Weave Magazine

Review: Hemingway's Summer Reading Series

2009-07-14T03:03:00.005-04:00

Pittsburgh has enjoyed quite the regeneration over the past decade. Its economic and cultural success has been well documented, having been profiled in New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, and by its oft-touted “Most Livable City” tag applied by multiple publications, including The Economist. To think that Pittsburgh hit its cultural stride in recent years is a great disservice to the talents and dedication of many people who have done a lot to make Pittsburgh the artistic community it is today. Among these residents is Jimmy Cvetic, who founded the weekly Hemingway’s Summer Reading Series in 1974.

Despite is Literary-inspired moniker, Hemingway’s Café in Oakland, one of the most popular college bars in the city, is the last place one might expect to find a poetry reading. Honestly, when I’ve told people where I’m off to on Tuesday evenings throughout the summer, I’m usually met with a raised eyebrow or an awkward laugh – people think I’m making a joke about an evening of drinking, when in fact, I’m off to be a part of one of the most fun and longest-running reading series in the city. Yet every Tuesday evening at 8:00pm, the back room of the bar fills up, as Jimmy and fellow series-operator Fred Peterson flip on the P.A. System and the reading begins.

Thanks in part to its storied history, the Hemingway’s Summer Reading Series enjoys a very diverse crowd each week. The line-up always features three or four featured poets, usually local artists of varying ages and styles, which helps add to the atmosphere. A waitress hustles with plates and drinks between readers, and the mood is always inviting and good-humored – 34 years of a reading series makes for a lot of regulars, and a lot of friends! The Hemingway’s Series prides itself on being inclusive, which helps create its terrific feeling of community. To this end, each week has an open mic to conclude the reading – anyone in attendance is welcomed to read a poem or two.

The Hemingway’s Summer Reading Series continues each Tuesday evening at 8:00pm through July 28. This week’s reading features Jessica Jopp, Cvetka Lipuš, and Michael Simms. There is no cover for admission.

Review by Joel W. Coggins.

Pittsburgh Lit Events July 12 - July 19

2009-07-12T17:58:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, July 14:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Jessica Jopp, Cvetka Lipuš, and Michael Simms
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Thursday, July 16:

Pear Noir Issue 2 Release Party
Pear Noir presents Noah Cicero, Ryan Manning, and Jason
Jordan in celebration of Pear Noir #2.
Brillobox
4104 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
7:00pm - free

Friday, July 17:

Game On: Screening and Launch of INCITE! Journal of
Experimental Media & Radical Aesthetic
Aesthetics take on Athletics in this showdown/showcase of artists'
video! "Game On" also signals the local release of INCITE! Journal of
Experimental Media & Radical Aesthetics, a new publication
dedicated to the discourse, culture and community of experimental
film, video, and new media.
Waffle Shop
124 South Highland Ave Pittsburgh, PA (East Liberty)
9:00pm - free

Saturday, July 18:

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT!
Pittsburgh Small Press Festival Expo 2009 (Day 1)
Open Thread presents the SPF Expo 2009 featuring two floors of small
presses and vendors, panels, workshops, food, and multimedia events.
Come find Weave's Table at the SPF Expo and say hello!
Regina Gouger Miller Gallery
Carnegie Mellon University Purnell Center for the Arts
5000 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
12:00pm - free ($5 panel/workshop fee)

Sunday, July 19:

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT!
Pittsburgh Small Press Festival Expo 2009 (Day 2)
Open Thread presents the SPF Expo 2009. Day 2 of SPF features Weave's
Laura Davis & Margaret Bashaar in a 4:00pm panel discussion of Women
in Publishing, as well as a 5:00pm Weave-hosted Writing Workshop. Don't
miss this exciting opportunity at SPF 2009!
Regina Gouger Miller Gallery
Carnegie Mellon University Purnell Center for the Arts
5000 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
12:00pm - free ($5 panel/workshop fee)

Carnegie Library Sunday Reading Series: Karen Lillis
Karen Lillis is the author of the novel The Second Elizabeth (Six Gallery Press)
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main Branch)
Quiet Reading Room, Main Floor
4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
2:00pm - free – (412)622-3151

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?
E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Review: Lowering the Body by Stephen Murabito

2009-07-06T09:26:00.001-04:00

At their best, poems derived from childhood memories offer powerful insight about our world. In his most recent collection of poetry, Lowering the Body, Stephen Murabito offers this best. By sifting through the aspects of memory to paint a picture of a working-class family in upstate New York, Murabito succeeds in depicting a struggling world filled with resilience and a quiet pride.

