To celebrate the recent publication of Smokelong’s The Best of the First 10 Years print anthology, I’ll be one of the readers tomorrow night at the always delightful One More Page Books.
(My SLQ story is not in the Anthology. Le sigh). There will be cake and wine.
When: 6 p.m., Saturday, April 26
Where: One More Page Books, Arlington, VA
The line-up–
Grant Bailie
Jeff Landon
Laura Ellen Scott
Art Taylor
Virgie Townsend
Brandon Wicks
An Tran is launching a suburban experiment: The Waterbear Reading Series at One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia. I’ll be reading at the debut event–June 29, Saturday, 6pm– with my good friend Tara Laskowski and my new friend Michael Beeman. OMP is a rare and lovely venue; not only do they sell books, but you can pick up some great wine and chocolate while you’re at it. Oh, and what else do they have that DC readings don’t? DECENT PARKING.
The Waterbear Series debut comes recommended by The Washington City Paper and renowned poet Buck Downs, writing for The Pinkline Project.
The feature image is of me and Richard Peabody that is featured in the bathroom gallery of One More Page. Here’s what the joint looks like:
It was my great pleasure to conduct a panel at One More Page Books celebrating the publication of Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women from Richard Peabody’s unstoppable Paycock Press. One More Page is a very special place. It’s cozy, bright, comfy, and in addition to books they sell wine and chocolate. You gotta get there some time.
One of my stories appeared in the previous PP anthology, Gravity Dancers, and so many of my friends are in the current volume, it was a real treat to moderate this special, and well attended event. The panel consisted of Bettina Lanyi, Patricia Morningstar, and my long time friend/colleague/fellow MFA survivor, Colleen Kearney Rich. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, these anthologies are jam packed with great stories covering all sorts of thematic territories–great value for your literary buck. The discussion was lively, with lots of laughs and gasps, and at one point Richard sort of wandered out on a limb, declaring that men write in a straight line and he found that pretty boring, whereas women wrote in circles, always surprising him. Okey-dokey sir. You’re the publisher.Here he is explaining about his poison ivy. He got it from a cat.
After introductions, each of these writers read a few pages from her story in the anthology, and then we opened it up for a casual chat, mainly about what being a Washington Area Woman Writer meant. I liked Patricia’s answer that what it meant to her was support. That everyone’s success was shared in our community. I buy that.
Here’s a fave image from the event. I’m biased, but Colleen really hit it out of the park, answering each question with warmth, wit, and authority. However this image shows her (left, Bettina is on the right) surprise at being asked questions after the event and also to sign so many books. I’m not kidding, there was a line. I got in there ahead of the crowd, and Bettina told me this was her first signing.
And sure, I sold a book, too. Also, if you were at the event, thank you so much for ignoring the fact that the hem of my sweater was all ripped out. Happened at the store, don’t know how.
Wish Tank 