Publishers Weekly grants starred review for Janet Hamill's Tales from the Eternal Café

Janet Hamill's forthcoming short story collection Tales from the Eternal Café was given a starred review by Publisher's Weekly which raved: 

 "Acclaimed poet Hamill (Body of Water) uses the location of a cafe, a destination long associated with thinkers, dreamers, and conversationalists who dwell there, as the springboard for many of the stories in this rich and diverse debut story collection. Each of the 17 entries dazzles with virtuosity and uniqueness . . . Hamill's dialogue tactfully embraces each setting and her keen eye for the detail is enthralling. Readers will be thoroughly drawn into scenes of love, redemption, belief and delusion as well as alienation and fear in this terrific collection." 

Check out the complete review here. Hamill's book, which includes an introduction by musician/poet/author Patti Smith, is set for a February 11 release date. 

Preorder now on Amazon or bn.com or preorder directly from your favorite publisher, Three Rooms Press! For industry folks, all Three Rooms Press books are now distributed by Publishers Group West.

1/3/2014: 7th Annual NYC Charles Bukowski Memorial Reading

Celebrate the start of the new year with the 7th annual Charles Bukowski Memorial Reading, Jan. 3, 2014, 6pm at Cornelia St. Cafe (29 Cornelia Street, between W. 4th and Bleecker in NYC).

Charles Bukowski was truly one of the few and far between: a champion of the outsider, the lost and lonely, the outcasts from society. His work resonates like none other, revealing the core of what it is to be human—sans electronics—counting on nothing, but ready to win, be it with horses, women or writing. 

The event, held on the first Friday of the new year since 2008, will feature performances of Bukowski poems and tales by a unique cast of hardcore fans including controversial monologist/actor Mike Daisey, playwrights Richard Vetere and Michael Puzzo, poets Angelo Verga and Puma Perl, plus Three Rooms Press co-directors Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges.

Readers will explore Bukowski’s works with respect to its place in contemporary culture. What would Buk think of ObamaCare? iPhones? Smart drugs? So much seems to have changed since his time—has it really? 

Rare videos of Bukowski, plus giveaways of Buk books, CDs, DVDs and other prizes will highlight the event. Doors open at 5:45. Admission is $12 which includes (naturally) a free drink! Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, in the West Village, between W. 4th Street at Bleecker (http://corneliastreecafe.com/). 

Info and reservations: info@threeroomspress.com 

This year's reading will also toast the one year anniversary of THE MONTHLY at Cornelia Street Cafe, hosted by Three Rooms Press, which brings together writers, artists, philosophers and scientists to discuss a monthly theme. Past themes have included women in love, conspiracy theories (on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination), and illegal Leaves of Grass, an exploration of grass-related ideas from Walt Whitman to the War on Drugs.

Information on key performers:

Mike Daisey is an American monologist, author, actor and raconteur best known for his extemporaneous monologues about Nikola Tesla, L. Ron Hubbard, Steve Jobs and Apple's supply chain in China, the Department of Homeland Security, the history of the New York transit system, 9/11, the inventor of the neutron bomb, Wal-Mart and a variety of other topics. He has recently been touring nationally with his new monologue, THE SECRET WAR about America's relationship with guns. 

Richard Vetere is an American playwright and screenwriter whose work has received international critical acclaim. His most recent work includes the play Last Day, and a novel, Baroque, about Caravaggio and the people he painted in Rome. His authored a recent poetry collection, The Other Colors in a Snow Storm. Movies include The Third Miracle, How to Go Out on a Date in Queens, and the cult classic, Vigilante. His highly-praised new novel, THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE, is due out in March 2014 on Three Rooms Press. 

Michael Puzzo is an American playwright and actor associated with the Labyrinth Theater Company. His new play, Spirits of Exit Eleven, set in a New Jersey strip club/pizza parlor on Halloween had its NYC premiere in 2013 and received high critical praise. He loves Bukowski! 

