NEWS AND EVENTS
Events
4/29 at 6 pm - Poetry at the End of the Line - Virtual Event with the New York Transit Museum Reading with Sue Landers and KC Trommer. Sue Landers’ new poetry collection, What to Carry into the Future, was born from a quest to ride every New York City subway line end to end. KC Trommer’s QUEENSBOUND—a collaborative audio project by, for, and about Queens—has used the 7 Line as both stage and muse.
Delighted to be teaching a generative, inquiry-based workshop on ekphrasis at Poets House in the spring. How can art benefit by being seen through the lens of poetry and what do artists have to teach poets? We will investigate these questions by writing together at Poets House and by visiting MoMA to create some site-responsive work. Join me or share with someone who might want to see what poetry has to learn from art and vice versa.
Featured Reader
4/29 at 6 pm - Poetry at the End of the Line - Virtual Event with the New York Transit Museum Reading with Sue Landers and KC Trommer. Sue Landers’ new poetry collection, What to Carry into the Future, was born from a quest to ride every New York City subway line end to end. KC Trommer’s QUEENSBOUND—a collaborative audio project by, for, and about Queens—has used the 7 Line as both stage and muse. REGISTER
9/24/24 at 7 pm for the 2024 Brooklyn Book Festival - Reading with Allia Matta, Nadia Ahmad, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Jennifer Cendaña Armas, Abeer Hoque, and Luvon Roberson, an exquisite corpse poem on the theme of Revolution.
7/21/24 from 4-6 pm - Featured reader for the Westchester launch of the Braving the Body anthology, Hudson Valley Writers Center, 300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY. Reading with Iain Haley Pollock, Jared Harel, Nicole Cooley, Caitlin McDonnell, Lynn McGee, Sara Wallace, Ben Grossberg, Emily Hockaday, Karen Hildebrand, Marina Blitshteyn, and Michael Tyrell.
6/2/24 at 1:30 pm with Cheryl Fish, Anton Yakovlev, and Leah Umansky in Gowanus, Brooklyn, for the summer reading series A Persistence of Cormorants
4/8/24 at 7 pm with Willa Carroll and Tess Taylor at KBG Bar, 85 E 4th Street, New York, New York
3/30/24 at PS 122 Gallery for Alexa Hoyer’s Fallow Frames exhibition, 150 First Avenue, New York, New York
3/2/24 at 5 pm - Launch of QUEENSBOUND 2024, Flushing-bound 7 train, Queens, New York
12/10/23 Fallow Frames Reading at Stephen Street Gallery in Ridgewood, Queens, for Alexa Hoyer’s Fallow Frames show
9/14/23 Escribe Aquí Reading, Hosted by Project Curator Caridad Moro-Gronlier and Nicole Tallman, Poetry Ambassador, Miami Dade County. Readings by Veronica Corpuz, Alexis Ivy, Jen Karetnick, Alina Pleskova, Juliet Romero, and KC Trommer. See the reading here.
5/14/23 Pioneer Works May 2023 Second Sundays Reading for Betsy Kenyon’s SLUMBER 159 Pioneer Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn
5/15/23 Forecast Forum, Berlin Summer 2023 with Gabeba Baderoon
1/26/23 Launch for Betsy Kenyon’s SLUMBER, Thursday at 7 pm For photographer Betsy Kenyon’s monograph SLUMBER, I wrote “through the pinhole, watching,” an ekphrastic poem that accompanies the images in SLUMBER. For the event, writer/publisher Maxwell Neely-Cohen, author Meena Ysanne, and I joined Betsy to discuss the book and to read. With contributions from the audience, I created the collaborative poem “Timeframe,” in honor of the launch.
9/10/22 Jefferson Market Library, Saturday at 3 pm Reading in honor of Andrea Carter Brown's September 12. Readers: Andrea Carter Brown, Scott Hightower, and KC Trommer at NYPL’s Jefferson Market Library Reading Room, 425 Avenue of the Americas (at West 10th Street), New York, New York.
5/18/22 Red Door Series, Wednesday at 6:30 pm Final reader for the 2021-2022 season of the reading and meditation series held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Heights, Queens. Join in person or via the
Livestream.
2/1/22 First Tuesdays Reading Series, Tuesday at 7 pm Readings are held in person at Espresso 77 in Jackson Heights, Queens.
10/24/22 Miseducation: Stories & Poems of How We Learn with Catherine Kapphahn, Olena Jennings, & René Vasicek, at 5:30 pm at Astoria's Q.E.D.
