Hearing Voices with Marc McKee and Debra Brenegan

Join us at Orr Street Studios at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, for readings of fiction by Debra Brenegan and poetry by Marc McKee.

DEBRA BRENEGAN

Debra Brenegan grew up in the Milwaukee area and graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked as a journalist and taught at Milwaukee Area Technical College before beginning her graduate work. She earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also taught. She teaches English and Women’s Studies at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. For her fiction, she has received a Ragdale residency and was a recent finalist for the John Gardner Memorial Fiction Prize, The Cincinnati Review’s Schiff Prose Prize, and the Crab Creek Review Fiction Prize. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Calyx, Tampa Review, Natural Bridge, The Laurel Review, RE:AL, The Southern Women’s Review, The Cimarron Review, Milwaukee Magazine, Phoebe, and other publications. Debra Brenegan’s novel, Shame the Devil, is a historical account of nineteenth-century American writer Fanny Fern (SUNY Press, Excelsior Editions). She is currently working on another novel, set in Missouri, and on a short story collection.

MARC MCKEE

Marc McKee holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD at the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he lives with his wife, Camellia Cosgray. His work has appeared in various journals, such as Boston Review, Cimarron Review, Conduit, Crazyhorse, DIAGRAM, Forklift, Ohio, LIT, and Pleiades. His chapbook, What Apocalypse?, won the New Michigan Press/DIAGRAM 2008 Chapbook Contest, and his full-length collection, Fuse, is out now from Black Lawrence Press.

Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Hearing Voices with Stephanie Kartalopoulos and Stacey Lynn Brown

Join us at Orr Street Studios at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, for readings of poetry by Stephanie Kartalopoulos and Stacey Lynn Brown.

STACEY LYNN BROWN

Stacey Lynn Brown was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and studied at Emory University, Oxford University, and The University of Oregon, where she received her MFA in poetry. A poet, playwright, and essayist, her work has appeared in various literary journals, including Crab Orchard Review, Poetry Daily, The Cortland Review, Natural Bridge, Sou’wester, and The Southern Quarterly, as well as the anthology From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. Her book-length poem in sections, Cradle Song, was published by C&R Press in January, 2009. Poems from Cradle Song have won awards from The Poetry Center of Chicago and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, where she lives with her husband, poet Adrian Matejka, and their daughter.

STEPHANIE KARTALOPOULOS

Stephanie Kartalopoulos is a creative writing fellow in poetry at the University of Missouri, where she also is studying toward a PhD in creative writing and literature. She holds an MFA In creative writing from the University of Florida and a BA in English from Harvard and has taught at Boston University, Lesley University, the educational non-profit Year Up, Cambridge College and The University of Florida in addition to Mizzou. Stephanie's poems appear in and are forthcoming from a variety of journals that include 32 Poems, Phoebe, Harpur Palate, Waccamaw, Barn Owl Review, Subtropics, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, Fifth Wednesday and St. Katherine's Review.

Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Hearing Voices with Sarah Heston and Jim Coppoc

Join us at Orr Street Studios Tuesday, Oct. 11, for readings of nonfiction by Sarah Heston and poetry by Jim Coppoc.

Sarah Heston

Sarah Heston earned an MFA in poetry from the University of California, Irvine in 2003 and has since published chapters of her current project, a memoir, in Hotel Amerika and American Literary Review. She is also the recipient of the 2009 Eda Kriseova Fellowship in creative nonfiction from the Prague Summer Program and the Mizzou Creative Writing Program 2011 Nonfiction Award. She is working on a Ph.D. in nonfiction at the University of Missouri.

Jim Coppoc

Jim Coppoc makes his living through some murky but evolving balance of poetry, pedagogy, playwriting, music and performance. In addition to his long history on spoken word and music stages, Coppoc recently has been getting a lot of good attention from the literary world, with four Pushcart nominations this year alone. Among other projects, Coppoc teaches English and American Indian Studies at Iowa State University; teaches poetry and spoken word in Chatham University's low-residency MFA in Writing program; serves as music coordinator for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames; plays bass in the Gatehouse Saints; and lives in Ames, Iowa with his wife and two sons.

Seeing Visions with Matthew Ballou

Taming the Tongue by Matthew Ballou.

The best way to experience art is to have the artist who created it present it you! Come for a guided tour of artist Matt Ballou's work and an informal talk about his approach to the creative process.

