Sunday Salon Chicago

July 26, 2013 7:00 am | Tags: , , | No Comments

This Sunday night at 7 pm, I’m reading with three other writers in the Sunday Salon Series in Chicago. A few months ago, I read in the Sunday Salon Series in NYC, and I’m sure this one will be just as much fun.

This reading is free and open to the public. You should attend! The event details are here. And if you don’t feel like clicking the link, Black Rock Pub is located at 3614 N. Damen in the Windy City, and the event is from 7 to 9 pm. We’ll read for about fifteen minutes per reader (there are four of us) and I’ll have copies of my book available for sale. My book comes with a free beer koozie. Yes, really! So you should definitely be there to snag a copy of the book and throw rotten fruit at me. Not necessarily in that order.

I’m reading with three other writers. Micki LeSueur is a freelance copywriter, writing fiction posing as non-fiction for major corporations and their advertising agencies. She writes fiction for her own amusement, and is the founder and host of Fictlicious, a live reading and music series, and its podcast series. LeSueur is also the president and founder of Coat Angels, a local not-for-profit providing warm winter coats for cold Chicago kids. Adam McOmber is the author of The White Forest (Touchstone 2012) and This New & Poisonous Air (BOA Editions 2011). His work has appeared recently in Conjunctions, The Fairy Tale Review and Third Coast. He is the associate editor of Hotel Amerika, a literary magazine at Columbia College Chicago where he also teaches literature and creative writing. Sandi Wisenberg is the author of The Sweetheart Is In, stories; Holocaust Girls, essays; and The Adventures of Cancer Bitch. In Chicago, she directs the MA/MFA in Creative Writing Program at Northwestern University. She has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Illinois Arts Council and Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

Basically, this reading is going to be fantastic. Come join us! I’d love to see you there.

Follow Michael on Twitter: @mpnye

Vouching for Indy

March 21, 2013 8:00 am | Tags: , , | No Comments

This Saturday, March 23rd, I’ll be reading from Strategies Against Extinction at Indy Reads Books. It’s a long Midwestern weekend for me. On Friday, I’m visiting my friend Ryan Stone’s class at Danville Community College in Illinois to talk short fiction and maybe get in a good knock-knock joke or two. Sadly, this is not open to the public.

But Saturday night is open to the public! You should attend! The Facebook event is here. And if you don’t feel like clicking the link, Indy Reads Books is located at 911 Massachusetts Ave in Indianapolis and our event is from 7 to 9 pm. We’ll read a bit, answer some questions, and then play foosball with all attendees. Or something.

The reading Saturday night is hosted by Vouched Books, who were super wonderful in Atlanta and will be equally terrific in Indianapolis. I’m reading with my friend Andrew Scott, the author of Naked Summer, editor at Engine Books, and though he’s a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, we still get along.

Come join us! I’d love to see you there.

Follow Michael on Twitter: @mpnye

Fly Away Home

December 19, 2012 1:58 pm | Tags: , , | No Comments

I recently wrapped up the first two months of Strategies Against Extinction book tourin’ with a return to St. Louis, the city that was my home for six years. The River Styx reading series had been at Duff’s Restaurant for decades, but since ownership has put the restaurant up for sale, the series had to find a new home. And, it’s a beauty: Tavern of Fine Arts on Belt Avenue in the Central West End. Easily, this was my favorite reading yet, filled with old friends, past colleagues, fellow graduate students, mentors, and long time supporters of River Styx. I couldn’t have asked for a better close to the first two months of the tour.

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Vouching For Atlanta

November 9, 2012 7:00 am | Tags: , , , , | No Comments

Atlanta! I’m here! I’ve never been to Atlanta but thanks to my friends Laura Straub and Matt Sailor, I’m here now. Get at me!

Tonight at 8 pm (November 9th, 2012 if you’re checking the calendar) I’ll be at The Goat Farm Art Center‘s Warhorse Coffeeshop. Hosted by Vouched ATL in collaboration with New South, the literary journal of Georgia State University, I’m one of five readers in a night that should be a blast. I’ll also be reading with:

Carrie Murphy, whose first collection of poems, PRETTY TILT, was released by Keyhole Press in 2012.

Kate Sweeney, who runs Atlanta’s True Story reading series and whose first book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, is out on UGA Press in 2014.

Jamie Iredell is the author of, most recently, The Book of Freaks. In 2013, Future Tense Books will release a collection of essays.

Amber Sparks, whose debut collection, MAY WE SHED THESE HUMAN BODIES, is just out from Curbside Splendor. You can find her most days @ambernoelle on Twitter or www.ambernoellesparks.com

Come join us! I’d love to see you there.

Follow Michael on Twitter: @mpnye

Books By the Banks

October 23, 2012 1:13 pm | Tags: , , , , | No Comments

Last weekend, I was back in Cincinnati, my hometown, for two events. The first was a reading/hangout with old friends (I mean, people that go back to my elementary school days) and graduate students at the University of Cincinnati. The event was in the Sword Room of the MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine; I ended up skipping the reading part to chat up my friends, sign books, drink pints, and watch baseball. I’m pretty okay with that turn of events!  The second was on Saturday, at the wonderful Books By the Banks festival, held in downtown Cincinnati.

Which gave me an opportunity for a little writer-envy.

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On Public Readings

October 16, 2012 12:13 pm | Tags: , , | No Comments

This month I’m blogging at Vouched Books, an organization whose sole purpose is to promote small press literature. I recently wrote a post about the first two public readings I gave from Strategies Against Extinction. The first reading was before an academic audience at DePaul University in Chicago. The second was at Orr Street Studios, here in Columbia where I live, as part of the Hearing Voices/Seeing Visions series.

The full post is here at Vouched Books. While there, check out the other terrific works and Vouchin’s that Laura, Christopher, and Tyler have been doing!

Follow Michael on Twitter: @mpnye