Events at Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis

@ Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, 55408

GLBT Reading Series

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 7:00 PM at Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis MN 55408 Free and open to the public

Hosted by John Medeiros and Andrea Jenkins

Featuring:
REBECCA FROST. Can a bi-girl who is (happily) married to a het guy (for a really long time) still be a bi-girl? You betcha. Rebecca Frost is used to crossing supposed lines for good reasons, and continued to do so right up through her recent graduation with an MFA in Writing from Hamline University, as she kept her feet planted in several genres at once. Now, fully commenced, Rebecca remains committed to straddling lines, and standing up for our full, juicy, embodied, genius selves! Her thesis novel, Love, House, brings together eclectic characters who find home in an elegant, ramshackle queer household in Powderhorn neighborhood. Her poems have been published in Grounds for Peace, Close to the Ground, Currents, two mnartists What Light contests, and Writers Rising Up: an online journal, as well as a prizewinning broadside. A veteran performer, Rebecca teaches writers to overcome fears of reading (and doing anything else) in public. Contact her via her webiste: www.embodiedarts.com.

MELANIE HOFFERT grew up on a small grain farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated in 2008 with her MFA in creative non-fiction from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her essay, Going Home, won the 2006 Creative Non-Fiction award by the Baltimore Review where it was also published. Additionally, the chapter, The Allure of Grain Trucks was selected as a 2008 Finalist for the Writers at Work Fellowship Competition. She is currently finishing her first book entitled, The Silent Land: A Memoir about God, Gays, and Good North Dakotans, which recently received Hamline’s Outstanding Thesis Award. The Silent Land explores what it means to be part of the last generation to leave the land, the gravel roads, Lutheran churches, and open fields behind. Through an exploration of the metaphorical parallels between the people of the prairie and the rural landscape, the book is also a meditation on the deep beauty and pain of silence.

Funds for this activity are provided by the COMPAS Community Art Program through a grant from the McKnight Foundation. The Carol Connolly Reading Series is sponsored in part by The Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, DreamHaven Books, Patrick's Cabaret, SF Minnesota, and the University Club of Saint Paul.

Young Writers!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 6-8 PM at Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis MN 55408 $2 suggested donation for pizza

This monthly gathering is the spot for creative young voices! A place for young writers (ages 19 and under) to meet other youth writers, workshop their writing, work with local artists, participate in public literary readings and have fun! Grab your notebook and head over to Intermedia Arts to find out what Young Writers! is all about.

Beyond the Pure: Readings by Writers of Color

Thursday, October 9, 2008 7:00 PM at Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis Free; wine & beer reception to follow

Curated by Julie Bates & Carolyn Holbrook; hosted by Carolyn Holbrook

IBé was born in Guinea, and grew up between Sierra Leone, Chicago, St. Cloud, and the Twin Cities. Quite naturally, he lives in the Middle of the Atlantic…with a mailing address in Minneapolis, MN. Among others, he writes about the African Experience, both in Africa and in America. Bridge Across Atlantic, his first collection of poems, is a small dose of these stories.

Bao Phi has been a performance poet since 1991. A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, Bao Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, and a poem of his appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology. He has performed in venues and schools across the country, from the Nuyorican Poets Café to the University of California, Berkeley. Currently he continues to perform across the country, remains active as an Asian American community organizer, and works at the Loft, where he creates and operates programs for artists and audiences of color.

Sun Yung Shin is a 2007 Bush Artist Fellow for Literature and author of the collection of poems Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press 2007); co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoption; (South End Press 2006) and author of Cooper’s Lesson (Children's Book Press 2004), a bilingual Korean/English illustrated book for children. She's currently working on her second book of poems with the working title The Invisible Choir and a memoir of her immigration and naturalization. Her website is www.sunyungshin.com.