August 15th Reading

Hi, everybody,

Thanks so much for coming out Saturday. Even though Tania James was unable to make it, it was all good: she was detained in DC, receiving an award from the Kerala Tristate Association for Atltas of Unknowns. We promise we'll have her back in early 2010, and you can see what all the excitement is about her debut novel yourself.

Jason Tinney, Michael Pollock, and Paula Bomer were there, though, and they were awesome!

Jason Tinney entertained us with tales of lawn movers and yellowjackets, washing machines and drying machines, and the do's and dont's of microwaving underwear.




Michael Pollock, editor of First City Review and native of Philadelphia, was up next. We were treated to many things that we shouldn't try at home, such as driving in the dark with the headlights off.



Paula Bomer, who came down from New York to read, wrapped up the show, continuing on the theme of "do as I say, not as I do." In fact, I cannot repeat here almost any of the words she spoke. If you want to read it yourself, look up the last issue of New York Tyrant.



Hope you can join us next month! We have FOURTEEN (yes, FOURTEEN) authors lined up, at our regular reading on September 19th (Sam Ligon, Robert Lopez, Blake Butler, Johannah Rodgers, and Donald Breckenridge) at Minas and the Baltimore Book Festival on September 26th (Savannah Schroll Guz, Dan Fesperman, Terese Svoboda, Shanthi Sekaran, John Woods, Justin Sirois, Michael Kimball, and Jen Michalski) in Mount Vernon.

August 15th Readings: Tania James, Paula Bomer, Michael Pollock, and Jason Tinney

Tania James is the author of a debut novel Atlas of Unknowns (Knopf). Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, she splits her time between New York City and Washington, DC, and has much love for the Bolt Bus that ferries her back and forth. She has been published in One Story magazine and The New York Times. Visit her at www.taniajames.com.



Paula Bomer's fiction has appeared in Open City, Fiction, Nerve, The Mississippi Review, The New York Tyrant, First City Review, Storyglossia, juked, Best American Erotica 2002, 2003(S&S), Word Riot, Sub-Lit, and elsewhere. You can find out more about her or reach her by commenting on her blog at:
http://www.paulabomer.com


Michael Pollock is the editor of First City Review, a literary magazine out of Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Inside Magazine.


Writer/Performer Jason Tinney was born in Frederick, MD. His first book LOUISE PARIS AND OTHER WALTZES (poetry/prose) was published in 2002. BLUEBIRD (short stories and poems) was published in 2003. Three of his short stories were published in the anthology, OUT OF TUNE in 2007. He performs with two Baltimore-based bands, The Donegal X-Press and The Wayfarers. Tinney and artist Brian Slagle have collaborated on The Swinging Bridge, a traveling literary and visual arts show, since 2003. Tinney’s writing has appeared in magazines such as Maryland Life, Style, Chesapeake Life, Urbanite, and Baltimore Magazine. For more information about books by Tinney, visit Hilliard and Harris Publishing at www.hilliardandharris.com.

July 18th Readings: John Barry, Scott Price, Ivy Goodman, Jamie Gaughran-Perez

Although Artscape held Baltimore in its intoxicating grip this past weekend, some of us were not deterred from July 18th's 510 reaing. They were not disappointed.



John Barry began the evening reading a new piece about life, love, and death at the National Arboretum.



Next, Scott Price followed, dissecting the life (and death) of minor-league baseball players. Here, he reads from his latest book, The Heart of the Game.



After the break, Ivy Goodman read from a work in progress about property lines, bad neighbors, bratty children, and whistling teeth.



Finally, Jamie Gaugran-Perez closed the night with excerpts from his novel in progress, a pastiche of events that circle and ultimately connect to each other.

Thanks for another great reading. See you next month for Tania James, Paula Bomer, Michael Pollock of First City Review, and Jason Tinney.

July 18th Readings: Jamie Gaughran-Perez, S.L. Price, Ivy Goodman, and John Barry

Fresh from our June hiatus, we're keeping Minas Gallery hot with readings from Jamie Gaughran-Perez, S.L. Price, Ivy Goodman, and John Barry. Don't worry; we'll have plenty of words to quench your thirst.

Jamie Gaughran-Perez lives in Baltimore, works in D.C., and is part of the tripartite leadership behind Narrow House. His work has appeared in various journals and other places. He’s been playing bass in Sweatpants (the band, not the article of clothing) lately.

S. L. Price is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since 1994. Price has authored two previous books: Pitching Around Fidel, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Far Afield, which was named one of the five best reads of 2007 by Esquire magazine. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family.

Ivy Goodman has published two collections of short stories, Heart Failure (University of Iowa Press, 1983), which is part of the Iowa Award Series, and A Chapter from Her Upbringing (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2001). Individual stories have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies.


John Barry is a Baltimore writer. He has written extensively on theatre and arts, as well as tax sales, city planning, aging rock stars, the decline of the Sun, mayoral candidates you never heard of, why he has so many books that he hasn't read, and anything else he's thinking of at the time. He has written for Baltimore City Paper, as well as Urbanite, Style, Chesapeake, Washington Post, Smart Set, n + 1 online, and elsewhere.