Peter Carlaftes is a New York-based screenwriter, playwright, actor, poet, and editor. He is the author of 12 plays, including a noir treatment of Knut Hamsun’s Hunger, and the celebrity rehab center spoof, Spin-Dry. He has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including his comic solo performance piece, Lenny Bruce: Dead & Well, as well as Barefoot in the Park and Stephen Adly Guirgis' Den of Thieves. As an author, Carlaftes has penned three books: A Year on Facebook (humor), Drunkyard Dog and I Fold With The Hand I Was Dealt (poetry) and Triumph for Rent (3 plays). He is a co-director of Three Rooms Press, and has served as editor for the annual Dada journal, Maintenant, the annual short story anthology, Have a NYC, and the recent photography and poetry book by punk rock bassist Mike Watt, On and Off Bass. 

Angelo Verga is a former postal worker, like Bukowski, and curator of the literary events at Cornelia Street Cafe, as well as a teacher, editor and poet. His work has been published in hundreds of journals, and his books include "A Hurricane Is," 3 Poets 4 Peace (Against The Tide, 2003), 33 New York City Poems (Booklyn, 2005) and Praise for What Remains (Three Rooms, 2009). 

Puma Perl is a poet, performance artist and curator, founder of DDAY Productions and author of several poetry collections including: Ruby True, Kunckle Tattoos and Belinda and Her Friends. She notes, "with Bukowski, you can open any book randomly and find a poem to read." 

Kat Georges is a New York-based poet, playwright, performer and designer. In New York since 2003, she has curated poetry readings, performed widely, and written and directed numerous Off-Broadway plays (including Jack Kerouac: Catholic by Larry Myers, and The Old In-and-Out, by Madeline Artenberg and Karen Hildebrand, as well as her own work SCUM: The Valerie Solanas Story, and Art Was Here, a play inspired by Dada predecessor Arthur Cravan). She is co-director of Three Rooms Press. Books include Slow Dance and 120 Beats a Minute, Punk Rock Journal and Our Lady of the Hunger.

Three Rooms Press 2013 Pushcart Nominees announced

Thee Room Press is thrilled to announce the nomination of six outstanding works for The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Nominations for work officially published in the calendar year 2013 include:

• WAYLON AND PINBALL by W.K. Stratton (poem, from Maintenant 8: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-5-6)
• ARTHUR CRAVAN by Roger Conover (poem, from Maintenant 8: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-5-6)
• CHAMPAGNE AND COCAINE by Richard Vetere (short story, from HAVE A NYC 2: New York Short Stories, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-4-9)
• CHERRY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND JUSTINE LUSCIOUS SAVE THE WORLD by Rae Bryant (short story, from HAVE A NYC 2: New York Short Stories, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-4-9)
• BIG BLACK HABIT by Jane LeCroy (poem, from Signature Play: Lyrical Poems, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-7-0)
• FOR MY SISTER by David Lawton (poem, from Sharp Blue Stream, Three Rooms Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9884008-6-3)

Three Rooms Press is a small press dedicated to publishing excellent cut-the-edge creative content. We have recently been picked up for distribution by PGW and we’re excited by a future of increased exposure for our authors. We are currently accepting short stories for the next edition of HAVE A NYC: New York Short Stories (see submission guidelines here) and writing and art for the next edition of Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art (submission guidelines here). We congratulate all of the nominees and look forward to hearing back from the Pushcart Prize editors with positive news!

12/6: Three Rooms Press Annual Prose! Poetry! Party at Cornelia St. Cafe NYC

Since ancient times, everyone knows that the best things in come in Threes (think: The Three Stooges!). In honor of the old maxim “omen trim perfectum”, we present three sets of three superb writers recently, or about to be, published by Three Rooms Press.