10/23/22 For the co-launch of Ananda Lima’s Mother/land and Tracy Fuad’s about: blank, along with Allison Albino, Như Xuân Nguyễn, presented by Andy Gallagher at Von Bar at 6:30 pm
10/16/22 Artist Residency in Motherhood: Work Made at Home with Stella Fiore, Nicole Haroutunian, Apryl Lee, Catherine Mueller, & Sara Weiss, at 2 pm at Rutan-Becket House, 6 Shore Road, Staten Island
10/13/22 A Night of Poetry Upstairs, with Tara Skurtu, Rosebud Ben-Oni, & Leah Umansky at 7:30 pm at Book Culture 112th
10/1/22 at 7 pm The poets of QUEENSBOUND read an exquisite corpse for BKBF - with Pichchenda Bao, Sharese Francis, Abeer Y. Hoque, Joseph O. Legaspi, Rob Ostrom, and Sahar Romani
9/18/22 Night :: {Call} Reading Join us on 9/18 at 7:30 pm on ye olde Zoome for Rosebud Ben-Oni's curated event “Night :: {Call}” Along with Rosebud, I'll be reading with an incredible array of Queens-loving poets, including Sherese Francis, Jared Harel, Paolo Javier, Safia Jama, Ananda Lima, Erika Meitner, and Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie.
9/18/22 For NYU Gallatin’s Big Walk on Governors Island
9/17/22 With Suzanne Wise for the launch of her amazing chapbook, The Book of Space (Tammy, 2021)
RED DOOR SERIES 2022-2023
For the third year in a row, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Heights, Queens will host the Red Door Series. For each reading, a poet reads a single poem, followed by a 10-minute silent meditation, and closes with a second reading of the same poem. For the 2022-2023 series, I invited readers to join us on second Wednesdays of the month. This season’s readers include Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Nicole Callihan, Anton Yakovlev, Willa Carroll, Arden Levine, and Julia Kolchinsky Dabash.
RED DOOR SERIES 2021-2022
In 2020, Spencer Reece founded the Red Door Series at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Heights, Queens, a reading and meditation series. For each reading, a poet reads a single poem, followed by a 10-minute silent meditation, and closes with a second reading of the same poem. For the 2020-2021 series, I co-curated the series with Spencer for our weekly readings. Our 2020-2022 series, poets Jared Harél and Philip F. Clark have joined as curators and our readings will be held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. The Series is run in person, with social distancing, masking, and contact tracing, and the readings are broadcast on the Church’s Facebook Livestream.
RED DOOR SERIES 2020-2021
Since October 2020, I have worked with the poet Spencer Reece to co-curate the Red Door Series, a weekly reading and meditation series that runs on Wednesday evenings at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Heights, Queens. For each reading, a poet reads a single poem, followed by a 10-minute silent meditation, and closes with a second reading of the same poem. The Series is run in person, with social distancing, masking, and contact tracing, and the readings are broadcast on the Church’s Facebook Livestream. To date, readers have included award-winning poets, including Greg Pardlo, Joseph Legaspi, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Amy Lemmon, Nana Euka Brew-Hammond, Sahar Romani, Philip Clark, Sheila Maldonado, Scott Hightower, Jennifer Franklin, Soren Stockman, David Groff, Mark Bibbins, Abeer Y. Hoque, Joseph Fasano, Vikas Menon, Jared Harel, Ryan Black, Maria Terrone, and Ariel Francisco.
WRITER IN RESIDENCE ON GOVERNORS ISLAND
From May to November 2022, I'll be the writer in residence through Works on Water on Governors Island, working on poems for my next collection. A million thank yous to WoW for allowing me to continue the love affair with GI that began with my 2021 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Governors Island COVID-19 Response Residency.
LMCC RESIDENCY
Starting in January 2021, I‘ll join 22 other (socially distanced and spaced out) artists and writers as a part of the second cohort of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Governors Island COVID-19 Response Residency program.
On October 2, 2020, at 7 pm tune into "A Reckoning," a live reading of the newest QUEENSBOUND exquisite corpse from poets Nadia Ahmad, Chenda Bao, Nana Brew-Hammond, Jared Harel, Abeer Hoque, Joseph O. Legaspi, Robert Ostrom, and KC Trommer, followed by a discussion about building the writing community of Queens and about writing through--and past--the pandemic. We'll be streaming live from Facebook.com/AuthorAbeerHoque.
.
PRINT: A BOOKSTORE
On August 5, 2020, at 7 pm, I’ll be reading through the Portland, Maine, bookstore Print: A Bookstore, speaking with the wonderful Abeer Y. Hoque about We Call Them Beautiful and reading poems from the collection, along with new work. RSVP.
