Is is true that Urban Element in downtown Indianapolis is closed for business?
The restaurant was the site of a Thursday night spoken-word open mic sponsored by Writer's Bloc.
Can anyone provide details about the closing and the group?
UPDATE: It's true. Read the Indianapolis Business Journal blog entry here with reactions from readers.
Aug 30, 2010
Aug 29, 2010
Tipton Poetry Journal and Ichabod's Sketchbook II
Two local publications recently have been released, Tipton Poetry Journal’s Issue 18 (Summer 2010) and Ichabod's Sketchbook II.
The Tipton Poetry Journal highlights four poets from Quetzaltepeque, El Salvador (in Spanish and English translation) presented by Joseph Heithaus. The quarterly publication also features a book review by Jessie Carty of CL Bledsoe's Anthem. Poems appear by Jeffrey Alfier, Christine Baker, Jeff Bernstein, Jon Borcherding, Matthew Brennan, Michael Brockley, Jenith Charpentier, Katie Clare, Elizabeth Cleary, K.R. Copeland, Ricky Garni, Angelo Giambra, Robert Griffith, Anne Haines, Sonia Halbach, Tasia M Hane-Devore, Cliff Henderson, Michael Lee Johnson, JL Kato, Stephanie Knipper, Norbert Krapf, Crosby Lemus, Corey Mesler, Clayton T. Michaels, Lylanne Musselman, Mangesh Naik, Christine Stewart-Nuñez, Elaine Fowler Palencia, Roger Pfingston, Richard Pflum, Timothy Pilgrim, Héctor Planas, Fabrizzio Sagett, Dennis Saleh, Staci R. Schoenfeld, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Stephen Spencer, Jonathan Velásquez , Connie Sowa Wachala, Scott Weaver, Avra Wing, Matt Woolven and Hong Zeng. Copies are available for $5.
For purchase and submission information, visit http://www.tiptonpoetryjournal.com/.
Ichabod's Sketchbook II, an annual anthology underwritten by Bookmamas, features poems and prose by Robert Adair, Tony Brewer, Robert Craig, Carolyn Everett, Jan Flexon, Don Kelb, Maureen Kesterton-Yates, Jennifer Lemming, Miranda Marsico, John Peddie, and Dan Stain. For submission guidelines, e-mail ichabodssketchbook@gmail.com. Copies are available for $9.95 at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Ave., Indianapolis in the historic Irvington area.
The Tipton Poetry Journal highlights four poets from Quetzaltepeque, El Salvador (in Spanish and English translation) presented by Joseph Heithaus. The quarterly publication also features a book review by Jessie Carty of CL Bledsoe's Anthem. Poems appear by Jeffrey Alfier, Christine Baker, Jeff Bernstein, Jon Borcherding, Matthew Brennan, Michael Brockley, Jenith Charpentier, Katie Clare, Elizabeth Cleary, K.R. Copeland, Ricky Garni, Angelo Giambra, Robert Griffith, Anne Haines, Sonia Halbach, Tasia M Hane-Devore, Cliff Henderson, Michael Lee Johnson, JL Kato, Stephanie Knipper, Norbert Krapf, Crosby Lemus, Corey Mesler, Clayton T. Michaels, Lylanne Musselman, Mangesh Naik, Christine Stewart-Nuñez, Elaine Fowler Palencia, Roger Pfingston, Richard Pflum, Timothy Pilgrim, Héctor Planas, Fabrizzio Sagett, Dennis Saleh, Staci R. Schoenfeld, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Stephen Spencer, Jonathan Velásquez , Connie Sowa Wachala, Scott Weaver, Avra Wing, Matt Woolven and Hong Zeng. Copies are available for $5.
For purchase and submission information, visit http://www.tiptonpoetryjournal.com/.
Ichabod's Sketchbook II, an annual anthology underwritten by Bookmamas, features poems and prose by Robert Adair, Tony Brewer, Robert Craig, Carolyn Everett, Jan Flexon, Don Kelb, Maureen Kesterton-Yates, Jennifer Lemming, Miranda Marsico, John Peddie, and Dan Stain. For submission guidelines, e-mail ichabodssketchbook@gmail.com. Copies are available for $9.95 at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Ave., Indianapolis in the historic Irvington area.
