March 8: Write Like a Woman: Workshop Uncovers Secrets of Female Scribes

THREE ROOMS PRESS PRESENTS

ANNIE FINCH: WRITING LIKE A WOMAN

A National Women’s History Month Writing Workshop with Award-Winnning Poet/Writer/Mentor Annie Finch

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 10 A.M. 

@ Torn Page Studio  

435 W 22nd St. (Btwn 9th & 10th Ave.) New York 10011

Advance online registration: www.writinglikeawoman.eventbrite.com 

Do women write differently than men? Is there a feminine muse lurking just out of reach on your creative side? Discover new ways to channel and develop your personal artistry in “ANNIE FINCH: WRITING LIKE A WOMAN,” a writing workshop for women and men led by award-winning poet, mentor, columnist and performer Annie Finch. 

During the three-hour workshop, participants will the study hidden traditions found in women’s writing throughout history, and unveil symbols and mythology common to contemporary women’s writing worldwide. Through a series of invigorating, revealing and passionate exercises, participants will discover how to write from deeper within their hearts by tapping into these ancient traditions and incorporating them into their own writing. 

The workshop will cover multiple genres including poetry, fiction and memoir writing. It is open to both men and women. Space is limited, to enable personalized interaction between Annie and each participant. Registration fee is $100 in advance and $125 at the door. 

For online registration, go to: http://writinglikeawoman.eventbrite.com 

ABOUT ANNIE FINCH: Poet and writer Annie Finch is the author of six books of poetry including Eve, Calendars, Among the Goddesses, and Spells: New and Selected Poems. Annie’s poetry has been featured on Def Poetry Jam, National Public Radio, and Voice of America, and in journals such as Poetry, Kenyon Review, Yale Review, Hudson Review, and Paris Review. Her operas, multimedia poetic dramas, and other collaborations with music, visual art, and theater have appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Carnegie Hall. Annie’s honors include the Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award and the Sarasvati Award in Poetry from the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. A graduate of Yale University with a doctorate from Stanford University, she is the author, editor, or coeditor of numerous books about poetry, including Villanelles, An Exaltation of Forms, and most recently A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry. Annie also writes frequently on cultural topics. Her column on female-centered spirituality appears regularly at The Huffington Post. www.anniefinch.com 

THREE ROOMS PRESS is a New York-based publisher and performing arts producer. It has served as a leading independent publisher of creative content, including poetry, translations, literary fiction, drama 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. Additional info: info@threeroomspress.com

3/7: Women on Top: feat. Annie Finch, Beth Lisick, Angelica Page, Hettie Jones, Amber Atiya

WOMEN ON TOP:

Five Phenomenal Perspectives

A NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION

Featuring readings and performances by these incredible artists:

Annie Finch | Beth Lisick  

Angelica Page | Hettie Jones | Amber Atiya

and host Kat Georges

Friday, March 7, 2014, 6 pm Cornelia St Cafe, NYC

29 Cornelia Street | between W. 4th & Bleecker 212-989-9313 | www.corneliastreetcafe.com 

To celebrate National Women’s History Month, Three Rooms Press presents “WOMEN ON TOP: Five Fresh Perspectives” at Cornelia Street Cafe Friday, March 7 at 6 pm. The event features readings and performances by five passionate, irreverent and intense women writers, artists and cultural leaders including writer/actor Angelica Page, poet/activist Hettie Jones, writer/performer Beth Lisick, poet Amber Atiya and poet/performer/mentor Annie Finch. Three Rooms Press Co-Director Kat Georges hosts.

Doors open at 5:45. Admission is $12 which includes a free beer, wine or soft 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

The event is part of THE MONTHLY series at Cornelia Street Cafe, hosted by Three Rooms Press, which brings together writers, artists, philosophers and scientists to delve into a different theme each month from divergent perspectives. Past themes have included conspiracy theories (on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination), Illegal Leaves of Grass, an exploration of grass-related ideas from Walt Whitman to the War on Drugs, and notable literary figures including Charles Bukowski and William Burroughs.