Honored to have my book We Call Them Beautiful (Diode Editions, 2019) been recognized by the 2020 Eric Hoffer Awards
In April 2020, I donated $650 of the May sales of We Call Them Beautiful (Diode Editions, 2019) to benefit Elmhurst Hospital. $20 each ($18, plus $2 for domestic shipping). Proceeds from April sales will be donated to the Food Bank for New York. Email me at kctrommer@gmail.com to request your copy.
Thursdays, June 4 through July 9 6:30-8:30 pm - $395
Past - March 12 through April 16 on Thursdays, 6:30-8:30 pm $495
![QCA++stacked+Logo+(high+res)[1].png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58e94f1e46c3c45cf04c490d/1582904470961-J0BTWR67VLLDT0VPHL60/QCA%2B%2Bstacked%2BLogo%2B%28high%2Bres%29%5B1%5D.png)
For a proposed cycle of poems based on interviews with scientists working in Maine's Acadia National Park, KC Trommer has received a 2020 New Work Grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. She will travel to the island during the summer of 2020 and stage a reading in Queens with poets Rosebud Ben-Oni and Abeer Y. Hoque in September 2020 in Jackson Heights, Queens. For her collaborative online poetry project, QUEENSBOUND, Trommer has received a 2020 Queens Arts Fund Grant to include work from new contributors and a dedicated website. The 2020 edition of QUEENSBOUND will include a 4/18 reading on the Queens-bound 7 train, followed by a reception at Flushing Town Hall. Thanks, QCA!
Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 5 pm - Reading at Berl’s with Ananda Lima, Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, and Artress Bethany White, in Brooklyn, New York.
Monday, November 18 at 7 pm CAME BACK WITH A CLAP BACK A Celebration of Women’s Voices Performed by a cast of stage and film actors Directed by Nikki M. James Poems written by Shafina Ahmed, Allison Albino, Keisha-Gaye Anderson, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Kim Brandon, Emily Brandt, Nicole Callihan, Janel Cloyd, LeConte Dill, Allison Escoto, Jennifer Franklin, Catherine Gigante-Brown, Julie Hart, Emma Hine, Brionne Janae, Dara Kalima, Ellen Kombiyil, Angela Lockhart-Aronoff, Christine Malvasi, Bonnie Rose Marcas, Caitlin Grace McDonnell, Theta Pavis, Sahar Romani, Stephanie Rogers, Benny Sisson, KC Trommer, Irene Villaseñor, and Anna Limontas-Salisbury. Doors 6:30 pm, show 7:00 pm This event is mixed seated and standing room. Seats are first-come, first-served. Emotive Fruition is a live performance of poetry written by some of New York's hottest poets and performed on stage by a cast of film and stage actors.
+ I’ll be reading in Chicago with two fine poets, Ananda Lima and Faisal Mohuddin. 11/2 at 3 pm at The Book Stall. Please come out, Chicago friends and readers!
+ On September 22 at 6:30 pm, join us at Book Culture LIC for a special reading and conversation showcasing the wonderful, diverse voices of poet-parents in Queens. Pichchenda Bao, Malcolm Chang, Adam DeGraff, Jared Harél, Sokunthary Svay, and KC Trommer will be sharing their work and discussing the ways that parenthood influences their creative pursuits. A book-signing will follow. Refreshments will be served. This event is part of the Brooklyn Book Fest and is sponsored by Queens Council on the Arts. RSVP.
+ On September 19, the 2019 Brooklyn Bookends Book Festival will rep Queens at the Jackson Heights Library at 6 pm with this pile of talented sweethearts: Malcolm Chang, Abeer Y. Hoque, and Meera Nair.
QUEENSBOUND
at the Backlot
+ On September 21, QUEENSBOUND at Kaufman Arts District’s 2019 Backlot Festival - QUEENSBOUND Editorial Board Members Abeer Y. Hoque, Joseph O. Legaspi, Jared Harél, and KC Trommer will each introduce Queens writers who are contributing to the next QUEENSBOUND: Nadia Ahmad, Chenda Bao, Ryan Black, and Sahar Romani. Details.
+ On Saturday, October 5, I’ll be teaching a one-day workshop at Poets House, “You Are Here: Poems of Place”.
+ Starting Thursday, November 7, I’ll be teaching a six-week workshop, “Introduction to Poetry” at Catapult.
+ On November 2 at 3 pm, a Chicago Reading with poets Faisal Mohyuddin (The Displaced Children of Displaced Children (Eyewear Publishing, 2018) and Ananda Lima.