Butler's Visiting Writers Series Fall 2010
Butler University's fall 2010 lineup for the Vivan S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series is set.
Here's the schedule. All events are free and begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 317-940-9861.
Sept. 16: Kim Addonizio in Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall. Addonizio's fifth poetry collection, Lucifer at the Starlite, was published in 2009 by W.W. Norton. Her collection Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist. Addonizio has also written two instructional books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, both from W.W. Norton. Her first novel, Little Beauties, published by Simon & Schuster in August 2005, was chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, her second novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in 2007. She also has a word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing, a book of stories called In the Box Called Pleasure, and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos. Her awards include two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sept. 23: Yuself Komunyakaa in the Krannert Room of Clowes Hall. Komunyakaa is the Senior Distinguished Poet in the Graduate Writing Program at NYU. His numerous books of poems include Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999; Talking Dirty to the Gods; Thieves of Paradise, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Komunyakaa's prose is collected in Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews & Commentaries. His honors include the William Faulkner Prize from the Universite Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Louisiana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, where he served as a correspondent for and managing editor of the Southern Cross. In 1999, he was elected a chancellor of The Academy of American Poets.
Oct. 18: Jean Valentine in Eidson-Duckwall Recitall Hall. Valentine won the Yale Younger Poets Award for her first book, Dream Barker, in 1965. Her most recent book of poetry is Little Boat (Wesleyan University Press, 2007). Her previous collection, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems 1965-2003, won the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of eight other books. Break the Glass, her new collection, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Books in September. She received the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She also has earned awards from the NEA, The Bunting Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, The New York Council for the Arts and The New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as the Maurice English Prize, the Teasdale Poetry Prize and The Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Prize in 2000.
Nov. 1: Lorrie Moore in the Krannert Room of Clowes Hall. Moore teaches at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She has won the Rea Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction. Her latest novel is A Gate at the Stairs, which The New York Times called “her most powerful book yet, a book that gives us an indelible portrait of a young woman coming of age in the Midwest in the year after 9/11 and her initiation into the adult world of loss and grief.” Her short-story collections include Self-Help, Like Life and Birds of America, which contains “People Like that Are the Only People Here,” the O’Henry Award-winning story about a mother, a baby’s blood clot and the people in the pediatric oncology unit. Her other novels include Anagrams and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital.
Nov. 15: Jonathan Lethem in the Atherton Union Reilly Room. Lethem is the author of seven novels, including, most recently, Chronic City. His book Motherless Brooklyn was named Novel of the Year by Esquire and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Salon Book Award, as well as the Macallan Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger. His first novel, the detective/science-fiction story Gun, with Occasional Music, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels.
Dec. 6: Elmore Leonard in the Atherton Union Reilly Room. Leonard is America’s foremost crime and suspense novelist. His books include Glitz (1985), Freaky Deaky (1988), Tishomingo Blues (2002) and Road Dogs (2009). Films made from his novels include Hombre (1967, starring Paul Newman), Valdez is Coming (1971, starring Burt Lancaster), Get Shorty (1995, starring John Travolta), Jackie Brown (1997, starring Pam Grier, from the 1992 novel Rum Punch), Out of Sight (1998, starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) and The Big Bounce (2004, starring Owen Wilson). Leonard has written several screenplays, including Joe Kidd (1972, starring Clint Eastwood) and Mr. Majestyk (1974, starring Charles Bronson). The current FX network series Justified, about a United States marshal named Raylan Givens, is based on his novella Fire in the Hole.
Scheduled for spring (but the lineup might change):
George Saunders
Mark Halliday
Bob Hicok
Taylor Mali
Marilyn Chin, poet-in-residence
Richard Russo
Here's the schedule. All events are free and begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 317-940-9861.