Matthew Ballou is an artist and writer living in Columbia, Mo., with his wife, Alison, and daughter, Miranda. He is an assistant teaching professor of painting and drawing in the Art Department at the University of Missouri, where he has taught since 2007. Recently his work has been seen in solo shows in Boston and Seattle, as well as in a two-person show in Louisville, Ky. His extensive article on the work of Odd Nerdrum was the cover feature in Image Journal's 2006 summer edition. Ballou has been a contributor to Neoteric Art in Chicago since 2009, and Neoteric will release a collection of his essays in October 2011. See his work at www.eikonktizo.com.

A closing reception for Matt's show will be held during Artrageous Friday, 6-9 p.m. Oct. 7.

Hearing Voices/Seeing Visions Fall 2011

Welcome back! The fall 2011 season of the Hearing Voices/Seeing Visions visual art and literary reading series begins Sept. 27.

Join us for a reading of fiction by Gladys Swan at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, at Orr Street Studios.

Gladys Swan

Gladys Swan is a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri, a visual artist, a poet and a fiction writer. She teaches workshops about the the creative process throughout the United States and abroad.

Swan has published six collections of short stories and two novels, Carnival for the Gods in the Vintage Contemporaries Series and Ghost Dance: A Play of Voices, which was nominated by LSU Press for the PEN Faulkner and PEN West awards. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared regularly in literary magazines.

The Tiger's Eye: New & Selected Stories, is her most recent collection of short fiction. 

Learn more about Gladys Swan's work at gladysswan.com.

Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Jim Coffman

Join us for a reading of poetry by Jim Coffman at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at Orr Street Studios

Jim Coffman

Jim Coffman’s Gravel Dust and Dreams, a poetry collection about growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s in east-central Illinois, was published in 2009 by Pudding House Publications. A sequel, Outside the Crowd, was published in 2010. His poetic works have appeared in several journals and anthologies since 2005.

Coffman retired after 40 years of ministry. Besides weekly sermons, he authored Communicate in Word and Deed for the United Church Press and Finding Myself in the Parables for The Christian Board of Publication.

He and his wife, Jan, an art photographer, are active in the Missouri Writers Guild.

Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Genevieve Howard and Matt Dube

Join us for readings of fiction by Matt Dube and poetry by Genevieve Howard at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, at Orr Street Studios.

GENEVIEVE HOWARD 

 Returning to a public reading of poetry after a hiatus of 15 years, Genevieve Howard spends her professional life doing online communications. During the 1990s her poetry appeared in literary journals including Chinquapin and the Lavender Reader, on local radio in Santa Cruz and in underground zines throughout the Bay Area and the Twin Cities. She has continued to self-publish chapbooks in very limited amounts and will read from her newest one, titled Take.


MATT DUBE

Matt Dube teaches creative writing and American literature at William Woods University in Fulton, Mo.

His stories have appeared in Gulf Coast, 42 Opus, Pindeldyboz Web Edition, Iconoclast and elsewhere. He is the fiction editor of the online journal H_NGM_N.

 


Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

WordFest: Poetry for Personal Power

In the beginning there was the word ... and at 6 p.m. April 12, 2011 at Orr Studios in downtown Columbia WE CONTINUE THE TRADITION. 

The Orr Street Studios Hearing Voices series proudly present WordFest: Poetry for Personal Power, a hip-hop open mic night for the hottest emcees and poets in the Columbia area. All newcomers and experienced poets/emcees are invited to participate and showcase their talent. 

Everyone is invited to listen and be inspired.

WordFest: Poetry for Personal Power is an event celebrating all the tools we can use to overcome adversity. There are many things we can do to get through the tough times in our life, including spirituality, mindfulness, exercise, activism and of course, poetry. We are building friendships and connections to help us stay well in through the difficulties in our lives.

• $100 for the best poem about moving beyond challenges in our lives
• $50 for second place
• $25 for third place. 

ALL POETRY MUST FOCUS ON OVERCOMING ADVERSITY. This event will feature poets and emcees from:

• Rock Bridge High School and Hickman High School
• Moberly Area Community College
• University of Missouri

The location: Orr Studios,106 Orr Street, Columbia, Mo (in downtown Columbia)

If you would like to sign up to perform, contact:Jessie Adolph at jlatfc@mizzou.edu or 573-268-6180 

Orr Street Studios is located at 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Alberto Giacometti

Join us at the next Seeing Visions at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, to view and discuss a film about the artist Alberto Giacometti.

