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Virtual Reading: Web Features & “Fruit Rot” chapbook

Virtual Reading

Chapbook Launch & Recent Web Features

About the Virtual Event

When: August 15th, 2:00pm (PST)

Where: Zoom   ///   Cost: Free! 

The Conium Review recently re-launched its website. As the world grapples with COVID-19, the Internet’s ability to connect people is more important than ever. Our annual print edition is alive and well, but this virtual space offers a monthly compliment. Most web features post on the 15th of each month, showcasing a single author with a custom-designed, visually striking page for each story. The first two features are Jane Hammons’s “Creature Creator” and Gina Rose’s “Eight Thousand Dollars in 1981.” Yongsoo Park’s “Hausfrau Dad” goes live on August 15th.

Alongside the website’s re-launch, our managing editor also has a new chapbook, Fruit Rot, published by Etchings Press at the University of Indianapolis. Fruit Rot is a contemporary fable that involves magic fruit, comic books, and a few dead bodies along the way. It’s a whimsical and darkly funny read.

This virtual reading celebrates the both new site and our editor’s chapbook. We hope you can join us. Q&A will follow, plus some opportunities to receive free copies of The Conium Review and Fruit Rot.

About the Readers

James R. Gapinski

James R. Gapinski is the author of Fruit Rot (Etchings Press, 2020), Edge of the Known Bus Line (Etchings Press, 2018), and Messiah Tortoise (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2018). His short fiction has appeared in Heavy Feather Review, Hobart, Juked, Monkeybicycle, Paper Darts, and other publications. He teaches for Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program, and he’s managing editor of The Conium Review.

 

“Gapinski has a natural ability to unveil the hidden darkness in life’s inescapable choices with gentleness and care . . . ” –Hillary Leftwich, author of Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock

“Gapinski skillfully illuminates the deep places where pain, fear and injustice live.” –Emily Koon, author of We Are Still Here

““Fruit Rot is a satire that complicates its subject rather than parodies it; a fable that shuns moralistic conclusions; a rumination on the hexed miracle of finally getting what you want.” –Zach Powers, author of First Cosmic Velocity

“Hallucinatory, savage, but ultimately hopeful, Edge of the Known Bus Line is a bloody bible for our times.” –Maryse Meijer, author of Northwood

“James R. Gapinski’s Messiah Tortoise is like a trip to a zoo after a pink cloud of nitrous has settled overhead. You’re elated, you’re having fun, and you’re in tune in a way that surprises you.” –Lindsay Hunter, author of Eat Only When You’re Hungry

“The dark, smart absurdity of James R. Gapinski’s writing jolts and delights in equal measure. Gapinski responds to today’s zigzag world with innovative form and gut-punching pathos.” –Ashley Farmer, author of The Women

 

 

Gina Rose

Gina Rose is an African American and Chinese American writer in Oakland, California. She attended Barnard College in New York City where she received the Howard M. Teichmann Writing Prize. Her work has been featured in Rigorous and Penultimate Peanut magazines.

Yongsoo Park

Yongsoo Park is the author of the novels Boy Genius and Las Cucarachas, the memoir Rated R Boy, and the essay collection The Art of Eating Bitter about his losing battle to give his children an analog childhood.

“In Boy Genius, Park has created a unique hero, one who is every bit as memorable as Alexander Portnoy, Augie March or Ignatius Reilly.” –Willard Manus, Lively Arts

“Park is clever and caustic in depicting America’s treatment of its minority underclass. . .” Kirkus Reviews

“Park’s affable and low-key style belies not only an incredible courage but weaves a steady-tempoed music that recapitulates a past that I was certain was lost forever. Park’s books are the mirror and lens I have been seeking my whole reading life–and ones I have not yet encountered elsewhere.” –Eugene Lim, author of Dear Cyborgs

“In Las Cucarachas, Park does more than showcase a harsh perspective of life in 1980s New York City. He offers readers an unflinching and unique perspective on the dark side of our contemporary society while retaining a subtle hope for some sort of begrudging multicultural harmony.” –Hirsh Sawhney, The Brooklyn Rail

“Park’s Rated R Boy belongs in the tradition of the classic Korean American writers like Younghill Kang and Richard Kim, who were the literary voices of their generations of immigrants. Like Kang and Kim, Park’s narrative is nostalgic, critical, tragic, and poignant by turns, evoking vital aspects of the Korean American experience not seen in the mainstream of ethnic literature.” –Heinz Insu Fenkl, author of Memories of My Ghost Brother

 

Editor Update: James R. Gapinski’s 2018 Book Tour

Join The Conium Review‘s managing editor, James R. Gapinski, as he celebrates the release of Edge of the Known Bus Line (Etchings Press, University of Indianapolis). Later this month, James embarks on a five-state reading tour, with stops in Seattle, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Portland.

