Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
Other People’s Poetry: Bob Kaufman
What: Other People’s Poetry (OPP) Presents Bob Kaufman
When: Sunday, January 29, 2017, 4:00 pm
Where: Deep Vellum Books, 3000 Commerce, Dallas TX 75226
Curated by: Joe Milazzo
WordSpace is pleased to announce the addition of OPP to its growing roster of sponsored programs. This repertory poetry reading series, created and hosted by WordSpace’s Program Director Joe Milazzo, is currently in its inaugural (2016 – 2017) season. Every other month, OPP presents one poet, and one book of great poetry, from cover to cover.
For its first program of 2017, Other People’s Poetry is proud to present the poetry of Bob Kaufman, one of the original Beat poets of the late 1950’s San Francisco scene. We will be reading his City Lights Pocket Poets volume, the long out-of-print Golden Sardine, alongside a few other poems from his New Directions collections Solitudes Crowded With Loneliness and The Ancient Rain.
Readers:
- Randy E. Aguebor
- Brett Ardoin
- Gayle Bell
- Greg Brownderville
- MH Clay
- Jolee Davis
- Jim Dolan
- Sean Enfield
- Daniel Evans
- Paul Koniecki
- Herb Levy
- Sebastian Mejia
- Joe Milazzo
- Misty Amber Moore
- Robin Myrick
- Mark David Noble
- Darryl Ratcliff
- Carlos Salas
- Opalina Salas
- Victory
- Gnadia Wolnisty
Copies of Kaufman’s Cranial Guitar (Coffee House Press), which contains Golden Sardine in its entirety, will be available for purchase at the event, thanks to OPP’s host and co-sponsor Deep Vellum Books.
Learn more at: http://www.oppoetry.com/
Book Club: Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Here Comes the Sun at Deep Vellum Books
What: Book Club Discussion, Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Here Comes the Sun
When: Thursday, January 26, 2017, 7:00 pm
Where: Deep Vellum Books, 3000 Commerce, Dallas TX 75226
Facilitated by: Sanderia Faye
Join WordSpace for a discussion of Nicole Dennis-Benn‘s newest book, Here Comes The Sun. We’re teaming up with Deep Vellum Books in January to highlight one of the New York Times‘ Best Books of 2016 and will discuss the text with award-winning debut author Sanderia Faye.
Praise for Here Comes the Sun:
“… [it] stuns at every turn, especially when you think you have it figured out. It’s about women pushed to the edge, Jamaica in all its beauty and fury, and, more than anything else, a story that was just waiting to be told.” (Marlon James)
“…a brilliant, gut-punch of a debut novel. Set on the white sand beaches, resorts and shacks of Jamaica, Nicole Dennis-Benn tells the story of four Jamaican women as they struggle to find their independence amidst the sprawling resorts that both provide and threaten their livelihood.” (Amazon)
“Sun makes for an emotionally devastating read, but Dennis-Benn nurtures her rocky terrain with generous amounts of love and compassion.” (Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News)
A Wordspace Salon with Greg Brownderville
When: January 19, 2017, 7:00 pm
Where: Salons are held in private homes, please RSVP to wordspace@wordspace.us
Hosted by: Sanderia Faye
WordSpace celebrates the release of Greg Brownderville’s third poetry collection, A Horse with Holes in It.
Greg is an associate professor in Dedman College at Southern Methodist University, where he also serves as editor of The Southwest Review. He is a great friend of WordSpace and in the past has participated in both our Pegasus Poetry Series and First Hearings at The Wild Detectives. We are delighted to give him this evening to himself.
Join us on January 19 for an evening of poetry, conversation, drinks, and food. Because WordSpace Salons are held in private homes, we ask that you rsvp to wordspace@wordspace.us to receive the address.
A Horse with Holes in It, published by LSU Press in the Southern Messenger Poets series, employs 
inventive phrasing and vivid imagery to construct a particular life marked by religion, confused by desire, dulled by alcohol, and darkened by death. But Brownderville also skillfully uses humor to soften the disquieting images that haunt these stanzas. Strange stories wind through these poems: Two method actors live as lovers in a war torn city and take the stage in an empty playhouse. A poet confesses to killing thousands of Arkansas blackbirds via folk magic. A preteen boy, deeply involved in an underground religion, is pressured into marrying a dangerous demon. Brownderville’s poems examine a soulscape wrecked almost beyond recognition and dig deeply through the ruins.
