For writers and budding authors at Eastern Michigan University
or in the general public, the Bathhouse Reading Series
provides an opportunity for an up-close-and-personal experience
with authors, novelists and poets.
The series, sponsored by EMU's English Department and
Campus Life, brings in a number of writers and artists
— both innovative, established writers and exciting
up-and-comers
— who perform readings of their work and attend
workshops to help students with theirs.
The series kicked off Sept. 29 with a reading by
Rebecca Brown, the author of a dozen books, including "The
Gifts of the Body" (HarperCollins).
"For many students, it is their first exposure to literary
readings and most of them are surprised that they enjoy
the experience," said Kathleen Ivanoff, an EMU professor
of English language and literature who is handling promotion
and logistical support for the Bathhouse Reading Series. "Some
even buy books from the authors (not required) because
they have been so moved by the presentation."
"This semster, the theme is "New Prose" because we have
a variety of prose writers that push the boundaries between
genres and happily trouble our ideas of short story, fiction,
nonfiction, essay and poem," said Christine Hume, an associate
professor of English langauge and literature who is co-director
of the Bathhouse Reading Series. "For instance, the two
writers coming in Oct. 15 both approach writing with a
documentary sensibility, but one that's infused with lyricism
and an experimental approach."
The remaining series schedule is as follows:
Catherine Taylor and Kristin
Prevallet conduct a reading
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 5 p.m., Carillon Room, in Halle Library.
 |
Taylor |
Taylor is an assistant professor in creative nonfiction
at Ithaca College. She is the author of "Giving Birth:
A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives" (Penguin
Putnam), a book, "Library Journal," called "a delightfully
readable blend of scholarship, expose', and storytelling
that is likely to become a classic."
Taylor has worked as a producer, writer, and researcher
on a number of PBS projects in New York City, including "The
Exiles," which won an Emmy award for historical programming.
She was a co-founder and producer of The Human Rights Watch
Film Festival.
Taylor attended Cornell and Oxford Universities, and received
her Ph.D. in English from Duke University. Her essays,
poetry and reviews have recently appeared or are forthcoming
in Typo, Xantippe, Postmodern Culture, Quarter After Eight,
Nightsun and The Colorado Review. She is currently at work
on a hybrid genre book about South Africa and a scholarly
book about 20th-century documentary representations of
political violence, entitled "Documents of Despair." Taylor
also is an editor for Essay Press.
For more information on these readings, contact the EMU
English Department at 734.487.4220 or email kivanoff [at]
emich.edu. All events are free and open to the public.
 |
Prevallet |
Prevallet is a poet, translator and educator whose most
recent books are "I, Afterlife: Essay in Mourning Time" (Essay
Press, 2007) and "Shadow, Evidence, Intelligence" (Factory
School, 2006). She introduced and edited "A Helen Adam
Reader" (National Poetry Foundation, 2007). Recent essays
and reviews appear in "The Chicago Review," "Contemporary
Poetry Review," "Jacket" and "Janus Head." She received
a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry
and a 2004 PEN translation fund award.
For more information about Prevallet and for links to
poems published online, go to http://www.kayvallet.com.
 |
LeGrady |
George LeGrady, a professor of interactive media at the
University of California-Santa Barbara, presents an opening
reception for "Cell Tango" Tuesday, Oct. 21, 4-6 p.m.,
Ford Gallery. "Cell Tango" is an animated, interactive
installation featuring a dynamically evolving array of
images transmitted from all over the globe by participants
using cell phones. The organization of the images/texts
is based on data from the point of origin: area code, carrier,
time, date and categories/descriptions created by contributors.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to add their own
photos and interact with those of others in real time.
The work examines the most recent products of popular culture,
raising questions about technology's impact on identity
and society. It provides a new understanding of the technologies
that audience members use to navigate the culture in which
they live.
For more information about Legrady and to see his work,
visit his Web site at http://www.georgelegrady.com.
 |
Sheppard |
Novelists Jim Sheppard and Ron
Hansen will read Wednesday,
Oct. 29, 5 p.m., Student Center Auditorium. Sheppard is
the author of six novels, including his most recent, "Project
X," and three story collections. His most recent, "Like
You'd Understand, Anyway", was nominated for the National
Book Award and won The Story Prize. His short fiction has
appeared in, among other magazines, Harper's, McSweeney's,
The Paris Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Granta,
the New Yorker and Playboy. In addition, he is a columnist
on film for the magazine, The Believer. He teaches at Williams
College.
 |
Hansen |
Hansen's latest novel is "Isn't It Romantic?" (Harper
Collins, 2003) and a book of essays, called "A Stay Against
Confusion: Essays on Faith and Fiction" ( Harper Collins,
2001). Among his other books are "Desperadoes" (Knopf), "The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Knopf), "Nebraska" (Atlantic
Monthly Press), "Mariette in Ecstasy" (Harper Collins), "Atticus" (Harper
Collins) and a children's book, "The Shadowmaker" (Trophy
Press). For a collection of short fiction, the Omaha native
received the Award in Literature from the American Academy
and Institute of Arts and Letters for Nebraska. According
to Contemporary Novelists, Hansen's books "occupy
... a curious half-way house between popular and high culture;
between the worlds of art and entertainment."
He is the Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ Professor of the Arts
and Humanities at Santa Clara University. His novel, "Atticus," was
a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996.
 |
Markus |
Peter Markus, an author of short books, and Renee
Gladman,
editor and publisher of Leon Works, will read Monday, Nov.
3, 7 p.m., Dreamland Theater, 26 N. Washington St., in
Ypsilanti.
Markus is the author of three short books of short-short
fiction, "Good, Brother," "The Moon is a Lighthouse" and "The
Singing Fish," as well as a novel, "Bob, or Man on Boat" (Dzanc
Books 2008). His stories have appeared widely in such magazines
as Chicago Review, Black Warrior Review, Massachusetts
Review, New Orleans Review, Quarterly West, among many
others, as well as in a number of flash fiction anthologies,
including New Sudden Fiction and Sudden Stories. He grew
up in Trenton, Mich., and continues to reside there.
 |
Gladman |
Gladman is the author of "Arlem," "Not Right Now," "Juice
The Activist," "A Picture Feeling" and "Newcomer Can't
Swim." Since 2004, she has been the editor and publisher
of Leon Works, a perfect bound series of books for experimental
prose. She was previously the editor of the Leroy chapbook
series, publishing innovative poetry and prose by emerging
writers. She teaches writing at Brown University.
Past writers have drawn crowds anywhere from 50 to 100
persons, Hume said. All events are free and open to the
public. Learning Beyond the Classroom credit is available
to any EMU student and sometimes extra credit is offered,
depending on the course and professor, Hume said.
A winter version of the Bathhouse Reading Series in 2009
will include Nicole Broussard, Feb. 18; David Grubbs, March
5, Chris Cheek, March 12; and Robert Fitterman, date to
be determined.
For more information, contact the EMU English Department
at 487-4220 or e-mail Kathleen Ivanoff at kivanoff@emich.edu.