Sept. 16: Kim Addonizio in Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall. Addonizio's fifth poetry collection, Lucifer at the Starlite, was published in 2009 by W.W. Norton. Her collection Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist. Addonizio has also written two instructional books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, both from W.W. Norton. Her first novel, Little Beauties, published by Simon & Schuster in August 2005, was chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, her second novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in 2007. She also has a word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing, a book of stories called In the Box Called Pleasure, and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos. Her awards include two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sept. 23: Yuself Komunyakaa in the Krannert Room of Clowes Hall. Komunyakaa is the Senior Distinguished Poet in the Graduate Writing Program at NYU. His numerous books of poems include Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999; Talking Dirty to the Gods; Thieves of Paradise, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Komunyakaa's prose is collected in Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews & Commentaries. His honors include the William Faulkner Prize from the Universite Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Louisiana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, where he served as a correspondent for and managing editor of the Southern Cross. In 1999, he was elected a chancellor of The Academy of American Poets.
Oct. 18: Jean Valentine in Eidson-Duckwall Recitall Hall. Valentine won the Yale Younger Poets Award for her first book, Dream Barker, in 1965. Her most recent book of poetry is Little Boat (Wesleyan University Press, 2007). Her previous collection, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems 1965-2003, won the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of eight other books. Break the Glass, her new collection, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Books in September. She received the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She also has earned awards from the NEA, The Bunting Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, The New York Council for the Arts and The New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as the Maurice English Prize, the Teasdale Poetry Prize and The Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Prize in 2000.
Nov. 1: Lorrie Moore in the Krannert Room of Clowes Hall. Moore teaches at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She has won the Rea Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction. Her latest novel is A Gate at the Stairs, which The New York Times called “her most powerful book yet, a book that gives us an indelible portrait of a young woman coming of age in the Midwest in the year after 9/11 and her initiation into the adult world of loss and grief.” Her short-story collections include Self-Help, Like Life and Birds of America, which contains “People Like that Are the Only People Here,” the O’Henry Award-winning story about a mother, a baby’s blood clot and the people in the pediatric oncology unit. Her other novels include Anagrams and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital.
Nov. 15: Jonathan Lethem in the Atherton Union Reilly Room. Lethem is the author of seven novels, including, most recently, Chronic City. His book Motherless Brooklyn was named Novel of the Year by Esquire and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Salon Book Award, as well as the Macallan Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger. His first novel, the detective/science-fiction story Gun, with Occasional Music, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels.
Dec. 6: Elmore Leonard in the Atherton Union Reilly Room. Leonard is America’s foremost crime and suspense novelist. His books include Glitz (1985), Freaky Deaky (1988), Tishomingo Blues (2002) and Road Dogs (2009). Films made from his novels include Hombre (1967, starring Paul Newman), Valdez is Coming (1971, starring Burt Lancaster), Get Shorty (1995, starring John Travolta), Jackie Brown (1997, starring Pam Grier, from the 1992 novel Rum Punch), Out of Sight (1998, starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) and The Big Bounce (2004, starring Owen Wilson). Leonard has written several screenplays, including Joe Kidd (1972, starring Clint Eastwood) and Mr. Majestyk (1974, starring Charles Bronson). The current FX network series Justified, about a United States marshal named Raylan Givens, is based on his novella Fire in the Hole.
Scheduled for spring (but the lineup might change):
George Saunders
Mark Halliday
Bob Hicok
Taylor Mali
Marilyn Chin, poet-in-residence
Richard Russo
Aug 17, 2010
Heads-up: Dan Carpenter
Tonight at 7, Dan Carpenter will read as part of the Irvington Poetry Series at the Irvington Branch Library, 5625 E. Washington St., Indianapolis. Free. An open mic follows. Presented by Bookmamas. Dan is the author of More Than I Can See (Restoration Press).