+ AWP 2020 in San Antonio Panels - March 4-7, 2020
”Station to Station: Telling the Stories of QUEENSBOUND” - Panel feat. Safia Jama, Abeer Y. Hoque, Joseph O. Legaspi, Jared Harél, and KC Trommer
“Against Landscape: Writing from a Place You Loathe” - Panel feat. Venita Blackburn, Sherrie Flick, Garth Greenwell, D. Gilson, and KC Trommer
+ On Monday, August 26 at 8 am, Vijay Ramanathan will interview me on the Truth to Power Show for Radio Free Brooklyn. Listen here.
+ Along with Cort Day, Gina Myers, Oki Sogumi, and Jason Zuzga, and for the launch of Emily Wallis Hughes’s Sugar Factory, I’ll be reading at the Penn Book Center On July 27, 2019.
+ On July 28, 2019, at 4 pm through Leah Umansky’s COUPLET Series, I’ll be reading at the New York Book Festival, on the Chumley’s stage, alongside Eileen G'Sell and Ruben Quesada.
On Friday, June 7, "Three Rides," the song cycle Herschel Garfein created from my poems "The Cyclone," "Black Ice," and "The Mechanism of Pleasure," will be performed as a part of the 2018-2019 New Voices series at Brooklyn Art Song Society, and featuring soprano Marnie Breckenridge, cellist Dave Eggar, and pianist Dimitri Dover. Tickets here.
On Tuesday, June 4, at 7:30 pm, I’ll be reading at Dixon Place with Andrei Codrescu, through the Experiments and Disorders Series, curated by Christen Clifford and Tom Cole.
The wonderful Grammy Award-winning composer Herschel Garfein has completed a song cycle, "Three Rides", for soprano, piano, and cello, composed from select poems from my collection We Call Them Beautiful. On Tuesday, May 28, at 6 pm, at the NYU Bookstore, composer Herschel and I will present “Poetry into Song: A Reading and Presentation with KC Trommer and Herschel Garfein”, a conversation about our collaboration.
On Sunday, May 19, I’ll be reading at Friends of Maple Grove Reading Series with Nana Ekua Breu-Hammond at Kew & Willow Books (81-63 Lefferts Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY 11415). More here.
On Tuesday, May 14, from 7-9 pm, I’ll join the Freya Project at Elsa in Cobble Hill, for a reading in support of The Women's Freedom Fund. Get your tickets today!
On Sunday, April 14, I’ll be joining the Sunday Salon at VON Bar (3 Bleecker Street) with J. Mae Barizo, Roger Reeves, and Michael J. Seidlinger.
+ On Saturday, April 13 between 4-5 pm, I’ll be presenting on QUEENSBOUND as a part of the Soundscapes panel for Culture Mapping 2019.
+ Saturday, April 6 at 6 pm - NYC Book Launch for We Call Them Beautiful - Book Culture LIC (26-09 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101)
+ On Saturday, March 16, QUEENSBOUND and #QueensWritersResist join forces, hosting contributors Ananda Lima, Vikas K. Menon, Maria Terrone, and yours truly, at Terraza 7 (40-19 Gleane St, Queens, NY 11373).
+ On Tuesday, February 12 at 6:30 pm, I’m pleased to share a poem as a part of the latest Emotive Fruition, the HEARTBREAKERS/VERSE MAKERS edition, at Caveat (21 A Clinton Street, NYC, NY). Get your tickets today!
+ On Sunday, February 3 at 3 pm, QUEENSBOUND rides again, this time in the slightly more stable environment of Q.E.D. in Astoria. Kith & Kin will host contributors Rosebud Ben-Oni, Malcolm Chang, Catherine Fletcher, Sherese Francis, Jared Harél, Safia Jama, Meera Nair, and yours truly. With music from Adam Degraff and Tyler Burba.
2018 Readings & Performances
+On Thursday, December 6 at 7 pm, I’ll be reading in Brooklyn at Pete's Candy Store with Who Will Speak for America? editors Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel Popkin at the Rally Reading Series: Feldman, Popkin, Trommer. Join us!
+ On November 3, 2018, at 2 pm, the QUEENSBOUND project will launch with a reading on the 7 line and reception at the Queens Museum. Join leading Queens writers and poets, including Rosebud Ben-Oni, Malcolm Chang, Catherine Fletcher, Sherese Francis, Jared Harél, Nicole Haroutunian, Abeer Hoque, Safia Jama, Paolo Javier, Joseph O. Legaspi, Ananda Lima, Maria Lisella, Vikas K. Menon, Belal Mobarak, Meera Nair, Maria Terrone, and curator and host KC Trommer, for QUEENSBOUND, a borough-wide writing project. Poets and writers will read original work on the 7 train, beginning at Vernon Jackson Avenue, before stepping off at Mets-Willets Point and heading over to The Queens Museum for a reception. See you on the 7!
