Poetry Galore in NYC Today, May 29, 2010!

Today (Saturday, May 29) is a banner day for poetry in NYC! Check it out:

Daytime:

Lower East Side Arts Festival. East 10th Street @ 1st Avenue. 1-5 p.m. Poetry, Music & Theater sponsored by City for the New Theater. Three Rooms Press authors Jane Ormerod, Ronnie Norpel, Peter Carlaftes & Kat Georges will all be performing sometime between 1:30 and 3 p.m. Also, be sure to catch the musical group Bob's Bios, featuring the wonderful singer/songwriter Bob Musial (they're at 2 p.m.) FREE

Early Evening:

Hydrogen Jukebox: Brant Lyon's fabulous monthly poetry/music extravaganza electrifies the city with an open mike and two powerful featured readers: Christian Georgescu and Samantha Barrow. 6 p.m. at Cornelia St. Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street (btwn W. 4th & Bleecker), NYC. $7 admission includes free drink.

Tonight:
Maelström Fiestival NYC, Day 3. Catch the final performance of the traveling poetry group based in Brussels, Belgium with guest stars from England, Germany, Italy, Canada and the U.S. Tonight at 7 p.m. at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bower (btwn Houston & Bleecker). Admission $5 includes free Belgian specialties!

Incredible Poetry straight outta Europe tonight (5/28) at Cornelia Street Cafe

Tonight at Cornelia St. Cafe, 6 pm, is Day 2 of the Maelström FiEstival, a travelling global festival of poetry. No poetry? No party!

Last night's event at the Invisible Dog in Brooklyn was inSANEly good, with poets from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany & Canada ready a whole new style of intense sound poetry. Three Rooms Press founder Kat Georges was so impressed(!), and is extremely happy to be hosting tonight's reading.

Tonight's readers include:
Dwayne Morgan
Vincent Tholomé
Antoine Boute
Giulietta Laki
Damien Spleeters
David Giannoni

Since 2007 maelström—a Belgium-based publisher, artist, agent of ideas and propeller of acts—has organized an annual fiEstival of poetry, theater, visual art and music in Brussels and other parts of the world. They just held 2010's critically acclaimed festivals in Brussels and Paris, and they're headed for Montreal in June.

Doors open at 5:45. Open reading is first, followed by the Maelström magic! If you'd like to participate in the open reading, please arrive early. Admission $7--includes a free drink.

See you tonight!

Maelström FiEstival NYC Poetry Party Rocks New York City May 27-29

NO POETRY? NO PARTY! Join us for three days of fiEsta : poetry, visual arts and music. More than 18 artists from Europe, Canada and the US come together in NYC to make history at the first ever maelström fiEstival NYC. Three Rooms Press is proud to be a sponsor of the event, which kicks off May 27th thru May 29th.

Since 2007 maelström—a Belgium-based publisher, artist, agent of ideas and propeller of acts—has organized an annual fiEstival of poetry, theater, visual art and music in Brussels. This May, for the first time ever, maelström will ignite the cultural skies of New York City with a three-day creative party featuring such renowned artists as Jerome Rothenberg, Nicole Peyrafitte, Pierre Joris, and Dwayne Morgan, as well an international palette of phenomenal emerging artists. The New York event is part of a touring poetry party that has made stops in Brussels, Quebec and Lebanon in 2009, and Paris, Brussels, New York and Montréal in 2010.

maelstrÖm, already a partner of City Lights San Francisco and publishing Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Anne Waldman in French, goes on building bridges between Europe and USA in association with Three Rooms Press and New Direction Publishing by presenting this first maelstrÖm fiEstival in New York City.

EVENTS INCLUDE:
Thursday 27th May – 7pm-11pm:
The Invisible Dog, 51 Bergen Street. $5 + bring your own chair!

Friday 28th May – 6pm-8pm:
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street. $7 + one free drink.

Saturday 29th May – 7pm-9.30pm:
Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery. $5 + Belgian specialties.

PERFORMERS INCLUDE:
Jerome ROTHENBERG (USA) – Nicole PEYRAFITTE (FR-USA) – Pierre JORIS (FR-LUX-USA) – Dwayne MORGAN (CA) – Kat GEORGES (USA) – Peter CARLAFTES (USA) – Vincent THOLOMÉ (BE) – Maja JANTAR (BE) – Antoine BOUTE (BE) – Yanara FRIEDLAND (GER) – Giulietta LAKI (CH) – Benjamin POTTEL (BE) - David GIANNONI (IT) – Olivier DOMBRET (ES) – Gaetan SAINT-REMY (BE) – Yassin SERGHINI (UK) – Mark HAYNES (USA-CA) - Damien SPLEETERS (BE)

SPONSORS INCLUDE:
Three Rooms Press, New Directions Publishing, WBI Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Consulate General of Belgium

For more details, go to www.fiestival.org or check out maelström on facebook.

Poets Robert Gibbons & ICE May 7 at Cornelia St. Cafe

FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2010

6 PM | CORNELIA STREET CAFE

SON OF A PONY POETRY SERIES

Featured poet

ROBERT GIBBONS & ICE

PLUS

NYC's Best Open POETRY Mike

Hosted by Kat Georges

Robert Gibbons is published poet, and unique spoken word artist who frequents many hot spots on the New York poetry scene. He has more than 15 years of teaching experience as a classroom teacher, and presently is a curriculum writer for the New York Junior Tennis League.

