Thursday, March 18, 8 p.m.
Independent Press Author Showcase
at the Black Cat
(Akashic Books, Soft Skull Press, 7 Stories Press)
Come out to the Black Cat, 1831 14th Street, NW, for a night of readings by five authors: Robert Arellano (Don Dimaio of La Plata), Benjamin Weissman (Headless), Dennis Cooper (My Loose Thread), and Douglas A. Martin (The Haiku Year).
This event is FREE.
Questions? Call the Black Cat at 202-667-7960.
DOUGLAS A. MARTIN & ANNA GRACE
THE HAIKU YEAR (Soft Skull, $11.95)
The Haiku Year exists because seven friends made a pact to write haikus every day for a year as a way to keep in touch with each other. The finished product is a document of a yearâ??s worth of moments filled with joy, sorrow, and unexpected beauty. Douglas A. Martin is the author of Outline of My Lover and two collections of poetry. The six other contributors are Tom Gilroy, Anna Grace, Michael Stipe, Jim McKay, Grant Lee Phillips, and Rick Roth.
Anna Grace has performed in the films 'Fiona,' 'I Shot Andy Warhol,' 'Elektra' and 'Girls Town' (written in collaboration with the actors and director, Jim McKay). Stage work includes Beckett's Play, Stoppard's The Real Thing, and Hamlet. She trained at the National Shakespeare Conservatory. Her writing has appeared in the magazines Cabinet and List. She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook and The MacDowell Colony for poetry and fiction. Invitation to Oblivion, a work in progress, was awarded a fiction fellowship from The New York Foundation for the Arts. The Haiku Year is her first inclusion in a book of haiku.
ROBERT ARELLANO
DON DIMAIO OF LA PLATA (Akashic, $13.95)
Take a bribe and a ride with La Plataâ??s favorite rogue politico through a tripped-out town of strip clubs and drug dens where the heirs of Abraham Beige, original pilgrim, rub shoulders with gun-waving goodfellas. La Plata is a city for sale, and whether itâ??s a job as a cop or a million-dollar contract you want, Don Dimaio will show you the way. Robert Arellano taught creative writing at Brown University and is the author of Fast Eddie: King of the Bees. His short fiction has appeared in the Kenyon Review and Jane. As an indie musician, Arellano has performed with Will Oldham, Havanarama, and Nick Cave.
BENJAMIN WEISSMAN
HEADLESS (Akashic, $12.95)
The author of the acclaimed transgressive cult classic Dear Dead Person returns with this long awaited second collection of brilliantly written, outrageously imaginative and comedic short stories. Benjamin Weissman is one of the true originals in contemporary American fiction. In Headless, he turns his daredevil wit and fearless storytelling gifts on subjects ranging from Hitlerâ??s secret life as a skier to the philosophical musings of identical twin porn stars to the travails of the worldâ??s most sitcom-defying family.
DENNIS COOPER
MY LOOSE THREAD (Canongate, $12)
Dennis Cooper, one of Americaâ??s most original and challenging contemporary novelists, has created in My Loose Thread an immensely powerful work that explores teenage depression, moral vacuity and the confusion of love with great tenderness. Written in Cooperâ??s typically sparse prose, it is a claustrophobic and harrowing piece of fiction that is all the more affecting for the gracefulness of its language. At the heart of this new novel lies Larry, a teenager wrestling not only with his sexuality and the implications of a physical relationship with his younger brother, but with the very point of his existence.