Three Rooms Press is a New York-based leading independent publisher of cut-the-edge creative content, including poetry, translations, drama, literary fiction, creative historical nonfiction, memoir, photography and art. Recent and forthcoming books include Lisa Panepinto's ON THIS BORROWED BIKE, Janet Hamill’s TALES FROM THE ETERNAL CAFE (with an introduction by Patti Smith); MIKE WATT: ON AND OFF BASS, a photo memoir by the great punk rock bass player; and the forthcoming novels THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE by Richard Vetere and LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY by Eamon Loingsigh. http://threeroomspress.com

Annie Finch is a poet permformer and mentor who "speaks for something larger than the ego" according to UC Berkeley professor Charles Altieri: http://anniefinch.com; Winner of numerous awards, Annie’s poetry has been featured on Def Poetry Jam, National Public Radio, and Voice of America, in journals such as Poetry, Kenyon Review, Yale Review, Hudson Review, and Paris Review, and in many anthologies, most recently The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, and author of six books of poetry including Eve, Calendars, Among the Goddesses, and Spells: New and Selected Poems.

Beth Lisick is a New York Times bestselling author and performer who has blown away audiences the world over: http://bethlisick.com; She is the author of five books: the memoir collection Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames, the New York Times bestselling comic memoir Everybody Into the Pool, the gonzo self-help manifesto Helping Me Help Myself, the story collection This Too Can Be Yours, and the performance poetry/story collection Monkey Girl.

Angelica Page is a playwright/performer of the highest possible voltage: http://angelicapage.com; She most recently starred on Broadway in the Tony nominated The Best Man, is currently developing her memoir-play Turning Page, as well as documentary film and book of selected memoirs about her mother, the legendary Geraldine Page.

Hettie Jones has been a mover/shaker since the Beats and the author of How I Became Hettie Jones: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/444; She is currently involved with PEN American Center's Prison Writing committee and runs a writing workshop at the New York State Correctional Facility for Women at Bedford Hills. Hettie Jones lives in New York City, where she writes and teaches at The New School.

Amber Atiya is an uncompromising queer poet and powerful performer: http://www.drunkenboat.com/db14/1poe/atiya/; Yes, Amber Atiya is a queer poet. Yes, she performs (Theater for the New City, Fashion Institute of Technology, Lehman College, Nuyorican Poets Café, etc.) and has been published (Cartier Street Review, Word Riot, Brownstone Poets Anthology, and Coloring Book, an anthology of multicultural writers, with work forthcoming in A Gathering of the Tribes). Yes, she is co-founder of a weekly women’s writing group, currently celebrating its nine year anniversary.

3/12: ALL BOOKED UP--A Double Launch and Literary Lovefest

On Wednesday, March 12th, 6 p.m., Three Rooms Press presents the NYC launch for two new novels: THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE by Richard Vetere and LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY by Eamon Loingsigh plus VERY special guests, including:

• Christiane Seidel (actress, Boardwalk Empire, Tu & Eu) 
• Anthony Drazan (director, Hurlyburly, Imaginary Crimes) 
• TJ English (author, The Westies, Paddy Whacked) 
• John Duddy (actor, former Irish Middleweight Boxing Champion) 
• Zina Wilde (actress, Friends with Benefits) 
• Danielle Paige (author, Dorothy Must Die) 
• Giada Valenti (Italian singer/songwriter) 
• John McDonagh (host, Radio Free Erieann, WBAI 99.5 fm);

The event will feature readings and signings by both authors plus readings and performances by special guests in support of the two novels. The new books will be available for purchase at the event. 

THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE, by native New Yorker playwright/novelist Vetere, is the hilarious and triumphant tale of a writer given one last chance to realize his lifelong dream—after he dies. Publishers Weekly raves, “In this utterly unique story, novelist Vetere unfolds a caper of inter-dimensional scope. The scenes taking place in the afterlife are written with classic magic-realist gusto.” Playwright Israel Horovitz says, “Vetere is a man with a writer’s soul.” And author Adriana Trigiani (The Shoemaker’s Wife) calls THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE “an original, hilarious and poignant tale of second chances and the triumph of the creative spirit."  

LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY, author Loingsigh’s debut novel, is the riveting and immersive saga of an Irish gang on the Brooklyn waterfront in the early part of the twentieth century, told through the eyes of young newcomer Liam Garrity. Kirkus Reviews says LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY “rings with passion and pain.” Foreword Reviews notes, “The dark and compelling Irish American gang lifestyle of early 1900s Brooklyn pulses through this sharp, hardboiled drama.” And famed Irish-American author and actor Malachy McCourt, raves, “LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is an amazing series of literary leaps from terra firma into the stratosphere above. Don’t leave the store without this book.”