Join us for a Prose! Poetry! Party! with award-winning authors (and kick-ass performers!) including the fiercesome threesome Hala Alyan (winner of the 2013 Arab American Book Award for Poetry), Richard Vetere (author of the forthcoming TRP book, The Writers Afterlife), and David Lawton (author of Sharp Blue Stream (TRP, 2013)); the terrific trio Jane Ormerod (author of Welcome to the Museum of Cattle (TRP, 2012) and Recreational Vehicles on Fire (TRP, 2009)), Thomas Fucaloro (author of the forthcoming It Starts in the Belly and Blooms (TRP, 2014) and Inheriting Craziness is a Soft Halo of Light (TRP, 2010)), and Jane LeCroy (author of Signature Play (TRP, 2012); and the mighty triad Robert Gibbons (author of Close to the Tree (TRP, 2012)); Matthew Hupert (author of Ism is a Retrovirus (TRP, 2011)), and George Wallacetroika (author of EOS: Abductor of Men (TRP, 2012) and Poppin' Johnny (TRP, 2009). The event will be hosted by Three Rooms Press co-directors Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges. All authors will be available to sign books and take photos at the reading. Plus all audience members will be eligible to win free prizes throughout the event!

ABOUT THREE ROOMS PRESS Three Rooms Press is a New York-based publisher and performing arts producer, founded in 1993. Since its inception, it has served as a leading independent publisher of creative content, including poetry translations, drama and art sourced from the burgeoning international spoken word, music and underground art scenes. In 2011, it expanded its publishing line to include cutting edge work in fiction, creative historical nonfiction, memoir, photography and art. In addition, Three Rooms Press produces and promotes a variety of literary and cultural events in New York, Paris, Berlin, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and more, including readings, plays, workshops and concerts.

Tonight 11/22: Grant Hart, Exene Cervenka, Charles Plymell, Legs McNeil headline JFK/NYC/OMG Conspiracy Event

On the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of JFK, Three Rooms Press presents "JFK/NYC/OMG," an examination of conspiracies on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. Speakers include musician-philosopher Grant Hart, poet-novelist-publisher Charles Plymell, musician-writer-conspiracy therapist Exene Cervenka, Allen Ginsberg archivist Peter Hale, writer and Punk magazine co-founder Legs McNeil, and actor-writer Peter Carlaftes (channeling the spirit of Lenny Bruce). The event will take place Friday, November 22, 6 pm at Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia Street, between Bleecker and W. 4th), in the West Village. Tickets are $20, available at the door (arrive early to ensure admission). Additional information: info@threeroomspress.com. About the performers: Grant Hart s best known for his work as drummer and songwriter in the seminal punk band Hüsker Dü, as well as an extended career as a solo singer/songwriter, who recently released The Argument, a concept album based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Hart will speak and sing about how the assassination shaped the lives of his generation. Charles Plymell is a poet, novelist and publisher, best known for his underground magazines, including Zap Comix and The Last Times, and collaborations with beat authors Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Herbert Huncke and Neal Cassady. His most recent book is Benzedrine Highway (Kicks Books). Plymell, will talk about reaction of the Beats to the assassination and the conspiratorial extension against the Kennedy clan. Exene Cervenka is lead vocalist for the LA-based bands X and The Knitters. In addition to her musical career, she has written several books, and has recently developed an online video series using the persona Christine Notmyrealname - Conspiracy Therapist. She will unearth the facts behind the conspiracies. Legs McNeil is a writer and rock music historian. He is the co-founder and a writer for Punk magazine, and a former senior editor at Spin, as well as the author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and the forthcoming Tomorrow Is Cancelled: The Oral History of the JFK Assassination. Peter Hale is a poet, archivist and protégé of Allen Ginsberg. He looks after the late Ginsberg’s Estate, helping to preserve the truth and history of the Beat movement. He will read Ginsberg’s poem “Nov 23, 1963: Alone.” Peter Carlaftes is a writer, actor and co-director of Three Rooms Press. The author of four books and eight plays, he recently developed a one-man show, Lenny Bruce: Dead and Well, in which he portrays a reincarnated Lenny Bruce, examining the madness of current world from his unique inspired perspective.