Aug 14, 2010
Photography and poetry
Seen on Facebook:
Scott Sprunger is looking for subject matter for a DVD about the heart and landscape of Indiana. If you have a favorite photo of the Indiana landscape and heritage, e-mail it to me. It could become the subject of a poem and used (with permission of course) in our upcoming project. scottsprunger@hotmail.com
Scott Sprunger is looking for subject matter for a DVD about the heart and landscape of Indiana. If you have a favorite photo of the Indiana landscape and heritage, e-mail it to me. It could become the subject of a poem and used (with permission of course) in our upcoming project. scottsprunger@hotmail.com
Heads-up: So, Do It! (Writing, that is), Sunday, Aug. 15
Need an excuse to write, or just need a kick in the behind to pick up that pen or laptop. Then the following session is for you:
Sunday, Aug. 15: 1 p.m.-4 p.m. So, Do It! A writing class organized by Barbara Shoup. At Marian Hall 222, Marian University, Indianapolis. Free to members of Writers' Center of Indiana, otherwise $10 (pay at door). First and third Sundays of the month. http://www.indianawriters.org/
Nuvo arts blogger Chi Sherman chronicled her experiences with the class here.
Sunday, Aug. 15: 1 p.m.-4 p.m. So, Do It! A writing class organized by Barbara Shoup. At Marian Hall 222, Marian University, Indianapolis. Free to members of Writers' Center of Indiana, otherwise $10 (pay at door). First and third Sundays of the month. http://www.indianawriters.org/
Nuvo arts blogger Chi Sherman chronicled her experiences with the class here.
Aug 10, 2010
Update: Tasha Jones
She now takes her "Hello Beautiful" message to audiences nationwide. A sample of her recent scheduled stops include Marietta, Ga.; Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Va.; Cincinnati; Dayton, Ohio; and Baltimore.
Although she spends most of her time in Brooklyn and Atlanta, she still considers herself an Indiana resident. She will perform in her hometown on Friday, Aug. 13, at Liberation AME Church, 4906 Crittenden Ave., and on Saturday, Aug. 14, at All That Jazz Cafe, 2127 E. 10th St.
Her website is http://www.iamtashajones.com/.
Aug 8, 2010
Heads-up: Rohana McCormack
Aug 6, 2010
UPDATE: New Century Publishing in trouble
The Indiana Attorney General's office is investigating David Caswell and New Century Publishing. At least seven authors say they paid to have their books published, to no avail.
You can read The Indianapolis Star article here.
The Indiana Business Journal reports on a book fair planned and organized by Caswell. Read about it here.
WRTV (Channel 6) reports that former U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr. says Caswell took money to publish a book and hasn't come through. Read about here.
WTHR (Channel 13) weighs in here.
Caswell does have a defender. I'm not going to identify this person, but here is a note from that person:
I would like to hear more from people who dealt with Caswell.
UPDATE: 10 a.m. Aug. 7.
Evidently, according to The Indianapolis Star, the list of other writers, besides Jacobs, who have had problems with Caswell and New Century Publishing include Rex Early and Kip Tew. Jacobs says he warned Cheri Daniels (the wife of Gov. Mitch) away from Caswell. (I've updated The Star's link above, which has these developments.)
I have heard Caswell say that Raymond Leppard is writing a memoir to be published by New Century.
I know of a New Century client (not an individual), who will remain unidentified, who expressed major disstisfaction with the publisher.
Former Indianapolis Star sportswriter Russ Leonard mailed fliers to advertise his book Cubbing, about the Chicago Cubs and Greenfield native Jake Fox. Though not referring to New Century by name, he writes: "Cubbing originally was to be published in December of 2009 by an Indianapolis firm which encountered financial problems. The book eventually was issued by Bloomington publisher Author House in mid-July of 2010." The delay cost Leonard some hoped-for sales with the pre-Christmas market and Cubs spring training camp crowd. The delay also took some luster off the book's timeliness since Fox had been traded twice since the book's original publication date.
Finally, I've been asked whether I have a financial ax to grind with Caswell. No. I have had no financial dealings with Caswell, other than purchasing some merchandise from his Indiana Authors Bookstore. I did write a blurb for a New Century-published writer (at the author's request), and I did attend a couple of writers meetings at the New Century site on 86th Street in Indianapolis. That group, by the way, is now homeless and discussing whether to continue meeting at a new venue or else disband.
