Last night I went to the very moving launch of Weaving the Threads at Evanston Library. The room was filled to capacity and the audience was captivated by the memoirs read from this anthology. Editor Enid Baron talked about how the book came to be and emphasized that everyone has a story and should tell it. There is another reading for the book this Sunday at Women and Children First Book Store in Andersonville. At the reading I ran into Sharon Solwitz who told me that Barry Silesky is doing a reading May 18. It will be the first time he has left the house since his stroke. Here are the details.
Sunday May 5, 4:30 pm
Editors Enid Baron and Barbara Gazzolo and various contributors
Weaving the Threads: Discovering the Patterns in Our Lives
Women and Children First, 5233 N. Clark Street
Weaving the Threads is an anthology of memoirs from a colloquy of Chicago-area women who have supported one another’s writing four years in a workshop in Evanston. These narratives connect memory to the present with a clear honesty that gives these writings a special authenticity. Here’s WCF website.
Saturday May 18, 6 pm
Poetry Foundation, 61 West Superior Street (Free Admission)
Poetry off the Shelf: Bodies Of Work Festival: Jim Ferris, Leroy F. Moore, and Barry Silesky (Barry Silesky by Sharon Solwitz)
This event is free on a first come, first served basis. Doors open 30 minutes before a program. Programs typically last one hour.
The Bodies of Work Festival presents art and culture that illuminates the disability experience. Taking place in various locations throughout the city and suburbs, the festival features lectures, workshops, visual arts, film, and live performances. The Poetry Foundation hosts a reading by Jim Ferris, Leroy F. Moore, and Barry Silesky. Ferris is the author of Hospital Poems, which received the 2004 Main Street Rag book award, and several influential essays, including “The Enjambed Body.” He chairs the Disability Studies Program at the University of Toledo. Moore is the award-winning founder of Krip-Hop Nation and Sins Invalid. He has received many awards for his advocacy on race and disability matters. Acclaimed biographer of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and John Gardner, Silesky is the author of three books of poetry, most recently, This Disease; founding editor of Another Chicago Magazine; and an instructor at the School of the Art Institute and Loyola University. Here’s the Poetry Foundation website.
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