The work of Alberto Giacometti can be characterized as existentialist meditations on the human body. His stance against surrealism in favor of figuration was of great importance during a time when surrealism was reigning. After hardships stalled his career, Giacometti began creating disturbingly small statues and reportedly left Geneva in 1940 with his entire body of work in a matchbox. The Swiss painter and sculptor followed with one of the most important creative periods of any 20th-century artist, where he created his tall, thin sculptures, often categorized as existential reality.

Orr Street Studios is located t 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

Josh Whitt and Marissa Fugate

Join us for readings of fiction by Marissa Fugate and poetry by Josh Whitt at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at Orr Street Studios.

MARISSA FUGATE

Marissa Fugate is a student in the English PhD program at the University of Missouri, focusing on contemporary world literature and the representations of violence in works from places of long-term ethnic conflict. She earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Arkansas. Her work can be found in Babble, Fugue and The Oxford American. 

JOSH WHITT

Josh Whitt is an author and IT nerd from St. Louis, and why not?  His work has appeared in Bellerive, Skive magazine and various Web journals.

Orr Street Studios is located t 106 Orr St. in downtown Columbia, Mo. Join us every Tuesday evening during the academic year for literary readings and visual-arts presentations.

MISSOURI HISTORY NIGHT with Jim Muench and Arthur Merhoff

Hearing Voices presents a Missouri history theme night at 7 p.m. March 1 at Orr Street Studios in Columbia, Mo. 

Jim Muench will read from his manuscript The Teutonic Cross, a historical novel set in a Missouri college town in 1913, and Arthur Mehrhoff will read from Coming Home Again: A Missouri Journal, a nonfiction book about the meaning of Missouri's special places.

JIM MUENCH

Jim Muench is an author, free-lance journalist, public relations consultant and college instructor who lives in Columbia. His history book, Five Stars:  Missouri’s Most Famous Generals, was published in 2006 by the University of Missouri Press. 

His career includes 25 years of professional experience writing in various genres, and his work has been published in newspapers, magazines and literary publications on local, regional and national levels in publications such as Missouri Life, Sports Illustrated for Kids and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His award-winning play, The Eye of the Sun, received staged readings at two Missouri colleges.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in English/creative writing from Westminster College and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he served as science writer for the MU News Bureau and then as director of communications at Westminster College, the Missouri Division of Energy and the Missouri Department of Economic Development. He started a freelance writing and public relations consulting business in 2001 and has been teaching English at Columbia College and Westminster College since 2007.

ARTHUR MEHRHOFF

W. Arthur Mehrhoff is the academic coordinator for the Museum of Art & Archaeology at the University of Missouri. He holds a master’s degree in urban affairs from Washington University in St. Louis and a doctorate in American Studies, with an emphasis in material culture studies, from St. Louis University. For 15 years he served as community relations coordinator and chair of the award-winning Minnesota Design Team, and he received a Distinguished Service Award from the Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

He was a keynote speaker for the June 2003 National Trust for Historic Preservation “Your Town” workshop in West Virginia, the 2007 Minnesota Rural Summit and the 2008 Canadian Institute of Planning conference.

Mehrhoff created the Heritage Preservation Program and taught community design and heritage preservation for 15 years at the Minnesota State University in Saint Cloud. He served as a guest lecturer in American culture studies at Washington University and teaches an online course on community design for University of Missouri Architectural Studies. His article on cultural tourism is featured in the Encyclopedia of Urban America: Cities and Suburbs (ABC-Clio, 1998), and in 2008 he received a certificate of merit for cultural writing from the International Regional Magazine Association.

Cave Canem Reading at Mizzou

As part of the University of Missouri's Black History Month celebration, award-winning poet Cornelius Eady, MU professor of English and founder of the black poets organization Cave Canem, reads his work with special guest Cave Canem poets Natasha Ria El-Scari, Aisha Sharif and Glenn North. Two finalists from the MU student open-mic spoken word competition also will perform.

The reading begins at 7 p.m. in Stotler Lounge III, Memorial Union, on the University of Missouri campus.

