A Bird & Beckett Review
Join us at Bird & Beckett Books on Tuesday, August 8 from 7 to 9 pm for a reading and reception for TIME LANDSCAPE, a pamphlet of drawings and writings and an exhibition of paintings in the backroom Gallery Ex Libris by J Grabowski. Joining J to read will be Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, whose What’s Going On was the previous Bird & Beckett Book, published in January of this year, and whose Universal Fall Precautions was just released by Spuyten Duyvil. Please spread the word!
ARCANA BOIL! – Concert and Reading in celebration of the Shuffle Boil Special Issue of AMERARCANA – featuring Hafez Modirzadeh, David Boyce, Marshall Trammell on Thursday, March 16, 7pm, at Bird & Beckett Books, 653 Chenery Steet, in San Francisco’s Glen Park. We really hope you can make it out, if you’re in the area. We’re easy-access: 2 blocks from Glen Park BART station, several MUNI lines (J, 23, 35, 36, 44, 52), and just off Interstate 280.
The latest issue of AMERARCANA is guest edited by poets Steve Dickison and the late, great David Meltzer, erstwhile editors of SHUFFLE BOIL: A Magazine of Poets and Music, and consists of 160 pages of writing by Bill Berkson, David Boyce, Brandon Brown, Gerald Bryant (interviewed by Julie Rogers), Garrett Caples, Ornette Coleman (interviewed by Howard Shore and Zan Stewart), Justin Desmangles, Steve Dickison, Patrick James Dunagan, Howard Eiland, Stephen Emerson, Owen Hill, Ted Joans, Alastair Johnston, Andrew Joron, Ava Koohbor, Oliver Lake, Marina Lazzara, Brian Lucas, Francois Luong, Nathaniel Mackey, Jake Marmer, David Meltzer, Hafez Modirzadeh, Jason Morris, Joseph Noble, Linda Norton, Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, Julien Poirier, Rod Roland, Chris Stroffolino, and Marshall R. Trammell; with artwork by Alex Cruz, George Herms, and Julie Ezelle Patton; all bound in wrappers designed and printed from hand-set lead type once belonging to William Everson (aka Brother Antoninus) at Impart Ink, an errant studio, in Santa Cruz, CA.
On Thursday, March 16th at 7 pm, we’ll celebrate the publication of the magazine and pay tribute to David with a concert and reading, featuring David Boyce and Hafez Modirzadeh on saxophones and Marshall Trammell on drums, plus readings by several contributors, and some works and words of Maestro Meltzer. Please join us, and come back on April 10th for a proper tribute by friends, colleagues and students–more details tba.
Please join us for a celebration of maestro David Meltzer’s life and work, Monday evening, April 10th from 7 to 9:30 pm at Bird & Beckett Books. Diane di Prima, Duncan McNaughton and others (TBA) will read and speak in honor of our friend David Meltzer. Please check back here and on the B&B website for more details soon.
DAVID MELTZER MEMORIAL READING: Monday, April 10th, 2017 – 7:00 pm
Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco, CA 94131
(2 blocks from Glen Park BART, MUNI lines J, 23, 35, 36, 44, 52, and Interstate 280)
Sunnylyn Thibodeaux will read to celebrate the release of her new chapbook, What’s Going On, along with Lauren Levin, whose book, The Braid, is fresh out from Krupskaya, at 2pm on Sunday, February 19th at Bird & Beckett Books: 653 Chenery Street at Diamond, in San Francisco — two blocks from Glen Park BART, MUNI lines J, 23, 35, 36, 44, 52, and Interstate 280. Please join us!
Sunnylyn Thibodeaux is best described as a “New Orleans poet stranded in San Francisco.” She received her MA from New College of California in 2001 and is the author of AS WATER SOUNDS (Bootstrap Press, 2014) and PALM TO PINE (Bootstrap Press, 2011). Her poems have been published in Amerarcana, Back Room Live, Big Bridge, Big Bell, Generación, Greetings: Everyday Magic, Nevada State Line, Morning Train, Polis: Resistance, and Try!. Small books include 20/20 Yielding (Blue Press, 2005), Hidden Driveways Ahead, Room Service Calls (Lew Gallery, 2009), and United Untied (Private Edition, 2008). She co-edits Auguste Press and Lew Gallery Editions.