+ In the company of other poets and writers, I will be reading poems at the Irish American Writers and Artists for a Gotham-Themed Salon at the Irish Arts Center (553 W 51st Street, NYC) on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, at 7 pm, hosted by Honor Molloy and Joseph Goodrich.
+ Queens Writers Resist Takes It to the Street! On September 22, I'll be reading with Sherese Francis, Abeer Hoque, Amy Paul, and Bino A. Realuyo--with music by Goussy Celestin in the new Diversity Plaza (73-39 37th Road) in the heart of Jackson Heights. Co-sponsored by Friends of Diversity Plaza, Jackson Heights Beautification Group, Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network, and Sukhi. RSVP to the Facebook Event Page.
+ My poem "When We See" is included in the anthology Who Will Speak for America? which was edited by Stephanie Feldman and Nathaniel Popkin (Temple University Press, 2018). I'll be reading from the anthology in September 27, 2018, at 7:00 pm at POWERHOUSE @ the Archway.
+ On February 7 at 7:30 pm, along with Esther Mathieu, I'll be reading at the Poets of Queens series, at Vintage Astoria.
2018 Awards & honors
+ I could not be more pleased to let you know that my first full-length collection of poetry, We Call Them Beautiful, is forthcoming from Diode Editions in 2019. Thanks to them, this book is in safe hands and will be in your hands soon, I hope. I cannot wait to share it with you.
+ My first collection was a finalist for the 2017 Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry (Rosanna Warren, judge).
+ I'm honored to announce that my project QUEENSBOUND has been awarded a 2018 Queens Council on the Arts New Works grant, funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Greater NY Arts Development Fund. Thanks, QCA!
2017
Awards & Honors
+ My first collection was a finalist for the inaugural Shelterbelt Poetry Prize, judged by Ada Limón. Congrats to the winner, Eloisa Amezcua!
+ Honored that my first book was a finalist for the 2016 Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry, judged by AE Stallings. Congrats to the winner, James Najarian!
Readings & Performances
+ On Monday, November 13, 2017, 5:30 pm at The Torch Club (18 Waverly Place), I'll be reading in the very fine company of my NYU Gallatin colleagues. Come and hear NYU Gallatin faculty and staff members, including the award-winning poets Sinan Antoon, Emily Fragos, Scott Hightower, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Millery Polyné, KC Trommer, and Greg Vargo, as they read from their own work.
+ On Sunday, August 27th at 6:30 pm, join me and Ailbhe Fitzpatrick, Honor Molloy, Abby Ahmad, and a whole host of other fine women for A Day Of Testimonies in New York, an evening of music, poetry, film and interactive art at Brooklyn Bazaar supporting the right of Irish women to make decisions about their own bodies. #Repealthe8th
+ On Sunday, July 22, for Out Loud in Public, in partnership with the Queens Museum, and in the company of Queens writers Meera Nair and Jared Harel, I will read new work created in response to Mariella Senatore's collaborative, multidisciplinary exhibition Piazza Universale/Social Stages.
+ From 2-4 pm on 5/21, I'll be the featured reader for the Queens Library's Open Mic for Poets, held at the Queens Central Library, located at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, NY.
+ For the Irish American Writers and Artists Salon, I'll be reading along with fine poet Kelly Sullivan at Symphony Space's Bar Thalia on 5/4 at 7 pm.
+ I'll be reading new work at KGB Bar on 4/20 at 7 pm.
+ I'll be presenting new work at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study's FURIOUS! Pecha Kucha event on Monday, 4/24.
+ For the NYC launch of Resist Much, Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance, now out from Spuyten Duyvil press, I'll be reading my poems "Gauntlet" and "Against" at The Queens Museum of Art on 4/16 from 2-5 pm along with a whole host of other poets.
+ For Underwater New York, I'll be reading my poem "Heel & Key," a work inspired by an object found in Dead Horse Bay, along with other UNY writers on 3/25 as a part of a reading to celebrate the exhibition at Urban Glass.
Collaborations
+ Tickets are available for the final performance of the 2017 Five Boroughs Music Festival, which will be held in Brooklyn on November 16. One of the twenty songs being performed is my poem "The Cyclone," which has been set to music by the Grammy Award-winning composer Herschel Garfein and will be sung by the stellar soprano Marnie Breckenridge. Come on out to hear this and 19 other songs about this mad, mad city. Hope to see you there!