Lady B Smoove @ Dallas Poetry Slam
What: Dallas Poetry Slam Feature
When: Friday, January 20, 8 pm
Where: Heroes Lounge, 7402 Greenville Ave., 75231
Hosted by: SlamMaster, Candy
Admission: $5, WordSpace Members Free, but please RSVP
Lady B Smoove’s musical and inspired journey began in 2006 while hosting and performing at The Kaffe Coffee House in Dallas, Texas, alongside several phenomenal artists from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area. Since then, her poems and lyrics have been published in Voices of Poetry, Volume 4 and 5 by Regent Publishing. Her works have also been nominated for a Legacy of Success Foundation Award for Best Literary Works and a UBE Ally Award.
Since her start in this creative arts world Laby Bsmoove have shared the stage with the likes of Malcom Jamal Warner, Audacious IAM, Michael Guinn, Kevin Dupree, and many more; while featuring on stages from The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (Dallas, Texas), Dallas LGBT Pride Monthly Kick Off at City Hall and Dallas Pride Celebration (Dallas, Texas – 2012, 2013), Muse Theater (Dallas, Texas), Fahari Arts Institute (Dallas, Texas), The HeArt Series (Houston, TX), The Boys and Girls Club of Memphis (Memphis, TN) and many more. In 2010 Lady Bsmoove joinedforces with poet and spoken word artist Audacious IAM and went on tour, sharing her work throughout Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia on The Southern Made Tour.
Lyn Lyric “A Poets Tribute To Nina Simone”
When: Saturday, February 18, 8 pm
Where: Margo Jones Theatre
Starring: Lyn Lyric
Directed by: B Randall
Admission: $15, WordSpace Members $10
Lyn Lyric Smith is a native of Dallas who has touched stages from Dallas to New York.
Lyn Lyric is a Singer, Songwriter, Poet, and Actress. In March of 2015 Lyn Lyric released her long awaited poetry and music CD entitled “Of Verse & Song” at The Black Academy of Arts and Letters. This versatile performer has landed rolls in productions such as Love Doesn’t Hurt, Behind The Cotton Curtain (a Tribute to Medgar Evers), The Black Nativity, The Book of Queens, and Just Call Him to name a few. Lyn Lyric is a crowd favorite at The Black Academy of Arts And Letters Poet’s N Jazz, Poetry Smash and the longest running all female poetry show in Texas: In The Words Of A Sistah. In February of 2016 Lyn Lyric Smith graced an a sold out crowd with the One Woman Show “ A Poet’s Tribute To Nina Simone”. Lyn Lyric Smith’s style, grace, vocal and word symmetry has made her a staple on area stages and beyond.
ArtSpeak @ Mighty Fine Arts
Jonathan Woods @ First Hearings
When: January12, 2017. 7:30 PM
Where: The Wild Detectives, 314 West Davis St, Dallas 75208
Hosted by: Charles Dee Mitchell
Join WordSpace for an evening of “pulpy, pervy fun.” (We didn’t say it, Booklist did.)
Jonathan Woods lived here in Dallas when he published his first story collection, Bad Juju and Other Tales of Madness and Mayhem(2011). Since then he has lived briefly in Key West and is now settled in San Marcos. WordSpace has lured him back to Dallas to celebrate his latest novel, Kiss the Devil Goodnight.
You can see that Woods has a way with titles. He is also good at sociopathic behavior, messy crime scenes, dangerous women, and suckered men transformed into implacable vengeance seekers. His tales are hilarious and appalling. But don’t take my word for it.