Lauren Levin is the author of THE BRAID (Krupskaya, 2016) and the forthcoming TWO ESSAYS (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2018) as well as several chapbooks, including The Lens (Little Red Leaves, 2014) and Working (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2012). From 2011-2014, she co–edited the Poetic Labor Project. She grew up in New Orleans and lives in Richmond, CA with her family.
ISSUE #7 of Bird & Beckett’s literary magazine has at last arrived! This issue of AMERARCANA is guest edited by poets Steve Dickison and David Meltzer, erstwhile editors of SHUFFLE BOIL: A Magazine of Poets and Music, which ran four single issues (#1-4) from winter 2002 through fall 2003, with a double issue (#5/6) following in 2006, all published under Dickison’s Listening Chamber imprint. Another issue was planned, and some materials gathered, but it never came to be. Since 2010, a few pieces slated for publication therein have made their way into one or another of the first six issues of AMERARCANA; however, what appears here was gathered newly over the last several months. This, then, is #7 of both magazines: 160 pages of writing by Bill Berkson, David Boyce, Brandon Brown, Gerald Bryant (interviewed by Julie Rogers), Garrett Caples, Ornette Coleman (interviewed by Howard Shore and Zan Stewart), Justin Desmangles, Steve Dickison, Patrick James Dunagan, Howard Eiland, Stephen Emerson, Owen Hill, Ted Joans, Alastair Johnston, Andrew Joron, Ava Koohbor, Oliver Lake, Marina Lazzara, Brian Lucas, Francois Luong, Nathaniel Mackey, Jake Marmer, David Meltzer, Hafez Modirzadeh, Jason Morris, Joseph Noble, Linda Norton, Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, Julien Poirier, Rod Roland, Chris Stroffolino, and Marshall R. Trammell; with artwork by Alex Cruz, George Herms, and Julie Ezelle Patton; all bound in wrappers designed and printed from hand-set lead type once belonging to William Everson (aka Brother Antoninus) at Impart Ink, an errant studio, in Santa Cruz, CA.
If you’ve already ordered one, or are among the contributors, you’ll be receiving your copy soon. For the rest of you, come on down the Bird & Beckett to pick one up, or order online here.
Stay tuned for details of celebratory events, but mark your calendars now for March 16th!
Join us Tuesday, August 2nd from 7–9pm for the opening reception of Ava Koohbor: Chromatic Sediments. The show will run through the end of August, open daily from 11–7.
The long overdue SIXTH issue of AMERARCANA: A Bird & Beckett Review is now available, featuring art by Will Yackulic and writing by Garrett Caples, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Derek Fenner, Jackqueline Frost, Evan Kennedy, Frank Lima, Jason Morris, Rod Roland, Aaron Shurin, Cedar Sigo, Syd Staiti, Richard Tagett, Tara Thomas, and the editor, along with translations of Hafez by Patrick James Dunagan and Ava Koohbor. Order now. And/or show your face and flash some cash at Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco, 7:00 pm on Wednesday, December 9th. Come join us for this oh-so-official celebration; enjoy readings by contributors along with libations and general near-year-end levity. Please help spread the word!
After an extended hiatus from official AMERARCANA activities, occasioned by the editor’s wedding, followed immediately by his first year of doctoral work, at long last we’re back on track, expecting the new issue to find its way into the world within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for an announcement of an official release reading and celebration very soon.
In the meantime, we’d like to extend apologies to anyone who has been expecting to hear from us over the last 18-24 months and hasn’t. We’ve notified the many folks whose submissions didn’t make it into the new issue, but two individuals have recently reached out to inquire about submissions we can find neither hide nor hair of, so there may be others. We’d been terribly disorganized and distracted for quite a while, so it is quite likely our fault if anything was misplaced. We aim to improve, but can only offer our apologies for recent failings.
The forthcoming issue will feature art by Will Yackulic and writing by Garrett Caples, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Derek Fenner, Jackqueline Frost, Evan Kennedy, Frank Lima, Jason Morris, Rod Roland, Aaron Shurin, Cedar Sigo, Erika Staiti, Richard Tagett, Tara Thomas, and the editor, along with translations of Hafez by Patrick James Dunagan and Ava Koohbor. 128 pages bound in letterpress-printed covers. Pre-order now.
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