+ On Saturday and Sunday, September 16-17, in performances on Staten Island and the Bronx, come and hear the amazing soprano Marnie Breckenridge sing Herschel Garfein's song "The Cyclone," based on my poem of the same name--and hear 19 other the newly minted New York songs commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival.
+ My poem "The Cyclone" was set to music by Grammy Award-winning composer and NYU Steinhardt professor, Herschel Garfein, and had its world premiere as part of the Five Borough's Music Festival's Five Borough Songbook, Volume II on February 11-12 in Manhattan and Queens. Further performances will take place in September 2017 in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Garfien has taken "The Cyclone," along with two other of my poems, "The Mechanism of Pleasure" and "Black Ice," and created a song cycle that will be performed in late 2017.
+ Honored to have my poem "Gauntlet" included in this year's program for the St. Pat's For All 2017 Concert at the Irish Arts Center, with a reading of it by actress and playwright Florencia Lozano. I'll read it to you here. Thanks to the evening's curator, the always stunning Honor Molloy, for an evening of openness and love and wit, worthy of its cause.
Teaching
+ On Saturday 6/17 at 2 pm, I'll be teaching a short 1.5-hour workshop "We Are the Story" at Project Life Center in Woodside. If you've not yet had a chance to check out the space and all the amazing courses on offer, now's the time.
We Are the Story – Writing Poems, Speaking Our Stories, KC Trommer
The Women’s March was the first response of many to the results of the November 2016 election; this workshop will provide a space for the women of Queens to think through and articulate our own stories in poetry. Together, we will move from prose poetry across the continuum to more experimental work, with the aim of looking not only at the stories we tell ourselves but also at the stories we hope to create.
+ On Saturday 5/20 at 2 pm, I'll be teaching a short 1.5-hour workshop "We Are the Story" at Project Life Center in Woodside. If you've not yet had a chance to check out the space and all the amazing courses on offer, now's the time.
2016
Awards & Honors
Pubbing
+ "We Call Them Beautiful" appears in The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop (Terrapin Books, 2016). Thanks to Diane Lockward for including my work!
+ "Another Brightness" appeared on the home page of All We Can Hold, to promote an anthology of poems about motherhood. Honored to have my poem "Up" appearing in All We Can Hold: An Anthology of Poems on Motherhood, which is available from Sage Hill Press starting in April 2016. Hear the poem here.
+ "How Do We Fix the MFA?: Toward a New Model for Creative Writing Programs" appeared in the September 12, 2016, issue of LitHub.
+ My poem "Fear Not, Mary" appears in Fugue's Issue 49 and was nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Hear the poem here.
+ Poems from my Queensbound series, with the very Queens titles "The 7," "N to Broadway (1998)," and "N to 30th Ave (2001)," appear in the latest issue of Queens's own Newtown Literary, Issue 7. Get your copy when you drop by the Astoria Bookshop or order online from them. Hear my poem "N to Broadway (1998)"--now called "Bench (1998)"--here.
+ My poem "Our Arrangement" is included in the January 13, 2016 issue of Amazon's Day One. Hear the poem here.
+ "We Leg It Up the Hillside to Kill My Darlings" appears on the menu at Lunch.
+ I'm honored to have my essay "Up and Above Us" included in Oh, Baby! True Stories About Conception, Adoption, Surrogacy, Pregnancy, Labor, and Love, edited by Lee Gutkind.
+ Pen Parentis Interview - September 1, 2015
+ EMO FRU ALL STAR SHOW Get your limited edition letterpress chapbooks of poems from the show here.
+ Here is Radiolab's full recording of Emo Fru's Bell House performances. Three of my poems, "The Table," "Osmium," and "Molybdenum," are here, including a tribute to the best chemistry teacher a poet could ask for, Martin O'Connell, and my work is the company of great poems from Arden Finch, Nicole Hefner Callihan, David McLoghlin, Thomas Dooley, Jackie Sherbow, Emily Alta Hockaday, and other fine poets. Get schooled. Get poems. Have a listen.
Readings
+ 4/17 with Queens Poet Laureate Maria Lisella as well as Alice Lacey, Amy Lemmon, and Maria Terrone at the Queens Botanical Garden.
+ 4/21 at 7 pm - Drunken! Careening! Writers! at KGB Bar with Dan Melz and Joanna Adams.
+ 4/28 at 6 pm - Above and Below Reading Series at the Jefferson Market branch of the NYPL
+ 5/13 at 7 pm - Queens Writes Weekend 2106 Kick-off Reading at The Queens Museum
+ Worldwide reading in support of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh. I'll be reading with other Queens poets in protest of Fayadh's death sentence in Saudia Arabia for apostasy. The reading is part of the International Literature Festival Berlin’s worldwide appeal on Fayadh's behalf.
