (more…)