Red Hen Press & ACF-LA in Pasadena Nov. 27

Red Hen & ACF-LA at Boston Court

November 27, 2012 7:00 pm

Boston Court Performing Arts Center strives to challenge the audiences of Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley with diverse programs in an intimate setting. Please join Red Hen Press and ACF-LA for an evening with celebrated writers Douglas Kearney and Nicelle Davis and musicians Pamela Vliek Martchev, Jason Heath, and Timothy Loo from the American Composers Forum–LA, with moderator Brendan Constantine.  General admission will be $10, with a discounted rate of $5 for students and seniors. For more information, please contact Red Hen Press at publicity@redhen.org.

Featured Readers:

Douglas Kearney’s first full-length collection of poems, Fear, Some, was published in 2006 by Red Hen Press. His second manuscript, The Black Automaton, was chosen by Catherine Wagner for the National Poetry Series and published by Fence Books in 2009. In 2008, he was honored with a Whiting Writers Award. An Idyllwild and Cave Canem fellow, Kearney has performed his poetry at the Public Theatre, Orpheum, and The World Stage. His poems have appeared in journals such as Callaloo, jubilat, nocturnes, Ninth Letter, Washington Square, and Gulf Coast. Born in Brooklyn, now living in Santa Clarita, he has a BA from Howard University and an MFA in Writing from the California Institute of the Arts, where he now teaches courses in African American poetry, myth, hip hop, and opera.

Nicelle Davis resides in Lancaster, California, with her son J.J. She has taught poetry at Youth for Positive Change, an organization that promotes success for youth in secondary schools, with Volunteers of America in their Homeless Youth Center, and MHA. She currently teaches at Antelope Valley College. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Beloit Poetry Journal, The New York Quarterly, PANK, SLAB Magazine, Two Review, and others. Her first collection of poems, Circe, is available from Lowbrow Press and In the Circus of You will be released from Rose Metal Press in 2014. You can read her e-chapbooks at Gold Wake Press and Whale Sound. She is an assistant poetry editor for Connotation Press and runs a free online poetry workshop at The Bees’ Knees Blog. Her newest collection, Becoming Judas, will be available from Red Hen Press Fall 2013.

The American Composers Forum-LA supports the artistic and professional growth of composers and expands the    markets for new music through audience building, advocacy, community educational programs, visibility, workshops, composer residencies, and grants for new music projects. Guest musicians Pamela Vliek Martchev on flute and Timothy Loo on cello will be playing “Basque Suites” by local composer Brent Banducci along with other pieces. Jason Heath will be playing “Shodo” for solo cello.

Moderator:

Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Hollywood, California. His work has appeared in FIELD, Zyzzyva, The Pinch, Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, Rattle, and other journals. His most recent collections are Birthday Girl With Possum (2011 Write Bloody Publishing) and Calamity Joe (2012 Red Hen Press). An ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry communities and one of its most recognized poets, Brendan is currently poet in residence at The Windward School in West Los Angeles. In addition, he regularly presents poetry workshops to hospitals, foster care centers, and with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project.