+ On Thursday, December 3, from 6-7:30 pm, poet Emily Fragos will read at the NYU Bookstore. I'll be speaking with her afterwards. Come one, come all!
2015
Pubbing
+ I am honored that my poem "Fear Not, Mary" was selected by Kevin Prufer as the winner of this year's Fugue Poetry Contest. The poem will appear in the journal's 25th anniversary issue, out this fall.
+ Get your hands on Gigantic Sequins Issue 6.2: Summer 2015, which includes my collage "The Hair Poets." There's a purty little chapbook made by the folks at Emotive Fruition--a letterpressed pub made in honor of the Periodic Table readings that were held in June--which includes three poems of mine.
+ Three of my poems, "The Table," "Osmium," and "Molybdenum" will be included in the sure-to-be-fab Emotive Fruition event "Emotive Fruition + Radiolab: Elemental Poetry for the Masses!" with two performances in June, one on 6/24 at Botanic Bar and a second on 6/30 at The Bell House. Gather ye tickets while ye may.
+ I'll be reading new work at The Eagle & the Wren Reading Series at Book Court in May 2015.
+ My poems "Off the Roosie" and "Palookaville" will be a part of the April 23rd Emotive Fruition performance at Botantic Lab at 7 p.m..
+ My collage "In the Dream, I Bait Them (Homage to Bontecou)" will be included in Local Project's "Winter Secrets" show, which will run from December 13-19, 2014 at LP, 11-27 44th Road, LIC, NY.
+ Crossroads CD launch reading at Local Project on December 6 from 6-10 p.m. 11-27 44th Road, LIC, NY
Readings
+ I will be reading and helping close out The Queens Literary Festival on Sunday, August 2nd at 4:30 at LIC Bar, 45-58 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101
+ Come to Queens on June 11 at 7 pm to hear Adam DeGraff, Arden Levine, Honor Molloy and yours truly when we read at The Factory in LIC, smack in the middle of the Shangri-La Art Show, curated by John Baber.
+ I'll be reading this spring with Kimberly Foote at NYU Gallatin's Writers in Progress Reading on March 2nd, from 5 to 6:30 p.m
+ On Valentine's Day, I'll be reading as part of the curated art exhibition Single at Local Project from 6:30-7 p.m. 11-27 44th Road, LIC, NY.|
2014
+ My poem "We Call Them Beautiful" is included in the Summer 2014 issue of Prairie Schooner. So pleased and honored to have my work included in these pages! Hear the poem here.
+ My collage "Ha Ha Momma" is included in the Local Project's show "Exquisite Collage" and on view through September 7, 2014.
+ On May 15, 2014, I'm reading for Kith & Kin, a reading hosted by Tyler Burba and Adam DeGraff at Marlene Tavern & Winebar, in Sunnyside, Queens (41-49 49th Street). I'll be reading with former Queens poet laureate Paolo Javier and Franklin Bruno. 8-9 p.m. Copies of my chapbook collection The Hasp Tongue, are available from Chicago's dancing girl press.
+ My poems “The Flageolet Player on the Cliff,” “Evisceration,” and “Gauntlet” were finalists for the inaugural BETTER Poetry Prize, judged by Srikanth Reddy.
+ I'm delighted to announce that The Hasp Tongue, a chapbook of my poems, is available from dancing girl press. Thank you, fine ladies of the Windy City! Order your copy here.
+ My collection Puncture was selected by poet Philip Levine as one of five finalists for the 2013 Philip Levine Poetry Book Prize. Mr. Levine selected “Mercy Spurs the Bone” by Chelsea Wagenaar as this year’s winning manuscript. Honored to have been selected.
+ On Saturday, March 15, I'm reading top of the program for the sure-to-be-a-fab blitz of literary siss boom bang that will be the ETERNiDAY event at the newly renovated Queens Museum of Art. Details here.
+ On Thursday, March 13, I'll be reading from The Hasp Tongue for all my JH friends, at the lovely Espresso 77 (35-57 77th Street).
+ On Thursday, March 6th, I'll be reading at the REZ Reading Series at 7:30 p.m. at Odradeks Coffee House (82-60 Austin Street) in Kew Gardens.
+ On Thursday, February 20th, I'll be reading at the Boundless Tales Reading Series at 7:30 p.m. at Waltz Astoria (23-14 Ditmars Boulevard) in Astoria.
+ On Thursday, January 9, I'll be judging the Poetry Out Loud stylings of the cool kids at Brooklyn Latin School. I can't wait to see what they roll out!