The tour kicks off on August 29th with a featured reading at the Two Hour Transport series in Seattle. Next stop is Boswell Books in Milwaukee. Then James visits Chicago for a conversation with former contributor and recent contest judge Maryse Meijer, author of Heartbreaker (FSG) and Northwood (Black Balloon Publishing). In Minneapolis, James reads with local and visiting authors Maya Beck, Madeline Reding, Kathryn Savage, and Erin Sharkey. Finally, James returns home for a reading in Portland. Full book tour details, Facebook links, and other information is available on James R. Gapinski’s author page.

EOTKBL Book Tour flyer (compressed)

Upcoming Event: “Adventures in Literary Readings”

Adventures Reading header

Join several of The Conium Review‘s editors/writers on Friday, April 14th to celebrate the release of Chelsea Werner-Jatzke‘s chapbook, Adventures in Property Management, out now from Sibling Rivalry Press.

Chelsea is outreach coordinator at The Conium Review, and we’re excited to see her come through Portland on her West Coast reading tour. The reading will also feature our James R. Gapinski (our managing editor), Rebecca Schiff (2017 flash contest judge), and Kate Garklavs (2016 flash contest winner). Also featuring readings from Robert Lashley and Dena Rash Guzman.

The reading starts at 7:00pm at Likewise, located at 3564 SE Hawthorne Blvd in Portland, Oregon. Hope to see some Conium Press readers, writers, and friends there! Find this event on Facebook.

William VanDenBerg reading at 2016 AWP off-site event for Caketrain & Solar Luxuriance

Lake of Earth coverFiction editor William VanDenBerg will be signing copies of his Caketrain Press release, Lake of Earth, at our 2016 AWP Conference table (#1238) on Saturday, April 2nd from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. Later that evening, he’ll be reading at an off-site even hosted by Caketrain & Solar Luxuriance.

The reading starts at 7:00pm at The Drain, located at 2232 E. Cesar Chavez Ave. in Los Angeles. The other readers include Rachel Levy, M. Kitchell, Thibault Raoult, Kit Schluter, Katy Mongeau, Leif Haven, Kristin Hayter, and Bridget Brewer.

William VanDenBerg’s AWP off-site event picks

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been posting about and previewing different happenings at the upcoming AWP Conference in Los Angeles, including our panel, book signings, and recommendations from Rita Bullwinkel and Caitlin Scarano.

William VanDenBerg joins the conversation, offering his top AWP off-site event choices. Check out the list below, and be sure to stop by our table (#1238) for William’s author signing on Saturday, April 2nd, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm and hear him read during the Caketrain and Solar Luxuriance off-site reading on Saturday, April 2nd starting at 7:00pm.


Outside the AWP Conference itself, a multitude of readings, parties, and activities will be taking place. Here are a few highlights among the many offsite events:

March 29th, 7:30pm to 9:00pm

The Tuesday before AWP begins, tNY Press will be hosting a pre-show party at The Last Bookstore. Expect stand-up, lit karaoke, and Mad-Libs, as well as readings by Zachary Cosby, Bridget Dooley, Uzodinma Okehi, and more.

March 31st, 7:00pm

On Thursday at Monty Bar, Tumblr, Catapult, Unnamed Press, Writing Workshops Los Angeles and Nouvella Books will be teaming up for LAwp!, a party with free drinks and absolutely no readings whatsoever.

April 1st, 12:30pm to 10:00pm

Camp Real Pants, taking place at Astroetic Studios on Friday, features a summer camp experience compressed into a single day. Includes a publishing talk by editor Calvert Morgan, readings by Dark Fucking Wizard and Green Mountains Review authors, s’mores, singalongs, hot cocoa, and relatively little poison ivy.

April 1st, 4:00pm to 5:30pm

On Friday, Wave Books, POOL Poetry Journal, and Saint Mary’s College MFA will be celebrating some big anniversaries (10, 15, and 20 years respectively). The event, also at The Last Bookstore, will feature Molly Bendall, Candace Eros Díaz, Brenda Hillman, and others along with host Matthew Zapruder.

April 1st, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

At R Bar, a Koreatown karaoke bar, Bennington Review and Black Warrior Review will launch their most recent issues. This Friday night event includes Dorothea Lasky, Mark Baumer, Kendra Fortmeyer, and many others.

April 2nd, 7:00pm

On Saturday evening, The Poetic Research Bureau will host an event for Essay Press, Siglio Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, and Dorothy: A Publishing Project. Features readings from Amina Cain, Will Alexander, and work by John Cage read by Richard Kraft and Joe Biel.

Chelsea Werner-Jatzke reading at tNY Press 2016 AWP Pre-Show

Chelsea Werner-JatzkeOne of our editors, Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, will be performing at the tNY Press “Totally Unofficial AWP Pre-Show.” This event takes place at The Last Bookstore, located on 453 S Spring St in Los Angeles (the main entrance is actually around the corner on 5th), Tuesday, March 29th from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.

The event will feature MadLibs, readings, lessons in oral composition, stand up comedy, and mystery panels.

Other performers/readers include Vivian Martinez, Zachary Cosby, Elizeya Quate, Kait Heacock, Douglas Wood, Mike Crossley, Bridget Dooley, Chris Tarry, Jamie Mortara, Brenna Kischuk, Breeann Kirby, and Uzodinma Okehi.