Le Poisson Rouge: 158 Bleecker Street | NYC | 212-505-FISH | lepoissonrouge.com

Admission is free. Reservations recommended. RSVP: info@threeroomspress.com 

 Three Rooms Press books are distributed by PGW/Perseus.

02/07: NAKED BURROUGHS: 100 Year Tribute to William S. Burroughs feat. PENNY ARCADE

Three Rooms Press presents NAKED BURROUGHS: a 100 Year celebration of Beat icon and postmoderns trailblazer William S. Burroughs on Friday, February 7, at Cornelia Street Cafe. The event will be highlighted by tribute readings and discussions by performance artist and Burroughs associate Penny Arcade, poet Steve Dalachinsky and spoken word artist Kat Georges. Also on tap will be an audience group reading of an excerpt from Burroughs’ iconic masterpiece NAKED LUNCH. Three Rooms Press co-director Peter Carlaftes hosts.

Doors open at 5:45. Admission is $8 which includes 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. For additional press details, including photos, interviews and press passes, please call Peter Carlaftes at 212-731-0574.

Information on key performers:

Penny Arcade is a performance artist, actress and playwright, best known for her show Bitch!Dyke!Faghag!Whore!  She has worked with numerous underground film and theater artists including John Vaccaro’s Playhouse of the Ridiculous, Jack Smith, Charles Ludlam, Quentin Crisp and Andy Warhol. She is a co-founder of the Lower East Side Biography Project, an oral history of New York’s Bohemian culture from the 50s to the present.

Steve Dalachinsky is a New York downtown poet and author of the PEN Award-winning book The Final Nite & Other Poems (2006). Dalachinsky's main influences are the Beats, Blake, The Odyssey, obsession, socio-political angst, human disappointment, music (especially Jazz), and visual art with leanings toward abstraction. His work, for the most part is spontaneous and leans towards transforming the image rather than merely describing it, in what he now refers to as transformative description/descriptive transformation.

Kat Georges is a New York spoken word artist, designer and co-director of Three Rooms Press. Her books include the poetry collection Our Lady of the Hunger and Punk Rock Journal. She will read an excerpt from Burroughs’ classic novella Junky.

About the Monthly:

THE MONTHLY at Cornelia Street Cafe, hosted by Three Rooms Press, 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.

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. Books include Janet Hamill’s TALES FROM THE ETERNAL CAFE (with an introduction by Patti Smith); MIKE WATT: ON AND OFF BASS, a photo memoir by the great punk rock bass player; and the forthcoming novels THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE by Richard Vetere and LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY by Eamon Loingsigh.

High Praise for Thomas Fucaloro's It Starts from the Belly and Blooms in Luna Luna Mag Review

Luna Luna Mag was full of high praise for the poetry of Thomas Fucaloro in its recent lengthy review of Thomas Fucaloro's It Starts from the Belly and Blooms (Three Rooms Press, ISBN: 978-09895125-4-1, Feb 2014). 

The reviewer notes: "The book immediately cuts into me like a hot knife, birthing me into the speaker’s world–the first poem is appropriately titled 'Waking up in a bathtub full of ice cubes.' Throughout the collection, bodies, and body parts, are everywhere. Instead of the reader merely observing the speaker, the reader literally is electrified to life by the words." 

Citing the many New York references in Fucaloro's poems, the reviewer raves, "The loneliness, and desire for real human interaction, is so potent, it reminded me of the utter bleakness of Eraserhead." 

Read the complete review here. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and from your favorite independent publisher, Three Rooms Press.

And speaking of Thomas Fucaloro, his poem "Mistakes" was recently published on the Best American Poetry website. A sign of things to come? Better order your copy of IT STARTS FROM THE BELLY AND BLOOMS before the first edition sells out!

Vetere's The Writers Afterlife earns high praise from Publishers Weekly

The Writers Afterlife, a masterful and moving novel by Richard Vetere, is the second forthcoming Three Rooms Press book to garner rave reviews in the month of January from pre-publication industry bible Publishers Weekly:

"In this utterly unique story, novelist Vetere unfolds a caper of inter-dimensional scope. The scenes taking place in afterlife are written with classic magic-realist gusto; those taking place on earth will have readers rooting for Chillo's success."

Read the complete review here. And be sure to preorder the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. For industry folks, all Three Rooms Press books are now distributed by Publishers Group West. 

 If you're in NYC and want to discover more about this extraordinary novel, make plans to attend NOVEL IDEAS: Sneak Peeks @ New Books at Barrow Street Theatre Thursday, January 16, 7 pm.  