In the book’s first poem, “First Prophecy, 1962" where we are introduced to a young boy who will be the voice of witness in the rest of the collection:

Once upon a time
On the corner of West Eighth and Oneida
A six-year old boy
Stood up on a coffee table,
Kicked aside issues of Look and Life
And shouted Giants, Giants, Giants.
The gathered Sunday clan
Of diehard Yankees fans.
Paused, stunned in salted Planters and cold Genessee.

These opening lines introduce us to a young boy who is different from his family. And indeed, it is this difference that comes into play for the poems that follow where a young boy is able to spin stories from both the concrete images of winter landscapes and hard, physical work and the more surreal images of family ideals and religious beliefs.

Family takes center stage in this book. Often, there are stories from a child’s point of view of family hardship. For example in “A White Baldness” the poet explains:

The only time I ever saw
My proud, strident, reserved mother
Run like a schoolgirl toward my father
Was the night he lumbered up the porch
And peeled open the screen door
With his left hand, the right bandaged
And dangling — a white baldness.

Certainly, a sense of urgency infiltrates this poem, with the persona is shocked by his mother’s fear. However, a quiet contemplation marks many more of the works. For example, in “Parents Sleeping” the young boy examines his parents in bed, asking, “Who were these exhausted people, these dead/Beauties the white covers muting their form?”

It’s in the landscape of the New York snowbelt where Murabito tries to answer this question. We see harsh winters where the world seems to be holding its breath and spring baseball games where fathers and sons enjoy the gentle breeze of competition and stadium hot dogs. But we see even more. In the poem “Delivering Sfogliatelle to Cousin May” we witness a world “Where soot and spit were tough enough/To still the Oswego River.” And in a closer, more domestic scene, the poet chronicles a fight where “Uncle Mickey beat a man up onto his front porch and out his side door, leaving him to bleed/Into the last green of that year’s tomatoes.”

But the main setting in this collection is the family grocery store, a world most completely described in “Four Quarts, Four Loaves” during a snowstorm:

During the Blizzard of ‘66
The only thing that wasn’t white
Was the inside of our house
At last, after the two-hour trek

To get bread for his customers,
My father emerged from the front door,
Itself gone white around him.

This world of a family store (and the struggles found within its isles) is the main backdrop of many of these poems. Its conclusion is found in the last poem of the collection titled “Saby Closes the Store, January, 1969" where the persona contemplates the final hours of a store by saying, “I’d like to think he wasn’t alone/When he locked up, rounded Eighth, and came home.”

Indeed, many of Murabito’s poems are sobering. Still, this collection is not without humor. For example, who could not at least smile at the small boy in “Eating Pepperoni on Good Friday” who takes “the magic stick from my father’s meat case” so he can sneak to the roof where “only God, above the oaks, can spot me.” Or laugh out loud at the images in “My Mother Joins the Hippies” where the mother “Dark Polish face hardened from beauty to political outrage” leaves her store to protest “our own Mrs. Thompson” who was banned from teaching because she was pregnant.

In essence, Murabito’s collection is a work of landscape. Through his words, we feel the ice cold of upstate New York, we smell the food from a family grocery store, and we see the tired lines in the people’s faces and smiles. But through this collection, we also have poet chronicling a world of family owned businesses, intimate gatherings, and an America that seems to be fast disappearing.

Review by Karen J. Weyant

Lowering the Body by Stephen Murabito was published by Star Cloud Press.

Karen J. Weyant lives and teaches in western New York. Her first chapbook of poem, Stealing Dust, has recently been published by Finishing Line Press. She blogs at www.thescrapperpoetwordpress.com

Pittsburgh Lit Events July 5 - July 12

2009-07-05T12:01:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, July 7:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Madeleine Barnes, Joan E. Bauer, Ann Tomer, and Lori Wilson
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Thursday, July 9:

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT!
Coatlique Reading Series
The final reading this season in Encyclopedia Destructica's Coatlicue Reading
Series, featuring Jerome Crooks, Holly Coleman, Weave Magazine Co-Editor
Margaret Bashaar, and others.
Encyclopedia Destructica Studios
156 41st St, Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
8:00pm – free – (412)904-3098

Friday, July 10:

Most Wanted Fine Art Presents
feat. Carolyne Whelan, Meghan Tutolo, and Courtney Lora Lang
Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery
5015 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Garfield)
7:00pm - ? - (570)575-6557

Saturday, July 11:

Time Management for Writers
Aubrey Hirsch, author, editor and creative writing professor at Chatham
University leads this free workshop presented by the Pittsburgh Writers Project.
Greentree Public Library
10 W Manilla Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Greentree)
10:00am - free - (412)921-9292

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?
E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

July is HOT in Pittsburgh - get your dose of SPF!

2009-07-02T11:15:00.001-04:00

Have you heard about all the hot literary events happening this month in Pittsburgh? If not, you better get on board with Pittsburgh Small Press Festival (SPF for short) and be sure to get your dose of creative sunshine! Weave Magazine will be participating in a number of ways including hosting an upcoming poetry and flash fiction workshop (more info to be announced soon!) as well attending the Small Press Expo on July 18th & 19th at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery on CMU campus.

SPF is Pittsburgh's Small Press Festival featuring presses, organizations, and publications from the tri-state region. It is sponsored by Open Thread and is supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.

Weave Subscription Drive a HUGE Success!

2009-07-01T10:50:00.005-04:00

Weave Magazine would like to thank everyone who supported us in June's Subscription Drive. Not only did we meet our goal - we exceeded it! We sold 31 subscriptions in 30 days! We are both humbled and excited by your support and we can't wait to bring you the third issue of Weave.

This is such great news as we transition into July and some really exciting literary events happening in Pittsburgh. Weave is participating in the Small Press Festival this month and will release information about our latest workshop within the next week. In the meantime, we'd like to thank our final batch of subscribers, along with all our subscribers this month.

Leslie Anne Mcilroy
Lindsay Lusby
Beatina T.
Susan Lange
Geoff S.
Donald Anderson
Dave B.
Michael O.
Eric McKinley
Andrew Mulvania
Renee Alberts

Thanks again everyone!

Pittsburgh Lit Events June 28 - July 5

2009-06-28T15:50:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, June 30:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Jay Carson, Joseph Karasek, Richard St. John, and Judith R. Robinson
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Happy Independence Day from Weave!

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?
E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Subscription Drive: Week Three

2009-06-25T14:15:00.004-04:00

To date, Weave Magazine has sold 22 subscriptions this month - only 8 more to go to reach our goal! If you haven't gotten a subscription already, you should while the prices are still discounted! Don't forget - we'll thank you right here on our website.

A big thank you to the following Weave Magazine subscribers!

Timothy D.
Mark Vrabel
Sally B.
Gabriel Welsch
Carol Ann Valent
Cynthia N.
Laura Halderman

You can still get your subscription at the discounted rate of just $12 until June 30th! While you are at it, you can pick up issue 01 for just $7. Three issues for less than $20 - now that's a deal!

Pittsburgh Lit Events June 22 - June 28

2009-06-21T04:08:00.001-04:00

Monday, June 22:

Cave Canem Poets in Greensburg
feat. Angela Jackson, Colleen J. McElroy, Ed Roberson,
and Thomas Sayers Ellis
Village Hall
University of Pittsburgh Greensburg
150 Finoli Dr Greensburg, PA
7:30pm - free- (724)837-7040

Rick Campbell Reading
Rick Campbell reads from Dixmont (Autumn House Press)
Chatham University, Mellon Living Room
Woodland Rd Pittsburgh, PA (Shadyside)
8:00pm - free - (412)365-1190

Tuesday, June 23:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Anita Byerly, Rick Campbell, and Christine Doreian Michaels
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Wednesday, June 24:

Kathleen George Signing
Pittsburgh-based novelist Kathleen George discusses and signs her
new book "The Odds"
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2705 E Carson St Pittsburgh, PA (Southside)
7:00pm - free - (412)381-3600

Thursday, June 25:

Cave Canem 14th Annual Showcase
feat. Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, and Natasha Trethewey
Westmoreland Museum of American Art
221 N Main St Greensburg, PA
6:30pm - free - (724)837-1500

Friday, June 26:

Nightglow Poetry Series
Hosted by Brian Francis
New Hazlett Theater
Allegheny Sq East Pittsburgh, PA (North side)
10:30pm - $3 - (412)320-4610

Saturday, June 27:

Susan Gregg Gilmore Signing
Discussing and signing "Looking for Salvation at the Dairy
Queen" (Random House Books)
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2705 E Carson St Pittsburgh, PA (Southside)
2:00pm - free - (412)381-3600

Subscription Drive: Week Two

2009-06-15T19:38:00.004-04:00

We here at Weave continue to be grateful for all the support we've received during the first half of our subscription drive. To date, we have sold 15 subscriptions! Half way there!

A big thank you goes out to the following Weave subscribers:

Heather Fowler
Nulty Lynch
Karen J. Weyant
Mark Allen Jenkins
Brian S.
Jessica Myers

If you still have not subscribed please support Weave and independent publishing with your subscription today. Thank you in advance and we look forward to thanking you publicly here on our blog next week!

PS: If you don't want to buy a subscription online email us at weavezine@gmail.com for info on mailing a check or money order!

Pittsburgh Lit Events June 14 - June 21

2009-06-14T12:00:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, June 16:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Angele Ellis, Erin Garstka, Edna Machesney, and Shirley Stevens
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Steel City Poetry Slam
Hosted by DJ Brewer
Local poets perform slam poetry
Shadow Lounge
972 Baum Blvd Pittsburgh, PA (East Liberty)
9:00pm(18+) - $5 - (412) 363-8277

Thursday, June 18:

Berner Book Signing
Author David Berner discusses and signs his novel Accidental Lessons.
Pengiuin Bookshop
420 Beaver St Sewickley, PA
6:30pm - free - (412) 741-3838

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT!
POETSBURGH Presents S.E. Smith
Open Thread presents a special edition of POETSBURGH
featuring readings and talk show chatting with S.E. Smith!
S.E. was a finalist for the 2007 Keene Prize for Literature for
her story collection, "The Wild Girl of Western Pennsylvania,"
and was recently named a finalist for the 2009 Walt Whitman
Award for emerging poets. She is a 2009 graduate of the MFA
Writing Program at the Michener Center at the University of
Texas - Austin. She'll sit down for some readings and talk show
conversation with "host" Adam Atkinson of Open Thread in the
wonderful space at WAFFLE SHOP in East Liberty, following a
spectacular appearance from Drive By Drag.
Waffle Shop
124 S. Highland Ave Pittsburgh, PA (East Liberty)
9:30pm - free (buy waffles!!! :) )

Sunday, June 21:

Carnegie Library Sunday Reading Series: Dana Killmeyer
The Carnegie Library’s Sunday Poetry Reading Series hosts a featured reading
by Dana Killmeyer, author of "Paradise, or the Part that Dies" and Pendulums of
Euphoria (Six Gallery Press).
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main Branch)
Quiet Reading Room, Main Floor
4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
2:00pm - free – (412)622-3151

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?
E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Pittsburgh Lit Event Friday, June 12

2009-06-10T14:06:00.003-04:00

Friday, June 12:

The New Yinzer's Savannah Schroll Guz and Kristofer Collins
join Karen Lillis for a reading to celebrate the release
of Savannah's novel American Soma (So New Publishing).
Kiva Han Coffeeshop
420 S. Craig St Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
Free - 8:00pm

Subscription Drive: Week One

2009-06-08T10:23:00.003-04:00

Weave Magazine is pleased to announce a very successful start to our subscription drive. During just the first week, our supporters have purchased 9 subscriptions!

There is still time to get your subscription at the discounted rate of just $12. Please support Weave Magazine and independent publishing with your subscription purchase today. By subscribing during the month of June you'll get lots of additional goodies:

- Two issues of Weave Magazine!
- Awesome Weave Swag!
- A public Thank You on our blog, including a link to your website!
- That warm fuzzy feeling when you support a good cause!

Weave would like to thank the following people for supporting us thus far:

Leslie D.
Barn Owl Review
M. E. Parker
Scott G.
Kiriam Peters
Marie Gauthier
Shea C.
Christy Wise
Anonymous

Please help us thank these lovely people by visiting their websites!

Support Weave today by SUBSCRIBING TODAY!

Pittsburgh Lit Events June 7 - June 14

2009-06-07T12:01:00.008-04:00

Sunday, June 7:

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT!
The TypewriterGirls Try Politics
"After the (amazing) scantily clad, mildly orgiastic debacle that was The TypewriterGirls Try Drag, the ladies have decided to turn over a new leaf and begin an epic battle in the name of social justice. Join them in their quest to unionize the Greater Pittsburgh bohemian community–streetwalkers, poets, bicyclists, tarot card readers, amateur astrologers, and the like–while revolutionizing Pittsburgh’s concept of 'employed.' Supported by the AFL-CIO (in a manner of speaking), The TypewriterGirls have rounded up an all-star team of Grass Roots Community Organizers to aid them in their cause." Feat. poets Renee Alberts, Adam Atkinson, Mary Biddinger, and Jay Robinson, with music by Between Liberties, DJ Randy Spinster, escape artistry by Dave Doyle (aka Pester the Jester), and punk rock burlesque with Shrimp Scanty.
Your Inner Vagabond
4130 Butler St Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
7:00pm – $5 – (412)683-1623

Tuesday, June 9:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Reading Series
feat. Judith Dorian, Roberta Hatcher, Gene Hirsch, and Paul Zdrale Jr.
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Wednesday, June 10:

Sexuality & Faith - A Program for Pride
Persad Center, in conjunction with American Shorts, presents Sexuality &
Faith, A Program for Pride. The program will feature Reverend Janet
Edwards in an evening of short readings and discussion that examines issues
of faith and sexuality in the GLBT community.
WYEP Community Broadcast Center
67 Bedford Sq Pittsburgh, PA (Southside)
7:00pm - $10 - (412)622-8866

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?
E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Weave Magazine June Subscription Drive!

2009-06-01T09:45:00.002-04:00

Weave Magazine, as you may know, is an independent literary journal. While we were lucky enough to receive a bit of start up money from the lovely Sprout Fund, that money far from covers the cost of sustaining a long-lasting print journal.

Weave Magazine relies on your support.

If you've submitted to us, or are considering submitting, or have had work accepted by us and you haven't already picked up a copy of Weave, please support the journal that you would like to see your work published in. We understand that times are tough right now, but your support is the only thing that will, in the long run, keep us going.

That is why, throughout the month of June, Weave will be holding a subscription drive. Our goal is to get 30 subscriptions in 30 days. We know it won't be an easy goal to reach, but we know you're out there reading and we hope you value the work we do as editors as much as we value your work as writers and artists.

During the next 30 days, if you subscribe to Weave you will receive:

Two copies of Weave Magazine!
Fantastic Weave Swag!
A public thank you on our website - including a link to your blog or website!
A warm fuzzy feeling for supporting independent publishing!

You can subscribe to either issues 01 & 02 (and get two at once!) or issues 02 & 03. So head on over to our sales page and buy a subscription today!

PS: We also lowered the price of a single issue of Weave 01 to $7 - combine that with an 02 & 03 subscription and get three copies of Weave for less than $20 -wow!

Pittsburgh Lit Events May 31 - June 7

2009-05-31T12:01:00.006-04:00

Tuesday, June 2:

Prosody
91.3 WYEP Radio
7:00pm

Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series
feat. Arlan Hess, Mike Schneider, and Christina Springer
Hemingway’s Cafe
3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
8:00pm – free – (412)621-4100

Wednesday, June 3:

Are You Free? Chapbook Release Party
Glass Key Press launches Are You Free?: A Collection of Verbal Literations in a Gritty City featuring D.J. Brewer, Kellee Maize, and Carolyne Whelan
New Amsterdam
4421 Butler St Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
8:00pm – free/$8 books – (412)682-6414

Thursday, June 4:

Coatlicue Reading Series
feat. Stacey Waite, Adam Atkinson, Beano & Mark Bisi, and Thomas Scioli
Encyclopedia Destructica Studios
156 41st St Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
8:00pm – free

Friday, June 5:

Sprout Summer Social
The Sprout Fund, Weave supporter, welcomes friends, neighbors and supporters to a summer social at its offices for complimentary snacks and drinks while listening to live entertainment from Man in the Street and DJ J.Malls. Meet board members and staff to learn about Sprout’s programs. Discover recent projects funded by Sprout's Seed Award and Spark programs. View the 2009 preliminary designs from Sprout Public Art.
Sprout Fund Offices
5423 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)
5:30pm – free – (412)325-0646

Gist Street Reading Series
feat. Hadara Bar-Nadav (poetry) and Salvatore Scibona (fiction)
James Simon Sculpture Studio (3rd floor)
305 Gist St Pittsburgh, PA (Uptown)
7:30pm – $5

Saturday, June 6 :

Poetry Without Walls
13th annual open reading for local writers
Garfield Artworks
4931 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Garfield)
8:00pm – free – (412)231-1581

Sunday, June 7:

Pittsburgh Lit Events May 24 - May 30

2009-05-24T12:01:00.006-04:00

Prosody

91.3 WYEP Radio

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT:
Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series

Tuesday, May 26 @ 8:00pm

Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series, held every Tuesday evening
in the back of Hemingway's Cafe in Oakland, welcomes area writers
Timons Esaias, Romella Kitchens, Arlene Weiner, and Michelle Stoner,
whose poem "Wrinkle" appears in Weave Issue 2.

Hemingway’s Cafe

3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)

free – (412)621-4100

The Living Word Project: the break/s, a mixtape for the stage
Wednesday, May 27 & Thursday, May 28 @ 8:00pm
Poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s the break/s delivers a living history of the hip-hop generation through a multimedia-enhanced performance.
August Wilson Center for African American Culture
980 Liberty Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Downtown)
$25 Wed; $30 Thu - (412)456-6666

POP UP! Pittsburgh
Saturday, May 30 @ 3:00pm
The Gist Street Reading Series, in conjunction with POP UP! Pittsburgh,
presents poet Terrance Hayes & fiction writer Cathy Day. There will be
sign language interpreters and hard copies of the work available.
Pittsburgh Association of the Deaf
1854 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Uptown)
free

Lucille Seibert
Saturday, May 30 @ 3:15pm
Area poet Lucille Seibert reads her work.
Church of the Ascension
4729 Ellsworth Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)
free

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?

E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Pittsburgh Lit Events May 18 - May 24, 2009

2009-05-17T12:01:00.005-04:00

Prosody

Tuesday, May 19 @ 7:00pm

91.3 WYEP Radio

Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series

Tuesday, May 19 @ 8:00pm

feat. Deborah Bogen, Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, and Sankar Roy

Hemingway’s Cafe

3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)

free – (412)621-4100

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT:

The New Yinzer Presents

Wednesday, May 20 @ 8:00pm

Join The New Yinzer for a doubleheader of great events! We will be hosting the May installment of TNYPresents featuring the literary talents of Matt Newton, Mark Possanza, and Weave Co-Editor Margaret Bashaar, along with musical guest, Karl Hendricks at ModernFormations. But wait there's more! The TNY Music Dept. will be dj'ing over at Brillobox as a part of the always excellent Sweet Jamz. One night, two great events!

ModernFormations: 4919 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)

Brillobox: 4104 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Lawrenceville)

$5 (or free with pot luck contribution)

CMU Alumni Reading

Wednesday, May 20 @ 8:00pm

feat. Adam Atkinson, Lillian Bertram, Alayna Frankenberry,

Zach Harris, Tom Laskow, Deanna Mulye, Ben Pelhan,

and Anne Marie Rooney. A reception with refreshments will follow.

Gladys Schmitt Creative Writing Center, Baker Hall

Carnegie Mellon University

5000 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)

Free

Té Café Reading Series

Thursday, May 21 @7:00pm

feat. area poets Lori Wilson, author of House With a Woman,

and Rick St. John, executive director of Pittsburgh-based Autumn

House Press, and author of The Pure Inconstancy of Grace.

Té Café

2000 Murray Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Squirrel Hill)

Free - (412)422-8888

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?

E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Pittsburgh Lit Events May 10 - May 17 2009

2009-05-10T12:01:00.006-04:00

Frank Gagliano

Monday, May 11 @ 8:00pm

Frank Gagliano reads from his novel Anton’s Leap

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater

542 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Downtown)

free - (412)394-3353

Prosody

Tuesday, May 12 @ 7:00pm

91.3 WYEP Radio

Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series

Tuesday, May 12 @ 8:00pm

feat. Fred Peterson, Marilyn Marsh Noll,
Asmita Ranganathan & Christine Aikens Wolfe

Hemingway’s Cafe

3911 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)

free – (412)621-4100

Thaddeus Mosley In His Own Words

Friday, May 15 @ 7:00pm

Artist Thaddeus Mosley will discuss his work &
inspirations— featuring jazz by Roger Humphries and
friends, and a poetry reading by poet Ed Roberson.

Mattress Factory

500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA (Northside)

$10 - (412)231-3169

WEAVE FEATURED EVENT:

Carnegie Library Sunday Reading Series: CM Burroughs

Sunday, May 17 @ 2:00pm

The Carnegie Library’s Sunday Poetry Reading Series hosts
a featured reading by Cave Canem Fellow CM Burroughs.
Burroughs, a native of Atlanta, GA, now serves on the faculty
at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has appeared in journals
including Bat City Review, PLUCK!, and Texas Poetry Journal.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main Branch)

Quiet Reading Room, Main Floor

4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA (Oakland)

free – (412)622-3151

Do you have a literary event you want to see listed on our calendar?

E-mail details to: joel.weavezine@gmail.com

Happy Birthday Weave Magazine!

2009-05-05T15:17:00.003-04:00

Just one year ago today, Weave Magazine posted the submission guidelines for what would become a beautiful collection of art and literary work from around the world. With two issues, support from The Sprout Fund, writing workshops, readings and a trip to the AWP, we feel pretty lucky. We couldn't be more grateful for the support - locally, regionally, nationally and internationally - from people like you!

We are very pleased to present to you the second issue of our publication. This issue is both beautiful and haunting - just full of amazing contemporary art and literary talent. You can purchase a copy from our website - or get a subscription and save a couple dollars! You can also get your hands on a copy of Issue 01 if you haven't already - or buy both issues together while supplies last (and at an even better discount)!

As always, we are open to submissions, open for review requests, open to featuring your local literary event on our blog - just send us an email! Weave plans to have another workshop up and running in the summer months, along with other great events, readings and conferences. Weave seeks to work in this spirit of openness and communication and continue to bring you the best in art and literary publication as well as dynamic community events. So thank you all for your support - we really couldn't have done it without you!

Purchase Weave Magazine!

2009-05-04T23:42:00.017-04:00

Issue 01, October 2008	Issue 02, April 2009	Issue 03, October 2009


Purchase a Subscription


Purchase a Single Issue

Submission Guideline Changes

2009-04-27T10:59:00.004-04:00

As we reopen for our third issue, Weave Magazine has had to make some changes to our submission guidelines regarding longer pieces of fiction and creative non-fiction. Here is a synopsis of the specific guidelines we have changed.

- For both fiction and creative non-fiction, unsolicited submissions should be no longer than 1500 words. For pieces longer than 1500, please submit a query letter and include the title, word count and a basic synopsis of the piece.

- For all submissions, please submit only ONCE during the reading period, unless otherwise requested by an editor.

If you have already submitted fiction or non-fiction during this reading period, the first change does not apply at this point. Anyone submitting fiction after 12pm today must follow these new guidelines.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at weavezine@gmail.com.

Review: Also in Arcadia by Andrew Mulvania

2009-04-22T15:30:00.002-04:00

Also in Arcadia by Andrew Mulvania is both a subtle and striking journey through childhood, loss and recognition set amidst the landscape of the Midwest. Mulvania, a native of Missouri, has written a collection of poems that pay homage to the people and places with keen eye for the small things that shape daily rural life. This work provides a glimpse into the past and holds its breath for the possibility of a more hopeful future.

Mulvania begins with the first of three sections entitled Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man where rural life is subtlety magicked through the eyes of the imaginative youth. This section travels through a variety of rural places: home, barn, church and county fairs and actions: harvesting, farrowing and berry-picking, as is reflected in the book’s first poem “Blackberry-Picking”;

We wanted the easy harvest,
the berries that would drop
in the bucket with a touch, the ones
left unguarded by spiders
and within reach.
But more common were those
you’d have to stretch to grab—
maneuver your hand
through an ambush of brambles,
as though reaching through
a broken window—

With a gentle, but wise voice that reflects awe and reverence for nature, rather than dominance or mastery, Mulvania shares the childhood lesson that life does not always provide the painless path. From there, Mulvania pulls back and focuses more on exhibiting child-like wonder at the world, yet maintaining the attention to detail required of any good artist.

Family, home and religious tradition are also explored in poems like "Sunrise Service, Solid Rock Baptist Church” where the narrator grounds spiritual doubt in the natural world: “I don’t know if I felt all that I was supposed to feel, /or whether I believed what they said when they said, / ‘He is not here whom you seek,’ I knew / the red fox would run the banks of Pointer’s Creek that day, /the wild iris rise up from a shroud of dew.”

The book's middle section journeys down toward death as the title Katabasis suggests. Here, a somber voice describes how frequently death has touched the narrator’s experiences with simplicity and normality. We are reminded that death most often comes not in a grandiose fashion, but in the course of daily ritual, as with the poem “Elegy for Gary Wolfe”,

The hogs must be persuaded with the shocker,
and Gary ignores his heart as it starts to pound—
the hogs must all be loaded for slaughter.

In the final section, Of Foreign Lands and People, Mulvnia pays formal homage to home, family and the great writers that have clearly shaped this writer’s voice. With detailed imagery, Mulvania eloquently invokes the spirits of Frost and Whitman, often using formal poetic forms and subtle rhyme. Just as the farmers painstakingly tend their fields, Mulvania has expertly crafted a collection of poems bright with imagery and rich in emotion. Also in Arcadia is a beautiful book that I highly recommend reading.

In fact, Andrew is a featured reader at this month's Poetsburgh, Thursday, April 23rd at 8pm at Zany Umbrella's performance space in Lawrenceville. Come out and hear him read from Also in Arcadia and pick up a copy. Don't miss it!

Review by Laura E. Davis

____

Andrew Mulvania is the author of Also In Arcadia, published by The Backwaters Press in 2008. His poems have appeared in an array of journals, including Poetry, North American Review, Bellingham Review, Green Mountains Review, and others. He was the recipient of a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Creative Artists Fellowship in Literature. He is currently an assistant professor of English at Washington & Jefferson College.

Weave Magazine Reopens for Submissions

2009-04-15T10:27:00.006-04:00

Just a reminder to everyone that Weave Magazine is now officially open for submissions for issue 03, due out in October 2009. Please be sure to read over our submission guidelines; we often make updates to clarify any questions we receive via email.

Also keep in mind that our release reading for Weave Magazine Issue 02 is Sunday, April 26 @ 6pm at Your Inner Vagabond in Lawrenceville, PA. We will feature readings from eight issue 02 contributors as well as complimentary beer and wine. We will have copies of issue 01 & 02 on sale and more information about Weave's workshops and the submission process. You can RSVP to the event on our Facebook page. We hope you can make it!

Spring Comes to Weave

2009-04-14T14:38:00.000-04:00

Hi there, it's yer friendly neighborhood web-elf, bringing new spring graphics to Weave to celebrate the roll-out of Issue #2. I wanted to take a moment to thank the very lovely Hilde Vanstraelen of Belgium for her charming illustrations, seen in the new Weave banner graphic. You can visit her profile at Stock.Xchng here.

You can visit me at daisybones.com and my art shop here. And, if you haven't picked up your Weave Issue #1, you can even find me there.

Peace out, Heidi