“It’s fun, fast, furious, frantic and oh so fantastically written. A rare treat.” KEN BRUEN, two-time Shamus Award-winning author of The Guards and London Boulevard
“A street-smart, fast-paced and deliciously cynical tale that races like an 18-wheeler with blown brakes from Florida’s badlands to the dark heart of Mexico.” STEPHEN AMIDON, author of Human Capital
“A hell of a ride! Buy yourself a ticket now.” MADISON SMARTT BELL, National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and author of Doctor Sleep, All Souls Rising and The Color of Night
“A frenzied and sprawling masterpiece that blasts through the boundaries of southern-gothic.” JON BASSOFF, author of The 
Incurables
After the reading, WordSpace board president Charles Dee Mitchell will join Jonathan Woods for a conversation with the audience.
ArtSpeak: The Stoners
When: November 5, 9 pm
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 A North Tyler St.
What: ArtSpeak: The Stoners
Exhibition Opening: Matt Bagley: Trans Dimensional Acquisitions
Wordspace presents a performance by “The Stoners” offering up a musical tribute to the Rolling Stones. Tom Battles fronts, yes that’s right, a Stones cover band, something he’s threatened to do for quite a big while, but now mere idea has matured into fruition and it’s time to rock out! Wordspace is honored to present the premiere of this epochal musical ensemble and fully expect “The Stoners” to alter the perception of cover bands in your mind! ArtSpeak is a performance series in conjunction with exhibition openings.
Mighty Fine Arts presents “Trans Dimensional Acquisitions” featuring new work by Matt Bagley. This show opens Sat. Nov.5 with a reception for the artist from 6-9pm and will run till Sun. Dec.11.
Matt Bagley’s imaginative reveries find their underpinings in the humid backwaters of South Louisiana. Matt is a bonafied swamp child who evolved from the primordial muck and mire to emerge as an artist and master printmaker, as well as a pan-dimensional archeologist, skateboard activist theologist and homespun philosopher. He has somehow managed to channel his multiple interests into coinciding narratives that inform his artistic practice. His storytelling is exemplified in the tales that he relates in his show: “The Feminist Fairytale” A band of women in the very distant past form an army with the animals to defeat a corrupt and paranoid queen, “Breussard the Alligator” The fun loving fashion hip alligator who returhs from NYC to the swampland to make woodcuts prints and invent the “Print Frog”, “Space Bug Robot Wars” A cyborg conflict that morphs spacebug and robot traditions to create a new hybrid culture. Despite the far fetched threads Matt manages to ground his work in a commonality and empathy beyond his own personal conserns. Perhaps there’s a bit of the swamp in everyone that yearns for the acquisition of a trans-dimensional conciousness. Heavy assumptions indeed, that will be addressed and perhaps answered by coming out to Matt’s show!
Christian Taylor, Laney Yarber, Candy: The Numerology of Money
When: Sunday, November 13, 6-7:30 pm
Where: RSVP for Location: WordSpace@WordSpace.Us
Who: Christian Taylor, Laney Yarber, Candy
What: The Numerology of Money by Dick Zinnendorf
Phase One table reading of the The Numerology of Money will be performed by actor Christian Taylor, performance artist Laney Yarber, and Dallas Poetry SlamMaster Candy. The audience will be provided feedback sheets to return to the playwright.
WordSpace is pleased to support script development for playwrights throughout the year. Phase Two of The Numerology of Money will take place in late January and will add staging and movement.
“Currencies are the consciences of treasuries bankrupted by spiritual tollkeepers. Dead ringers are not cashiers on hiatus; they are doppelgängers on shopping sprees. A debt-ridden mannequin was deposited in a mausoleum for millionaires by an anonymous donor. Earn free checking today.”–The Numerology of Money is a one-act play intended for three characters.
TAKE BACK YOUR MIND
Christopher Carmona @ First Hearings
When: Thursday, December 8, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Wild Detectives, 314 W. 8th St., Dallas, TX 75208
Hosted by: Dee Mitchell
WordSpace celebrates the publication of Christopher Carmona’s new book of linked short stories, “The Road to Llorona Park”.
Christopher is an assistant professor of creative writing and Mexican-American studies at Teas A & M University in College Station. He is both a poet and fiction writer. In 2016 he edited The Beatest State in the Union: An Anthology of Texas Beat Writing.
This new book of stories explores life on the Texas/Mexico border, where political events to the South effect those living in the North.
After the reading, Karen Minzer, program director of WordSpace, we join Christopher in conversation with the audience.