1/16/14: Director/Playwright Israel Horovitz and Irish Author/Actor Malachy McCourt offer Sneak Peek at TRP Books by Vetere and Loingsigh

 
 Join Three Rooms Press as we present an exclusive sneak peek of forthcoming novels LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY and THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE with very special guest readers Malachy McCourt and Israel Horovitz as well as authors Eamon Loingsigh and Richard Vetere. NOVEL IDEAS: A sneak peak @ new books will take place Thursday, January 16, 7 pm, at Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow St. (at 7th Ave. South). Tickets $10 cash at the door; bar opens 6:30 pm. For additional information and reservations, please contact Three Rooms Press at info@threeroomspress.com.

About THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE

THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE is a truly original, hilarious and triumphant tale of a writer given one last chance to realize his lifelong dream - after he dies. Tom Chillo, a 44-year-old writer with two novels under his belt, plus countless hack survival jobs, dies suddenly and is faced with one chance to return to earth for one week and set the wheels in motion to achieve eternal fame for his true life's work. Failure is not an option. 

Pre-publication raves have been universal. Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemakers’s Wife, notes, “THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE is an original, hilarious and poignant tale of second chances, the role of fate plays in our lives, and the triumph of the creative spirit.” And Anthony Tamburri, dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, enthuses, “THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE is a literary tale in every sense of word, a wonderful story of perseverance and taking control of one’s own fate.” And Israel Horovitz noted in Newsday, “Richard Vetere is a man with a writer’s soul!” 

Author Richard Vetere is has written more than 30 plays which have been performed worldwide. His 1997 novel, The Third Miracle, was made into the namesake 2000 film produced by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche. 

Writer Israel Horovitz has written more than 70 plays, several of which have been translated into 30 languages and performed worldwide. His Obie award-winning play, The Indian Wants the Bronx, had its world premiere in 1968 with a cast that featured Al Pacino and John Cazale. Horovitz is currently in post-production as writer and director on the film based on his stage-play, My Old Lady, which stars Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas.

THE WRITERS AFTERLIFE, a novel by Richard Vetere, ISBN 978-0-9884008-8-7, Original Trade Paperback, 218 pages, Three Rooms Press, March 2014

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About LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY

LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is the brutal saga of Irish-American gangs on the Brooklyn waterfront in the early part of the twentieth century, told through the eyes of Irish immigrant Liam Garrity. Forced at age 14 to travel alone to America on the eve of the 1916 Easter Rising, Garrity stumbles directly into the hard-knock streets of the Brooklyn pier neighborhoods run by Bridge District gang The White Hand. In the industrialized enclaves where Famine Irish settled a generation earlier, Garrity has no choice but to use any means necessary to survive within the clan-like loyalties of the gang. 

The book has received widespread pre-publication praise from early readers, including McCourt, who raves, “LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is an amazing series of literary leaps from terra firma into the stratosphere above. The writing embraces you, and his description of the savagery visited on poor people is offset by the humor and love of the traditional Irish community. Don't leave the store without this book.” 

T.J. English, author of Paddy Whacked and The Westies, enthusiastically applauds the book, saying “LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is written with tremendous flavor and panache. Historical fiction at its best.” 

And Alphie McCourt, author of Heartscald, notes, “Eamon Loinsigh is a poet with a pickaxe and a scalpel attached to the working end. Mr. Loingsigh, the meticulous historian, paints a rich picture. Mr. Loingsigh, the novelist, tells it like it was. LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is a great read.” 

Author Eamon Loingsigh is a journalist with a long-held fascination for the Irish-American New York City experience. His family emigrated from Ireland in the late nineteenth century and his grandfather and great-grandfather ran a longshoreman’s saloon on Hudson Street in Manhattan for much of the twentieth century. LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY is his first full-length novel. 

Award-winning Irish-American writer, actor, radio host and memoirist Malachy McCourt is the author of the New York Times bestseller memoir, A Monk Swimming, 2006 Green Party candidate for New York State governor, and younger brother of Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes).  A longtime NYC resident, he is a frequent contributor to Newsday, National Geographic, Conscience Magazine and the New York Times. 

LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY, a novel by Eamon Loingsigh, ISBN 978-0-9884008-9-4, Original Trade Paperback, 230 pages, Three Rooms Press, March 2014 

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 and all books are now available via the world’s largest distributor, PGW/Perseus. 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. More info: http://threeroomspress.com