JFK/NYC/OMG Examining Conspiracies on the 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of JFK Friday, November 22, 6 pm Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street (between Bleecker & W. 4th St.) Admission: $20 (one drink minimum) information: info@threeroomspress.com For those not in the NYC area, the performance will be streamed live at http://www.gander.tv/event/cornelia-street-cafe-three-rooms-press-presents-jfknycomg-1122-6pm-8pm

Nov 17: Four House-Poets of the Apocalypse at Specs Bar (across from City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco)

Three Rooms Press and Specs Bar/North Beach presents:

THE FOUR HOUSE-POETS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Sunday, November 17; 7:00-8:30 pm

Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Cafe 

12 William Saroyan Pl
San Francisco, CA 94133

(415) 421-4112

A One Time North Beach Hang with NYC Poets Kat Georges and Peter Carlaftes hooking up with SF Favorite Son and Daughter Neeli Cherkovski and Agneta Falk Hirschman.

Reading Poems from 7pm -8:30 on Sunday, November 17.  

East meets West In Specs Bar on Saroyan Alley. 

Across the street from City Lights Bookstore. 

This is normal. This is crazy. Poetry in North Beach. Call me maybe.

Sponsored by Specs. It's a bar. You can drink. No cover.

Nov. 13: EOS:hope--A Bilingual Benefit Reading to support Project Hope for Greece

The poetry of George Wallace 

interpreted in Greek and English by Anthoula Katsimatides | Martha Tompoulidou | Marina Stenos | Peter Carlaftes | Kat Georges

In EOS: Abductor of Men, a bilingual poetry collection (Greek-English) dedicated to the contemporary struggles of the Greek people, George Wallace rivets readers with his thoroughly original, modern day poetic flow, elevating bakeries to the temples of gods and love to a powerful river. To celebrate this unique book and to raise awareness of the ongoing crisis in Greece, Three Rooms Press presents a special bilingual benefit reading on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013.

All profits from books sold at the event will be used to support Project Hope for Greece, a movement aimed at creating philanthropy amongst North Americans in response to the worst financial and humanitarian crisis facing Greece in an entire generation. Complimentary food and drinks will be provided by GRK: Fresh Greek and YA Mastiha Liqueur.

Readers include actress, wrier and philanthropist Anthoula Katsimatides, distinguished Greek actress Martha Tompoulidou, writer and philanthropic consultant Marina Stenos, and Three Rooms Press co-directors Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges.

Additional information and reservations: Three Rooms Press, 212-731-0574, info@threeroomspress.com

7 pm, Wednesday, November 13, 2013 

Press and Communication Office of the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN 

305 E 47th Street, 2nd Floor | New York, NY 10017

Free Admission

Complimentary food and beverage provided by GRK: Fresh Greek, YA Mastiha Liqueur.

“George Wallace realigns the rules... And the transcendent spirit, above materiality, is the spirit of Greekness, of Greeks. The poems in EOS are hopeful poems of what is possible, real, holy. The collection leaves me with a belief in the endlessness of people, their connection to the past—and to each other, and to all time.”

— Tryfon Tolides, Tsotili, West Macedonia, Greece, Lannan Foundation Resident

About George Wallace

George Wallace (AB, MPH, MFA) is an award winning poet and journalist from New York who has performed his work across America and in Europe. Author of Poppin’ Johnny (Three Rooms Press, 2009) and twenty-five chapbooks of poetry, he has served as editor of Poetrybay (www.poetrybay.com), Long Island Quarterly, Walt’s Corner, Great Weather for Media, and other electronic and hard copy literary publications. A former Peace Corps Volunteer, USAF Medical Officer and Community Health Organizer, he is winner of the CW Post Poetry Prize and the Poetry Kit Best Book award. With Oklahoma poet laureate Carol Hamilton he co-founded the Woody Guthrie Poetss, and was named a “Next Generation Beat” by the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival committee. In 2003, George Wallace was named first Poet Laureate for Suffolk County, NY. In 2011 he was named Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

About Three Rooms Press

Three Rooms Press is a New York-based publisher and performing arts producer, founded in 1993. Since its inception, it has served as a leading independent publisher of creative content, including poetry translations, drama and art sourced from the burgeoning international spoken word, music and underground art scenes. In 2011, it expanded its publishing line to include cutting edge work in fiction, creative historical nonfiction, memoir, photography and art. In addition, Three Rooms Press produces and promotes a variety of literary and cultural events in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, London, and more, including readings, plays, workshops and concerts. Website: www.threeroomspress.com