+ On Tuesday, January 14, I'll be reading at the Pen Parentis Poetry Salon, along with James Arthur, Timothy Donnelly, Miranda Field, and Lynn Melnick. I'm grateful to Pen Parentis for the invitation to read.
2013
Awards & Honors
+ My first collection was on the shortlist for the 2013 Prairie Schooner Prize.
+ My story, "The Wild Dogs," was selected as one of the winners of the Table 4 Writers Foundation’s first annual writing contest. Thank you, good people of Table 4 for liking the story!
Readings, Performances, and Exhibitions
In early September 2013, the lovely Jackson Heights coffee shop Espresso 77 featured a selection of my original collages, from the series Here Be Monsters.
2012
Awards & Honors
+ My manuscript Puncture was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2012 Felix Pollack Prize, judged by Jean Valentine.
+ "The Wild Dogs" was a finalist for the 2012 Sidney Prize, judged by Richard Nash.
+ "We Leg It Up the Hillside to Kill My Darlings" was a finalist for Gigantic Sequins' First Annual Poetry Contest, judged by Nick Flynn. Thanks, Mr. Flynn. Really Very Large Sequins
Readings & Performances
+ Fall Reading - Jackson Heights Poetry Festival
I'll be reading in JH on Tuesday, September 4, as the featured reader for the Jackson Heights Poetry Festival. Here's the JH Poetry Festival's blog.
Thanks for the write-up, DNA Info! And then, hey, hey the JH Poetry Festival made the Times. Great mentions of the amazing Honor Molloy, whose book Smarty Girl should be read and loved.
Hear my JH Poetry Festival Reading Set at SoundCloud.
UnderwaterNewYork Reading at Poets House
I will be reading Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Poets House (10 River Terrace, NYC) with several other poets--including Matthea Harvey and Cate Marvin--who have written for UnderwaterNewYork. If you are free, please come out for a listen. Thanks, BOMB, for the mention.
Broadsides, Emerging
A broadside of my poem "Meat Cove, Cape Breton" is available for pre-sale from Aaron Cohick of NewLights Press. The print is part of a new series of text-image-process-object broadsides. There will be five broadsides in this series featuring poetry and prose by: Brian Evenson, Brenda Iijima, Justin Sirois, KC Trommer, and John Yau. More details are on the NewLights blog.
2011
Awards & Honors
+ My manuscript Puncture was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2011 Perugia Press Prize for a first or second book of poetry by a woman. It was also a finalist for the 2011 Vassar Miller Prize, judged by Lisa Russ Spaar.
Pubbing
+ Along with several other Queens writers, I'll be reading on Wednesday, February 9, at the inaugural reading of Commas & Coffee, sponsored by Alia Akkam of the QNote. The reading starts at 7 in the downstairs performance space of Cafe Marlene, 41-11 49th Street in Sunnyside. RSVP to info(at)theqnote(dot)com to secure a cozy seat! We have a mention in the Daily News . . .
Readings & Performances
+ Get yer mits on Two Weeks, A Digital Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, featuring poems and recordings. My poem "What the Body Knows" is included, along with Donald Illich's recording of my poem (lovely--and no poet voice!) and my reading of Rose Hunter's "Vulcanology". If you don't have a Kindle, you can read the book using one of Amazon's Kindle apps for the PC, Mac, iPad, or iPhone. It was a completely novel experience for me to submit poems, get a speedy response, and then to see my work in print in two weeks. Nice work, fellas! Other poesy publishers, please take note!
2010
Awards & Honors
+ The Hasp Tongue was a finalist for the Vassar Miller Prize in poetry, judged by J.D. McClatchy.
Readings, Performances, & Exhibitions
"Latitudes" will be featured in this year's Portrait of the Exquisite, a juried show for Sunnyside, from June 13-July 18. I will be selling work at the Art Fair III, part of the Queens Art Express on Sunday, June 13 from 1-5 p.m.
+ "Bouquet of Needles" featured in "Artistic Endeavors: Trice Collective," a Storque article about Sawyer Trice's Trice Collective a curated website that functions as an aggregator of quality art available for online purchase.
92nd Street Y reading On April 7, at 7 p.m., in room S101 at the 92nd Street Y, I will read with several other poets in the culminating event for a poetry course that I have been taking with Grace Schulman. For the past several months, I have been meeting with Grace one-on-one, as have the other members of the class. We shared at the beginning of the course; this is a talented group. The April 7th reading at the Y will showcase work that we have written or revised thanks to Grace's excellent tutelage. If you're free, it's free. I hope to see you there!
Collaborations
+ The stitcher par excellance, Iviva Olenick, stitched up "Baker's Dozen," a triolet.