UPDATE: March 5, 2011: Click here.
You can read The Indianapolis Star article here.
The Indiana Business Journal reports on a book fair planned and organized by Caswell. Read about it here.
WRTV (Channel 6) reports that former U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr. says Caswell took money to publish a book and hasn't come through. Read about here.
WTHR (Channel 13) weighs in here.
Caswell does have a defender. I'm not going to identify this person, but here is a note from that person:
You can voice your own opinions, but I think a lot of things have been blown out of proportion. Dave has done many good things for us authors. I do believe that in the past year he has had financial problems due to the economy just like everyone else but instead of relating this to people, he tried to manage things and dug a hole so deep he couldn't get out.On a personal note, when Caswell opened the Indiana Authors Bookstore in downtown Indianapolis in 2004, someone tipped me off about Caswell's criminal past. Other would-be authors have come up to me and asked whether it was a good idea to do business with Caswell and New Century Publishing. After giving my usual spiel against vanity presses in general, I told them about Caswell's background. I said I assumed he did his time, and that I have heard nothing about any recent legal improprieties. I also said I have heard complaints about delays, sloppy editing, and the poor quality of some of his books. I also heard good reports from satisfied customers.
I do not believe nor will I believe that he tried to cheat people. I just believe that he found himself in a situation that became too big for him to handle.
I would like to hear more from people who dealt with Caswell.
UPDATE: 10 a.m. Aug. 7.
Evidently, according to The Indianapolis Star, the list of other writers, besides Jacobs, who have had problems with Caswell and New Century Publishing include Rex Early and Kip Tew. Jacobs says he warned Cheri Daniels (the wife of Gov. Mitch) away from Caswell. (I've updated The Star's link above, which has these developments.)
I have heard Caswell say that Raymond Leppard is writing a memoir to be published by New Century.
I know of a New Century client (not an individual), who will remain unidentified, who expressed major disstisfaction with the publisher.
Former Indianapolis Star sportswriter Russ Leonard mailed fliers to advertise his book Cubbing, about the Chicago Cubs and Greenfield native Jake Fox. Though not referring to New Century by name, he writes: "Cubbing originally was to be published in December of 2009 by an Indianapolis firm which encountered financial problems. The book eventually was issued by Bloomington publisher Author House in mid-July of 2010." The delay cost Leonard some hoped-for sales with the pre-Christmas market and Cubs spring training camp crowd. The delay also took some luster off the book's timeliness since Fox had been traded twice since the book's original publication date.
Finally, I've been asked whether I have a financial ax to grind with Caswell. No. I have had no financial dealings with Caswell, other than purchasing some merchandise from his Indiana Authors Bookstore. I did write a blurb for a New Century-published writer (at the author's request), and I did attend a couple of writers meetings at the New Century site on 86th Street in Indianapolis. That group, by the way, is now homeless and discussing whether to continue meeting at a new venue or else disband.
UPDATE: March 5, 2011: Click here.
Aug 1, 2010
Kelly Writers Series: Fall 2010
Sharon Olds will be among the writers stopping at DePauw University this fall.
The lineup:
Wednesday, Sept. 11: Nic Pizzolatto, fiction writer.
Thursday, Nov. 11: Sharon Olds, poet.
Wednesday, Nov. 3: Matt Dellinger.
For details: http://www.depauw.edu/acad/english/visitingwriters.asp
The lineup:
Wednesday, Sept. 11: Nic Pizzolatto, fiction writer.
Thursday, Nov. 11: Sharon Olds, poet.
Wednesday, Nov. 3: Matt Dellinger.
For details: http://www.depauw.edu/acad/english/visitingwriters.asp
Snarkery revealed
Indianapolis Star arts reporter and blogger Jay Harvey writes about a memory he has of Daniel Schorr, a legendary newsman who died recently. Reacting to Maya Angelou's inauguration poem for Bill Clinton, Schorr reportedly skewered Angelou's effort during an episode of Weekend Edition. Read about it here.
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