CORNELIUS EADY

Cornelius Eady is a poet, playwright and songwriter. He is a professor of English and the Miller Family Chair at the University of Missouri. His poetry collections include Hardheaded Weather (Marian Wood/Putnam, 2008) and Brutal Imagination (Marian Wood/Putnam 2001), which was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Awards. With the poet Toi Derricotte, he is co-founder of the Cave Canem Foundation.


GLENN NORTH
Glenn North is currently a poet in the MFA program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a Cave Canem fellow, a Callaloo creative writing fellow and a recent recipient of the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist award. Glenn provided the poetic narration for the award-winning film short May This Be Love and had a guest appearance on the popular ABC family drama Lincoln Heights. He is also the Poet-in-Residence of the American Jazz Museum, where he facilitates poetry writing and performance workshops and hosts the popular monthly open-mic poetry competition Jazz Poetry Jams. 

AISHA SHARIF
Aisha Sharif received her MFA in poetry from Indiana University in Bloomington. Much of her poetry and nonfiction explores how religious and gender identities intersect. Her poetry has appeared in Muslim Wakeup!, Touchstone Literary Journal,  Poemmemoirstory, Callaloo and Mythium. She is a proud Cave Canem fellow and teaches English at Park University and Johnson County Community College. She currently lives in Merriam, Kansas.

NATASHA RIA EL-SCARI
Natasha Ria El-Scari is a spoken-word artist and writer, a member of the Black Poets Collective of Kansas City, a Cave Canem fellow and a poetry workshop facilitator. Her writing has been published in Black Magnolias, I Woke Up and Put My Crown On: The Project of 76 Voices, Family Pictures and Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Emcees and Poets. She has has performed at numerous Kansas City area venues and at universities throughout the United States. She holds a master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Amina Gautier and John Nieves

Fiction writer Amina Gautier and poet John Nieves read their work at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Orr Street Studios.  

Amina Gautier

Amina Gautier is the 2010 winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award. Her short story collection, At-Risk, is forthcoming from University of Georgia Press in September 2011. More than 60 of Gautier's stories have been published, appearing in Antioch Review, Best African American Fiction, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, North American Review, Pleiades and Southern Review. Her work has been honored with scholarships and fellowships from the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference, Ucross Residency and Sewanee Writer’s Conference and has been awarded numerous prizes, including the William Richey Prize, the Jack Dyer Award, the Schlafly Microfiction Award, the Danahy Fiction Prize and a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

John Nieves

John A. Nieves’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in journals such as Redivider, Fugue, Minnesota Review, Adirondack Review, SLAB, New Mexico Poetry Review, California Quarterly and Florida Review. He received the Charles Conway Memorial Award at the Florida Suncoast Writers’ Conference, earned the Estelle J. Zbar Poetry Prize and won the 2010 Southeast Review AWP Short Poetry Contest. He is currently a doctoral student enrolled in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri.

FEB. 1 READING CANCELED

Because of the impending "snowpocalypse," "historic weather event" and/or "epic winter storm" (a lot of snow), we'll have to cancel the Feb. 1 reading and reschedule Jim and Christina for May. Stay tuned for details!

Hearing Voices starts Feb. 1 at 7 pm

THE FEB. 1 READING HAS BEEN CANCELED BECAUSE OF AN IMPENDING BLIZZARD. WE'LL RESCHEDULE FOR MAY. STAY TUNED!

Our first reading of the spring 2011 semester features poet Jim Coffman and creative nonfiction writer Christina Ingoglia.

Christina Ingoglia

Christina Ingoglia is a creative nonfiction writer and a full-time instructor of creative writing and composition at Columbia College.

Ingoglia’s writing has appeared in the Copper Nickel, Inside Columbia and Prime magazine. Currently she is at work on a collection of essays titled “These Strange Heavens.”

Ingoglia earned her MFA from the University of Wyoming in 2009. Before going to graduate school, she was a professional union organizer. 

 

Jim Coffman

Jim Coffman’s Gravel Dust and Dreams, a poetry collection about growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s in east-central Illinois, was published in 2009 by Pudding House Publications. A sequel, Outside the Crowd, was published in 2010. His poetic works have appeared in several journals and anthologies since 2005.

Coffman retired after 40 years of ministry. Besides weekly sermons, he authored Communicate in Word and Deed for the United Church Press and Finding Myself in the Parables for The Christian Board of Publication.

He and his wife, Jan, an art photographer, are active in the Missouri Writers Guild.