In case you missed Saturday's 510 reading at Minas Gallery, here are a few highlights:

Another standing-room crowd joined us instead of going to Preakness. But we could really, really brag if some horses had shown up, too:



Ric Royer started the evening off by literally turning us on our head. From the back of the gallery, Ric and special guest Temple Crocker (left) read from Ric's work in progress, She Saw Ghosts, He Saw Bodies:



Leslie F. Miller decided to read in the front, whetting our appetites for all things cake. Here she reads from the newly released Let There Be Cake:



After the break, Geoffrey Greif discussed the secrets of male friendships. Here he reads excerpts from his nonfiction release, The Buddy System:



Thad Rutkowski ruminated on the origins of his name and other names he has been called. He forgot to mention a few: delightful and mesmerizing. Here he reads from his "novel in fractuals" Tetched:



Although we will be on vacation the month of June, don't forget to come back in July, when we mix it up again with Scott Price, Ivy Goodman, Jamie Gaughran-Perez, and John Barry.

May 16th Readings: Ric Royer, Leslie F. Miller, Geoffrey Greif, and Thaddeus Rutkowski

Ric Royer is a writer, performer, writer of performances and performer of writings. Works of literature include The Weather Not The Weather (Outside Voices, 2008), Hystery of Heat (Publishing Genius, 2007), There Were One and It Was Two (Narrow House Records 2007) and Anthesteria (Bark Art Press, 2001). He is also a founding editor of Ferrum Wheel and co-organizer (with Catherine Pancake and Bonnie Jones) of the Transmodern Performance Festival in Baltimore. He teaches in the film, video, theatre department at Stevenson University. For more words and works, visit www.ricroyer.com


Leslie F. Miller is a poet, essayist, and author of the new Simon & Schuster book, Let Me Eat Cake: A Celebration of Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Baking Powder, and a Pinch of Salt. She likes breaking things and putting them back together in a random, yet tasteful, order. She loves beer and cake. Even at the same time.


Geoffrey L. Greif, DSW, LCSW-C, is professor at the School of Social Work University of Maryland and has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, as well as ten books. His books include being co-editor of Group Work with Populations at Risk and co-author of Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males and Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful Females His most recent book, Buddy System: Understand male friendships, was published September, 2008. He is married to Dr. Maureen Lefton-Greif, associate Professor Johns Hopkins Medical School, and is the father of two daughters, a social worker and a psychologist.


Thaddeus Rutkowski grew up in central Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Cornell University and The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of the novels Tetched (Behler Publications) and Roughhouse (Kaya Press), Both books were finalists for an Asian American Literary Award; Tetched was chosen as one of the best books reviewed in 2006 by Chronogram magazine. His stories and poems have been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Daily News and other papers. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.

April 18th Reading: CityLit Festival!

This is the 510's first year at the CityLit Festival, and we hope it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

What does it mean for you? It means two hundred seats of comfort in the Poe Room (no sitting on the floor, we hope). It means a whole day of readings from the likes of Mark Doty, Junot Diaz, and our own 510 series. We have Christian Bauman, Thomas Glave, Chad Willenborg, and Michael Kimball lined up ready to enchant you, make you cry, make you do the hokey pokey. That's what it's all about.

So here's what you need to know:

New Fiction from the 510 Reading Series
CityLit Festival, April 18th
Enoch Pratt Free Libray
400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore
Poe Room, 1:00 - 2:00 pm




Christian Bauman's latest novel In Hoboken, about a group of young musicians and the mental health facility where one of them works, has been described by critic Paul Constant as "one of those books—like Lethem when he's cooking or Chabon at his most vibrant—when every line snaps and propels you forward...Bauman is an incredible writer." Christian Bauman's first two novels—the critically acclaimed The Ice Beneath You and Voodoo Lounge were loosely based on his experiences as a soldier in Somalia and Haiti. An occasional contributor to NPR's All Things Considered and an editor-at-large for IdentityTheory.com, Bauman lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughters. [christianbauman.blogspot.com]


Thomas Glave was born in the Bronx and grew up there and in Kingston, Jamaica. A graduate of Bowdoin College and Brown University, Glave traveled as a Fulbright Scholar to Jamaica, where he studied Jamaican historiography and Caribbean intellectual and literary traditions. While in Jamaica, Glave worked on issues of social justice, and helped found the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG, www.jflag.org). Glave is the author of the collection Whose Song? and Other Stories (City Lights), which was nominated by the American Library Association for their “Best Gay/Lesbian Book of the Year” award and by the Quality Paperback Book Club for their Violet Quill/Best New Gay/Lesbian Fiction Award. His essay collection Words To Our Now: Imagination and Dissent was published in November 2005 by the University of Minnesota Press. His edited anthology, Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles, was published by Duke University Press in 2006. He has recently completed a second collection of fiction, and is working on a longer fictional work.



Chad Willenborg teaches at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, although he was raised in a family of gravediggers and tombstone makers in central Illinois. His fiction appears in First City Review, Philadelphia Stories, Fugue, and McSweeney's,. He has just completed a novel called Seether.


Michael Kimball's third novel, DEAR EVERYBODY, was recently published in the US, UK, and Canada (http://michael-kimball.com/). The Believer calls it a "curatorial masterpiece." Time Out New York calls the writing "stunning" and the Los Angeles Times says the book is "funny and warm and sad and heartbreaking." His first two novels are THE WAY THE FAMILY GOT AWAY (2000) and HOW MUCH OF US THERE WAS (2005), both of which have been translated (or are being translated) into many languages. He is also responsible for the collaborative art project Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard).