NC Literary Review: New Issue, New Look

The North Carolina Literary Review has just announced the publication of its 2009 issue, boasting a focus on N.C. drama and a smart new design! 

As always, NCLR offers a combination of scholarly criticism and creative works. For example, this issue includes both a recently discovered interview with Paul Green and the text of White Dresses, one of Green’s plays; and  the balance of the drama section includes both critical perspectives on works by Tennessee Williams (whose Clothes for a Summer Hotel was set in Asheville), Elizabeth Spencer, and Jim Grimsley, and insider views on the state’s history of “musician’s theater” by none other than Bland Simpson himself, and original plays by June Guralnick, Richard Krawiec, Kat Meads, and Sam Post. 

Beyond that focus on drama, the new issue also covers the full range of genres: an interview with Betty Adcock, a review of one of her poetry collections, and a sample of her own poetry; a short story by Malcolm Campbell, winner of last year’s Doris Betts Prize in short fiction; an interview with first-time novelist William Conescu (also interviewed by me in Metro Magazine), and much more. I’m proud to have an essay of my own included here as well, discussing mystery novelist John Hart‘s three books, The King of Lies, Down River, and The Last Child.

In all, a great issue, even without my bias in being included in its contents! I can’t wait to work my way through it, and glad to encourage it here.

The Triangle Celebrates National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, of course, and two of the Triangle’s independent bookstores are getting in on the action, celebrating North Carolina poets in particular.

Durham’s Regulator Bookshop kicks things off tonight, Wednesday, April 1, at 7 p.m. with Liz Beasley and Tony Tost and then hosts another pair of poets on other Wednesday nights throughout the month:

• Wednesday, April 15: Shirlette Ammons and Andrea Selch
• Wednesday, April 22: Lenard Moore and David Rigsbee
• Wednesday, April 29: A pair plus one! Al Maginnis, Grey Brown, and Debra Kaufman

Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh has set aside Sunday afternoons (except Easter) for its month of poetry events:

• Sunday, April 5: Betty Adcock, Peter Makuck, and Julie Suk
• Sunday, April 19: Joseph Bathanti and John Hoppenthaler
• Sunday, April 26: Harry Calhoun and Sarah Lindsay

In addition to these bookstore readings, the City of Raleigh is also hosting 2009 Piedmont Laureate Jaki Shelton Green for a special reading on Thursday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the opening of the “Southern Vernacular” exhibition in the Miriam Preston Block Art Gallery, located in the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett Street.

In & Around D.C.

A few poetry events are already on my radar in the D.C. area as well, including George Mason visiting writer Kristin Prevallet, a poet, essayist, and translator who will read from her work on Thursday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Research I, Room 163, at Mason’s Fairfax, VA campus.

A week later, the Cheryl’s Gone reading and performance series welcomes poet Nancy K. Pearson, author of the terrific collection Two Minutes of Light, to headline its April event, which also features Ed Davis and Sherri Sorvillo. The night is billed as “an evening of burlesque and poetry” and includes performances by Lil Dutch & Candy Del Rio. All of it unfolds on Thursday evening, April 16, at D.C.’s Big Bear Cafe.

And throughout the month, be sure to check out Brian Brodeur‘s great blog, How A Poem Happens, where contemporary poets talk about their work.

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