ICE is a New York based multi media artist. The producer, author, of a self named cd and dvd purchase on cd.baby.com and film baby.com with a strong focus on performance, she’s read in Boston, Portland,Philadelphia, Eugene, San Francisco and more. Published in a variety of anthology’s, online publications, is a founding editor of Uphookpress, an annual judge and feature at Cuny college Poetry Festival, and she annually attends Juniper summer writers institute at UMass with Mark Doty, Matthew Zapruder, and Dara Wire...

The featured reading follows the fabulous Son of a Pony open reading at the cafe. Poet/convivial mistress of ceremonies Kat Georges hosts. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.; the open reading begins at 6 p.m. Admission is $7, which includes a free drink.

Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, between W. 4th Street & Bleecker, just around the corner from the W. 4th Street subway station. Phone: 212-989-9319. www.corneliastreetcafe.com

Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues Book Launch April 16 at Connie's Ric Rac in Philly

It’s Opening Day for “Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues,” a new ficto-memoir by Ronnie Norpel (Three Rooms Press). A book launch party will be held at the infamous Connie's Ric Rac (*NOTE NEW LOCATION), 1132 S. 9th Street in South Philadelphia on Friday, April 16th, 9 pm. Admission: $10. Featured artists include:

• a reading & book signing by author Ronnie Norpel
• readings by the Three Rooms Press All-Stars (Peter Carlaftes, Larry Myers, Jane Ormerod, & Susan Scutti)
• live music (including blues-influences bizarro weird rock energy by Gondola, Baltimore psychedelic hipsters Crazy Dreams Band, hypnodelic madness by Curanderos, and mystery sonic mayhem by NYC's Dirty Princess)

In "Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues," Norpel provides a play-by-play, behind-the-scenes account of a young woman’s education in life, luck, love and superstition while working for her hometown major league baseball team. The book stems from Norpel’s days as a front office representative for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Norpel’s ficto-memoir brims with insider insight, detailing the fastballs, curveballs and errors experienced by main character Mary Katharine “Mick” Carmichael when she gets involved with a rookie on the Constitution Blues team. "Baseball Karma and The Constitution Blues" overflows with heart and humor, without glossing over the despair of karmic growing pains for both Mick and the Blues. Underneath it all, we discover how one woman's real-life curse changed destiny—until it was finally lifted for good. Norpel’s rookie novel is must-have read for summer.

Following the official launch, Norpel will go on the road and hold events in conjunction with Phillies away games in Boston (6/12), New York (6/16) and Pittsburgh (7/3). She will also hold impromptu appearances with painter Lilliana Didovic at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where their PHILANATIC statue, created for the Phillies’ Phanatic Around Town project, will be on exhibit this summer.

To schedule interview with author Ronnie Norpel, or to request photos or additional information about Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues, please contact email info@threeroomspress.com

Poet Cynthia Cruz Rocks the Mike at Cornelia St. Cafe April 16

Cynthia Cruz is the author of Ruin, which was published in 2006 by Alice James Books. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in the New Yorker, Paris Review, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, and others. Her second collection is forthcoming from Four Way Books. She currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and is the Visiting Writer at the Rutgers-Newark MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the fall of 2010 she will be the Hodder Fellow in poetry.

The featured reading follows the fabulous Son of a Pony open reading at the cafe. Poet/convivial mistress of ceremonies Kat Georges hosts. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.; the open reading begins at 6 p.m. Admission is $7, which includes a free drink.

Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, between W. 4th Street & Bleecker, just around the corner from the W. 4th Street subway station. Phone: 212-989-9319. www.corneliastreetcafe.com

"Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues" Philly Launch Party

THREE ROOMS PRESS ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF
“BASEBALL KARMA & THE CONSTITUTION BLUES”
a New Ficto-Memoir by Ronnie Norpel
Book Launch Slated for Friday, April 16 in Old City, Philadelphia

NEW YORK—It’s Opening Day for “Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues,” a new ficto-memoir by Ronnie Norpel (Three Rooms Press). A book launch party will be held in Old City, Philadelphia on Friday, April 16th at Patou (312 Market Street) with:

• a reading & book signing by author Ronnie Norpel
• readings by the Three Rooms Press All-Stars (Peter Carlaftes, Larry Myers, Jane Ormerod, & Susan Scutti)
• live music (including Philly rockers Gondola, Baltimore psychedelic band Crazy Dreams, and NYC rock-jazz quartet Dirty Princess)

In Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues, Norpel provides a play-by-play, behind-the-scenes account of a young woman’s education in life, luck, love and superstition while working for her hometown major league baseball team. The book stems from Norpel’s days as a front office representative for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Norpel’s ficto-memoir brims with insider insight, detailing the fastballs, curveballs and errors experienced by main character Mary Katharine “Mick” Carmichael when she gets involved with a rookie on the Constitution Blues team. Baseball Karma and The Constitution Blues overflows with heart and humor, without glossing over the despair of karmic growing pains for both Mick and the Blues. Underneath it all, we discover how one woman's real-life curse changed destiny—until it was finally lifted for good. Norpel’s rookie novel is must-have read for summer.

The official Philly book launch will be held on Friday, April 16 at 9 pm at Patou, 312 Market Street. Admission is $8 ($3 discount at the door with a ticket from that night’s Phillies game); 21 and over. Following the launch, Norpel will go on the road and hold events in conjunction with Phillies away games in Boston (6/12), New York (6/16) and Pittsburgh (7/3). She will also hold impromptu appearances with painter Lilliana Didovic at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where their PHILANATIC statue, created for the Phillies’ Phanatic Around Town project, will be on exhibit this summer.

To schedule interview with author Ronnie Norpel, or to request photos or additional information about Baseball Karma & The Constitution Blues, please contact email info@threeroomspress.com